Too many projects, not enough time!

There's a nice dotty bag, bigger than the last one, which is basically finished, except that I'd like to bind the raw edges inside (I'm not usually this obsessive, but hey, sometimes you've just got to...)
So I went to Fibrefest yesterday with my Mum, and there were one or two little things that followed me home...

This is called a 'Zauberball' (Magic/wizard ball) and is imported from Germany. Hadn't ever seen these before, and they looked interesting. I say 'they', as this one came too (I didn't want one to be lonely!). The one above is plied, the one below singles. We'll see how they knit up as socks.

This is some 50/50 wool/silk laceweight called 'Gaia' in the 'Baroque' colourway, from yarndamour. I bought it to finally knit the Aeolian shawl, which I've been both eager and terrified to make since it appeared this Spring. I will finally make this gorgeous shawl. Soon. When I've psyched myself up a bit.

This ball of grey felted tweed came home with me to join a jumper's worth of the blue in the stash, where it will sit and dream of becoming one of these. Yummy. Love this pattern.

These 2 skeins of Coldharbour Mill's own waterwheel-spun Merino aran wool came with me to add to those already in the stash, which are in the process of being made into a raglan jumper very loosely based on francis revisited.

Yeah, there's a bit more of this now, but the neck is too wide, so it's going to be ripped.

The noro stripy scarf is now probably a bit over 2/3 done, and seems to be none the worse for a bit of drunken knitting in the dark last night at a friend's barbequeue!

The big question is... am I obliged to finish this before starting something else?

This afternoon I snapped Elsie out in the garden, having escaped from the chicken run. I let the others out for a run with her. It seemd only fair. The garden is a bit jungle-y at the mo, but never mind, there are still nice flowers peeping through, and a ton of tomatoes if they ever ripen.

New box bag, new jumper

Made another box bag today, to a slightly larger scale: 16" x 22". I'm trying to home in on the right size for a new wash kit bag for my hubby. He's requested that it be sort of waterproof, just to stop things from being able to leak on his clothes when he stays away on business, so I'll have to line it with PVC or something. I'll figure that out when I've experimented a bit more. Pictures of today's bag will have to wait, I haven't downloaded them yet.
Today I also swatched for and cast on (and ripped out, twice) the francis revisited jumper - now the funny thing is that this is very definitely a cowl-necked jumper - that's the main feature of quite a plain (though stylish) garment. I will be knitting it without the cowl. Yes, I know. I'm odd. I saw Carrieoke's half-finished version here, and just loved it as it is - a simple raglan jumper, with quite a wide neck. I'll be doing the neck edge in seed stitch to match the other edges. I'll be knitting it in some aran-weight merino wool I got from the discount basket at Coldharbour Mill, where I'll be off again tomorrow, for Fibrefest! I'll be getting some more of the yarn, as I have no idea how much I have, but probably not enough.

Box bag

I've been seeing neat little box bags in funky fabrics all over the net for months, and yesterday I got curious and googled 'box bag tutorial'. That led me to this brilliant tutorial by Drago[knit]fly. This morning, I decided to use this Amy Butler fabric I had left over (from making a sunhat to wear on holiday - you can see me wearing it in the lake in yesterday's pic if you look really closely...). I used some dark blue cotton from the scrap bag for the lining, medium weight interfacing and a 12" navy zip, all from the stash. This bag cost me nothing at all! Yay! Isn't it fab?
I followed Drago[knit]fly's instructions quite closely, with a couple of mods suggested by Twenty acres and NO sheep here. These mods make it a lot easier, especially the corners, I think. This way they are easy and all the same size and straight! They almost certainly wouldn't have been otherwise, with my sewing. I can be a bit slapdash...

Just the right size for a medium-sized knitting project: my stripy noro scarf.

Speaking of the scarf, this is how it looked this afternoon / evening. The pink section turned out ok, hubby swears he can see the stripes right through. I can't quite, but don't mind it. The colours seem to be mirroring the beginning almost perfectly now, so I'm intrigued to see what they will do after I get past the orange/green section that's coming up next. Three things are surprising me about this scarf:

1. It's a really simple repetitive knit, but I'm somehow not bored.

2. It's on quite short DPNs and continually nearly falling off the ends, but this does not annoy me and I have even tried long needles and changed back to DPNs.

3. It's in rib and I'm still knitting it! My darling hubby would be the first to tell you that I hate knitting rib! I will only do it under sufferance, and get quite narky doing socks for him as he likes a good depth of ribbing - after the first half-inch I'll be asking 'Is this enough yet?' every other row, when we both know he wants about 3 inches!

Bigfoot sighting

Whilst on holiday in the south of France, I saw Bigfoot. I saw him quite often in fact, he hung around the tent with us, came to the beach, swam in the lake and even bought us croissants for breakfast... Yes, ok, the Bigfoot I'm referring to here isn't the missing link, he's my brother. He does have huge feet though... I can personally testify to this, having knitted him a pair of socks whilst on holiday. See? How long?
I can't even block them, my sock blockers aren't big enough!
I didn't do much knitting on holiday, just these and one red fish (for the neglected festive fish blanket). I was reading or playing cards most evenings and odd moments in between all the cycling, swimming, canoeing and eating cheese. Ok, so there was more of the latter than of all the other three, but never mind. Still a lot more exercise than usual. I'm going to try to use the bikes more now we're back, having decided not to bury them at the back of the shed behind the lawn mower again. They were just a nuisance to get out there. Got to tidy the garage to make room for them though.
Since returning to Blighty I have been contemplating casting on for various jumpers, but so far all that's made it onto the needles is a scarf: Two-row alternating stripes of Noro Kureyon sock in 1x1 rib. I've seen loads of them out there, and always liked the striping. I had an odd ball of this and don't think it would hold up to sock wear for more than a couple of hours, being thin singles. I cast on 40 stitches on a 3.75mm circular, but wasn't happy with the look of the fabric (messy, loose gauge) and the fact that both colours were going to line up and turn to green together.
Meh. I broke the yarn and started again on 3mm DPNs (I have no idea why DPNs, but I'm happy with it) and it's going much better....

Lovely stripes! And a much bouncier, firmer gauge. The pink section may lose stripe definition between the purple and the pink, but I think it'll be ok. The colours will change soon, and I'm fed up with fighting to keep them different. I'm going with the flow. A bit.

Willow likes it, but wonders why it's not cat-blanket sized, like the other Noro knitting?

That's better! A kitty can stretch out on this..... if she hasn't got bored and wandered off to torment chickens, that is...

Holiday!

Where have I been?

I've been here....

...doing some of this....

...and a bit of this...

...and even some of this. Legs are still pasty white though.

We took this crazy boy with us. He may be regretting this photo.
These guys got their own holiday at Mum's... (she hid behind the tree from the camera)

...and Willow went along to keep them in order.

Spoilt kitty! All these toys (and the huge tub of catnip) are new! Mum's a big softie... and Willow was strangely reluctant to come home... can't think why!

Knitting content tomorrow. Promise.