Lopi Love :)

I got this lovely bundle of yarn in the post this week . . .

It made me very happy indeed!  I'd spent a lot of time thinking about this yarn - should I buy, should I not?  I can't really afford it but . . . .  Anyway to cut a long story short I've had a little craving to make a Lopi sweater for a few weeks now - not sure where it came from, some Ravelry inspiration probably!  Anyway I realized it was Other Half's birthday next month - I had my raison d'etre or rather an excuse! to go ahead and buy the yarn to make him a sweater.  Actually I bought half this month and will buy the other half next month - split the cost, needs must!

Yarn arrived on Tuesday lunchtime . . . I had the sweater started on the needles by the afternoon, hehe!  Was in fact the day my eldest was going back to Uni - so the knitting was keeping me calm and relaxed in between packing duties!  Here's the start of the Lopapeysa (icelandic sweater - I've been doing my usual research!) . . . 

I'm really happy with the colour combinations - sorry, they're not quite clear here, but they are a charcoally black (black sheep heather to be exact!), off-white/natural (ecru heather) and a lovely earthly mossy green.  I'm using a sweater pattern from a Lopi yarn booklet I bought last month - oodles of lovely icelandic sweaters, cardigans, hoodies - swooooooon!

Here's the stage of knitting today - not far off from finishing the main body of the sweater which is knit in the round . . .

I really love this yarn - it's chunky weight so knits up fast and is really warm and lightweight.  I'm sure there was a craze in the late nineties? here in the Hebrides for these sweaters, I don't know anyone personally who owns one though so I'm very excited to be making one.  It's all going swimmingly so far- fingers crossed!  The patterned yoke will be the biggest challenge so I'll have to take extra care then :)

We should all be wearing Lopapeysas today - look at the snow here, brrrrrrrrr! . . .

Poor wee lambs will be shivering next door!

Will keep you posted on my lopapeysa progress - such a lovely knit :)
Cheerio an Drasda!
Alison x

Happy Easter Bunny :)

I'm a very happy Easter Bunny as I've finished my Easter socks - Yay!!

Here they are and they fit just perfick . . .

These were a joy to knit - very straightforward pattern.  The self striping yarn does all the work for you.  I decided not to try and make them match exactly as I thought it would be fun to see how the colours worked on the second sock - if you look closely you can see the difference - subtle, eh!?:)

I love the flea stitch pattern on the sole too - very toasty!

It took me far longer to complete the second sock as I decided to take a leisurely pace and enjoy my Easter Hols with my boys, which I did! :) :)

We had some lovely sunny (but windy!) weather here in the Hebrides and I enjoyed a plod or two out the moor track beside our home.  Everything went at a very leisurely pace - no work or school deadlines or timescales to meet - just nice relaxed mealtimes, some homemade muffins here and there - I enjoyed my 'staycation' on the croft very much, hehe!

Hope you had or are having a nice Easter break too . . . 

See you soon :)

Alison x

Bubbles - Circular Shawl

While I remember and before I completely immerse myself in my upcoming Easter Hols . . . the finished 'Bubbles' circular shawl.  This is an old 1950's baby shawl pattern which was great fun to knit and very absorbing (which I'm sure my family will testify to!) - it took a month to complete . . . . 

I did block the finished shawl although it's made in acrylic yarn which seemingly doesn't respond to blocking but I thought I should follow the pattern instructions anyway which was to wrap the finished shawl in a damp towel, then stretch out and pin flat to dry . . . .

I pinned it out on one of  the boys old duvet covers ( which helpfully has a square grid on it!) placed on top of the carpet in my eldest's bedroom before he came home for his Easter break (it was the only piece of  spare floor big enough in the house!).  I don't think it did any harm to block it - maybe it opened the pattern a little bit but not really very much!  It was a good experiment anyway :)

It's difficult to show the shawl in it's true beauty!, but here are some more pics anyway . . .

Sorry, my photos are dreadful!  It does have a lovely drape to it though - I knitted in 3 ply Baby yarn (Colemans Comfort I think!) on 5 mm needles.  The recommended needle size for the yarn is 3.25 mm needles so it's a good illustration how you need a considerably larger needle for knitting lace, certainly in this case.

You can see my project notes on my Ravelry page for more info and maybe even some better photos (I've no idea where I've put them now -oooops!).

Have a lovely Easter, whatever your plans are - I'm off to enjoy my week off, maybe finish that second sock - we'll see :)

Alison x