"Winter of Textured Knits" KAL May 2009 Gathering #2

Are you ready for another collection of gorgeous textures?

Paisley Womble has been busy with the needles. Her most recent effort is our first picture:


I absolutely love the colour of this:


I suspect Paisley Womble went shopping especially to match her knitting!



I hope Lorelle hasn't washed away in all the rain in south-east Queensland. She's had time to produce these Thanks, Rell, for including photos I didn't have to crop!! ;-):




This offering is from Rose Red [scroll down]: it's not blocked in this photo so the texture is fairly strong even though the picture is very small!

Then we also have this offering from RoseRed [swing, swing, swing, J!]:


RoseRed would also like us to know these [first seen last month] are finished [thanks Nora3]:


And our final knitter today: Knitter Sue. This will keep someone warm:


What a buzz this one is!! LOL


I'll bet you'll never guess what this is [unless you've visited her blog of course]:



Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the final installment for this month!

Do ponchos like frog ponds?

Do you remember the poncho I began a couple of weeks ago?

Well it's now in it's second incarnation. I had to rip if off the needles [I needed that particular circular needle] and I realised that I was doing the increases too close together - every second row. I decided to rip it back and do the increases [eight stitches] every fourth row.

The new version is looking really good and has hours of work in it; even though the yarn is harsh and plasticky and I really don't like knitting with it. The poncho is now 13 inches from the cast-on neckline to the front 'point'. I've realised that it's too big for a child [although children's heads are big in proportion to the rest of their bodies] so it could easily be an adult's poncho except that I was never going to have enough yarn for an adult poncho. Even if I pull out that disastrous sweater I attempted to knit as a trial for a larger project.

So right now the poncho is in the "I'm not sure what to do with this" corner. I have three choices:

1. keep going and make it a child's poncho i.e. 16 inches to the 'point' - I may have enough yarn to get that far
   
2. try to buy some more of this awful-to-knit-with yarn [Panda Baby Lustre 8ply] and make an adult poncho which I'm sure someone will love - it's a nice design for a poncho, the yarn is a pretty colour and has that fashionable 'bling' with a sparkly thread through it; it just doesn't feel nice when knitting!
   
3. rip it all out and use the yarn [must I?] for something else

I'll let you know what I decide!

PS Sorry, C. no photos - I haven't taken any. I'm writing this at 12:30am and I have to get up early for my Big Day Out!

Who'll come a-cabling with me?

After a Long Lacy Summer, I've decided it's time for some textured knitting: cables, ribbing, bobbles [well probably not bobbles] - dense, cozy knitting for the winter months. I'm not going to make an official KAL - heck, I barely have enough time to blog let alone manage a KAL - but I'd be delighted if anyone wants to join me. Just email me if you want to participate [so I can be sure to check your blog], knit something in a textured stitch and blog about it. You can even put a link to this blog [if you wish]. No competitions, no prizes; just good, clean, wholesome, warm, knitting fun!

And to kick it off - here are two I prepared earlier; beanies [on circulars] are great travel knitting: no losing needles, no long needles irritating fellow travellers, and knitting in the round means no need for 'just let me finish this row before I reach my destination'!
Cabled Beanie I - olive; completed 5 March 2009.

Cabled Beanie II - blue; completed 7 March 2009.

Both of these beanies will find their way to Australian Inland Ministries to keep the heads warm of two of our indigenous citizens. The blue one will have to go to someone with a head slightly smaller than mine!