Ruffled Wristwarmers and Pally Postcards

Yet another fun knit (loosely based on this pattern) are these ruffled wristwarmers.


They're knitted with the yarn that was left over from the other scarf and wristwarmers I've knitted for the Charity Craft Fair to be held in November. I made the frill a lot frillier than in the pattern and it ended up so ruffly that I had to gather it with shirring elastic but I think the effect is rather pretty and elegant.

These fun knits are quick, easy and instantly gratifying but I'm beginning to hanker after a challenge. However, I've recently acquired stash additions (which don't belong to me but are the material of future knits for the November Craft Fair I mentioned). I'll reveal more about this later but, for now, let's just say I need to find some sort of balance between this knitting and my need to really challenge myself.

I received yet another of those wonderful Hikone Screen postcards from my secret pal the other day. I think I've just about cleared her out of her Hikone Screen collection by now! This is one of her favourites and I agree that one could almost imagine the guy in this postcard knitting if only he had another 'needle'! lol My secret pal tells me she has seen the Hikone Screen in reality. How cool is that!

Then another postcard (below) arrived from the pal that I've been spoiling. She now knows who I am because she received my final parcel on Monday and she must have immediately sent this wonderful postcard because I received it this morning. The postcard which is from the Robert Opie collection shows a C1930s advertisement for Milson Knitwear. The back of the postcard informs me that it's part of the Children's Wear Series and that "Generally, children's garments were still being made at home." I find nostalgic stuff like this fascinating in that it can provide an idea of a kind of snapshot in time of life as it was.

Thank you to both pals for making my first secret pal exchange such an enjoyable one. I can't reveal yet who my spoiler is but my spoilee is Linda who originally blogged here but then moved here.

Right, I'm now going to get to grips with finishing off the Noro Silk Garden jumper which started off as an intended Xmas present (oh, dear!). The state of play now is that it just needs the collar knitted and then to be sewn up. I blame the fact that it's stocking stitch throughout which I find, after just a little while, becomes a tad tedious. After that, I'm determined to finish off at least the majority of the other WIPs that I seem to keep coming across. (Ha, famous last words!) I can then assuage my guilty conscience a bit and commence the balance between charity knitting and challenge with an almost clean slate. I suppose the answer could lie in combining the charity knitting with a certain amount of challenge?