Cast ons and Bind Offs

I've made a pledge that for everything I cast on in the future, I must bind something off. Let's see if I can keep to it!

The 1940s Vintage Cape Bed Jacket has been finished for a while but the weather hasn't been conducive to photography. However, in the end I bit the bullet and decided to do the best I could as the rainy and overcast weather shows no sign of abating for some time to come.




As I said previously, it's worked in one extremely wide piece to the yoke and the yoke is then worked in five separate pieces in fancy rib. I rather like the effect of the fancy rib.


It's done by increasing and then decreasing into the knit stitches on alternate rows.

The only problem now is that the weather's probably a bit too warm at the moment for MIL to feel inclined to wear it! I'll be taking it to the nursing home to give to her on Wednesday and am hoping it will be well received.

Having finished an item, I felt quite within my rights to start another even though I still hadn't quite completed the Patagonian Night Sky Scarf. So I cast on for Vogue Knitting's Lace Cardigan. Below is the back up to the armholes.


Why is it that soft greens always end up looking grey on most people's monitors! The pattern calls for Reynolds Saucy Sport which I was going to substitute with Sirdar Luxury Cotton. However, I couldn't find any of the sage green I was looking for in my LYS so I ended up buying RYC Cashsoft Baby DK just because it works up to the right gauge and was the shade I wanted. Up to now, I'm finding it a really interesting knit as all the shaping for the back is done at the centre. The fronts, too, promise to be refreshingly different as the lace pattern is worked on the bias.

Thanks to Robin and Seahorse for providing the link to the Knit Night cupcakes. Aren't they fabulous!

I've added some Sock Knitters' stitchmarkers to Knitz & Glitz . . .


. . . and have lots of other exciting new lines planned for the near future.

Knitting, Book Binge and Cupcakes!

Quite a long absence again but I'm back! MIL had to be readmitted to hospital and we looked after FIL again for a while. However, in the end, we had to concede, sadly, that he needed to be in a care home. Then MIL was discharged from hospital but was unable to return home which meant we had to find a nursing home for her. After many viewings (we must have covered every suitable care home and nursing home in the area), we hit lucky and found the perfect care home for FIL which is providing him with much needed stimulation and a nursing home for MIL of which she approves and which is only 0.8 miles from FIL's care home. Lots of time is taken up with visiting and looking after their affairs generally but I've still managed to fit in some knitting!

MIL fell in love with this vintage capelet.


It's knitted in one wide piece (448 sts!) and then the yoke is worked in five separate pieces. I'm working on the third piece (back yoke) at the moment so almost there!


The Patagonian Night Sky Scarf is also nearly finished. Just ten more rows to go plus the beaded cast off!


I had a birthday cheque that I hadn't done anything with so decided to have a book binge!


As I've got a thing for lace at the moment, I decided on Victorian Lace Today (some beautiful designs in here!), Lace Style, and A Gathering of Lace. I also bought Fitted Knits and Knitting Over the Edge as I just love libraries of different stitches and edgings and can never have enough of them!

As well as these, I bought two Japanese Knitting books.


I find a lot of the Japanese patterns to be really beautiful so I decided to have a go at deciphering some of my favourites when I get time. I bought 250 Knitting Patterns which is a collection of swatches of the most gorgeous stitch patterns and Elegance Knits #11.

I seem to be into cupcakes at the moment. I think the thing I like most about them is just how creative you can be. There are no limitations to variations on the theme with these and some people have even created blogs dedicated just to cupcakes. Type 'cupcakes blog' into Google and you'll see what I mean! So I bought a couple of books on cupcakes in the hope that I'll find time soon to experiment.


Cupcakes have also found their way onto the shelves of my Knitz & Glitz shop in the form of cupcakes stitchmarkers.


There are matching cupcakes topped knitting needles, too!

Talking of knitting needles, Sue kindly did some Knitpicks shopping for a few of us on her recent travels so I'm now the proud owner of a set of Knitpicks Options which I've been coveting for some time! Thanks, Sue!


Lastly, I'd like to introduce you to Jack, the black alpaca bear by Steiff.


He's a late birthday pressie from DH. I've been collecting bears for quite a while but this is my first Steiff!