Monkey Sock Swap 3

My package got here on Wednesday , and what a brilliant package it is . My pal is Frieda, we have been e-mailing backwards and forwards , and I now have a lovely new friend . Frieda made the knitting bag , isn't it gorgeous , there is already a project for my grand daughter in it ( a knitted rabbit ) . The beanie monkey is lovely , and he is sitting in my egg basket in the kitchen now . The yarn is too lovely for words, socks that rock Silkie ..mmmmm.......The blue yarn is Bearfoot hand painted merino .
Can you see the cutest tape measure ?

There is a pack of playing cards , a book mark with an Oscar Wilde quotation , How did she know I adore Wilde's wit ?The Chocolates didn't make it for the photocall , but they were yummy .



The socks are to die for , Cherry Tree Hill merino in cherry red, they fit perfectly , I have them on now , they are my best Sunday Socks .. W says that they are so professional ( he has NEVER said that about anything I knit ) . The book is actually signed by the Yarn Harlot , and the photo shows her holding one of the socks in progress , everything was beautifully gift wrapped ,I am completely bowled over by Frieda's kindness , generosity and TALENT .



I am sorry that it has been a few days since I got the package , and I know that I should have posted straight away , but W was away and some of you know my inability to hold a camera still . Then on Thursday and Friday we were away getting my ' belated ' birthday present , but I have an idea that it is actually what W wanted , no , I KNOW that it is what W wanted , what woman wants a 35 year old sports car that needs renovation ? I can see that W is going to spend most of his time out in the workshop for the forseable future , oh well , I will just have to amuse myself with my knitting .......... what a hard call that will be LOL

Where does the time go to ? It has been almost a month since I posted last , W caught my ' bug' and was quite ill with it . Nurses uniform on , and general pampering , somebody once said that when a man is ill , they didn't know whether to send for a doctor or a drama critic . We are back to normal now , what ever normal is in our house .





I have finally finished my dressing gown , I am really thrilled with how it turned out . We live on the edge of the Wolds, and when the wind blows, it gets a bit cold round the unmentionables . This dg is so warm and cozy , I used my birthday money to buy fingering cashmere from Richard at Colourmart , I used 2 strands throughout as the pattern uses Rowan kid classic and knits up to an aran weight .






The pattern is from the book Beads,buttons and lace by Jennie Atkinson. It took a month to knit , but I have been struggling with my monkey swap socks as well , these are a nightmare to knit , my pal is allergic to wool , and the cotton I am using sort of ' scrunches' in my fingers, giving my shudders , a bit like pulling finger nails down a blackboard .

The Irish shawl is finally finished , I had just a few rows to complete and had put it away for a rainy day, the rainy day came when I couldn't get another UFO in the cupboard . I knitted this with fingering cashmere , again from Richard at Colourmart , and , oh dear , I don't like it . I don't know whether it is the green , or the length or what , I am thinking of putting it on Etsy , for just the cost of the cashmere , does any body have any experience of etsy ?

Finally my Peer Gynt jacket , this is from the 60 th anniversary booklet , it is called Heidal , and I hope that I can finish it before next summer. The only problem with the pattern is the STEEKING , I have never plucked up the courage to actually CUT through the knitting . So I will have to see what happens . I can't bottle out and change it into a sweater , as the front centre is just worked any old how , the needle points are at the top of the front centre so you can see that it is unwearable as it is , apparently , the brave knitter cuts straight up the middle , picks up stiches down each front and knits a band , and hey ho , it sounds a breeze doesn't it ? LOL.

The photos have gone all over the place as usual , they take on a life of their own, but at least they are all on the same page today .........