PurlyQueen here!
It's amazing how much you can do when you are off work with a cold! I cast on last night and so far I've completed about 13 inches for the back.

That's all folks....

I'm moving to TypePad.

Click on the arrows >>>><<<<<< to get to my new home.

Blogger's been great but trying to change the template takes too long.
So it's time to spread my wings (and put my hand in my pocket) and leave my first home.

I'll keep this site open until I've worked out how to move my entries over to TypePad.

But in the meantime, don't forget to change your bookmarks etc. to
http://purlyqueen.typepad.com/sisterknitter/
And I'll see you all there soon!

Ronke

HTML help wanted

How can I move my sidebar contents so that they always appear at the top, rather than being squashed at the bottom?
I've spent all morning trying to sort this out, but to no avail.
Thanks!!!

My sale haul

Compared to previous seasons, the mighty Liberty sale was rather disappointing - but that's probably because I'm not a huge fan of cotton yarns and Liberty had plenty of those. I had such high expectations as well as a long shopping list - but all was not lost. I did pick up lots of khaki Rowan Cotton Tape, which I love because it knits up quickly and doesn't catch on the needles. And I bought some pattern books so I can reduce my shameful yarn stash.

My biggest triumph was this....



This is no humble clipboard.
In fact, it has transformed my knitting experience. I cannot recommend that you get one highly enough.
It's a metal board with a magnetic ruler. It makes working with charts a lot easier because you can mark off your row and the ruler (obviously) doesn't budge.

Fellow Central London Morning Knitter Pauline lent me hers, which was a present from her Secret Pal. I made it my mission to track one down for myself - I even toyed with telling Pauline that the gremlins under the stairs had stolen it.

But I found one in a lonely corner at Liberty's embroidery department and it's made even Koigu's convoluted patterns much easier to understand.

Look - see how much progress I've made with my Gypsy shawl....


Both the John Lewis and Peter Jones clearance sales had much the same cotton stuff as Liberty.

I had high hopes for Peter Jones. This was where I snaffled a pack of (still unused) half-price Noro Kureyon in the summer.

But never a girl to leave a sale empty-handed, I bought a cushion pad and a remnant of black corduroy for the back of this cushion.

I'm going to work on this on New Year's Day. Simple sewing will be all that my hungover head will be able to cope with.

What the hell is that?

This is the mother of all UFOs.

It was meant to be a quilt for a friend's baby (her son is now 13 years old). I got bored with knitting black and white squares and I didn't have the patience to knit an entire garment, so I hit on the bright idea of making a sampler to practice knitting patterns.

This project kept me entertained for years (off and on). Eventually I lost interest in knitting and dumped this 'creation', my needles and yarn in the loft.

A few months ago, I remembered that I had knitting supplies stashed away in a bag in the loft. Yes, it's as ugly as sin, but I can't bring myself to throw it away. Because it's 100 per cent acrylic, the moths haven't been able to destroy it. I might fold it up and use it as stuffing for a cushion. That way it will be kept safe out of harm's way.

Getting closer

This cushion is turning out to be a labour of love. I ordered a mixed bag of mohair yarn from eBay to create the 'furry' lines.

I usually keep an open mind when buying yarn from eBay. You don't always receive the exact shade that you hoped for because everyone's computer monitors display shades differently. So unless you've seen the yarn in the flesh, it's hard to know what the postman is going to bring you.

Anyway, as luck would have it, this consigment of yarn was a perfect match for my cushion.

I used an ordinary hairbrush to gently brush the mohair lines, and it really does look like fur. I must admit that was sceptical at first but as I had embroidered half the lines, it was too late to change my mind.