Ally Pally is only days away……..and I’m planning on heading to Handmade at the Chelsea town hall in November. Any other Londoners been before? The exhibitor list looks fabulous.

Swallowtail Shawl
Evelyn Clark
The Knittery 2 ply merino - Smoke
3.25mm Addis

This took far too long to make, which is indicative of our busy life. It’s been a busy year for us here, so I’ve not been posting much.

The yarn is divine - dyed beautifully and wonderfully soft. I have a reasonable amount left over, so may get a cowl out of it as well.

What can I say that others haven’t already said about this beauty? It’s so pretty and am glad I used some clear beads. They give the grey a bit of a lift. It will look lovely draped over a little black dress in the evening or wound round the neck on a blustery day.

Was watching a Culture Show special the other night on China and saw fashion designer Han Feng for the first time. Her designs are amazing and you can watch the programme here. Get inspired!

Zigzag Cowl by Mandy Powers
4.5mm circs
Rowan DK Soft and Rowanspun 4ply

A pretty, quick and snuggly gift for a dear friend back home.

I only got to do two pattern repeats rather than the three, so I was lucky I only just made it with a few inches of the DK Soft to spare for sewing up.

I’d like to make one for myself but I’ve got to get a move on with some secret baby knitting first!

Amy Karol’s (aka. Angry Chicken’s) Chocolate Cake
from her recipe cheat sheet
3 x 10″ chocolate cakes stacked with butter cream icing

Considering Amy’s recipe uses american measurements, it turned out fine. I made two batches in total as I knew I’d need 3 cakes to stack. The balance of the mixture went a long way. It made 20 regular size cupcakes, 12 mini cupcakes and 4 texan muffins. I think I was also economical with the sugar as well. Maybe using 2/3 of what the recipe calls for.

It was light, delicious and the perfect end to our barbecue.

A simple gathered top for Miss A’s second birthday. Bizarrly, we were watching the final show in the F-Word series last week and Graham Norton was wearing a shirt in the same Liberty fabric.

You can also see the decking is finished. Hoo-bloody-ray!

We’ve been taking a break from the blog for a bit. Too much to do in the garden, like building our deck and other activities are keeping us occupied. I may be here from time to time, who knows but I’m enjoying doing other things for a bit.

See you in September.

You know when you’ve got a deadline and you’re worried you won’t get things finished in time………..and you’ve complained to DH that you’ll need weekend-baby-free time in order to do such finishing……….there’s always a distraction. Just to set me back a few more hours.

Little tote bag for: a drink, teddy, a book and a snack. A little girl needs a smart bag at a wedding.

Vintage Wine Cardigan
from a vintage Robin pattern
fits chest 48 cms so 6-9 months or thereabouts
4mm vintage needles
3 balls King Cole Merino Blend DK #32 Wine

The pattern is from my collection of vintage knitting patterns. I would like to work this up larger for my little girl in the same colour. It really suits her skin tone. I love the yarn and will use it again, soft with great stitch definition and machine washable. Now we’ve lost Jaeger….this is a good alternative to Matchmaker Merino. I just scraped in with nothing to spare on this one. A fiddly bit of sewing up, but I like that part. Maybe next time I’ll work it in one piece to the armholes.

Mods: I omitted a button and the filet ribbon around the neck, not practical or safe! Oh, and I compensated by adding extra stitches to the seam edges so the pattern appeared seamless on the side seams.

Seeing as I’m from the southern hemisphere and I live in the northern hemisphere, I consider myself lucky that I can have two mother’s days in a year! Is that greedy?

Here are the socks I made for my mother for her birthday/mother’s day. The pattern is so easy to memorise and they look fabulous on. Shame my hooves were too large to model them for you. A must-knit pattern for any sock knitters out there.

Child’s First Sock in Shell
Knitting Vintage Socks Nancy Bush
2.25mm circs magic loop