Now - I'm sure I've forgotten something....

I'm back from Darkest Cheshire where I went for the weekend for my "baby" cousin Jenny's 30th birthday party. The lilac Swallotail in Posh Yarn was for her present, and I remembered it. I remembered all the bits for my outfit for the party (it was a Wild West theme, and I was a cowgirl, complete with pink sequinny cowboy hat - it's amazing what you can pick up at a major supermarket these days). I remembered my knitting (but was having such a good time, I didn't knit a stitch ALL WEEKEND!). I remembered my 12p for the toll bridge into Lymm. I remembered my way - which is hard for me - I have the sense of direction of a spinning top. What I didn't remember was my camera - so I have no photos, which is a shame, as the weather was beautiful, and Jenny looked absolutely beautiful dressed as a saloon girl. She loved her Swallowtail, and wanted to wear it, but didn't, in case of spillages.
It was lovely to spend a couple of days with my family - I feel comfortable there, and it's great to see them all again. My Aunt has also asked me if I will make a shawl for her friend - so I am going to attempt to make up my own pattern. I'm not "designing" - what I am doing is compiling, I think. I have Traditional Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman, which has a lot of traditional patterns in for Shetland Lace, and what I'm doing is a little bit of swatching. I'm not sure, so I'm doing a 40 x 40 stitch swatch of the centre, then popping on a border, and maybe an edging. That way, I'm not committing to something I'm going to be unhappy with. It also means I can play without frogging. My rules for this are to go with something I think I like, and see how it looks. No frogging unless I make a boo-boo. That way, something I'm maybe not keen on to start with may do an ugly duckling on me.
What I probably will get is a lovely set of lacy dressing table mats! I'm horrificly indecisive, so I'll probably knit 10-15 swatches by the time I decide (or give up and go and buy a ready made design). I'm only on swatch 1 at the moment, so I will post swatch pictures as I get them.

Best Laid Plans...

Oh well... I was going to try Baltic Blossoms, or Melon, honest, but it's my niece's first birthday soon, and so I'm ploughing through a cardigan for her. It's a Tiboodoo pattern, and it looks lovely, and it's an easy knit, but I'm finding it slow going.
And I'm having an Anne Hanson thing going at the moment... I've knitted one Cardigan sock, and I'm itching to start its mate. Great pattern, and it looks fab - pictures when I have a pair. Then in the past few days, my Cranapple laceweight's arrived for my Whispering Pines triangle, and today, my Blue Moon Fiber Arts Haida arrived, for Irtfa'a... And they're calling to me, seductively, from their gentle squooshiness...
Not to mention I scored with Posh Yarn this week too - with three skeins earmarked for the Wallis Cardigan from the Summer Interweave Knits.
So, like, yeah - I'm really going to knit all this, aren't I?
Well maybe not this week, but yep I am.
And it's my cousin's 30th this weekend, so hopefully I can get some pictures of Jenny's Swallowtail in action!