Crow Jane Crafts

A project that so far has been a year and a half in the making…

I knit the half of the front of Knitscene’s Tweedy Vest with my non-tweedy Bendigo Woollen Mills Aran yarn in Woodrose and hated it. Rip, rip. Scrap that. The yarn is not suited to the vest at all. But it would make a fantastic Rogue.

So I cast on for Calista’s McQueen Knock-Off instead, as pictured below. I am really enjoying working with the Bendigo Woollen Mills Alpaca because my hands aren’t allergic to animal fibres – just the rest of me is. I plan to wear this with a long-sleeved singlet underneath.

We are having a hot spell with our weather (7-9 degrees C above normal) and I think that even if I finish this off tomorrow, it will be far to hot to wear to the 40th birthday party.

I think I may have put on too much weight for this to fit me when I finish it, a fact which has kinda disheartened me and does not make for fast knitting. But I still think it will look wonderful when it is finished. That is the finished back of the garment that you can see stuffed into the kangaroo pocket on the front.

Getting there. The top photo shows the colours most accurately. I am not sure about the size of it as I am not really experienced in sizes or fitting, but all in all, I am happy with how it is going. I hope to have it finished by Saturday to wear to my friend, Tony’s 40th birthday party.

I finally got a copy of Scarf Style by Pam Allen just coz I like following the herd<<< not true. This reminds me – I have noticed something weird going on with my behaviour lately. I normally have a deep yearning to be the black sheep in any given flock, to the point where I will stop listening to, wearing and going to anything that becomes poopular (not a typo) and common.

But I behave in the exact opposite way to this when it comes to knitting. I trust knitters and their trends. I like what most other knitterslike and I am not afraid of not standing out. Maybe it is a confidence thing. My knitting skillz are rudimentary at best, childlike at worst and as such I don’t particularly want to single myself out. Although that last sentence is in direct conflict to the fact that I have a knitting blog and have put my knitting and learning experiences online for the whole world to see. Methinks this requires more pondering.

I have been staring wistfully at a few of the projects when it occurred to me that by a great coincidence a good friend of mine, a great friend in fact…oh, who am I kidding…she is one of my best mates in the world (we have matching tattoos) is visiting from Canada in just over a week and I promised her a scarf to take back to Vancouver. Hi, R!

After much deliberation I chose the Midwest Moonlight scarf. Her favourite colour is blue which looks fantastic on her as she has these amazing blue eyes and lovely skin. I am making the scarf in Cleckheaton “Country Silk” blue. I can’t stop knitting with this stuff – it is not the softest yarn in the world but it drapes so perfectly and the flecks of silk are like knitting with yarn strewn with fluffy clouds.

This is a rather inaccurate representation of the actual colour. Plus, this is my first ever attempt at anything remotely lacy so yay for me. I like this lace – in the book they refer to it as feminine but I don’t think it is particularly feminine.

This is a more accurate depiction of the colour of the yarn but still not quite spot on.

I have finished the front pocket on my Under The Hoodie. I made a few unintentional changes to the pattern but it all turned out just fine. I thought I would kill two birds with one stone (that is such a gruesome saying) and post a pic of my Under The Hoodie progress and my newly procured yarn. I bought sock yarn which is a step in the direction of making a pair of socks but without the correct sized needles or a pattern in mind, I am still quite happly not commited to making socks just yet. This is kinda how I feel about having children, too.

The sock yarn is ONline Supersocke – Summer and the Noro is Silk Garden #8