Slow going with this AWFUL yarn...

I am tring very hard to finish this sweater for my eldest daughter, its not a hard pattern, its on 4.5mm needles and you'd think that I would have finished it by now considering its been on my needles for 3 weeks! Alas there is a hiccup - the yarn - its AWFUL! its Panda Magnum Soft - a 100% acrylic that my daughter chose for herself so I couldn't say no .... 

It was fine in the ball, seemed soft enough but once I started knitting it I began to hate it - its scratchy, itchy and not soft enough for my liking! Its not that I hate acrylics in general I just hate this one and its enough to make me vow to never buy a 100% acrylic again!

Panda Magnum Soft

I decided to test myself on a different acrylic to see if its just the panda and yes it is, I started knitting with the King Cole Splash I was given and successfully finished the back of a Cardi for my younger daughter over two nights, whilst also struggling to do about 10 rows of the other....... (sigh). The King Cole is fine to knit with - no problems at all and I like the self striping pattern.   I promised myself that I will finish the magnum yarn and then never buy it again.

King Cole Splash

Yarn, Yarn,Yarn and More Yarn

I have been buying again - very naughty as I am supposed to be on a yarn diet. There are mitigating circumstances though.....

About a month ago I ordered some lovely alpaca from Webs in the USA, it was sooo slow to arrive that I decided to e-mail and complain, they told me to wait another two weeks and if it didn't arrive they would do a trace. Well of course it didn't arrive and they tried to trace - no luck. They e-mailed me to apologise and refunded me my money - of course I was gutted! Anyway, the very next day it turned up!  I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around, so I e-mailed them to say that it had arrived and to cancel the refund, but they refunded me anyway - thanks very much I will definitely buy from you again.

Classic Elite Inca Marl - Coral

Plymouth Worsted Alpaca

Whilst I was waiting for this yarn to arrive, I discovered a gorgeous pattern for Leg Warmers by Marie Connolly  and went on a yarn hunt for some nice 4ply. At the same time, I received a Voucher for $10 to use at Spotlight so I bought some cute merino. - yay more free yarn!

Cleckheaton Merino Bambino

Now that I had successfully bought some yarn for free, I decided to spend some actual money...

I need to make a sweater for a friend's little girl and as she is a very girly little girl so I went in search of a nice pink and bought some Organic Merino from SkeiNZ, for $5 a ball - what a steal, this stuff is a test dye for the Elan Organic Merino which usually goes for $12 a ball and should do the job nicely!

Organic Merino

Unfortunately though it didnt stop there.........just as I was leaving SkeiNZ, I noticed a bin of odds and ends, and discovered two balls of a lovely burgandy DK wool which will be perfect for some Nappy Soakers that I am trying to convince my friends mum to crochet for me.....

Sigh, I promise to be better at my yarn diet next month.

DK Wool

GRRRR Knitting maths gone wrong

Well I got about 10cm into the front of "Preppie" for Cara and then realised my maths was so far out that I was making it about three sizes too big. I was sooo mad but figured hey I'll carry on and put it in the drawer for when it fits. However, 20cm further on I realised I wouldn't have enough yarn for that size!
So, sadly I frogged back to the start, had a break, re balled it and started again. However, this time I decided to use an existing pattern for a 3-4 size and I am going to add the dot pattern as a panel on front. That way I wont have to worry about my maths skills until I get to the panel.......

Latest Splurge

I just bought some gorgeous 4ply Merino Mix from www.needlefood.co.nz
It's called Sprinkles and its just gorgeous.

I bought it spur of the moment when Michelle from needlefood e-mailed to let me know that my new Hiya-Hiya needles had arrived, I was impressed with the speed of delivery and they sent me a small whittakers chocolate and some cute stitchmarkers, so I am very happy.

Then, I collected my mail and my friend Sally, who's in the UK, sent me two balls of self-striping King Cole Splash which will be very cute for a kids cardigan.