Yes, There Are Sharp Items In My Luggage

I've been unable to post to my blog for a while, since I've been travelling. I've been hauling my knitting with me, which is not so easy nowadays. I would love to be able to knit while I fly, but oh well.

The floor cushion is coming along fine, if slowly. I'm not spending as much time on it as I'd like to, so my initial goal of finishing it in three weeks is long gone. Now I am pleased if I can knit a row now and then. So far, I have the bottom part done, and three of the sides.

I am busy with the top panel now, which consists of 93 stitches, knitted in a rib pattern. At the end, I am going to use smocking stitch and pull the ribs into a honeycomb pattern. Against the bright blue of the cushion I used as a background, the yarn looks faded and grey, but it's actually a very nice denim blue. Because there are so many stitches on my needle, the knitting is bunched up. I can't wait for the final result, I'm sure it's going to be lovely. And the cats will love it too.



Knitting the little squares for my throw has been a pleasure. I find that I can't wait for my next issue of The Art of Knitting. The magazines are in great demand and aren't even displayed in stores anymore. There simply aren't enough copies, so you have to put your name on a list and even then it's first come, first served. So apparently many people are knitting. I suppose even seasoned knitters would appreciate the magazines, because of the pretty patterns and the stitch library in each issue.

Here is my Mock Rib with Garter Stitch Ridges square:


And this is my Little Ladders square - curling up a bit, but it will behave once I'm done with it.


A close-up of the Little Ladders pattern.

My final piece of knitting news is that my boyfriend has also started knitting. He's using a chunky yarn on 10mm needles and is knitting a scarf in garter stitch. He's knitting 20 stitches, but regularly splits the yarn to end up with 21. Then I have to fix it, for some reason, and then I also tend to knit one or three rows - "just to get him started". This way every fourth row will be his and the rest will be mine. Next time I'll show him how to fix it himself.

I'm going on a rowing trip this weekend and I definitely can't take my knitting along on that one! I also want to sew a dress this week, so I'll likely only get back to knitting next week. As much as I enjoy the act of knitting, I can hardly wait to see my final results. But before I get there, I'll have to fly all my knitting back to Cape Town, yet again. Oh, and I'm also going to be moving house...hopefully by then my floor cushion will be ready for use, because I absolutely refuse to take my old couch into my new apartment! Until I can afford a new one, I guess I'll be sitting on the floor.