Going slowly

Sorry for the lack of activity over the last week or two. I still have a fairly bad case of knitters block. I keep myself awake at night trying to decide what to start next and how to do something without buying more yarn. I have a big enough stash right now to complete all my summer knitting if only I could decide on a pattern or two. Thanks for the suggestions last time. They are the sorts of things I'm looking for but each time I decide to knit one I get confused by which yarn to use and it all goes wrong. TBH, what I really, really, really want to knit is this:


But when I factor in the ridiculous postage costs and the horrible exchange rate it ends up being at least $100 which is a bit much really. But it is exactly what I want. ~sigh~

So to kill time while I think about what to knit for me I have start another top for Euan. A cardigan this time using the leftovers from his last jumper. I am using this as an excuse to try steeking. Something that seems like the most sensible yet terrifying technique, especially as I love knitting in the round and hate seaming. I thought it would make more sense to start with a child's jumper instead of a full adult one as if I totally screw it up then I haven't lost much. This is progress so far.


The funny ridge down the middle is where I'm going to cut it. As it's only Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and therefore mainly cotton, it's not ideal for steeking but I'm hoping with a lot of sewing-type reinforcement that it should be ok. I'm going to put a zip in which should also help keep it together. Now if only I'd knitted it on 4mm instead of 3.5mm I'd be finished by now.

On a positive note my friend Laura recently got back from South Africa and, although she would never knit to save her life, she brought me back some gorgeous hand spun wool. Ahhhh what I great friend! She couldn't remember what type of sheep it was from but it was something African. It has such a gorgeous shine to it and the colours are just perfect for me. I really don't know what to knit with it, but I've calculated it's at least 130m so I could get something fairly decent.


Isn't it just beautiful!

Now a little family aside. I haven't put any pics of my boys up lately so here are a few of them. They both love cooking so last weekend they got together and made a great chocolate cake. Euan is so good in the kitchen now. Not only does he keep all the ingredients in the mixing bowl (better than his mum) but he also lets me lick the bowl! What a boy!

Some very serious stirring going on there.

And this is the finished creation:


It was as yummy as it looks.