Hold my coat, I'm going in!

This morning I embarked on my biggest knitting adventure to date, a lace shawl.

It's called the Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl, I'm knitting it on 5mm needles (did try it on 3.75mm but the fabric was coming up too dense, the bigger needles are giving it a much better drape and it feels so much softer) and using Manos Silk Blend, colour #7338 (a variegated blue) and it seems to be coming out really well.  So far anyway.

Thanks to the lovely people at the Phoenix Knitting Forums I've discovered the wonder that is lifelines and am sorely tempted to use them for everything from now on because I have a nasty habit of dropping stitches if I don't concentrate fully on what I'm doing.

I've also been advised to use stitch markers but I don't actually have any.  I would really love some of those gorgeous beaded ones that you can get but I just can't afford them right now *sighs*

I know it's not the most complicated lace pattern in the world but seeing as it's my first time, that's great for me.  Especially as it's written out instead of charted.  Ill try a charted pattern next time when I (hopefully) have a little more confidence and experience and know what the lace stitches are supposed to look like.

Bitch without the Stitch

Things are being finished at an alarming rate in my house at the moment.

Since Christmas I've completed the following:
Dad's cardigan
My socks
Kate's socks
Kate's hand-warmers
Claire's hand-warmers
Mum's hat
and my very first crochet square (been teaching myself with the aid of a new magazine)

Went to my first London Stitch and Bitch meeting last week and loved every single second of it.  Was really looking forward to going to tonight's meeting but my knee went pop when I got out of the shower leaving me in too much pain to even think about walking.  The pain probably hasn't been helped by the fact that my foot slipped off the top step yesterday and I bounced down the stairs on my bum, leaving me with some quite impressive scrapes and bruises.

I'm working on a scarf at the moment and, even though it's on 12 mm needles in super-chunky with a slight cable pattern, it's driving me completely insane!

Yippee!!!

Dad's cardigan is finally finished and it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself.  Unfortunately, for some reason, my stupid laptop won't let me transfer the picture from my SD card so I can't prove it *grumbles*

I'm so incredibly proud of it (which I know is vaguely daft).  It's the biggest, most complicated thing I've knitted so far with it's shawl-type collar and raglan sleeves.  Apart from sewing in the sleeves (thanks for that, btw, Mum) it's all my own work and it actually fits him which I was really worried about as he's quite a big man.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go figure out what's going to be next...