My New Scarf

This is my new scarf that I have just finished. It's soft, fine & warm, just what the weather is calling for today. It's cold & wet outside today & only 11 degrees, a far cry from the beautiful warm sunshine of yesterday.

But getting back to my scarf, it is made in a fine 2ply cashmere yarn from  Belisa Cashmere in Bundanoon. The pattern is a simple drop stitch one found at Frazzled Knits. It's the same pattern that I used to make this green one last year. It's amazing how  changing the yarn can make such a difference. This is what the pattern looks like close up.

Now to decide what next to knit? New gloves or a bag? I so want to do both!

Fun With Blackwork

I have been having fun with a black-work pattern lately. The pattern is one that I created myself using  a photo as inspiration. I was planning on using the whole photo, but only managed a small part from it. The pattern would have been too large for the purpose of what it was being designed for if I had  used the whole photo.

This piece was started to test out the pattern & see where it would take me. I wanted to know how the motifs could interact with each other. As I stitched, I saw huge possibilities with pattern placement, colour usage, stitches to leave out, stitches to add in etc. That is the case with any pattern I guess. It's been fun though, & I have another two examples of the use of this pattern that I will show you further down the track. You will all just have to come back later to see what they are.

Top Done

This is another quilt for charity, a combined effort from myself & another lady. M******* put together the appliques, & cut & assembled the patchwork corner blocks. I have stitched the appliques, pieced the squares & added the borders. The design has come from a Patchwork & Stitching Annual magazine Vol 8 No 10. It still needs to be sandwiched with batting & backing, then quilted & bound. The progress of this quilt so far can be found here & here.  It has been made only from scraps, mostly poly cottons. I prefer 100% cotton for quilts  but I guess someone will love it no matter what it is made from.