Nearly there

I've been working on 2 projects over the past couple of weeks, the Estes Vest from the latest Interweave Knits and the Mystery Blanket. Both of them are almost complete. There is one more installment left to arrive on the Mystery blanket at the beginning of October. I have 2 more squares to knit from the September package. That will leave 4 squares and the border to complete in October. I became a little complacent knitting the blanket and made a huge mistake which took a bit of concentration to put right. When it's all finished I will post the final pictures.

The Estes Vest has been a joy to knit. It's all texture, all cable - but not complex. I'm almost finished, the vest is waiting for a collar and zip, which will have to wait until I finish the September Mystery blanket squares.

This has been an excellent stash buster. I knit the vest using double stranded yarn. The vest will get a lot of use now that the rugby season has started.

Harvest for the world

My allotment

I wasn't meant to be growing very much this season. All I wanted to do was just clear the area , mark it out and give the soil a good turn over. I learned:

• you don't 'just' do anything in an allotment
• mother nature has a mind of her own
• when it rains it always pours
• kissing butt is a good thing
• family and friends are worth their weight in gold
• I love worms
• my fellow brothers (and sisters) in arms have invaluable knowledge that will take me years to gather
• foxes definitely eat veg - my veg!
• investing in a good fork, spade and hoe is key to a half way decent plot
• good wellies (I'm saving up for a pair of Hunters, I'm told they are the bees knees) and thick thick socks will save my bacon
• your neighbours crap filled skip is actually a treasure trove in disguise
• if you dig up the bramble - they will grow back!!


• giving is far better than receiving
  

This year I have been blessed with a bumper crop of all sorts of veg. Some of which I'm sure I didn't plant. Much of which was given to me in seed or plant form by fellow plotters taking pity on me. For the most part, what I was doing was slightly out of sync (digging at the wrong time of year, and even planting out late for example), but I was gently encouraged (and laughed at heartily) to keep going. I have been rescued on a few occasions when I got stuck in the mud, much to the amusement of others!

So far, visitors to my humble abode have been sent home with a little bit more than they bargained for - a few beetroot here and a bag of potatoes there. The young man is trying to get everyone to take all the cabbage since he hates the stuff.

There were many times when I wanted to give up, the battle for the plot between me and the brambles seemingly a very one sided thing. However, mother nature, friends and sheer bloody mindedness has seen me through my first season - and funnily enough, I'm going to do it all over again next year - minus the mini forest though.

I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I've loved every minute of it - but I'm loving it now, when I see what's come out of the soil and that's what counts. I've no doubt a few months from now, I'll be muttering under my breadth, tripping over my own wellies and cursing the fact that the toilets are way way down the other end of the allotments, but hey, now I know it really will be worth it in the end.

My plot and some of the goodies it gave me

Did you notice - no onions - the battle recommences!!

My plot in the beginning ...........

Did someone say knitting........

Mossy

A winter (or in my case, Summer) warmer: Mossy

I took this away with me to show my sister how the yarn knit up and ended up finishing it. I'd managed about 10 rows before, so that will tell you how much knitting I got through due to bad weather.

Pattern details:

Name: Moss Stitch jacket

Pattern Source: Cashmere Collection by Debbie Bliss

Yarn used: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Super Chunky

Needles: 7mm and 7.5mm

Size: Smallest

Started: July 2008

Finished: 23 Aug 2008

Comments - besides running out of yarn (my fault), the pattern is very straight forward. I didn't find any errors. The end result is a real slouch on the sofa warmer. I was worried that the jacket would drop and stretch with wear - it hasn't so far.

On a personal note, I killed the Afro!!

Nevis

I've been busy!! I finished Nevis today, seconds before being whisked off to this. I'm sure there will be lots of other bloggers writing about this so I won't. Suffice to say the Harlot had me in stitches - get it - and I'm soaking my feet as I blog.

Nevis

Pattern details:

Pattern name: Nevis
Pattern Source: Rowan 42
Yarn used: Rowan Tapestry
Needle size 3.25 mm and 4mm
Size: Smallest
Started: Nov 2007
Finished : Sept 2008

Comments: Straight forward pattern. No errors which was refreshing! The yarn is extremely splitty which is a problem when knitting a cable pattern. The only problem I had with the pattern was the lack of a set up row for the cable pattern. Cabling on row 1 is not the easiest thing to do. The colourway of the yarn is stunning, sadly, I have not been able to capture this.