i heart cashmere

ok, so i got fed up trawling through magazines and free patterns trying to find The One. And i came across some experimental lace stitches i had tried a while ago, and decided upon Lacy Hearts (subtitled leaves, because when knit on a thicker yarn there is an interesting effect from all the K2togs and skpos).

This is a days work (damn you lace!). I am using 3.75mm needles, which i realise are a tad too big but 3.25mm or smaller would have been WAY too depressing, and as i'm making it up, what i say goes.

the colours are just... i can't explain really. words are so meaningless. this yarn is the stuff dreams are made of. It's like painting, or knitting stained glass (only less brittle and cuttable)

you may have noticed a little black book? this is because i cannot afford an electronic version. and i quite like putting pen to paper. and it even has a cute little pocket at the back for storing things... its a pity my Dr doesnt get any knitting magazines or i could do the old cough-n-rip and hide it in the back. i'm sure i'll think of something.

It does mean a lot of tranferring patterns by hand, but i actually find it more convenient because i can change as i go to the abbreviations i most prefer, and write the complicated bits more spread out and easy to follow. i know it sounds like a waste of time, but at the other end when im knitting on the bus, the book sits easily on my lap and i can see the whole pattern at the same time. even the cover is rough and slip-resistant. Have i mentioned it's a Moleskine?

Spent yesterday wrangling sheep on the BFG's honours farm (remember the bogging?). We had to sort out these 40 sheep from a herd of a couple of hundred and then after they had been shorn (not by us, no sir) then we had to weight them on a sling and pulley system. fun.

so to cut a long story short, i have robe-burn from the pulley on my hands, a sheep butted me in the kidney and i have 3 or 4 perfectly horn-shaped bruises here and there. But it was fun in a weird kind of way. I do miss the country a bit, though sheep were much easier than goats - which is what i'm used to. sheep.. well you just point their heads in the right direction and there they go.

I have to say, i do prefer the more glamourous side of wool (knitting) to what i spent my first day of uni break doing :p but it was nice to be outside and i'd definately do it again if BFG needed me.

happy melbourne cup everyone! (go on, be brave, bet on someone other than Makybe Diva)