Summer Designs

First, do you like my new logo? I was playing around a few weeks and finished this the other day. I love the colours. It's one of my pink Bambino sock skeins. The title of today's blog post is summer desigs. No I've not skipped 6 months or moved to the southern hemisphere. And yes, I know it's nearly Christmas but many magazines are currently looking for summer designs. I struggle with designing with 'sumery' yarns. Being Norwegian where knitting keeps you warm in the winter I'm used to knitting warm stuff in wool. I love wool and other warm fibres like cashmere and alpaca. So to get some inspirations I've collected a variety of summer yarns lately, like bamboo, various cottons and linen blend. Below is some of the yarns I've been stocking up.

I've started swatching. The blue ball at the back is Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo which looks gorgeous and feels gorgeous and has fantastic stich definition but it feels squeeky when I knit with it. In fact several of the yarns feel squeeky but this one is the worst one. My favorite so far is the dark blue skein at the front, it's Rowan Lenpur Linen which is a linen blend. I did a swatch with it late last night and I love it. It feels great to knit with and has great stitch definition and lovely drape.

I've finished my latest secret project today which is my first design for Knitting magazine and will be in their March issue. I've enjoyed knitting this garment and I'm very pleased with the result.

No rest though, I'm straight on to the next one. I've got one more fairly quick but quite big project to finish before Christmas and I need to get cracking on this one tonight as I don't have much time.

I'd like to do some crocheting before Thursday, which is the last day of my crochet course. I'm hoping to find some time to practice Tunisian crochet which we learnt last time. I want to make sure i can remember what to do so that if I need to ask the teacher any questions I can do it this week.

I dyed some yarn yesterday and because it's cold and I've had the heating on all day some of it is already dry. I've been lising some Silky Merino Lace this evening and i'm currently working my way through some Exotic Cobweb Lace. There will be more of both yarns to come tomorrow as well as some Fantasy sock yarns.

One Fantasy skein I dyed came out of the dye pot looking rather different. See how it's got a tweedy appearance. I dyed it with another skein and the other skein looks completely differnet (and it's not quite dry yet). I love this skein and have decided to keep it for a pair of sock for myself.

And here it is with another Fantasy sock yarn skein I'm keeping for myself. I'm desperate for some new socks. I've currently got 3 pairs of socks. I'm hoping to knit up one pair over christmas.

Here's a taster of some of the Silky Merino Lace yarns I've listed. I love this 'Water Splash' colourway.and 'silver' is always popular, this one is a little big lighter than the last ones I dyed.

and 'Damson Jam' - a gorgeous purple.

Are you ready for Christmas yet? I was panicking last week. I did my first bit of proper Christmas shopping on Friday. Then Simon and I went shopping again on Saturday morning. I've got most of the presents bought now. I just need to go though everything and double check I've got something for everyone.

My big problem is Christmas cards. I'm hopeless at writing Christmas cards. Last year I wrote very few and I'm aiming to do better this year. My problem is the ones for friends and family I hardly ever see as you need to write a bit about what you've been up to in the last year in those and I don't really like writing letters. Perhaps I should just suggest they read my blog.

Last day for 1st class post for Christmas is Monday so if you want to order some yarn for last minute Christmas presents for yourself or someone else there is still time. Now, go and check out those new arrivals.