Easy knitting

I think I've gotten over my 'empty needles syndrome' for now. I picked up my Fantasy Cable sock on Friday and finished sock 1 yesterday, I think.

Here's a couple of close ups:

Can you see the way the cable twists down the leg? I just love this cable. I'm hoping this may be the May sock for the Sock Variety Club, which will be severely delayed as the yarn has been delayed again. I'm seriously hoping it'll be here this week and I'll dye it as soon as it turns up. I'll e-mail all the sock club members tomorrow to let them know.

I cast on for sock 2 as well but only did a few rows. My neck and back has been very bad for the last week adn sock knitting is not ideal when I'm in a lot of pain.

I decided I needed a quick and easy knit. I designed a Scrolls cowl a  couple of years ago. I used Luscious Lace which I probably won't stock again, not because I don't like it but because it's too expensive. I was never 100% happy with the original Scrolls cowl. I made it long enough to pull over the head but it had no shaping. Around Christmas time I needed a quick knit to knit up for a friend for christmas, so I decided to do the Scrolls cowl in Fantasy sock yarn. Isn't the purple colour gorgeous. Rich and saturated.

 this time I made it shorter and added shaping to the bottom so it flares out a little. This means it sits on the neck much better. I made some wrist warmers too. I was too busy at the time to write up the pattern. I still have my notes but thought I better knit it up again to make sure it's all correct. I cast on for a cowl in the smallest size last night before we went out for Simon's birthay meal (it's his birthday today!) and when we got home I knitted about half the cowl. Then after lunch today I finished it. Couldn't believe how quick it was. This is the cowl unblocked (the colour is not very good):

it's a little bit small for me, so I decided to do a larger version. I had some camel/silk (which is the same base yarn as my new Silky Camel 4ply which will be in stock soon) in a gorgeous black and purple colourway so I cast on this afternoon before we went out. This is how far I've got:

I've also wound up a skein of Silky Merino Lace in another purple colourway (any guess what my favorite colour is?):

I've not done a serious lace project for some time. I've got plans for two new designs. One I'd like to use my new Angora Lace which should hopefully be arriving this week.

The other one is a bigger rectangular shawl and I wanted to use Silky Merino Lace. I've charted out a few ideas but not pulled it all together yet or swatched. I may get some swatching done tonight.

This afternoon, Simon, Emily and I (Vanessa is at a camp at church till tomorrow) went to Mount Edgecumbe Country Park on the Rame Peninsula. Simon and Emily brought a kite. Here's Simon on the left in the pic, Emily in the blue coat and the little black dog is Sam.

This is how far up the kite went:

What did I do while they were flying the kite?
Knitting on the Silky Camel cowl ofcourse.

After a while we walked around the park. The park is just across the Tamar River from Plymouth and Devonport dock yard. There are frequently Navy ships moored in the Plymouth Sound:

Here's Drake's Island which is in the middle of Plymouth Sound:

Plymouth is not known for being an attractive city. It was heavily bombed during the 2nd world war and some of the re-building was that typical post war concrete jungle which is not attractive. the most attractive part of Plymouth is the waterfront and I think the best way to see Plymouth is from the sea.

Simon and Emily are watching Avatar now, which Simon had for his birthday. I'm not at all interested. I had planned to do some mahcine knitting but my neck is not good and machine knitting is bad for my back so I'm not sure if it's such a good idea. Perhaps i'll just do some more work on my Silky Camel cowl. I'm hoping to re-release the pattern some time this week. The new pattern will contain the new style cowl in two sizes and wrist warmers in two sizes.

Have you noticed how all the knits in this post have been purple? I'm having my purple fix. I've done mainly magazine knits for the past few months and I don't usually get to decide the colour and most of the editors don't seem to share my love of purple, so I'm indulging myself now.