Crochet? What's crochet?

I decided to buy some 4 ply Jaeger cotton earlier in the year - the colour was just gorgeous (a sort of dark bluebell/hyacinth blue which they call "lobelia"). And Kangaroo were having a sale so I couldn't resist, could I????

Anyway, the pattern is another Rowan one, from the same book as the kidsilk haze wrap and the white beaded cardigan (boy, am I getting my money's worth from that book!). I was fine on the knitting bit but was a bit fazed by the crochet instructions having only done a bit of very basic crocheting as a child. Thankfully, I have the Batsford book of crochet and by following it step by step, managed to do the crochet edging. I'm pretty pleased by the way it has come out. The pattern calls for wooden beads on the safety pin but I decided to go for something a bit shinier and a mother of pearl bead at the end which picks up the blue in the yarn.

Turbulence pullover

I was wandering round the internet as I do, looking at other people's blogsites on knitting, and came across someone who was raving about Nora Gaughan's Knitting Nature. I googled and came up with a peek inside the book and fell in love. I decided on the Turbulence Pullover - I have a stash of DK wool that has been in my cupboard for literally years. I am a strong, blue-based colours girl, being a winter, and thought the emerald green of this Jaeger Matchmaker alpaca DK would go well. Start to finish in under 2 weeks. 1 more project down, lots more to go.

Yarnplay jumper

I have been busy this summer. We had two weeks in Cornwall at the end of the summer holidays - a bit wild and wet at times - and so I knitted a lot. Here's the end result. It's taken from Lisa Siobhan Mason's Yarnplay. She suggests using Noro Silk Garden and Cash Iroha as the combination of yarns but I had a lot of Kureyon to use up. It's not as silky as Silk Garden and it has more colours in its variegation than Silk Garden but I like the colours in this a lot. I think it was Noro Kureyon #139. The photo doesn't really do justice to the amazing colours. It is really quite beautiful. I haven't worn it yet as it has been a bit too warm since we returned home (typical!).