I purchased this pattern at Stitches West 2011 from a booth that would not let me buy just the pattern unfortunately. As we only had a week left before moving to Australia they had me over a barrel so to speak and I had to buy the pattern and three skeins of Claudia Handpainted Yarn – as they had no Koigu my “yarn drug” of choice.
The Claudia yarn actually ended up being packed and is now somewhere on the Pacific Ocean on its way to Port Adelaide. So I decided to pack the pattern and also a bag of odds and ends of sock yarns.

Knitted from all my leftover sock yarn
My scarf is made from left over sock yarn from many pairs of socks that either I have made or my dear friend Alice has made for me or my husband Alan.
Along with all of my stash and the Claudia Handpainted Yarns are my blocking cables and blocking board so for the moment the scarf is just off the needles. And as the weather here is still very mild for early Fall I haven’t had the need to wear it or decide who may receive it as a gift.
A beautiful pattern but the next time I knit this I will not be doing a fringe, it looks lovely, but I have never been one for fringes on scarves.
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Yesterday was a good day for knitting. I completed the pretty little dishcloth in the afternoon and am very pleased with the pattern. I do have more cotton yarn to make dishcloths but will get the cardigan completed first I think.
Last night I completed the raglan shaping on the back piece and really like the eyelet pattern along the edge of the shaping. While the cardigan has the pattern around the lower part it is just plain stocking stitch for the rest of the pieces. The eyelet just breaks the plainness to all that plain knitting

Eyelet edge on raglan shaping for the back
The eyelet is done by k1, sl1 k1 pass slip stitch over, yfwd, sl1 k1 pass slip stitch over at the beginning of the row, and at the end instead of sl1 k1 it is k2tog

eyelet shown on both edges
This just shows the back completed. I have left the neck stitches on a stitch holder for the moment even though the pattern tells you to cast off the remaining stitches. I haven’t made up my mind whether I will do the front bands by picking up stitches right the way round the front and back neck or if I will do the pattern suggestion which is a few stitches and then sew the bands on when slightly stretched.
I have just cast on the stitches for the left front and I don’t think that will take very long with only 55 stitches on the needle.
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I felt after three day of intensive knitting on the beautiful cardigan I needed a little break from that today.
Years ago I had sent my Mum Sugar and Cream yarn by Lily yarns with a knitting pattern book and bamboo knitting needles to make a dishcloth for herself. Mum uses dishcloths every single day for everything and without a dishwasher they really get used a lot.
When we got back to Adelaide and moved into this rental property all of my knitting stash was, and still is at sea somewhere. Little by little Mum has been giving me things from her supplies and this past week it included the yarn etc that I had mailed her which she had decided she was never going to use.
This morning I cast on for the dishcloth pattern called Weavings from the book photographed below.

Dishcloth made from Sugar and Cream Yarn by Lily Yarn

Weavings is the name of the pattern
This is one of the nicest patterns I have done in a dishcloth because the amount of ‘weaving” or cables is making the fabric really firm.

My pretty dishcloth completed
It could do with blocking to really show of the pattern – however it is a dishcloth not a fancy sweater! I think this might be a gift for a lady friend currently in hospital in Melbourne. Wrapped up with a lovely bar of soap this will also make a delightful washcloth too
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It was nice to finish the rib yesterday as it was 26 rows of single K1, P1 which does get a little boring especially when a pretty pattern follows the ribbing.

This morning I was determined to complete 28 rows of the first pattern repeat and I was successful.

This shows the pattern slightly closer. I liked the last row of the leaf as the centre stitch goes straight up. This was achieved by slipping two stitches together knit wise, knitting the next stitch and passing the two slip stitches together over the knit stitch.
We had a trip into the city of Adelaide this afternoon and went to the historic Adelaide Arcade off of Rundle Mall. The specialty button store that I remembered from 22 years ago is still there – but closed today as it was Easter Saturday and a public holiday for some stores. When I get as far as the button band I will take the cardigan into that store to buy some suitable buttons for the colour and style of the band.
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I can not believe that it has been twelve months since I added anything to my yarn blog. Amazing how the time just flies when you plan a large move overseas.
We made the decision to move back to Australia after 14 years in the USA to be much closer to my elderly parents. It is a move we completed in February this year and when our cats arrived safely from quarantine at the end of March our lives were complete again. Our worldly belongings are on the ocean somewhere and that does include all of my knitting stash and of course our furniture and other household goods. Original date of arrival was May 5th which was then brought forward to April 18th, but regardless of the docking date for the ship, customs could delay the delivery by up to three weeks.
I have a dear cousin living in Adelaide and the first thing she asked when we were reunited at the beginning of March was, will you knit me a couple of cardigans please?
This was the pattern I chose for Jan from my Mum’s collection of pattern books.
Jan wanted something just a little bit fancy, but definitely no lace. So I think this fits that criteria nicely.
Jan chose the yarn from a new colour card by Bendigo Woollen Mills in Victoria Australia and it is their Classic machine washable DK (8ply) weight and the colour is called Brick Red.
After doing a swatch last night I cast on for the very smallest size on a 3mm circular needle that Mum found in her knitting supplies. I have used this yarn before and it knits and feels beautiful on the needles.
With Fall well and truly here in Australia and winter officially beginning in June I would like to have at least one new cardigan for her before the weather starts to get very cold in South Australia.
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