Wildflowers infinity scarf

At last - I have completed one of my knitting projects! I love it....and I'm calling it my 'Wildflowers' infinity scarf after the name of the Manos Del Uruguay silk-merino blend yarn I used to make it. It is so soft and snuggly to wear and such lovely colours. This scarf is made with yarn I bought in New York last year from a cool shop called "Purl Soho", so now whenever I wear this scarf it will remind me of my first visit to NYC.

I knitted this infinity scarf in garter stitch using 2 skeins of Manos Del Uruguay silk-merino blend yarn, on 4.5mm straight needles. I joined the ends with a twist to create a kind of 'mobius' cowl even though I didn't knit it on circular needles like the traditional mobius patterns. The finished scarf measured 115cm without stretching before I joined the ends, and about 17cm wide (37 stitches).

Olivewood Baby Booties

After I finished making the Olivewood garter stitch cardigan last month I still had 1 skein of the yarn left over, so I decided to make a pair of matching baby booties. I used blue organza ribbon for the laces. This is one of the trusty patterns I keep falling back on - "Beginner Booties" a pattern by Cathy Payson in a book called "Knitting for Baby" by Melanie Falick & Kristin Nicholas.

I saw a cool free pattern available on the Purl Bee craft blog this week called "Hudson Bay inspired crib blanket" http://www.purlbee.com/hudson-bay-crib-blank/. It's a stripey pattern, and knitted all in one piece on circular needles, in contrast to other blankets I've made where you have to knit lots of squares or strips and then sew them all together at the end. I've decided to make one myself, however I've chosen much more vibrant colours than used in the original pattern. The yarn I bought today for this project was Moda Vera Pure Wool 8Ply in Bright Blue, Green, Pink, Grey Blue and Yellow.

Also, I have a friend who is expecting a baby next month and so I'm going to try to find time to knit another pair of the trusty booties for her as a present! Looks like I have quite a lot of knitting to get into this month :-)

In progress...

I don't have any finished projects to describe since the last post. However I have started making a baby cardigan using some of the beautiful merino-silk yarn I bought at Purl Soho while in New York recently. It is the most lovely yarn to work with, so soft and silky and easy to knit. I am making a 'garter stitch cardigan' using a pattern from 'Simple knits for cherished babies' by Erika Knight. The yarn is called Olivewood, by Manos del Uruguay, hand-dyed...a mix of blue and brown shades.
Also, in other news...our passionfruit vines have just produced their first fruit...I counted 10 this week. Very exciting. I had planted two varieties and they are intertwined so I'm not sure if the fruits are all from the one variety or a mix of the two. One is the typical black passionfruit, the other was a Panama gold, so now I just have to wait for them to ripen and find out which variety the fruit belong to :-)

New York!

I have just returned from a fantastic week in New York! I have never been to NYC before, and I was quite surprised how much I loved the time I spent in this city compared to any other city I've visited in the US before. The city is full of amazing architecture - old buildings and cobbled streets mixed in with ultra modern skyscrapers. It was the perfect time to visit too, as all the spring flowers were just starting to bloom - terrace gardens, curbside flower boxes and parks were full of daffodils, tulips and many other bulbs, and there were numerous streets and parks lined with gorgeous trees covered in magnolia or cherry blossoms. I spent most of the time in NYC attending and presenting at a science conference which was amazing, followed by a couple of days free time to explore the city. I spent a lot of my free time walking the streets, sometimes with a specific destination in mind, other times just wandering where ever my feet took me, taking in the general feel of the city. Some of the highlights for me were: Central Park (beautiful place), the view from the top of the Rockefeller building, seeing the Lion King in a Broadway theatre overlooking Time Square, the Chelsea Markets (gourmet cheeses, breads, meats, chocolates, coffee, seafood....mmm food heaven), the Highline (elevated old railway line converted to walking path and gardens with views over the city and the dock lands), the Met Museum, the Explorer's Club headquarters....I also visited one of the most awesome craft shops ever, "Purl Soho" (associated with the Purl Bee blog), which was just full of every imaginable colour of beautiful hand-dyed wool, and quilting fabric etc. I could have spent all day (and a lot of money) in that shop. I selected a few really lovely yarns (merino and silk blends) which I can hardly wait to start knitting something special with.
The time passed so quickly in New York, leaving me with still many things to see and do and eat, so hopefully I will return there at some point and take up where I left off this time. Here's a few photos from my wanderings in NYC.