Nice New Things

Christmas is coming early, and I've already started my first present project! It's the Danica pattern from Knitty that I was thinking about last week. Now, I usually find that scarves are just about the most boring thing in the world to knit, but this one is an entrelac scarf, and that makes it much more interesting. You only ever knit ten stitches at a time, and you really just have to trust in Jesse Loesberg's brilliant pattern without thinking too much about it, so that you get this...The other nice new thing in my life is a very exciting gadget for my iPod. It's called Nike+ and it is just about the most funky little gadget in the world. You simply plug it into the bottom of your iPod, go out for a run, plug your iPod into your laptop when you get back and it gives you a graph of how far you've been and how fast you've run. It's brilliant! It even tells you how you're getting on during your run. I can certainly see myself getting out and about more often. (And that's no bad thing at all!)

Finished Flicca

The day is finally here, and although I was beginning to think that it would never happen, I am delighted to announce that my Flicca cardigan is finally finished. It's taken just over fourteen months (in which time I have finished quite a few other projects) and I really think that it's been worth it. I still need to sew some velvet ribbon around the collar and rib to strengthen it and to tidy it up a bit, and I also need to block it. (I hope that the kitchen table is going to be big enough...) I'm really looking forward to wearing it, when the weather turns cooler. I can just picture myself curled up on the sofa in Flicca and my pyjamas with the cat and a good book!

This now means that having finished one project I can start another. I still have four balls left over from Flicca of the Sirdar Click, so I've just checked out on Ravelry what I could use them for and I think I've settled on a really interesting scarf from Knitty for my dad called Danica. I think that he'll really like it, and it looks a lot more interesting to knit up than a plain scarf.

I spent quite a lot of time yesterday looking for a new project for nine balls of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4ply. So far, it has attempted to become Ysolda Teague's beautiful Arisaig and a very pretty lace-knit tea top by Erika Knight, which was featured in the first issue of The Knitter magazine. I think that part of the problem is that the wool is so lovely and delicate that I really want it to turn into something that I am going to love to wear. I did find a gorgeous design by Helga Isager called Olive, but I just can't track the pattern down anywhere, so I guess I'm back to the drawing board. In the meantime, I shall keep on with the blanket for my study. It's probably going to take me another fourteen months to get this one finished (and goodness only knows how much wool) but it'll be very satisfying to make something so huge, and such a great stash-burner!
Speaking of which, I've really been enjoying a couple of knitting podcasts, most notably Stash and Burn by Jenny and Nicole, which is brilliant. It's really nice to hear people talking about patterns that I'm familiar with and their easy banter makes 20 minutes on the treadmill at the gym fly by! I've also liked Cast On by Brenda Dayne which is great. It's interesting, informative and unusually, it's recorded in the UK. Number one on my iPod (joint with BBC Radio 4's The Archers) has got to be Threadbanger. It is an absolutely brilliant video podcast that makes you want to make every single project that the feature. It's on twice a week but as far as I'm concerned if it was on everyday, that would be just fine!

I'll just round up this week with a couple of reading recommendations. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is every bit as good as The Shadow of the Wind, and is an intriguing thriller, that will definitely stand up to a second reading. I also read the second title in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy The Girl Who Played with Fire which was almost as good as the first title, no mean feat as I loved the first title. One other series that I've really gotten stuck into over the last couple of weeks is the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare, which gets a special mention for being gripping, glamorous and perfectly trashy! Brilliant!