Two Weekend FOs

I never got round to posting last weekend's FO because we didn't taker any good pictures until this week, so I have a couple of things to share this week.


Pattern: Pinwheel Cape by Teva Durham, from Vogue Knitting Winter 2007/8
Yarn: The Precious: Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb in Georgetown; a bit over 2 skeins
Needle: 5.5mm bamboo DPNs
Mods: I didn't like the layout of the cape, so I knitted 10 pinwheels instead of the suggested seven and stitched them into a more traditional shawl shape - a big V.

It's so lovely, I can't stop looking at it. And until I put this dress on for the pictures I was planning to knit a little red cardigan to wear with said dress for friend's wedding in 3 weeks - but now I think I might just wear this shawl instead. The additional bonus to this is that I'd have to purchase a new pair of shoes. And maybe even a bag.


This shawl reinforced the magic of blocking to me. The pinwheels were curled up and looked very unpromising to begin with, so I pinned them out and lightly steamed them with an iron before sewing them together - semi-magic - and then pinned the whole shawl out and steam blocked it toroughly using my favourite wet towel/iron method. Et voila - one very flat shawl. Amazing. Every time I do it, I think it won't work, and every time, it does.

And now for something completely different....



Pattern: Baby Ugg Boots by Candi Jensen
Yarn: Berocco Suede and Sirdar Snowflake DK
Needle: 3.5mm and 3.75mm
Mods: None really, except I held the Snowflake tripled over when I stitched it over the instep and down the sides.

I knitted the bigger size to start with and it came out gigantic and deformed, so I knitted the next one with the smaller suggested needles, and switched back down to 3.5mm when I got past the decreases, and came out with something approxiamtely baby-foot-sized. They were superquick an hour for each one, plus extra time for the stitching of the "seams".

Here is Benny trying to get in on the action. They totally don't fit him.



Annoying thing about this yarn is, I haven't found anywhere in the UK that sells it, or an equivalent. The shipping from WEBS was around $9 which is reasonable for transtalntic airmail, but when it hadn't arrived in 2 weeks I guessed why not - and sure enough, it got held by customs. £4ish in VAT. £8 for the privilege of the PO telling me there was tax to pay. I really, really resent having to pay the latter.