Please welcome Lara!

This is what became of Mariah ...

And here is what this Bendigo Alpaca is now becoming... the Lara Pinwheel Sweater from Elann... really loving it. Easy, interesting enough, and growing quickly (at this stage at least).


Work is very full on. Working til midnight most days, and on weekends. Since they've actually put the book I'm reviewing up for pre-release, I don't see why I shouldn't post a link to it... Have tested 50 puzzles out of 300. 250 puzzles and 3 weeks to go 0_o

I am loving it, though :)

ETA : I'm testing these puzzles, as a Technical Reviewer, not writing them from scratch ... so I have to do each puzzle, while considering how hard /easy/fair it is, suggest improvements, and make corrections and so on. Plus make 'expert comments' on the text of the book.

From little things...

SO proud of Prime Minister Rudd, and the direction things are heading in here. At LONG LAST.

Mariah has been frogged, so no going back now!

Back to work - too much to do! Argh!

ETA : Am NOT getting gauge for Ivy.... I'm down to 3mm needles and after washing and blocking this second swatch, it's still too big! I don't want to knit a whole cardigan on 2.5mm needles! Waaaah!

I keep coming back to Lara, so perhaps that is the way to go after all, and I should just embrace the floppiness. I could start afresh, with the right sort of thicker wool, for a more tailored cardy later on... Argh.

Ivy?

Argh, this is hard! I'm thinking more and more that using 100% alpaca was the biggest problem with my Mariah - it doesn't have the spring and strength of wool, and the whole thing is just too drapey and floppy. And I can't bear the thought of starting another nice top and having the floppy fibre not work again.

I've spent far too long on Ravelry, and using their Pattern Search facility, have come up with only a few cardigans that are on gauge (20-24 sts : 4") and in 8ply / DK, with not floppy sleeves, and in nearly pure alpaca. I think IVY is about the only option.