Sea Foam

I love poking around charity shops, especially the book sections. But it is quite surprising how rarely I find any knitting books. I did find this brilliant Vogue book for only a few pounds. It has big sections on designing garments, and pages and pages of stitches and techniques. Happy evening reading!

I was gifted two balls of Noro Taiyo, which is Aran weight, and decided that it would make a little shoulder shawl for my mum. Sometimes wool is so beautiful that it can just speak for itself, and doesn't need a fancy pattern. She is a big fan of green and yellow shades, so it seemed perfect.

So I have just knitted a big block of Sea Foam stitch, which I learned from my new book. I am not certain if I can count this as lacey knitting, although it is close. My mum came to stay earlier in the summer, and I had hoped to photograph her wearing her new shawl. But it took longer than I had planned, so I was frantically knitting and running in ends in the back of the car on her journey home.

Butterflies and Flowers

I had a lovely time in the garden of the holiday cottage we stayed in on the edge of Dartmoor, photographing the flowers and butterflies. There were just so many beautiful flowers, and more butterflies than I think I have seen in the wild. But trying to catch them on camera was much harder. My family thought I was slightly bonkers, as I would sit quietly in the garden, hoping that a butterfly would settle for long enough and open its wings for me to focus in on it. Perhaps a few generations ago I would have had a butterfly net and pins, but it is much nicer just trying to catch them on camera.
 

I think that my photos here include a Red Admiral, Tortoiseshell, and Fritillary. There were also some Peacock Butterflies that I didn't manage to photograph. 
 

This final photograph went wrong, but I have included it because it is reminds me of our holiday.

"Heigh Ho says Anthony Rowley ..."

These little frogs are knitted from my new pattern. They are made from small amounts of 4ply sock wool, and I think are a great way of making something cute from those little bits of leftover yarn. (Well I think they are cute, and hope you agree with me.)

I have been working on Mr Frog for quite a few weeks, and I don't know if I am getting slower or just more pernickety. The frogs legs were the main worry, as you can see from the photo above they are long, but frogs' legs are really, really long when they are extended. I have spent quite a while looking at frog anatomy pictures. (Be warned if you type frog legs into google you come across a lot of French cookery pages.) I wanted him to be just right, so his front and hind legs are the right length, with the right number of joints and toes. So you can keep him as a swimming/jumping frog, or if you want him to be permanently sitting I explain how to fold his legs and secure with a few extra stitches.

The frogs are photographed in my friend's garden. I have been cat sitting, so each day frogs and camera have come with me. It is a really beautiful pond, and has some real frogs and newts in it, although I haven't been able to photograph them. I did think it would be rather cool if knitted frog could come face to face with a real one.

Like most of my patterns the pieces are knitted flat, with some short rows to get curves. You will need some doublepoint needles, as there are just a few rows of icord knitting. I have used black beads for the eyes, as I thought they looked realistic, although you should use safety eyes or a knitted knot if giving the frog to a child. The speckles on the frogs are also made with french knots. The pattern is available on ravelry and Craftsy, and will be in all the other usual places later today.

Water Lily

Blue 2CV

This blue hand-knitted 2CV has flown off my needles, and is now with its new owner in The Netherlands. Despite a lot of the rest of my country wanting to sever connections with Europe, I think the love of the 2CV just brings us closer together.