Bits and bobs

I won a prize!! I must have entered one of the free giveaways on the Let's Knit website, and had an email from them just before Christmas, telling me I'd won a prize! My prize arrived this week - 3 buttons from the Button Company, made from coconut. I particularly like the two floral ones. I have squirreled them away for later use!

I've finished the first of my Lunchtime socks this week, and have cast on the 2nd one straight away - no SSS for me! It's my usual, plain sock pattern, but I don't think that the yarn needs anything else. Beautiful, rainbow colours. Look............

Besides which, I didn't want a complicated pattern to have to concentrate on at school. Here is sock number one.

I've also started work on my Salsa cardigan again. It's a free pattern on the Artesano Alpaca website. I'm using Mirasol Miski in a gorgeous shade of blue, as I didn't fancy knitting with the yarn doubled, as suggested in the pattern. I could foresee lots of dropped stitches and much cursing doing it that way! I cast on the back way back in the summer, and had got as far as the armholes. But when I picked it up, I spotted that I'd made a mistake setting up the pattern rows, and even though it wasn't particulary obvious, I knew it was wrong, so had to frog it back to the rib! But it's gone well this week, and the back is now finished, and one front just started. The yarn is absolutely lovely to work with, so soft and buttery. I'm going to try to finish it in the next 4 weeks, as Mr Josiekitten and I are off to Krakow, in Poland, for a long weekend at the start of half term, and I think it would make a very useful addition to my wardrobe, in potentially quite chilly conditions! This is how the back looks.....

I'm toying with the idea of making the sleeves three-quarter length rather than full length, as per the pattern. I'll make that decision when I get to that point. Let me know what you think!