Catch up time

Hello again! This is a flying visit, as tomorrow, Mr JK and I are heading off for a fortnight in Greece. It's one of our favourite places, a tiny village on the island of Kos. We sort out our own flights and acoommodation - no package holidays here. It's very unspoilt and typically Greek. We've been going there for eight years now, and are welcomed back like old friends! Bliss! So tomorrow morning we take the bus from Norwich to Heathrow, and then fly to Athens, getting there at 2am on Saturday morning. Then we get the first flight of the day from Athens to Kos, arriving around 6am. I can't wait! All my knitting projects are sorted and packed, plus socks for the bus trip and hopefully the flight too. I'm taking a couple of baby knits, plus two pairs of socks and some lace. Reckon I've got enough?! I've yet to discover a LYS in Kos, so I'd better not run out! You'll have to call back in two weeks for an update.
I have a couple of finished projects to show you. Firstly, a baby cardigan and hat, knitted in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. There are no buttons sewn on yet, as I don't know if the baby is a boy or girl. I used my newly learnt finishing techniques from Anne Hanson's class at KnitNation, and am delighted with how the cardigan looks.

I'm dead impressed with how well the stripes line up! Using mattress stitch and just going under one ladder at a time was what Anne told us to do, and she was right! This is one of the side seams.

This is the sleeve set in.

The little hat I knitted in the round rather than have to join it, and learnt how to do a jogless join, so that the stripes matched up. I used the method shown here for travelling jogless stripes, and it worked pretty well.

Here's the two together. Once the baby is born, I'll show you the buttons I've used. I have the most perfect aqua hearts if it's a girl. Not too sure what I'll use if it's a boy! Might just mean a trip to my local sewing shop, which has a very good selection of buttons!

I also finished my Jaywalker socks. I do like this pattern. The yarn I used was a Lana Grossa one with soya in it, and it's really soft. I hope that the socks will wear well!

I've been knitting my garter stitch silky scarf this week, and have done about half of it. It is so light and soft, even Mr JK commented on how nice it looked! I was hoping to have lined my crochet cotton bag to take on holiday, but just haven't got round to it. Never mind, it'll keep for next year!
Before I go, I must just share with you my amazing swap parcel. I took part in a swap on Ravelry, and was paired up with Nancy in Pennsylvania. This week her parcel arrived, and what an adventure it was unwrapping it all!

Where do I begin? Well, there were six balls of cotton for making dishcloths, along with two pattern books and a couple of dishcloths that Nancy had made, just for starters! The latest Interweave magazine, three sewing patterns for knitting bags and needle cases, lots of sweets, a huge bag of Kool-Aid for a bit of fun yarn dyeing, three beautiful skeins of yarn .........

The pink skein is a local yarn for Nancy - Kraemer Sterling Silk and Silver. It has actual silver sparkling in it! It's too special for socks - this yarn needs to be seen! So I think it will become a shawl or scarf. You can never have too many, in my view! The multi-coloured yarn comes from Wyoming, and I think that I might make something felted with it. The colours are really pretty. The undyed skein is from Mountain Meadow Wool, and is beautifully soft. There were lots more goodies in the parcel, as you can see from the photo. A really useful gift was the yarn-tainer. Nancy specifically bought it for me because she knew I was going away on holiday, and thought it would be useful to keep my yarn sand-free! What a brilliant idea. It's packed, ready with yarn! Nancy is also making me something knitted, and that should be arriving after I get back from holidays! It's been such a fun swap, I'm looking forward to the next one in the group!
Right then, I shall love you and leave you now, as I still have a few bits and pieces to sort out before tomorrow. See you in two weeks! xxx