Cool..quite literally!

Woke up this morning and this had happened:

I got all excited because I do love a bit of snow, but alas it was all but gone after an hour or so. The pouring rain it left behind it was really quite horrible, but at least we got a little bit of snow to look at for a while.

While I had my camera out I finally remembered to take some photos of the Slouchy Cover Up that I have been working on. Progress seems a little slower now that I have increased for the sleeves but that is just because the rows are now longer. I found a hole yesterday and I have no idea how it came to be there, but I have now sort of fixed it. I can see where it was, but no one else would be able to spot it. Dropping the stitches down to correct it was a bit of a pain due to the fluffy nature of the yarn but it is done now. My main problem I am having knitting with the Kidsilk Haze actually has nothing to do with the yarn itself, I'm really enjoying knitting with it, but my cat Max also loves it. Despite the reputation cats have with yarn, my two are usually not bothered by it at all. Max will occasionally try to catch a needle of the working strand of yarn as it flies past her head (photos) but with the Kidsilk I keep catching her with the entire ball sticking out of her face! I'm working with two strands held together for this project, one white ball and one pink and it is the pink ball I have to keep rescuing so I wonder if there is something super yummy for cats in the dye? That little problem aside, I'm really hoping that this top turns out great, I wasn't sure how the two colours would turn out together but I like the effect. Basically it just looks pink and it is only when you look really closely that you can see the strand of white running through each stitch. I'm hoping that this will just give the finished garment a bit of a sheen which I wouldn't have got if I had just used two stands of pink. We'll see.

I have made a couple of knitting related purchases in the last few days, one is part of a grand plan which shall remain secret for the time being. I have also ordered a Knit Pick Option started kit. I couldn't really justify the entire kit, considering the time of year and the fact that I already have a perfectly good Denise kit. Unfortunately I have found that the although Denise needles are a brilliant idea, but for some projects plastic needles just won't do it. The kit I've ordered has just 3 sets of needle tip and I think 3 cables, but I think it'll be nice to have them and extra needle tips and cords are really reasonable and I only have to pay for the ones that I will actually use. I'll let you know how I get on with them. i have also ordered a copy of Stefanie Japel's Glam Knits and I am really hoping that arrives today. i have seen some photos of the projects in there and they look fantastic. i have purchased some of her patterns from her website before and really like them so I'm quite excited to get this book. The first ever sweater I made was her Bad Penny. I learnt a lot of lessons from that sweater, mainly to do with yarn substitution and how I cannot wear an entire garment made from 100% acrylic! Essentially the neckline was far too wide and kept falling off my shoulder and it could have done with blocking to make it fit better, but obviously acrylic doesn't lend itself to that too well. Plus as a slightly sweaty person, entirely covering myself in acrylic was a recipe for disaster and stinkyness. However the pattern was really easy to follow and certainly made me realise that making sweaters was certainly something I would try again. Fingers crossed that I can write something tomorrow about what I think of Glam Knits.