Catching up... and an apology

Wow, I really must apologise for the last post - it was pretty tasteless, actually, I might even delete it (but there was an awful lot of feathers). I was being particularly random but then, it's been that kind of a week really. I've had a migraine hanging about - think I must have been a bit more sleep deprived than I realised :s

So, what have I been up to then? Well not much knitting that's for sure, in fact I've had a fairly unproductive couple of weeks. Too much champagne at Stitch & Bitch perhaps? Actually, that's a story all in itself. Maybe later. So, back to catching up, hmm like I said not much knitting but I have managed to do some more on the painting for Hazel. In fact, it's fairly close to being finished. There's a picture somewhere - will have to find out where I saved it.

I still haven't got any further on the Mystery Stole and to be honest, I'm still in two minds whether to complete it or not. There's a part of me that doesn't like to leave things unfinished but when I'm not completely happy with the way things are working out, I find it hard to get on and get them done. I still am not entirely happy with the yarn so this is one project that could go either way. In the meantime it languishes in the "really must finish this at some point" pile.

The one thing that continues to grow is my Chevron jacket, I'm 2/3 up the second front now which just leaves the last sleeve to do before sewing up time. I'm getting quite excited about it as it's incredibly snuggly and as the weather's so changeable at the moment, it shouldn't be too long before I'll be able to wear it.

I found myself signing up for yet another knitalong the other week. More of a challenge than anything DianeM asked the AY girls whether we were ready to "beat the steek?" and has provided us with a tutorial otherwise known as the Steek-a-long. The final part was posted this weekend but I have only just completed the first part, my swatch. Here it is in all it's glory, I'm pretty pleased with myself even if the tension did get a bit iffy around the sides. I don't care though, I have already learned two new things. Fair Isle and Magic loop (which is also part of the reason my tension went squiffy). I have had a couple of attempts at fair isle in the past but they've never been very successful. For some reason though it just clicked this time and I even managed to hold one yarn in each hand. The yarn definately makes a big difference, previously I've tried it with acrylic yarns but this time I had Shetland which is slightly sticky and really hold together well. The next step of course is to chop it up. So, can I beat the steek? Only time will tell but the scissors will be coming out tonight!