On the needles...

The train commute project of the day is the Knitty.com Jackyll & Hide hat/mask. I'm making it in fairly hideous acrylic, purely because I'm not likely to wear it very often. Fortunately the yarn's not too squeaky and it was very cheap, so I shouldn't really complain... although it would be far nicer if it were baby llama or something.

Anyway, I managed 4" of 2x2 ribbing and 2" of stockinette today, so I think I'm on target to finish it in time for a friend's party on Saturday.

Blocking Ishbels

This pattern drives me insane, but I love the finished objects. It's Ishbel, by Ysolda Teague and this morning I've been re-blocking the two I've made so far on my new (and very cheap) blocking mats.

The light blue one is made with Artesano Alpaca 4-ply and the darker one is Araucania Ranco Multy sock yarn. My advice to anyone attempting to make one is to count every single row and put a lifeline in on every purl row. That way if you screw up you haven't got far to frog.

(the blocking mats came from Argos and are sold as children's play mats - the package says 'Pink Play Mats... colour may vary')