Can I have a rewind on this weekend, please? It’s not been bad, per se (in fact, I’m feeling rather chipper!) it’s just that the things I wanted to achieve have been a little tricksy. Take this post, for example. I’ve already written it once, but half of it disappeared. The strange thing is that it was the FIRST half! So, I’m writing it all again….

The other thing I wanted to achieve was a tutorial on Log Cabin squares. I have wanted to do a log cabin blanket for a long time, but ‘work’  meant that I just didn’t have the time for any ‘me’ projects. I’ve decided that I need to take time out to knit for myself, for relaxation, for stress relief, or just to reconnect and so when I received some Hayfield DK with Wool, that’s exactly what I did! I had one ball of every shade, so I had a lot to choose from and the Log Cabin was an ideal project. I looked at all the colours together as a whole, and knew that some wouldn’t work in the blanket – white and cream were ‘shouty’ and the orange clashed a little; the black and grey pulled the colours back a little, so I was left with 9 colours in total.

I decided to do a square with 9 ‘logs’, so I could use each yarn equally (I hope!), to maximise the size of the blanket. To achieve this, I picked an order for the colours and did the first square as follows: light pink, purple, rose, maroon, teal, light blue, navy, olive and brown. For the second square, I started on the second colour, adding the first colour to the end, so it went: purple, rose, maroon, teal, light blue, navy, olive, brown and light pink. The third square started on rose, the fourth on maroon, and so on. Once I have completed all the squares, I am planning to edge them in black, then seam them together for a blanket.

Anyway, today I sat down to prepare for a tutorial and duly prepared the fabric, shot it and wrote out the steps, all of which took the best part of the afternoon, made a coffee then sat down here.

Which is where it all fell apart. Unsurprisingly, it seems that sheets of A4 paper, a desk lamp and the lid of a plastic container for a light box and a (very old) i-phone do not emulate professional photography equipment, which is what I am used to using! Here’s the painful evidence:

And, believe me, these were some of the better shots.

So, instead of writing up the tutorial I have spent HOURS preparing, I am off to stalk DSLR kits on ebay, and will (thankfully, I hear you say!) save the tutorial for another day.

Knitting without guilt

Having finally ‘given’ myself permission to knit without guilt, I have had a great time looking through patterns on Ravelry – there are some beauties there! I have, for a long time now, had my eye on ‘Pretty as a Peacock‘ by Jae Koscierzynski (aka Some Knitting Required), and while it’s stunning, I am not sure that I am ready to spend THAT much time knitting without guilt just yet – especially when a friend reminded me that I should be working on my own patterns, not someone else’s! But sometimes I just want to kick back and let someone else take control. Yes, really, I do. It’s nice to just follow a pattern, trust that it works and enjoy the knitting. Not to be disheartened, I found ‘His Golden Lair‘ by Kourtney Robinson, which is much more feasible and ticks all the boxes!

Copyright: Kourtney Robinson (with permission and thanks!)

But, someone else pointed out that I still have my Sylvi to finish (yes, thank you for the reminder!) so perhaps I could work on that instead?

I clearly have too many choices, and know I have too-little-brain to decide at the moment, so for now I am just content to work on my blanket. I guess I am still happy in Garter St territory after all!

Until next time,

pw x