Garterlac dishcloth and a little hat thief

This is the garterlac dishcloth from Criminy Jickets. I found the pattern and thought I'd give it a go, because Chi (this is my husband's online pseudo) liked the Danica scarf at Knitty, and I'd never tried entrelac before. Well, if entrelac is as easy as its garter stitch variant, I like it! I'm especially pleased with this dishcloth because I like the colours - with the changing directions of the knitting, it reminds me of waves on the sea. Also, we needed a new dishcloth, so that worked out well.
Kittycat found my beret and was practising putting it on. After a few tries she managed it, and looked far too adorable in it. I especially liked this picture of her looking très française. I think she actually has an imaginary glass of vin rouge in that right hand. Mind you, I think most French people have better fashion sense than she is exhibiting here!

Using my head

Made this beret out of Twilley's Freedom Spirit - took me 5 days, and this was the week I returned to work after mat leave! Very quick knit. I love this yarn too - the second photo shows the colours quite well.
And here are some photos of my foray into Fair Isle design. I ordered yarn a few weeks back from Jamieson and Smith. After looking at the yarns in real life, I chose these colours and made a design on paper (It's for a vest/waistcoat for Betsy, by the way. I bought her a t-shirt that is dark grey with a turquoisy stripe, and I wanted to girly it up a bit by putting those colours together with some pinks in a little matching vest).

It needs some reworking, because although I like my pattern, it doesn't "pop" out against the background greys as much as I'd like. I read the article in the Winter 2006 Knitty by Julie Theaker, which recommends looking at one's colour designs in black and white to see whether the values of the colours look pleasing together; when I scanned my sample in black and white (bottom picture) it became really obvious why the design wasn't looking good. I had put colours together that were way too close in value.

The upshot is that I'm going to order a couple more of the undyed wool shades, so that I can have a little more variation in the backgrounds; I'm also going to switch around the backgrounds I already have so I get a little more contrast. I do think the design has potential though - watch this space for developments.

Cat and mouse

Mousie pants are DONE!

The tail cracks me up. They are a bit long yet, but that is fine.


This is one of the last photos of Kittycat with our cat Minette. Minette left our home today after scratching Kittycat's face (this happened BEFORE we dressed our daughter up as a mouse, I hasten to add). We're sad, but we're sure she'll find a good home soon.
Here is my (probably) needlecase in Kureyon, post-felting. You can still see the stitches quite clearly - in fact there are still holes in it where the yarn was spun more tightly. I put it through 2 hot washes (taking it out before the rinse cycle), and did some hand felting too on the bits that didn't felt so well. I am thinking that trying felting when the only machine I have access to is a coin operated one might not be the most practical idea. I'll probably give it another attempt next time I'm at my parents' to see if it will tighten up a bit. I like the feel of the fabric though.