Blog was playing up earlier in the week. Hopefully David has fixed it all up :)

Well, my Secret Pal has not just sent me one parcel in the last week or so. Noooo, she sent me 2 :D I am being spoilt rotten!

First she sent me the wonderful Tofutsies. I have never knit with that yarn before. It is absolutely lovely. I feel another set of Tidal Wave socks coming along. Then she sent me some Regia in a gorgeous grey colourway. Again, I have never knit with Regia before. I think that the reason is because I would've had to buy 2 balls of yarn for one pair of socks and 2 balls always seems more than one - even though the weights are the same! Daft, I know. My SP is off to Dublin soon, so I hope you have a wonderful time there.

In other news, I scrapped my Hexagon blankie. Yes. Well, it was funny because the edges puckered and I didn't have a crochet hook large enough to stop the puckering. So, I went on Ravelry (oh, how I heart thee) and searched their blankie options and came across the yo-yo afghan. There are no pictures on the website, just some really funky ones on Ravelry. So thought that this was a good option.

The 'yo-yos' are tiny - about 2 inches across, if even that. However, that means that there is a hell of a lot of weaving of ends. Good thing about the blankie, there is no seaming up. I love that!

There are lots of afghans that I want to make though (damn you Ravelry!). I came across this stained glass blanket from 50 Sensational Afghans and Throws, which is stunning. The Super Mario Afghan is wonderful too. And the pattern is free!!! Daisy Looms is particularly funky also. And again, free!

So many afghans and so little time (and use for them!).

On Monday I had a card through the door saying that I had a parcel waiting for me. How exciting! On Tuesday I toddled off to the post office and was greeted by a lovely box all the way from the USA! Doubly exciting! And then the third dollop of excitement was when I got to open the box at home. I had some help, as you can imagine, from the nosiest cats in existence.

"Ooooooh, what's in there?" asks Charlie and Suzy.

"Hands off!" shouts Suzy. "It's mine."

Actually, I think you will find it was addressed to me, not a Suzy cat!

"Have you got everything out of the box?" enquires Missy from the sidelines. Poor Missy is a feardy-cat. In all senses of the phrase. She always stands at the peripheral and doesn't get as involved incase it is scary.

But I had got everything out of the box and what a delightful package it was.

The gorgeous parcel contained lots of lovely goodies, including some Cascade Fixation, which will make some yummy summer socks. And the earrings are simply gorgeous. The kids at school have all been complimenting them. They are so lovely.

I did laugh at the card, though, as it said that these were beach goodies to kick start summer! Ha! Summer?! We have had rain all week. I haven't even smelt summery weather in aaaaageeeees. And if it doesn't come soon, I shall be devastated. At least it will be sunny in Rome. We are off there in just over 2 weeks time. Yaaaaaaaay :D

Thank you Secret Pal. The package was delightful and I am having a fab SP12 :D

What is it indeed? Poor little cat.

Missy is rather curious. And beside that there is this:

It is, of course, the start of my Hexagon Blanket, as shown in a previous entry. I managed to get a whole lot of Rowan Cashcotton DK from the John Lewis sale. Yesterday I spent the evening winding it into little cakes, all ready to start. And today I had a little go with the yarn. The yarn is going to be quite taxing to work with but I think it is just becaouse it feels rather different. Once I get into it, it will be fine. The colours are all rather bright so I am going to end up with something as fab as the Babette I completed earlier in the year. Another plus of the cotton is that this is summer so it will be lovely to work with. And the other good thing about the Hex blankie is that it doesn't need seaming together! Bonus. I 'ate seaming.

But that's not the only thing on the go at the moment.

It looks rather like I am being surgical with it. However, as it is starting to look like an elephant (and not a sperm) it is needing a name. It is going to be a girl elephant and Ellie seems to predictable, IMO. Any suggestions.

And man, this tennis is tense.

How delicious do these colours look?! It is going to be a hat for a colleague. I can't wait. I've never knit with Manos del Uruguay before :D

Pattern: Percy Bag by Cheryl Niamath, from knitty.com Autumn 2007
Yarn: Patons 100% Mercerized Cotton DK, 2 shades of blue
Needles: 3.5mm straights

This was a relatively straightfoward knit. There was a lot of seed sttich and ribbing and it had the longest strap ever! Although, in actual length it isn't as long as I expected it to be.

The yarn is a good, sturdy yarn, as you would expect from mercerized cotton. And it is just perfect for a bag. Finishing off was rather fiddly, as expected. The inner pocket is a shade of darker blue in the same yarn. I put a snap on it also, so that it can shut. I was really pleased with how well I managed to line it and the yarn for the lining is just perfect.

I learnt some new techniques while making this bag. Mainly the i-cord bind-off which took ages but looks really good, and the i-cord edging, which is also really fussy but not as effective, methinks. It does make a really clean edging but I think I did it rather loose.

Either way, I do really like the bag. Don't know if I would make it again, though.

In other news, yesterday I ventured into town. It was the first day of the John Lewis sale :D I love the JL sale. I managed to get some rather nice yarn at bargainous prices!

I never realised before that I was so partial to red before! This wonderful bundle includes some glorious kid silk night and some baby llama stuff that is just gorgeous.

So, all in all, good weekend :)

I have finished Female Elijah's head. I shan't take a photograph as, due to the colour and the fact that it is a head with a trunk, it looks rather like a sperm. Sorry, but it's true.

I have been rather good with my blog recently. I have been making more of a concerted effort to update it. And I am not just updating for the sake of things - I keep getting ideas of things I want to blog about. And this pleases me :)

Anyway, SP12.

What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

I think that this is probably too much as I would never in a million years knit my way through all that. I have 3 totes with stash. One tote is my everyday sock, small project yarn. One tote has some larger quantities of yarn (eg sweather worth amounts - I have 2/3 lots of sweater amounts of yarn) and the other has bits and pieces and needles and the like. I have a rather modest stash that is mainly sock yarn but that's always nice to buy!

I think the perfect amount of stash is when you have a variety of different weights, a variety of different colours and enough for a few different small projects. Enough so that when you spot something on Rav, you can go and check and start straightaway. However, I do quite like buying for special projects. I love choosing yarn specifically for projects and whenever I am about to start something I like to have a look around for the perfect yarn.

I think I am near the perfect amount of stash. Not a heeeeuuuuuge amount like some people seem to have (where do they put it all?!) but a modest amount and can yank something out for that impulsive cast on :) I also have to confess that most of my yarn is impulse buys due to sales. Very little of my yarn was purchased full price. I can't resist bargains.

And a John Lewis sales that starts on Saturday will assist with getting that magical amount of yarn, methinks.

So there you have it!

A while ago I purchased Crochet Motif Item by a person whose name I can't write! I bought it with the sole purpose of getting the pattern for the hexagon blanket. So, whilst I had nothing on the needles I thought I would try a hexagon on some random acrylic yarn I had lying about.

The pattern is written in Japanese, which was extremely daunting. However, life was made easier as they wrote their patterns using symbols rather than abbreviations. And as well as symbols, they have a really comprehensive stitch guide at the back, so it was easy to actually match up the stitches to the symbols. I don't need to know any Japanese at all :D

The hex is quite funky. It comes up rather quickly and looks rather striking. It puckers slightly at the edges because the hexes are all joined on the go, through some chained stitches in the outside round. They wouldn't be so noticeable when other hexes are joined in.

I love it :D I am already planning my hex blanket. But I'm not buying any more yarn. Not at the moment. Not til after our Italian holiday next month.

After I crocheted my hexagon, I cast on a new project.

It is another Elijah! This is a female Elijah though. It is going to be for a friend's babba, who is due in September. They are having a wee girl so the elephant is going to be female. I wanted a really nice baby pink colour for it, but couldn't actually find anything suitable in John Lewis in town. So I have gone for a nice, neutral cream and will embellish with a baby pink ribbon, methinks. But I do love this pattern. And I love that it is a seam-less pattern.

On a similar but different note, does any of the Sheffielders know when the John Lewis sale starts? They normally have one around this time of year and my google-fu is failing me ...

Well, Percy is all knitted up. I just have the unenviable task of putting all of this together!

At least the strap of doom is complete. I do need to give it a little block first, I reckon. Nothing too spectacular. With a little bit of steam, methinks. I just need to find my iron first ... I have decided that as wonderful as cotton can be, I am not a big fan of it. I think I will make it all up next weekend. I don't want to do anymore of it today.

It took me ages to find some suitable lining for it. Hobbycraft had nowt, John Lewis had nowt (they did have a really nice, helpful assistant, though) and as a last resort before internet I tried Dunelm Mill. They had lots of different options and I purchased 3 pieces of fabric. However, the snowflakes win.

Summer of Socks 2008 started yesterday. I have knit no socks by today. On the Ravelry group, people have already finished their first socks. Not me. I haven't lifted my DPNs. I may start a sock tonight. I haven't decided. I quite fancy crocheting something. No idea what. Or toy knitting. I am in a bizarre, possible startitis mood.

I think some delicious scones and homemade (not by me!) lemon curd may aid my decision.

Today I had some lovely post. I made my first etsy purchase the other day and bought a knitting cube by Schrodinger. Today it arrived and I love love love it :D

It is everything I could possibly want in a small projects bag. It is compact, easy to carry around, wonderfully made, beautiful material and I could go on! It's just perfect. Most of all, it is Suzy proof, so my needles are now safe. I put it to use straightaway. It is currently housing the longest strap in the history of strap: the strap from Percy.

As you can see, it is a rather long strap.

And it gets longer:

And longer still:

And it's still not finished!

Charlie was most curious about this funny bag with this long thing coming out of it.

I think I shall be getting a lot of use out of it :D

A few of you may've remembered at the beginning of the year my post regarding some children's knitting. For those of you who have forgotten or are new to my blog, I was working with 5 children knitting scarves. They hadn't got very far previously and their efforts were hit and miss. But it was their efforts and they were so proud of them.

Well, the above photo shows their finished efforts. I did a little bit to finish them all off, but the children did lots themselves. And they are so proud of their efforts. One girl is even knitting at home as she loved it.

It was so wonderful working with these children and sharing my enthusiasm. And even if only one of these children picks up the needles again, it was completely and utterly worth it. Bless 'em.