WIP Wednesday….and yarn along.

Oh Look at me, blogging two days in a row! There is hope for me yet!! haha! How are we all today? Well I hope.

So what am I knitting this week?

I have been busy in between all my test knits and baby knitting working on this lovely pattern…

Pic borrowed from Tracey's pattern page on Rav

Kallan Cape by Tracey Lee.

I first saw this pattern when it was released and added it to my very long queue on Ravelry. Then when I saw this months KAL on the Budding Down Under Designers group was hosted by Tracey I saw it as a sign to get kicking with it.

I originally planned to make this in a forest green but then ended up choosing Mink in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury as the green would probably have not have gone with much. This is more neutral.  So here is my effort so far…..

I did not get started till last week as I had to await my yarn arrival. I am sure I will not finish this by the end of the KAL but thats ok. I plan to enjoy it and finish it by winter. Maybe I will even get to wear it a little before I run away north as is my usual fashion when it gets too cold. LOL More likely,  I will gift it, if I don't wear it. I know I will love it though. If you like a bit of cabling, this is the project for you.

The pattern is not charted but is very well written with the hood being a separate pdf. You can also choose to print the whole version or just the off rows. Separate documents are provided for both. I opted to knit the cape first and sew the hood on later. Alternatively, you can start with the hood and pick up your stitches for the cape if you prefer. I figured it would get a bit heavy and its rather hot here atm so I did not fancy sitting under all that wool at once. Hence starting with the cape. :-)



What am I reading? 

I took delivery of Woodland Knits this week. Its a beautiful book and I had been eyeing it off for a while. I was introduced to Stephanie's patterns a long time ago when my oldest daughter purchased a copy of her Woodland Hoodlet. It was way out of her knitting skill range and she opted to try and email it to me, somehow it got lost and deleted and despite planning to buy it again we never got around to it. I did promise to knit it for her though so hopefully this year I will finally get around to it.

There are lots of whimsical, magical and just down right cute patterns in this book. My only gripe with it is the almost consistent use of chunky or bulky yarn. Not very practical for those of us who live down under, especially on the coast. Just finding the yarn is a chore in itself. Great for people who prefer a quick knit  I guess.

Anyway, that is not really reading is it? What I have been reading this week is the Ancient Future Series by Traci Harding. Or I should say RE-Reading….I have read them all twice before at least. I am onto the 3rd book in the series and enjoying them just as much as the first time I read them.

If you are not familiar with this series……you can find out more about it here.

I also just finished reading The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, by Martin Sixsmith,  I read the whole book yesterday afternoon and have to say I was a bit disappointed.

The cover described it as "The heartbreaking story of a mother and the son she had to give away".  I was expecting to hear both sides of the story and what happened to them both in general. It started out with the mothers story but once he was taken from her (she did not choose to give him away) at 3 years old, it pretty much tells the story of Michael's life  and we don't really hear much more about the mother at all.

To me this book went into way too much detail about Mikes personal life. More than half the book is about his political career and his choice of sexuality. Way way too much information. In fact I became both bored, then disgusted (poor Mike is not telling this story, it is hearsay from other people in his life, a life I might add that he chose to keep private for reasons of his own). This book made me feel really really sad. So sad for his birth mother and even more sad for him.

As one who tends to read through the lines a bit, I feel like his adoptive family were more than likely not fairly portrayed in this book. I am assuming that they chose not to get too involved in the whole story themselves. The man had issues and of course there are two sides to every story.

I will leave it at that, just incase you choose to read it yourself. I won't give away the whole story. I would have liked to have read a little more about his birth mothers life and their search for each other rather than all the fluff which was really no-ones business but his own. Thats just my opinion anyway.

Now enough rambling from me today. You have a beautiful day.

Love and hugs xoox