Celebration

My boyfriend, who is infinitely superior to everyone else's boyfriend on the planet, bought me Big Cashmere. Every other project has been put on hold since it arrived, because I needed a dark green shoulder warmer with pretensions more than anything else, up to and including tea and char siu buns. I ended up adapting the pattern for the cardi I'm neglecting, after trawling Ravelry, and not finding anything quite right- the one pattern I thought would work with the yardage turned out to be dreadful, and I wasn't confident enough to adapt it because I only had 400 metres (the website says you get 115 metres per 50g, but actually you get 80) and the thought of leaving any or running out was pretty scary.

There should be pictures at some point, when I get round to blocking it and going to admire Jenny's latest project (rugs? Blankets? Her productivity puts mine to shame, never mind how she turns inferior yarn into such lovely things), if I can ever take it off. It goes surprisingly well with rose print fleece pyjamas, which I am still wearing because after last night's takeout, a two hour bus journey to college is a recipe for disaster and unpopularity.

Oh, so tired

Poor blog! College has been very busy and I have been neglecting it shamefully. All I've had space and time to think about have been equations and reactions and how best to bear the natural exuberance of my classmates- particularly during the rather trying Numeracy unit that's just started. Almost everyone finds it too easy, but our particularly narky lecturer has decreed that we don't get to do anything more advanced because he keeps coming across bad calculations in our other classes. Difficult to endure.

So the cheering fantasy of buying a bag of wool and heading for the hills is sharper than usual. Jenny keeps updating me with the progress on the cottage- a proper shower! Snuggly blankets! Central heating!- and honestly, it's all I can do not to say to hell with it all, I'm going up there and not coming back without a new cardi. I have one on the needles already, in a lovely dark green, but I've been looking for an excuse to order from Colinette again- I think their Prism yarn and the rippling stitch pattern would work well together. Definitely one of the different blue colourways, but which to go for? Sun on the sea? Stormy waters? The sky from the comfort of the Martyr's Bay restaurant, after fish and chips and before dessert? Decision, decisions...

Keep calm and cast on

Spent the night with my boyfriend again- he lives in town, which is very convenient for many things (I've spent too many expensive afternoons burning through the local charity shops!), but not what you'd call peaceful.

Well, not when you're back from Iona, anyway. I've been hearing from Jenny about how peaceful the nights are and how nice it is to hear the rain on the roof when you're tucked up in bed with a book and a hot chocolate (or sitting in the veranda bit of the Argyll Hotel, who do lovely shortbread, but that's another post)- lucky her, she got a whole week up there recently! I'm on a full time course right now, so I'm stuck playing the city mouse until the holidays next year. I can keep a steady stream of hats and scarves on my needles, but the main benefit I'll be getting from them will be the soothing click of the needles.

Then again, there's no farmer's market on Iona, and I'm due at the local one for breakfast pretty soon, so I'd better wrap this and myself up. I ran out of money before finding the raspberry gin last time, and it looks too good to miss again...

Island of the misfit knitwear

One of the good things about Iona is that hats, gloves and scarves are always appreciated- any patterns that didn't quite come out right, or got altered too enthusiastically go up there to wait for their day in the sun (or wind and rain, more likely).

The fingerless mitts I was knitting today are definitely taking a trip as soon as they're done. My boyfriend bought me some Colinette Calligraphy, and it's lovely, but the pattern for the right mitten isn't quite right (something which only became apparent while I was knitting it!). Bit of a shame, but I have plenty more patterns to knit, right after I make some progress on thick black socks for my boyfriend.

But will the bees like it?

I wish I could take credit for this! I started my own this week, and I have ten stuffed hexagons so far (knitted on 5mm DPNs rather than the recommended 3.5mm, because on Iona, blankets need to be at least double thickness!).

I can only assume the bees are fairly dozy today- the weather in Edinburgh's starting to turn, and I can't see Iona being much better. J will be finding out next week, when she goes up to finish her latest blanket and plant some fruit bushes- today's trip to the garden centre could have gone on a lot longer!