The squares so far

except the 2 I've put in my sample parcel...

 

Waiting...

I've now completed 25 light sage and 18 Holly & Ivy squares for swapping. Jeannie estimates that there will be 25 of us so I've probably finished the light sage. I'm just waiting for the Holly & Ivy yarn to arrive. Apparently it left the US at 4:41pm on May 22nd - I'm really hoping that it arrives today because we're going to the in-laws for a long bank holiday weekend - lots of knitting opportunity. Otherwise I'll be a long way off finishing on 1st June when Jeannie sends us everyone's addresses. I have a mental target to post as many squares as possible, as soon as possible. Of course this means getting the packaging ready as well - I'm part way through that having filled in some customs stickers and stuck some return addresses on envelopes. I've also written 'By Sea' on my first 17 envelopes. Sending the packages by sea costs 77p each rather than 158p for air. By sea, they are only expected to arrive within 8 weeks rather than the 6 days that they would by air, but this is within the swap posting period and is more environmentally sound (as an added bonus). I have yet to decide my pairing of squares as, given the variety of stitch patterns I used I have favourites so would like to scatter these through the pairings. So I guess I'm not just waiting for the Holly & Ivy, I need to get on and sort my parcels!

Cathy’s Kriss-Kross pattern:

On request (!) I've posted the pattern for my Kriss-Kross stitch on the Swatch Afghan Knit-A-Long. The picture of it is in the last post - 3rd square down.

Some recent squares

Elizabeth Walker Second Treasury of Knitting patterns: Telescopic Lattice page 201.

 

Scattered Oats pattern with garter stitch border - from Afghan Friendship Swap site - see earlier posting

 

The following 2 are my own designs!

 

 

Stitch pattern designs

The Walker Treasury arrived today - from the US so speed of arrival is pretty impressive. Apart from the pictures, it's impressed me a lot compared to the other stitch books. I love the little commentaries on many of the patterns.

In the meantime I've been knitting duplicates and also ..... a couple of my own designs - which will feature soon, when I can wrest the camera from my dh.

V. busy at work at the moment - 12 hour day today as deadline is looming - I'll hopefully be back with a bit more blog very soon.

I've ordered the second Walker Treasury

I'd love to contribute to the Walker Treasury Project so I've ordered one of the books - the second one, almost at random - due to the comments on Amazon. The cheapest way to get it seems to be direct from Amazon.com - with an estimated delivery date of 23 May. I wonder which will come first - this book or the Holly & Ivy yarn.

Fabulous swatch library

Wow! Look at this fabulous collaborative effort - the Walker Treasury Project - to illustrate the stitch patterns in Elizabeth Walker's Treasuries. I'm bowled over - it's so professional. I'll have to study it some more to see if I can contribute. It would be nice to be part of something like this.

Bit the bullet

I didn't order enough of the Holly & Ivy. I've spent a bit of time agonising over what to do. That there are now 19 of us so I'm definitely not going to have enough so I needed to buy some more. However it's the shipping that's crippling - it will cost a lot more than the yarn. I've bitten the bullet - I like the colours, I'm loving the experience of knitting for the swap and I really want to do my part in it.

However I've hesitated because I could have bought some other yarn at the same time and the extra shipping cost would have been minimal (in comparison). I thought of ordering wool for a jumper and I thought of ordering pretty dishcloth cotton- which I don't think you can get over here. However you have to order in bags of 10 balls - I couldn't imagine wanting to knit and use that many dishcloths, that are all the same colourway. And I couldn't quickly find a pattern that I wanted in one of their wools. Not experienced enough I guess. Shame, I calculated that there would have been a saving of £9 on a bag of Noro Kureyon - and loads of the blogs I read seem to use it. I just can't buy it without a specific purpose - just the way I am.

So now I've just put in my order for Holly & Ivy - I wonder whether it will take the same time as last time (3 weeks) or nearer the promises - Discountyarnsale.com dispatch within a week and US Mail Global Priority Mail delivery within 4-6 days.

Oh goody!

Jeannie's written to tell us that there are now 19 of us! Gone up by 6 in one go by my reckoning. I am so pleased about this. Apart from the motivation of knowing that someone will be expecting my squares another reason is because I have been agonising over whether I need to buy more Holly & Ivy - and this decision has now been simplified. So now I need to order again from DiscountYarnSale.com - I haven't found any where else to send it over here - and wait another 3 weeks.

In the meantime my needles have not been idle. But I have been following the lead of some email discussions we have had - and knitting some of the same pattern. Not really worth posting pictures of these - and besides my husband absconded to Sheffield with the camera and hasn't given it back to me since he got back.

I'll have to pursue him for it and find something to show you soon....