Knitting, only knitting.

I have....a Kauni!!!

Those robot buttons really are the business and make it look extra special. It's been an epic journey but I am so thrilled with the result. It's definitely my finest knitting achievement to date.

I went to Greenwich today and I treated myself to a little haul from the button stand in the antique market by the Rivington. Ooooooo.

They were between 45p and £3 per card. These were the cheapest and probably my faves.

Beautiful pale blue with knitted texture. So twee!

I also scored some beautiful trimmings. The middle one is silk and amazingly beautiful. The one on the right is quite wide and really really lovely.

It's all things a woman at the market has had in storage for ever since her mum did a lot of sewing and knitting. Another gem was this, still in its original packaging.

A freebie from an ancient woman's weekly. It's for hanging a ball of yarn from your wrist. At 50p I couldn't leave it forlornly on the stall!

Back to work

My first day back at work was yesterday and it all went pretty well! I didn't manage to get much done because the boys had stuck pictures of a very hairy beer belly over just about everything on my desk and so it took a while to get around that. They'd also stuck my handset to the base of the phone and put a poster of the bionic woman up on the wall with my face on it. Bless them. I think they missed me! It was certainly nice to see them and have some human interaction again. I've promised krispy kremes for tomorrow! It looks like Team Wank are really kicking up a right royal fuss about my project and are going to open a can of whooppee at the AGM but you never know. No point worrying about it yet.

Finishing the Kauni didn't quite happen but I now only need to finish the collar and then sew down the collar steek. Then the last act will be to black and sew on the buttons. I had got some lovely vintage dark turquoise ones picked out but then when I got to work I picked up my Jimmy Beams parcel. Not only did it contain these two:

But also this gorgeous set of buttons.

They were crazily expensive but anyone who is married to a Pooch and loves buttons will appreciate why they had to be mine. But then I looked at them with the kauni and all of a sudden I started thinking....what if?

See what I mean? It's tempting.

Having finished practically everything I've been left with a small pile of steek trimmings.

They look so pretty it seems a shame to chuck them. I wondered about felting them into a ball or something but then what would I do with that?

2 days til deadline

I wanted to get my kauni cardigan finished by the time i went back to work. Well, that is happening on tuesday and lo and behold, it's actually almost done. I finished the sleeves yesterday.

I did them both togther in the round with steeks between them. I sewed and cut the steeks, hemmed the sleeves and sewed them into the armholes today. It's all given me a massive headache so I'm resting on my laurels and leaving the sewing down of the steeks, the button band and the collar until tomorrow. I may not meet the deadline, because it's definitely going to need blocking, but I think all the structural stuff will have been done. I haven't decided buttons yet but I am sure something in my vast collection will do the job. Here it is as it stands tonight.

The Kauni has definitely not been a portable project so here are some jaywalkers I've been working on on-and-off for a few months now. The yarn is from The Knittery and ws a gift from a past round of secret pal. It is gorgeous - quite thick and spongy. I'm really happy with them.

Also finished this weekend is Pooch's tea caddy. He requested one a few weeks ago and having looked at very posh or horrible options I bought a plain wooden chest on ebay and have painted it with acrylic.

Pooch himself demanded the 'poison' drawer so freak out my sister. I've filled it with Nettle tea bags. Yuck. They taste so bad they can't possibly be good for you.