Yesterday, with our lockdown over and many restrictions being lifted in Melbourne, I went to visit my mum. It’s the first time I’ve seen her in many months.

I was finally able to give her the blanket I crocheted for her for her birthday in September. I loved making it for her, as I crocheted each stitch, hoping and wishing I would be able to see her for her birthday, as we all know that was not to be.

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All is well now (apart from the pandemic not being over), because she has her blanket and she loves it. Melbourne’s weather is still cool, so the warm blanket feelings can still be enjoyed for the time being.

I made the blanket in secret, not saying too much about it on social media, in case she saw any commentary. Which meant I also had to keep it a secret from you!

The pattern is The Woodland Blanket by Lucy of Attic 24. It is made from a whopping 1.7 kilos of odd balls of stash wool.

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I really enjoyed making this design and I would consider making another one from my stash of odd balls in different colours (it seems I’ve exhausted some of these colours and yet removing 1.7kgs from the stash bins didn’t make a dent!)

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Onto my Stephen West MKAL, if you don’t want to see or know any spoilers turn away now…

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Clue 3 has just dropped on Friday and I can’t believe the MKAL is nearly over, it’s been so much fun. Here’s some pictures of my shawl after clue 2 and finally a little photo of the beginning of clue 3.

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With clue 3, Stephen West has popped my Brioche cherry! The technique I’ve been most afraid of doing for MANY years, and now I’ve finally done it! I’m so grateful for Stephen’s tutorials on YouTube for this mystery knit-along. They are very well produced and clear, he’s wonderful. I may have added a few more of his patterns to my queue…

Stephen West’s Mystery Knit-along or MKAL began last weekend! I have been looking forward to this cast-on oh so much. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE surprises and I hate spoilers.

Early last week, I made the rookie mistake and I signed up last minute to take an online class learning Colour work in Crochet for the weekend. The class ran on Saturday and Sunday morning at 8am for 2 hours each day.

Therefore, I wasn’t able to begin the Knit-along with the vigour I had hoped! The class was interesting and I learnt some new things… but there was a ton of ‘homework’ between the 2 classes. It took me at least a few hours (maybe 4 hours) to get what I needed to done and prepared for Sunday’s class. If I hadn’t done the homework there would have been no point showing up to class on Sunday. I felt that, that would have been a waste no matter how much I wanted to start the MKAL!

Here’s some samples from the class, using the techniques, intarsia and stranded colourwork, and sometimes they were used together. I was interested in learning these techniques for the creative potential, or for just making some really fun dishcloths!

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Once Sunday’s class was finished I tossed my crochet aside and got down to the MKAL; all the while knowing I had to avoid social media for the accidental spoilers. So I’m social media ‘lite’ this week, whilst I catch up to everyone else.

SPOILER ALERT… this is where I got to on Sunday:

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I’ve now completed section 2, the wedges section. I have to say, I was not a fan of this section, it was fiddly, took a long time and I don’t have much to show for it! I want to knit hard, and these little short rows are just not doing it! Not to worry, I know that from here on in as the sections get bigger because the shawl will get bigger, I’m hoping there’s less fussing and more knitting or knittin’ as Stephen would say.

I think I’ll be caught up in time for the next clue, and I won’t make the same ‘mistake’ this weekend. If you don’t hear from me, it’s because I’m knitting. And yes… I know it’s not a race, but I love surprises and not spoilers… so it is a race, don’t let anyone fool you.

A couple of weekends ago, in the wee-hours of the morning… I spent a few hours with Jillian Moreno and a bunch of cool Spinners mainly from the US through ‘Stitches at Home’, an online fibre festival.

I’ve wanted to become a better Spinner, with a capital ‘S’ for sometime. I am actually enrolled to do the local Guild’s certificate of spinning, but due to delays it is now beginning in November. I can hardly wait.

Jillian was wonderful and the class(es) were very enjoyable, that’s right, there were 3 mornings of getting up before 5am to front class, yawn.

The best thing I learnt? Long-draw isn’t the only form of Woollen spinning. Long-draw SCARES ME! I learned that Woollen Spinning (I’m normally a Worsted Spinner) is a lot simpler than I first thought. There of course is still a lot of practise to be done, but I feel better for the acknowledge, that I can do both, and it’s not hard… it’s just going to take some practise!

I have also cast-on my Pink Velvet sweater by Andrea Mowry. The yarn is Oyster Yarns Eden’s Blend (from The Purl Box) and it is luscious. I normally don’t knit my sweaters in the same colours as the designer’s sample, but for some reason, I have this time. It is a bit different for me, I hope I haven’t made a mistake. Would you believe, I also didn’t knit a gauge swatch?! I was feeling confident and impatient to start… what could go wrong? I hope to be at the sleeve divide (and the end of the colour work) before the weekend, in time for Stephen West’s Mystery Knit-along to begin. I’ll also know by then, whether my (non-swatching) gamble has paid off… ::nervous laugh:: .

These are the yarns I’ll be using in the MKAL:

This was the result of a stash dive and much contemplation. I can’t wait for the fun of a Stephen West knit-along, we really need it in Melbourne right now. I also really need a hair-cut…