I spent money

So Knit Picks was having a sale. This is generally a dangerous thing. And I succumbed. First of all, don't tell my husband, but the sale meant that I could finally afford enough yarn to make him Durrow for Christmas. They had Wool of the Andes in the Hyacinth colour on sale for $1.87 per 50g ball.

I got started almost immediately (although it's a bit longer than this now):

I also picked up some Stroll sock yarn in a few colours. Green Tea Heather caught my eye because it is a fabulous colour for DD3. I picked up six balls in the hope of making her a pretty cardigan:

It's really lovely stuff. I then spent ages on Ravelry's pattern search trying to find The Perfect Pattern to make with it. Finally, I came across a pattern from Alice Starmore's "Children's Collection" book that I'd already made for my niece some years ago, Secret Garden, and realised that that was exactly what I wanted to make with it. However, there were two problems. Firstly, the smallest size to make it in is 2-3 years, which is a little far off; I'd rather make something in the 1-2 year range. Secondly, it called for worsted weight (on 4.5mm needles). So I wondered, what would happen if I doubled the yarn and went down a needle size to 4mm?

This is what happened. Actually, it's even farther along now, I've finished the two front yokes and am working up the back. I cannot describe how deliciously squishy this is when you double up the yarn. And it is coming out a bit smaller than the 2-3 year size, which is what I want. I loves it.

I also got two balls of the sock yarn in the Caper colourway, which looked rather brown on my screen when I ordered it, but is instead olive:

This immediately rules it out as a yarn for my dad - if I give him socks made out of this, he'll start having flashbacks to World War II, when as a child, he had to knit socks for the soldiers out of horrible greasy olive wool. (He hated every moment of this. Not because he hated knitting, but because he hated the yarn.) So I might do it up for my brother or one of my brothers-in-law. Although I've been mulling over combining it with black and whatever leftover Green Tea Heather there may be from DD3's Secret Garden cardigan and doing up an argyle pattern with it, or something. That might look very nice indeed.

Finally, I bought four balls of Barn Red. It looked a little too vibrant and orange-ish for my taste on my screen, but I bought it anyway, and when it actually showed up, it turns out that the colour is the perfect red for me. I adore it and wish I had bought much more:

I just don't know what I'm going to make out of it. I'd love to make Jeanie, but I'd need two more balls. So it might just end up being two pairs of socks. I really want to make the Jane Bennet Socks from the latest issue of Jane Austen Knits, but I think they would look very wrong in bright red, so I'll have to find a different colour for that.

And speaking of new yarn, I finished off DD2's frilly scarf:

I still need to take a picture of DD2 actually wearing it, though.

I also started the frilly scarf for DD1 (no pictures yet) and finished off her first Pemberley Slipper (again, no pictures yet). But at least I do have pictures of the completed mini-bag I made for her morning teacher:

Didn't it come out bee-yew-tifully? I think it is fantastic and I'm having a hard time getting over myself about it. :) I decided to add a little button tab there, done in the same yarn as I used on the bottom of the bag. This serves to a) make the bag a little snazzier, and b) make the colour difference of the two reds look totally intentional. Word to the wise, though, for anyone wanting to felt anything as small as that button tab: don't bother using a washing machine, it will do nothing. Hand felt it instead.

Next time I post, I'll hopefully have more up-to-date progress photos and (more excitingly) another knitting-related order in my hot little hands!