Food for thought

I've spent a lot of time lately surfing Ravelry looking for patterns for my lovely magenta yarn. There are so many out there that are lovely that it's hard just to chose one but I am pretty slow at garment knitting so I only want one complex cable knit on the go at a time. I've narrowed it down to three, problem is, I love all of these:-)

The top right is Ysolda's 'Vivian' cabled hoodie - just lovely with its complex cables and the shaping is to die for. I'm not saying I'll look like that wearing it but the pattern is certainly designed to flatter, isn't it? I've read up on Ravelry that it is a lovely knit, complex but rewarding so I'm excited to try this one out. Ysolda writes such well designed patterns this could be a real treat.

The orange jacket is designed by Classic Elite - the montera embroidered button jacket.  It is lovely too but I think I love the colour more than the style - although the buttons are definitely cute. But a possibility.

And the last one is the Fireside sweater designed by Amber Allison, that I considered knitting recently too. I love the chunky cabled look and how fitted and snug it looks as well. The collar is a nice touch too but I'm finding it hard to imagine in Magenta. Or maybe this would look lovely extended into a longer coat - over the hips? I'll have to see if it's knitted top down. If so, I can just continue with some increases over the hips:-) and knit till I run out of yarn.

But if I'm going to go to all the trouble to knit a long coat, then I have to bring Sylvi into consideration. I've been waiting to knit this since it came out as it is a big commitment of time, yarn and effort! But absolutely gorgeous! Even after looking at lots of other colour variations on ravelry, I just can't get past loving this red. Even loving magenta as much as I do, do I want a full length, in your face, magenta jacket when it could be knitted in this luscious red? Sigh. I don't have enough magenta to knit this either but I could get more before it's sold out..... Food for thought.

Playing with blog pages

Pages! Yay!!

I've been playing about with the new pages feature on blogger and have added two new tabs under the header. Just playing for the moment but do tell me what you think. The layout format is still limited and I had to give up trying to get lots of little pictures into a grid and go for a mosaic instead, but for now, it's just nice to have separate pages and clear up the sidebar a bit. I also ditched having three columns so we are back to everything being on the right again. Force of habit maybe but it feels more comfortable and less crowded now.

Is there anything you would like to see on a separate page to make it easier to find? I haven't done any tutorials per sae but there are some posts that have more of a how-to feel to them. Hmm, maybe I can see if there are enough for a page of their own. I've also been thinking about putting my new dyed yarns on a shop page here instead of Etsy - once I get back into my stride again, that is:-) The idea would be to have a shop update on a regular basis, say the 1st of every month if there is enough interest. What do you think?

Since I've spent most of my time playing online today, not much knitting has been going on but my new cheap and cheerful aranweight magenta yarn has arrived - Yay! The photo above is from the shop site and is a little pinker than the real thing but you get the jist - deep, rich, intense colour!! I got 2x400gm balls of this wool/acrylic mix with each 100gms= 200metres so I can choose a jacket or a long cardi with this amount. It's such a lovely deep, purple magenta too so it's going to be very scrummy - yes, I'm itching to cast on despite my resolution to finish all my outstanding projects but it's a bit cold out there so it's just the right weather to cast on a warm, chunky knit, don't you think?

I'll take some better photos of the yarn tomorrow and show you some pics of what I'm thinking of knitting. Maybe I'll have enough left over to knit a pair of magenta mittens like these ones!!

Am I very sad for being so excited over scrummy, deliciously coloured magenta yarn? Nah:-) You all understand! Back tomorrow with some magenta madness! toodlepip:-)