and the clog colour was .... (drum roll please?)

...rusty wine, with a rich deep dark chocolate sole. Can you tell I am writting this while hungry? Today the clog report, the fair isle baby blanket update, I discover finishing the blanket poses some should I/shouldn't I needle purchase questions, and I introduce the large blue folding 'thing' currently taking up a lot of floor space in my small living room.


So back to the clogs, they are not white any more. I was aiming for a deep plum purple - but this rusty grrape is fine. I didn't have any more blue food dye at hand, so this is it. And the dye pot pretty much exhausted, with only a pale blue almost clear liquid left after 12 mins at a bare simmer. The mock stitch effect where I picked knit together the dark sole and the light instep disappeared in the felting and the dying - remember I had wondered if it would remain?

And the verdict, warm soft comfy. I feel like a momma bear padding around the house. But - next time I will knit the small womens not the med womens, even though I have size 9 feet. I wonder if using 9mm not 10mm needles prevented them from felting? But the 9mm were the largest I had. Overall verdict - Will knit again, a size smaller, and probably again, these could be my only slipper in the future.

Fair Isle baby blanket update,
Marina reminded me knotting was fine, that knots have a very valid place in knitting, and I do trust her. There are some 'rules' in knitting about weaving in, no knots and such - and we all know rules are just guidelines that require breaking to achieve wonderful results some times. I also liked Marina's other suggestions - for joining the yarn. What I like about my knitting, is every project teaches me something, either I try something new or I realise that there are different and often better ways to achieve some things. Also I love there are so many wonderful people out there who share their knowledge around - selfishly. I did notice much less change in the background colour of Marina's beautiful colour work - being a novice I seem to have made it more complex than it needed to be.

I am close to finishing, only one more pattern repeat to go, and then the boarder. I have been thinking about what needles I have to knit the boarder with, I have 2 3.25mm circs (Addi turbo of course) and the knitpics, with a 40 inch cable - so could do a sort of a 3 needle version of a 2-circular needle thing. The facing is stocking stitch, so I need to make sure there is no ladder, I could put the junctions at the corners maybe?
Or I could buy a new extra long 2m Addi turbo in 3mm, and knit the facing slightly tighter. I have contacted some on line addi retailers and asked about ETA for the extra long 2m 3mm circ, none seem to be in stock and I don't want to order and have the needle(s) back ordered with a baby due date looming. Would I use this needle again?
Or I could buy two 1m 3.25 circs. I have given this some thought - but have not made any progress as to the 'best' option. I might also ask around and see if I can borrow a long circ, I do know some Dunedin knitters who invested heavily in Addi's for their shawls and lace - could be worth a try.

And this is a christmas prezzie from last December, from me to me. Thats the one way I make sure I get something I really wanted. This is a folding 'shopping' basket from Kathmandu.They have an outlet shop in Dunedin with amazing sales, half price on most ex-season stock. It is huge, holds heaps, and at the moment it is holding my fair isle baby blanket yarn stock. And did I say huge, we have a small lounge and this is parked semi permanently on the floor while I knit the blanket. Usually I use a folding tapestry knit bag with a wooden frame, that is holding Pomatomus right now. And Tapestry has a much smaller foot print.

see? Its big, but great, I just fossick around for the next colour change every row or so and they are so easy to spot in there. Like fish in a barrel? I've also got room to keep the Blanket in progress (BIP?, usually folded flat on top), plus the magnetic chart board, snips, the ball bands, my Pinnochio tape measure, and the swatch.