And then there were three

As you can see from my Ravelry projects page, my plan to only have one knitting project on the go at once has failed dismally! It's actually even worse than it looks, as my slate Wondrella with cable details is set to 'hibernating' status for the time being.

Oops!

In my (feeble) defence, I always take my knitting when I go to my mum's, and I could hardly knit her Christmas present in front of her! She asked me to make her a longer version of Express Line, so that bit isn't a surprise, but she doesn’t know what wool I'm using. It's Stylecraft Special xl Super Chunky, so essentially the same yarn that I used for my version, but without the viscose flecks which provided the tweed effect. Other than the length, it's the same size as mine, so I can just follow the notes I made previously. Mum isn't a fan of light colours (like me), so the yarn options were quite limited. Fortunately, she shares my love of blue, so I know that she'll like this shade, called 'Petrol'.

Upper back

Meanwhile, my Lothian shawl is coming along nicely. I have completed the first set of five 'routes', complete with the zig-zag effect.

My five route colours

Zig-zags and termini

As this was my Edinburgh-related 60th birthday present to myself, I would like to get it completed while I'm still 60, but with so many other things to do just now that is looking unlikely. Despite this, I've taken on another project! I decided to join Susan Crawford's Colourwork KAL as a way of finally tackling stranded colourwork. My current plan is to knit Poppy from A Stitch in Time volume 3.

Poppy

Only the yoke is patterned, so it seems like an good way of easing into the technique. Plus, the pattern gives full instructions for knitting flat, which is how I will knit it. I can see why knitting in the round is so popular, but because I was taught to knit in the Scottish manner (with the right needle held against your body by your right arm), I find it ridiculously hard to hold two knitting needles. I've tried, but just can't do it. When I do knit on circular needles, I end up with the right needle end either wedged against me in some way, held in my left hand, or resting on the work. There's a lot of plain stocking stitch in Poppy, especially as I may knit the sleeves first to get them done, so that will give me plenty of time to practise working with two (stash) yarns before I have to do it with the good stuff.

And what good stuff it is. I bought the kit from Susan Crawford Vintage, and the yarn is gorgeous.

The yarn kit

So far, I've only knitted the gauge swatch, but the yellow has a wonderful depth and variation, and the knitted fabric blocks beautifully.

Blocking the gauge swatch

It is so much finer than any yarn I've used before, though - this is going to be a long project. Still, a short-sleeved jumper is not something I'm going to need any time soon.