yarn along - first of 2013

Not a good start to 2013 when I am late with my first yarn along post of the year. Hopefully I will be forgiven as with all the extra bank holidays it's hard to remember what day it is, so yarn along Wednesday passed me by.

I have started to knit a blanket which is a first as I have made two crochet blankets before but never attempted a knitted one. I am doing a bit of my own thing but I was inspired by a post on the Purl Bee blog which featured a garter stitch striped crib blanket in lovely merino wool.

I have chosen some beautiful Louisa Harding yarn, it's a mix of extra fine merino wool and cotton and I have just started my first stripe. It's a day of firsts as I am using a circular needle which I haven't used before but I thought to get the width of the blanket right a circular needle would do the trick.

I want my blanket to be bigger than the crib pattern so I have cast on 230 stitches which seemed about right, after being used to the speed that crochet blankets grow I think this will take some time to finish.

I hope it's going to be a project that runs alongside lots of others, it should be easy to pick up and knit a few enjoyable rows and then put back down again until next time without a worry.

Reading wise I am still loving my kindle and have started to read The Blackhouse ( Lewis Trilogy) by Peter May, it's a crime novel which is a bit gruesome but highly addictive, it's so hard to put it down. Another advantage of knitting is that it's so much easier to read at the same time something I can't do when I crochet.

I will try to be on time next week and hope everyone is enjoying some creative time.

If you have a minute you must visit Ginny she has knitted some amazing baby boots - they are adorable.

Talk soon x