Now the blog is fixed (fingers crossed)….back to blogging about the important stuff….Knitting!
So….what do you think I did with the money I got back for the returned Cocoon yarn from the abandoned Iceland?
Save it?
Spend it on presents for Christmas?
Pah! 
Like heck! It went straight back on yarn!!
In knitting accountancy terms - I wasn’t actually spending money because it had already been spent and yarn money is yarn money. It was returned to the yarn budget. It has been allocated to yarn can’t be transferred or reallocated to another budget……
Incidentally, while talking about yarn accounting, my friend Janie, has a fine theory for the write off period of yarn….She argues that:-
If yarn has been in your stash for over a year, the money has been spent in a previous financial year and forgotten. Therefore when you come to use that “over a year old yarn”, you are in fact knitting from stash and therefore saving money. This act of virtue means you should go shopping and treat yourself to more yarn…
I’m not sure if she isn’t secretly a “yarn-pusher”, feeding my addiction……
Anyway - I digress.
What yarn did I buy?
This!
Louisa Harding Impression and Grace-Silk Wool
And what am I going to make?
The item with this season’s Rowan prize for the worst picture of a garment…
It’s Ombre from Rowan 42. Nice shot of the blouse huh?I think Rolf Harris must have been the photographer…
“Can you tell what it is yet?” 
I was intrigued by the little I could see… then I saw the display garment at my local John Lewis - it was yummy and very “me”.
Rowan, I forgive you - you loose it sometimes with the photography but at least I can go to the store and see the garments!
Ombre is made in Rowan Tapestry and wool cotton - both beautiful yarns but tapestry’s colours were looking a bit wishy washy to my eyes that day so subbed for the Louisa Harding and accidentally chose this season’s hot shade of blue! 
What to see progress so far?
This is a half a sleeve and the right front! The construction is unusual. You start at the cuff and knit the back of the sleeve and the back of the bolero to the centre seam. twice then join the centre seam. then knit the front of the sleeve and front twice. sew them together, and pick up stitches for the bottom rib. Cool huh?
While my blog has been (Grrr) off-line I’ve been busily knitting and done the two back pieces and this front - do you think I could wear it Christmas day ????
The pattern is very easy - at least it should be - 2 decreases for the troughs and 2 increases for the peaks. The Impression yarn is fuzzy and not very easy to frog or count stitches plus my apparent inability to work out how to get the right number of stitches when increasing at the start of a row has caused more swearing than is lady like! 
I really love the effect of those yarns together…
I did have reservations about joining the centre back seam.
The back seam has peak to peak and trough to trough. I did a three needle bind off to make it as neat as possible but I’m a little worried that those peaks are going to give me a ridged spine like a prehistoric dinosaur! (I’m trying hard to think of a three needle bindoff/Triceratops pun but failing…)
This is how the seam is looking unpressed….
…actually better than I was expecting…I’ll keep you posted on that one!
