Lots of Knitting FOs. . .

I've been knitting like a fiend lately and have several finished objects off the needles.

First up, I finally, finally finished this baby blanked I've been working on since June for the Liverpud's sister-in-law.  The baby boy is due in mid-October so I'm relieved to have this done in time. I adapted a snowflake stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's treasury books and added a seed stitch and then a blue i-cord border.

Then I finished my second mystery KAL.  The pattern was Out of Darkness by Boo Knits and it caused me some grief as halfway through I caught a couple of stitches on something and there were these two really long loops hanging from the back of the knitting that I couldn't suss out so I had to rip back and start all over.  I have never used so many beads in a project before (approximately 600) but I like the matte pewter colour against this green. The yarn is Madeline Tosh Prairie in the colourway Oak.  This will be a really nice shawl to go over a black dress.

It's getting a bit chilly here in the UK and I've been yearning for a cozy cowl.  I picked up some lovely yarn at Baa Ram Ewe in Leeds (on sale too!) called Colinette Art which is made in Wales. The colour is called Copperbeech and it has every fall colour in it that I like - a purpley-brown background with flecks of blue, orange and red.  It's 79% wool and 21% bamboo which gives it a bit of a sheen and it's very soft.  I wanted a stitch pattern that wasn't too heavy so the cowl wouldn't be too hot.  Back I went to my knitting guru, Barbara Walker and found her dewdrop stitch which I did up on larger 6.5mm needles.  I used an i-cord edging which keeps things neat and also makes it very easy to weave in ends, and used Kitchener stitch and a provisional cast-on for the first time.  I really love it.

And finally, I've been doing some volunteer knitting.  Lipservice Theatre Company is putting on a production next month called Inspector Norse - I think it's a spoof on both Inspector Morse and The Killing.  Much of the set is going to be knitted and when the call went out, I thought it would be fun to get involved. So I've been knitting leaves and have sent them about two dozen.  I hope to catch both the show and a glimpse of my handiwork when it comes to Liverpool's Unity Theatre.