Spot the difference?

One of my current WIPs is a lace scarf from Victorian Knitting today and I'm making it in TYGs Compass. A lovely silk/lambswool blend in a yarn painted with gorgeous shades of purple, olive, moss, old-rose, rust / amber.
I had knitted the border for a while when my 5yr-old daughter asked if it is the same yarn again than the Noro Yuzen vest I was wearing. And really - I hadn't even noticed - but their colouring is very close. Almost identical.

(on top - TYG Compass, under - Noro Yuzen)
Pretty funny actually.

Serious Ugly

I rarely get fooled by the yarns ball appearance and can pretty much imagine what the yarn looks like when it is knitted up but this time... oh boy...

I partly blame the timing of this yarn purchase. Last Thursday I just had my tattoo done in tattoo shop and I was (most probably) full of adrenaline and endorphins... not the best time to enter the yarn shop where I very rarely visit. Plus that they had a sale.... (now that I think about it - it was a disaster waiting to happen) So there I was - pumped up with exhilaration and what not - and even when I'm at my normal state I find yarn sale quite hard to ignore. This time I did not even try. So I went through all those baskets of sale yarn and ended up buying these:
now - I'm pretty happy that I only bought that amount - at one point I could detect that maybe it was not a good idea to buy all the yarn from the shop - so I cut my purchase down to this. Which is still quite a lot - considering that I have a quite a sizeable yarn stash at home. (try somewhere around 60kg of yarn... )

But, this yarn is not all for me. I'm actually planning to make a couple of pairs of socks and a scarf or two out of it for xmas presents for all the lucky relatives. It is actually quite wise to buy yarn for xmas presents already in august. Right?

However - the yarn I planned to blog about is this.
So nice when it is all wound up in this cushy ball. I totally could see myself whipping a scarf out of it and how nice it would look with my leather jacket...

I began knitting and...
What the???? It looks like nothing I had envisioned in my head. Actually it looks damn ugly. I could hear Laura from Project Runway (season 3) in my head stating "there is some Serious Ugly here".
It looks like a roadkill or a pile of stale dog poo to me. Now how could I see it so wrong in my head? I must be mad to be buying novelty yarn in the first place - but this - it is just disgusting... I don't know what to do. Maybe I continue knitting and it will "grow on me"(???) Or maybe I just throw it to the rubbish. (after all it was dirty cheap as well - only 1EUR/ball)

What the h*** was I thinking???

Skew socks

This design was total addiction to me. Once I started - I was not able to put my needles down. I had my moments of doubt - because at some point my brain just could not comprehend how these could ever grow into socks that fit. (once I got to the point of photo below- I could have sworned that the socks are going to be way too big...) But perseverance and blind faith(!) paid off and the end result is wonderful. Magickal even.
Pattern: Skew by Lana Holden from Knitty winter 2009.
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Fabel
Needles: 2,5mm

Love the way this design forms funny angles and makes this super boring yarn look good. (which is a nice benefit - as I've had this yarn in my stash for ages..) So one more pair of socks for me - which is needed as fall has finally arrived and day temperatures have dropped below +15 celsius. And I find myself reaching for a pair of cozy wool socks the first thing in the morning when getting out of bed. No more bare feet before next spring...

New skirt

I bought this pretty 100% cotton print curtain from a fleamarket last winter. I immediately fell for it. It was sweet and pretty and had an innocently vintage feel to it. It also had a pretty cream-coloured lace trim. I decided there and then to make a skirt out of it , but it took me over 6 months to actually thread my sewing machine and give it a go.
And after a 10 minutes and 2 seams + 1 elastic band in place - I had a new summer skirt. An easy peasy summer skirt. Very sweet indeed.

Diagonal stripes - complete addiction

I've been consumed by knitting this. The design is pure genious. I have had moments of doubt with it and only because my brain has not comprehended how it would work out. Take a look at this:
A mitten for Pingu? Got to have faith and believe that it will come out right in the end...

Phoebe

Finished Phoebe cardigan for Isabella. It is so pretty! I cannot remember when I would have been this happy with the FO I've knitted. Cannot stop smiling...
(It was a bit of a struggle though to get the young lady to pose for the photoshoot...)
Pattern: Phoebe by Sarah Hatton from Rowan Kids
Yarn: Yaeger Roma (sadly discontinued - this is the 4th knit I make with this wonderfully soft yarn with a nice spring)
Needles: 3,5mm & 4mm
I loved the pattern and the only real modification was that I made the cable pattern only on left side - on the original design it is on both sides - but I prefer the asymmetry. (tends to make things a bit more interesting)

(Once again I modified the sizing a bit - as I always do when knitting for Isabella, as she is quite slender - and knitted Phoebe with the width measurements from the smallest size but length from 7-8yrs size)
I had some trouble finding good buttons - but then I remembered the old buttons that I used for BSJ as well - and I had 6 buttons left!
I cannot even remember when I would have bought buttons for anything - I can find almost anything from my mothers button stash, which is huge, majority of which she has in turn herited from my grandma:-)
I think it really - really, suits her. The colour is good for her and the design is just gorgeous. I'm very happy. And so is she - apparently. (also - I think she can wear it on top of long sleeved jersey top when it gets colder again)

Now back to my knitting. I'm in the middle of (probably) the most interesting pattern ever. More about that later on...

Almost finished...

...all pieces have been knitted and I've been making finishing touches to Phoebe - which is for my oldest daughter. It's looking really good. Cannot wait to see it on her.