Click Clack...

So while there wasn't much stitching going on here in May there was a week early on in the month where the knitting needles saw the light of day...Andrea & I spent a day in Kyneton catching up at the beginning of May and while we were there - in between the lunching and coffee-ing portions of the day - we visited A Stitch in Time in Piper Street.   Andrea was keen to check out their yarn selection - and for those who indulge in the yarn related craft activities it is well worth the visit - and I found some balls of knitting inspiration that immediately yelled at me that they wanted to come home and become...

A hat and scarf for me (the prototypes for practice and research)...

 and...

A hat and scarf for Mistea for her birthday...

I made mine up first to test the yarn and the pattern out.  The hat pattern comes from the ball band, the scarf I just knitted, after all it's only rib and the one on the ball band ends up being ridiculously long so I skipped that and just did what I wanted - I know, how surprising! me not following a pattern!...it's not only sewing patterns I don't follow...he he he.  I did mine twice...the first effort to see how far the yarn went and to work out how wide I wanted it...then I pulled that out and redid it with less stitches.  This yarn (Patons Wilderness) knits up very very quickly (well it would, the scarf is knitted on size 10 and the hat on size 6.5 needles, not exactly toothpicks!) each item only took about three hours and one 100g ball.  It is very warm and toasty (being 70% wool)...my hat and scarf have had test drive outings and performed very nicely.

At the Geelong Quilt-In Lara Downs had a stall and along with the most amazingly beautiful yarn and felt products she had a selection of scarf pins made from polished bamboo...I picked up this one to go with Mistea's...

I've had to wait to show 'coz after all birthday presents are supposed to be a secret until after the birthday event or at least the giving of the gift which has now taken place, so I'm counting these for June instead of May.

Happy stitching knitting...