Updates.....

Well, it was Lisa's birthday on Saturday so I was finally able to give her her birthday present (remember there was a sneaky peek of it when I was swatching for Ellie's cardigan?)
I'm quite pleased with how the scarf turned out. The yarn has a fine white thread wrapped around it so the elongated stitch pattern is more defined as more of the purple shows through than on the garter stitch. However, this thread also has a habit of unravelling itself on the fringe - but I'm working on the theory that whilst the fringe may therefore become a bit more uneven and need trimming it won't bother me as I won't be the one that has to do it. Sorry Lisa, I forgot to mention that bit!

Lisa very kindly offered to model the scarf for me despite that fact that it was the hottest July on record - I'm sure she'll want me to point out that the birthday girl is drinking diet cherry coke out of that pint glass!
Ellie's cardigan is still waiting to have the stitches picked up & the neckband knitted on to it. To be honest I keep wimping out of doing it as it's scary - I've never done it before and there's over 200 stitches to be picked up. I've marked it out though and calculated how many stitches need to be cast on in each section, and tomorrow I will do it. Well, I'll have a go and shout for help from Mum should it all go not neckband shaped.

When I visited Auntie Irene last week she gave me a lovely present of three balls of curly wurly yarn, needles and a pattern to make a bag. I was going to take a pic of it all to show you, but I couldn't resist and started knitting with it. So far one and half sides of the bag have been knitted, and I've got some lining fabric left over from the dress that I can use to line it with when finished.

The gala dinner dress has not progressed very far I'm embarrassed to say. I've ironed the bodice sections but still haven't basted them together yet. That's the other job on the list of things to do tomorrow...