Bloglines is spewing debug code into my nav bar and I am for some reason unable to edit my own php files so I can’t fix it until Jesse gets home. So in the meantime, please accept my apologies for the state of my blogroll.

I didn’t pick my needles up even once yesterday. Well other than to show a friend my cables that is. I did spend most of the day thinking about knitting though. Thinking about knitting blankets to be precise.

It may not be clear from the knitting I have done so far, but I have a thing about blankets (and shawls and quilts). The list of blankets I want to make just keeps growing, it is becoming something of an obsession. I am especially pre-occupied with the planning of baby blankets. Every time I hear of a new baby on the way I almost immediately stash yarn and or fabric for another blankie. As a result of my own fertility problems and the problems of very dear friends I don’t actually make a start on said blankets until the baby is born, or has at least made it to a viable gestation. It is kind of sad how cautious I have become in this regard, but no amount of caution has stopped me from plotting the second I know about the pregnancy…. Sometimes not even a pregnancy is required for me to start stashing… I have the makings of no less than three blankets carefully set aside for one dear friend who has been waiting far too long for a baby. I have a similar number of blankets in mind for our own next child should the IVF actually work.

But I digress, my blanket/quilt/shawl obsession is not limited to baby blankets, oh no. There has been a queen size mitered square blanket on my mind for some time now, a couple of quilts I desperately want to make for my own bed, a bias square blanket for the sofa, blah blah blah. And this was before Kay posted about her latest mitered square extravaganza, pointing out Anna’s blog along the way. Just look at all of those beautiful, beautiful blankets.

Is it only me or do you too have a sudden need to starting knitting a blanket right now?

Pattern: Lacy Scarf Pattern
Yarn: Eki Riva “Sport” in a pale green (colour “1182″)
Needles: 7mm Addi Turbos

I finished the green scarf off by adding some beads while we were in the mountains. I am not completely happy with these particular beads, but they were the best I could do after a very long time spent in two different bead stores. I thought about taking them off, but in the end I decided that I like the scarf more with them than without.

This scarf turned out to be a great project to concentrate on improving my purl style and I cannot tell you how glad I am to have done this before starting the Debbie Bliss Cabled Jacket. I really think cabling combined style would have driven me quite mad and I am now as comfortable purling in my new way as I was with the combined purl.

After my last post on my purling problems I spent the night experimenting with different ways of improving my purl stitch . Eventually I found that if I held my fingers just so I could purl continental style but still pick the yarn in a way similar to combined style (but in the other direction) rather than having to use a second finger to wrap the yarn manually around the needle.

The next morning Kelly left a comment with this link to a wonderful site, which has videos of a whole variety of purling methods. I had always thought that the Norweigian purl was the same as the combined purl, how wrong I was. I gave it a go and found that I quite liked it, but my tension was looser than anything else yet so I decided to stick with the style I had devised the night before. As it turned out there was also a link to a video of my new style, which apprently may have been the way that EZ purled, so much for my clever new way of purling. Whatever the case I think this new style will continue to improve and as I said earlier, I am very pleased to have sorted it out before starting the cables of the Debbie Bliss jacket. The ribbing also looks better than my combined style ribbing.

Saturday morning arrived and both Jesse and I were overcome with new car disease. We both had a compelling need to take the new car for a drive. Using a guide to holidaying with dogs we managed (in only half an hour) to find a cottage in the Blue Mountains that was both available and agreeable to having guests with dogs. Jesse had fun driving, I had fun knitting in the new, far roomier car, Isabelle had fun watching a DVD. No the car does not have a DVD player, but the arm rest between the front seats is big enough to fit my 12″ powerbook.

I do have knitting news but I am too tired to write a real post, so for now here are some bush walking photos. They appear in chronological order, for want of any ability to prioritise them.

I just got into bed after painstakingly knitting, undoing and reknitting the first two rows of the body of the DB Cabled Jacket (including my first ever cabling experience!). As soon as I lay down I realised I had used the wrong damn needles. I got out of bed, just to make sure and yep, wrong needles. By, oh, 2 sizes. One guess what I will be doing before I shower tomorrow morning?

Last night I cast on the back of the Debbie Bliss Cabled Jacket and knit up the first ball of yarn. This yarn is divine, just luscious, and way more blue knit up that it looked in the ball, which I am very happy about. My only problem? One ball knit up about 3.5 inches of ribbing, I have 21 balls, which seemed like a mountain of yarn and yet I am not sure it will be enough. I think a call to the yarn store is in order.

This morning we all left the house early and we left together. This is a pretty rare occurrence in this house, the only precedent is the daily family outing to the fertility clinic we were doing last month. Today’s outing was much more fun that that! We drove all the way out to Penrith to pick up one of these and this:

I am so excited it’s just silly. Along the way I all but finished the green scarf, this is what I have left to knit:

So tonight I will knit two more rows, cast off the scarf and then immediately cast on for the Debbie Bliss Cabled Jacket. What no swatch? Nope, no swatch, despite using different yarn. This jacket is one size fits all (most?) and I fall exactly in the middle of the size range, which gives me about twelve and a half inches of ease. I am actually hoping that it comes out a bit small (just a tiny bit).