sh-h-h-h....

whatever you do, don’t tell Marnie!

I’m taking off next week to visit my little sis (see No 44, ‘Making a Theme Sweater’, ‘DogOn’) in Vancouver for a week, so you know what I should be doing - yep, making a couple of shopping bags (funny - weird, I mean - it’s in No 44 also, ‘Take An Old Bag Shopping’). I still owe Marnie & friend, Anna, one each - they missed out at Christmas time! I find it fun and yet, a bit of a challenge to see that I can get the bag off the machine without forgetting anything and, picking out the right colour specifically for the recipient is most fun. I’m usually bang on!
Anyhow, before I do that I thought I’d also surprise her with ‘A-shirred’ from No 53. I need it a bit bigger than the largest size in the pattern, so I chose a yarn (Yeoman Yarns Twister) just a bit heavier -  a very pale blue I think she'll like -and put my stitch size one dot higher, but did the same stitches and rows as the largest size - my ‘cheating at swatches’ swatch is 29 sts and 42 rows/10 cm instead of the 30 sts and 44 rows the pattern calls for. Because Twister is wool, I won’t worry about the row gauge, it’ll pull up that bit with washing and then the shirring can take care of any extra length.
My friend Cindy told me she made this and it was such a good pattern, she zipped right through it without any questions or problems. It is a pretty quick knit and most of the putting together is done on the machine which makes it neater and faster, I think. The hood is optional - it’s actually all finished, as is the neckline and then just handstitched inside - you might think that was an afterthought, but I did it like that in the pattern on purpose to give you the choice of making the hood or not - and now, it seems like a good idea because I’m not sure how far my yarn is going, being as I substituted and am making a larger size...
Well, there’s not enough yarn to make the hood - maybe Marnie won’t notice...I'm taking my 'painted' 'A-shirred' (see below, Woodstock) - maybe we'll get someone to take a photo of us together!