I really should be asleep now, what with me feeling like rubbish this evening, but I wanted to blog this before I headed off to the land of Nod. I completely forgot, in my last post, to write about my current WiP. After socks, I decided to break up the ‘knitting in the round’ theme and do something nice and simple. To that end, I picked up the ‘Wave’ scarf pattern and Manos silk yarn I received for my birthday last year from Andy and Rhiannon. The pattern’s only 4 lines long before it repeats, which means that I now know it off by heart. I’m about a third of the way there according to the pattern and I must say it looks gorgeous already – I’m looking forward to wearing it this winter:

I love how the yarn works with the pattern too – it really does remind me of the colour of waves crashing against rocks along the coast.

I have also learned something else making this scarf – after so long working with circulars I’m completely cackhanded at using straight needles. It took me forever to get used to handling them so they were comfy but at the same time so I could knit at a reasonable speed. Shocking, no?

Needless to say, at the first opportunity I assembled my Knit Pick interchangeable 5mm needles and transferred the scarf over to the set up because it’s so much easier and I don’t have to worry about the scarf stitches falling off the needles. I definitely think that once you start using circulars, there’s no looking back, but then again it could just be me .

It’s been a year and two days since I started this blog. A year and two days since I started to knit again and I haven’t given up. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned – all the little techniques that, when put together, transform yarn into something positively beautiful. And often the yarn is positively beautiful prior to use as well, so it’s a double whammy.

Those of you who read my blog at the beginning may have remembered me speaking of my former next door neighbour, a lovely lady who taught me how to do my first knit stitch when I was but 8 years old. I went to see her at the end of last month and, as she is one of many friends who shares my love of yarn, I proudly pulled my sock-in-progress out of my bag and showed it to her. Her response was “aren’t you clever” *squee*. Sadly, though, she can no longer knit things herself as she suffers badly from arthritis in her hands. Within minutes I had inherited a bag of needles and old knitting patterns. I was very touched. I never inherited my mother’s ability to sew, so to inherit the needles of someone who was as close to my mum as a sister was a big thing for me.

Sandy has, however, taken up cross stitch and I have a couple of kits that have been sitting in my cupboard for years so I’m going to send them to her so she can enjoy making them.

And what of the gifts mentioned in the title of this blog, I hear you cry. Well, it’s both a case of gifts to be given and gifts to receive. On my only-slightly-belated blogversary, I should take stock of the gifts I have in mind for people in the near future:

1. Fetching gloves for Angie in America (gift swap from last year) – made, just need to send.
2. Cable Blanket for soon-to-be-arriving baby of my boss
3. Tulip for soon-to-be-arriving baby of my friend Jess
4. Something knitted (maybe gloves) for friend Paul’s birthday in September

Yeah, I’m going to be busy for the next few months it seems.

Still, with all the gift giving, it’s nice to be the recipient of gifts too. Last Thursday I finally got to have my Masters graduation (which I loved – I’m definitely a pomp and circumstance kinda gal). See, here’s me in my robes:

Ali came all the way down from London to watch me graduate which was lovely considering my dad and my brother were unable to make it. After sweating in robes for about an hour, it was piccie time (evidence above) down by the stream that runs through the campus. At which point I was completely stunned to receive a present from Nick, Ali’s hubby:

Yes, my very own set of Knit Pick interchangeables. And, then, I was completely bowled over to receive another gift, this time from Ali herself:

BFL Spunky Eclectic fibre in the Burning Embers colourway spun by Ali – in fact she blogged about it here with me all unknowing it was meant for me. There goes my illusions of being the sneaky one. Isn’t it beautiful. I shall definitely be thinking of an awesome project for this beautiful, handspun yarn.

That’s it for now, chums, as it’s way past my bed time. I shall be off to the land of nod, and try not to be too disappointed that I don’t think I’ll be able to take part in the Ravelympics (alas for lack of time and too much to do paired with a slow knitting rate).