Days of Love and Pikelets

Ah, Valentine's Day. The day that florists and card companies look forward to more than any other in the year.

Pete and I don't 'do' Valentine's Day, apart from cards, and we like it that way. I prefer cards actually cause I can keep them. Flowers die and chocolate gets eaten, but I keep cards.

I have chosen to mark today in all it's pink and perfume-scented glory by making pikelets. Half are plain, for raspberry jam, and the other half have blueberries stirred through. Why? Just felt like it. That's why I cook most things.
I do have something of a heart-motif to show y'all today though - I have finished the first row of stars and hearts in the aptly named "Hearts and Stars Blanket". So far, so good, I have to say. The pattern is engaging and not boring, while also not being challenging enough to drop the whole thing off a tall building. I seem to be motoring along on it quite well and I'm also pretty pleased to see that this row has taken two balls of yarn (Shepherd 'Colour 4 Me' 50g balls) to complete, so I feel I'm pretty well on track for gauge and yarn usage. Niiiiice.I'm *hoping* to have this completed and ready to give by the end of March, but I'm also trying to be realistic. my problem, as with all blankets knit on circular needles, is the time it takes me to complete each row. So, if there's something even remotely interesting on TV at night, sometimes I'm lucky to get just one row done. Ouch. Must try harder.

Ooh - good news - I just checked my account at "Jolly Jumbuck", to find that the lovely people there have shipped my 4ply! Hooray! So I am expecting this gorgeous bundle:...to be arriving in my letterbox early next week. That'll make the ol' Monday/Tuesday combination a little more tolerable! It's a Hand Maiden 'Casbah' sock yarn, 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon and has THE most beautiful name for the colourway. It's called "Paris", and they just got it so right. I think that's why I liked it so much straight away. I actually found the yarn first , and then went searching on Ravelry for a pattern I could use it in. I don't really want to use it for socks, mostly cause of the cashmere (I don't want to wear holes in it!!) but also because I love love love the colours so very much, I want it to be a garment that will really show them off.

So, in the spirit of the upcoming Aussie autumn and winter, I plan on knitting it into a lace scarf called "Branching Out", by Susan Lawrence. It's free pattern featured in Knitty Spring 05. I can't wait to see it teamed against my black coat, or with several three-quarter sleeve tops I have, in either blue, black, pink, teal or even brown. I am so looking forward to this glorious really, truly Hand Maiden deliciousness being in my hot little hands that I'm just a little worried for the current projects...