Off the needles... Stitch Stripe Snood

The stitch stripe snood went pretty quickly in the end. I thought I'd reach my wrist threshold before the end of the project but they held out. I've been wearing it quite a bit and I'm loving the freedom from the flapping ends of scarves that have been bothering me all winter. I made this cowl about 20cms shorter than recommended so that it sits more snugly round the neck. I'm much more about the function than having a decorative draping thing that doesn't keep your neck warm.

E took a liking to the stripes and asked if I could make her one that was 'any colour but blue'. Apparently mine is blue which is news to me, I thought it was green. We'll call it ocean for the sake of argument and that's just where it will be travelling next month. Hence the newly acquired pocket book. I thought it was about time I refreshed my memory on things like seaweed and coastal flowers.

It's true that E and I like very different colour palettes so my supplies of chunky yarn didn't yield any tasteful combinations. I surfed online for what seemed like days but didn't really want to try something new without squishing the wool first. Then an opportunity to see an art installation and visit a good wool shop came up last week and hey presto, two very squishy balls of wool were purchased, at half price too.

Meanwhile I am also finally joining my hexagons to make up the pebble beach blanket. By the time I'd worked out what method to use the light had gone so I'll photograph that for next time. It's pretty tedious but the incentive is having another blanket at the end of it. The hexagons have been sitting in a basket for far too long! Despite the fact that there are nearly 100 hexagons it looks as though it will only be a lap sized blanket. I'm hoping some of the colours are still in my Aran stash so that I can make some half hexagons to square it off. Future blankets will definitely be made using the join as you go method!