It was my birthday last week and to be honest I don’t handle them particularly well.  I’m not really sure why, I’d just sooner do the whole present thing without the pressure????

My children were on time as far as ordering me a gift (a couple of days before the unmentionable event), however the said gift only arrived today.  For me this is better, it means I have something to look forward to although my husband believes this is unacceptable (?????).

So today I happily ripped the packaging off my gift to discover a beautiful hank of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Ravelry Red and a beautiful book called Handmade in the UK with designs from Emily Wessel.

Usually, I’m pretty up to date on newly published books but I had yet to see this one so it was a complete suprise.  There are 10 designs in the book all with an element of lace in the knitting and if I were to be completely honest I think I’d like to make all but one of them.

I thought you might like a little look at my favourites.

Rosewater is this beautiful little, double knit hat.  Made in the round, the pattern includes 5 sizes from baby to large adult.

Windswept is a double knit, v neck jumper with a lace panel running down the centre.  Again the pattern includes an incredible range of sizes, this time from baby to 4XL (16 sizes).  I love the use of garter stitch to make the knit look contemporary.  It’s used on the deep cuffs, the bottom bands and runs up in between the middle of the lace panel and splits to form the neck shaping.

 

Estuary is a gently shaped 4ply shawl/scarf with 2 lace patterns and is very like something I’ve been designing recently.

The last pattern in the book is Vivid and there’s no denying it’s beauty.  The instructions include yarn amounts for 1 square knitted in either 4ply, dk or aran weight meaning you can use your favourite yarn.  All day I’ve been jumping from this to my final pattern and back.  Obviously, though I shall have to begin with Winding Way as I have the perfect yarn already, don’t I?

Happy knitting!