Knitting needles flashing away

I feel I have been neglecting my blog recently, so I apologise but I did show you my Mini Mania quilt in the making, and  I have been busy  knitting too.

It seems that shawls are the 'in' thing to knit at the moment and as I have some nice yarn stashed away, I decided to have a go.  This first yarn was bought last year at Fiber East and is a lace weight silk mix, which I think came in a skein of 110g.  and after completing the shawl I still have 79g left, so definitely enough for a second shawl.

This second shawl was made from a 20g ball of Subline Lace ( extra fine merino wool), well I say 20g, but I ran out of yarn as I was casting off so had to join the second ball for the last few stitches......still there is plenty left  for some fine knit fingerless gloves.

This was where I had to join the second ball...BOO HOO!

Blocking the shawl.....must find some pins now.

The other knitting I have been doing is the bead knitting for my half dolls.  Before I can start knitting I have to thread the beads onto my yarn, which starts with threading them onto sewing thread, then transferring the beads onto the cotton.  Believe me - threading the beads takes almost as long as the knitting, but it's a job that can be done while watching the T.V.

This is where it begins 

Transferred  to the  cotton and knitting on the go.

Finished 

A friend has some antique half dolls so I did a deal.......I would do the knitting and she would share one of her dolls with me.  

She chose her doll first, and I chose to use this skirt pattern.

Isn't she a darling!

For my doll I made the same skirt  but as she is a little smaller I altered the length of the skirt , but now I think it needs to be a bit longer, so maybe I will have to do some re-knitting

Lilac beaded skirt to go with her purple flowers

Our summer has been a long time coming this year, but one consolation is that these beautiful Iris's have lasted a lot longer in the cooler weather.

So pretty 

Hope to catch up again soon.