Uh-oh here comes another obsession

Oh dear. You see this is what happens when I am let loose in a wool shop on my own for an entire Saturday afternoon. It all started last week really when I was sort of casting around for a new project. Once the cushions were finished and with the tapestry nearly finished, I got that slight cold sweat at the thought that I didn't actually have another project ready to go.

And then, as luck would have it, I found myself with an afternoon (child-free) to kill on Saturday and where else could I go, but the wool/sewing shop? I popped into Tesco first and my eyes clapped down upon this little number - have you seen it before? It's quite pricey (£5.99 - yikes!), but unfortunately, as soon as I saw the cardi on the cover I was smitten. A cable cardi, in aran weight, with fairisle - and I am a complete fairisle virgin. Not once have I ever attempted to fairisle. But I have been inspired lately by Vanessa over at Do You Mind if I Knit? and her wonderful fairisle dress.

And this is only my second attempt at cable but it is soooooo addictive! I doubt whether I will ever knit anything in stocking stitch again - this is much more fun! And so easy! It's only an 8 stitch repeat over 6 rows, so even I can remember that.

Of course, my first problemo was picking the colours. I had originally thought I'd go with the grey, as per the pattern, but that was knocked on the head when there was no grey available. Which is a tad annoying when you're itching to get going, so I went for the cream and these lovely colours for the fairisle bit.

There is also a mustard yellow to go in there too - that one I did have to order. I figured it would take me ages to cable my way up to the fairisle bit, but as you can see, I'm pretty much almost there. And I only started it on Saturday night in front of X Factor AND I did a tension square first. I am not using the Artesano wool specified - just a much cheaper wool/acrylic mix because I hope I will be wearing it - and washing it - quite a lot this winter.

Well, wish me luck on the fairisle. Luckily, I have a How to Knit book by Debblie Bliss which goes over the basics, so hopefully I should be okay.

P.S. Apologies for crap nature of pictures - all lights on today as it's hammering it down!