This is the culprit that gave me the knitting blahs this month:

It's a cropped version of the Consuela jumper from the Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca book. Yet again I'm re-using some old yarn. This time from an oversized 1980's style jumper that absolutely drowned me. I think I may still have the pattern somewhere not that I'll ever re-knit that jumper. I had to turn off the flash so that you could see the pattern. The colour of this yarn is a very bright red - it's so red it looks like plastic and I think it's in the brightness of the colour that my problem with this jumper lies - I'm just not sure I'd ever wear it.
In a bid to get back my knitting mojo I've turned to some quick knits. Here's what I knitted this weekend. It's the Lola hat from the Mission Falls Decade book:

and I couldn't get a clear image of the cables. I also couldn't get a decent photo of how ridiculous I look in this hat. I've still not found a style of hat that actually suits me but that never stops me from wearing them - warm ears are more important and my hats are also a standing joke with my hillwalking friends.

Just when you thought I had disappeared off the face of the earth, I'm back.

So what have I been doing for nearly a whole month? Not knitting (well hardly any worth blogging about. Instead I've been reading. Normally I only read 1 to 2 books a month with lots of knitting. This month I've read 8 books and I've still got until Tuesday evening to make it to 9!

What books have I read(in order):

"John Burnet of Barns" John Buchan
"Childish Things" Robin Jenkins
"Miss Wyoming" Douglas Coupland
"Poor Angus" Robin Jenkins
"The Green Isle of the Great Deep" Neil M Gunn
"The Fall" Simon Mawer (Boardman Tasker winner 2003)
"The Changeling" Robin Jenkins
"Dark Shadows Falling" Joe Simpson (I've got a big crush on Joe Simpson, I think he's fantastic)

I'm off to peruse my bookshelves and decide which book to read next.

Lara has been washed and pressed and I've managed to get that vital half an inch out of it. Well, at least enough to get it to cross-over without looking stretched:

It's okay, the yarn is more tired that I thought it was and I'd have preferred a longer version but I've already worn it to the office and nobody laughed at me.
My Lara is alot shorter than quite a few of the completed ones out in blogland. Mine has three quarter sleeves and stops just below the waist.

Some of the complete Lara's I've found:

crafty bitch
sixandahalfstitches
zeusstrik
Autumn Sway - see entry for 15th
Zeneedle
Wendy's

I love the chopstick closure look - I'm definitely going to have to make a larger size soon.