FO - Berenice

Blocked and dried, I remembered to take some finished photos of my Berenice sweater before wearing it (I've worn it at least three times since I finished it last week).

Overall, I'm very pleased with the way it's come out.  An inch or two longer would be nice, but, as I mentioned, I only had 500g of aran-weight yarn, so had to be careful.

The lace and cable panel on the front and back is very pleasing:

It also looks more complicated than it is (I think the one-stitch garter band at either side of the cable really sets it off, giving a frame for the cable).

I'm now a convert to using a tubular cast-off as well.  It's a bit fiddly and time-consuming, but worth it.  There are two set-up rows to knit, then rearranging the stitches onto two needles, then kitchener stitching to be done, which means a very long length of yarn (3 times the length or width of the piece that's being sewn) when doing the hem of a sweater or cardigan.  Definitely worth it; look at the sleeve cuff:

And the hem:

Since finishing this, I've also made a third hedgehog:

The yarn for this one is pink and silver, with a pink face, feet and ears.  The red and purple ones I made for DD2 a few weeks ago don't have ears as - for reasons known only to her - she doesn't like ears at the moment.  In fact, she got a pair of scissors and cut the ears off the crocheted Hello Kitty I made her.

This hedgehog has been given to the four-year-old daughter (L) of a couple hubby and I are friendly with.  Hubby knows them better than I do and this little girl has taken a shine to him, when she's usually very shy with people who aren't family members.  I asked hubby if he thought she'd like a hedgehog and he said he thought she would, so as he worked at home on Tuesday, early evening he popped down to the bar at the train station where the little girl's mother works and dropped it off (which is why the photo's not very good; it was taken in artificial light).  L often goes with her father to see mummy (and have a drink and snack) before she gets taken home to bed, so hubby was able to give the hedgehog to her and she loves it and has named her Daisy!  She's also told her parents that she needs to come into the shop where I work when I'm there so she can say thank you to me.  So sweet!

I started a ripple blanket a few days ago and that's going well.  What I haven't mentioned is that I've been having shoulder problems over the last few months.  It's my right shoulder (rotator cuff) and I think I've worn it through knitting and crocheting, so I'm trying to be good and not get stuck in a rut of doing just one thing for an extended period of time as that (according to my sister, whose profession is sports injury management, massage, personal training, etc) will only aggravate it.  Sis has also given me exercises to do to help it (but I don't always remember to do them; naughty me).  I did start a new sweater on Monday, but knitting seems to be making my shoulder worse, so I've put that to one side for now.

Happy Easter.  Don't eat too much chocolate :)  I'll be working my usual hours this weekend as, being a small Tesco Express store, we don't close (Christmas Day is the only day of the year our shop isn't open) and it's going to be busy, busy, busy on Sunday.