Oh happy days....

Warm greetings from Meilen!

Hello everyone!

I am just back from a 3 days training course for my new job in Hasliberg, in the Bernese Oberland. What a beautiful area!! I am still mad with myself for forgetting to take the camera! But then again, I was going away for a 3 days statistics/programming course so I did not think that taking a camera along would be essential...

Anyhow, I realised on Blogger earlier today  that this will be my 100th post!!!!!!!!!! A (small) but exiting milestone for all of us at Made in Suisse (well Alf and I mostly!). I started this blog at the end of March and never thought that I would have so many stories to share with family, friends and fellow bloggers around the world. Looking back on all the things Mr T, Alf and I have been up to in the last 5 months, and on all the memories we have built in La Suisse, makes me very happy.

Had I been slightly more organised, I would have started to put together a little "give away" a few weeks back to celebrate this milestone with you all but between going on holidays and Mr T's operation, this had slipped my mind...However, fear not!! I will be celebrating my next Made in Suisse milestone (50th follower) with you all. When the number of followers will reach 50, I will open a "give away" competition for all my followers in Switzerland and abroad. The parcel is sure to contain some Swiss chocolate (!!!) so spread the word, and if you haven't already done so, join the Made in Suisse adventure by clicking on the Followers link on the left.

Something else is making me very happy today (apart from the sun and Mr T's slow but good recovery from his op): I have finished my first "big" knitting project!

Up until a few weeks ago, I had only ever knitted small things for children mostly such as hats and scarves or socks. However, I had 500g of this wonderful wool sitting in my craft basket and sulking because it hadn't been used since being bought 9 months ago. My friend Petit Filoux and I went to the Glasgow Christmas Country Living fair last November. We ended up buying and sharing a pack of 10 balls (1kg) of 70% merino, 20% alpaca and 10% silk from Woolfish. You can click on this link to see the cowl the talented Petit Filoux knitted with her share!

Because this wool is so beautiful and so soft, I felt that it should be used to knit something special, something I would get to wear for once as I usually knit presents for others. Not being a knitting expert, I wanted something that would be relatively easy to make and without too many fancy increases/decreases/bits to saw together at the end. I came across this pattern on Ravelry which looked exactly like what I needed! The pattern is called Foliage Wrap by Anne Thompson. It is a simple sleeveless cardigan i.e. a rectangle with 2 holes for the arms (That I can manage!) but with beautiful details added onto the collar and the bottom to make it look really special (yet very easy!). Loved it!

I modified the pattern slightly by making the cardigan longer and increased the number of leaf repeats at the bottom. Because the yarn is so thick, it is a quick knit. Et voilà!!!

Far too hot, as you can tell with the sunglasses and the shorts, to be wearing this cardigan but I am very excited at the prospect of wearing it when Autumn starts. I am quite proud of my first "real" knitting project and want to tell the world about it!

PS: I have just joined the Handmade Monday crowd over at 1st Unique Gifts- the blog. Today is the first Monday I have posted a link to one of my posts on there and I am quite excited to see what other people have been creating in the last 7 days. If you're curious too, go on and have a look on here!