Penguin at No. 17

Well, that's all the neighbourhood animals cozy and warm this Christmas. I can relax now knowing I've done my bit, hahahaha!!!

Rubber Duckies

Getting excited now, only 1 sleep to go!!! I'm such a big kid.

Well, I can show something I made now that they have been given to and opened by their recipients. Becca, Karen and I went to Stash yesterday lunchtime, to give Anne a send off on her last day working there. She is off on exotic travels. (Becca and I were slightly late as I got lost in the business park and went to the wrong building to pick her up!!) Here they all are...... top l-r Clare, Becca and Helen (shop owner), bottom l-r Karen and Anne.


I had knitted Karen, Becca and Anne a Rubber Ducky washcloth from Eskimimi's excellent pattern. I only had enough time and yarn to do the larger duck and I did all three at the same time on one long circular needle. It was fine as long as you turned the work in alternate directions between rows so the 3 different yarns didn't all twist round each other.

Then I made some stitch markers in coordinating colours, which I threaded onto matching ribbon and wrapped the cloths around some "smellies" and tied them with the ribbon. I think they went down well. I love it that other knitters appreciate that it may only be a washcloth but effort has been put into making it.

Shrug

I actually finished this shrug a couple of weeks ago but didn't get it seamed in time for the knit group Christmas meal. As I have a big new project lined up for after Christmas (Santa will hopefully be popping the yarn down the chimney on Friday) I got on and finished the seaming this weekend and got daylight photos.

Pattern: Silk Shrug from Classic by Erika Knight
Yarn: Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds DK
Needles: 3.25 and 3.75mm
Mods: made longer sleeves by casting on 66 sts, increasing every 10 rows to 80 sts and following pattern from there.

I think it needs something to hold it together otherwise it pings open. I am happy with the sleeves but would be happier if they were slightly narrower, but I did wing it with those!

For anyone concerned about the welfare of the penguin at no. 17, he'll be getting a little something in a couple of days!

Hedging my bets

So I was quite keen on the idea of a bit of "guerilla knitting". But I thought I'd start small. Our next door neighbours have a hedgehog outside their front door and as the weather got colder he started to look a bit chilly. So I knitted him a very simple 12 stitch 2x2 rib scarf using some left over sock yarn.

This morning on my way out, I popped their Christmas card through the door, put the scarf on the hedgehog, took a quick photo and ran to the car and away.




Doesn't he look much warmer now? I'm not going to mention it and see how long it takes them to notice. They know I knit so will probably guess who did it, but when?

Shona/Cuddly-Wuddly

I spent all day sewing this up yesterday, and was so excited at how well it fits that I put it on this morning and went down to show the girls at the LYS. Anne was kind enough to take the photos for me.





Pattern: Shona by Tina Barrett from Yarn Forward Magazine Issue 18
Yarn: Louisa Harding Hulda, colour 15, 9.3 x 50g balls
Needles: 6mm
Mods: I accidentally started the size 30 to the end of the decreases, then carried on with the size 32 from there! But I think it has made it a better fit. Also knitted the back and front together in the round.

Look at all the lovely yarn in the background, drool!! (Yes of course I bought something!)

Satisfaction

There's so much satisfaction in finishing a project, especially if you have procrastinated for about 6 weeks over the seaming!!! Today I could have carried on knitting a pair of socks I started yesterday but no, I took advantage of the bright daylight and my dining room table to sew up my Shona jumper which I have renamed Cuddly-Wuddly. I don't have photos yet because it took me all day to seam and after three attempts to sew on the collar I finally googled "slip stitich seam" and found out it involves a crochet hook. My previous attempts were all mattress stitch of which I mistakenly thought "it'll be fine". It wasn't.

The jumper was from Yarn Forward magazine issue 18, and despite my sabotage attempt, by starting to knit one size and then accidentally switching to the next size up, it is a blooming good fit.

Last night may have been the last time the knitting group meets at its usual venue. Sadly Borders UK has gone into administration and all 45 stores are under threat. So it is time for us to start looking for another venue in the Chester/Ellesmere Port area that stays open until at least 9pm. We have considered a pub but they don't tend to have bright lighting, essential for knitting especially if you have a disaster and have to rip back or tink back. So the hunt is on.

The Big Reveal

I am now allowed to reveal the secret test knitting project I was working on a couple of weeks ago.





The pattern is by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops and the pattern is now available to buy on Ravelry for $6.
The yarn I used is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, but there is also a fingering weight version included in the pattern. At the time of test knitting there was only a sport weight version. I love the lacy pattern but the mitts did come out a little roomy, not really a keeping-your-hands-warm-in-icy-weather mitt, although the fingering weight version will probably be more snug.

Thank you to my friend Kate for being such an excellent hand model!!!

Raspberry Ripple

About two years ago I knitted my step-sister and niece a pair of socks each. When we were visiting a couple of weeks ago, the smaller pair of these appeared out of a drawer, looking none the worse for wear. But they are now a little small. So I said I would make another pair in the latest "favourite colour" of red. I had some red and white yarn in my stash from about a year ago that I hadn't got round to knitting yet, so over the weekend I produced these.

I used The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns to get the size, so cast on 52 stitches and did plain stocking stitch after about 3cm if K2,P2 rib. And I managed to get the stripes to just about match!
Pattern: Basic sock pattern by Ann Budd
Yarn: Bear Necessities 100% 4ply wool from Folksy.com, colour Raspberry Ripple
Needles: 2.5mm circs, magic loop

Marram hat

Would you believe me if I said it was TOO sunny today? I wanted to take photos of the hat I finished but there was too much sun to get the colours right or show the pattern.

The first pic is in sun but the second one is better as it is taken in a bit of shade while we were out for a walk. You can see the striping on that one. I think I probably should have used two more contrasting colours for a better effect.



Pattern : Marram by Eskimimiknits
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in colours 150 and 154, 19g of main colour, 17g of contrast colour.
Needles: 3.5mm circs
Mods: none

It's a good fit on me or Colin and is lovely and warm. I am very impressed with Mimi as she has only been knitting for a year and is already designing!!

Felted Tweed Gloves

I now have a lovely pair of winter gloves. Amazingly they only took 37g of Rowan Felted Tweed, less than one ball. And I got the yarn when the old John Lewis was closing in Liverpool for £1.25 a ball, meaning these gloves cost about a pound!! Bargain of the year or what?





Coincidentally Knitting Daily have been plugging the book The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns this past week which this pattern is from. It's the first time I have used this book and it was really useful because I chose my yarn and gauge and then looked at the chart and found the number of stitches to cast on and away I went. As the meerkat would say - Simples!

Pattern: Basic Glove Pattern from the above book
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
Needles: 3.25mm

Best foot forward

To celebrate Soctoberfest 09, I have been participating in the Mystery Sock KAL on Through the Loops' blog. The idea is that you don't know what you are knitting (well you know its a sock) until you knit it. One clue is released once a week in October, and you knit that clue and wait for the next one. The final clue was released yesterday and here are my finished socks.


I made a bit of a boob by using such a variegated yarn so the pattern is a bit swamped but I'm not sure I would have used it for anything else so at least its out of the stash now.
Pattern: Through the Loops Mystery Sock 09
Yarn: Wild Fire Fibres Fantasia - colourway Lammas
Needles: 2.5mm circulars using magic loop from each end of the ball at the same time!
Mods: only the length of the foot to fit.

I also made the black & white kitty in a few hours last weekend, but didn't get round to the face for about a week. I'm still not entirely happy with it! I tried green and blue eyes but ended up back with black again.


Also last weekend Colin took part in a 10K run for Cancer Research UK. It was along the seafront in Rhyl and there was a hell of a wind blowing!

Susie decided to help him do some stretching before we left



and we met up with some others who were running it. On the left is Frederika who always looks stunning even when she has run 10K. This is before they set off


just after the first bend


and Colin crossing the finish line. This is the only picture I got of him finishing because although I got in a great place to see him come towards me, another runner was in front and blocking him from my view all the way! They only moved out of the way at the very last minute, I was a bit annoyed!


and this is the four of them at the end.


Colin's personal fundraising pot is now over £8,000 and collectively the 365challenge participants have raised over £24,000. Anyone fancy having a go? Check Colin's site for details.

Robitussin's cousin!

I finished this little fella last night but just had to do the face this morning. He is for some friends of ours who are having their first wedding anniversary on Sunday. Mel asked me to make her a kitty when she saw my previous one, but has probably forgotten all about it so I thought I'd surprise her. Their real life cat is called Robitussin, hence the name of this one. Perhaps they will call it Benylin!


Pattern: Knitted kitty by Lilian
Yarn: Louisa Harding Nautical cotton
Needles: 3mm
Mods: two colours, changed every two rows.

Some knitting content!

I was really disappointed in the lack of yarn shops in the Lake District. There was a tiny shop in Ambleside above a cafe called Hannalin Crafts, where I bought two balls of her own handspun DK from her Herdwick sheep. But the shops in Penrith and Keswick were almost exclusively crackly acrylics and I spent probably a total of one minute in there between the two. (Yes, I'm a yarn snob!) You would think there would be a decent yarn shop in a place with such a lot of sheep.

Did I ever put up a finished picture of my red cardigan? I don't think I did. Well here's one. According to Ravelry I finished this on September 19th. That's 3 weeks ago!! Yes, I remember I did finish it before my holiday and that is long gone now.


Pattern: Drops Jacket with Rib from Garnstudio, pattern 100-2
Needles: 5.0mm and 5.5mm
Yarn: Drops Karisma superwash DK
Mods: Don't remember any!

While away I got on with my Baktus scarf which I will be donating to Seasalt for the Bees Conservation Trust


Pattern: Baktus by Strikkelise
Yarn: Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big
Needles: 4.5mm
Mods: increased until there were 58 stitches across then started decreasing again.

I am now casting on for another knitted kitty which my friend Mel requested a while ago. She has probably forgotten but it is their first wedding anniversary on Sunday so I thought I'd give it to her then.

I am taking part in the mystery sock KAL hosted by Through the Loops again this year. It started on 1st October and you get a clue each Thursday. I have completed the first two clues using some of my WIld Fire Fibres sock club yarn.


I'm not sure I like the way it is pooling though. This is after clue 1. It is kind of swamping the actual lace pattern.


Well at least I will wear them and this will get that yarn out of stash.

I have also finished the gift for my friend's new baby. It is another Drops pattern but looks suspiciously like the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. Here is a friend of mine modelling it!

Pattern: Jacket in garter stitch b18-25
Yarn: Drops Fabel colour 901
Needles: 3mm
Mods: made the smallest size and added 2 rows to the collar.

I finally caught up to date with the LimenViolet podcasts so had to search for some more. I am trying Stash and Burn, ElectricSheep and the Sassy Sheep at the moment. The woman on ElectricSheep is quite English and posh and sounds just like Melinda Messenger!

First shawl

Here are the pictures of my Multnomah shawl. They aren't great as they were taken inside Borders last night!!





Pattern : Multnomah by HelloKitty
Yarn : Gem sock by GreenEyedMonsters on etsy, colour Maiden's Blush. Used 95grams
Needles: Addi lace 3.5mm, 60cm long.

Circle socks finished

I finished these off yesterday

Pattern: Circle Socks by Anne Campbell (this is a free ravelry download so you need to be on ravelry to see it - sorry!)

Yarn: King Cole Zig Zag sock yarn

Needles: 2.5mm Addi lace circs using magic loop.

Mods: Only did 4 repeats of the circle pattern on the leg cuff.

Of all the beautiful sock yarns I have in my stash, I used this cheapy 50% superwash wool, 50% nylon Zig Zag. It isn't the softest yarn in the world by any means, but it was only £3.99 for 100g and I loved the colour. I'd say it will be quite hard wearing too and will probably soften up in the wash.

I think that Glass Slippers will be my next sock project but I will need just the right yarn to show the pattern off. I'd love to use this gorgeous Malabrigo sock yarn that Karen gave me for my birthday at knit group this week, but I think it may be too dark.

Perhaps it is time to use my Posh Yarns Eva

which I have had for well over a year. Or Green Eyed Monsters Gem,

hmmm, decisions decisions.

But for today I must seam my Red Cardigan, its been waiting over a week now.

Twisty and Fidget

Ok, I got my photographer on the case and can now show you my two FOs.

The first one is a little neckwarmer. I started this while I was procrastinating over the seaming (not that there is much) on Twisty. It is a very quick little knit and the buttons I got from John Lewis are perfect.

Pattern: The Fidget by Robin Dodge
Length: 23cm
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Classic Alpaca - colour 3806m - 2 strands held together - used under two balls.
Needles: 5.5mm KnitPro Harmony circulars
Mods: none

The second FO is my Drops jumper/vest thing. Yesterday evening was very warm and it was not comfortable wearing this for the photos. It is going to be lovely and toasty for the winter for work though.

Pattern: Drops 115-24
Size: small
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Eskimo - colour 49m - 7.2 balls (the pattern says 6 but this is incorrect)
Needles: 9mm KnitPro Harmony circulars
Mods: none

I decided not to go for the Titania top in the previous post, but instead have made a start on another Drops pattern (there are hundreds of them and they are ALL free). This one is pattern number 100-2 which I am calling Red Rib. Strangely, looking at the measurements, I need to make a large in this design(?). I don't mind if it is a bit big in the end, it will be a great snuggly cardi for the winter, as it buttons right up to the neck.


I am using DK yarn rather than aran, so have had to swatch and go up a couple of needle sizes.

More than just books

Other stuff has happened recently apart from reading. Last weekend my parents came up to visit. My step-dad has just retired and had a significant birthday so a cake was called for.

This was the first Victoria Sandwich I have made in probably over 20 years! Came out pretty well though I do say so myself.

On Sunday morning we went for a walk around the Walls and when we got to the weir there were several herons on the water. My zoom lens got this photo from quite a distance (I've cropped it quite a bit so the detail has been somewhat lost).


A bit further on we were aiming for the Racecourse as my ex-boss was competing in the Chester Half Marathon but the heavens opened and we made a quick dash into town to Caffe Nero for much needed coffees. He managed 2 hours 10 minutes, we heard later.

This morning I finished off my Flutter-by Socks. The second half of the skein had some really dark bits pop up in the purple bits so they aren't the same now, but its not really a problem just a bit of a shame. It may come out in the wash. It is a really easy and fairly quick pattern to knit.



Pattern: Flutter-by socks
Yarn: Wild Fire Fibres Fantasia from the May sock club, colour Rhododendron
Needles: 2.5mm Addi lace circs
Mods: Decreased to 30 sole stitches after the gusset.

I'm not sure what I want to cast on next, perhaps I should revisit those WIPs!

Well my review of Pride & Prejudice had mixed responses. Linz - it was nice to know I'm not the only one who didn't like it, I really thought I was after talking to a few people I know. Anonymous - yes, I do know who you are AND I know where you LIVE, hee hee!!! P&P isn't the only "classic" I have read, I enjoyed Dracula and Frankenstein but not P&P or 20,000 leagues. I didn't study English Literature after the age of 14 so I don't really know how to "read" a book in the way that you do. I like to read for enjoyment of the story, and that is enough for me. If it doesn't float my boat, I'll move on. I don't really want to get into the analysis of the writing or the period it was written, but I respect the fact that other people do. (I will just say that on your recommendation I have started the first chapter of Emma, but if I find I'm not enjoying it I will not plough on this time.) Everyone has their own tastes in books and that is why there are so many different books out there.

On that subject I am currently reading The Witch's Trinity by Erika Mailman a story about a witch hunt in the search for the reason why the crops are failing and everyone is starving in a tiny village in the 1400s. There is a gruesone trial of an old woman with a test which she cannot possibly pass which proves she is a witch when she isn't. And this stuff really went on! Scary.