Sabbatical Part 2: The booking, packing and patterns

And so, to the most selfish part of my sabbatical. A whole week dedicated to myself and something I really wanted to do. When I first started thinking about what this might be I had Shetland in mind as I have longed to go to the Shetland Wool Week festival for the last few years. However, the timing of my sabbatical didn't work out with the festival dates and Shetland in November seemed like a pretty wet and windy option. I decided that going on an organised knitting tour would be best for me, mostly so that I didn't have to think too hard about what to do each day, but also so that I could meet other likeminded people. I really am a social person and don't much like spending long periods of time on my own - especially in a foreign country. After a bit of searching the most perfect trip came up: The Icelandic Knitter's Knitting on Ice. I took the plunge and booked it.

Planning for the trip was stressful for me. I'd never been anywhere like Iceland before and couldn't quite get my head around what I was supposed to wear each day to keep the weather out. The advice that 'there is no bad weather, only bad clothing' kept springing to mind. I didn't own any hiking clothing or equipment, but thankfully friends let me borrow key things like a super-warm coat and hiking boots, and then Sports Direct had everything else I needed to buy like a sleeping bag, waterproof trousers, base layers, hiking socks, etc., at a pretty reasonable price. Packing was then another nightmare with so many bulky warm items to fit into one bag. So I ended up borrowing a proper traveller's rucksack from my brother. Lugging that thing through London I felt like I was going on a real adventure.

For the trip I had knitted two jumpers and a hat. The first jumper was the Swirled Pentagon Pullover by Norah Gaughan. I found this in a book I bought for my Mum years ago. She has knit lots of projects from it but I always thought they weren't for me. But this one looked like just the kind of warm and cosy knit I needed in Iceland, especially with its thick roll neck. My first attempt at knitting it was a true disaster. The thing came out HUGE and looked a really strange shape. With a bit of help from my knit gurus I settled on knitting the small size, going down a needle size for the main part of the jumper and down another needle size for the pentagons. Once I had sewn it up I realised that I much preferred it without the roll neck and that I would probably wear it more after the trip, so omitted it. I really like the pentagon neckline construction and the colour of the yarn has received many compliments. If I were to knit it again I would add a lot more waist shaping and try to adapt it to be made in the round for ease of knitting.

The second jumper was a total panic knit. When the Swirled Pentagon Pullover was going so terribly wrong I completely lost my nerve and bought the pattern for Owls by Kate Davis and some New Lanark Chunky yarn to knit it with. My theory here was that if the first jumper wasn't ready in time this thick-and-quick knit would be. And I was right, it only took a few weeks to finish and both the yarn and pattern are absolute superstars. It fits me like a dream, it is warm in that temperature regulating way that wool is and it still looks great after many, many wears. This is unlike the previously mentioned Swirled Pentagon Pullover that was knit in Mondial Bio Lana which, although is much softer than the New Lanark, has pilled terribly and the jumper is looking very worn after only a month or two of wear.

The hat I made was a very last minute knit but has been the item that I have been most complimented on whilst wearing. The pattern is Cable Hat by Dora Stephensen which is a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is Third Vault Yarns Gytha Worsted in the colour way Bulbasaur. This was a gift from my friend Wendy at Yarnsub who saw the colour and thought of me. I seriously love the deep green shininess of it. To top it off I chose a Rico Faux Fur Pom Pom in a coral colour to really stand out. I also thought that this colour would be nice and visible should I fall down a crevasse on a mountain or glacier.

As you can see from my photos above I had THE BEST TIME. More on that in Part 3.

Philomena's Elephant

Trips to the library used to be fraught when Flo was tiny. Books went flying off the shelves, screams and shouts would be had and I would sheepishly leave with her under my arm without taking out a single book. Now that Flo is much more able to go into a public place without causing mass destruction the library has become a much more fun and interesting place to be. We’re slowly getting to the point where I can actually look at some books myself! 

A few weeks back I managed to get away from the kids section for 2 minutes and grabbed the book Edward's Menagerie off the display shelf. I have a friend's baby to make something for and the projects looked like a nice challenge as well as a lovely gifts to give. The book is full of the cutest soft toy crochet patterns which are pretty easy to follow if you have a basic grasp of crochet, which I just about do. There are about 40 different animals to choose from, but I went with the Elephant as I had some left over John Arbon Knit By Numbers in a lovely grey colour and who doesn't love an elephant?

My basic crochet meant that this project demanded my full concentration and so I had to basically do it with my head down, no talking or watching TV for the whole project. Thankfully as crochet is pretty quick it only took a few silent sessions to complete the pieces with a further session to sew up and embellish with a tail and eyes. 

My friends baby was born and named Philomena shortly after I completed the little elephant. I can't say Philomena seemed pleased with the elephant as she could hardly focus on her own mother at the time of me giving it to her. But I'm sure in years to come it will be flung across her bedroom during a flight test, snuggled whilst watching films and be ridden on by Barbies. 

There was one small snag with this project, which was that I was having such a good time making the elephant I forgot that it was a library book and was fined £2 for a late return. Perhaps I should stick to letting Flo choose the books. I'd be more likely to renew them on time!

Emerald City

A finished object!!!

I won a competition last year with Pom Pom Mag and was sent the most gorgeous yarn; Kismet Fiber Works Refuge Fingering. I got to choose the colourway and couldn't resist the aptly named T-Rex.
Green is really my thing, especially being a ginger.

I decided to make the Hitofude cardigan by Hiroko Fukatsu and over the last few months it's been a pleasure to knit. The yarn is a mix of baby camel and silk which is so slinky-soft! Plus I could get lost in the deep emerald green for days. The repetitive lace pattern was easy to get on with and as it's knit all in one piece it was completely satisfying to watch grow, try on as I knit and have no sewing up to do!

I'm really happy with the finished article although the hot weather is prohibiting me from wearing it at the moment.
I managed to get Flo to take some photos of me wearing it in the garden the other day. This photo shoot was a lot of fun and she directed me about like a tiny, shouty David Bailey. She even demanded that I use her dog balloon as a prop. I of course obeyed. Look what magic occurred. Turner Prize here we come.

 

Broken needles

I knit on the London underground to and from work every day during the week. I like to take something easy and portable so that it can quickly be stuffed in and out of my bag while I battle with the other commuters. I've taken to working on a blanket project which I've named The Leftovers as I'm using up sock yarn remnants to create squares. These will eventually be sewn together, probably in about 10 years time, as I'm going to need a lot of them to make a substantial enough blanket.

Last week I took this particular square out of my project bag on the Central line and discovered that one of my needles had snapped. I'm not sure how they got broken. Did I sit on them? Did I shove something in my bag with too much force? Whatever it was I could not knit for the rest of my commute and therefore was not a happy traveller.

It was a Lantern Moon set of rosewood sox sticks that I bought back in maybe 2007-2008? So I guess it was their time, even though in my mind I expected them to last forever.

Fair-well faithful needles. May your journey to the needle graveyard in the sky be smooth and without snags.

Purple Juvel

This Easter the Mr, Flo and I went for a long weekend to Mersea Island in Essex. I needed a satisfying project to work on during the car journey and in the cosy evenings in the little cottage we had booked. I have had 6 balls of Noro Cash Iroha in my stash since 2007 when I snapped it up at a John Lewis haberdashery sale. Please keep in mind that his was a pre child purchase. The colour wasn't really me, the weight was all wrong for a garment and I never found the perfect project for it, so it lay in my stash un touched for nearly 10 years. Suddenly with this trip on the horizon I saw my chance to make it work.

Flo had been asking for me to knit her something for some time. I had managed a quick Father Christmas hat and chunky snood for her in recent months, but she was looking for something of jumper or cardigan grade. I did a bit of Ravelry hunting and found the Juvel free pattern by Yarn-Madness. The pattern is primarily for hand spun yarns, but as the Cash Iroha is a single with quite a bit of texture so I thought it would be a good substitute.

I had seriously considered this patten before casting on and I had surmised that it was the perfect spring throw-on cardi for a child that says she's never cold, but feels freezing to the touch. The purple seemed like an easy win for Flo who professes to loving girly colours, despite being a bit of a tom-boy. So I cast on and made quick progress with the Aran weight yarn. The next day I revealed the in progress pattern and yarn to Flo who promptly told me she didn't like it and wanted a pink cardigan instead. Stupidly this actually managed to wind me up as I really thought she would have been pleased about the project. But who was I kidding? She's 6! She doesn't realise how cutting her comments were to me. So after a quick lesson with Flo on how to be grateful I continued knitting.

Lots of knitting was done on the trip and the cardigan didn't take long to finish. It only took 3 balls in the end so the remaining yarn is back to lingering in my stash. As soon as it was done Flo was more than pleased to wear it and has since repeatedly asked to wear it, which just goes to show that kids will say anything to get a rise out of you. I think you can tell from the photo evidence that the Juvel is indeed a hit and will hopefully keep her warm this Spring, if she bothers to keep it on.

Enter Cat

No, you can't assume from the title of this blog post that I have re-homed another cat, although that is on my wish list of things to do this year. It is actually my interpretation of the pattern name for this cute cute cute cardi I have made for Flo: Entrechat. It is french and I thought it translated to Enter Cat but it is in fact a ballet term where the legs cross each other mid-air in a flutter - apparently.

The yarn is the skein of Handwork Cotton I got a Plaristow of Rye on holiday and was lovely to work with. Soft and not too shiny as cotton can sometimes be. I wanted to find a one skein pattern and ideally something for Flo to wear. When I asked her what she wanted me to make she asked for a toy dog, which I instantly rejected in favour of something she won't just hide in the bottom of the toy chest.

The pattern was lots of fun and knit all in one piece, there's lots to keep you interested but nothing to confuse you which was just what I wanted. I was initially worried that one skein would not be enough but I finished with a tiny bit of yarn left over, so it was just the right amount.  My favourite bit of it is the little flounce the back where you increase after the textured section. It creates an explosion level of cuteness in me.

The biggest dilemma came with the button choice. I have so many buttons at home but always nothing to go with what I've made and I end up buying more. But I do love buttons so much I don't think I'll ever stop buying them just because. I went with a simple wooden heart button from Liberty, which helps to balance the pinkness of it all.

Sadly a continuing fact of life is that it's hard to get a 4 year old to stand still for a photo. *sigh...*

She still looks lovely in it though.

Picking a project for the other Birthday Girl

This is Shan and she's my special 'birthday twin' as we were born on the same day in the beds next to each other 30 years ago! I wanted to knit her something to mark the occasion, as for me that's the ultimate expression of love; making something specifically for someone and hoping they'll like it, use it/ wear it and cherish it forever. So I set about thinking what I wanted to make for her:

• She's a classy lady so I wanted something unfussy, but with a simple interest. 
• She wears a lot of black, perhaps because she's a doctor and has seen enough white for a lifetime? So it needed to complement that without being a really 'out-there' colour that she'd never wear. 
• She has recently bought a house, which is probably the most exciting house I have ever been in. It's like a little cavern that keeps throwing up random rooms, extra kitchens, tiny stairways to studies and narrow hallways leading who knows where. The only thing is that it's practically falling down and therefore freezing in the winter. So whatever I made for her I knew it needed to be warm. 

The pattern I finally settled on was The Age of Brass and Steam, which is a rather steam-punk name for a pretty simple, classic pattern. The barley colour of the yarn really reminds me of Shan as she loves neutral tones in her home decorating. The yarn is 100% wool so it will be super warm in the winter - it's actually a bit of a shame that I gave it to her during summer! Although she can't wear it just yet for fear of over heating, she seems to really like it, so if she's happy, I'm happy.

We did lots of celebrating this year but wanted to do something extra special to mark the big birthday so went away for a long weekend, husbands and Flo in tow to Camber Sands in East Sussex. We stayed in an amazing little holiday home called The Salty Dog which I HIGHLY recommend. It was lovely to spend some quality time together and get away from it all for a few days, but by far the best part was Camber Sands beach and dunes. Seriously, you can't get better than this.

Maytime

It's been over a year since I last made something for Flo. Other people's kids, yes, but my own? Shamefully, no. So with the winter well and truly over I wanted something just for her and something that said 'Spring' and this was it. The pattern is called Maytime by Kim Hargreaves. I'd had it in my queue for ages and the lemon yarn had been staring at me from my stash for some time too. So the need for a spring knit, the long-saved pattern and zesty yarn converged together at the right time for this knit. 

What kept the pattern in my queue for so long was the mix of crochet and knitting in this garment. I don't do a lot of crochet. I always think of it being too structured and thick for clothing, which is the bulk of what I like to make. But I think the granny square hem and picot edging on this is just the right balance when blending the two skills. 

My mission was to finish it in time for May, almost purely for the name of it. I finished it last weekend and Flo wore it out after a quick blocking. Of course after that one day of wear Flo had managed somehow to get what looked like soot all down the front of it. I have no idea when or where she was climbing up chimneys. And something red on the sleeve. Was it a sweet? Lolly? Blood? I have no idea what this kid gets up to when I'm not looking. So at the end of the day it needed another wash, which isn't ideal as this yarn has both angora and cashmere in it. Really, what was I thinking? 

In summary, I'm more than pleased with how this little spring time cardi came out, but not hopeful for its ongoing survival.

PS: Flo has her fingers in her ears in the top photo because the Mr. was doing loud DIY at the time. Classic bank holiday sounds.

Papillon

I haven't knitted myself a proper jumper in a long time. Trawling Ravelry I found the Papillon pattern and fell in love. Truth be told I don't usually wear jumpers with such a high neckline as it can make my boobs look like a shelf, but there was something about this design that just made me not care. Also this was a paid for pattern, which cost me about £3.95. I'd never usually pay for patterns and usually just search for the free ones, but this was just too nice to click away from.

It was a top down construction which was satisfying and useful to try on as I went. As with some other knitted tops I've made lately I have had to make the waist shaping more pronounced to fit me properly and I think this helped with the 'boob shelf' issue. The central pattern wasn't too hard to master and although I may have slipped up a few times it wasn't too difficult to fix as I went.

Of course I have finished it at the wrong time of year, just as the weather begins to turn. But I did manage to wear it to the beach over Easter weekend and my lovely photographer friend James took these pictures for me. Poses are courtesy of moi, I wouldn't blame such things on him. The weather was perfect newly knitted jumper weather; sunny, chill in the air, a bit blowy and threatening showers.

This will now be packed away till more suitable weather in Autumn when I will be excited to wear it, but probably not to the beach again.

Easter Fun

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had nice relaxing weekends. Here's an overview of ours.

The little bunnies above were made in a few hours for my Nephews. A friend recently shared Frankie's Knitted Stuff with our knitting group and I immediately queued tons of the projects. They're all out of the box thinking, cute and ingenious things, so have a look. 

The Baby Bunnies took small amounts of DK yarn in the stash and I found them really fun to make.

The mini pom poms were made by a technique using a fork. Useful!

I made Hot Cross Buns for the first time and they were AWESOME. As with all bread type products they take a long time to make but are worth the effort. I've even frozen a batch so the Easter fun and go on and on.

I won a competition at work and got this luxury Easter egg from SAID in Soho. They're an Italian Chocolatier and every time I go into the shop I want to buy something but simply can't justify how much everything costs! So this was the ultimate treat. Hidden inside was a carefully wrapped little bottle of Grappa and every time I open the box the beautiful smell of bitter chocolate fills the room. I shall be eating this slowly over a long period of time. That is unless the Mr. finds it.

Finally, here's Flo stuffing as much easter egg into her face as possible. Egg-cellent.

Fly and Knit

Not a bad view to knit with, aye?

I'm currently in New York on a work trip, lucky, lucky me! Only for 2 nights but it's still making me smile from ear to ear. The snowy view from the plane was breath taking but I also got to watch a couple of movies on the plane and some TV shows too, which all mades for great knitting time. My new project is making good progress because of it.

Before I left yesterday I started doing that thing where I couldn't decide if I'd packed enough yarn or not. I've been on planes before where I've run out of yarn on the journey home and been really annoyed with myself but I've packed 3 balls and haven't even the finished the first yet so I think I'll be ok.

This is a pattern called Papillon by Svetlana Volkova. I think it's the first time I've paid for a one off pattern on Ravelry but it was exactly what I wanted to knit, so I'm hoping it will look good on me once finished.

Although I won't have much spare knitting time while I'm here I am planning on popping into the nearest yarn store to our office, Purl Soho. So hopefully more to report on that when I get back as well as the return journey to knit some more.

Brainy Brainless

At Christmas I had an unwanted visitor: Shingles. This is the left over virus from childhood chicken pox that lies dormant in your system until you get run down, at which time it will climb up a nerve of it's choice in your body and attack! Mine chose a nerve on my head. Gross. Most of the time the Shingles virus will make you feel crappy and the rash itself will hurt. Thankfully I felt pretty normal and although it hurt to touch I wasn't in the habit of touching my head all the time and so the pain wasn't really an issue. 

The major down side was that, although I couldn't give people Shingles, I could give people chicken pox if they hadn't had it before and so Christmas was cancelled for me and my two lovely Nephews. It was pretty crushing as I sent the Mr and Flo off to my Mums to open presents and have Christmas dinner with the Nephews and the rest of my family, but I was determined not to let it get me down and so spent the quiet time at home to it's best advantage winding yarn and starting a new project. With a glass of fizz to accompany me of course. 

And here are the finished socks! The pattern is called Brainless which I took to mean - a pattern I could do easily without using my brain. However this was an entirely wrong assumption. The pattern kicks off with Judy's magic cast on, which required me to have a YouTube refresher. Then there was the cabling to contend with, the curious gusset, a new method of turning the heel, more cables and topping it all off was Jenny's surprisingly stretchy cast off which again I needed refreshing on!

The first sock didn't go as well as the second, as indeed I learned a lot doing that first sock. As a consequence there are inconsistencies in the cables, increases and borders between the two socks. But I don't really care. They still look cool.

2013 Knitting Round Up

Well, hello 2014!
As we step into the New Year it's time to do my annual knitting project round up. So here's 2013 in projects:

The year began with the Milla Mia Charlotte cardigan for Flo
A Mellow cardigan for me
Two Pay It Forward projects of a scarf and some socks
Then a quick hat to warm me up
Followed by two versions of Picovoli, one for my sister in law and a cheeky one for myself
Some baby trousers
A baby cardigan for my nephew
Finally a finish to a long standing blanket project
The gift of a washcloth
A vintage cropped jumper
Speedy cowl knitted on a plane
Baby jacket
The Fieldwork cardigan
My final Pay It Forward of some quick Skipworth mitts
And a shoulder bag Christmas present for my Mum

Looking back I upped my number of projects in the previous 2 years from an average of 11 to 17 projects this year!
I also usually average 1 knitted top for myself per year. This year I managed 1 top and 2 cardigans all for me!
I'm still hitting my average of 1 blanket a year and at least 2 baby cardigans consistently.
The main difference in my knitting this year is that I have managed to knit a lot more for other people. This has a lot to do with the Pay It Forward projects I made, the kindness of my own damn heart and the usual baby making that happens so often round here.

All in all 2013 was a productive one. I'm setting no goals for 2014 except to keep on enjoying knitting and doing it for enjoyment above all else, otherwise, what's the point, right?

Come on then 2014, lets do this.

Marshmallow Twist Bag

Wendy is one of my most talented knitting friends. I met her through my local knitting group and she has been my knitting guru ever since. I've written about her awesomeness before in my Knitting Magazine article, but now I have an additional reason to blow my Wendy-is-awesome trumpet.
Not content with being just generally great at knitting she has turned her hand to designing some stunning little kits under the name of Muddy Sheep. My favourite at the moment is the Marshmallow Twist bag which Wendy has kindly let me test knit for her.

First thing to say is that the yarn is lovely. Squashy, warm, rub your face in it snuggly. It's easy and a pleasure to work with. 

The pattern was well written and had enough interest in the stitches and construction to keep me interested. 

There is as little sewing up as possible, which is always great.

But my favourite feature of the kit has to be the gorgeous little finishing touches. As well as a cute little wooden button you also get a board insert to keep the bottom of your bag sturdy and a colour matched oil cloth insert. I think this is genius. You get the squish of the yarn on the outside but the benefit of a sturdy, wipe clean and colourful inside. It just adds that special something to an already great kit.

I managed to finished it just before Christmas and gifted it to my Mum as I know she will use and enjoy it, plus she deserves it. Look at her happy present opening face on Christmas day!

Wendy has several other patterns in the Muddy Sheep range such as the Never Knit Before Cowl which is a perfect kit for beginners and the Striped Messenger Bag which comes with a soft cotton lining to sew. All the patterns are available as downloadable patterns or in a complete kit. These kits are great gifts for a friend (either in kit form or knitted up as I did with my Mum) or indeed are a lovely gift for yourself! 

Obviously everyone's a little cash strapped at this time of year but Muddy Sheep Knits also has free patterns, an online needles and notions store to peruse and clear video tutorials to help you conquer those tricky techniques.

Right that's enough trumpet blowing for one day. All that's left to say is Happy New Year to all of you and your families!

Pay it Forward #3: Mitts for Leila

Back in January I got involved in the Pay It Forward posts that go around on Facebook. I agreed to make something for three people within 2013 and in turn they then had to make something for some of their friends. I churned out my first two gifts in March, a scarf for Zoe and some socks for Katie, and then let this final one drag on for no particular reason. As we're now at the end of the year, and as I was feeling inspired by the Pom Pom Christmas party, I decided it was time to Pay It Forward for the last time in 2013.

I had wanted to make the Skipworth Mittens from Pom Pom Magazine issue one for ages. They look so squashy and cosy! I used some Rowan Plaid from the horrific first jumper I ever made, but thankfully the variegated yarn is much better in a small project like this. Leila and I used to work together in my first job out of Uni. She's a super bubbly, Scottish lass who always puts a smile on my face. The yarn has all the tones of Scottish heather and so I thought them fitting for lovely Leila.

Did you take part in Pay It Forward this year? Did you manage to get yours made?

Come to think of it I can't remember who was meant to be paying it forward to me! Come on, own up...

Fieldwork

May I present to you the Fieldwork Cardigan from Pom Pom Magazine issue five. I have been working on this cardigan for ages and am very glad to say that I finally got it finished!  The last push I needed was the Pom Pom magazine Christmas party which took place last weekend. I wanted to wear the cardi to the party to show solidarity to this lovely little mag. Every issue is like a beautiful coffee table book and there are plenty of gorgeous patterns too.

The Pom Pom party itself was lots of fun. There was live music, free popcorn machine, free crackers with two huge wheels of cheese, a rack of all the knitted up garments from the magazine to try on, a handful of luxury yarn stalls and a bar with some delicious mulled wine. I went with a bunch of friends from my knitting group and we started up our own little knitting corner which soon became popular with others.

Theodora Burrow was there with Alessandra Rigillo, the owner of a new yarn shop in Walthamstow called Abstract Yarns. I have made a promise to get down to the shop in the new year and will of course let you know what it's like! Theodora has a new range of knitting kits selling in the shop at the moment under the name of 'Theodora Goes Wild'. Both ladies were wearing hats knitted from the kits, aptly with pom poms on them.

Back to the cardigan; I initially meant for this to be finished in time to wear it for late Summer, but I forgot how much attention was required for lace knitting. I often couldn't keep up when watching gripping TV shows or if I had things on my mind. Not to say that the lace was hard, just that I don't do a lot of it and so it was a challenge for my mushy brain.

My only modification was the final cast off. It was meant to be a sew cast off, which is supposed to be very stretchy but I must have done it totally wrong as I couldn't get the buttons done up! I picked it back and did a regular cast off which was much better.

Buttons are wooden Hawaiian flowers. CUTE!

It's Not Blue!

I finally broke my blue streak with a lovely little baby knit called Skye by Martin Storey. I made it for an old friend who's just had a baby girl. Of course I could have knitted it for her in blue to continue the blue period I've been having, but I had this raspberry hand-knit cotton in the stash and it was begging to be made into this little posh coat from the Rowan Miniature classics book.

I actually started this project on a plane on my way home from a work trip. However mid-flight, when the passengers next to me needed to get passed me to the loos I put the needles on my seat and someone sat on them. It might have even been me! What's worse is that usually I would only ever fly with my trustly Denise interchangable needles. These are made of resin and so are 'flight safe' and slightly bendy, so accidentally sitting on them wouldn't be a problem. But the hem for this project required a much smaller size needle than the Denises go down to and so I had to bring a sadly more breakable bamboo pair. I was gutted when I stood up and saw the splintered little needles there, but being a resourceful woman, who didn't want to spend the rest of the flight wishing she was knitting, I managed to get some tape and patched them up enough to finish the hem.  Although it was sticky, hard work to get the stitches on and off the needles, it was a joy when I moved onto the less splintered size up.

The pattern was pretty quick and easy. The only issues I had were around the way the collar sits but I think that with wear this will flatten out a bit.  As I was going fairly 'girly' on the colour I used some heart shaped buttons I got at Ally Pally. They're a bit over the top but I think they work.

I'm actually till working on a blue project so I'm not out of the woods yet, but this has been a nice splash of raspberry in my very blueberry knitting at the moment.

Baby Blue

My friend Nina is most fabulous, she needs no help from me for that. However, when she couldn't find the perfect fitted, cropped, baby blue jumper she wanted and asked me to make her one, I agreed to help her to reach her next level of fabulousness. 

I really enjoyed knitting this; mostly as it was the project I took with me on holiday to Cornwall in August, where everything was extremely relaxing and suited to a knitting mood. The yarn is Rowan Soft Knit Cotton which was lovely to work with and easy to wash, which I feel is important when you're making something for someone else. You don't want an embarrassing felting issue, ruining the item and possibly your friendship.

The pattern was heavily modified from a basic top down jumper pattern to include a wide ribbed neckline, cuff and hem. I also created waist shaping front and back to keep it fitted to the waist. It was all a bit of an experiment but after some tinkering it came together and I was really pleased with the result. Nina also loves it, which is handy!

And so my blue period continues! I'm still working on the blue Fieldwork cardigan for myself, but the lace pattern on it hurts my brain from time to time so that's why these other projects creep in so easily. I also have a baby project on the needles which is actually in RASPBERRY PINK! It's crazy times when a change of yarn colour elicits that kind of a response, but perhaps the blue period is coming to an end?

I'm off to Ally Pally tomorrow for the Knitting and Stitching show. I'm super excited and have no idea what I'll buy, if anything, but I'll be sure to report back.

The Blanks

If there's one thing a Parkinson loves it's a blanket. We're famed for being found curled up on the sofa underneath what we call a 'rug' in almost any weather. And perhaps that's why, wether crochet, quilted or knit I love to make blankets.

The photo above is a rather strange looking blanket being dried on the washing line. I started this particular project over a year ago in January 2012! But with blankets you're not really looking for a quick knit, it's something you need to be able to pick up and put down when you like and also to forget about until you need a 'filler knit' in between projects. This one started off as I stared at a mound of acrylic yarn I had in my stash and wondered what to do with it. I began making a scarf in moss stitch and as I changed colours the idea of a blanket came to mind. Searching for colour combination ideas I found this picture of a modern quilt top and loved it.

So I continued knitting moss stitch scarves or strips, randomly changing colours as I knit. With each strip complete I checked on the length of the blanket, hoping for a single bed size; enough for two people to snuggle under on the sofa. The blanket's strips are too thick to be a replica of the quilt top above, but it was the general idea and colour combination of brown, yellow, grey and blue that I took as inspiration.

I had never intended to keep the blanket for myself. It was something I always thought I wanted to give as a gift for a special occasion. And so when my Sister in Law Brooke moved to a new house recently I thought it was time to finish the blanket and give it a loving home. To give the project a nice finish I used some baby blue brushed cotton as a backing, which makes it extra squishy.

The blanket was given to Brooke and her boyfriend Andy this week at Brooke's birthday dinner in their new home. My sister in law is certainly a worth recipient of the blanket as she loves cuddling up under mine at our house and 90% of the time will fall asleep when under it. However the Davis family don't call it a 'rug' their name for it is the 'blanks'. So here are Brooke and Andy enjoying their first snuggle under their new blanks.