Calorimetry has been such a fun pattern to knit and I love the finished headband. So far I have knitted five and there is one on the needles nearly finished. Millie's pink one is made from some Lorna's Laces left over from the One Skein Cabled Footlets that I knitted earlier this year - I knew I'd find a good use for it eventually. My blue one is from the yarn left over from the Grownup Bonnet. The other three are from some spare Kureyon that I had in my stash. One of these got gifted before I had the chance to take a picture. I like Calorimetry so much that I purchased a ball of Debbie Bliss Soho especially to make one as a gift and I should finish it by tomorrow.
This week I finally purchased a copy of Erika Knight's Simple Crochet. I had wanting to make the Turkish Slippers for ages but couldn't bring myself to spend the money on a book that had only one pattern that I'd ever want to make. Then it occured to me that I have bought many books with loads of great patterns in but never actually made any of them. So, perhaps if I bought the book and some yarn and cast on straight away.... So that's what I did ! Over the last two days I have made these.... and these...
and these...and these.....I love,love, love this pattern. The slippers work up quickly - just a couple of hours per pair. I've bought some more Debbie Bliss Cotton dk to make another couple of pairs. Just can't get enough of these !

Knitty's Calorimetry

Last night I came across a thread on Crafster devoted to Calorimetry, the lovely headband from the latest edition of Knitty. They all looked so good that I felt compelled to grab my knitting needles and a leftover ball of Noro Kureyon and cast on immediately. I modified the pattern slightly after reading that most people are finding the original pattern too large. I cast on 80 stitches and did the repeat row 11 times instead of 15 - it turned out just about perfect ! This is a brilliant pattern. It's fun and quick to knit and takes less than one skein of yarn. The finished headband is also very wearable . If I get time, I will make a couple more as last minute Christmas gifts over the weekend.


Blogger has finally let me upload the picture of our Christmas tree !

Scarves Galore !

The handspun scarf got finished with some funky pom poms this week. It's the first thing that I've actually knitted from my own yarn so I'm particularly proud of it. I hope to get much more time on my spinning wheel in the new year.
Last week or so at work has given me loads of knitting time and I have made up five keyhole scarves from the incredibly inexpensive fun fur yarn that I bought at the the local post office. These are mostly for gifts that Millie can give at Christmas - I like her to experience the joy of giving as well as receiving presents. I like these simple scarves as they are incredibly soft and warm as well as fun. There is enough yarn in my stash to make at least another four of these.














Also completed, in about two days, is the neck gaiter from One Skein. This was made from two strands of 4 Ply wool that I already had in my stash. It is also a present and I'm quite pleased with it.

I also started a pair of leg warmers in Colinette Skye. The pattern was in an old issue of Simply Knitting. They seem a little large but might look ok bunched up around the ankles. I'm racing through these and will easily finish them before the end of the week so they may get to be presents for someone. Most of my friends are getting something handknitted this year despite the fact that I started knitting gifts a bit late.
We are starting to feel quite festive now that we have put some decorations up. Miss Millie helped to dress the tree - my favourite part of Christmas. She is really excited. Tonight we are taking her to see a pantomime - Oh yes we are ! It is Aladdin at the Watford Palace Theatre and is rumoured to be very good. Should be fun.

Christmas knitting goes on

The Christmas present knitting is still going on at full speed and there are still a couple of gifts needed. The Silk Sleeves from One Skein are finished and look absolutely beautiful. The Colinette Parisienne has made a good substitute for Kidsilk Haze. The colours are amazing and I managed to get away with using just one skein. Usually it would be necessary to use two skeins in imaginary stripes to stop the colour pooling. I took a chance with this and found that the colours came out ok. I have one skein of Parisienne left and may use it to make another pair of these for a gift. They took just 2 days to whip up on 5.5mm needles.
I liked the cheap fun fur keyhole scarf that I made last week so much that I knitted another in a turquoise and green shade. I made this, mostly at work , in one day. The yarn may have been super cheap but the finished item is just great. It's really soft and fluffy and fun to wear. I gave the purple one to Clare the Bear who loves it. I may keep this one for myself. These are such fun to make that I have already started another in white fun fur . I am using 6mm needles and casting on 20 stitches. Then I use moss stitch as this creates an extra fluffy fabric by bringing the pile evenly onto both sides of the scarf. After about 5 inches I made a hole by knitting 10 stitches separately for about 3 inches and then rejoined the yarn and knitted the other 10 stitches to match. I then kept knitting over all 20 stitches until the scarf measured about 30 inches. It only takes just over one ball of this yarn. I purchased a few more balls in different colours yesterday - it's such a bargain!

The reluctantly modelled Grownup Bonnet

Miss Millie was in a very bad mood tonight - don't know why ! She sort of wanted to be my model but wasn't going to do it gracefully. The Grownup Bonnet is pretty good. In fact, I like it enough to make another one using some more expensive yarn. It will be warm and practical and does look quite fun. It was also very easy to knit. I used Cygnet Aran in a nice denim blue shade. It took only about one and a half balls. I have a few skeins of Debbie Bliss Maya in my stash that could look great as one of these.















Millie actually came home from a Christmas Fayre with her face painted last week and looking like this...Scary !
For various reasons I have been feeling very stressed over the last two weeks and haven't got a lot of knitting done. The need for some satisfying finished objects is now very great. With this in mind, I whipped up a little keyhole scarf from a ball of incredibly cheap fun fur yarn this morning. It took one ball on size 8 mm needles and only a couple of hours knitting. It's really soft and fun. There are several more of these planned for Christmas presents
I also almost completed a cute triangular scarf from some really cheap yarn that was going at 2 balls for a £1 in my local Post Office . Normally I am a yarn snob and would avoid this sort of stuff but the colours were particularly nice and it was so, so cheap. I think I am not going to be able to finish this one as I am about one ball short. My chances of getting hold of any more of this are slim. It may get frogged.

With Christmas presents in mind I have cast on for another pair of Silk Sleeves from my One Skein book. I am using the Colinette Parisienne Mohair that I bought at Ally Pally - they should look great.