Cupcakes galore!

Last Saturday I went to "All The Fun Of The Fair", which is a lovely quirky little yarn shop just off Carnaby Street. Twinkie Chan was there signing books , crocheting cupcakes and eating cupcakes. Ever since I bought Twinkie's wonderful book "Crochet Goodies For Fashion Foodies" I have been on a mission to make just about everything in it. The patterns are simple but so effective - fun to make and fun to wear. I have never bought as much bright acrylic yarn before and actually enjoyed using it. Twinkie was so charming and really modest about her skills. The shop had provided yummy cupcakes from Candy Cakes for everyone to eat. Needless to say, I tucked in and enjoyed!
Feeling inspired to start another of Twinkie's designs, I purchased 2 balls of the brightest orange acrylic yarn ever and got stuck in to the Giant Carrot Scarf on the train home. It worked up really quickly and I had the carrot finished by Saturday evening. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right shade of green yarn for the leafy bit so that will have to wait until Tuesday. The yarn stall at Watford market has every shade of acrylic yarn you could wish for.
I knitted up most of the big furry jacket weeks ago and didn't get around to sewing it up straight away. So this weekend I tried to finish a few projects that were almost done and this one was first on the list. Knitted entirely from Sirdar Foxy, this is a seriously furry jacket.
I like the garment a lot . It is quite fun and should be very warm.
Next for long overdue finishing was the Commuter Knapsack from "Knitting green". I bought the book on the strength of this pattern and am not disappointed with it. It is such a lovely bag - I don't know why it has taken me so long to sew on the button and make the drawstring. I really love it and will probably line it at some point to give it more strength. The flap turned out a bit big and if I made it again I would adjust that. A few other knitters noted the same point on Ravelry, where there are some beautiful examples of this bag. I used KonTiki yarn, which is a cotton/acrylic mix. 8 balls in shade Paprika.

Rosebud

I am so excited to have finished this beautiful sweater this morning. It is "Rosebud" from the very gorgeous Sublime kid mohair book. I fell in love with this pattern the moment I saw it and just happened to have enough white mohair yarn in my stash. This was a really easy knit that is made more special by the addition of the knitted roses. I love it! There are several other patterns in the Sublime book that I would like to make, in particular the Drama Queen cardigan. I have already cast on the Amour scarf with some Sublime Kid Mohair that I bought on sale from Black Sheep Yarns.
Also recently finished...

...another Sweet November. This time I used Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo which is a lovely soft, drapey yarn. I may try this pattern in a wool yarn next as I love the design and find it very wearable.
I've been working on some simple crochet coasters between projects using some old craft cotton . It doesn't take much time to whip up one of these and they will be pretty handy.
I finished this simple lace scarf knitted from 2 balls of Sirdar Just Soya a while back and forgot to take pictures. So here it is...
The soya yarn is nice to work with and very soft. I have a few more balls of this in my stash, also purchased in a charity shop for next to nothing, which will make nice scarves or gloves.

Knitting from stash

It has been ages since I last posted, so I thought I'd include a few items I made for Christmas presents. Ever since I bought Twinkie Chan's brilliant book of crochet accessories, I have been digging into my stash in search of colourful acrylics and crocheting like crazy. I love these fun designs. I made the amazing Salad Scarf for Bear, who is studying dietetics and nutrition - she loved it.
The pear pins were single motifs from the pear scarf design which I joined together and stuffed slightly. These were made for Bear to give as gifts to some of the people she did her work placement with. I am told that they were very well received. I can thoroughly recommend Twinkie's patterns as they are easy to follow and you get a brilliant result even with acrylic yarns. So, not expensive either. These little gingerbread men were made for the knitting club secret Santa. We all make small ornaments and put them in a big Christmas stocking then take turns to pull one out.
The obsession continued with the Radish Lariat, which I just had to give to Bear because she always loves the things I make.
I always like to give my family interesting hats as presents and when I saw the Naughty Deer design it really seemed like the perfect hat for my nephew. Nearly everyone I showed this to took a few moments to realise what was going on and then laughed heartily.
Continuing with my mission to use up the monster stash that has built up over the last few years, I knitted up a pair of Gardening Mittens from Louisa Harding's lovely collection of patterns "A Gathering of Roses" using the single ball of Sirdar Baby Crofter that I bought to try ages ago. I liked the gloves a lot, it is a really simple pattern knitted on two needles and seamed up the side. Obviously , I had to make about 3 more pairs to use up some other odd balls of niice yarn that I had in stash. At the moment these pairs are still waiting to be sewed up and embellished.
Also from the Louisa Harding book is this cute beret...
I am well pleased with this headband that knitted up in an evening from an odd ball of Cashmerino Aran. It was a free pattern I found on Ravelry, the American Beauty Rose Headband.
When I was searching through the stash I came across a skein and a half of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece left over from a shrug I knitted years ago. I really like this yarn - it has the feel of cotton with a bit more springiness to it from the 20% merino content. I had been planning to knit the Sweet November Knit Shawl, another pattern I found on Ravelry, and thought this would be perfect. I knitted this in 2 days and have been wearing it often. Great pattern.
I bought this cute pattern for a hoodie for Millie and a lovely knitting friend of mine just happened to have the exact amount of the exact yarn I needed, Sirdar Denim Chunky. This turned out really lovely - I would like to make a bigger version for myself.
So far everything has been knitted from stash. I am particularly pleased to have found a good use for the 8 balls of Chat Botte Kid Mohair that I picked up in a charity shop for £2 about 3 years ago. It is a French yarn and I think probably quite old. It seems to be knitting up to the right gauge on 5mm needles to make the gorgeous Rosebud sweater from the Sublime Kid Mohair pattern book. Just one more sleeve to go...
Meanwhile, our cute little guy is getting bigger every day. He is just such a cutey. There must surely be some adorable knitted doggy sweaters in his future!