The hat obsession - latest evidence !

Well, I just can't get enough of hats these days ! I joined the We Call Them Pirates Knitalong and cast on immediately. I am loving the pattern. It's fun to knit and the hat is looking great so far. This has renewed my enthusiasm for fairisle and I will definitely be doing more. The hat should be finished today - I just need another ball of the black yarn to finish the hem. I will probably get enough to make the mittens. Meanwhile, having run out of yarn last night , I cast on for this groovy looking peaked cap...
I am using the recommended yarn Sirdar denim, which is not particularly nice in my opinion, as it is cheap. If I like the style there is some Colinette dk in my stash which would look great. And that's not all ! I whipped up this super chunky hat from a ball of Sirdar Bigga in a couple of hours.
I gave this one to my friend, Karen, who has been wearing it during this sudden cold snap we are having. The pattern has a couple of other designs that I quite like - particularly the one with earflaps.
I really must crack on with the Swanderful Bag for the Bjork KAL before I make too many more hats.

Another hat !

This is the Halley's Comet Hat - a free pattern from the talented Marnie Maclean. I whipped it up last night from a ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. It still needs blocking to show the lace pattern to best advantage but I just had to wear it today. This must be my favourite hat of the moment. It was fun to knit and looks really cute. The next hat on my list is the We Call Them Pirates design from Hello Yarn. I am joining the Knitalong for this one and bought some Cygnet dk this morning.

Meanwhile, the boring ribbed part of the shrug is now finished and I've started on the border. This is a little more interesting but there is 60" of it to go. I'm determined to have a finished shrug sometime soon.
I actually knitted this about two weeks ago and forgot to blog it. It's a little bag from the Glamour book by Erika Knight that I borrowed from the library. I had a skein of Sari Ribbon in my stash and knitted this up in an evening. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down a 6" purse clasp to finish it with. When I realised that this wasn't going to be as easy as I'd thought, the project ground to a halt. I'm still searching but can see this one getting frogged eventually. Tomorrow is Miss Millie's 6th birthday so there are presents to wrap before any more knitting gets done.

First FO's of the year...

I made this hat on Sunday from a single ball of Rowan Soft Lux that I picked up in the John Lewis sale. I'd been wanting to try this yarn for ages and a 50% discount seemed like a good incentive. It is lovely - soft and slightly glittery. Knits up beautifully. The pattern is the basic cable beanie from Stitch and Bitch. I would have liked it to be a little longer and will do an extra repeat of the cable if I make it again. The other ball of Soft Lux that I got in the sale crocheted up into this little hat a few hours later. The pattern was one I found on the internet.
I am still in love with the Calorimetry pattern and made this one up from some Debbie Bliss Soho that I purchased especially - I know, it's supposed to be a stashbusting pattern !
The serious knitting this week has been on the lacy shrug from Knit 2 Together. The large piece of ribbing is rather boring and I can't wait to get to the lace edging. I think this is why I keep getting tempted to make hats. I had originally intended to stay faithful to this project. I really, really love the shrug.
My knitting plans for 2007 are as follows -
1. Make a serious dent in my existing stash
2. Finish some of the UFO's that have been lying around for ages
3. Knit more intarsia and fairisle - I used to be good at colour work but haven't done any for ages
4. Start my Christmas knitting much earlier than last year
5. Try some lace knitting
I also want to do a lot more spinning.

Happy New Year !

On Sunday I made the effort to sew up my legwarmers so that they would officially count as a finished object for 2006. They are a bit baggy and I cant decide whether to leave them as they are or trim them down a bit with my overlocker. I guess they would look ok over jeans if I put som elastic around the top to hold them up. The pattern was from Simply Knitting and I don't much like it - definitely prefer a snugger fit.
Today I completed my first finished object of 2007...

Yes, it's yet another pair of Turkish Slippers ! There are several more pairs planned.

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.

Silk, handspun and other things...

One of the skeins of Colinette Tao silk that I got from Ally Pally got knitted up last week. There are several one skein patterns in the Arboretum booklet that supports this yarn and it was difficult to decide which to make. I settled on the Sycamore fingerless gloves. The yarn is lovely and soft and knits up well but I feel that the colours looked far nicer on the skein than they do in the finished item. They look nice - just not special. At £13.50 a skein I want really special ! I haven't sewn them up yet. I also need to sew up a second pair of Sox on 2 Stix that I made at work.
















This scarf is the first thing that I've knitted from my own handspun. I decided to just make a simple garter stitch skinny scarf. It looks quite funky and will have a fringe when it's finished. This was merino wool tops that I spun up into a chunky yarn. I like it. I'm now working on spinning a finer, more even yarn. It's not easy but it's fun trying.















I bought this book last week and it has some great patterns in it. I've made great progress with the Grownup Bonnet especially as I can only work on it when the person who will be getting it for Christmas isn't around. I also plan to make the lace edged shrug from this book and have purchased a yummy wool/silk blend to knit it with. I need more time !

Pink fluffy things

My favourite model, Miss Millikins, kindly agreed to show off the Colinette Fandango boa that I made last week. This has already been gifted to my friend ,Fiona, who had a birthday last Wednesday. Millie loved it and I had to promise to make another one for her before I could get this one back from her. Luckily I have another skein in shades of pink that I purchased at Ally Pally. Fiona loved the birthday boa and I must say that it suited her well. This is a pattern that I have used about four times now and have always been pleased with the results. It only takes one skein so it's a great way to try out some Colinette colourways.

The second pair of Socks on Two Stix are very nearly finished. They came to a halt when I ran out of wool again and couldn't find any more of this colour at John Lewis. I will have to make them a little shorter than the first pair. It should only take about half an hour to finish the second sock and slightly shorten the first one. Finishing them off would be the right thing to do.... so of course I cast on something else instead !
The back and left front of Millie's fluffy pink bolero are finished. It is working up quite quickly and looks cute.
All in all, last week was very busy and not a lot of knitting got done. Halloween, school disco and firework night have cut severely into my knitting time - but hey! Millie has had a great time and will hopefully be in need of a few early nights this week.