Presents

Well my week off is almost over, back to the boring office on Monday. I’d much rather stay home and knit. I’ve had a really nice relaxing week and feel like my batteries are definitely recharged. 

I took the train to London on Tuesday and rushed around in the drizzle all day trying to get to all the shops on my list. I will NOT be doing that again it wasn’t much fun I wish I’d waited to go on Thursday when the weather was cold but sunny – just the winter weather I like. I did have lunch with my friend Em near Euston as that’s where she works.  It was lovely to catch up properly as I haven’t seen her for ages. I think the best part of my day was on the train to and from London, I cast on a Christmas Pudding baby hat the night before and knitted one row and then knit all the way to Waterloo whilst listening to my iPod.  I got the entire brown section done on the way and on the way home Nic and I knitted/chatted (she works in London too) and finished the cream and red sections. Voila one finished baby hat on one day’s train travel.  So far this week I’ve knitted three baby hats, they are so quick to knit I love it.  I do need to get some green yarn to make some holly leaves though.

I also went in John Lewis on Oxford Street to the yarn section and bought some cream Sirdar Baby Bamboo to make a scarf as a Christmas present.  I don’t know why but I seem to have real problems knitting scarfs, I bought some yarn last year in really perfect colours for my friend Bex and then knitted it, crochetted it and crochetted it again and it is still in balls now as I never managed to turn it into the scarf I imagined no matter how I tried.  I may try again this winter as I’d like it to be a hot water bottle cover for her now.  It’s such a shame because the yarn is such PERFECT colours for her. She will love it, if I ever make it into something.  It’s lucky she’s my best friend as I’ve got decades to knit it for her. 

Anyway, this year’s scarf was to be a simple 2×2 rib and then I decided to add a moss stitch section at either end to sew some silver beads on in a pattern that will match the recipients new winter jumper. I threaded all the beads onto the yarn, and started knitting. Then I ripped it out because it was too wide and I wasn’t sure about the beads.  Then I threaded them all back on because knitting with beads will be more impressive than sewing them on afterwards and cast on again, knitted about 10 rows and placed a couple of beads and ripped it out AGAIN. 

This time I took off the beads and I’m definitely sewing them on at the end.  I have knitted the entire first ball of yarn, but am not happy with the moss stitch section now. I love the ribbed bit, it’s all lovely and drapes beautifully, the yarn is so soft. But I really don’t like the solid moss stitch section.  So as I’ve knitted 100 rows I have two choices, rip it all out or try to rip out the end section and reknit it backwards  so I don’t waste all the rib I’ve knitted. I’ll let you know how I get on but this simple scarf is becoming more work than a supposedly complicated sock.

Rain Rain Go Away….

I’m off work this week and all it’s done so far is rain. I know it’s only Monday but it doesn’t look like it will let up until Thursday if the weather forecast is to be believed.  Last week was awful at work I worked late every day trying to catch up from having most of the week before off ill. It’ll probably be the same next week after being on holiday this week. But I’m not thinking about that now.

I hardly knitted at all last week as I was just tired after work but I’m back on track now. Yesterday I knitted a little red baby beanie for a friend’s new baby it was a really easy pattern from the The Second Little Sublime Hand Knit -baby pattern book I bought in the summer, I’ve cast on another one this morning in a lovely chocolate brown to try to make a Christmas pudding hat like the ones that Erssie makes. 

I had afternoon tea with Nic and met her new cat Coleman, he’s beautiful. So laid back it’s not true. It was lovely to catch up and have a natter about knitting, Nic showed me her latest projects (a lovely mohair scarf for a colleague – yarn bought in the Lake District for £1.50 a ball!!; a green baby jumper in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for another of our friends who is pregnant) and I told her what I was thinking of making.

1. a cream scarf for a colleague made of a cashmerino baby type yarn, I’m going to do a moss stitch section at each end and attach some silver beads in a star pattern and the middle section will be a 2×2 rib so that the scarf doesn’t have a ‘wrong’ side.

2. Gloves for me knitted top down with i-cord fingers and then like the Knucks pattern from Knitty.

3. something with the mohair yarn that I just frogged. It was an attempt at To Dye For from the first Stitch n Bitch book but I didn’t like it.

Tomorrow I’m going to London for a days shopping and will be visiting Selfridges and John Lewis on Oxford Street as I want to have a wander around their knitting sections (and the christmas section of Selfridges because I LOVE CHRISTMAS). I just hope the weather isn’t too miserable……..

Socks & Gloves

I’ve not been feeling well this week and had to take a few days off work. I did manage to finish my jaywalkers but I hardly did any knitting at all really.  On Thursday evening I felt a little more like myself so I made a Christmas tree decoration in a quilty/patchwork way instructions from a workshop my mum attended last week.  I’m quite pleased with it and may give them as presents.  So I can’t post a picture here incase I do.

Yesterday I finally felt like knitting again and cast on a toe in Elle Stretch DK black, and then after the toe I started knitting the foot in purple and black vertical stripes by knitting one stitch in black and then one in purple.  It’s working quite well but I’m going to pause it while I decide if I really like it or not. 

I think I’d like to knit myself a matching gloves/scarf set so I had  a look for glove patterns on Knitty and Magknits. I like the Knucks that Elliphantom made recently from a pattern in Knitty but they are fingerless and I want whole fingers.  I was toying with the idea of trying to do a very mini magic cast on and knitting down the fingers and then following the Knucks pattern to join it all together but then on Ravelry I discovered something that is completely Genius. It’s i-cord fingers!!! you knit i-cord fingers and it gives you a ladder of strands at the back of the work which you then treat like a dropped stitch and pick up with a crochet hook creating a FINGER! Look HERE for the instructions. I need to find some yarn now but am thinking about using the Koigu KPPPM I got at Alexandra Palace as it’s too beautiful to be hidden in my shoes.

I should be knitting hats for babies that are due at Christmas and sewing together a Pixie coat for a baby who is already here but I keep getting distracted by socks and gloves for myself. I think it’s because there are no seams in socks!!

Ravelry and FO

Hey, I’ve logged on to Ravelry and put my first project on it. I haven’t really had a chance to fully explore but I like it so far. 

Here is a pic of the socks I made for my friend Bex.  I haven’t given them to her yet so I still don’t know if she will like them but I think they turned out ok. I like the reversed colour thing, as the top section looks the same even though it’s not, you’ll only REALLY notice how odd they are when they are not in shoes. Well that’s the plan anyway. 
I’ve still got quite a bit of the purple/pink/green Opal Uni yarn left even after making 3 pairs of socks and a hat out of them.  I’d like to use them for something else but it can’t be for me as I still find the wool very itchy. I suppose if Bex doesn’t like the odd nature of these I can always make a matching pair so she’s got two pairs. 

Bonfire night in the UK on Monday so I’m going to a fireworks display soon, yay! first time to wear a wooly jumper, gloves and a hat. Sadly this year not knitted by me. But I intend to rectify that by next year. 

Ravelry!!

I got my invitation to join Ravelry!! At last. I can’t wait to log on tomorrow. I’m at work but I had to post as I was so excited and no one here understands me….. sniff.

First jaywalker finished with a lovely zigzag cuff.