Happy Christmas!

At last all the knitting is finished, posted and delivered and I can sit down and r-e-l-a-x. A close call this year getting everything done - well it is every year, but this felt a tad close for comfort! Pretty much been in a knitting frenzy since the last post - I think I had good intentions but not enough stamina to see it all through! But it is all done and I think I will get myself a festive drink and some munchies and go watch a christmas film on the telly. It doesn't matter if it is silly or not, just christmassy:)

I think Willy Wonka - the original - is on later. I do like the Johnny Depp version but having grown up with Gene wilder and the oompa loompas singing, it has to remain my favourite.

So, no pics of what I've been making until after the presents have been opened - just in case:) But some of you may recognise a few things from previous blogs - ah ha, but you didn't know they would be yours though, did you!

So, wishing you all a happy, relaxing holiday with lots of good company and lovely gifts on christmas day,

elaine xxx

Red marble slouchy

This slouchy is done as a request after my friend saw the yarn, saw the slouchy design and asked me to put them together in a beret for her sister. Since I only hunted the marble yarns out recently - for the stripey scarf - I hadn't considered using it in a beret yet. As a stripey matching beret, yes, but I haven't quite got round to that either!

Sometimes when you choose a yarn for a pattern, you have to weigh up the busyness of the pattern or the yarn. Rule of thumb - busy pattern such as mad cabling, stick to a simple yarn, solid or a semi-solid hand dyed as these show off the raised pattern well. Busy yarn with lots of colours, marls and textures usually like more simple shapes and patterns to show off the yarn qualities.

So mixing a medium busy marble yarn and a medium busy pattern with some yo's and a bit of a linear twist going on - hmmm. The jury says you can get away with it and it could be stunning but it may get too busy and confusing and lose all pattern definition. GO for it - at least you'll know how far you can push it!

So I did and I must say I am very glad I did. I was pretty confident that it would work but enough to be considered good enough for a present? I think this has worked out very well indeed and I love the marble gradations thoughout the beret as it works its way to the top. Being DK, it is a very slouchy beret but the weight of the hat sitting on the back of the head is quite comforting and cosy and looks good from all angles - in real life and not just in the best photos of the day:))

I do hope the recipient likes it but I am actually not bothered if she doesn't as I've decided to claim it as my own if its going spare - knitters perogative:)

Progress check.

Some new green mittens on the go and I need to get going on some gloves too.....

Considering starting on the knitting machine this evening - wish me luck and no more procrastination!

Liberated flower press

Just wanted to show you this find from last weekend. On a very cold and nippy sunday, we went to a car boot and market to browse for interesting stuff. It was so cold many vendors had packed up but a few brave souls were sticking it out in the blustery, icy winds debating whether they were mad or stupid - or both.

Sometimes at these things you get a lot of furniture or a lot of house clearance. Sunday was lots of small stalls with the remnants of peoples lives. Discarded items or obvious house clearance by the age of the stock. It's a bit sad really to see someones life deposited on a blanket on the ground but also in a way good that maybe some aspect of that person can live on and the items can be used by someone else who will want them and give them a new lease of life.

Anyway, this flower press caught my eye with its big bold aqua flower and it hasn't been used! Still pristine with the original clean blotting paper inside. Okay, its probably not that old but still it's nice to find a larger press. I don't tend to see them that often. Funny though as only a few days before I considered liberating a small press from its home in a charity shop and felt I couldn't really justify it as I already have one. I have too much stuff already and I do try to keep it down - although that may be hard to believe sometimes:) But I had no qualms about liberating this larger press at all - funny that!!

Progress knitwise: Machine 1 - knitting - 0

The machine is now up but knitting has not yet commenced as it took most of yesterday to clean it up. Dust and gunky oil, not a good combination! But it is now awaiting my brain to get into gear to start knitting...... I'll let you know how it goes. My brain getting into gear and the knitting!

The cat doesn't like this new machine - at. all.

Stars everywhere!

It's getting cold out there and it is definitely time for hats and gloves. Yesterday, I braved the cold donning hat, gloves and scarf and I was still freezing. I couldn't seem to stop the cold wind freezing my face and numbing my toes. As I can't do much about the weather, I can maybe help family and friends wrap up against the early cold and retain a margin of snuggability whilst risking the inclement weather:)

Just in time for christmas - the star beret. Actually two of them for you to have a look at. I may have mentioned I was having a bit of trouble with these as I followed the pattern faithfully, knitting super chunky on the recommended 3mm needles. Ok, my common sense said 'this has to be wrong'. Super chunky is usually knitted on 7mm. A drop of 4 needles?? But I thought maybe the designer knows something I don't. Maybe she is going for the super tight, really dense, warm look?! I know, I know....

But keep on knitting I did and I began hating it more and more. Eventually on completion, it looked nothing like the picture being about 2 thirds the size and fitting more like a skull cap rather than a floppy beret! And so rigid! Needless to say I have no pictures of that hat to show you!! It's been ripped back and I enjoyed every minute of it! Isn't it funny that it takes a few minutes to destroy something that took hours to create?

But instead, I have both the green mohair and the bright purple star berets completed for you to look at. I do like the crisp star shape and it is a very bold hat in the purple but soft and warm looking in the green. Perfect design really. And it is really a friendly knit once you ignore the needle size and use the normal size for what ever yarn you are using. Both these hats are knitted with chunky yarn (rather than super chunky) and the pattern still fits well.

I did knit the rib band on a smaller size needle for a snugger fit as it was too loose on completion for me. At least this is knitted from the top down so you can always change the band if you need to. Not like the slouchy I knitted before that falls past my nose when you pull it on;) I would have to go all the way back to the beginning to fix it so what's the point? Maybe someone has a bigger head than me and it will fit them better! But I did remember this lesson when I knitted another one this week. Perfect fit this time - hurrah!

I'm afraid this pattern isn't available online as it was published in the small booklet with the November issue of Let's knit in the UK. You could visit their website for back issues if you have to have it! They have some free patterns there too and a forum for advice etc. Better suited if you are new to knitting or need support on new techniques.

So wrap up warm and pics soon of the new red marble slouch beret!

It's cold outside.....

Today is the kind of day you really want that hot chocolate with all the trimmings. It's been a day to sit down and watch a good film whilst you're knitting - except the cat decided my lap was much warmer and that my knitting was in the way. After several hours of part knitting-part cat attention, my leg finally went numb and she is now firmly ensconced on her high perch overlooking my computer.

This post was only managed after freeing up my keyboard which she likes to sit on to stop me doing anything else that would detract from 100% cat time. I was lucky this time - she didn't sit on the off button:)

Maybe there will be better light tomorrow to take my backlog of photos and to show you the beret I am trying to work on today!

Wrap up warm if you are going outside....

Stripey scarf

Well, here is the stripey scarf, at last! I must say that I really like it and it turned out much better than expected. I chose this design as I'd seen a lovely version of the pattern using Noro silk garden but as I can't afford that at the moment, I substituted two contrasting acrylic marble yarns from James C. Brett instead. As noro yarns are so vibrant in colour and look very yummy indeed, I was preparing myself for a lesser stripey scarf with less zing or punch. Ok, the colours are more subtle but maybe that is a good thing as not everyone wants a bright blue and contrasting red scarf - really?!

So, as an idea for presents, this would work for a guy, I'm thinking. Only problem is that although it's a simple pattern to work up, it just seems to go on and on! I've read Yarn Harlots posts on how she's addicted to the change of colours and is on her third consecutive scarf but I'm not convinced that after three days of continual knitting I want to launch straight into another one! Yes, it is fascinating to see the colours subtly change and alter the colour palette of the whole scarf but it is also mightily boring knitting long stretches of 1x1 rib - on and on and on......

So, although I love hand knitting, I am also a realist and if I want to get any quantity of these done as presents then I may have to break out my double bed knitting machine, blow the dust off it and try to remember how it works! It gives me perverse pleasure to be able to make something in a day. I don't see it as cheating dear handknit, just complimenting it. You have to use the right tool for the job. When I want to relax, I can handknit away and watch tv but serious pressie making may now require more serious measures - or desperate ones!!

The scarf is quite narrow without a tassled fringe. This is hopefully more of a classy scarf! You could wear it with a long coat wrapped over in front more like a cravat rather than the bulky wrapped-around-the-neck look. Well, that's the theory. It does look good like that. It is quite long to get the most out of the colour repeats and alternates between cools and warms as you can see in the final picture.

Shame I couldn't get a pic of someone wearing it as I took it as an example for my christmas orders the day after finishing and she bought it there and then! Didn't have time to block or anything. I'm sure she won't notice but, really! There are standards to maintain:)

We can also say bye, bye to warm and fuzzy mittens, bright pink verity, petrol blue verity, blue thorpe (had to take plaits off as its for a boy!) and mosaic beret. But new orders for three lots of gloves, and one more pair of turquoise fuzzy mitts. So, I'd better get going. Shame you can't knit them on a machine:)))

Magenta with daisies

One of the hats that's been waiting to be shown. It may look a bit familiar to you. Yes, it is another pink thorpe hat but this time in a bigger size so I can wear it! I decided to make a few modifications like embroidering more daisies on the side - well, the flaps need more decorating on the bigger size - and I thought the top could manage a big daisy and some french knots.

As you can see it does look a bit big on the model's head and it is a bit long over the ears on me but at least it's not too tight anymore. A little big I can do. Anyway, the white border and plaits may look asthetically pleasing in the overall design but it looks a bit too much of a contrast against the skintone. I don't think it works for me - although I will wear it inside, even if I look a bit stupid:). The plaits are a bit Heidi too!

I do like this hat, and the model always makes the hats look great. Shame they don't look like that on me! But I am aware that I don't really have the face shape for many styles of hats. Now give me a heart shaped face and that would be perfect!! But if I don't suit them all then at least I can get the pleasure of giving them to those who do and give them a choice of hat wardrobe. Ha, ha! Sis, you'll need a new piece of furniture, a walk-in hat stand wardrobe! Rows and rows of dummy heads sporting verity berets, gretels, and earflap hats in a dazzling array of colours:)))

(If you ever do that, send me a photo?!)

Drifting gently back on track - here's the detail on the top of the hat, chunky daisy with french knots decoration. I did actually rein myself in here:) it could have been a french knot fest and the poor hat would have looked more polka dot from a distance!! But sometimes less is more (did I just say that? Shhh, don't tell anyone!)

So for now, I'm leaving this pattern for a while unless anyone particularly wants it for christmas. Suddenly time seems a lot smaller until the big day and there is still lots to do.

Oh, I've managed to finish the stripey scarf at 23.57pm! Need it for tomorrow when I go and get some christmas orders. I would've liked to have had a matching hat but you can't do everything, I suppose. Anyway, hopefully pics over the weekend. Don't know if I will catch any light for photos tomorrow and don't you know, it's meant to snow! It's not even december yet. What is the weather thinking? I have this theory. We missed summer completely. Autumn was over summer and winter is now the new autumn so where does that leave us over winter?? Maybe I shouldn't ask that. Someone may say that there are now two winters - cold winter and even colder winter!

On that cheery thought, I'll leave you for the night wishing for warm mittens and snuggly scarves to cuddle whilst sipping a hot chocolate smothered in marchmallows, chocolate and skooshy cream if you have any. Sweet dreams!

Full of sugary goodness!

Alas, no time today to take photos of star berets so here are some yummy pictures guaranteed to make you hungry! It's been such a long time since I had a doughnut and I must admit the blogging part of me eyed these up, thought 'yummy' and then thought 'that would make a good photo on the blog'. A sad excuse to buy yummy doughnuts but I'm not complaining:)

These were not eaten today alas but a week or so ago and looking at them now makes me want to go shopping again. But the mind works in mysterious ways and I took these pictures with ideas in mind for collage. You may well be thinking pink icing to collage?! But bear with me. I haven't got it all sorted out yet but believe me it will make more sense as I go. Sweets and cake decoration are very similar to working with gesso, gel medium and paint. Most mixed media artists are decorators; layers of information collated together to create a whole, yummy conclusion.

So although I don't necessarily want to recreate the pink doughnut, I do appreciate how it asthetically works with its colour palette, texture and its overall appeal. It's no good creating artwork if its not appealing enough for someone to want to buy. It works right up to a close-up level. Still has a yumminess, don't you think? Yup, still want to eat one, now!

So this attention to decoration and detail has me looking at the most mundane or everyday objects/food. Mind you, there is something about cakes and pick & mix displayed in shops. Rows and rows of pattern and detail. Like cupcakes on a tray with individual decorations. Hmmm, there's an idea.

So watch out for cake inspired collage! Meanwhile, I'm sure I have a recipe for cupcakes somewhere.......