Happy Holidays!

Happy, happy holidays! Time now to log out of blogland for a few days, eat lots of food and give presents. I do love giving people pressies:) So I hope you have a lovely time whatever you are doing this year for Christmas, make merry and enjoy and I'll see you soon!

Deep red habitat

Hello, hello! I've been sucked away into knitting for christmas land, where everything revolves around christmas television, nice munchies and speedy knitting as the deadline draws ever nearer - 12 days to go.....

But I have a finished hat to show you - a lovely deep red version of Jared Flood's (Brooklyn Tweed) 'Habitat'. I love this deep colour too! Even though I knitted a version of this hat a few years ago, it felt like a new pattern but it did seem easier this time around and quicker too. Does this mean I'm getting better?? Ah, ha, fate will slap me down for getting cocky:))

I wouldn't say I was totally in the zone knitting the cables or that it was a super quick intuitive knit for me on this occasion, but it was fast, only taking a few days whilst watching tv, which does tend to slow me down when I have charts to read as well as distract me.  But you do need to be doing something else as well when you try to cram a lot of knitting in before christmas:) For those of you interested, this was knitted watching Ice Age - (ah, Sid the sloth cracks me up every time;))),  the Mentalist and a few CSI's.

I do love the all over cabling on this hat and once the first few rows of pattern are done its easy to see if you are crossing over in the right direction - or not. Sometimes I catch myself expecting it to be wrong the first time - which in this case is just as well!! Just the one cross but at least I noticed straight away and not near the end! It was much easier to tink back a few rows than rip back two days work.

This yarn has a lovely lighter red fleck in it too which keeps the colour from being too solid but doesn't fight the cabling. One of the happy occasions where it's even nicer knitted than in the ball.  And if you look closely at the hat laid out from the centre, can you see the flower shape? Like a 5 star petal motif, very subtle though. What a clever pattern. I don't think I noticed this the first time around.

So another knit down, and I don't really want to think how many there are still to fit into the 12 remaining days..... I really should have a better plan for next year - but I say that every time ;)) Off I go for some more christmas tv watching. What shall it be next on the needles?

Hmm, what next?

Well the Brea bag is off the needles, sewn up and waiting the lining, handle and button. Fabric and button are sorted and should be here in a few days but I lost out on the belt on e-bay so I'll have to hunt around for something else instead - hopefully quickly so I can call this christmas present finished! I'll take some photos tomorrow in daylight but now I have to consider what's next on the needles?

© Wollschnegge

I'm thinking that this lovely rectangular version of the Gail shawl I found on ravelry will be up next. The designer Jane left a comment for me to say that there is a written up rectangular version already called Spring Leaves - yay! I'm so glad I found that out before I started improvising :) And doesn't it look lovely? I am thinking more of a scarf width than a larger wrap so I will probably reduce the number of leaf repeats - 3 instead of 5? But it's so lovely I think I'll be returning to this one again when I have more time for a full wrap:)

But I'll need a tv watching project as well  - I know I'd better not be distracted with detailed lace till I get into a flow again - so what else?

Well, I'm still thinking about the lovely red and white bird mittens but an alternative to them is Ysolda's lovely snapdragon flip-top mitts and matching beret. The advantage with choosing these instead is that I've already knitted the beret:)) but I don't have any more matching yarn for the mitts in my stash - oh dear, what a shame! I'll have to buy more yarn:)



© Sapphire2001


And if I'm going to be buying more yarn, I may as well get some for the lovely skew socks :) Yes, I could dye some but I want to try out the regia sock yarn that has stretch in it - if I can find it online. I just think that's such a cool way to stop socks getting baggy. I know they look cool but after a while socks, well, kind of s-l-i-d-e :)) Either that or I'm not knitting them tight enough:)

And lastly today, the gorgeous cable 'Gordian' gloves designed by Julia Mueller. These have been on my to-do list for ages too. I love the complexity of the fine cabling - even on the fingers! Such attention to detailing make these such a special pattern. But I can't do them all so these may have to be saved for another time as I know how long gloves take me:))

So there will be lace knitting soon and there will be gloves/mitts/mittens  - I just haven't decided which ones yet:)) Anyone else knitting along for christmas?

To do list......

7. Crochet bag from squares, 8. Footstool Sideview

With the Christmas deadline drawing nearer, I thought I would make a visual list of things I'm considering making. Don't panic for me quite yet:)) Although there are 13 photos here and not all that many days left till the 25th December - I refuse to count to keep the panic at bay! - I'm not intending to make all of these. Some are either/or contenders such as the bags or mitts, for instance.

A lot of my images are favorited photos from ravelry that I couldn't find on Flickr so I'll give you a rundown for each one so I can credit the photo owner as well as give you the pattern details and links. This could end up a huge post so I'll post all 13 over the next few days. Today I think we'll do the first 4:)

Big and bold in the centre, the mosaic maker call this No 1:)

The lovely Eternal knot baby blanket designed by Daniel Yuhas. Very clever cable pattern going on in this one that I can't wait to try out - loving the looped ends! It will take a bit of time so it's a christmas maybe but more likely a birthday possibility as it would give me a few more months to make it;))

No 2 we have the super lovely elbow length crocheted opera gloves designed by Shiri Mor. The link is for the Lion brand site where you have to log in but it's free to join. I'm hoping these won't take too long to make as I fancy a pair myself! No fingers which is a relief as I always find in knit that the fingers take up as much time as knitting the rest of the damn glove! (hence no pics of stripey armwarmers as yet;))

© Yarntangler

No 3 - lovely lacy 'Gail' shawl designed by Jane Araujo. It may look familiar as I did nearly finish making this one before (I know..... UFO's lurking under my desk:))  This time though I need a rectangular wrap and I'm thinking this pattern would look lovely and hopefully be easy enough to adapt? If anyone has done this already, a link would be very handy! As the shawl has charts, I'm thinking this logically should be easier to translate into a wrap without increases - she says hopefully:)) The link is for Ravelry but again its free to join if you haven't already:)

ETA: Thanks to designer Jane Araujo for the info that Gail is already available as a rectangular shawl - yay! You can find the pattern here  on Sew-mad's blog. So now all I need is the dyed yarn:)

No 4 is the super lovely Bird in Hand mitts designed by Kate Gilbert. Now these I've been meaning to knit for such a long time and I think now is the time:) They look super snuggly and there is just something about the red and white combo that works perfectly for me.

But I'm thinking I may need to leave a goodly amount of time for these as I'm a bit out of practice knitting intarsia and these might just stretch my idea of a quick knit:) But other mitts are in the mosaic later on so these are most likely to be an either/or pair. I do so feel like knitting them though  - they seem to embody snow, log fires and christmas don't they?

Well, with three biggies in that list, I think my time has already been filled up! I think I'm going to have to weigh up just how long these will take to make in reality. Either that or knit a lot faster:)) Seems like I'm always wishing that:) but all I really need to do is get more organised and start earlier - which never seems to happen!

If anyone has knitted any of these patterns, I would be interested to hear how long they took you to make! Back tomorrow with the next list of possibilities!

Happy, happy:)

There has been a little bit of christmas knitting going on over the last few days  - yummy stripey armwarmer gloves:) I love these so much its going to be hard to part with them! But I can console myself with the fact I still have another ball of Wendy's lovely 'happy' bamboo yarn - colourway capricorn - stashed away that I can knit up for me another time!

This yarn is a soft 4ply/fingering weight bamboo mix - 75% bamboo/25% nylon - with a lovely sheen to it and it is knitting up very nicely indeed. The bamboo doesn't have as much elasticity as wool and although it's looking fine on 2.5mm needles, I think it would have been slightly better on 2.25mm's with my tension.

As an experiment, I tried a row using the continental knitting style against my usual method of 'throwing' and the tension was much tighter but knitted up a lot quicker. Hmmmm. Knitting whole lengths of stocking stitch in the round for these gloves would certainly go a lot faster this way although I still haven't spent enough time mastering all the stitches K2tog, SSK's etc. yet. But the second glove isn't the time to experiment unless I want varying tensions and sizes of glove:)))

So far, I'm onto the fingers of glove one but I'm shortening the colour runs of the self stripe sock yarn a bit as I want jazzy odd fingers - of course! I'm using an adaptation of Brigids Hearth's armwarmers pattern which you can find here. It's only designed to be long mitts from elbow to just over the thumb, but I like gloves and if you're going to warm your arm, it's a shame to leave the fingers out!! It's a quick knit though and perfect for self-striping yarns.

Actually, this would be a brilliant pattern to use up those leftover small balls of sock yarn and much more personalised too. Shame most of my stash is DK or bigger;) I'll have to hunt out another pattern or modify this one. Do you think Christmas is going to end up being on a theme of gloves?? Wasn't intended to be but it's an idea ....... ;))) 

Optimistic October

Oh, the first fire of the Autumn. Today, it's very cool, the beautiful autumn sun of this morning has gone to be replaced by a light rain blowing through, spattering on the windows - brrr! The overcast clouds are making it feel later than it is too but soon it will be dark. Time for a hot drink and a snuggle up beside a warm fire I think - mmmm:) Makes me think maybe a lovely hot chocolate could be in order soon - I must get some marshmallows!

Only problem is, I haven't actually done much this afternoon as it's just so cosy and I don't feel like moving much. And the fire is hypnotising...... lulling me into a peaceful and quiet place. Most relaxing!

Lighting the fire has acted as a bit of a catalyst in other ways though. Suddenly it seems like I should be spinning, knitting warm cozy jumpers and making christmas presents  - as well as considering hibernating for winter:) I'm also thinking that if I actually count the weeks I have left to make said presents those faint stirrings of panic might blossom into something more significant - so I won't look too closely for now...... The fire has just been lit and I still have plenty time, don't I?

Maybe I should start making a list, just in case. This will be the idealistic list. The list that gets whittled down to the bare bones by December till it resembles something of more realistic proportions. Even though I do this every year, I just can't help being overly optimistic in October!!

Happy Christmas!

I'm off for a little break now over the holidays so enjoy yourselves and make sure you have a very Happy Christmas!  elaine xxx

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......

I'm sure something happens in December - normal time must get compressed  because I just don't seem to have as much knitting time in December compared to every other month:-)) I plan, I knit, I even work out 'realistically' just how long each item will take to make, faint, revise list, repeat....... until I have a manageable list, of sorts.

But this year, I actually put less on my making list and I foolishly considered myself ahead of the game this year - ha, ha, ha. The fates do have a way of coming back to bite you when you think these things:-)

I've even noticed how much faster I get at knitting in December. Last year I was churning out mittens, gloves and hats at a scary speed. ( I also wondered why there were very little knitting projects for the next fortnight and remembered the knitting cramp I got in my hands every time I even thought about picking up a pair of needles;-))

But this year, things have just gone pear shaped. I don't really know why. What should have been a few simple knits have somehow become huge never ending projects. Jinxed, every one!  Stitches slip off and run back, simple maths won't add up, patterns knit up super tight and not to gauge - sigh! The knitting fates have a few more spanners up there waiting, I'm sure, and being tired and out of love with knitting right now, I've decided to take heed and throw in the making towel this christmas.

But instead of feeling the accustomed guilt, I just feel relief! Whew! I didn't realise I was getting quite so stressed about the whole thing. And if I'm not happy then the knitting becomes a chore and these are gifts that should be made with love, not lots of curse words:-))

So, although I have actually got a few finished things, like this new pink 'turn a square' hat and even a half finished pair of matching mittens, I think either I can keep them for birthdays or if I'm really smart, get a head start on christmas for next year!! But just don't tell the fates quite yet ..........:-)

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