Now where did I put that pattern ..................... ???

These past few days I've searched the whole house, high and low, 2 or 3 times in each room, searching for a pattern - King Cole #2242. I've had this pattern for over 20 years and now I've been asked to knit another 3 blankets, I've lost the blooming thing. I posted on forums to ask if someone might have a spare copy - they don't - and I've e-mailed the company (who probably won't be able to get back to me until next week).

It was only after e-mailing the company that I found some photos I'd taken of the blankets I made last year, nice close ups. So good in fact that I could see how many stitches I had OTN and from there work out the pattern. It was a toss up between sl1, k2tog, psso or k3tog on the pattern row - I went for the sl1, k2tog, psso in the end because it looked more like the photo. ;0)

And this is what I have at the moment -
















2 of my cousin's friends have had baby boys recently and one is due next week. She wants me to knit three blankets in a fortnight! She's got no chance! I have, however, agreed to get one done within the next fortnight and let her have the other 2 as soon as I can. (I do have a life, you know, and DS and DH demand to be fed occasionally!)

I've been knitting dog sweaters again for Many Tears Rescue in Llanelli, South Wales. They're short of Labrador-sized sweaters at the moment so I'm using some Sirdar Country Style DK in Teal that I've had in my stash for over 2 years - it was originally bought to make me a cardigan but by the time I got around to using it, I'd gone off the pattern!
















And I'm only 10 rows of rib away from finishing these socks for my aunty. Remember the merino/tencel ones which I'd promised her and then kept myself? Well, these are to make up for it. ;0)















The yarn is The Yarn Yard Soulmates sock yarn in the Arm in Arm colourway. I have 50g of the variegated left over and 10g of the solid so I should be able to make another pair of socks for myself out of that. Excellent value for money, I'd say.

My Fearless Foray into Fair Isle Continues

Yes indeedy, I have overcome my fear of fair isle and, following success with the Corazon mittens in December, I decided to purchase a few patterns from Red Bird Knits - I got Andes, Bird Foot and Winter Dreams.

In my stash, I had some Regia 4 ply in 'King's Blue' (aka navy!) which went perfectly with the January 2007 Posh Yarn sock club yarn in 'Twinkle'. I can't believe I've had this lovely PY yarn in my stash for a whole year and haven't used it. I loved the colours of it but it just didn't seem right with any pattern or even plain socks for that matter. However, when used as the contrast yarn for this pattern, I think it really hits the spot. :0) I'm so glad I waited for the right pattern to come along. :0)















This is knit top down - I know I've been obsessed with toe up for the past however-many months, but I thought I'd make an exception for this pattern. ;0)

This is the inside of the heel flap - I'm about to start the gusset shaping.















And here's a close up of the pattern. I'm using 2.75 mm Knit Picks circs to get gauge of 8.5 sts per inch.

I finished my Cascading Leaves shawl on Friday evening - here it is blocking.

I love the way it's turned out. :0) It's just the right size - 66 inches wide x 37 inches deep.





























Started: 9th January, 2008
Finished: 18th January, 2008
Blocked: 19th January, 2008
Yarn: 155g of Posh Yarn Lucia in the "Deluxe" colourway
Needles: 4mm KnitPicks Options
Pattern: Cascading Leaves by Vicki Mikulak

I did 13 pattern repeats and had 363 stitches on the needles at the end. It took about 10 minutes to knit 1 row.

And this is the gorgeous Perl Gray shawl pin which I bought from Purlescence. It's just right for fastening my gorgeous new shawl. :0)

Where have the past 2 weeks gone?

I can't believe it's almost 2 weeks since I last blogged - the time has just flown by. However, it does mean that I have a few FO and WIP pics to show you.

I finished these 2 dog coats in December but didn't around to sewing on the buttons until yesterday. The patterns are from K9 Knitters and the coats will be going to the Many Tears Rescue in Llanelli, South Wales. This is the rescue where we had Lexi, our GSD, from.
















These coats are small and medium-sized and are made from 100g of Sirdar Countrystyle DK on 4mm needles.

I made this coat yesterday - pattern again from K9 Knitters - this time using 300g of Sirdar Bonus Chunky. It's quite a large coat and would probably fit a Labrador or small GSD. The others are quite small - Yorkie sized probably. ;0) My knitting group - The Bag Ladies - have agreed to knit some more as Many Tears are desperate for knitted coats for their rescue dogs at the moment.
















This is my first FO of 2008 - a PSP sock for a friend of DH. It's made with 10g of Opal Rainforest Tiger (4 ply) using 2.5 mm Knit Picks circs and I made the pattern up as I went along.
















The second FO of 2008 is another multi-directional scarf (I gave my mint-choc-chip one away as a Christmas gift).
















This one is made with 1 skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in the Tapis colourway using 3.5 mm Knit Picks needles.

I finished these socks yesterday - Anni's January Sockamania pattern.

It's a lovely drop-stitch rib pattern and knit up really quickly. I used Fyberspate's merino/tencel sock yarn in the Rusty Spoon colourway which was given to me as a gift in a Christmas swap on the Knitting Haven forum.

I love the colours and the sheen on this yarn. I think it really goes well with the pattern. I knit these toe up on 2 x 2.5mm Knit Picks Options circs and did 60 rows for the foot and 96 rows for the leg - I like a nice long sock. ;0)

Initially, I had promised these to my aunty but I loved them so much I couldn't part with them. *LOL* However, to ease my guilty conscience ;0) I'm going to cast on a pair of socks for my aunty later today - using this yarn .....
















Soul Mates "Arm in Arm" from The Yarn Yard. It's 100g of variegated and 30g of the solid blue. I'll use the solid for the toes, heels and cuffs.

I also picked up this colourway for myself - Naughty but Nice - I love it. :0)

















Finally, I'm making myself the Cascading Leaves shawl by Vicki Mikulak.















I managed to get my mitts on a 200g ball of Lucia in the Deluxe colourway (lovely shades of purple) in Posh Yarn's new year sale and thought this pattern would be ideal. I love knitting with Lucia, it's such a beautiful yarn.















I'm using 4mm Knit Picks Options circs and am probably about halfway through. I'm hoping to make the shawl slightly larger than the pattern as I think I've got plenty of yarn.

Anyway, time to go and wind some yarn ready to make my aunty's socks. ;0)

2007 - A (Knitting) Year in Review

Well, here's the truth - in 2007 I knit 112 items. :-0

It may sound a lot but it really isn't because 36 of these items were 12 inch afghan squares, which took next to no time to knit. ;0)

Here's the list in total - 28 pairs of socks, 2 single socks as shop samples, 36 afghan squares, 4 dog sweaters, 3 children's cardigan, 1 child's sweater, 2 scarves, 1 baby cardigan, 3 bags, 8 adult sweaters, 3 shoulder shawls, 1 pair of baby mittens, 2 pairs of adult mittens, 3 wash cloths, 1 lap blanket, 2 afghans, 1 adult cardigan and 2 baby burial gowns.

Phew!!!

Some of my favourite FOs this year have been -

'Falling in Love' socks (pattern by Anni Design) using Posh yarn Lucia in the 'Kiss Me' colourway. I finished these in February and they were my first attempt at toe up / short rows, which I now love. I haven't done top down since.

'Ula' v-neck cardigan knit in Colinette Iona, an aran-weight yarn, finished in October.

I love everything about this yarn, from the silky soft feel of it to the gorgeously deep colours (this one is Salty Dog).

My first Forest Canopy shawl, finished in September, using Posh Yarn Emily in the 'Fells' colourway. I gave this as a gift to a lady I used to work with. I've since knit another (also in PY Emily) and have plans to knit a third, this time in PY Lucia.

Corazon mittens from Knitty, finished in November, using RYC Cashsoft DK. I decided that I wasn't going to be afraid of fair isle any longer and this is an ideal first pattern. I knit 2 pairs of these (one for a gift, one for myself) and will probably make some more eventually. The Cashsoft yarn is luscious to knit with, buttery soft, and even lovelier to wear. :0)

And finally a multi-directional scarf, finished in November, using Bright Dyes 100% merino 4 ply (lovely yarn to knit with). This is such a quick and simple pattern but so effective when finished. This was eventually given as a Christmas gift so I'm now knitting one for myself in Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn.

Amongst the items OTN at the moment I have the Henley Perfected sweater (from Interweave Knits) in Rowan Bamboo Soft, Moose Ridge socks in HipKnits blue faced leicester, feather and fan shawl in Artesano Alpaca, and a multi-directional scarf in Colinette Jitterbug.

Photos to follow next weekend. ;0)

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Happy New Year!

2007 has been a really good year for knitting. I've kept a list of everything I've knitted and can't believe how much I've done compared to last year - over 100 items so far! Admittedly, quite a few of those have been socks and afghan blocks, so that's cheating slightly, but still, not a bad little haul. ;0) I'll be posting some photos tomorrow of my favourite FOs.

My knitting this year has also become more sociable - I've met lots of new (and good) friends, via the Crafty Threads forum and by setting up a knitting group locally - The Bag Ladies of Wetherspoon's, Pontypool. At our Christmas meet, we worked our way through the cocktail list and we were soooo rowdy, I'm surprised we didn't get thrown out! We even managed to get some knitting done. *LOL*

To anyone who stops by and reads my blog (and leaves a comment) - I'd like to say thank you! It means a lot that you like to see what I'm making.

Anyway, a happy new year to everyone - I hope 2008 is a good one for you all. xxx

My Christmas Present to Myself

This is the Under Cover Club afghan I've been working on for the past few months. It's made with O-Wool organic 100% yarn on 6mm needles.


I did a row of single crochet around the edge to finish it off using Cascade 220 yarn in the Fern colourway.


I am soooooo pleased I managed to get this finished today, although I've spent all day sewing the squares together when I really should have been doing other things. ;0)








NADOLIG LLAWEN BAWB!!!!!!!!!!!!


HAPPY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

Aunty's Afghan, a Hat for DS and some WIPs

I finished my Aunty's afghan yesterday and I'm really pleased with it. :0) It's going to be so difficult to give it away - ;0) - but I know she'll appreciate the work that's gone into it. I just hope she hasn't redecorated her bedroom in the past few days as it matches the colours perfectly!

I used about 9 balls of Cascade 220 100% wool for the squares and 1 ball for the border, with 5mm KnitPicks Options needles. Four of the squares came from the Great American Aran Afghan book, the rest came from stitch dictionaries.


I've been fed up recently with DS's hats not covering his ears so I searched on Ravelry last night for a pattern using Cascade 220 (I have rather a lot of it!) and found this pattern - the Norwegian Star Earflap hat - so made one for DS this morning. It took 3 and a half hours from start to finish! It was a very clear pattern and easy to follow. I made a child's size 21 and 1/3 inch hat on 5mm needles.

I fancy making one for myself next, but using different colours. I love Cascade 220 yarn because it has such good stitch definition. :0)


And finally the WIPs.

DH's friend wanted a sock for his PSP - the one he bought from Argos was very loose and his PSP kept falling out so he asked if I could make him a nice snug-fitting one.

I dug out some left-over Opal Tiger sock yarn, cast on 44 stitches and am now about halfway through. It looks *way* too small at the moment but stretches quite a bit, and fits nice and snugly so I think he should be happy with it.



And this is the second instalment of the HipKnits Project Club. These are the Moose Ridge Socks by Chrissy Gardiner and are a really enjoyable knit. I'm using 2.5 mm needles and 100% cashmere HipKnits sock yarn.