Christmas is coming!

Wahoo! It's only 5 days until Christmas:) I had my last day at work on Friday (after an eventful Christmas party on Thursday) and am now relaxing on the sofa ready to get into some wonderful knitting.

We did secret santa at work and I got a brilliant present! I was given a 'Knit your own Piggies' kit from John Lewis:) Not many people from work know that I knit so I was very surprised!

For my December knit along (KAL) it's going really well, and I'm about a third of the way through the second sock - they look so pretty!

Roll on Christmas Day:)

Magazine arrival

I was randomly surfing through various people on Ravelry when I ended up reading someone's blog which aptly described a situation I didn't realise I, myself am guilty of. For some reason, I feel the need to have a photo to upload for each post, so each time I think about blogging I decide I can't be bothered to take some photos, plug into my computer, save the pics, and then upload into a blog. Thus, from today I will be a much more committed blogger as I generally have at least something interesting to say about my current project work (plus it gets it out of my system better than having to bore Lewis to tears describing the excitement of my latest cast-on project!)

So, my The Knitter magazine was waiting for me on the door mat when I got home this evening - I don't know why but it seems just so much more exciting to have this delivered than buying it straight from WH Smith's or somewhere. I have yet to open it and start reading through all the wonderful info, as I felt a blog was necessary (and long overdue).

I have recently cast on two new projects. The first one is called Bamburg by Judy Furlong, a pair of red and black gauntlet style gloves that I'm making for Lewis' mum for her birthday on January 7th, and the

second is a pair of Monkey socks by the infamous Cookie A, which are for the December KAL. This is the first time I've taken part in a KAL and I'm very excited! I think it's a great concept as it encourages you to try new patterns that you may not have had the courage to try, along with knowing that a fair few other people are also attempting the same challenge. It's like a virtual knitting group, as you can post pictures part way through and ask all sorts of ridiculous questions without feeling stupid! I cast on the Monkey socks using a skein of Persephone by Yarn D'amour in colourway Saucy...[que photo which was already saved on my comp] which I bought at the UK Ravelry day in Coventry earlier this year:

I've done the first 6 rounds of twisted rib and am loving how the colours are coming out!

I know it's going to be a challenge to finish the Monkey socks AND the Bamburg gloves all in about a month, but I figure with the Christmas holidays coming up I'll have plenty of time in amongst shopping and wrapping up presents to get these finished. Although I do have my doubts sometimes as it tends to take me about 2 weeks to finish one sock (on average) so I'll have to get some serious knitting commitment going!

The Bamburg gloves are so far proving to be the most complicated project I've ever tried - it starts with the wristband which looks like a twisted rope. This was my first attempt at an icord and I reckon I did a fairly ok job at it (after ripping back the first one which was on back to front). The pattern looks quite clever as you pick up stitches using the wristband and start knitting the hand part of the glove from there. So you don't have any skinny cast on or cast off edge, ingenious!

I'm also quite excited about making these gloves because I'm the first person on Ravelry to have posted the project - it was published in last month's The Knitter (issue #12).

Ooh! In other news, this was quite cool I think - I posted a thread on Ravelry asking how many beads approximately you would get in 100g of size SB7 embroidery beads. When know one replied (which is odd) I thought there was no way of knowing. Now the reason I was asking about the beads is because I've spied another project called Aida Scarf and Gloves (also by Judy Furlong) which are absolutely gorgeous! I want to make the gloves as a new challenge: my first beading project, and I wanted to know how many 15g pots to buy. Guess who personal messaged me on Ravelry this morning...Judy Furlong herself! It's so cool that these designers are people you can actually communicate with, avoiding the whole celebrity hassle (as they are celebrities of the knitting world). Anyway, I thought that was really cool, and am eager to complete both projects and let her know how clever her patterns are.

Wow, this blog has extended much further than I originally intended, maybe because I've been holding back all those blogs that 'required' a photo! ha!

Anyway, will post more often I promise:)

x

I never cared much about postal strikes until now

Recently I have been making quite a few yarn purchases as I've been inspired to start lots of new projects. A new sweater for Lewis (don't worry I've already passed the boyfriend sweater curse!), some surprise socks, some tights for me (very exciting project!), a super soft shrug of merino and cashmere, and some swat team kitties!

So I never paid too much attention to postal strikes until now - coming home from work everyday expecting to find a parcel waiting for me only to have my hopes crushed when I walk through the door is rubbish:(



But this post is to celebrate the arrival of some very pretty yarn that I got yesterday:


It's called Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Baltic Sea colourway which I'll be using to knit some tights! Not wanting to waste a moment I immediately wound one of the skeins into a ball, now I just need to wait for my needles to arrive in the post...!! :)

The Fluffiest Fluffy

Right, so I'm currently in the process of making Norbert and Pigwidgeon for the Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures class, and after showing my boyfriend how to make pom poms (for the owl) he got thoroughly overexcited and created the fluffiest fluffy - all from poms poms! I know it's not technically knitting in any way but I thought you'd all like to see what he artistically created:)

Scarves the never ending project

I decided to make the Lace Ribbon Scarf using my beautiful skein of Sundara silk and merino 4ply yarn (won from a lucky raffle draw!). I started it about a month ago and it's growing pretty quickly but the skein seems like it's decreasing in size only marginally! Ah well, it's a useful small project that I have in my bag at all times, so I get lots of knitting done on the tube into work.

This is my scarf so far - quite long already, and it's so soft and warm!

That's something I've had to get used to, by choosing to knit on the tube you expose yourself to poorly hidden stares and curiosity of the general public. However, it's been my experience that occassionally some people will strike up a conversation with you! I love it when I see others knitting in public especially on the tube where everyone works extremely hard to not make eye contact and pretend to be absolutely absorbed in their book/ paper. Anyway, I find it's the perfect way to get going with a small simple project:)

I'm looking for a good sock pattern at the moment to replace this scarf as my transportable project once it's finished. I've made 2 pairs of simple plain socks but I think I'm ready for something a bit more complex now - maybe a cable pattern or lace socks, the possibilities are endless!

My first jumper finished!

Having made a number of knitted items for my family and friends this is the first official jumper I've made for myself and I'm so pleased it fits! My Textured Tunic with side buttons from Stephanie Japel is super soft and warm so I'll need to wait until it cools down a bit to make it wearable.

I'll feel a bit strange the first time I wear it in public, as I know all I'll be thinking about is what other people are thinking, something along the lines of "she's wearing a jumper she made herself...hmm". It's so difficult to look at something you've made and not see all the little sections as you remember making each part, but to see it as a jumper and trying to imagine seeing it in a store - at least I'm hoping I'm not the only one who thinks like this!

Anyway I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. With being tall I added length in the box stitch section and the lower stocking stitch panels and it seems to come to the right length. I found the grey buttons in All The Fun of The Fair which my artistically minded boyfriend helped me choose as I can't be trusted with styling colours!