Many hands.......

If only I had all the hands to fit the projects I have finished this weekend! I would fly through the gift makes I still have to start :)

The Hitchhiker is no longer middle big girls yule gift, I just couldn't face the idea of having to knit up a matching hat and gloves in the KC Riot, it is such a fine DK it would take me all of the time I have from now to Christmas! Instead I cast on these on Saturday evening:

Middle big girl wants gloves she can wear whilst driving and thinks fingerless would work better, and she loves all the chunky cable designs that are everywhere in the shops right now. These worked up really quickly on chunky/bulky weight yarn and used just under 100g for both. And best of all I used stash wool, the Patons Symphony found at a car boot sale during the early summer, so super pleased.

I also managed to finish the bubble rib scarf for biggest girl this weekend:

 Worked in Stylecraft aran so that I wouldn't hear the news that she had shrunken it (last years pure wool Mirasol gift....!) this scarf has taken forever. I have picked up between other makes and tried to squeeze in at least one repeat every night, but this weekend I decided I just had to get it done as I was avoiding my knitting corner altogether to avoid this looking back at me. Very pleased with the finished result though and I hope biggest girl is too. Just a pair of gloves to complete the set.

But instead of casting on the gloves (still have the mans on the needles and one pair is enough for now!), I cast on an instant gratification knit:

Thick warm chunky soft mittens for tallest, smallest big girl. Worked in Wendy Serenity super chunky on 10mm straight needles, these were finished almost as soon as I cast them on. I used this pattern to make this an almost mindless knit, perfect for late night tiredness, waiting for littlest girlie to sleep. If you're thinking of using this pattern I have to tell you there is an error in row 10 and 11 which is easily sorted, but if you have any problems shout out.

And last, but only for now, I cast on this hat for middle big girl, to go with the fingerless mitts from the very first post:

I came up with the pattern to match the cable mitts and I'm very, very pleased with it :) I think it may even become the hat of the season, with one for grandgirlie, and maybe even littlest girlie too. Cast on, knit, and cast off all within an hour or two, just perfect for a quick gift. I may try writing up the pattern if anyones interested?

I still have a pretty long list to work through but it finally feels as I'm getting somewhere. And right now I only have three projects cast on, I wonder how long that will last?

Hope you're all enjoying your Christmas crafting and NOT putting yourselves under pressure to complete. It's fun first of all, remember ;) And I'll be the first to shout out when I've had enough!

-x-

Sharing the love.....a giveaway!

Time to move Nan down the page. It's been lovely having her smiling at me each time I logged into these pages. Only thing is I didn't want to move her by posting a new entry. But then it has to be done at some point so how better than sharing some bloggy love?

Inspired by my incredible good fortune at winning Lucy's recent lovely giveaway, I thought I would host a little giveaway of my own. So what could I come up with that you might want? Well it's turning cold here so just the time for something warm and cosy. The time for gifting is also just about here and so I thought something that would make a great stocking filler if you don't want to keep to yourself. And because I so enjoy all your lovely comments I wanted to share something special I have been holding onto for a while.

So here we are a little something crafted from a favourite part of the stash, a yarn that has waited so long for inspiration to hit:

Araucania Limari super bulky 70% merino, 20% alpaca, 10% silk

Only one 100g hank of this in the stash so very much enjoyed for it's softness, and colours, and for the ideas it brought forth.

And so today I grabbed the needles and settled to work. 

Do you want to see what I came up with? 

Of course you do....

What do you think?

Would you like to feel the softness and warmth of this beautiful yarn keeping your ears and head cosy and snug? 

Would you like to own a very much in style but one off accessory?

Or do you know of a special person who might like to find this in her stocking on Christmas morning?

And a big button to combat that annoying habit wool has of stretching over wear.....simply move the button further along! Clever huh?

For your chance of getting your hands on this then all you need do is leave a comment after this post. Open to all who read. If you're a follower then you get a double entry, so go on click that follow button :) If you want to share this giveaway with your own blog readers then link away, and if you do and come back to let me know I'll throw your name in the hat yet again. Hmmm, when to draw? How about one week from today - Sunday 27th November?

The pattern for the headband came straight from my imagination so this is truly a one off although I will be writing the pattern up shortly if there's any interest so if you aren't lucky enough to win you could still make your own in just an hour or two.  Oooh the joys of super bulky yarns......

All wrapped up.

I have finally finished something else. At last! 

You want to see what I've finished?

Then here you go:

Forgive the bad picture!

Very snuggly, wouldn't you agree?

A lovely warm, squidgy, winter scarf to go with the lovely warm, squidgy, winter hat I knitted a few days ago:

Another bad picture!

At last, something to put away for gifting. Just hoping now that Jen will like it. Oh, and that I can find a similar shade of DK to knit a pair of gloves to go with......

Knitted up with the other three 100g skeins of Wendy Serenity super chunky, using 10mm needles so finished in a flash. I wasn't sure about whether to add the fringe but now it's on I like it, kind of finishes off the scarf properly I think?

So what about that other bit of knitting do I hear you ask? The dashing-along-without-a-care-until-the-very-last-row bit of knitting? Well I finished it! Yes, the Hitchhiker is all done, wrapped up and put away for gifting to another grown girl. So I'll share a peek shall I?

I need a bigger room to lay it out in!

What do you think? The photo is so bright but then the colours are just as they seem. Just right for the woman who loves colour and brightness and fun:

I really enjoyed knitting up this scarf and I'm already fairly sure there may be another one appearing pretty soon. A quick reminder of the technicalities - Hitchhiker pattern is found on Ravelry. The yarn is King Cole Riot DK. The pattern originally used 150g Wollmeisse sock yarn I think but the Riot is a thin DK, edging close to a 4ply so it turned out a nice size. I used around 165g altogether to get the full 42 teeth worked. The King Cole yarn was ok to work with if a little splitty and I'm glad it was a simple garter stitch pattern as it meant the snagging didn't slow me down too much, well, until I got to that last row already blogged about! I think this scarf would look wonderful knitted up in Noro, and would be a real luxury item. In fact the guy in our LYS did briefly think it was Noro until I told otherwise. Maybe I'll knit the next one in a smoother sock yarn? We'll see. But before i think about that I have more projects in mind, and another cast on already.

Oh in case you're wondering - the Pixie hat was the size of a newborn so that's gone to the Dolly wardrobe already!

-x-

Easy? Right!

Today I knit a quick and easy hat for a yule gift. The knitting went a little like this - cast on, single rib for six rows, commence lace pattern. Work 1st row. Work 2nd row. Work 3rd row. Work 4th row. See the pattern emerging? Work 5th row. Realise a stitch is missing. Rip back 3 rows. Re-work 3rd row. Re-work 4th row. Re-work 5th row. Realise a stitch is missing. Hmm a new pattern emerging I think. Rip back 3 rows. Re-work 3rd row counting and checking every single stitch. Re-work 4th row. Re-work 5th. Continue with pattern.

Heave a sigh of relief at finally establishing the lace pattern and zoom through the rest of the knitting.

 Find a beautiful girl to model the too-large hat.:

Luckily the hat is for one of the big girls, most probably the model's mum :)

See - fairly simple repeat right?

Technical specifications:

Pattern - Erie by Helen Ardley (free supplement with Let's Knit November 2011).

Yarn - Wendy Serenity super chunky

Amount - approximately 90g

Needles - Pair of 9mm

Time to knit - 90 minutes (eventually!!)

Difficulty level - Hahahahaha 

Let's hope the scarf isn't as awkward!

-x-

A hat for me.

Knitted quickly in the very early hours and modelled by Cain the following day (Did you really think I was going to be model it after having six successive nights of little or no sleep?):


The wool is Twilley's Freedom and was knitted on 10mm needles. It is in single rib and very much made up as I went along, more as a diversionary tactic on the most worrying of nights rather than for the pleasure of wearing. I have tried it on though and it is amazingly soft and warm, just not sure it is me...........