Monthly round-up.

Well I knitted another hat! 

But I have no photo's to share because the camera battery got all used up recording seasonal fun so a wordy post instead. If that's not your thing then jump blog now :)

I thought I might start posting an end of the month round-up of all the makes for that month.

Maybe I'll do it every month, maybe I'll never do it again.

We'll see.

So this month we have:

A knitted dolly and a patchwork cushion.

Two sew nosey mice and another patchwork cushion.

A sew stunned owl.

A pink shawl coloured cardi for Sophie.

A knit and stitched bathing gift set.

A small patchwork quilt.

A knitted hoodie for Heather.

A knitted hat, bib and mitts gift for a newborn.

A crochet nine square cushion.

A lacy rib chunky hat for Jenni.

A chunky lace scarf for Jenni and a Hitchhiker scarf for Helen.

And the hat with no blog post (which I will come back and edit when I charge the battery, take the photo's, write the post......so possibly I'll never get round to it!)

Phew, a productive month then, you can tell we're on the run up the giftgiving time of the year.........

-x-

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-

Aaaaarrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

I knitted on the train again yesterday, whilst travelling between workshops. I chatted to a lovely widower who told me all about how how wife used to knit him pure wool v-neck pullovers when they were courting, and how she would knit their children an aran (fishermans) cardigan every winter. He admired the Hitchhiker and said how lovely it was to see someone younger (me?) keeping up the old skills. He hoped I had or would teach my children and keep the skills alive. I reassured him that handcrafts were booming once again with so many people enjoying them. A lovely conversation. And the Hitchhiker thundered along, being garter stitch it only requires a quick glance now and then. The yarn is a little splitty and so I snagged now and then but nothing major. Or so I thought.

1am this morning I was on the final row before casting off. I glanced down and noticed a thin spot. I looked again and noticed that there was definitely an almost hole. And I knew immediately what had happened. Whilst chatting away I had snagged the yarn but didn't look down, just moved the needle out and then re-did the stitch. But of course I re-did it through the snagged strand, which was as fine as a hair. And that superfine strand was now the base of every knitted stitch above for at least 15 rows! 150+ stitches a row. Do the maths - scary number of stitches right? So no ripping back then. Instead I deliberately dropped the stitch at the top of that column and laddered right down to that one pesky stitch. Kind of worrying as the yarn being so splitty meant that I had to tug most of the stitches to open them up. Still, the alternative was much, much less appealing. I picked up each stitch in the ladder with the crochet hook. At 1am. After waking at 7am that morning. And a full, busy day in work. With the light low so the girlie on the sofa didn't wake. But I did it. 

And so I finished knitting that last row. I semi reluctantly began the cast off, the Hitchhiker had been a lovely no stress project (well almost). But still I was there, casting off, thinking of seeing it fully opened up and sharing with you. And then 60sts off the needle, 100 to go, the girlie woke up. So it was off to bed we went.

So you want to see the finished Hitchhiker?

Well then you shall.............

When I finish that cast off at some time today!

-x-

Yarn along.

Joining in with Ginny's yarn along over at Small things again.

So I could have just posted last weeks post again I suppose seeing as I'm still working on the Hitchhiker, and still only two pages into The Green Buddha. But that's not in the spirit of things is it? So here's something else I'm currently reading and knitting:

An old issue of Living Crafts magazine, full of interesting and lovely crafting articles to share with the family, and knitting - a pixie hat for little miss from the same magazine. Working with King Cole mirage DK which I'm trying to convince myself to like, as splitty as it is. till, it's only a little hat.........

Don't forget to check out more of the lovely projects shared in the yarn along, and hopefully I'll have a finished Hitchhiker to share in a day or so.. Or a pixie hat........

-x-

On the go.

What do these places have in common- the Liverpool train, the church gardens, the hospital park, and my living room? Easy, they're all the places the Hitchhiker has been getting whipped out. Working on a circular means that it is compact and portable, and essential part of my work bag this weekend. See, even when I'm working I manage to fit a little knitty time in ;) Thirty repeats worked, twelve more to go, each row is over 100 stitches now. Still loving it!

Handbag - check, backpack - check, Lansinoh sachets - check, lunch - check, little WIP - check!

Unfortunately when I arrive home I'm so tired that once the family are loved, fed, entertained and settled to bed, I'm ready to be in the same place myself. So not a lot else happening here. Ooh, yes there is - the scarf to go with the hat! Same Wendy Serenity, another lacy pattern, two thirds done so one third (or one hank) to go. Yes, yes, I know, I said there would be no new projects until the old ones were finished. Well guess what - I lied! Go on, tell me you don't have a queue of half finished works......

Two days off now so lot's of time to be getting on with finishing the started. Right?
So off I'll go then!

-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-

Cuddling up.

Take a (4mm) hook and start making these:

Squishy Debbie Bliss baby casmerino and James C. Brett pure merino - mmmmm.

Reverse the colour sequence (more than once!):

Run out of lemon when edging the last square and make an emergency trip to the LYS for some more, feeling extraordinarily pleased to discovered that two years apart the dye lot is the same! Use the same lemon to join the squares AND edge the whole thing:

Find some pretty co-ordinating soft cord and try to avoid too much pinning and sewing by machinestitching the backing to the inner edge of the outer round (confused??) and so making a pretty little trim:

Stuff with a pillow and place not-so-artfully on the mama made throw on the Papa revamped chair, and admire:

Yes that is a potty with an L plate - a certain little girlie is finding it a bit cold up there using the toilet ans likes a potty downstairs just in case......

Aaaahhhhh, lovely........... the cushion, not the potty!

Now back to the Hitchhiker.

-x-