Monthly Archives: September 2008

Twenty tiny titfers

Posted on Sunday 28th September 2008 | 8 Comments

Innocent hats

Pattern: Innocent Hats for The Big Knit
Yarn: All the oddments from my stash. Mainly acrylic, but also some wool, cashmere blend and cotton.
Needles: Two 3.75mm Addi dpns.

It was Shelby who got me into this. I saw her jaunty hats on Ravelry on Thursday, and got the urge to make some of my own. So I did!

For anyone who doesn’t know why so many people are knitting miniature bobble hats, every year, Innocent run The Big Knit to raise money for Age Concern. For every bottle of smoothie they sell that has a hat, they will donate 50p to the charity. So the more hats they get, the more money is raised. :-D

Innocent hats

It took no more than half an hour to finish each hat, including making the bobble. Fortunately, I have a whizzy Inox pompom making kit, which meant making teeny little bobbles was really easy. If I hadn’t had it, I’d have probably left the poor things naked. ;-) It’s a great way to use up all the oddments in my stash, especially the scary acrylic in dodgy colours!

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Posted in finished projects

Infidelity

Posted on Monday 15th September 2008 | 1 Comment

I’ve never been one to stick to one project at a time. I try very hard, but with most long-term projects (i.e. ones that take more than a day to complete…) I reach a point where I just NEED A BREAK from it and have to knit a little something different.

But since I finished the two huge shawls last month, I’ve been having trouble settling at anything. I have a pattern OTN for the Gift supplement of The Inside Loop (out early next month!) but I’ve already cheated on it with my Amy Beret and now I’ve started Diane’s newest pattern:

Jo socks
Jo socks, knitted with Garnstudio Baby Ull (discontinued)

plus something that needs no concentration at all:

Purple Poodle Scarf
Purple Poodle scarf, knitted with Touch Yarns Bouclé Solid

I’m trying to think whether this is actually my first ever garter stitch scarf..! The yarn was a gift from Diane and when it was really cold last week, I got the urge to cast it on and make something to warm me up. While it won’t set the world alight with its design elements, it’s brilliant TV knitting, plus I’m using my Denise Interchangeables for the first time in a long while so they’re earning their keep. It does feel strange to use such “big” needles, though. :-P

Not forgetting that I am halfway through the second Lotus Lace sock. And I want to knit Mr B another pair of socks, which I can’t do til these are off the needles, as I’m using my favouritest dpns!

So what did I do at the weekend, with so many projects to choose from? I reorganised my Ravelry queue and found a new template for the blog..! :-D

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Posted in random stuff, socks

Feeling small(er)

Posted on Thursday 11th September 2008 | 20 Comments

I don’t often write about desperately personal stuff on here as I like having a jaunty blog full of yarn and squishyness and cake. But today was a milestone for me so I need to share it and reserve the right to brag on my blog as I pay for the hosting. :-P

I have been on a weight-loss campaign since May. This is nothing new, because I am permanently on a diet of some sort, but I decided to have a fresh start, with an entirely different eating plan (and I have tried pretty much everything over the past 10 years…) and I think I have finally found the perfect eating plan. The proof of which was this morning when I stepped on the scales for my weekly weigh-in and I have lost *precisely* 2 stone (28 pounds).

There is still a long way to go. I won’t say how far because it scares me, and might just send me to the corner shop for a bar of Dairy Milk. But I finally feel as if I could actually do it, and when I do, there are a million sweaters I want to knit. :-D

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Posted in random stuff

Beret nice

Posted on Tuesday 9th September 2008 | 6 Comments

I can’t believe I just wrote that title. I’ve clearly missed my vocation, which is writing headlines for tabloid newspapers.

Seeing as summer has clearly given up trying and the default weather setting is currently “cold and wet”, it doesn’t feel so bad starting to knit winter warmers. :-) And Diane’s newest pattern was clearly designed with me in mind so it would be madness if I didn’t cast on straight away. After all, lace + cables + beret = happy bunny. :-D

Amy Beret

Pattern: Amy by Diane Mulholland
Yarn: Fibre Harvest Merino Wool, in “Purple”
Needles: 4 and 4.5mm Addi Turbos

This was a project that literally flew off my needles. I bought the yarn on Saturday, cast on Saturday afternoon and it was blocking on Sunday evening. I think it possibly took longer to get dry than it did to knit…

Amy Beret

The yarn was wonderful to knit with. Sproingy, soft and the most fabulous shade of purple. The yarn is water wheel spun at Coldharbour Mill, and if I can persuade Mr B to take a short break to Devon, I *have* to see this! :-D The pattern called for a worsted-weight handspun, and my yarn is a commercially spun aran, but the extra thickness gave me a bigger hat, which is a good thing as I have A Very Big Head.

As for the pattern? Perfect. It was an interesting knit but not scary in the least, thanks to the clear directions. I have a lovely hat all ready for winter and it will go very nicely with a couple of mitten patterns I have in mind…

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Posted in finished projects

*listens to a pin drop*

Posted on Thursday 4th September 2008 | 7 Comments

Today is the first day back at school for the small people. It’s very quiet. Yesterday passed in a flurry of sewing in nametapes and finding PE bags and now it’s all done and I’m sitting here with a cup of tea, twiddling my thumbs. :-P

It was an eventful day for smallest person as he’s now in year 3, which means he’s in the Juniors with his big brother and now wants to walk with him to school, rather than be seen with me. ;-) Next year, the eldest will be going to BIG school. I don’t know where the years have gone. :-(

So apart from drinking tea, today is being spent having a huge clean of the house after it’s been wrecked over the holidays. And then some knitting will be done. :-D

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Posted in random stuff

Looks familiar

Posted on Monday 1st September 2008 | 7 Comments

I’ve found that as I’ve become more and more obsessed with knitting, I have a real aversion to buying knitwear. I see sweaters in shops and dismiss them. Either because of fibre snobbery or because I don’t like the colour and in the end, “I could knit that myself” is always at the front of my mind. Despite the fact that I never actually do…

I was sorely tempted the other day, though, when I went to Dorothy Perkins on a hunt for a blouse and found this cardigan:

It’s a cute shape, and in a not-too-awful cotton acrylic blend, but it was the stitch pattern that made me draw breath. It’s only my very favourite lace leaf pattern!

In the end I didn’t buy one because the shop only had two colours in stock. The green was too bright for me, and the black didn’t come in my size. But I’ll remember it, and maybe one day I’ll use the pattern for a cardigan of my own design. :-D

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Posted in random stuff