The Knitting days of Christmas

What a Christmas! Monkey and I have finally returned home after our festive trip round the relatives and I have managed to heave my mince pie-enhanced figure onto the sofa to do a bit of blogging and of course a lot of knitting.

First of all let me show you all the lovely knitterly gifts I received from my generous relatives. I think that the fact that I am totally obsessed with knitting means that pretty much everything I got was wool related! Anyway, you may wish to step back from your keyboard to avoid drool related problems as you read the list below:

For the first gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

A Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the second gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits*,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the third gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the fourth gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

three sets of markers,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the fifth gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

A book of Finishing Techniques,

three sets of markers,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the sixth gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

A clever needle sizer**,

three sets of markers,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

*Buttercup and Fay
**Absolutely adorable you have to check out this link.

I received lots of other lovely non-knitting gifts too. The best of which was a slow cooker (Crock Pot)! If anyone has any good recipes please let me know.

Over Christmas I knitted a Jaywalker, as pictured in true Christmas style above (this has to be the most popular sock pattern ever doesn‘t it? I think I am the last person in blogland to knit one). Notice the “a”- I’ve only knitted one so far but I’m part way through the second and I’ll post some better photos of them when I have a pair. I have to admit I’m not a big sock knitter but I’ve really enjoyed knitting these and I love the Hip Knits variegated cashmere I’m using. It is so soft and it is interesting waiting to see what the colours will do on the different parts of the socks. So maybe I won’t leave it so long before I knit a pair of socks next time. Although finishing something and then having to knit the exact same thing all over again is a bit annoying. Maybe I’ll just knit odd socks from now on…

Anyway I’m going to go and ponder on my new year’s resolutions.

FO: Cobweb

Pattern: Cobweb from Rowan 40

Yarn: Rowan Kid Silk Haze (shade Hurricane)

Needles: 3.75mm my trusty Denise interchangeables. (How does anyone knit without them?)

I finished Cobweb! I actually finished on Sunday but I’ve had to wait until I finished work to get some daylight photographs. I’m pleased with it, although I wish I had an outfit to put on the dummy that would go with it but I couldn't find one - let's hope my brother's girlfriend can!

I didn’t crochet the flowers that are supposed to go down the neckline as I though in this colour it might look a bit much - what do you think I've still got time if you think it would look better?


I also sewed the front edges together so that it is pulled on over the head rather than fastened as a cardigan. I think that I like this, but I did it mainly as I couldn’t find the perfect button.

Anyway, now that I have finished Cobweb I’ve been finding it hard to decide on what to knit next. I’ve finally started my Kim Hargreaves’ kit, which my Mum gave me last Christmas. It is Hawthorn in the Cocoa colour way.

I’ve also cast on for some lace. I didn’t enter the Snow White competition as in the end I was too busy to get things sorted. I was silly leaving it so late but I’ll knit up the pattern anyway. Maybe I’ll enter the January competition…

Also I’ve been doing a fair bit of stash enhancement. Aren’t all these yarns gorgeous? What I love about buying lace weight yarns is that you only need a couple of balls to knit an entire shawl.

Jaggerspun Zephyr in Basil and Ruby
Posh yarns Arabella in a stunning colour called Swoon
Merino Lace weight from Heirloom lace . I also bought some blocking wires from them which I can’t wait to try out. The people who run the site are lovely by the way.

I had an embarrassing incident when I went to the last I Knit London night. It is a long story but my Mum phoned the bar to check I’d got there safely and got the waitress to come over to the group to check. There was me trying to look sophisticated with my gin and tonic and addi turbos flashing away and in seconds I felt like a school girl who has stayed out too late! Everyone laughed at me! Not only that but she used my maiden name which got me very confused and enabled me, unfortunately, to draw even more attention to the incident by debating whether the message was actually meant for me. At least everyone in the group will remember my name from now on…

That’s all my knitting news for now. I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas!


photos

Slow progress

I’m being so slow with Cobweb, not sure why. But I’m determined to get a move on and finish so that I can’t get on with something else. Just one sleeve left to go. I am going to do a few quick little knits and definitely some lace as soon as I’m done. I have a design for some lace that I’m thinking of entering in the Purlescence competition but I’m not sure whether to or not yet.
Last week was so much better than the week before, especially going to the ELDS and meeting Gosia. Even Monkey enjoyed the show and we bought a glass penguin Christmas tree decoration from one of the stalls.

I love Christmas trees, but they have to be real ones (sorry for the non-sustainable approach but we do shred it afterwards!) and they have to be decorated in a higgedly piggedly style. I like collections of decorations that people have built up over the years and which have memories behind them. Here is a picture of our tree (I know it is early but I’d have one in June if I could). The new penguin is on the left.

Here is a meme that I saw here and here and couldn‘t resist. One word answers, no explanation.
Yourself: dreamer
Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): Monkey
Your hair: chocolate
Your mother: kind
Your father: mischievous
Your favourite Item: Bear
Your dream last night: Searching
Your favourite drink: Grasshopper
Your dream car: train
The room you are in: lounge
Your ex: forgotten
Your fear: loss
What you want to be in 10 years? mother
Who you hung out with last night? Monkey
What you're not: tidy
Muffins: English
One of your wish list items: this
Time: variable
The last thing you did: knit
What you are wearing: smile
Your favourite weather: calm
Your favourite book: Beneficence
The last thing you ate: sandwich
Your life: contented
Your mood: peaceful
Your best friend: two
What are you thinking about right now? fire
Your car: feet
What are you doing at this moment: waiting
Your summer: anticipated
Your relationship status: loved
What is on your TV? aerial
What is the weather like? wild
When is the last time you laughed? morning
Who do you tag? anyone

Half full or half empty?

It has been an interesting week, but I’m not quite sure whether it was good-interesting or bad-interesting. I’ll let you decide how I should be viewing my proverbial glass.

Half Empty
1. Take a good look at my progress on Cobweb above. Not bad you might think, the back and two fronts. Yes I’ve knitted the back and two fronts but take a better look at the fronts…that’s right TWO LEFT FRONTS! I don’t know how I did it. I think that when I knit on the train on my way to work I go into some sort of knitting trance.

2. Talking about the knitting train-trance, on Thursday I (yet again) got on the wrong train home. This time it wasn’t as much my fault. As usual Our train broke down and the train driver made an announcement to get on the next train. I did this but what the train driver had actually meant was get on the next train to where you want to go. I ended up in some windswept, desolate, place with only one platform and a sign that swayed slowly backwards and forwards making a sinister creaking sound. I finally got home about two hours later than I should have done.

3. I’m a big Posh Yarn fan, if you hadn’t already guessed, and I have been DESPERATE to buy some of the One Off Wednesday (OWW) yarn that Dee posts every Wednesday, but it goes up while I am at work and sells out before I get home. Anyway, this Wednesday 4 o’clock arrived and my boss headed off to get a coffee. ‘Ha Ha!’ I thought ‘my chance has come’ and quickly I located a gorgeous skein of dark blue cobweb weight yarn called Sombre. I got to the payment bit, entered my name and address and… my boss came back from the tea point. I pretended to be reading papers (naughty I know) and waited for him to sit down and look the other way. But by the time that he does and I tried to start entering my credit card details the yarn has gone from my basket. It is a tragic tale.

But now for the other sides of the stories...

Half Full

1. On Cobweb , the second side turned out better than the first so I’ll be keeping that one.

2. On the train journey, my husband took me out for a meal to cheer me up and we had a lovely time.

3. On the Posh Yarn… nope sorry there is no upside to this tale. But I have taken consolation by stroking my Posh Yarn stash and muttering to myself and I have started designing a Celtic knot stole to use this beautiful blue lace weight yarn with.

Oh and I have posted the Gerda pattern link in my previous post or sidebar.

FO: Gerda Stole

Yarn: Cecilia Cobweb lace weight yarn (50% cashmere / 50% silk) in raspberry from Posh yarn
Needles: 2.00 mm addi turbo circular
Pattern: Mine! and I’ve called it Gerda.

ETA: Please see the pattern link in the sidebar

Gerda is the name of the little girl in the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson (you can find the story here). You probably know the story, Kay (her best friend) gets tiny shards of a broken mirror, which once belonged to a wicked goblin, in his eyes and his heart. This makes him become cynical and cruel and he starts to be mean to Gerda whom he once loved. Then one day as he is playing on his sledge the Snow Queen comes and carries him away to her palace. Gerda pines for Kay and eventually sets off in search of him, meeting a kind witch, talking ravens, a prince, and a robber girl along the way. Eventually she finds the palace and Kay who is cold and still. The happy ending? Well, if you don’t know it you can read it for yourselves.

I called the stole Gerda because of its wintry design - snowdrops and snowflakes. I also felt that the red colour and the geometric shapes gave it a Scandinavian feel (Hans Christian Anderson was Danish). I can imagine wearing it on a clear dark night for a midnight kiss on New Year’s eve. I’m thinking of knitting another one in white Kid Silk Haze.

I am so pleased with the stole and I can’t wait to give it to my Gran for Christmas! Yet again I saw the blocking miracle, it’s no wonder lace is so addictive when you can take a crumpled ball of unpromising knitting, wash it, pin it out and be left with something light and crisp and beautiful.

Update: I have put a pdf of the Gerda pattern here. Beware that it may not be perfect, but if anyone does knit it please feel free to contact me and ask what on earth I was thinking!

Gerda Stole pattern pdf