FO Friday

It isn't that often that my projects co-incidence with blogging tradition and I don't often do an 'FO Friday' post, but a week spent pretty much in bed with good old-fashioned flu (boo) has resulted in plenty of knitting time and a new FO to share (hurray):



I used the Fuss Free Blanket pattern again, but this time in a solid colour and a dk weight in order to get a smaller pram/crib sized blanket for an imminent new arrival.



I also used a small 2-stitch picot bind off which I was very pleased with. Although if I had known at the outset how long a picot bind off takes to do I may have had second thoughts. Still, I like how it turned out and that the edges lie flat and neat. Next time I will be forewarned though and start the picot bind off with a flask of hot coffee, chocolate and a good film!

Autumn Equinox

A lovely bright crisp day here - perfect for celebrating the Autumn Equinox. After this the nights start to draw in and there is a noticeable crispness to the air today. Time to dust off the slow cooker and start thinking of lots of yummy casseroles. Must remember to go and check the nearby hedgerows for blackberries - there is nothing my two boys like more than blackberry and apple crumble with custard.

The boys spent the morning at rugby training and then just as long again foraging for conkers at the base of some lovely old horse chestnut trees.

This is truely a smug time to be a knitter. The other parents were shoving hands into pockets and shuffling to keep warm. I had a yummy cowl and some fingerless mitts from last year which I was very glad of this morning - plus the yummy hot chocolate in a flask was a big help too.

Then I came home to find this ball of cashmere gorgeousness from the lovely Sarah from the Sheep Shop in Cambridge. My lovely winnings from her recent hexipuff prize draw. It is 175m of pure 4ply heaven.


I'm thinking cowls...a  little bit of lace...mmm...maybe finally get round to trying a mobius cast on...

Maybe this time next week I will have something super stylish on the rugby touchline!

Facelift

Please forgive the tinkering over the next few days.

With the changing seasons I feel the need for a bit of a blogging facelift, time for a bit of a change and a spring clean to tidy the blog up a bit and make it more readable hopefully.

Please bear with me if a few things move about or appear out of thin air :)

A bit of fun.

This didn't start out as a Pattern, but rather it was my solution to the perennial problem of wanting to knit a blanket in the round without having the fiddly start with small numbers of stitches on DPNs.

I wanted to knit a square blanket, but for reasons of portability I wanted to be able to knit it on circular needles rather than flat - also I can knit faster in the round and I was in a hurry. Normally with this type of construction you start off with a few stitches (say 8) divided over 3 or 4 DPNs and you knit into the front and back of each stitch for one round and then knit one round plain. Then you alternate an increase row with a plain row. To my mind this always means a fair bit of faffing around with DPNs - shuffling stitches around and adjusting until finally you can get the blessed thing off onto a circular needle and away you go. I'm not a fan of DPNs just in case you were in any doubt.

So I started off by knitting a plain garter stitch square and then picking up stitches around - ha - genius. Instantly enough stitches for a 60cm circular needle and no need for DPNs.



A few people asked me how I worked the increases so I wrote it up as a free pattern to download and have fun with. It is very adaptable - make it with any weight of yarn, either solid or stripes as the fancy takes you. You just knit until you run out of yarn (or out of patience).




download now
(if you like, obviously it isn't compulsory)

Highly satisfying

It seems as though it was ages since I last finished something so it is with a great sense of satisfaction that I present my latest FO:



Admittedly, it is only a baby-sized hat but it represents my first forays into the joys of colourwork knitting. Inspired by this group on Ravelry to tackle new challenges head-on and based on advice from the group members, this baby hat pattern was suggested as a good place to start.

It proved to be a really enjoyable and addictive knit once I got into the rythmn of knitting with yarn in both hands. I was quite sad to cast off and am already looking for more colourwork patterns to stuff into my already full queue.

Back into the swing of things

Just popping in to say hi although not much knitting related chat to speak off. We took a late summer long weekend break before the boys went back to school which was fab but then meant several days of combining the 'back to school' chaos with the 'back from hols and a pile of dirty laundry' chaos.

But a great time was had by all - good walks (Buttermere in the Lake District), good food and a great place to stay. It was our first time staying in a Youth Hostel and it was amazing. Such good value for money, friendly people and a bar :) We are definately converts and are planning another shorter weekend very soon.