Drops Hat

I finished a hat for my eldest daughter last night, she goes on her first ski holiday on Sunday so I'm hoping this will be warm and get some use.

It's a Drops design and can be found here.

I must admit I did not enjoy knitting this, that was a bit of a surprise as it's such a fun looking hat but for some reason I just couldn't get into it.

I used 8mm needles and some of the super bulky Zettl Maribel yarn I got from Lidl.

Twisted Seedling:Fingerless Mitts.

I've been wanting to tell you about these fingerless mitts for a few days now but wanted to wait untill I had the pattern hook up done. Hook up is now done and I can finally, finally share my glee.

I designed a pair of fingerless mitts and I love them. They're made from Sirdar Click Chunky and are doing a great job at keeping my hands warm. I used 4.5mmDPNs and they were finished the day I started them.

Although I originally designed them because I find other gloves/mitt patterns are large on me (even the smallest size) according to my sister-in-law they fit her great and her hands are quite a bit larger than mine.
It's probably not a great pattern, written or otherwise but it's my first and I love it (like a small child LOL). I've a free PDF available here, if you do make them I'd so love to see a picture if you wouldn't mind sharing.

To Pick or to Throw?

Nobody ever really taught me to knit, although I do vaugly remember my Nana knitting Aran jumpers. I remember being interested but not enough to actually ask her to show me what it was she was doing.

Why I eventually picked up the needles I'll never know but I'm so glad I did. Of course my first effort didn't work out so well, it was supposed to be a baby cardigan but resembled more of a doily in a triangle shape with the amount of stitches I dropped and then picked up. So it got shoved in a bag in the back of a cupboard in my first home and has never been seen since, think it got left when I moved.

Then in 2006 I saw a knitting magazine and thought 'what the heck, I'll give it another go'. I bought cheap acrylic and some needles and me and my purchases went home happy.

The magazine had a how to guide in the back and was a revelation, I didn't even realise that needles came in different shapes and sizes, let alone the multitude of yarn choices, I was entranced.

The internet is a marvellous thing, my next knitting efforts actually worked, anything I didn't understand and the magazine didn't show how to do, I looked it up on the net and had many a eureka moment.

My confidence and abilities grew as did my stash, my ability to talk to other knitters was non existent as nobody I knew knitted (by this time my Nana was no longer around) so my only source of knitting knowledge was my magazines and the internet.

Then towards the end of 2007 somebody on a wedding forum was gushing about a knitting website called 'Ravery'. I signed up not really thinking much of it, epecially as I had to wait for my invitation.

Mooching in my email one day, there it was my invitation to join Ravelry. When I first looked at it I thought, okay this is neat, I can list my projects, my yarn, my needles and I can even get a load of free patterns.

Then, then I stumbled across the groups and howly cow, my knitting world exploded. There were all these knitters, talking and sharing information. Some of them were actually doing the same project as me and we could discuss it, we could share our highs and our lows, we could share our successes 'look, look what I made isn't it great?' We could also share our not so greats, 'what did I do wrong?'.

My knitting world expanded, I realised I wasn't this lonely knitter, there was actually thousands of people who 'got' it, this urge to pick up yarn and needles or even hooks. Yup, I got the crochet bug as well. I can still remember how amazed and chuffed I was the first time I made a granny square.

In my perrifferal I remember reading about people who were pickers or throwers (huh? thought I) if you knit you knit...right?

Wrong, there are all sorts of ways to knit and everybody either does it the way they were taught or the way that feels right. I'm a thrower as I didn't even know there was any other way. But now I want to learn continental, why? Because I want to speed up my knitting and not be put off by ribbing.

I've seen many a design that I thought, 'eek, all that ribbing or stocking stitch' and so never cast on for the project. Circular needles have gotten rid of my avoidance of stocking stitch (so long as the project is worked in the round), now I hope learning to knit continental will get rid of my avoidance of ribbing/purling.

I've some links for those that also would like to join my jouney and learn Continental knitting:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuRLFl36tDY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9XImtoQmZ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kybhNmLWHhA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVxnSpFJl6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNfG05FeLsE

Violet Green Socks

I finished another pair of socks yesterday, I used the yarn I dyed for the February DAL details can be found here.

They fit wonderfully, Violet Green's sock calculator pattern works like a charm and so fast to knit. I used 4ply sock yarn with 2.5mm DPNs made to fit a UK size 3 shoe. I'll have to ask Kevin if he can make me a sock blocker in that size.

Then of course because I had nothing to mindlessly knit whilst watching the TV I just had to cast on another pair of socks (can we say 'new obsession'?). This time I used the new yarn I dyed, the Limed Carnation (pink & green) and the same pattern.I hope to eventually have enough hand knit socks to last a fortnight :-) They're just so much nicer/better than shop bought.

February DAL (Dye-a-long)

They say patiance is a virtue, well I never claimed to be virtuous. There was mention of a DAL on Ravelry for February, the theme: Passionate Pink.

So, I ordered some dyes (Kool Aid and Procion MX) and a skein of yarn from DT Craft & Design. As usual their service is wonderful and my yarn and dyes arrived the next day.

Not being able to wait until February I had to have a play, well I've never used Procion MX before and dyeing is just too much fun not to mess around with it.

My base yarn is 75% Blue Faced Leicester/25% Nylon sock yarn and I used 2 sachets of Kool Aid Lemon-Lime and a quarter teaspoon of Procion MX dye powder in Brilliant Pink. I used the dip dye and microwave method.
I'm really pleased with how well the Procion MX dye worked, gave a good colour saturation throughout the skein.

Back to school Vest

My Back To School Vest is complete, I've even sewn in the ends.

I was really pleased with this pattern it was so simple to follow and quick to knit, there are a couple of printing errors in the book, they were easy to figure out though or you could check here.

This is the first time I've knit something slightly smaller and actually increased for my bust, it's worked really well. Rather than being swamped you can actually see my figure, although with just having got over Christmas this may not be a good thing LOL.Now I just need to finish my other sock, my goodness I'll have two finished projects in the same week...go me!

Pah!

Well (cough), remeber that resolution I was pratteling on about the other day? Yes, yes the one where I don't cast on anything new unless I finish 2 WIPs.

Well, err, I kind of broke it already. Okay, I didn't break it as much as I threw it on the ground and stomped all over it.

On Saturday (3rd January) I cast on for the Back To School U neck Vest by Stefanie Japel from Fitted Knits, I justified this by telling myself that I had just finished two jumpers and a pair of fingerless gloves.I'm using King Cole Fashion Aran in colour 162 Heather, that I got from Abakhan in Manchester and I'm using my Harmony options size 4.5mm and 3.75mm.

But then yesterday I decided I'd do a DAL (dye-a-long) that I found on Ravelry, the theme January Blues. I got out my one last undyed hank of BFL/Nylon sock yarn and set to dying.
I used 1 sachet of Grape kool Aid, 1 sachet of Black Cherry Kool Aid and half a bottle of Dr. Oetker blue food colouring. Rather than dip dying I decided I'd be clever and actually hand paint the yarn this time (yay, go me.) I finished it off in the microwave instead of the slow cooker to ensure the colours didn't bleed into each other.

Then I was so excited about how well it turned out I wanted to see how it knitted up, so I cast on a pair of socks, I'm using Violet Green's sock calculator pattern and size 2.5mmDPNsSo I haven't really broken my resolution as badly as it seems (or at least that's what I'm telling myself) and hopefully I'll have a lovely vest and pair of socks by next week.

Resolution, hmmm.

I've just been on the Selfish Knitters group on Ravelry and seen a discussion called 'Jan KAL: Resolution knitting'. You've got it, resolutions about your knitting.

A wonderful person said her resolution was to complete two WIPs before casting a new project on. Now I like that idea, I've so many WIPs at the moement I really must do something to spur me on.

So my resolution is to complete the required two, then I can indulge and cast on something new. Of course now that I've wrote that down I'm trying to find loop holes in the rule so that I can cast something (anything) on LOL.

But I'll endeavour to complete my two, starting today with my modified Paris. Wish me luck, I've a feeling I'm going to need it :-)