Put your hands together...........

The first of a pair of fingerless gloves for DH!!! so much easier than I thought they would be and now I'm wondering why I put them off for so long! the pattern is Knucks from Knitty! I used the new artesano yarn hummingbird which I bought at harrogate and its so nice and soft!!! perfect for gloves:-) Just need to do the second one now!
which leads me onto my next intended project, using 4ply soft!

I want to make endpaper mitts by eunny jang! I think they are so pretty! I love eunny's blog, she's so talented its unbelievable!!!!!!!!! I'm hoping to free up my circs to do these on though because I think I'll find it easier to do the colourwork this way........ of course I could be proven wrong, and as this requires me to finish a pair of utterly neglected socks, I could be forced to go for the dpns:-)

And lastly, my lovely postie brought this today!!!!!

Its Mystik by GGH, which I bought in the Getknitted sale. I've got enough to make a me size garment in both colours but haven't decided on anything yet. Its really nice yarn, ideal for special occassion knitting I think cos it's very glossy!! Will have to rack my brain for a pattern now:-)

zipless wonder!!!!

My green zip still hasn't materialised so I've been wearing the hoodie regardless! Its so cosy and snuggly, I'll definatley use the lambs pride again:-) And it fits fine despite my panic it was going to be too small, although it doesn't look it in the front view, but I'm not holding it very well...........honest!!!!!


I can't quite believe how tired I was after harrogate! It was a two hour drive each way and I'm sure I strained my eyes driving home in the dark! I must go and get my eyes tested!!
The show was brilliant, I loved it!!!!!! Not as many knitting stalls as I'd expected but there were still plenty of them, and it was really good to see so many other crafts there too! lots of stalls with beads and notions for jewellry making, which is where I saw a lovely knitted bracelet which I bought the bits for, I'm quite excited to attempt that:-)
I knew I would succumb at the hipknits stand!!! I got some laceweight cashmere which I've had in and out of virtual shopping baskets I don't know how many times but removed cos I know I wouldn't wear a shawl!! But luckily for me, there was a pattern for a cropped cardi knit in laceweight, which was knitted up and on display, and it was beautiful!!!!!! so soft!!! So I just had to have the cashmere to make one for myself:-) That will definately be a long term project though!!!
I got some 4ply silk/cotton blend from Kerrie too, and I'm thinking of trying to design something myself for that.............watch this space!
We went to the rowan fashion show, which was amazing!!! very exciting, and a lot of the patterns I'd discarded as potential projects looked so much better irl!!! I even saw a jumper which I think my husband would wear!!!!!!
The highlight of the day though, was the company!!!!! I went to the show with one of my cyber buddies, and it was the first time we had met!!! I was a little worried it would be awkward but it so wasn't, and I really enjoyed her company!!! She just as nice irl as online!! Great day all round:-))

harrogate haul!!!!

Just a quick post with piccies of my newly acquired yarn from todays knitting and stitching show!! I had such a good day, I really hope I can make it next year:-) I'll post soon with more details and planned projects with this lovely lot!!!! but for now, I must get some sleep!!!!!!

Harrogate here I come

I am so excited! Tomorrow I'll be up early and heading to harrogate for the knitting and stitching show! I've never been before and can hardly wait:-)
I had hoped to wear the apocolypse hoodie, which I finished knitting last night but unfortunately the green zip, which I ordered online, was red when it arrived through my letter box!!!!! Typical! I did start a hat this afternoon, convincing myself I would have that done for tomorrow instead, but alas, with only an inch of progress, that has no chance of seeing the light of day in harrogate either! Nevermind, I can console myself with an extra skein of yarn:-)
Piccies of my haul, hopefully tomorrow evening! Though be warned, it will be very small!!!

Did somebody mention a tension square?????

No they didn't!!!!!!!! and nor did I have the common sense to do one!

here is my current Wip so far! I love the colour, I love the design, but its a little "snugger" than I anticipated! Not that its a massive problem cos it DOES fit, but I think my tension must be out as I'm sure its smaller than it should be?? I was planning to make my mum one but have put myself off now as I can't really get her to try it on as I go:-O HMmmmmmmm!!!!! that'll teach me won't it! (actually, it probably won't, but at this point I'm going to pretend the experience has taught me a valuable lesson)

Melinda is finished!!!

Finally finished this yesterday evening and have been wearing it this morning!!!!!
I'm glad I went with the wooden buttons, I think they finish it off nicely:-) I'm not a massive fan of colinette, I normally like very even yarn but I did like the prisme which this was knitted in! And knitting up so quickly is definately a good point!

I've decided to frog the cropped cardi I was going to make for my younger sister for christmas! I'm not normally one to frog anything, but this has already been frogged and reworked a number of times due to the pattern errors (of which there are numerous)and I'm pretty fed up with it now tbh!!!! what is it with knitting magazines and pattern errors??????!!!!!!
On the plus side, I can cast on for my hoodie without feeling the guilt of increasing my Wip total!!! Yaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Whats next?!

I almost have a finished item to show you, the buttons will be sewn on Melinda this afternoon and I'll get DH to take a piccie!!! I sometimes forget how exciting it is when something you've laboured over is finished, although admittedly its not as exciting as a yarn delivery! Now I can cross a wip off my list, I've decided to bring another out of hiding. this time its a cabled jumper by bergere de france, Its a gorgeous pattern so I can't really explain why I've left it languishing in my neglected wip basket for so long???!! heres a snippet of the pattern
This lovely hank of sock yarn arrived at my door this morning!!!!It's a charity yarn from The Yarn Yard in support of Everyman ,and for this reason is destined to become a gift for my beloved! probably fingerless gloves if I can figure out a pattern:-)

And finally, this little lot is intended for one of my next winter projects! I'm going to make a hoodie by Ysolda. I wasn't too sure about the colour to begin with, but the green is growing on me!

Button up!!

After committing myself to specific wip's in my sidebar, I thought I'd give a quick update! The only wip for me is melinda, which is from the colinette wayfarers book. I picked this cos I knew I could probably finish it quite quickly due to the thickness of the colinette yarns. Which is good, because its pretty chilly and a warm cardi will be very welcome:-)) BUT, I can't decide which buttons will be best to use????? I have a purple set and a wooden set, both from Pavi yarns in Alnwick. So here they are with the colinette yarn! which look best???? Any thoughts, feel free to let me know which will show my project in the best light!!!!!!!Its a plain cardi with moss stitch borders.


I'm carrying on with Ivy for my sisters christmas pressie, the back and first sleeve are done, so I think I'll finish in time without any problems with that one. The cropped cardi for my younger sister is coming along well too, the back and one front completed!! so thats two pressies I should have no problem getting done on time:-))

The other project of the moment is for my DH!!!! A scarf! He's picked the stitch himself after trawling through my harmony guides, and he's happy with how its looking so far!

It's a moss rib stitch that I'm using, although I must admit I have to keep putting it away as its boring me so much! He's worth it though, so I must persevere!
which leads me to another question! Why does everyone wait till winter is upon us before they ask if you would be good enough to make them a scarf???!!! Hmmmmmm! My younger sister wants a scarf for school, that will have to be next on my list, can't have her freezing really can I?!Although it would teach her to ask sooner next time:-)

And finally, a little bit of Cozy which I joined a knitalong to do! It'll have to be a medium term project though because I want to get my christmas knitting done as soon as possible!I'm loving the purple colour, which I must admit was inspired by my love of red wine! wine and a cream throw.......not a good look I don't think:-O unless of course chardonnay is more your thing?!

Happy days

Why is it that the best days are those when the postie brings me a yarn parcel?
Today I got my back order from getknitted
I'm going to make the lovely beaded cardi for my three year old niece, hopefully in time for christmas!The yarn is RYC cashsoft 4ply and its sooo soft!!! She does dancing classes so I thought perhaps she might wear it there:-)

And a swap of sock yarn from Anni

I know I didn't need any more sock yarn, but I wasn't going to use the sari silk which I swapped it for, and at least a sock stash is functional!!!!!

I've had a lovely day today, sorting out my stash, well, more of a tidy than a sort, but I like to do it often so I can have a good old fondle!!sharfik is finished and I love it!! almost don't want to give it away:-( I can't get a decent picture cos the yarn is black and my camera is rubbish!!! maybe I'll get a super duper new one for christmas?? what more could a girl ask for:-))

she's making a list, checking it twice!!!!! (and crossing a few off.....)

Time to discipline myself over christmas knitting!!! I've looked through my wips and decided which I can carry on with and which have to be cast aside till the end of the festive season!
Now, as my fuzzy logic tells me that socks aren't really wips, I figured these could stay:-)

firstly Hedera which I'm making in brown sheep wildefoot sock yarn, the pattern is much easier than I thought it would be, and lilac is one of my favourite colours!!

Secondly, river rapids sock in posh sock yarn, I felt I had to keep this as an ongoing wip because its been neglected for so long!!!! I don't want to be accused of sock abuse here, and I love the colours on this one too:-))

I did have big plans for making christmas presents this year, but as is usual for me, I've left it to late!!!!!

So, the amended plan for christmas pressies is as follows:

IVY for my sister, this is already well under way so no going back on that pledge!

Cropped cardi fromyarnforward for my younger sister in all seasons cotton.

And finally a scarf for my brother in law, but I'm waiting for grumperina's new scarf pattern to go up on her blog, and think I'll be making that!

As if that lot isn't enough to be going along with, I've decided to knitalong with a few others and makeCozy from knitty too!

Will I ever learn??????

Wip-ing heck!!!!!!!!

I was going to post a piccie of my wip's but once I started getting them out of hiding, I realised there were more than I thought!!!!!! so heres a little taster instead of the full monty!
theres the front of the lovely bergere cabled jumper, the front and back of a greek pullover, the back of db's Katy, the back of a plain jersey, part of the yarn forward cropped cardi, and my dads sharfik. thats maybe a third of my half finished things :O I should crack on with them and get them finished, but a) my choice of wips is now overwhelming, and b) I have all those piw's to distract me!!!!! speaking of piw's, take a look at these beauties! I'm desperate to make the i-cord jumper from "inspired cable knits" I did buy the cotton angora with this in mind but now I think the cashmerino aran might be better?! what do you think?
And then theres this waiting in the wings also........................................! from the same book:-)
I have some lovely soft db merino dk to use for it, and I should have enough left for a plain cardi or something after?!
So many lovely things I want to make and so little time to do them :-(

Look what I got!!!!

I decided at the beginning of october that perhaps my yarn hoarding was getting just a little out of hand, and maybe I should commit myself to a stashalong!! I have attempted to curb my yarn buying once and have to admit that I failed extraordinarily:O But this time, I'm determined to succeed:-)
I did buy some town and country sock yarn for a tank top, but am blaming that slight lapse on pictish;-)
Here's what I bought on my day off from getknitted!

The debbie bliss cashmerino aran is to make a Sharfik for my dads birthday present. The beads are for a jaeger cardi for my niece which I'm going to do in ryc 4ply but that was out of stock.

I love the "classics" book by Erika Knight, there are a few tops in there I'd like to make, and best still, I can use stash:-)


I've also done a little more of Ivy, which is for my sisters christmas present, I think I'm safe to post it on here, she's unlikely to search for knitting blogs online:-) I'm using debbie bliss cathay, which is knitting up nicely, its quite shiney but I think thats ok for a christmassy top!