FO Friday..... Hana Hou Tah-Dah.

 

Hello there, my friends, how are you? I'm back today to show you my finished Hana Hou. I'm thrilled with how it turned out, I think this will be a firm favourite, it's so warm and snugly, perfect to throw on when we have those chilly summer evenings and great for winter.

I started it back in March so was a fairly quick knit for an adult size cardigan as I was knitting on other projects too. My favourite part of this design is the collar, I love the shape of it and I love the look of the Copy Cat stitch.

The pattern is by Mel from MSkiKnits, the pattern called for a Sportweight yarn but I wanted to use what I had in my stash. I had a sweater quantity of Rowan Pure Wool DK, so with a few calculations and a swatch, I worked out that if I knit the Small, I would get the Large size using a DK.

I was trying to look sophisticated, whilst Paige took a photo of me wearing it but she kept making me laugh, so this was the result, not very elegant but at least you can see me with it on. I wore it last night to go to Crafty Sew and So's and everyone said how nice it was.

I'm linking my FO over on Tami's blog for FO Friday so check out what others have completed this week.

There's just one last thing I wanted to mention to all the knitters,who are reading this. Did you listen to A Gripping Yarn on Radio 4, this week? It was presented by Jane Garvey and explores the world of knitting from the American Revolution to modern day and how popular it's become again through Socila Media. It includes some great knitting soundtracks that made me smile, yarn bombing and even prisoners who are knitting to reduce their sentence!

It's was very interesting and worth a listen, I'm hoping my International friends will be able to listen to it as well, if the link doesn't work, it's a BBC production so may be able to find it another way.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along......Magic Loop or DPN's

Do you remember these socks I cast on, back in February, my first self striping socks, I was very excited about knitting them but I kept looking at them and just wasn't happy with how they were looking. I usually used two circulars to knit socks but I decided to try Magic Loop for the first time.

As you can see with this close up, the start of each row, looks really untidy, I never had this problem using two circulars. I had a look on the web to see if there was a reason this was happening and by the looks of it a few people had the same problem. The common problem seemed to be pulling the yarn to tight and recommended holding the yarn a bit looser. I tried this but I still had the same problem.

While reading up on this problem a lot of knitters said that they preferred to knit with DPNs so I thought I'd give them a go. I had tried them before but always felt very awkward holding them. I prefer toe up socks so I used a circular needle to cast on using Judy's Magic Cast On and then changed to DPNs, once I finished the toe increases.

It took me a few rounds to get use to using DPNs but I soon got the hang of them and I'm much happier with how my self striping socks are looking. Look at the difference between the two socks side by side, once I've finished my sock on the DPNs, I will frog the other sock and knit that one on them too.

I'm knitting the collar of my Hana Hou and just have a few more rows before I can start seaming together, I absolutely love this pattern and can't wait to finish it.

I'm enjoying my stripy vanilla socks as they are easy to knit whilst out and about or watching TV but I do prefer something with more of a pattern, so this week, I cast on the Crocus Socks by Wendy D. Johnson. I'm using A Fine Fish 4ply sock yarn in Roller Disco, again I'm using Knit Pro Symfonie DPNs. I have just bought some Knit Pro Karbonz to try, I've heard quite good things about them, I'd be interested in what you think, if you've used them.

I haven't worked much on my Miss Winkle and have only knit a couple more loops, I'm over half way through the book I started last week and really enjoying it, it's a great chick lit to read before going to bed.

I've also cast on another new project, I asked Jodie to choice a few Rico Essential Cotton from The Homemakery to knit a striped garter stitch baby blanket, these are what she chose.

I couldn't decide which colour to cast on first, so I asked my Instagram friends to chose for me, the first person to comment chose the Lime Green, so that s what I went with. I'm going to go through the other comments and knitting the colours in order of what they chose, I'll show you my progress, next Wednesday. I know I'm going to enjoy knitting with these pretty Spring colours.

I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday, check out what other knitters have on their needles.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along.......and a winner.

 

Hello, my friends, I hope you are all well. I've managed to do quite a lot of knitting this week, as I've had a bad back, so haven't been able to do much else.

I've mostly been knitting on my Hana Hou by Mel Ski, I love, love, love this pattern and can't wait to wear this beautiful, squishy, warm, comfy cardigan. I've finished knitting the main body and the sleeves and now picking up stitches for the Copy Cat stitch along the front sides.

I really like this stitch, it is using two balls of yarn at the same time and working two right sides then two wrong sides. Mel has made a video tutorial on the Copy Cat technique and also the Piping Pick Up tutorial, I first used these stitches on my Halele'a. I'm not going to have much knitting time this week but hopefully will have it finished by the end of next week.

I've knit a few more rows on the Twinkle Twinkle baby blanket, it's a simple pattern to remember but with each row getting longer, it takes longer to knit with each new row.

Do you remember these Tuuli Mitts, that I started on back in February. I cast them on after winning the Spincycle Yarn from Pompom Quarterly magazine which was what they used for the pattern in Issue 7. I'm trying to clear my needles of all my projects so I can start some new ones.

I've now up to 28 loops on my Miss Winkle, looking on the Crafts from the Cwtch Ravelry Group most people are getting 38-45 loops, before finishing so more then half way there. Check out Sarah's blog for more Miss Winkle projects, this week.

I've just started the latest book by Debbie Macomber in the Blossom Street series, I really enjoy this series of books, especially the ones set in The Good Yarn store. I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday.

Now to pick a winner for the Dream Big Collection by Helen Stewart, I have a cup full of names so drum roll, please..............

and the winner is MamaGiff, she left a comment via Ravelry and said she loves the Fireflies Rising but if she had to pick a favourite it would be the Red Robin. So congratulations, Lee, I will let Helen know and she will get the Dream Big pattern sent to you.

Mel has just posted another video about Camp Alhoa Friends, it is a five minute video, telling you all about camp in a nut shell, you can find it, here.

Thank you for stopping, enjoy the rest of your week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn along.......Twinkle Twinkle Blanket

 

Hello, did you all have a nice weekend? My daughter was back home for Mother's Day with her little bump getting bigger. She knew I'd bought some beautiful Rooster yarn, a 50/50 mix of baby alpaca and merino, and said she couldn't wait for me to start the blanket, I was going to knit for baby.

This yarn is the softest, cosy branded yarn, I've ever used and is one of my favourite yarns to use. It's not widely available but I get mine from The Homemakery, I highly recommend this online store for all your crafting needs, from yarn to fabric, ribbon to twine and papercrafting. She provides a great customer service with quick delivery and beautifully presented.

The pattern I choose for baby's first blanket is called Twinkle Twinkle by Helen Stewart, it can be knit in two weights of yarn, 4ply or DK, which is what I chose. It's such a pretty pattern, with the little star shaped stitches. It's a square blanket but knit on circulars, I love how it's knitting up, it's so delicate, perfect for a newborn.

The other main project, I've been working on is my Hana Hou by Mel Ski Knits, I've finished knitting the fronts and back. I'm now on the sleeves which I'm knitting two at time, again. It's knitting up quick as the main body is just stocking stitch, then you pick up stitches and add the Copy Cat stitch.

I'm still reading V is for Vengence but I'm also reading this new to me magazine called Flow for paper lovers. It's a very quirky style magazine, full of very interesting articles plus some free stickers and papers, it's definitely not one of your regular papercrafting magazines. I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Tammy's WIP Wednesday.

I haven't managed to do much on my Miss Winkle this week as I've been doing a test knit for a pattern that was due for release this week. I will show you the finished test knit on Friday and there'll also be a giveaway to celebrate the release of the new pattern by Helen Stewart? Check out Crafts from the Cwtch blog on Thursday, to check everyone else's progress, this week.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along.......Hana Hou.

Yay, I've cast on the Hana Hou by MSkiKnits, I've wanted to start this since the pattern was released back in January but I was already knitting the Aureus. I didn't want two large projects on my needles so held off casting it on until my other cardigan was finished.

The Hana Hou is a beautiful, oversized, boxy cardigan using the same Copy Cat stitch used on the Halele'a, giving it texture on the large overlapping fronts. As soon as I saw Mel's latest pattern, I fell in love with it and decided what yarn I'd use.

I'd already got a sweater quantity of Rowan Pure Wool DK in a gorgeous caramel colour, shade 054 in my stash, the pattern actually uses a sport weight but by doing a swatch, I worked out the small size would knit up to my size in the DK. The Pure Wool is very soft and squishy, perfect for this cardigan. I can't wait to finish it so I can wrap myself in it. Hana Hou means "Again Again", I can see why Mel named it that, I will definitely knitting it again, next time I'll try a sport weight, in a pretty Sage Green.

I've been knitting on my Easter Shawl (Miss Winkle), in between working on my Hana Hou and I'm now up to 18 loops. Check out Crafts from the Cwtch blog on Thursday, for everyone's progress this week.

I'm still reading V is for Vengence by Sue Grafton, when I go up to bed but I'm still reading The Diary of a Provincial Lady, in between. It's quite funny and though it's set in the 1930's some of the things that she writes about, could be about the present day, some things never change!!!!!

I'm linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday, this week, Check out what everyone else has been up to this week.

xxxxDebxxxx