Tulle Shawl........Knitvent 2017.

 Hello my friends, I hope you've all had a good week. I've updated the look of my blog since last week, it has stayed the same for many years so thought it could do with a change. I really like it and think it suits my style more now that I'm more of a knitting blog, I hope you agree.

I'm back to tell you that the second window from Knitvent 2017 is now open, it is a stunning one skein shawl with the most perfect name, the Tulle Shawl.

I used The Wool Barn in Ballet Slipper, I knew straight away that  I'd be using this for the Tulle Shawl, with the colourway name and The Nutcracker theme, it had to be done. There is also the option of adding beads, just for that extra sparkle over the holiday season.

This shawl was such a pleasure to knit with a simple garter stitch body and then a delicate lace border. A little tip, when knitting on the garter stitch section, use a progress keeper just so you know which is the right side of your work. I used this gorgeous, beaded Christmas tree from Eva Faith Etsy shop. She has so many beautiful handmade stitch markers and progress keepers, each one perfectly handcrafted and the quality is superb.

I did add the beads to my shawl, I used clear so it's very understated but still has that bit of sparkle. I used size 6 beads with a 1mm crochet hook. Helen gives a very clear explanation on how to add beads so don't be intimidated with beadwork.

How pretty is the border? The lace isn't too complicated and is very intuitive, after the first row you will know if you've made a mistake before getting too far as it all lines up. I think this would be a perfect first project for those who want to give lace and bead knitting a go.

I think this will make the prettiest accessory over the Christmas festivities, it would also make a great gift for someone special.

Last week, Helen Stewart released this amazing Nutcracker kit with a bag from Louleigh, a skein of yarn from the The Wool Kitchen and a progress keeper from Eva Faith.

The kit sold out within minutes but there are pre-orders over at The Wool Kitchen for this delightful yarn, also Eva Faith has some of the toy soldier progress keepers and coordinating stitch markers in her shop update on Friday 17th. Both are them are perfect for this shawl project.

Thanks for stopping by and happy knitting.
xxxxDebxxxxx

Quick Baby Knit.......Rocket Pop Baby Mitts.

How are you all? I've been busy knitting lots of things including test knitting the Snowmelt MKAL Shawl by Helen Stewart which has now been released. Today, I wanted to share a super quick baby knit that only uses small amounts of  worsted weight yarn, so great for using up leftover yarn.

 

These were small 20g cakes of  leftover Drops Nepal from another project, I still have most of it left and could probably knit at least another two pairs. I really like Drops Nepal and use it a lot for worsted weight projects, it's very affordable, knits up beautifully and once soaked and blocked is very soft.

 

The pattern is Rocket Pop Baby Knits by Andrea Mowry and is a free pattern on Ravelry, they are perfect if you need a quick baby gift, it took me just over an hour to finish one mitt. It's a very simple colourwork pattern and would be a great project for your first colourwork. 

 

There are two sizes, 0-6 months and 6-12 months, I love how they turned out and little Darcie was very proud of her new mitts, showing everyone. I think I might add an I-cord to make mitts on a string so she's less likely to lose them. I'm linking this project to this week's Keep Calm Craft On.

 

I'm also linking to Yarn Along, I've finished The Muse by Jessie Burton which I highly recommend, I couldn't put it down, it had an excellent storyline and an ending I wasn't expecting. I'm now reading I'm Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork, it's a gripping thriller but quite dark so maybe not everyone's cup of tea, I really enjoy Scandinavian authors from when I first read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Have a great week crafting.

xxxxDebxxxx

Snowmelt MKAL 2017........coming soon.

Hello there.......

               

              Where has this week gone, it's flown by but as promised I'm back and have a renewed love for my blog. I would like to thank you for the welcome back comments and to Stefanie for the advice on different blog platforms.

Today I want to talk about a test knit which I've been working on.......

"It’s that moment between the last slow weeks of winter and the first sweet days of spring. There’s a gentle tension in the air as the thaw begins: the cosy joys of hibernation give way to a pleasant restlessness. Your heart stirs and the sap starts to run. This is a season of growth and change, but it begins quietly, deep in the frozen ground, before the last of the ice has even disappeared.

 

This time of year feels nearly miraculous. It offers a chance to renew the dreams that have slept for so long beneath a blanket of snow. The earth is preparing to surprise itself again with a wild swell of springtime creativity. It’s a call to adventure and an invitation to stretch our own creative powers. It’s time to uncover what this fresh new season has in store." 

Helen of Curious Handmade is hosting another MKAL (mystery knit along) and after the success of last year's, the Summertime Shawl, Helen is back with another stunning shawl design, the Snowmelt MKAL 2017. After reading those beautiful, descriptive words who wouldn't want to join in.  

I can't give too much away as what would be the fun in that, been a mystery and all but what I can tell you, it is a three colour shawl! Helen used some gorgeous La Bien Aimee, single ply fingering weight yarn but any 4ply/sock yarn can be used. This pattern is a great stash buster for all those one off skeins that your not sure what to do with, speckled and varigated yarn also work really well with this pattern.

 

I did stashbust and used three pretty skeins that I bought from the Yarningham yarn festival, it's Whimzy Sokkusu O, a Superwash Merino in colours Ethereal, Dusky Rose and Chocolate. I absolutely love single ply yarn and after looking through my stash for this project, it made me realize how little single ply I have. I will remedy that and this year I will buy more soft, cosy single ply yarns from the yarn festivals I attend. Some of my favourite singles are La Bien Aimee, Mad Tosh Light and The Wool Barn Silky Singles so they are on my list to purchase.

There is already lots of chatter on the Snowmelt MKAL Ravelry Chat Thread, so if you want to join in the fun, it goes on sale on Ravelry this Monday, 23rd Januray at an early bird price, so look out for that. The MKAL runs for 5 weeks with one clue each week........

Thursday Feb 2nd: First clue is released
Thursday Feb 9th: Second clue released
Thursday Feb 16th: Third clue released
Thursday Feb 23rd: Fourth clue released
Thursday March 2nd: Fifth clue released

Thank you so much for stopping by and happy knitting.

xxxxDebxxxx

Pomeranssi Socks....... Box O' Sox KAL 2017

Happy New Year, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a good new year, as promised I'm going to make a conscious effort to blog more regularly. I'm still thinking about how I want the blog to go forward, whether I carry on with my original blog, change the name or even start from scratch, any advice will be greatly received. One of the reasons I stopped blogging is because I don't own a PC or laptop and the app I was using on my iPad became obsolete. I have just found a new app though and I'm hoping this one will work well, so far so good. 

 

 

Last year, I took part in Kristen of the Yarngasm Podcastm Podcast Box O' Sox KAL which was knitting at least 12 pairs of socks during 2016 and  storing them in a pretty box. I love knitting socks, using the wonderful array of sock yarns, from the pretty variegated, soft  pastels, the brights and luxurious yarns such as alpaca and cashmere. It was even more fun joining in with the KAL and my goal was to get one pair of socks finished each month. 

It was so popular that Kirsten is running it again this year which makes me very happy and I've already finished one pair this year. I cast on the Pomeranssi Sock by Marianne Heikkinen, a delicate and pretty lace pattern. Kristen has a Ravelry group where you can join in the chat or if you're on Instagram check out the #boxosoxkal2017 or #boxosoxkal. Instagram is my favourite social media platform and you can find me there as Tinkhickman.

 

I started them on New Years Day and was my first project of the year, it's actually all I wanted to knit on, the yarn and pattern were pure joy to work with. I used The Wool Barn Alpaca Sock a blend of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. Yes, it really is as soft and luxurious as it sounds, they feel like cosy hugs on my feet.  

 

The pattern is written for a sport weight yarn on 2.75mm needles on 56 stitches but as its a 8 stitch pattern repeat, I knit them with 4ply on my regular 64 stitches on 2.25mm needles. I finished them within the week and I've got to say, these are one of my favourite socks that I've knit.

Do you have a favourite sock yarn or pattern? I'd love to hear, I'm always on the lookout for new yarns amd patterns.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon.

xxxxDebxxxx

Yarn Along.......not much to share.

Hello my friends, did you all have a good weekend? I've been trying to get projects off my needles this week so I haven't got many WIPs to show. I've been knitting two Newborn Vertebraes by Kelly Brooker. I've really enjoyed making these sweet little cardigans, this is the latest one I've been working on, in this sky blue colour. I'll show you the finished objects on Friday.

My main project this week is a test knit so this is all I can share, but I'm loving the pattern and this stunning yarn, which is a pearl fibre, more about that soon.

I've also made good progress on the Hermione's Everyday Socks, as I said in my last post, I'm knitting them simultaneously and have finished one and just have the foot left on the other one.

I've just started reading the The Dress Thief by Natalie Meg Evans, I'm only on chapter 2 so can't say too much about it. I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along, Tami's WIP Wednesday and Nicole's KCCO.

Have a good week and will be back on Friday.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

What's On My Needles......Baby Vertebrae.

Hello my friends, how is your week going? I'm back today to share what's on my needles this week. I have cast on a couple of new things but I'm going to try and finish some of my WIPs, languishing at the bottom of my knitting basket. Saying that, I do want to cast on a newborn baby vest but apart from test knits I will start getting things off my needles!!!!

My latest project is the Newborn Vertebrae, this has been on my to-do list for ages now. It is a free pattern on Ravelry by Kelly Brooker it is knit top down and there is no seaming!!! This design is perfect for a newborn, it's very open at the front but covers all down the back.

I'm using Rowan Cashsoft 4ply which I've had in my stash for ages, it only takes just over a 50g ball so I'll knit a little hat with the leftovers. I think this is the perfect cardigan for when they spend most of their time in sleepsuits.

I've cast on a pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks, I think this is my favourite go to sock pattern, it's a simple pattern that works great with solid, stripy or varigated yarn. This is the second time I've used this pattern, it's written for cuff down but the first pair I made, I knit toe-up so it's very easy to change to your favourite way of knitting socks.

When I first started knitting socks, I chose to do toe-up on two circulars as I thought this looked the easiest way but over the last few months I've been knitting cuff down with a heel flap on DPNs. I now find this much easier, it fits my foot better, it looks neater and there are no wraps to pick up. I've tried using Magic Loop for socks and I really can't get on with it, I always have ladders and have tried all the tricks in the book.

I'm knitting them both at the same time so I'll finish a cuff and cast on the second one and knit the cuff, then go back to the first and knit the leg etc. I think this seems much quicker to me, it probably makes no difference at all but you don't get second sock syndrome.

I'm using Lang Yarns Mille Colori Socks and Lace Deluxe, I absolutely love the colours and how it changes into the next colour but it does has it's problems which I've never encountered before with sock yarn. It is a 100g ball but actually only weighed 94g, it is suppose to be a 4ply but can go from a 4ply to an Aran weight to a lace weight where I actually thought the yarn would break. After saying that it is very soft, I love the colours and the sparkle so I wouldn't not buy it again if I loved the colours.

I'm now up to seventeen leaves on my Leftie and I'm still really enjoying it, this is one of the projects I want to get off my needles before starting another shawl that I have my eye on which is the Whispering Pines by A Homespun House. I did quite a lot of car knitting on this when I was travelling to and from Somerset over the weekend.

This week I'm reading Knitting by Anne Bartlett, I'm a sucker for any novel that contains knitting and this is a perfect, easy-to-read-before-bed book. It's about two women who become unlikely friends and have both gone through losses, I'm about half way through and enjoying the book very much. I'm linking this post to Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Curious Collective 2014 Shawl.

Do you remember this photo from last month, this is all that I could show you at the time as I was test knitting for Helen Stewart, the pattern was released yesterday so here's what I was working on.

It's the Curious Collective 2014 Shawl as I explained on yesterday's post, this design is a little bit different, as part of the Curious Handmade Group on Ravelry we had some input into the design of the shawl, we got to chose the colour, the shape, and stitch patterns.

It's a fairly large crescent shape shawl using two colours, starting off with a simple garter stitch body with some lace and cable stitches.

I used 70g of Artesano 100% Alpaca 4ply for the main colour and 40g Juno Fibre Arts Alice in Second Sight, the Juno was actually leftover from a previous project so is a great way to use up a part skein. Again this pattern was really well written and simple to follow as are all of Helen's designs.

It's only a two stich cable so there's not really any need to use a cable needle which makes it much quicker, you can find a good tutorial here, for knitting cables without a cable needle.

I also mentioned there's a fun Knit Along going on over on the group called Curious Collective 2014 DKAL, it's a little bit different from your usual KAL, as all the colour choices were very popular and it was very close on the voting, Helen thought it would be fun to pick your colour combo and chose a tribe which best suits your colours.

The choice of tribes are Space Chic, French Vintage, English Rose, Enchanted Forest, and Art Deco, you can find out more about the colours and which tribe to join, here and here. Once you've picked your colours, which don't have to be the colours suggested, you can use any brand or colour yarn that takes your fancy, for instance the colours I've chosen would go well as part of the French Vintage tribe so I could request that team and get started chatting and interacting with my fellow team mates. There are some great prizes to be won including a Social Media Maven prize so whenever you show photos/talk about your project on social media use the hashtag #CCDKAL to be in with a chance of winning. The pattern is available to purchase here.

I also wanted to show you how I blocked mine to get the beautiful scalloped picot edge, after soaking for 30 minutes, lay your shawl out onto your bed or foam squares pinning the top to get the crescent shape, then pin every picot bind off point, it is time consuming but worth the effort to get the nice sharp points.

I'm linking to KCCO over on Nicole's blog Frontier Dreams.

Happy Knitting

xxxxDebxxxx

Yarn Along.........a wedding but not much knitting

Hello my friends, I hope you had a good weekend and if you're in the UK a good Bank Holiday. I went to a beautiful wedding on Sunday, it was my first outdoor wedding and it was perfect, the weather kept nice for them and the bride looked stunning. I will share some photos with you soon but my daughter has took my gadget to load the photos onto my iPad, on holiday with her!!!!! It was the wedding I made the invitations for, you can see them here and they gave me this beautiful bouquet of flowers at the reception.

Here I am all ready to go, my lovely friends trekked the shops of Chester with me, trying to find a little gold jacket but couldn't find what I was looking for but they'll be happy to know I found one at the local shopping centre!!!!

I've had a busy weekend so I didn't get much knitting done and what I did do I can't share just yet as it's a test knit but this is the yarn I'm using. If you want a little clue of what I'm knitting check out this Ravelry Group thread.

I've knit a few rows on my Mini Cable Jumper and now on the front. What I'm reading this week, I've just finished Fresh Doubt by Eva Hudson and haven't decided what to read next, what I have been flicking through is this little book Keep Calm and Cast on. It's a fab little book full of helpful tips and knitting quotes. I'm linking to Yarn Along, WIP Wednesday and Keep Calm, Craft On.

I have been buying yarn this week, I bought some Jamieson & Smith 2ply a 100% Shetland wool, to join in with Melody, who is running a Shwook hat KAL on her Ravelry Group. It is part of Shetland Wool Week that runs from the 4th October-12th October, you can find the free pattern on the website. I had trouble choosing these colours as there were so many gorgeous shades to chose from!!!!

Have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx

Yarn Along........Two Hats and Two Shawls.

Hello, how is your week going? This week I've been working on two hats and two shawls, the first hat is a test knit for Melody of Manderine's blog. Check out her blog you won't be sorry, it's full of pretty photos of the Latvian countryside, nature, knitting and recipes, her photos are so tranquil and after reading her posts I always feel very peaceful.

I received the pattern on Thursday evening, cast on Friday and had it finished and blocked by the Sunday. It is a quick knit using worsted weight yarn, a fair amount of garter stitch and a beautiful textured panel at the front. If you follow me on Instagram you will have already seen the FO, modeled by my daughter but I'll share the photos on my blog, Friday.

Jodie kept the hat and took it home with her so I immediately cast on another one for me using a variegated yarn, I should also have this finished by Friday and will give you full details of the yarn on Friday.

The next project I've been knitting on this week is my Leftie by Martina Behm, as I'd said last week, Zena, Rachel and myself are all knitting this pattern with yarn we'd bought from Unwind. Zena and I don't live too far away from each other so we arranged to meet at The Library of Birmingham for a coffee and to knit on our Leftie's. We had a great morning, chatting and knitting away and hope to meet up again soon.

If you are in Birmingham, I highly recommend paying a visit to the library, there are activities going on, thousands of books to peruse, two coffee bars, lounge areas to sit and relax but my favourite part was The Secret Garden.

It's on the seventh floor and is a balcony wrapped around the building with an urban garden and places to sit, this was the view of Birmingham from the balcony. Unfortunately, it was a little bit too chilly to sit and knit up there on Saturday, I'm hoping for an Indian Summer so can go back and sit up there and take in the views.

Shawl two is the Menehune Shawlette by Mel, Episode Three of With Mel is now up with the third part of the pattern which is the middle section of the border.

This is a simple garter stitch section which didn't take long to complete, so I now only have the last part to finish which will be in next weeks episode. This has been such a fun knit, I really enjoyed this week's episode, she took us on a boat trip with her family and of course it's great to sit and "knit with Mel" !!!!!

 

I'm into my thrillers at the moment and have just started reading Fresh Doubt by Eva Hudson, I've not read any of her books before and so far, so good, I'm enjoying this book, the first in a series of books featuring Ingrid Skyberg, FBI Agent.

I'm linking to Yarn Along, WIP Wednsday and Keep Calm, Craft On, I've decided to post it a day early this week as one I've written it in advance and two, Nicole from Frontier Dreams, posts her KCCO on a Tuesday.

 

There is just one last thing I would like to say, Mel has just wrote a heartfelt post and would like some help raising some money for a bereaved family, if you could please pop over and read it, she would really appreciate it. She has just released a shawl pattern called Hapa and to help this family from 19th-26th August, Mel will give all profits from the pattern to this family who's life has tragically been ripped apart. I've bought mine, every little helps.

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week.

xxxxDebxxxx