FO Friday.....Pavilion Spoiler Photos!!!

Happy Friday, my friends, I hope you've all had a good week. It has been a beautiful week in the UK with plenty of sunshine but today it is raining. The gardens could do with a drop of rain though and I'm finding it quite therapeutic, listening to the rain pitter- pattering onto the conservatory roof. Hopefully, it will clear up later and we'll have some more sunshine over the weekend.

Now back to the knitting, after been very British and talking about the weather. I've finished the Small Cable Cardigan by Vibe Ulrick Sondergaard. I absolutely love this pattern, I think it's probably my most favourite baby knit that I've done.

It's from the book Lullaby Knits and is full of beautiful baby knits from birth up to two years, I bought my copy from The Book People and is only £4.99 instead of the recommended £16.99. I don't think there is one pattern I don't like so to me this book is super value. What I will say though, a few of the patterns are modeled on girls or knit in pink as this pattern was but I actually think most of them are unisex. When I asked my daughter to chose some patterns from the book, I told her to look past the model and the colour of the yarn and imagine it in a more masculine colour.

I love the cable stitch, it's really unusual, I've knit a few cable patterns but none like this, I think the stitch definition is gorgeous. I knit the 0-3 months and used two balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Mink 064, this yarn washes great and stays looking nice, great for baby knits.

My next FO of the week are the Pavilion socks, a mystery knit along pattern by Rachel Coopey, the last clue was released last week. This pattern was designed and is part of the Unwind Brighton Festival, there have been a few patterns released for the occasion. There is one more pattern that I would like to knit as part of the festival and is the Aileron by Dieuwke van Mulligen. I plan on buying the yarn from the Marketplace, my problem will be what to chose with so many gorgeous yarns in one place!!!!

I used Artist Palette Yarns Smoothie Sock in Banana Milkshake, a very nice yarn which I think showed the stitch definition, very well. The true colour is showing up on the first photo, the colour is very washed out on this photo. They fit perfectly, I have found that cuff down socks seem to fit me better that toe up, it must be the heel flap that makes the difference. Also doing cuff down after finishing the heel, the foot seems to knit up very quickly and I have them finished before I know it.

That's it for this week, thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's On My Needles......Pavilion Socks Spoiler Alert

Hello my friends, I'll jump straight in and show you what's on my needles, this week. I'll start with a new project, a very cute teddy bear called Mr Bakery Bear which was released last week, the pattern is by Kay Jones who also designed Mrs Bakery Bear. As soon as Jodie saw this sweet bear, she asked if I'd knit him for the 'little man' and of course I had to oblige. I ordered some Cascade 220 in Sand and so far I've knit the head and ears, I'll share more with you next week.

Kay has been a Ravelry friend for a while now and has recently began a knitting podcast with her husband, Dan. It's called The Bakery Bears and I urge you take to a look, they are such an amiable couple and have so much fun, I laugh out loud through each episode. It's not just about the knitting, each week they take you to a new location in the North of England and walk you around places of interest. On this week's episode I was surprised to hear my name mentioned, I was really touched as she said such nice things about me and my little blog. Thank you so much, Kay.

I've finished knitting Baby's First Cable Cardigan and have just got to finish seaming, sewing in the ends and adding some buttons. I think this is the cutest baby cardigan I've knit, I love it and can't wait to see the 'little man' wearing it. It's from the book Lullaby Knits, I highly recommend this book, it's full of beautiful patterns but not your traditional baby knits.

Clue Three has been released of the Pavilion socks, a mystery knit by Rachel Coopey, I'm on the foot of the second sock. It's been a nice change to do some cable socks, these socks were designed as part of Unwind Brighton, you can see that this design was inspired by Brighton Pavilion.

Last but not least, I've made some progress on the Twinkle Twinkle blanket, this is baby's 'best' blanket. I'm knitting it in Rooster Almerino DK, a luxury mix of merino and alpaca, as you can imagine the blanket is very soft. The pattern is by one of my favourite designers, Helen Stewart, it's a square blanket, constructed of four triangles, knit it in the round. The pattern is very easy to remember and after a few rounds, I didn't need to look at the pattern again.

Now to what I'm reading this week, I'm three quarters of the way through Paris by Edward Rutherford and still very much enjoying it. I'm also flicking through this book on my Kindle, A Paris Journal by Nichole Robertson. It is beautifully written, journal style about a day in Paris and the photos are stunning, I'm dreaming of going back to Paris one day but until then this will satisfy my needs.

I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along, What's on my Needles Wednesday and WIP Wednesday

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week.

Happy Crafting

xxxxDebxxxx

Yarn Along......a quick update.

Hello, I'm back with a quick post as I don't have too much knitting to share, this week. I finished my On the Pier shawl, that I'll show you on Friday.

I bought this beautiful gradient yarn from Eaden Yarns, isn't it a beautiful colour? The delivery was super quick, I saw that she was having a shop update on Sunday so I stalked her shop and bought it on Sunday evening and I received it yesterday!!!

I'm test knitting the Pebble Beach Shawlette by Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade which was the winning design of the Unwind Brighton Design Competition. It's a beautiful crescent shape lace shawl, very elegant for those evening walks along the beach. It will be printed in the Unwind programme for attendees at the event and then will be released on Ravelry on Monday 14th July, there's going to be a Knit Along so keep your eyes out for that.

I've done a few more rows on my Garter Stitch Baby Blanket, I would say that I'm a third of the way through it, this is good car knitting, so tend to knit on it if we are traveling.

I'm on the third clue of the Pavillion Socks, which is the last clue. I've never taken part in a mystery KAL and with each clue, I tried to second guess what was coming next. It turned out totally different to what I had in my mind especially the last clue, the foot. I've really enjoyed knitting them and love the pattern.

I've started reading Paris by Edward Rutherfurd and throughly enjoying it, I don't usually read pre-1900's historical novels but as it's about Paris my favourite city, I couldn't resist. I've really got into the characters and all the history that goes with this sweeping saga which goes back as far as the 1300's. If you enjoy history and Paris, I highly recommend this book. I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Yarn Along......Unwind KAL's.

How is everyone today? Well I'm definitely going to Unwind, the hotel and tickets are all booked, we decided to go for a long weekend. I haven't been to Brighton since my girls were very young and I'm looking forward to exploring Brighton as well as spending the Saturday at a yarn and fibre festival. I did ask my husband if he wanted a ticket, to look around with me but declined which is probably a good thing as he won't know how much I've spent!!!!!

Over on Ravelry, there are a few different Unwind KAL's going on at the moment on the Unwind group, I decided to take part in two of them. The first is the Pavlion Mystery Sock KAL by Rachel Coopey, I finished Clue 1 just in time to start Clue 2, which was released on Sunday.

I'm not going to show the full sock as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's knitting them and hasn't finished the leg, all I will say is the pattern is gorgeous, with lots of cables, think of Brighton Pavilion, the clue is in the name! I've finished Clue 2 on the first sock, which takes you to turning the heel and I hope to finish the second sock, before Sunday when the last clue is released.

This is my first mystery KAL and wasn't sure whether I would like the not knowing but I've really enjoyed the process, I like keeping to schedules and love that I will get a pair of socks finished in three weeks. I will definitely do another one.

The other KAL I'm taking part in is the On the Pier, a beautiful feminine shawl by Justyna Lorkowska, I chose to do this one as it's a very simple lace shawl and knew it wouldn't take long to finish as the main part was all Garter Stitch and then a simple lace border, perfect for the evening when I'm watching TV.

I'm using yarn from my stash and the main colour is Drops Alpaca in the Light Grey Pearl Mix and the contrast colour is some leftover Juno Alice in the colour Second Site. I've only got a few more rows before I start the lace section.

Jodie came down, this weekend and I asked her to look through some of my knitting books to see which baby patterns she wants me to knit. One of my favourite books is called Lullaby Knits by Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard, it's full of beautiful but more unusual patterns. One of my favourites is the Small Cable Cardigan which buttons down the side and that is one she chose, yay!!!! I wasn't sure whether she would pick it as it's modeled by a baby girl but I think it's quite unisex.

The pattern uses two balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and again I had some in my stash so I could cast on straight away. It's partly knit in pieces then you knit all the pieces together on long cable needles with a raglan sleeve.

I'm still reading The Perfume Garden and as I get further into the book, I'm enjoying it more and more. The chapters alternate from 1936 set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War to Valencia 2002. The two eras are now coming together and the characters are intertwined, very enjoyable. I did go to the library, yesterday, and picked up this book, Paris by Edmond Rutherford. I love the city of Paris and I'm always drawn to anything Parisian, from the blurb on the back of the book it is an historical novel, I'd be interested in what you thought of it, if you've read it.

I'm taking part in Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday, thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week and I'll see you on Friday with a finished project.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along.....A Mystery Knit Along with Unwind Brighton and Coop Knits.

 

Hello my friends, I hope you're enjoying your week, so far. I've only been knitting on a couple of things this week, so here's what I've been working on.

This is all I can show you of my first project, it is a Mystery Knit Along run by Coop Knits and Brighton Unwind so I don't want to show any spoiler photos and ruin it for other people who maybe taking part. The pattern is called Pavilion and I'm knitting them at the same time on two sets of DPNs.

This is my first mystery knit along and for those who aren't sure what it is, the designer releases part of the pattern each week, until the pattern is complete so we start knitting along only knowing basic information. The only thing I knew about this pattern was they were cuff down socks by Rachel Coopey with some cable and twisted stitches in the pattern. This MKAL has three clues over three weeks so I'll hopefully have them finished by the end of the third. If you want to join in the fun you can find the two Ravelry groups here and here

I'm so excited, it looks like I could be going to Unwind which is a knitting and fibre festival been held in Brighton. I've never been to a yarn and fibre event before and I was telling my husband about it and he said if I want to go, book some accommodation and we'll make a weekend of it. It's my birthday week so this will be my birthday treat!!!!

There is so much going on, not just in the main part where there are stalls and workshops are but all over Brighton such as knitting in the Pavillion Gardens, to see everything that's happening, look here. There are a few knit alongs over on the Ravelry board going on, with patterns from some of the designers who will be there.

I'm still reading The Perfume Garden which I started last week but I'd thought I'd share this new magazine I bought from Amazon. It's called Bustle and Sew and is full of beautiful sewing projects, very vintage and whimsical. I haven't had a good read of it yet but I'll let you know what I think of it.

I'm taking part in Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday.

The other thing I've been working on is the Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates, I'm knitting this for my nephew's first birthday which was on Sunday. I haven't finished in time as I had to wait for some DPNs to arrive, last week to start the sleeves. I was quite sure I had some 4.5mm but I couldn't find them so I ordered some new ones.

This has probably been the hardest pattern I've knit, I'm fine with lace, cables and charts but I really struggle with raglan. I attempted one before and ended up frogging it but I have persevered with this and I think I've got it now.

I think I must have been wearing my lucky pants this week as I've won two giveaways!!!! Tin Can Knits were hosting a Big Destash Giveaway and I won two skeins of this gorgeous Show Pony 4ply by Pony Yarns. It is a massive 874yds of yarn plus I won the Made in the UK ebook which I already had but they kindly offered to gift it to one of my Ravelry friends.

I also entered a giveaway on A Playful Day's blog, who has been having lots of giveaways and is continuing too as part of the Unwind event. I won Through the Loops Mystery Shawl Pattern by Kirsten Kapur, another mystery pattern which runs for five weeks. I'm hopefully going to cast this on, once I've finished the Gramps Cardigan.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx