Knitting by Candle Light

I love knitting lace but over the last couple of years I've discovered that much as I like the idea of it, I don't enjoy using laceweight. I do love sock yarn though and there are so many beautiful yarns out there. I always think that it's a shame to hide them away in your shoes though. If you buy something that pretty, why not show it off?

So, this is a little something that I've been working on for a while and when the lovely ladies from my knitting group offered to test knit my latest pattern, who was I to say no? So with extra thanks to Christine for knitting and modeling the two versions pictured, I bring you my Candle Light Shawl.

I designed it to be made from one 100g skein of yarn, you know one of those pretty indie dyed ones that we all love (mine included!). Why hide it when you can wrap yourself up in it and show it off? It's quite a simple lace pattern to remember and so it's a great pattern even if you're just starting out knitting lace. Maybe I'm overdoing the enthusiasm a little but it's my pattern and I do rather like it, I hope you will too. If you want to knit it yourself you can buy the pattern for £2.50 through Ravelry. Here's a little link that should take you there, whether you're a rav user or not.

The pink version was knitted in the Natural Dye Studio Nino using 4mm needles and the pewter coloured one was made from Posh yarn Lei on 3.5mm. They're both beautiful but completely different in size. It always amazes me how much difference needle size can make to lace, personally I like to use 5mm with sock yarn as I like mine nice and open. It all comes down to personal preference though. Anyway, happy knitting :)

FO - round neck crochet cardi

Pattern: Top Down Round Yoke Cardigan by Milobo
Yarn: 8 balls of Mirage by Adriafil
Hook: 6mm

I absolutely love this cardigan and have worn it loads even with the current cold snap. (I have lots of long sleeve tshirts luckily!) The pattern itself is a bit of a strange one as you have to download and use Knitware design software to make it. The demo is free (available here) and once you start playing with it, really easy to use. Milobo walks you through a tutorial with the options she used to generate her pattern so you can make your own to fit yourself according to your tension. Once you've generated your pattern you just paste it into word (or something similar) so you can tweak it and print it. The wooden button was a charity shop find and it works really well.

This is the first time that I've use this yarn and I'm really pleased with it. It's a great colour and worked really well with the pattern. I think I'll definately be using it again, perhaps even for the little man as it feels like it's going to wear well and being machine washable is definately a bonus.

goodbye November, where did you go?

It's been a fab weekend on the knitting front with another successful weekend knitting meet for Colchester SnB. The wind might have been whistling past the front of the hall but inside was warm and cozy with plenty of tea and cake to sustain us. I finally caught up with a copy of December's Let's Knit magazine too and so managed to check out the Fibreholics article. I had to squeal in delight when I saw they'd used a picture of my yarn to promote it! How cool is that? Actually Fibreholics continues to go from strength to strength - we completely sold out in less than 10 days this time and are planning for next year already but more of that another time.

Actually it was lovely to be able to just sit and knit and gossip all day Saturday with no pressure to be up and doing which I always have at home. Other than me casting on for a pair of much need gloves for me, there hasn't been much knitty progess here at all lately as we've been knee deep in paint and wallpaper and when I've not been decorators mate, I've been in school painting and making for the various Christmas events. Hmm, a bit of a theme developing here. As I type, we've just put the finishing touches to the sitting room walls and I can safely say, I'm all painted out for the moment.

I don't know what it is about our family, we always end up decorating in the run up to Christmas. I use the royal "we" there but it's only me and mum that actually get the work done. For some reason everyone else seems to evaporate about the time that all the stuff gets brought into the house. They're quite happy to be around for the choosing and purchasing part but the actually doing side of it is apparently one step too far. I'm beginning to realise as I get older that I am far more my mother's daughter than I ever thought I was.

Sorry this is turning into a bit of an epic, slightly random but picture free post so I think I'll finish here and be back soon with some pictures. I find that having not posted very much lately I have more to document than I realised. Toodle pip and I'll see you in December, which reminds me I must find that advent calendar for the morning.

Ally Pally or bust...

It's funny, whenever I've neglected my blog for too long I always feel the urge to confess and it makes me giggle. Forgive me readers, it has been far too long since my last contribution .......... and I'm not even Catholic for goodness sake! Anyhow, this year continues to fly by. I honestly have no idea where the time is going. I now have a new internet connection - and one that actually works properly all the time too! So I really have no excuse not to post a little more often. The shop needs restocking too and I can't complain that I can't upload pictures anymore so expect a big update this week.

I made it to Ally Pally again this year and I have to say even though I had a great day, I came away feeling a little bit disappointed. Maybe it's just that my fibre tastes are moving more and more to the spinning side of things at the minute but you could really see the effect of the recession beginning to bite. I got what I wanted more or less but I was able to easily stick to the budget this year. There were several companies that I really wanted to visit but they weren't there. I think that perhaps with more and more of these yarn events happening, I Knit, Rav day not to mention Woolfest and Fibrefest, the yarn stores are being much more careful about where they spend their money.
Here's some of the Colchester knitters at the end of the day in front of the rather impressive knitted ship in the foyer. Looking at the size of some of the bags that people came out with, I was fairly circumspect in my purchases.
Roving from Piiku. On their stand they'd got some really impressive crocheted and felted mats mats made from some of this. I think this one is destined to be a table runner of some kind. I'm still deliberating at the mo. It might end up as a bag.
Jamieson and Smith shetland spindrift, enough for a pair of mittens.
and finally, sock yarn. It's fabulously red and is for a wrap/shawl to replace my ratty pashmina of the same colour. Other than some beads, in the end that's all I bought for me. Still, it;s what I wanted more or less and I certainly don't need any more sock yarn as my stash is overflowing.

Saturday already?

I've been a bit of a rubbish blogger recently. There seems to have been so much going on around here, it's taken me far longer to get back into a proper routine this term than it ever has before. I don't know what it is this time, I've literally been working from one day to the next. Still, everything's finally back on song, the routine is set, my diary is up to date, the Macmillan coffee morning went really well and I can relax and start to enjoy everything again. I've been back to the spinning guild a couple of times this summer and am really enjoying it all. I managed to squeeze in a visit to Winghams on my way home from Manchester so now I have a beautiful new wheel that is occupying much of my knitting time - I've given myself back ache on more than one occasion from sitting at it far too long.I did manage to finish a few of my projects this summer and I've tried to be good about not casting on any more but having visited the Woolcabin this week, I've got the next big knit lined up. I've been knitting for everyone else all year and I'm determined to make myself some new cardigans for this winter. So anyhow, in now particular order here's a couple of finished items.
Another cardigan for my sister, this time it's the Buttony Sweater by Katie Marcus. The cardigan looks great but it's one of those patterns that's a bit more of a recipe rather than fully finished. I had to really faff around with it to make it work as typically, I didn't use the yarn suggested! This pictures of it in it's final stages, I didn't actually get a finished one as I left it with her to find her own buttons.
A Crochet Flower Hot Pad - I just had to make one of these to see how it worked. It used about half a ball of the Lidl cotton DK I picked up a while ago. It's almost too nice to stand your pans on.
Finally, here's another cute little project for the mighty midget A scrap cardigan (rav link). He chose the pattern and the colours, I added the hood and can you believe it, now he won't wear it! Little rotter, I won't be knitting him another one for a while, I'm going to make something for someone who appreciates it, ie me!

Are you a Fibreholic?

Round two of the fibreholics bags has gone live, click on the sheep to go straight to the new website.

Check out the pictures of the samples that have been sent in, they're lush! I got to dive into the stash before it was all packed up and I can tell you now, there's some beautiful fibres in there. I'm surprised Carole didn't check my pockets before I left, I was really tempted to take some of them home ;)

Knit for Macmillan with Colchester SnB