Striping Love

I have been known, in the past, to be somewhat slow on the uptake. I'm definitely not what marketers would call an early adopter, the person who has to have the latest gadget and gizmo. Foolishly, i like to feel as though i can rise above trends, be my own person and know my own mind. In other words, i don't want to be that person who is easily swayed by hype.



In the end i always realise that i am wrong. That the iPhone is popular because it truly is awesome. That Gladiator was on so long at the cinema and had so many people talking about it because it really is epic. And i realised that i was also so very wrong about two other things. Self-striping yarn and DPNs.



I gave DPNs (double pointed needles) my first go at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show where i bought a set of six Knitpro wooden DPNs on a whim. I seriously don't think that i can now knit socks any other way. It seems so much quicker, no fiddling about with cables and trying to gently ease my tight stitches over the knuckles of circulars anymore. It seems so much smoother and faster. An uninterupted circle of knitting bliss.

And the other thing: Self-striping yarn. You may have seen Alison's socks in my previous post, knitted with some gorgeous Regia World College Colour 6-ply. Well, i seem to be starting an unhealthy obsession for self-striping socks and have now splashed out on some Regia Kaffe Fassett and Zauerball Crazy. I'm out of control, I can't help myself.

My pledge to knit what's in my stash has gone all wrong. I might as well admit it.

So next time i read about the latest knitting trend on a blog or newsletter, I'll learn not to ignore it. To think all this time I've shunned DPNs and stripey yarn in favour of magic loop and plain patterned socks and there was such fun to be had.

The Gift of Giving

Every now and again i try to do something that proves I'm not a bad person. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm not a bad person anyway but everyone has doubts don't they? Dreams about letting out an angry, shouty tirade at your boss, making a comment about the receptionists new haircut, silently judging your friend for the latest guy she brought to the pub... These are not my own personal failings, of course, merely examples. Everyone does things like this and if you don't then you're the exception to the rule. There's a reason the phrase "you're only human" exists. As beings, we're flawed.



However, at the weekend i performed an act of knitting sainthood.

I recently knitted a good old pair of socks. These socks were dear to me. I bought the yarn at the Christmas Market in Ulm (Bavaria, Germany) in December and the yarn was so lovely it sent shivers down my spine. It was "only" Regia from their 6-ply World College Color series, so you could argue that it really wasn't anything that special, but it was soft, squishy and felt wonderful to knit plain socks with. I even loved the way the two socks matched perfectly. I tried them on, they were too big. I frogged back the toe and an inch of the length and re-knit. No way. They were too wide and too thick to wear with any of my shoes. Even after a hot wash in the washing machine, the superwash yarn thwarted me and refused to shrink. They were demoted to house socks.

I took them to a party at the weekend, expecting that if the host's house was a little chilly, they'd look better than getting my slippers out.

Said host tried them on and fell in love. On a whim, to be a better person i gave them away.

Alison's feet, in what are now Alison's socks. I'll graciously accept my medal now.

Lean Year

I have started the year as I mean to go on. When I buy yarn this year, I intend to knit it up straight away. There'll be none of this languishing in a plastic bag in the wardrobe, waiting for me to spend some time with it. It's going to be put to work, and so it should be. This year is the year of scrimping and saving for a house deposit. For those of you not in the know, it's hard to buy a house these days without 10% deposit. That's a lot of money that i can't spend on yarn. This year i need to buy my yarn and use it.

But this throws up the chicken and egg situation that always messes things up. Do you buy the yarn first and then find a suitable pattern? Or do you spot the pattern and buy the yarn? In general i'd say the second approach is more sensible, but if we knitters were sensible there would never be such a thing as a stash would there?

Last week i was very good. I spotted Riding to Avalon on Ravelry and i couldn't get it out of my head, especially after looking at some of the other modded projects that created a more fitted jumper. So there was my mind made up, that was what i was going to knit. I bought the yarn from colourmart.com in a gorgeous olive browny green Merino/Cashmere mix with slubs of burnt orange viscose to give a tweed effect. The delivery came within two days.

I've even swatched.

So how long can this behaviour last? I mean, this is not normal. It's the knitting equivelant of the cabbage soup diet, surely. Well if it is, i have to admit, this is some tasty cabbage soup.

Finally Done and Moving On.

Christmas has been and gone. It felt like i focussed on it for a long time. It was great, we all had a wonderful time and it was amazing to have a Christmas in which there wasn't a job lost or a wedding to plan for. Michael and I had enough money to spare for gifts and enough time to focus on each other and our families. It was as perfect as we could have wished, and we came back down to earth with a bump this week!

I realise that this is late, but i wanted to share my Christmas knits. Of all the things on the list i knitted, the only ones i photographed were:

Mam's lace shawl

Pattern: Leaves and Arrows

Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Sock

Colourway: Winter's Night

Needles 4.5mm

Sarah's Spiral Cowl

Pattern: Spiral Cowl

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend Aran

Colourway: Rose

Needles: 5mm

Rachel's mustacheoed Cowl and Chapeau

Pattern: Incognito and Meret

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend Aran

Colourway: Rose and Damson

I really had such fun with the knitted gifts this year and everyone seemed thrilled with their presents. I was proud to hand over a luxurious silk shawl to my mam who, being a knitter herself, understands the amount of time and effort that went into it.

As much fun as it was, I'm glad to be able to get back to knitting for myself. I went stash diving yesterday while spring cleaning and found all sorts of yarn i'd forgotten i have! So it's time to get back down to it. Since New Year, a few FOs have come off the needles and are awaiting photography, I'll get round to those very soon.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

Tutorial: Felt Gingerbread Ornaments

Has the cat eaten your baubles? Got a bare spot where you've taken the crackers and candy canes away on Christmas Day? These gingerbread shapes are so quick and easy to make and can be hung from your tree or strung together to make a garland. All you need is:

• A piece of thin card
• A pen
• Sharp scissors
• Felt in a tan/fawn/biscuit colour
• White/cream & Black embroidery thread
• Embroidery needles
• Soft toy filling

Fold the piece of card in half and draw half a gingerbread man shape. The will make sure your man is nice and symetrical. Cut him out and unfold him. (I'll happily provide a downloadable PDF of shapes should anyone want one)

Draw around your men on the felt, fit them as closely together as possible to make the most of the material. Cut out the shapes. The sensible person will now embroider one half with the design of their choosing. Give the man eyes, a nose and mouth and buttons (if you wish). I gave my man eyes and a nose and a belly button using a french knot.

Place two man shapes on top of one-another and start stitching together using a simple blanket stitch. Start at one shoulder and work all the way around to the other shoulder leaving the head un-worked.

Now for the fun.

Grab a small hunk of filling and tease it apart in your fingers to fluff it up. Start to fill your man. I found that using the end of a crochet hook helped to fill the extremities.

Sew up the head, secure the belly button on the back of your man with another french knot and slip the needle up and out of the top of your man's head.

Make a loop and secure.

Thread the loop with ribbon and hang your man in the tree.

Make other shapes too, hearts, Christmas trees, stockings and stars will all work well. Use them as little samplers for trying out different embroidery stitches. The stitch below is rosette stitch which looks like gorgeous icing dribbled all over a cookie.

So have a go, I guarantee you that making these charming ornaments is about ten times quicker than this post took to construct. Thanks Blogger!