Wednesday 31 October 2012

"Misty" finished!

Misty
In all its KidSilkHaze yumminess! "Misty" is knit!
I have no idea how I'm going to wear it - it is HUGE - but very cosy and warm just right for this cold weather.

knit candle
Last year I managed to find a lovely Kleenex tissue box with a knit theme, this year I found this! a cute cable-candle! from John Lewis isn't it lovely?
I don't think this is the one I have, but here it is if want to buy one.
Found this, too from Next. I prefer, obviously, the real thing! a ball (or six) of "wool" and pair of needles but its nice to have a few knitty bits and pieces about to reinforce the addiction of loving to knit don't you think?
If you come across any others, please do share them!

Monday 29 October 2012

My Kindle!

Mine mine .. all MINE .. ages ago dh decided to see what all the fuss was about and bought himself a Kindle.  He loved it! read squillions on it both free and paid-for and then when they bought the new super-duper HD colour versions I persuaded him to treat himself for "christmas" and buy it.
HE LOVES IT.  And I have inherited his "old" kindle which I also LOVE even though I've only had one brief "lesson" on how to use it I have managed to send a PDF of a pattern I purchased to the Kindle and now I have another portable option to enjoy my knitting and pattern experience.

my newest gadget - a kindle

Lilly! caught warming on the radiator!

hopping off quick before "dad" catches her (on the furniture!)

before settling back - what the heck it IS winter!

LOVING the colour stripe sequence on Merrion in Rowan Fine Tweed

SK 100 edition has a lovely "free" Christmas gift book this month
on the hob today: roasted butternut squash soup for lunch, followed - rapidly! - by a fresh from oven home baked Rock Cake - yum I much prefer winter warmers to summer-salads x
Please share any winter warming lunch favourites, kindle + knit tips and tricks and of course winter KNITTING projects OTN's

Friday 26 October 2012

Festive projects

I've got some lovely festive projects on the go or planned, above is the fabric I bought to make little festive drawstring bags for the youngest in the family to make up their Christmas gift this year - isn't it lovely!  It came in as new and I immediately bought a metre and the matching red is perfect too.

I have some seasonal knits on the go too will share pics when I've done more, they are from the lovely and terrific value Regia Calendar!

This week I finally posted out a swap package with a new cyber-knit-pal off Ravelry following the Ravellenics and I can't wait to show pics of a little something but its secret for now!

Finally!  here is our Silly Lilly after she climbed in and claimed as her own a new "home" in a plastic carrier ..






Wednesday 24 October 2012

OTN's - Merrion a lovely stripey cardigan!


all the lovely wool!
all the colours in stripe sequence
Ravelled here.
My newest project OTN's is the lovely stripey cardigan - Merrion - from the Rowan Tweed book and knit in Rowan fine tweed yarn.  lovely lovely loving it!
I have knit the first full sequence of colours on the back and can't wait to dive back in to the pack of yarns for the next section!
I have been organised with this and written out the stripe sequence with a key and a small snippet of each yarn to remind myself of the colour order - at the moment I am being very good and wrapping the ball band around for ease of checking but I know this will go out the window in time and I don't want to mix my C's with my H's!!
I am using a lovely pair of english made green needles that were my late-Grandmas needles, they are very blunt at the end and slightly bent but fabulous to use and I love the clickety clack they make as I knit.

Elsewhere, Misty is nearing completion!  my craftsy 5-1 gloves are halfway and I have completed the back for Dallan and Ice Queen - newest project OTN's is knitting quickly due to ease of pattern.

I much prefer winter knitting and knitting IN the winter!
Next time I hope to share a lovely bit of sewn loveliness but as its for a swap with a knit-pal it must remain secret for now!

Sunday 21 October 2012

now what have I got on the go!

 First I knitted the cushion


 Then I artfully arranged it on the carpet for Bertie to inspect I mean to take a photo!


And here it is complete with cushion pad!
I knitted it for "wool week" and it was a lovely pattern to follow, dead easy to knit and a lot of fun!
I've raveled it here!.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Craftsy class on gloves and mitts!  Loving the pattern and knitting too, I'm doing the 5in1 adventure and making gloves using some left over BSB dk from knitting up my Union Jack scarf last year!
You can get the details off my Ravelry project page.

new OTN's is a lovely bit of Rowan KidSilkHaze and some clear beads!  I am joining in the KAL along with others on Ravelry here
I do enjoy joining in and find myself inspired and carried away with others' knitting!
Yesterday I finally caught up with my best knit-pal-Sally who is always guaranteed to get me chucking my notes and coins at till points in exchange for yarnie stuff and I am now planning a further two garments!  Can't wait to see her sequined cardi in Galaxy and already we are planning what we'll make with the new "Glamour" yarn from Rowan.
You can read all the necessary and important details on it here.

As well as knitting crazes and fads, I've also become slightly addicted to beads too!
The photograph is horribly out of focus - excitement, I think, at the yumminess of it all - I managed to make some stitch markers this week!
I feel I will get better the more I do, but these are just enough to see me through the few projects I have planned that require markers.

Lastly I have a lovely sewn item to show off but as its a secret for a secret-swap I can't post details or photo's here yet in case the person in question happens upon here BUT its really nice! and I might make more!

Finally, at last I managed to get a bottle of honey-infused JD from Tesco at under £20!
I don't think I can add to that?  yummy scrummy! x


Monday 8 October 2012

Round up of projects

This last few months have been very busy, I've started lots of projects (and finished very little!) and discovered lots of new fads - beads is my latest!  Determined to find some to work with a lovely pattern I am following on a Craftsy class I visited a local bead shop - Armadillos - and the lovely owner kindly showed me two ways to make stitch markers so I came away with bag of beady bits including these lovely gun metal Japanese beads! 

Rowan Fine Lace & beads - shawl

Jam & Marmalade pots filled with beads!
Beady Bits for stitch markers
 Of course I couldn't resist a sock yarn purchase!
Armadillos stock a small selection of knitting yarn and I have bought sock yarn before so I was pleased to see she had something a bit different to the usual Opal and Regia.
I bought one ball for £7 of Katia Ole Rainbow!
from the top!

to the side!
Looks like it will be nice and stripey and fun to knit!

While looking through discount book shop The Works, I came across this! Knits Men Want. And of course being marked down I couldn't resist even if in my family at least, apparently NO knits is what men want here! bah!
Still its a useful book ..
The weather turning now toward autumnal coolness means the cats are beginning to find hiding places to snuggle up to avoid the chill outside and here are some photo's of our cats.

Lilly snuggled up in the duvet

Bertie resigned to squeezing into a shoe box!

finally Bertie gets permission from Lilly to join her on the bed!
Misty is coming along nicely, although SOMEONE - cough - BERTIE! - has somehow got into one of the balls of ksh stripe and had his teeth and claws into it! I normally am good at keeping this away from temptation but left it out last night and THIS is what I came down to!

Bertie gets his claws & teeth stuck in!

the lovely Misty knitting up wonderfully and brightly!
Lastly my latest knitty project is an intarsia cushion!  knit in Rowan british sheep breeds chunky and boucle, the pattern is Lattice Spot Cushion from PureLife Homes and is knitting up well on chunky 7mm needles - I am weaving in ends as I go to keep tidy!

I seem to have gone Crafsty-mad!  Today I signed for another class! they are such good value when discounted and I think I have enough classes now to see me through for years!!
I was lucky enough also to get a birthday discount off one of Liat's super ebook classes too with 50% off the Superstar Knitting - thats me set for winter!

Elsewhere we are missing no.1.son as he returned to his Uni digs at the end of last month and is due to start his term today! we wish him luck and hope he is as successful this year as last was for him.
Our youngest son is off to a political debate today with some of his college classmates - interesting that both our lads are interested in this subject because neither I nor my husband, their dad is!

On tv we are watching a few interesting programmes - Great Brisish Bakeoff reaches the semi finals this week and we can't believe its nearly the end!  Doctor Who is off now until Christmas, but Merlin is back!  XFactor is underway and causing all sorts of wailing and drama and thats just the viewers!!!
Downton Abbey is fun!  We love Maggie Smith!  A new one is Making Faces which features our local Hospital and I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch or not but I've seen half the programmes and they were interesting.
Having had my Mother go through horrid experiences with her malignant melanoma attached to back of her eye its not easy viewing bringing back some unpleasant memories, but the programme is sensitive and its not shocking as such.  The one thing my late-Mother always said was that she didn't want to "frighten the children" to her Doctor and specialist.

Still baking! popular at the moment is my chocolate fudge filled and topped sponge cake!  and now we've turned cool I'm switching to lovely soups for lunch!  current fad is roast butternut squash and spicy chilli and chick pea soup! yum!