Friday, March 7, 2014

Mystery.

Back in January I joined a Mystery Knit-a-long jointly run by designer Lara Smoot and indie dyer Indiewayarns.
I used "Ruby Tuesday" to knit a hat and mitts.

It was great fun following the clues each week, and finally ending up with a lovely hat.

The colour of my photos doesn't do justice to the colour of the yarn.




These are the mittens.
I really like them.
I've never had mittens without a ribbed cuff before.



Here's the complete set.


I love it!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

I'm a Winner!



Ravelry, a group for all those who love playing with yarn, issued a challenge for members during the Winter Olympics.
We were to challenge ourselves to complete a project.
I chose to knit a shawl with lace inserts.
Iridil, designed by  Lara Smoot.
The lovely yarn was dyed especially for the event by Indiewayarns, and called Bolshoi Lights.
I challenged myself to complete the shawl within two weeks.
I took five days!



I'm so pleased with the result!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Continuing

Last month I saw a ball of acrylic yarn in the local Aldi.  At the time I had nothing that I really wanted to knit, and it was a colour that appealed to me, so I bought it.


The pattern was printed inside the ball band and was simple enough to follow in my half-sleep, so I started.
Five days later the scarf was finished.


The yarn isn't as soft as I usually like, but it's nice enough, and useful in cold weather.

Speaking of cold weather, my poor husband has been suffering from chilly hands.  I made him a quick and easy pair of One Cable Mitts in two days.


















Husband now has cosy hands!


These two quick projects were very useful in keeping my brain and fingers working.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Oh dear ...

It seems I've spent a lot of time not updating this blog!
I have been knitting, just not saying anything about it.
This has to change!

This year started with an Afghan for my impecunious student daughter who needs to keep warm with minimal expenditure on heating.
I saw Lion Brand's Six Hour Afghan.
I thought it sounded like a good idea for a quick Christmas gift, so I bought some yarn and a 25mm circular needle.


I use circular needles for everything, but this was not my greatest idea ever.  Forcing the stitches back onto the needles from the thin cable took a lot of effort and a fair amount of bad language.
Fast forward to the arrival of 25mm straight needles.  These were considerably easier to use.

Four balls of yarn knitted at the same time make for speedy knitting.  Idiots who use two balls with the yarn fed from the middle and two balls with the yarn unwinding from the outside are asking for a great deal of tangling - and yet more swearing.




Finally, I finished it.
The Six Hour Afghan only took me four weeks!


At least my daughter finds it warm and useful.