Busy As A Bee!

Well, busy for me, busy knitting of course! So be prepared for a long post!!

You know the saying 'Every cloud has a silver lining' ? Well it is so true. As various parts of my body have been failing me this week, I've been forced to rest and so I've had loads more time for knitting! Consequently, I've actually got some FO's to show and tell!!

I finished my sister in laws Fetchings in record time for me. I'm getting to know the pattern off by heart now but I STILL forget to reverse the cable on the second glove!

I then began to knit the yarn I've been desperate to knit since I won it on Silvia's blog www.fromthesheepsback.com. I couldn't decide what to knit until I remembered the Iris hat from Colinette. So, hoping that there was enough yarn, I began to knit. I took a few photo's, but they just don't do justice to the yarn. It is beautifully soft, thick and thin yarn, hand dyed using beetroot, hand spun, and plyed with a touch of sparkle, it's absolutely drop dead gorgeous!

It looks like an upside down bikini for someone flat chested at this stage! I took a close up to try and catch the sparkle, but no joy.

When it was finished, I utilised a nearby candle to try and show the hat in all its glory!

I tried to avoid it, and I apologise in advance but here is a photo of me wearing the above hat. Those of a nervous disposition, look away now!!

Sorry for inflicting that on you!

As well as knitting, I've also been busy crafting with a beautiful kit Carrie Anne bought me as part of my Christmas pressie, alongside some sumptious sock yarn from Piece of Beauty. The kit uses Japanese Washi paper to make a mirror compact and was really straightforward to make. So now follows the finished item from every conceivable angle known to man! ( Can you tell I got a camera for Christmas?)

I love it. The colours are gorgeous and wadding between the layers make it soft and squishy to the touch. The kits can be bought from www.japancrafts.co.uk. Thank you Carrie Anne!!

Well, I'm ready for a cuppa myself now, and back to my WIP, another knitted bag in Wensleydale Longwool !!

New Look Blog!

Well I've finally succumbed to the the constant prodding by Blogger and have gone Beta!! While I was on I decided to change my blog colour as I'm not really a pink person!! I thought I'd go with a bit of nature, what do you think?

I finally got the beanie finished! It was really simple to knit, but as I said previously, I made an easy pattern difficult due to lack of concentration! But I finally got there and it fits Tom a treat! It was the first time I'd 'fiddled' with a pattern, adding extra stitches and pattern repeats in an attempt,successful as it turned out, to fit my sons large head!

I've already started my next project. It's my sister in laws birthday at the end of January and I've started a pair of Fetching in black for her birthday. She admired a pair that I knitted for a Christmas pressie and so I thought they would be ideal.

She loved the bag I made her for Christmas and a couple of her friends are keen for me to make them one each, but I'm really stuck on how much I should charge for labour. Any ideas?

My back has been really rough these last few days, so I haven't been able to get the spinning wheel out. I feel terrible about the wheels lack of use, its not that I don't want to use it, but things seem to conspire against me. I liked Kaths ( Kaths Krafty Kreations) idea of doing something each day e.g. spinning Monday, weaving Tuesday and it can be left really flexible to cope with lifes ups and downs!!

Tomorrow night is Knitknots at Darlington forum and I'm looking forward to a little bit of knitting and an awful lot of nattering! Oh and a gorgeous cake and cup of coffee!! Tempted? Me too!!

First Blog of 2007

Its hard to believe that yet another New Year is here! It doesn't seem two minutes since 2006 began! I just get used to writing the correct year on various bits of paperwork, then it goes and changes!!
Friday saw the first knitting group of the year at Darlington Stitches. It was lovely to see everyone again and find out what Santa had brought them! I took a few photos with my new camera, as you'll see in the photos,Bev was also playing with her camera!

It was a smaller group than usual, but that made it easier to talk to everyone.

The progress of Toms beanie has been slow, very slow. I thought such a small piece would knit up in no time, and it probably would have but I didn't take into account the need to have a small amount of concentration! On a scale of 0 - 10 my concentration is around the - 5 mark!!

So consequently it has been pulled out more times than I would care to share!

Its a really straightforward cable pattern from S n B Nation that I'm doing in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran. I've had to make the hat bigger and longer cos my son has..well, a big head!! I know its in proportion with his 6 ft 8 inch body but the facts are compared to the average head, his is big!

Hopefully I'll be able to crack on with it and get it finished. I've got so much yarn in the queue and I also feel quilty about the downright neglect of my loom and spinning wheel!

Has anyone any ideas how to increase the number of hours in the day? If you do, pleeeease let me know!!