Using up my stash

With the Christmas rush over, it is time to use up my left-overs. So I have decided to declare January my Use-up-your-stash month. (Which did not stop me from sneaking in a quick yarn order at kempswoolshop.com before the end of December. ... That's not cheating .... it is??)

I have started by making a mitered square blanket. Rather than knitting individual squares, I am picking up the stitches for the new square from the previous one.
Here is what it looks like so far.


I will keep posting as I work my way through my stash ...

Hubby's slipper socks

Here are the slipper socks I knitted for my husband this Christmas. I am quite proud, because not only did I design the pattern myself, but I also attached leather soles. I've never tried that before.

Hopefully it will make them last better.

He has already ventured down the garden path a couple of times, hence they are not pristine any more!

Fingerless gloves with flaps

I made these fingerless gloves at the request of my friend Marie. I have made fingerless gloves before, but had never attempted the flaps.
It worked really well and I am pleased with the result.
It is made from Rowan Tweed, pure wool, in DK weighting.


Now my daughter wants a pair too ...

Elves

Nearly Advent. Time to call on those little Christmas helpers. Hurray!

Remembrance Poppy

I have designed a pattern for this poppy just in time for Remembrance Sunday. You can find the pattern on my Ravelry page.
All proceeds from patterns sales will go to the Royal British Legion, a charity which supports serving members of the Armed Forces, ex-Service men and women (veterans), their families and dependants all year-round.

Please consider supporting this cause.

Christmas slippers

It is certainly time to start thinking about Christmas knitting - both for presents and for our church Christmas fair.

Here is a pair of Christmas slippers (crocheted, not knitted). The free DROPS pattern is available here.

I haven't fully decided, but these slippers will most likely be for my daughter.

Big Knit 2012 update

Today was the last day to hand in the little hats for the Big Knit.
Here is what our knitting group at work produced:

27 hats at 25 p each makes a grand total of £6.75 for Age UK.

The Big Knit is back!

For those of you who don't know:
What is the Big Knit?

For the Big Knit, Age UK and innocent (smoothies) ask knitters of all ages to get creative and come up with their own designs for mini-woolly hats to be placed on top of their smoothie bottles and sold in Boots and Sainsbury's stores throughout November. For each hatted bottle sold, 25p is donated to Age UK to help make winter warmer for older people across the UK.

So every year knitters all over the UK get knitting to produce thousands of these little bottle hats. And the creativity and diversity of the hats produced is never-ending.

Give it a go! The patterns can be found on the bottom of this innocent page.

Please send all knitted hats by 1st October to
Age UK Oxfordshire, St Edmund House, 39 West St Helen Street, Abingdon OX14 5BT.

Here are some fruity Big Knit hats I made a couple of years ago.

Strawberry hat

Unusually, I haven't knitted at all for the last couple of months or so. I am glad to have started again. September usually heralds the first knitting preparations for Christmas.

Here is a little strawberry hat (first size), which I made for the grand-daughter of a friend. I wrote the pattern several years ago and it can easily be adapted for a variety of other fruit or veg (tomato, aubergine, apple, pumpkin etc).

My next project is already on the needles: hubby's Christmas socks (by now a firm tradition)

Marie's puppy

I made this little puppy for my niece Marie. Apparently her toy dog was pregnant and expecting puppies ... so I got those knitting needles out!

The pattern comes from Cath Ren on Ravelry and can be purchased for USD 3.50. Worth every penny!

Teatime!

Time for tea, anybody?

I made this tea cosy for our Community event at the Jubilee weekend.
It is an adapted version of Loani Prior's Rosie Posy Tea Cosy.

I love the detachable lid, which makes the whole tea cosy a lot more functional.

Now then. Milk? Sugar? Please help yourself to a biscuit!

Craft fair

It's a while since I have had a stall on a craft fair, so I was delighted when friends from one of our local churches asked me to come.

My daughter joined me and we sold a selection of knitting, sewing and drawings.

Thank you to Holy Trinity church, who arranged this event as a fund raiser for their church building and work.

Brooches

Pixie hat

This new pattern is now available in my Ravelry store.
The pixie hat is designed in two sizes - newborn and 3-6 months.

This pattern is easy and a great way of using up left-over sock yarn or any other 4 ply yarn.
It is pretty is two-row stripes, but plain or self-striping yarns will look equally good.
To complete this pattern you should be able to cast on, make and decrease stitches and work with dpns.

Reversible duck-bunny

Thanks to Spud and Cloe for the free pattern for this adorable reversible duck/bunny.
It only stand 3 inches/ 8 cm tall (ears not included).Quite easy to make a really cute for Easter!




Simply turn this little bunny ...











... into a cute duckling!

Knitted bunny - The Sequel

Here is the first rabbit, which I made from Jo so & sew's pattern.
I say 'the first rabbit', because there will be many more between now and Easter.
Rabbits have this strange way of multiplying ...

It was a joy to make this little guy. It couldn't be easier with just a simple square.



I experimented with stitching on a face and decided for a simple one - the eyes are two small double stitches, the mouth a little upside-down V in a single thread.
The tail is made from a little square in Snowflake, pulled together along the edges and filled with a small amount of stuffing.

My Ravelry page can be found here.

Knitted bunny

This very simple and delightful bunny is made from an easy to knit square in garter stitch. How much easier could it be?
Being made from one piece it is suitable for small children too.

This will be my Easter project.

The pattern is available free here, and the Ravelry page can be found here.
Come and join the Easter fun!

Menstrual pads

I finally got round to trying to make these menstrual pads.
I made the smallest size, which really functions as a panty liner. Comfortable to wear and stays in place!

The pattern is available free from iBirk Knit Designs.

The Women's Environmental Network has much to say about the environmental impact of sanitary protection on the environment. Follow the link and scroll down to the pdf "Seeing Red: sanitary protection and the environment" in the Health section.

Crocheted hearts

This is my last Valentines project. I promise to move on to more sensible things, which don't include hearts! :)

I usually prefer knitting to crocheting, but I couldn't resist these lovely crocheted hearts.

The pattern is from K and J Dolls Blog and is available for free.
More fun patterns are available of Ravelry.

Fingerless gloves - for Valentines

I designed these fingerless gloves myself. After some attempts and more unraveling I decided to use gussets for the thumbs.

I find gussets made the gloves more comfortable to wear and didn't pull the heart pattern out of shape.

As and when I get round to writing up the pattern, it will appear for sale on Ravelry.

Voyager cap - the experiment

So I set out to knit a voyager cap for my husband, following Wicked Woollen's pattern.
I used Rowan's dk tweed, which is 100% pure new wool, colour scheme Askrigg.



The hat started to look worryingly large, but I was reassured by Wicked Woollen's comfirmation that that was just as it should be!
I even dared going a bit bigger, because my husband has a big head. Haha!
The final measurements of the finished hat before felting was 66cm/26" long and 52cm/20.5" circumference.

Then the felting fun began!

I used an old large boiling bucket and a stick of soap, filled it with hot water (as hot as I could bear to touch) and got rubbing.
I found a wire mesh in the garden, which I found useful for rubbing against; but just stirring, rubbing and wringing the fabric in the water worked pretty well too.

Just as I started to panic, because if anything the hat seemed to get bigger, it started to get smaller.
The fabric feels lovely and thick and soft.

It fits my husband perfectly. Handsome, eh?!

Sunshine International Blankets of Love - SQUARES PROJECTS

Don't know what to do with your left-over yarn and have some time to make some squares?

Sunshine International Blankets of Love is on the look-out for 6x6" squares for a number of projects.
There is the 'One Heart From Around the World Challenge' and the  'Olympics London 2012 Challenge' and the 'Irish Rose Challenge' and the 'Musical Challenge' and many more ...
Follow the link below to find out more.

SIBOL CHALLENGES 2011: SIBOL CHALLENGES (THREE NEW OPTIONAL CHALLENGES).2...: Hi Everyone! Welcome to 'SIBOL Challenges!' For your information 'SIBOL' (Main Blog) 'SIBOL-The Archi...

Voyager cap

I am hoping to try knitting a voyager cap (also called sailor's cap or Machault Cap), based on a traditional 18th century pattern. I purchased this pattern from Wicked Woollens on Ravelry. The cap is knitted in a long egg-shape, felted and then doubled in on itself. My husband quite fancies the cap for himself, so it will be a surprise for him.

Mug cosies

Here are my first attempts at Kristen TenDyke's mug cosies:

With Valentines Day in mind ...

Here is my next project. (Trying to get ready for Valentines Day in time for once, rather than leaving it to the last minute!)

See the pattern for this pretty heart mug cozy on Kristen TenDyke's webpage here.

Hopefully pictures of my own cosies will follow soon ...