FO: Snowbaby

Just a quickie post today, to show you my lovely new hat. I have decided that waiting for decent light will mean waiting forever, so apologies about the photo quality.

Pattern: Snowbaby Hat by Eskimmimi (rav link)

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in Purple (#13) and Off-White (#16). It should be knit in DK but I fell for that purple.

Bought at: Create Cafe, Ilkley, still probably my favourite yarn shop of all time.

Needles: 3.75mm 60cm KnitPro Interchangeables. Needed to go down to this size from the recommended 4mm to get guage.

After a false start where I measured my gauge but decided it would do [massive error => massive hat], this second attempt went much better. I heartily recommend it as a first project in Fair Isle, as there are no long strands on the back so no need to figure out the complexities of weaving vs. twisting, and of course only two colours - though I did manage to get myself in a twist! A clear and well-written pattern meant I could use my brainpower to learn the stranding, not deciphering.

I am mightily happy with the result: lovely and cosy, butt he fabric is still sufficiently flexible despite my mucking about with the yarn size. I am so happy with it that when OH asked if he might have one knitted for him, I didn't fret about how much knitting should get done before Christmas or get too cross about the lovely scarf I knitted him last year that he has LOST, and just said, 'as long as you take me to the yarn shop'. More on that story later...

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair 2011

I was glad to go to Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair 2011, though now I have been three years on the bounce I think it may be time to have a year off. Don't get me wrong, it's still incredibly inspiring and full of as much craft stuff as I might ever need; it's just that I totally forgot to take photos while I was actually in the place, felt a bit ill and a bit claustrophobic. So yes, sorry, not one photo of an awesomely artistic quilt or crazy knitted fashion project, just photos of my haul.

First a parade of sock yarn. We have some Daffodil by Bar T'at yarns (available from Create Cafe, Ilkley) which will probably become some sort of spring shawl / scarf, possible for Mother's Day. The ZigZag ball is destined to become socks, hopefully skew socks [knitty, ravelry] for myself, but we shall see who else asks for socks before the year is out! The last ball of dark blues is what my mum asked for some legwarmers in. God only knows why I didn't point her in the direction of chunky yarn, but I have made my bed and must now lie in it.

And then the parade of cross stitch kits. The bookmarks are definitely for me, the other flowers may become Mother's Day presents and the little ones are probably going to be framed or something as part of Mum's birthday. It does seem like my mum is destined to do rather well out of my crafting in the coming months, but I guess that's her reward for taking me!

Too Big, Too Small, Just Right.

Accidentally left it rather long between posts, oopsie. This is mainly because the knitting has been a bit up and down lately. Well, mainly down. I've had one hat too big...

one hat too small...

and one hat just right that I keep forgetting to photograph whenever I see the friend I gave it to. Though on the up side, Lauriel is progressing nicely (with help from Steph!) and I have some fabby stripey socks.

Ahhhh toasty toeses! Hoping for some good posts in the coming days, I have been doing a lot of stuff that isn't knitting and have a massive pile of nearly finished objects to crack on with. I will go and do that now, catch you soon!

What I've been doing lately... again.

It has been a while, hasn't it? I apologise. I've been under the weather. Had a ton of work to do. The ususal. A lot has happened, but sadly it is getting to that time of year when I have to be a bit careful and not tell you about any Christmas presents I'm making.

First up in things that have progressed is Lauriel. Look, she's almost there! Cardigan-shaped! Sleeves! Can actually try it on!

Sadly, the next thing is picking up for the button bands when there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth so I have been procrastinating that.

Next on the list is some gloves to match a hat (Woolly Wormhead's QL Slouch) from the remaining yarn. Since I loved knitting the hat and I generally love knitting mittlets, they knit up a treat.

Don't get too attached though. They're being frogged as I'm a) 1g short of yarn to do the second one and b) they're a little tight. Attempts to acquire more yarn have so far failed. A G&T tonight and they will be frogged, to wait for a day with more decisive-ness.

I also had a minor disaster with a sock (the fab self-striping ones photographed poorly here). Just turned the heel, popped it in my handbag to do on the bus and horror of horrors- one dpn has pulled out completely. The one with all the heel stitches on. So now I need to rescue that and crack on with it.

So, after having a few minor knitting disasters this week, I knitted a hat for this poor fellow over the weekend.

It is a very basic hat and I knit it in under 24 hours from stash yarn (from the Box of Yarn That Doesn't Exist i.e. is full of low-grade DK or odds & ends). Clearly I did something odd with the decrease rate but I like the result given that I made it up as I went along. And the recipient has been suitably grateful which makes the whole endeavor worthwhile.

Loop, London

I went to Cambridge for a Summer School, stayed in a lovely college, ate lots of food and slept very little. But mostly this was really hard work for 11 days with one and a half days off in the middle. The half day was spent punting...

... and of course knitting. So on my full day off I wanted to do something that was very much not summer school-related, very much not in Cambridge. So I went all the way to London town, met up with the lovely Sophie who whisked me away to somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time now.

Loop London. Yes, it's lovely window display does have woodland-creature-related art on it. And like many a knitter before me, I stepped in to a little woolly haven.

This was an excellent way to leave the stress of the previous week and the hustle-and-bustle of London that my inner Northerner still has issues with and just think about knitting. There was a lot of really lovely yarn [bottom photo] - I mean the £10-£15/skein sock yarn, which I love - but there was also decent yarn more suitable for a beginner (under £5/ball DK). I got some of each...

100g Malabrigo sock in Impressionist Sky. Will probably make something for my mum, as she loves that sort of colour. Probably not socks, it's too pretty! I did spend a long time squeezing the Wollmeise but this colour spoke to me.

This one is really much much greener than this, but my camera will not do it justice. 50g of Rico Cotton DK, probably for making some little mittletts or something. As yet unsure, mainly bought because I loved the colour.

Overall, Loop is a brilliant yarn shop and was in a good area with plenty of cafes and other interesting shops, walking distance from King's Cross (but probably not with luggage!) and an excellent selection of yarn. Heartily recommended!

What's on my needles

I have realised in all my excitement of travelling to the four corners of Britain, it has been a fair while since I have mentioned what I'm actually knitting. And this is because, for the lat month, it has been dominated by one item: Lauriel.

I am a lot in love with this pattern and apart from some teething problems with the rib at the start has flowed off my needles (as I mentioned a while ago). Except, it has been a very busy month and so it is not getting the attention it deserves. Much progress was made during my working from Scotland days, but this stalled as I reached Cambridge and the ribbing at the bottom of the body. I have come to the simple conclusion that I have the wrong number of stitches which is why the ribbing won't work, have fudged accordingly and need to see how it turns out.

Meanwhile, I needed something to do in the seminars I attended in Cambridge. Socks were an obvious solution.

My coursemates were supportive and maybe a little impressed with my skills over the fortnight (I did only get in about an hour a day, with note-taking). I was wondering if I could come up with a decent name for the project and when I asked my neighbour she said unhesitatingly 'The Sanity Socks'. After all, what is better for keeping your head during ten 12-hour days plus a half-day Saturday than some self-striping socks?

When I was at home for a few days and needed some knitting for while I was catching up with Torchwood (still very behind though, tsk!), I picked up my first ever knitted thing: the Garter Stitch Scarf. Last year I decided it was too short to be useful, so grabbed some extra wool in an end-of-line sale to make it useful again. As the weather begins to turn colder, I fear I may need it sooner rather than later!

I will probably have more exciting travel stories when I next write. Until next time x

Culross

Today I have been in classes from 9am to 9pm for the fifth day in a row, and my brain is fried. It is too fried to sort out Lauriel which I keep messing up. Too fried to play pool. Definitely too fried to do any of the massive pile of work that is lurking just out of my eyeline. So as that is all no fun at all and I could do with some escape, I'm going to write about another of Scotland's tourist attractions I went to this month; Culross (pronounced coo-ros).

It is a lovely old village that much of has been protected by the National Trust for Scotland - and it is easy to see why, it is too cute. We pottered round the manor house (called the Palace, a little optimistically!) and had a brilliant tour of the village which I learned loads on. And then we had tea and cake, of course.

The manor house - built 1626! - is a fab shade of yellow and contains all kinds of crafty treats (I did take a couple of shots before remembering that NTS properties are ususally no photos allowed, oops!). There is still a little of the original paint on the walls/ceiling in a couple of the rooms, and the paintings are really beautiful. The Culross Needlework Guild has done a ton of work in there, it was absolutely stunning, especially in the Garden Room (that was deffo no photos!).

The whole place grew up on a clever mining scheme that got coal out from under the Forth, in the 16th and 17th centuries. The good stuff they sold and the poorer quality coal was used for turning the salty Firth of Forth waters into salt. It was eventually flooded in a severe storm but at low tide, you can still see the old harbour wall and the borehole (circled in red) they used to send the miners down in (nb. it doesn't have a train service (freight-only line) but I did see buses and the car parking was easy and free).

And I hear it was on Coast a long time ago. Clearly a program of excellent taste, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I heartily recommend it, especially if the hurly-burly of Edinburgh during the festival is finally driving you mad - it is less than an hour away and so relaxing.