TwitKnitClub Update

Quick update on my TwitKnit project:
House of Fraser came up with the goods and I purchased a solid turquoise is from Rowan, which is called Creative Focus and a striped yarn, which is Patons Colourful Twist.

I cast(ed)-on on Thursday evening, starting with the beret brim, which is a double layer of 1x1 rib to give the correct structure when wearing it. I did that part in record time because I was so eager to get onto the actual entrelac.  Boy, I was not disappointed!  Entrelac is so fun and easy to knit and as a result, I have already done the base triangles and two rows of blocks, which definitely gives a good idea of what the finished beret will look like.

Finally, the good people of Lion Brand Yarn got in touch having read my previous post(!), to say that you can buy Lion Brand products in the UK from Banyan Tree Yarns.  Thanks guys! Now that's customer service (sorry I'd already bought the yarn for this project!)!

Twitknitclub Round 3

The Twitknitclub theme for autumn is hats!  I want to do something that will help to develop a new skill and I've decided that it shall be entrelac!  My plan is to knit this gorgeous beret from the Lion Bran Yarn website.

 

I've already hit a snag before starting in that it calls for two yarns that are made by Lion Brand, which isn't a brand you can get in the UK unless you order from their website, which would be expensive and slow (and I'm far too impatient!). So I need to visit the magical House of Fraser haberdashery department this evening to find: a) one plain coloured aran yarn and b) one striped aran yarn, ideally in complementary colours and at least partially natural fibres. 

You'd think that this would be simple, but not a single shop in Leamington could come up with the goods yesterday lunchtime!

I'm really looking forward to learning entrelac.  As you can see, it involves knitting blocks in different directions to create an effect of woven strips. I think I understand this process in principle, but I am intriguesd as to the practicalities of it. I will try to blog fairly regularly to keep you informed of my progress...

International bootee trafficker

I always keep my word and here, as promised, is a post containing tiny knitted things for tiny people!

These bootees are a slight modification on Saartje Knits' lovely pattern.

They are so fun and easy to knit that by now I've probably made these six or seven times for various babies of my acquaintance and there are some bits that I've changed for my own convenience or for a particular effect.  For example, the blue bootees have a single stripe of darker blue rather than having a different colour for the whole of the top section.  The orange bootees were self-striping sock-yarn anyway so I knitted them all in the same yarn.

The blue bootees are made of merino wool and are for Marley, who lives in Mexico.  I made them slightly larger as he may not want to wear them until he comes back to the UK to visit us at Christmas!

The orange bootees are for Jeremy, who lives in The Netherlands.  I liked that they were a bit orange (patriotic), but not overwhelmingly so! Jeremy is one-month-old today so has teeny-tiny bootees made of sock yarn.

Grandpa's birthday scarf success!

Well, last night I had a lovely chat with my Grandpa who had called to thank me for the scarf I knitted for his birthday.  He was really pleased.  I am a happy granddaughter!

Babies are lovely to knit for; I enjoy the teeny-weeny knitting and the fact that you can make things so quickly, but they aren't appreciative of the hard work (though their parents may be) and you must resign yourself that your masterpiece will probably have sick or wee on it by the end of the day! So there are definite advantages knitting for grown-ups and last night's phone-call is one of them!

That said, I have been rather busy this last week making tiny things for tiny people, so stay tuned for a post of pure cuteness coming-up soon!

Grandpa's birthday scarf

I am back! I've actually been here all along apart from brief trips to Woodlarks and Belgium (for the Grand Prix and a bit of sight-seeing, not to mention eating and drinking!)

All along, I have been frantically knitting away at my Grandpa's birthday scarf.  The deadline was a) his 89th birthday, which is on Monday and b) the oncoming winter, which seems to be making its presence felt, particularly this week!

The scarf has been quite fun to knit, but like the other scarf I did for my Granny for Christmas (a lacy number in gorgeous Rowan Kidsilk Haze) it seems to have taken forever to complete!  To keep myself from going mad with boredom I have had to do lots of smaller projects in between knitting it, so I'm quite relieved to have finally finished (and just in time!).

I'm really pleased with the herringbone pattern.  The designer used a slightly smoother yarn resulting in a higher definition of pattern, but I think that using the alpaca gives a lovely subtle tweedy look and will also be  toasty warm!