Knitted owl lavender bags (and a Merry Christmas!)...

Well amazingly my house is clean and tidy (well as tidy as it ever will be), presents are wrapped and my to do list is pretty much ticked off...so I thought I'd treat myself by writing a quick blog post to share one of my recent knitting projects with you! I was sure I would have to wait until after Christmas to get this up as it feels like life has been moving at 100mph recently.

These knitted lavender bags are a Christmas gift for my Nana and the first pattern I have ever followed. They were just too sweet to not make! As the owls were coming together I kept thinking while I was knitting the stocking stitch something just wasn't quite right about it. It was only when I moved onto knitting a scarf that I realised that I had actually been knitting through the back of each stitch for the whole of this project. Oops! It would seem right now that anything I knit has at least one quirk to it but often multiple!

Knitting pattern - Owl lavender bag from Cute and Easy Knitting (there is so much I want to knit from this book!)
Yarn - Sirdar Country Style DK
New techniques tried and learnt - following a pattern, increasing and decreasing stitches, mattress stitch...and I guess knitting through the back of a stitch ;)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year - my friends write a wonderful and inspiring blog called Saltwater and Honey. Lizzie has written a beautiful post about why Christmas was never meant to be perfect...this time of year isn't always easy and sometimes the pressure can build up around getting everything ready, anyway, I would really recommend reading it...click here.!

Merry Christmas, see you in 2015!

Choices, choices, choices...

I'm loving my current Christmas knitting frenzy and hope to have a few things to show for it soon - I'm just finishing up some cute owl lavender bags and am about halfway through a scarf at the moment. I still have a couple of other things I'd like to knit before Christmas so here's hoping I've not been too unrealistic about my abilities!

Despite my current projects I can't help but jump ahead to what I'd like to knit after Christmas...a baby blanket for our baby! I'm due in February so I'll need to crack on if I'm going to finish the blanket in time...I just can't decide what pattern I like most! I feel quite confident now with the basic stitches so I want to choose something that will challenge me a little, whilst it still being a project I can easily complete - I know there will be tears if I get halfway through the blanket and realise I've made a mess of it!

Here are my current front runners -

I do love my chevrons, especially in the form of this cute blanket by Espace Tricot, the pattern can be found here on Ravelry.

I like the idea of having a go at using multiple colours but this blanket by Nancy Hearne is so lovely in it's simplicity.

This was the first blanket that caught my eye, mainly because in my complete amateur knitting brain I imagined that a 'holey' blanket would be quicker to knit??!! Please tell me if that's true! It's by Pickles but there are quite a few questions in the comments to clarify the pattern so I'm not sure this should be the blanket I make with my time limit!

We don't know whether we're having a boy or girl so I want to make sure it would suit either - I'm thinking I'll go with shades of turquoise and grey.

I would love to here what you think about these patterns - especially those of you who knit and have an idea on how achievable these would be for me! Also - please do share any favourite baby blanket patterns that you have!

A very out of season knitting update...

Summer is here and so is my scarf! Truth is, I actually finished it not long after I posted my last update but it was already too warm for me to wear it...so it sat in my knitting bag until I finally tidied the ends. So at least I'm prepared for next winter!

It's so snuggly, I love chunky scarves. I used two balls of mega chunky Sirdar Denim Ultra in Starling. The neutral colour will go perfectly with all my coats.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, the stitches are pretty even, although it did get a little loose around where I started the second ball of yarn. Also next time I make a scarf I want to look at doing a fringe finish, I'm not so keen on how blunt the ends are. But I really enjoyed knitting it and it's the first piece of knitting I have ever finished! I've moved on to a couple of new projects, including the aforementioned blanket! I felt daunted about such a big project but it's actually the perfect chance for me to try out different stitches and work on my technique. I've done 5 squares so far, they're definitely not perfect but I'm hoping the practice will help - I have a feeling it will be a looong time before this is finished!

Out of all the stitches I've tried so far the moss stitch is my favourite...so I got distracted and decided to make a cushion cover to match a beautiful throw we were given at Christmas! Sadly a few other things have had to take priority recently but I'm hoping to finish it soon :)

Hopefully there will be more knitting updates making an appearance on the blog soon...do you knit? I would love to hear what projects you have on the go!

Happy Monday!

Knitting update (take 2)...

So things have been very quiet on the knitting front since my last update in... oh, October! It was mainly due to the fact that I got bored with what I was knitting. Pink is not really a colour I would automatically go to, it was just some yarn I had inherited. I do want to finish it at some point because I love the idea of knitting something for my niece (for whom pink is the go-to colour).

But I tidied up, the knitting got put away. And it was a case of out of sight, out of mind. But the other week I hosted a knitting night as part of the craft nights I help coordinate. This time I went out and chose my yarn...and went for the chunkiest yarn and some of the biggest needles available! It turns out this is the way forward for me, it comes together so quickly! I also learnt to purl stitch so I'm having a go at making a scarf with a stocking stitch.

I had a minor emergency the other night when I reached the end of my yarn...I know common sense should prevail but I had no idea how to start a new ball off! I was going to just tie the ends together but then thought that it must surely be more complicated than that. So I went for the default option - and called my Mum! Turns out it is pretty easy - Thanks Mum!

So I'm officially back on the knitting bandwagon...I hope! I've got so much further with this already. I would love to make a blanket at some point but I think a scarf is enough for me to deal with at the moment!

Knitting progress...

I'm almost 3 weeks into my latest attempt at knitting and I think the main thing to note is that I am still at it...which is about 20 days and 23 hours longer than I've lasted when I've previously tried to learn! The scarf has now become a doll's blanket for my niece since I've somehow managed to make it ridiculously wide! It's not perfect but I'm pleased with it so far - thankfully I don't think my niece will mind a slightly holey blanket!

I'm pretty very slow and things have been pretty hectic the last week so I haven't been able to spend so much time on it. But Andrew's out tonight so I'm going to sit myself down to get knitting and catch up on last night's Great British Bake Off. Have a great evening!

The time has come...

I have been wanting to learn to knit on and off for years. My main problem is my ability to concentrate on long(er) term projects...if I don't see results quickly I tend to lose focus! BUT I'm determined that this time is the time that I finally learn to knit.

So today I took myself down to Hobbycraft and then proceeded to stand cluelessly in front of the vast array of knitting needles (so many sizes!)...and then I tried to call my Mum! Alas she wasn't in, and there were no free assistants to quiz, so I picked a pair of needles at random and figured how wrong could it go?!

Today is grey and rainy in Cambridge so it's the perfect afternoon to curl up in my pjs and attempt (yet again) to master the art of knitting...wish me luck!