Merry New Year!

WOW! Where did December go??


I haven't blogged for a while - I've been super busy and I spent Christmas in the middle of the French countryside with no internet access (and a LOT of cheese), I promise to do better in the new year.


2011 has been a busy year for me, I went to Knit Nation and Fibre Flurry, I released 25 designs and I did a lot of knitting! I'm looking forward to 2012 - there are exciting things lined up and I can't wait to tell you about them!


Merry New Year to you all! (I'm quoting Trading Places - one of my favourite films)


I'll leave you with one of my favourite moments on 2011, an Ibiza sunset.

Van Gogh loves socks...

I haven't got enough handknit socks. Which is completely ludicrous because I spend most of my life knitting them, but many of them are samples and have to either be sent off or kept pristine for shows or events. At this very moment I'm waiting for a pair to dry on the radiator so i can wear them later.


In an attempt to rectify this I am undertaking a personal challenge to knit myself at least 8 pairs next year and I'm going to use the Opal Van Gogh yarns which are sooooooo pretty. I've knitted a monster/stripy sock for Kayla at Fibre Flurry to display in the shop (it's hard to see what these yarns will do in the ball) and I love it:





These are kind of self striping/self patterning yarns, each one is inspired by a specific Van Gogh painting and I'm going to knit plain stockinette socks with black cuffs, heels and toes.





If I had to chose a favourite (and I really do love every colour) it would be the second stripe, I love the yellows and blues.





You can see the famous Sunflowers represented here and just above it is the Starry, Starry Night. I'm notoriously bad at sticking to personal challenges but I am determined to do this one - I'll keep you updated with my progress throughout 2012!

Grellow

A hat? Or two hats?


Mittens?


Colourwork?


Stripes?

Adela Mittens

The latest pattern to be added to the Winter One collection is the Adela Mittens:







They are cabley and snuggly - just in time, I think the snow is on it's way here and it's already arrived in a lot of places around the world!







You can buy the pattern here:



The pattern includes instructions for a fingerless version too:







The cables on the left mitten mirror the cables on the right mitten and there are charts and written instructions. The yarn is The Knitting Goddess DK Silk and Falkland Merino, it's soft with a bit of shine and its a dream to knit with, I'm dreaming of a cabled cardi....



The next pattern to be added to the collection will be a matching beret, here's a sneaky peak...

Goodbye Wovember...

I'm sneeking in under the wire with this one, I meant to write about it much earlier in the month but time got away from me somewhat.....


This blog has been championing Wool this month - not only for knitting but clothes available on the high street, the Hall of Shame is an eye opening look at misleading labelling.


I visited Frome recently and the lovely Jen took me to her Local Yarn Shop where I picked up these 2 balls of proper woolly wool in natural colours...





I think it will be a hat and I will bedeck with one or more of the fantastic badges made especially for Wovember from this Etsy shop





I also picked up this set of fibre bumps from Hilltop Cloud this month, all natural colours from various breeds, they would be perfect for the Sheepheid hat but I've got the yarn for that already so I'll have to come up with something else, maybe for Wovember 2012.....





Sorry for the plastic covered photo but I want to keep them all labelled and in order - I did give them a sniff (I know I'm not the only one who sniffs fibre and yarn - I've witnessed others do the same!) and it smells so deliciously sheepy!

For The Tree....

The festive season is rapidly approaching and this is my contribution to Christmassy embellishment this year:

 For The Tree...





You can buy the pattern here





They are cute little mini-stockings, knit in the round with little short row heels and each stocking uses approx 5-6g (20-25 meters) of each colour - I used traditional red, green and white but i think they would looks great in other colour combinations - purple, grey and green are my particular favourites at the moment. There are five variations with stranded colourwork, cables and beads.





I'm knitting these as little Christmas presents this year, i might pop in a few chocolates or small girts like nail polishes for my sisters - they are addictive, I had to force myself to stop knitting different variations and get on with some other jobs that need doing!

Coming along nicely...

I'm making good progress with my spindle spinning, when I first decided to learn I had grand ideas of spinning something I could knit socks with. It took me a while to spin a fine enough single so that when it was turned in to a 3-ply yarn it resembled something like a fingering weight, but I can do that now so the next challenge was to find a fibre suitable for socks - I don't want to put in all that effort and then wear a hole in them!





I got a sample batt from HilltopCloud and had a practice, this is the result - it's only a 2ply but it's fine enough to be sock yarn if it was a 3ply. The fibre is British Shetland wool, Merino and Trilobal Nylon, the nylon will help the socks wear well, although I may use a commercial sock yarn for the high wear areas (heels & toes), it depends what yardage I get.





This is the fibre which will eventually be socks! Three different shades of pumpkin orange - 1 for each ply, these are pick n mix batts, 35g each. I'll be spinning them as soon as I've finished what I've got on my spindle at the moment....


Which is this:





Yes, it's a SAL/KAL (Spin-a-long/Knit-a-long) with the Knit Girllls - not content with joining in and committing to knitting something within a specific time frame (and mostly failing), this time I've committed to spinning some fibre AND THEN knitting it in to something within a specific time frame. Deluded. Yes.





Anyway, it's lovely fibre from Cloudlover and it's spinning up beautifully, the colours are stunning. I'm aiming for a light fingering 2ply and all I can do is AIM.....