The more it snows, tiddly pom

The snow is turning brown, slushy and nasty in town and my walk to work each day is not much fun, but out on the hills there is still proper snow and rather deep snowdrifts. We had a great time on Saturday on Crompton Moor, although it was rather hard going at times...

So Sunday was spent firmly attached to the sofa in front of the fire and my knitting in hand. I have started on an Edith Hat, which is the prettiest patterned hat by Johanne Ländin, using Cherry Tree Hill yarn in Nantucket Red and Slate Blue.

The border starts on 2mm needles; there is something very pleasing about neat rows of tiny stitches.

Bit of Glamour

Pattern: Ribbed Shrug, from Glamour Knits by Erica Knight
Also Available as a free download from Canadian Living Online or via Ravelry.
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Chunky AL, 50% alpaca 50% Peruvian wool.
Used: 7x 50g balls
Needles: US Size 10.5 and 11 straights and 10.5 circular needles
Mods: because of the chunky yarn used, one strand only was needed to get gauge.

Loved making it, love the yarn, love the finished shrug. If here is one tiny fault with it, it's that it seems to shed hairs on everything it touches. But you can't have everything... where would you put it?

The weather has continued cold and snowy. Yesterday we had about 5 or 6 inches on top of the stuff on the ground, and the snow in the back garden is now over a foot deep. This photo was taken this morning after I'd been out to put food on the bird table and defrost the birdbath.


I went out just after to get some of the snow off the shrubs before they got crushed!

More snow, and some knitting

Rather unexpectedly, we had another 4 inches of snow today. It shows how used to snow we have become over the last couple of weeks that Rob didn't even bother to wake me to tell me that it was snowing this morning. I got up about an hour later, and there was already over an inch of fresh fallen snow. So we went out for a walk in it. Lesson 1: if you do not put your gaiters on, snow will get down your boots. Lesson 2: it is possible to fashion a set of temporary gaiters out of gaffer tape round the tops of your boots. Lesson 3: people might give your feet funny looks in the pub later when you stop for a drink on the way home.




So, it is cold and snowy outside, but inside it is warm and there is snuggly knitting. This is shortly to become the shrug from Erika Knight's Glamour Knits, done in Elsbeth Lavold Chunky AL, alpaca and wool yarn.

New Year, New Camera

Woo hoo!

Scarf with Striped Border

Pattern: Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890
From: Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby (page 80)
Yarn: Hipknits cashmere fingering weight - pressie from the sticky lovely Super Monkey, thanks!
Used: About 400m (40g)
Needles: 4.5mm
Mods: none


This is probably one of the simplest lace patterns in the whole of the Victorian Lace Today book but I think it's very pretty, and the simplicity makes it more wearable for everyday than most of the designs... although maybe not actually today, given that it is the hottest day of the year so far. I'm sure that 28 degrees would not be considered very hot at all just about anywhere else in the world, but here in north west England we are definitely not used to it. But I am not complaining, oh no, not me. It's a fine excuse for eating icecream, buying new sandals and speculating on when it might rain again.


I really don't know what I want to make next. I have been thinking about making a felted bag for my Mum, as she really admired the Booga Bag that I made a while back, and there are a lot of cute looking bag patterns about. I am tempted by Nicky Epstein's Floral Felted Bag but the lining instructions are scary. There is also nice Drops pattern with a sort of filigree crochet flap thing going on that I quite like the look of too. I shall have to have a think.

Neat

This is making me very happy indeed. It has a very simple pattern and a really neat way of joining the border sections. Hopefully will be done in less than a week, which I think could be a record.

Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890
from Victorian Lace Today

PS. I might have done something stupid. I have agreed to run next year's Race For Life in York with my sister-in-law and niece. Ha!

Corset Pullover

So, to prove that I am not a complete wastrel, I have returned as promised with my finished Corset Pullover. Despite it not being the black that I really wanted to make this in, I am very pleased with it indeed. I think it may be the first to-be-worn-by-me garment that I've ever knitted that has actually fitted me properly without needing to be vigorously blocked or stretched about. I decided to keep the arm cinch straps as I like the D-ring details and sewed them into position with a single strand of the cotton yarn, as despite my best efforts with the iron and spray starch (a new and exciting introduction into the Sheep Happens Laundry Room) they kept curling up.

I have been very impressed with the Paton's Washed Haze yarn, it is lovely to knit with, feels soft and appears to be tough as old boots. All good. If they do this in black, I would most definitely buy more to make my next Corset Pullover in.

Corset Pullover on

We are still going out walking a fair bit (armed with obligatory hayfever tablets, insect repellant and a goodly amount of balsam tissues) and I have decided to try and make a note of some of the interesting nature around me. Like pretty flowers. I shall be attempting to post photos and identify things, using my not-very-handy-weighs-a-tonne book of the countryside. If you see that I have got something very obviously very wrong, it doesn't really matter but you can feel free to leave a comment letting me know if you want :)

Yellow Flag (iris) growing in (disused) Hollinwood Branch Canal