Catch Up

Sorry I’ve been a little quiet over the holiday period but been a bit hectic here. Hope you’ve all had a good time.

I’ll try and catch up. There was a lot of knitting going on over the Christmas break; plus I have a few projects I couldn’t show you as they were Christmas presents.

Starting off…. Hats

I initally made a Kernmantle hat for my Mum for Christmas. The pattern is a Woolly Wormhead one. Being a green kind of girl, she got Rowan Creative Focus Worsted in New Fern. Ravelry project page

It worked out perfectly and it suited me so I thought I’d make myself one in the recommended yarn.

Unfortunately, I learnt a lesson about swatching, even if you’re using the same hat pattern and needle size. The Malabrigo Merino Worsted behaved very differently to the Creative Focus. I thought since they both had a good proportion of wool there wouldn’t be much difference. I was wrong.

Upon blocking, the Malabrigo completely relaxed and grew hugely. I’ve added shirring elastic to the inside of the brim, so that it is wearable but it does make the hat far more slouchy than intended. Ravelry Project page.

The third hat off the needles was the Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL 2014 which I finally got finished. Ravelry project page.

The yarn is Deeply Wicked by easyknits in Cranberry Kiss. I really, really love this yarn. The colour is just so vibrant and just so happens to go well with my Pop Spots shawl. Plus it seems to match nicely with my purple Christmas hair.

I have a fabulous new camera, which is just heaven to use. I can even connect it to my phone and use that as a remote control which helped a lot with this picture.

Well, that’s caught up with the hats. I’ll come back another day for the next instalment.

Hats

The Woolly Wormhead Mystery Knitalong 2014 has started. I started mine as soon as it was out on Saturday morning – didn’t have a lot of knitting time Saturday but it was done by lunch on Sunday. I won’t post a picture, as I know some people like the surprise. If you are interested in seeing the progress so far then follow this link.

I think for a second there, I may have forgotten about the Mystery Hat Knitalong. It’s got a bit colder recently here and I was thinking about my winter wardrobe – so I thought I could knit a warm winter hat. Ahem… so bought yarn, then remembered I was already going to be making one! Oh well, they’re different colours, so I will have two new hats!

The pattern I’ve used is Kernmantle – another Woolly Wormhead pattern. I just takes one 100g skein of yarn for the largest size. I’ve used Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Vaa for this one. It's a beautiful deep bottle green colour which is quite hard to capture in the photograph.

Stripes

Sirdar’s Heart & Sole sock yarn is really lovely. I’ve made a pair of socks before. They’ve just brought out a new colour palette and the stripes aren’t quite as thick.

I used the Clever Clogs colourway (love the names of the colours – there is also a Pigeon Toes colour! I may just have to knit this just for the name).

I made a Puerperium by Kelly Brooker quite awhile ago from the free DK version. This time I used the Beyond Puerperium pattern, which covers 4 ply, DK and worsted weight and up to 2 years. I made it in 4 ply and size 45cm / 18” chest.

Again I used the mismatched buttons, which I think works wonderfully with striped yarn. It’s a great pattern and I definitely see another one in my future! Ravelry Project Page

I’m doing Woolly Wormhead’s Mystery Hat Knitalong this year. I particularly like this KAL because each clue is in bitesize pieces and doesn’t take up too much knitting time from other things. Anyone else doing it?

I’m using the Deeply Wicked by Easy Knits that I bought at Yarndale.

I’ve done my swatch. I went up to a 3mm and I’m very close to gauge - 30 1/2 sts x 42 1/2 rows. In the introduction, there is a very useful chart provided just in case your gauge is off – to guide you to the correct size.

The other project on my needles – or should I rephrase that “one” of my other projects – is another shawl in Fine Donegal. A friend saw the one I made here and wants two making – so that’s going to keep me busy for awhile. I just love the subtlety of colour in the yarn.

Aren’t those big dumpling balls of Fine Donegal just gorgeous?