In the Making...

Just tying up a few loose ends here. These are few projects from the last couple of months that I haven't talked about much. Remember this big Pile O' Knits , I'll show you a few that were in that pile. The first is made from Paulina Popiolek 's Orion Belt pattern, made from Katia Kiss. I really enjoyed this one. Even though it looks complicated, the majority is TV knitting, i.e. mainly knit and purl so I can watch TV at the same time. The Katia Kiss has a luster to it, so quite an interesting shawl in the end. I love the little celtic knots. Kiss Orion project page . Secondly, a Bandana Cowl - Purl Soho , made from just 1 ball of Rowan Cocoon. I loved the Cocoon, it's very soft and squidgy. Cocoon Bandana project page . Finally, the sweetest little Grampa cardigan. The pattern is Gramps  by tincanknits , made from Rowan Felted Tweed Aran. I love the little details of the pockets and the elbow patches. The blurb for the pattern is brilliant...

The reindeer jumpers are finished. You may remember, I blogged about them. Well, now I have two very cute jumpers. The phrase that keeps coming to mind for the little one is "mini me".  Both have little pompom noses, but it's the reverse of the jumpers which is the best! That's two little people with their wardrobe ready for Christmas.

After making this mug for when I'm at ceramics and enjoying it so much; I thought I'd make another for when I'm at A Good Yarn . We all had a lovely trip to Yarndale , so I've used the wonderful sheep logo as my inspiration. There's a sheep on both sides. The biggest challenge was to try and match the colours because they are different before they are fired, compared to the finished result. Not exact but I'm very happy with it. Of course, I have how I like my coffee on the mug. Here it is, just in case you want to make me a coffee! A little "funny" that I made this week, my version of a heavily sealed envelope.

Ducks.... Socks... And one very cute reindeer! Perhaps, I should say a little more than that. The ducks are from Mary Jane Mucklestone's 150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs  and I'm designing a sock around it. I did Mary Jane's workshop  recently and was inspired to try some patterns out.There will be some gansey-like texture in there and at least two rows of ducks. It's been frogged a bit because I keep changing my mind. There's a good chance when you see it next time, they'll look different again. The socks are made with Regia Design Line by Erika Knight  and made for giant feet.  They're plain vanilla socks that I carry around with me, so they don't get as much knitting time in one go. One Christmas present down....so many more to go. And the reindeer is the start of a King Cole Christmas jumper . When he's finished, he'll have a lovely red pompom for his nose. I need to make two though. The one in the picture is...

The lovely Nicsknots  is doing a great competition called " How much do you have in your project bag? ". I thought it was a fab idea for a blog post. Embarrassingly, I think my answer is "A shocking amount!". I don't think I've ever gotten everything out at once and I was stunned on just how much I had. Recently, I've been using a small Cath Kidston Tote that was a Christmas present. I like it because it has a firm base and sits where it's put. This is the bag I grab when I'm going out, whether it be to Knit and Natter, visiting family, road trip etc. Cath Kidston project bag Can you believe all this was in that small bag? There's my Nicsknots Miya bag (which contains a secret project, so I won't show you) and my Nicsknots notions case, which I blogged about here . Micro scales for weighing yarn. Some embroidery threads and snips. A teaspoon! No idea why. Bag of yarn ends. I save these for a friend who knots th...

Last week, I ventured off to Baa Ram Ewe in Harrogate for a Scandinavian Knitting workshop with Mary Jane Mucklestone. After a scrummy lunch at Wagamama. I wandered down to the shop. I've been to the one at Leeds plenty of times but not yet had a chance to go to the Harrogate shop. The shop was gorgeous. It was very light and a riot of colour. Details for the shops here . The workshop was held downstairs in the basement and it really was fantastic. Mary Jane was lovely and very knowledgeable. She'd brought all the samples from the book, 150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs and it was really interesting to see and feel what they were like. The main parts of the workshop were learning No Purl Garter Stitch in the round and Norwegian Purl. I normally work stranded knitting with a yarn in each hand, but under Mary Jane's guidance had a go at trying both yarns in my left hand. I think it'll take some practice to get it right but it is always good to have another way o...

I've been a bit quiet for the last couple of weeks because I've been on holiday in Yorkshire. We were really lucky with the weather and had a lovely time. Here is the view from our cabin -  I've never seen so many varieties of mushroom in one place We visited Whitby, York and Rievaulx Abbey. The abbey was amazing but I didn't take my camera that day, so sorry no pictures. I did take it when we went to Whitby and the abbey there though. Whitby Abbey Whitby Abbey Here's a couple of my favourites photos -  Morning Dew Whitby Beach I took lots and lots of photos so Mr occupied himself balancing stones on the beach. He'd seen Adrian Gray  on BBC's Coast programme doing this and it was absolutely incredible. Pop over and look because they really are incredible. Seemed to defy gravity, so he had a go in miniature.