Beaches and Birthdays

Well nearly a whole month since my last post which is very bad of me.

At the begginning of the month i went to stay wuth friends in the new forest for Fin;s 3rd birthday.
It doesnt really seem possible that he's 3 already but he is. So his mum and dad threw him the best Birthday party and then we went to the beach with the dog Milly - here are some pics of the boys on the beach:

That's Tom in the hat and Fin in the matching hat and scarf.
And this is their doglet Milly:

This weekend was home time agian for my Dad's 60th birthday party. I will add some photos but only when i get them of vic as she was ic photos.

At the mo my knitting time is wholly been taken up by my ISE5 scarf. It's going well but slowly - I am hoping it will be done by the 10th Nov - the weekend of the stitch and bitch weekend, as my sister is coming down to stay and i am hoping she will help me block it.

So not much knitting to report but there's still a bit of knitting time to go before christmas!

ISE5 On the GO!!!

My ISE5 scarf is well and truly on the go although making slow but steady progress.

This is the yarn

and this is the scarf so far - the pattern can be found here.
Progress is slow but it is getting there.

Hats Hats Hats

Recently I've knitted three hats all in the same exciting pattern - knit three, purl three. 4 Hats really if you count the one that ended up in the washing machine.

The Purple Yarn is Soft Tweed Classic Yarns in Loganberry and the grey is Rowan Cocoon in Mountain.

Both yarns are absolutely lovely to work with - The Rowan Tweed i bought from I Knit London and the classic yarns i think was a stash buy in the John Lewis Sale.

Thank you Mark for being my lovely model.

ISE5 A Gogo

Hurrah i have my ISE5 match, i have made contact with them and they have replied - i have also heard from the person knitting for me and replied to them so it's all systems go.

I think i have a yarn and pattern in my head and will give it ago this weekend to see if the yarn and the pattern suit each other.

I will post a photo a soon as i can.

Hurray i love swaps!

ISE5!

Just to let everyone know that ISE5 signups are open!
This i am very excited about as i loved ISE4 - it's super fun knitting for someone else and very exciting waiting for that parcel to arrive.

I really can not wait to be sent the details of my pal so that i can get to my LYS and get knitting!!

On a very sad note - I knitted my boyfriend Mark a lovely hat last week - unbeknown to me it had fallen into the washing basket and got washed last night, only on 30 mind but that was enough for it to shrink to the size of a hat suitable for a gnome. My sister suggested that i should felt it more and turn it into a bowl - any other suggestions?

Mark was very sad and i am knitting him a new one - putting my new winter hat on old!

Pictures to follow when i have a spare moment.

Dinosaurs

This is one of the Dinosaurs that we saw when we went to Crystal Palace a couple of weeks ago. They are huge and listed as they date from the mid 1800's. Well worth a visit.

this is one of the family of deer that live by one of the lakes - not quite as impressive as the dinosaur.

Tea Cosy's and Teddy Bears

Having not blogged for so long I'd hoped that I'd have more to show for it in finished knitting terms but sadly not.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we went to a friends wedding - as a present we bought them a teapot and i knitted them a tea cosy:


I made it out of Rowan Cotton Rope which is a particular favourite of mine. And as i had so much left over i managed to make these as well!




These are for my friends son's third birthday - as modled by my able assistant. - I've got until October 8th to sew the ends up! (This is always my worst part)

I have another hat finished and one on the go.

This Weekend

So this weekend Mark and I went up to Manchester for the wedding of two of our greatest friends from University. It was a beautiful weekend and we were very lucky with the wether.

So we came back via my mum and dads (not really onroute) but it was very good to see them.
One reason to go back that way was to pick blackberries to attempt to make blackberry vodka (along the lines of sloe gin, well infact exactly the same receipe).






1 1/2 pints Vodka,
3 oz granulated sugar
1lb Blackberries

leave for 3 months in a dark room and hope for the best.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

ISE4

Yesterday i found out that my pal, the lady that i knitted for in the International Scarf Exchange had nominated me to be a 5 Star Pal! As you can guess i am so very pleased that my pal was so delighted with her scarf that she felt she could nominate me for this!

Am chuffed to bits.

What did they turn out to be?

I am sure that you have all been waiting with bated breath as to what the pink bit of knitting was going to turn out to be below well here you are - no need to keep guessing.

First of all they knitted up to be these:

And just for scale (and comedy value):

And then the washed up to be these:

This is my very first go at felting and i must say i am quite pleased. they did knit up reasonably fast but did take 4 goes in the washing machine to get them to fit.

They are made from Lopi Roving yarn, 100% Icelandic wool details of which can be found here.

They do make my feet look ever so slightly like pixie feet!

Home for the weekend

I went back to see my mum and dad last weekend and what better gift to take them than some home made profiteroles! i am still getting used to our oven which as far as i am concerned is temperamental and unpredictable, but the out come was successful and thoroughly enjoyed.



Fill with cream and serve with chocolate sauce.

My Current Knitting Project

I was very excited to have a day off the other week which happily coincided with the John Lewis sale so i was able to add to my yarn stash.



I bought some lovely Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton and am happily knitting this scarf. I am hoping that it will be cool enough for summer nights (if we get some summer) and warm and soft to wear in the winter as well.

New addition to the flat!

As we can't have a cat at the moment as we are living in a rented flat, we decided to get a plant with a bit of character, and here he is - Boris (mark named him) from B and Q.



He seems to be settling in well!

The Knitting Guru is Coming To Stay

This weekend my big sister Victoria is coming to stay!
We intend to visit the many lovely knitting shops in London including I Knit London and Loop.

Now i have never been to Loop before so that's a new one for me, but I Knit is the most glorious knitting shop that i have been to. It's delightfull setting in Bonnigton Square, Vauxhall is just lovely and stocks a brilliant range of yarn as well has having very friendly staff who are very happy to help with any knitting conundrums.

I promise to post again after the weekend with some highlights of our adventures!

The Scarf i Received From my ISE4 Pal

I thought that i would share with you the scarf that i received from my ISE4 Pal.

This scarf is such a pleasure to wear and i have had many compliments. Thank you Doreen!!
She also sent me some lovely green yarn that i am going to make an Irish Hiking Scarf out of and some lovely soap and lavender.

International Scarf Exchange 4

My most recent knitting project was The International Scarf Exchange 4 (link at the side of the page). This was so much fun. Basically you fill in a questionnaire that is sent to a pal and you get sent another pal's questionaire and then you Knit them a scarf. It truly is wonderful being able to create a scarf for your pal. The lady that i knitted for lives all the way over in America. Unfortunatley i never heard from my pal so a Scarf Angel came to my rescue and sent my the most wonderful shawl.

The exchange is so much fun as you never know what you are going to get!

All things new and knitty

Hello, right well this is my first post on to my new blog. Primarily i am going to use this blog to tell the world about my love of knitting. I think i will also use it to keep a record of bits and things that happen along the way. So please enjoy.