Gift knitting

You've got to love it when your gift knitting is appreciated!
This past week I've been busily knitting a neck warmer and beret for a family member's 30th birthday. Seeing as she lives in Melbourne I thought a couple of hand knitted items would come in handy, and was pleased when she said how lovely they were and that all of her friends would be jealous as they all try to be cutting edge when it comes to fashion!! I'll take that as a massive compliment thank you very much ;)



The Blackberry Cowl is a nice easy knit which works up pretty quickly and the finished product looks quite impressive. I chose to use some Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in Parisian, a great looking purple. Once blocked this yarn softened up considerably and felt beautiful to the touch, it won't be a problem against a bare neck that's for sure.

I also made Kim Hargreave's Robin, a cute beret that was rather time consuming due to using a 4ply yarn and tiny needles, as well as the fact that there is a tonne of purl stitches in there. This pattern would be much more suited to being knit in the round and if I ever feel the need to make it again I will be attempting to convert the pattern to knit that way. That being said it still came up looking lovely and I did manage to complete it in record time for me. I left off the pom pom as I thought that would be a bit of over kill and I like it better without, a much simpler and cleaner finished product.


So overall I've had a satisfying knitting week. I just need to go and finish a few of the other projects that have been languishing in project bags, and also try and finish something for myself!

(Of course there are more details on my Ravelry page if you care to look there.)

A month of finishing

Now that April is finished I can do some show and tell of what has been happening knitting wise this past month. I've managed to finish a few projects and have had a few more cast on and worked on as well.

Firstly my BIG project that took me months to do, mostly because I was too chicken to try and work out how to seem the thing up, is finished, totally finished. Finally I took a deep breath and dove in. Once I got going it wasn't too bad, took me ages though and I still have a lot to learn but I now have a wearable cardigan that I made myself (very proud).
It's Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed and the pattern is from her Knit Issue 2. I have all my details in Ravelry of course.

The other projects finished this past month are all smaller items including another Jo Sharp pattern, a beanie for my brother's birthday made with Silkroad Ultra.



A nice plain garter stitch scarf made with some lovely Noro Silk Garden was also made. I started this one once I'd finished my clapotis with the left over yarn and I had to keep going as the colours were looking so nice.
Another couple of hats were finished this month too. Firstly my beginners attempt at knitting in the round with circular needles, changing to dpn's at the end. Very fiddly but I got there and am quite happy with the final product, it's Purl Beret from The Purl Bee.
I also finished a reversible hat for my nephew who's having his first birthday in a couple of weeks, it's made from the beautifully soft Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I'm hoping it fits him ok.


This month I've learnt that I can definitely get things finished if I put my mind to it and just slowly sit and work it all out. I have had a little help from friends, but that's what they're for isn't it?
I'm looking forward to finishing a few more things this month now, some more adventures to be had, yippee!