More finished knits.

Well, another month has passed and I've managed to do a fair amount of knitting. When I sat down today though to make the list to see what I've done I discovered that out of the five things finished only one of them was for me, and that's something that I'm not very satisfied with, but I'll get onto that later. First the details;


Number one is the Alhambra scarf (Ravelry link) by Anne Hanson. Quite a few of these have been made by people on Ravelry and there were a couple in particular that really caught my eye, and as luck would have it I had some of the very same yarn in my stash. Jo Sharp's Alpaca Silk Georgette was the choice in a shade of green called Sprig which is a bit out of the ordinary for me and as soon as I started knitting with it I decided I probably wouldn't make much use of it so a gift it has become for my Mum.


The second item was slated to be Mum's mother's day present from the beginning. It was finished a little late and although it was finished on 17 May I've only just managed to get it ready to be put in the post tomorrow. Luckily I have a very patient and understanding Mum! The Stolen Moments Wrap is a fairly simple pattern, very easy to memorise, and yet still possible to make mistakes, many of which I am afraid to say I have made and left in the finished piece. I got lazy and didn't try and fix what I think are plainly visible but I think that to anyone who looks at it in passing, they're not going to notice anything (at least I hope not). I've given Mum instructions to return it to me if she thinks that the mistakes are noticable and I'll frog it and start again. I used Rowan Cocoon, which is a very nice lush yarn I'm looking forward to using again in the near future.

Number three and four projects were much more successful. The Blackberry Cowl is a cute pattern, very quick to complete, and Kim Hargreave's Robin hat is also very cute. I talked about them in my previous post so I won't say any more about them here.


Finally, the other project I finished in May was Ysolda Teague's Grown-up booties (Ravelry link again). Again, these were very quick and easy to make but I'm not all that satisfied with the outcome. Due to my lack of experience in seaming (I'm still a fairly new knitter I have to keep reminding myself) I couldn't get the nice rounded look to the toes like Ysolda does, hence a very boxy, square looking pair of slippers. On top of that the light grey colour ended up being a bit boring so I headed off to the shops to try and find some interesting buttons (no easy task let me tell you!). I managed to find something big and chunky to fit the bill and so I have myself some cosy slippers.

So there it is, five more finished pieces for the year. Needless to say there has been other knitting in the works during May and hopefully they will feature in the June round up, with much happier and satisfying outcomes!! Until then, happy knitting to all!!

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.)

Yes, I'm wearing a beret!

I would never have thought of myself as someone who wears berets, but now I've made myself one I'll just have to see if it ever gets worn!! Being new to knitting I thought that I should start with quick, simple patterns and so this one appealed to me, being a Jo Sharp pattern and all. It was fun to make and I would consider making another one in the future so I guess that's a positive sign. I'm starting to get more adventurous now though and have bought some beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed to make Kim Hargreave's Dusk, a nice simple wrap around cardigan. I'm very much looking forward to my Finishing Class tomorrow so that I can get that extra information that I need to help my confidence in getting something finished to a wearable standard....more updates later!