All I Want Is A Tiger Hat For Nickmas

They say that Nickmas comes but once a year... well Chez Us it does, in any case. My brother in law, Nick, has been away in Tasmania for 6 months. Apparently Christmas over the barbeque rocked, but it just wasn't the same as Christmas in the UK (cold, usually rainy, everyone asleep by 5pm because we've eaten so much). So we had Christmas last week - since it was in his honour, we named it especially for Nick - NICKMAS.

It turned out to be the best idea ever. Having not seen them over Christmas proper, we had gifts for Nick and his girlfriend, but we got tokens for the rest of the family (just so's everyone had something to open). There was a tree up, mulled wine (produced from two slo-cookers by myself and the famous FIL), and a full on roast turkey dinner. It was the coolest thing ever, everyone loved it.

My gift from my fabulous P was a ball of wool - often I have said I have the best husband ever, see how thoughtful he is (and how he foolishly feeds my addiction). Fortunately for him, he picked a ball in a colour he actually liked and would wear, so I knat him a hat. It's a simple 2/2 rib over 120 stitches on 5mm DPNs (P has a head like a small planet). I was delighted with how the self striping yarn worked out - I've called it the Tiger Hat as it's vaguely tiger striped. Yet to try it on P (in the picture it is modelled by the lovely me), hopefully it'll fit and keep his head warm!

Scarf For FIL

There has been knitting in my house of late, although the regularity of blog posts does not reflect that. Just when I think I might actually get through a project, another one crops up... and this one genuinely wasn't due to my usual fickleness.

I was commissioned by my father in law (FIL) to knit him a scarf - despite the fact that we're now pretty much in Springtime here, the temperature thinks it's still winter, and the poor man has been suffering with a heavy dose of flu for about 3 weeks. So he wanted a scarf, to protect his neck (as scarves are designed to do). My only instructions were that it was to match his jacket (which is a kind of reddish brown).

I invested a full 3.00 in some acrylic nastiness which was in the sale - but it is aran denim acrylic, and actually feels a lot nicer and softer than usual cheap wool. Sadly my local yarn shop has closed down, and my only other option is a horribly expensive haberdashery - superb for nice baby knits or stuff you've actually slaved over and intend to wear as much as possible, but bad for cheap scarf wool.

I invented the pattern with the raised diamonds, and being a generous soul - here it is:

Yarn: James C. Brett Denim with Wool Aran - 80% acrylic, 20% wool
Needles: 6mm plastic needles (no idea where they came from)

Pattern:
C/o 20 stitches (I held 2 strands together)
Knit 3 rows garter stitch.
Purl 1 row.
Knit 1 row.
Pattern stitch:
Row 1. P9, k2, P9
Row 2. (and all alternate rows) K
Row 3. P7, K2, P2, K2, P7
Row 5. P5, K2, P6, K2, P5
Row 7. P3, K2, P10, K2, P3
Row 9. P1, K2, P14, K2, P1
Row 11. Repeat Row 7
Row 13. Repeat Row 5
Row 15. Repeat Row 3
Row 17. Repeat Row 1
Knit 1 row.
Repeat these 18 Rows until scarf is required length.
Purl 1 row
Knit 3 rows garter stitch.
Cast off.

I blocked it, but it still curls inward slightly on the wrong side as stockinette is wont to do. Doesn't worry me, I like it. Hopefully FIL will too.

Superted!

There are many things in life I'm happy for. P, my house, my job, my enormous CD collection, stuff like that. Today, I'm happy for the Superted I knitted! Here he is, in all his Super 8 inch high glory.

P must talk about my knitting at work - I don't generally make him stuff, I'm aware that he needs to remain pretty cool at all times (what with running a record shop and all) so I don't generally bless him with knitted gifts. Anyway, he must've spoken about it to his boss, and she gave him the pattern for Superted (out of a magazine or paper or something, I've only got the one page so I have no idea where it came from). I made him with yarn from the stash (acrylic nasty DK on 5mm needles), so he didn't cost me a penny - I even had the stuffing (and still I am left with a huge amount of stuffing... must make more Superteds!). He will soon be flying off to join P as the shop's mascot!

Tiny Clothes for Tiny People

I made a hat and booties (so far) for my friend Soph's baby. I am planning a jumper to match (in the cable pattern), which I'm intending to cast on, as soon as I've finished a tiny little secret project I have on the needles right now - I cast on for it last night, and fully expect it to be done tonight. It's so damn cool I can hardly contain myself, I hope it rocks as much when it's done as I imagine it's going to. I will not reveal today what it is... but soon.

So the baby stuff. Looking at the hat and booties (which I'm really pleased with - as ever my photography leaves a lot to be desired but you get the idea...) despite them being neutral baby white, it does look a bit girly... Soph isn't finding out the sex of the baby, so if it is a boy, he may end up with early gender issues if she puts him in these. I will speak privately with the child when its older and apologise profusely.

I knit this using some super soft baby DK and 3mm needles, and the pattern is from The Art of Knitting magazine. Hat took about 4 hours, booties an hour each. I love knitting tiny things that get finished quickly...

Spinning Many Plates

A quick pictureless post today, just for the sake of an update. I have many, many projects on the go right now - and not enough done on any of them to warrant pictorial evidence.
1. Cricket socks - I'm making a pair of socks for P (as he plays cricket every summer), in his club's colours. They are my "zombie knitting" project (ie. the one where you don't have to follow a pattern, or actually think about what you're doing. Perfect for late at night...or after a couple of glasses of wine). I'm about 3 inches in.
2. Mum's 60th birthday wrap - I've ditched clapotis completely now, and I'm working on a feather and fan patterned wrap with the silky wool for my mother's 60th birthday (which fortunately is in October, so plenty of time). It's coming out beautifully, if not a little slow, but I'll definitely photograph it for next time. I'm about 5 inches in - and I'm not convinced I'm going to have enough yarn to finish it. No matter, I can buy more.
3. Baby stuff - I've known about my friend Soph's pregnancy since January. And it only occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that I should really knit her something (I am a disgrace to knitters everywhere, I am well aware). I invested in some white baby DK (which is so soft it's like kittens!) which was on sale, so I got like 500 grams for about 7.50. I've made booties (yet to be seamed), and I'm cracking on with a cabled hat. I've knitted the pattern before, so I know what to expect. I'm also making the matching jumper, it's going to be so cute. I am trying not to get broody myself... it scares P.

A Speedy Hat For My Grandfather

My parents came over on Sunday. I made bread pudding for them, which sounds awful but actually comes out beautifully. We had some wine too, which went surprisingly well with bread pudding. But that doesn't matter for now. They mentioned to me that my grandfather (who is 81, and in the prime of health) has mentioned that he wants a hat. For presumably, he has a cold head. So obviously, I knitted him one.

I used up some King Cole Aero which I had in the stash, and which I don't actually intend to use ever again, as it just feels wrong. The yarn is chunky, and looks like small strands plaited together. I've been trying to get rid of it for a while, and that hat was a good excuse. I knitted it on 7mm DPNs, over 56 stitches. Simple 2 by 2 rib for the bottom, then stockinette for the main body. Here it is, modelled effortlessly by the lovely P. Easy peasy, and took me about 2 hours to knit up. G'dad will never go chilly again!

I Never Felt So Good!

The bag turned out so much better than I imagined it would. I actually finished the knitting a while ago - I've been faffing around over the straps. I made 2 i-cords which I intended to felt and twist together, and they just took ages (you know that magic sort of knitting where your fabric gets to a certain length and then just stops growing? However much you knit?)

Eventually they were done (yay) so I put everything into pillow cases and stuck them in the washing machine on a boil wash. I was a bit nervous about breaking the washing machine (I put plastic boxes filled with water in as well to "agitate", and the sound it all made was horrendous, grindy breaky expensive noises) but everything came out well - I was really surprised how much it shrunk by.

I blocked the bag body by filling it with paperback books, and just laid the straps out straight. It didn't take that long to dry, so I sewed the straps on the following day (deciding not to twist them as planned, they just looked good sewn on straight) - added some flowers, made a closure out of some plaited yarn which just hooks over one of the flowers. It looks really cool, much better than I thought.

And already I have more projects on the go. I ordered some yarn from the US to make Clapotis for my mother, so that's underway - the yarn isn't quite right so I get the impression I might have to do more pattern repeats than the pattern says, but I'm not worried at the moment. Also got a quick hat for my grandfather and a cricket sock for P (in his team's colours!) on the needles. I am putting a yarn ban on myself for this month - I want a new kitchen, which I can't afford thanks to the paltry payrise my company gave me, so all my savings are going towards that.

Mind you, I've promised myself that before....