Zarah's Cotton Candy Swirl Set

Quite a late update from me today, but I've finally been able to steal away some time to show you all this weeks FOs!

So, this week is all about the baby knit. I've not only been knitting them, I've been thinking up new designs too, which I can't wait to work on. Due to me being very up and down with my M.E this week, I've been working on very simple knits. My first project was the Basic Baby Hat by Heather Tucker. Now, this pattern calls for DK yarn & 4mm needles, but as my friend has just had a baby girl I decided to use my leftovers of Yummy Worsted in Cotton Candy Swirl by (the awesome) Candy Skein. As I was using worsted I dropped to 3.75mm needles, although in retrospect perhaps I should have used  3.5mm DPNs.

The project was lovely and simple, and the pattern was perfect :) I knitted the newborn size, although I believe it is more towards the 6 month size. Enough chat though, here it is!

I love the starfish decrease!

I thought I'd give baby Zarah a pair of mittens as well, so I chose the pattern Fast Baby Mittens by Lucy H. Lee. I used some pink DK Rizzle found in the bottom of her drawer, I am hazarding a guess that it is Stylecraft Special DK in Fondant, but don't hold me to that. The mittens didn't knit up as fast as I'd like, but that might be due to the fact I was knitting at a snail's pace. When I did finish though, I added an i-cord to keep them both together.

Next time I knit this pattern (and I will I assure you) I will make a longer i-cord, but other than that I wouldn't change a thing! :)

I've set aside baby Jack's footie set the moment, as my Knit Pro Spectra Flair tips arrived today so I am finaaaaaaaaaally able to get some work on the Seven Seas Blanket. But I will be taking the hat with me when I go away next weekend (allll by myself - so excited!) so I should get it finished then! :)

For now though, head on over to Tami's to check out more FOs for this week! I hope you all have a lovely weekend x

Oh, Bother

Yesterday I showed you the beginning of the Seven Seas Blanket, and last night I finally started to get into it. Typically, just as I get into something, it goes wrong. I was happily knitting away, supping my wine, when I noticed the stitches weren't moving. I looked closer and realised the cable had almost snapped, just hanging on by a small piece of plastic!

 

Not really knowing what to do (only ever broken 2 straight needles), I wrapped it in sellotape, hoping that it would hold up. It did, for a little while. The moment I put weight on it though, it snapped completely...

I posted a photograph on Instagram, and here are the comments...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was a little annoyed! I'll have to email the seller on eBay & ask for a refund, as they shouldn't be bust within a few hours of using them.

Mother is going to Launceston tomorrow so I rang up the yarn shop there to see if they have the needle I needed, unfortunately they didn't so it meant another look on the internet. I found what I wanted on Loops, but they were going to charger over £3 for delivery! Which is too expensive, so I was forced to look elsewhere. It then dawned on me that I had an Knit Pro interchangeable needle set my Nan gave me! Don't know why I didn't think of it before! 

So, I have ordered a 150cm cable from Meadow Yarn. Postage was a good price, and looking around the shop they seem to have a lot of lovely things! I've always wanted a skein of Zauberball in Coconuts, it has a big yardage and would make an awesome shawl, or a couple of pair of socks!

So, the cable will be here tomorrow (hopefully, I paid for 1st class, but it could be like my Deramores order and take a few days). Meanwhile, I think I'll work on the Cotton Candy Baby Hat for little Zarah, my friend's new baby :)

I'm using leftovers of my Yummy Worsted in Cotton Candy Swirl, by Candy Skein. It won't take me long to finish, so I might whip up a hat for my friend's daughter, Isabelle, using the same pattern as Daisy's hat.

Pop back tomorrow for WIP Wednesday, hopefully I'll be able to show you some progress on the Seven Seas Blanket :)

Knitting the Town Red

Yesterday afternoon was the ultimate lazy day. I stayed in my pyjamas, watched films and knitted 'til my hands hurt.

I logged onto the computer in the morning and read the Yarn Harlot's latest post. She was knitting mittens and it inspired me to get out my beautiful Strawberry DK from Candy Skein that I bought back in July from the lovely Tami and start knitting the Emanelle fingerless mittens I had queued for Year of Projects.

For some reason I thought I was doing Moss Stitch (seed stitch) so it took several attempts to get 6 rows of 1x1 rib. Finally I got the 'base' of the mitten down and I could get my teeth into the pattern.

I loved, loved, loved knitting these gloves. The Yummy DK is soft to touch, glides across the needles and the strawberry colour just looks delicious. I cannot recommend this yarn enough.  Just buy it, and you'll know what I mean.


Anyway, back to the gloves. Well, everything went swimmingly. The 8 row pattern was easy to remember, and I was soon able to knit without consulting the pattern. When I knitted my Bright and Bold cable bag, I found it a little boring despite the constant colour change. With this cable pattern however, I was knitting with only one colour and  had only one cable to combat, yet it was a lot more interesting. I'm not sure whether this is because I was infatuated with this skein of yarn, or that I genuinely liked the pattern.

I finished the first glove just before dinner, and the moment it was finished it was slipped on my hand and shown off to the family. I waved at my Mum as if I was the Queen while saying, 'Helloooo, hellooooo' in my most regal manner (trying to show my glove off as much as possible). She got the hint and said, 'What a lovely glove, did you knit that yourself?'

I didn't fall asleep until 4am last night (... or should I say this morning?) so I got to work on the second glove. I knitted while wearing the first glove for as long as possible, until I got too hot and had to lay my handy work by my side. I finished it in an hour and a half, and became a happy owner of my first hand-knit gloves.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and can't wait to wear them out tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately I have enough yarn for another pair of gloves, so I thought I'd make a pair for my best friend. Not sure if I'll use the same pattern, I'll have to look through Ravelry and see if I can find another pattern to tackle.

So, that is my first completed Year of Projects project this year completed, woohoo! I'm casting on for my Abysall Shawl as we speak, which is the next YOP project I'm going to attempt. So, if you fancy reading some more Year of Project posts head on over to When Did I Become a Knitter where the creator, Kerri, is holding a Mr. Linky. Or, you can pop on over to the Year of Projects group on Ravelry, while I go and help myself to a Galaxy Promise. Yummers. 

Q is for... Queue

On Ravelry there is a wonderful feature called 'Queue'. This is where you can add patterns with the yarns you plan to use and any notes that you have, in a easy-to-get-to list.

My Queue is short and sweet, as I tend to add things to favourites, instead of bombarding myself with too many items I need to make. On occasion though, I like a pattern enough to say, I'll make that, and I pop it in my queue. Here is a list of those very patterns.

© nemesia

The very first item in my queue, is Branching Out by Susan Lawrence. I've been wanting to try lace for a while now and when I finally found this pattern, I knew I had to give it a go. After looking through the projects and yarn suggestions, I found that Shewalks is knitting her own Branching Out scarf in King Cole Galaxy DK in the Mars colourway. I thought it looked so gorgeous I went and bought the same yarn so I could give it a go. 



This project is the one I'm the most excited about. The moment the pink mess that I'm calling a baby blanket is finished, I'm running to my room and casting on.

by dancingsheep

The next project is another scarf! This time it's the Scrunchable Scarf by Susan McConne. I'm plannning on making myself this scarf with Candy Skein's Yummy Worsted, in Cotton Candy Swirl that I bought last month. Despite being second in my queue, it probably won't be made until end of October/November when I have finished knitting presents.

by GettingPurly

Next on the hit list is Emanelle by Nancy Ricci.I'm desperate for some fingerless gloves this year and so I'm making myself these, with Candy Skein Yummy DK in the Strawberry colourway. Which, with the Worsted I mentioned earlier, I bought last month. I'm hoping to get these done this month, so I'm ready for the cold weather. But like my scrunchable scarf, it probably won't be off the needles until presents are all finished.

by MyDailyFiber

At number 4 is Patty by Jenny Raymond. I'm taking part in a KAL later on this year, and this is the project that was decided on. I know I have enough Mug Hugs to make with Year of Projects (which I'm sorry I haven't updated, but once baby blanket is finished normal service shall be resumed) but I couldn't resist this one. It is made with Double Moss Stitch, a stitch I haven't yet come across so I'm looking forward to giving this a go!

© Hannah Bearup

I love how berets look on my sister, so when I found the pattern Simple (yet adorable!) Slouchy Beret by Hannah Bearup I knew I had to give it a go. Really not sure what yarn I'll use for this project, I'll probably let Katy choose!!

So there are the first 5 patterns in my Ravelry Queue, you can head over to my page to see all 21 of them.

For now though, have a look what fellow ABC Bloggers felt Q was for!

M is for... Mmmm

Mmmm... that one sound just says it all. Complete gratification, pleasure of the highest degree, just plain awesomeness.

That was the only thing I could say this morning when I opened my squishy package. As I tore open the brown packaging little glimmers of red appeared, followed by a soft pink. Another Mmmm was muttered. 

The family slowly crept round, their whole bodies leaning in as I ripped the packet to shreds. As I took the two exceedingly soft and colourful skeins out of the bubble wrap the whole family - including myself - gasped.

The yarn we all fell head over heels for, is none other than Tami's Yummy DK in Strawberry and Yummy Worsted in Cotton Candy Swirl, both from her wonderful shop Candy Skein! I was given some money a couple of weeks ago, and decided to go all out and treat myself to two skeins of scrumptious candy inspired yarn!

When buying yourself expensive yarn (well, its expensive in my opinion at £8 ($14) a skein) you can't just buy what you think is gorgeous and then have it sitting in your yarn box for ever and ever as you 'didn't know what to make with it'. So I decided to choose what I wanted to make before I chose my yarn.

I haven't yet made a scarf, and as a lot of people are starting to focus on their winter knits now I thought I better jump on the bandwagon and have ago. After a bit of research I decided that worsted weight would be my best choice, and so bought myself Cotton Candy Swirl. A 100% Merino Superwash yarn, beautiful in colour and ever so soft in texture.

At the moment I'm thinking of using the pattern, Angora Lace Scarf by Lion Brand Yarn. Although Fletching Silk Scarf by Angela Roberge is also looking promising.

My second skein is Strawberry, a DK yarn also made with 100% Merino Superwash. I don't like to pick favourites, but if I did this one would certainly have my vote. The colour is just so vibrant, a definite 'mmm' product! With this yarn I'm planning on making myself some Fingerless Mittens, something I have tried in the past, but hopefully this time I will do better.

The pattern I'd love to use for this yarn is Emanelle by Nancy Ricci. Nancy has done quite a few Mitt patterns, but this one really caught my eye.

So that is my ABC post for this week, if you'd like to find other M is for posts, click the links in the Mr. Linky below!!



For now I leave you with a picture of my pal Lilo. Who wasn't very pleased with my new yarn purchase.

"She spends too much time knitting and not enough time cuddling me!!"