just a small obsession

Lots of little pincushions.

Love them.

Pattern is in Danish here
and here in US crochet terms

and if you leave a comment I can send you the English crochet terms version I wrote up this evening ;) I think these will make great little gifts and I'm hooking up a storm :)

Time for Tea...and Toast!

 Come in, pull up a chair, I have the kettle on, we'll have a cuppa :) I like mine so that you've just shown the tea bag to it, but I can make yours strong enough to stand a spoon in if you like it that way. Oh and hot buttered toast, of course. I'm having jam, plum jam. What would you like? I love lemon curd, it's my very best favourite but I've run out , it's top of the shopping list, so maybe next time?
How was your week? Mine was busy, as usual :) but full of knitting and enthusiasm and the fibre crafts I love so I'm not complaining. Working 6 days a week is tough but I love my job and my boss and our customers, I really do. Some lovely people and so many new and returning knitters that it is really encouraging to be there and to share the newness or their discovery of 'making things', or to hear them talking about the reasons they've started knitting again after years of not knitting and of thinking that they would never knit again. Many people have given away their needles and patterns. Often they are amazed at how things have changed and all the beautiful new yarns. But knitting itself is still, knit and purl, yarn over and knit 2 together, so I reassure them that it will come back to them and tell them that the internet as revolutionised the way we knit and made it an altogether more social activity than it used to be. We have 3 knit and natter groups at the shop and the place is always busy with people enjoying their hobby. Many people restart their knitting when a first grandchild is due and this is a lovely reason to share with them and for which we help them chosse something beautiful and fun to knit.

My oven baby is 9 this week and on Sunday we took advantage of the lovely sunshine to go to Penshaw Monument and take photographs for a school project. This was my first visit despite having lived here for 11 years now and being able to see it over the Tyne from my house. In the afternoon I took DD2 and her best friend to the cinema. Hasn't the pictures gotten expensive! There must be many children who are never taken, 2 children and 1 adult cost over £20 to get in and the 2 small hotdogs and 3 small drinks was £16! You can tell it's a long time since I went to the flicks! I think I'll stay home and eat toast! Mind you I have evidence now that it is possible to knit 2 points of a Hitchhiker whilst watching The Chipmunks 3 Movie!

Despite my tin covers still being naked of their flowers I thought I'd share my progress with you - the flowers are a work in progress, Barbara has been teaching me a different cast on today because I'm not happy with my flower centres, version 2 of the flowers is about to begin when I log off :) Never mind the Narcissi are pretty nonetheless :)

In other news I am buying an electric spinner - I haven't told DH yet, haha, well I've hinted at it. Ooops. I am working on my justifications ;) More on that one later. :D

Filling In some More Missing Bits

Another jumper that I completed for Christmas was DD1's reindeer jumper.

 DD strikes a comedy catalogue pose on Christmas Day morning (still in her pj's lol). She's happy with this one and so am I. The original inspiration came from a Martin Storey pattern in a Rowan book where it was knit flat and seamed. Sadly those seams dissected the reindeer so I decided to put the whole lot into a knit in the round project and to knit the reindeer around the yoke. This one was knit in King Cole Baby Alpaca which we sell at Ringarosie and it is gorgeous soft yarn. I really enjoyed knitting with it and have enough left over for a little something for myself, I just haven't decided what yet.

I have recently cast on for another adapted pattern again from a couple of Rowan originals. I'm taking the shaping from one patterns and the stitch pattern/design from another and again putting it onto circular needles and knitting it in the round. This will be a new challenge as I am knitting a cardi this time so I will have to take the scissors to it and steek the front opening. The original has set in sleeves so I have to decide whether to go with this option or to work a drop shoulder and pick up and knit the sleeves down instead of just putting them from flat into a knit in the round version. I don't need to decide yet though as I am still working the wait shaping. This one is in Rowan Harris Scottish Tweed lovely yarn to work with in a soft heathered blue, loving it!

Another more recently finsihed project is the linen stitch scarf I have knit using a lovely gify or Noro Sock Yarn from A Ravelry friend. This fabric looks woven and we have it on display in the shop at the moment where it has prompted much discussion.

 The original idea came from a Ravelry pattern called "Mini Mania Scarf" which uses lots of mini skeins of sock yarn, as the Noro has long colour runs it worked well for this pattern and I will use the pattern again - 450 stitches on a 4.5mm needle makes a looooooong scarf - I might not do so many stitches another time lol those rows went on forever!

Sorry for the poor photos which were taken on my phone and emailed to my laptop - I'll get the hang of this technology stuff sooner or later - we have a new ipad in the shop - well it's Barbara's really but I am pretending it's mine too hahaha - and it is fabulously wonderful - I am saving up! Great for looking up yarn and finding substitutions so if you are coming to the shop looking for yarn bring your pattern with you and we can help find the perfect yarn to use :) I'd love to see or hear if anyone has good stitch pattern they've used for scarves, linen stitch is a new favourite! Off to work on that cardigan now. Happy knitting!

Time for Tea

Look! A lovely charity shop find to cheer with the cup that cheers :) This little tea cup and plate, somebody tel me the correct name for these please, was a gem I found yesterday and went back to buy this morning. Well, I couldn't leave it behind, it's pretty!

Joyce set me off on the tea trail with this lovely gift of a tea pot, I will have to knit a cosy for it too. Anyway I had a cup of camomile tea from my new pot as a bed time cuppa last night, delicious and I swear I slept better for it. :)

As promised I am going to post photos of the finished projects from the past few months. I have been quiet largely due to being in the doldrums as my mum's health has deteriorated. We are coming to terms with the new 'normal' and my dad is coping really well with the hospital visits and day care and so on. We now have a probable diagnosis of frontal lobe dementia - I shall have to google that later tonight, but anyway the upshot is that I am back blogging and there's much to fill in from whilst I've been away.

Today's finished project is a jumper inspired by a television series, the Killing. This is my first attempt at knitting with Icelandic yarn, I used two strands of Plotulopi and knitting from the bottom up using Elizabeth Zimmermann's Easy Percentage System and a yoke. Voila!

He's hapy with it I think and I am very pleased with how it came out, definitely one to do again :)

Life Goes On

Happy Valentines Day :) 

  

If flowers are more your thing then daffs can't be beat at this time of year, a promise of spring around the corner. It's too early for them in the gardens yet but a cheerful tin for the jar - details on the Attic 24 blog. I see Lucy has added some rather lovely buttons and such so I shall have to embellish!

 This was made using the Special DK leftovers from DD1's blanket, I'd love to do them in Rowan Handknit Cotton, like Lucy, maybe another time. Meanwhile I used what I had in :)

Makes for a colourful mantlepiece , but as well as a little crochet I have also been knitting since I was last here and have many projects to share. One of which, my sheepheid, helped to keep me warm in January when we went for a frosty walk in and around Cambo, Northumberland. Near the parking place there is a fabulous old water fountain which I will photograph on another visit, the light was in all the wrong places this time :)

Over Christmas I finished some jumpers and I'll show you those tomorrow, enough for tonight as I am off to look for buttons for my crochet tin covers :) I'm also just in to a DK cardi - but more of that when there is something to take a picture of. I hope the new year is treating you well so far, half way into February already? Time really marches on and we must march with it, onward and upward, hook and needles in hand :)