Hoody's and Lace

 

 James C Brett's Marble hoody has turned out wonderful for my daughter.  First time for pockets which worked out perfectly.  She wanted extra long arms to reach her knuckles so ofcourse I obliged and she's really happy with it!.  I have some yarn left and may crochet a pair of slippers out of them.  I've also completed my Friday Night In Jacket which took ages to complete mainly because I got distracted but also because it's the most complicated project attempted yet which included working out where I was on the decreases (not always a success).  I honestly don't know why this turned out so well but here it is anyway (ignore my podge).

Went onto The Making Spot website which is a combination of articles from Simply Knitting magazine and The Knitter to find that it's been closed (a part from direct links to magazine articles).  What a shock!  I still can't believe it.  I was really impressed with some of the articles found in The Knitter issue 61

My favourite item, which I will be making at some point, is the Sunday Henley by Melissa Wehrle which can be found here.

 It uses American 100% wool but to save on postal costs (to my pocket as well as carbon footprint) I will be choosing from a wonderful wide choice of British yarns.

Another completed project was another zipper pouch (don't you just love them!) which you can never have too many of.  This time it was made for my twin sister and I attempted to machine sew her initials onto the front.  It worked out ok and I so love the material combination I found at my local craft/material/yarn shop.

 

I've got enough to make another one for me, yaye! 

Now onto my current projects which include a Mystery Knit Along which is a faroese shawl pattern created by Renee Leverington made in 2 ply lace weight 100% Blue Faced Leicester from Countess Ablaze.

 

It came in a beautifully packaged skein and it took me an hour to create a ball of yarn to work from which actually tuned out to be more of a rugby ball - still beautiful though.  I'm actually waaaaay behind on the knit along.  I've not long finished clue 1 which took a while to get my head around and we're on week 4 (I've not done a shawl before)

 

This isn't the greatest of photos.  I intended on taking out the paper edges to make it look like a smooth white surface except no matter what I did it didn't work.  Haven't a clue why - just one of those things.  I'm also aware that there are special blocking wires for items like shawls.  I don't plan on making shawls as a habit so it's not worth getting them just for one shawl.  I will have to block by eye.  Will let you know how it goes.

The other project I am currently knitting is a Celtic Cable Zipper Hoody for my other daughter by request.  A free pattern from Bernat but instead I am using Red Heart Yarn's 'Smooth' and it's lovely.  Here it is in it's parts so far...

 

Not long before I finish it.  It'll be my first zipper to add to a knitted project - wish me luck!  Just the final arm and the hoody to finish, sew up the side seams and arm seams and insert the zipper.

I admit I also sneaked in a crochet project too.  I couldn't help myself.  Someone had given my daughter a ball of yarn to encourage her to crochet, well... she has no crochet desires and after a while I got twitchy.  I ended up starting off a continuous Granny Square and then decided to make a crochet throw for her bed using the unusual colours in the central square (white, orange, pink and purple) around the edge, elongating it to make a rectangle.  I have no idea whether it'll work out but I'll give it a go.

There are so many things I would love to create!  I particularly like King Cole Country Tweed yarn and would love to make an entrelac tee with it.  It may or may not happen as I have another James C Brett project to make in marble but this time it's a V Neck for a neighbour.  After that I am not doing any major project for anyone until next year and only keep to smaller projects for myself.  Selfish?  Yep I suppose it is.