I have been wanting to learn to knit with double-pointed and circular needles for ages, I did try a pair of socks of few years ago and it was a disaster as I could not avoid making holes at the join of the stitches.

The recent delivery of the Knit for Winter pattern meant that I knew I had to try to tackle it again and I am very pleased to say that with the help of my lovely friends at knitting group, (especially Sarah who was so patient when I kept ending up with only two needles), I have managed it.

This is truly knitting genius and I have to say I am hooked, don’t think I will ever knit in the flat again, all the things they say about knitting in the round are true.

It is so clever to just knit and get stocking stitch without having to remember which is your purl row. And no seams! That is fantastic.

I have finished one pair of the mittens from the Erin Cowl and Fingerless Mitts pattern by Lesley Jones and I am pleased with most of the work. I did have little issues with losing stitches from the end of my needles so have had to pick up a few things which makes it look a bit messy.

The lace pattern at the top did also go a bit awry – I like the look of the pattern that I ended up with but the two mitts don’t match very well so I have been knitting another pair which are coming out better for the Knit for Winter project and will keep the first pair for myself.

I am also very proud of the fact that I have knitted a thumb for the first time especially as knitting a lace pattern on only 24 stitches in the round was very fiddly!

I have plans to knit the cowl as well to match. I have lots of this wool left and it is so pretty. Despite the mitts pattern looking a bit complex it isn’t and I have really enjoyed it, it completes quickly and is simple enough to work the lace while watching TV.

I am also very excited as now that I have learnt to work in the round I am going to able to knit a sample for Sarah, she designs her own patterns, (a true knitting genius), under the name Aldersign Designs  and has a stall booked at Yarndale in September this year so I am going to knit a pair of mitts for the stall. She is working on a book of patterns all inspired by Elves which will be fantastic.

I am also going to be working on some knitting accessories such as pin cushions, scissor and needles storage etc for her to sell on her stall as well using mainly my recycled denim, vintage crochet and embroidery and hexi applique.

Below is a little bit of knitting in the round that I have done with some spare stash Debbie Bliss Sublime yarn that I will being turning into a pincushion. I love how working on such small needles (2.5mm) gives you such a neat and pretty pattern in simple stocking stitch.

This will be my summer project in between kit making. The great thing is that knitting in the round is so portable for taking on trains and knitting in cars on the journeys to events. So that is my summer crafting sorted!

Am spending most of this weekend finally getting to make the surcoat for Jamie and may be able to make the April Block of the Month as well – have got behind due to the loveliness of having holidays and lots of visitors last month but must get some of the kit I have promised everyone (including me!) actually started.

Hope that you are all going to have a lovely weekend ahead. Thanks for visiting.

 

I know that the post title may be a bit confusing as it is Easter but the way the weather is here in Yorkshire today it might as well be November, we had a beautiful warm Spring day here yesterday and I was getting all excited but now it is all ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ again.

Not that this is a problem as my Easter weekend is full of indoor knitting and stitching plans anyway.

Although I am not doing as much knitting this year I was very excited to be asked to participate in a project to raise awareness of the campaign #knit for winter being run by Sunrise Senior Living.

Myself and several other bloggers have been asked to knit items which will be donated to charities who help older people to raise money and awareness of the effects of the cold weather for older people.

This is a quote from the campaign blog post  showing how big a problem this can be.

“Age UK report than an average of 25,000 “excess winter deaths” occur each year during the winter months (December – March). One elderly person dies needlessly every 7 minutes from the cold. That is around 206 deaths each day which could be prevented.”

If you would like to get involved then you can post a comment with contact details on the Knit for Winter blog post or if you use Twitter search #knitforwinter

I know that there are lots of knitters with spare wool and time who would love to get involved in this very good cause – use up your stash and not only will you get a warm feeling, someone else will as well 😉

To start the campaign they have very kindly given me some gorgeous wool and a pattern, look at this lovely stuff.

The pattern is by Lesley Jones and is called the Eirin cowl and fingerless mitts and I have put a link to her Etsy site in case you love the pattern as much as I do. She also has more shawls as well as the Eirin pattern on her Ravelry page.

I chose this pattern from all the ones I was offered as it is similar to some wristwarmers that I knitted a few years ago in the picture below and wanted to have a practise with lace again.

It is in the round which will be a challenge as I have never done that before but I have my lovely friends at knitting group if I get stuck!

I have also just finished this little hat out of some de-stash, re-stash wool that I got when we had a swap session at knitting group, going to add some tassels to it and that can be donated as well.

Have got enough wool for a few more of these in different colours so will be casting on for those over the next few weeks, these are great knitting group projects as you don’t have to concentrate too hard on them when you have had wine!