A New Pattern: The Monogram Baby Hat

Really pleased to announce that my new pattern is live and ready to download from Ravelry ... the Monogram Baby Hat.

This was created as a gift for a friend who has just had a baby boy.

I used a J for the monogram, but my pattern includes letter templates for the entire alphabet, so baby Annabel to little Zavier are all catered for.

Using colour schemes of your choice, this would be equally suitable for baby girls.

Please forward to friends and relatives who are expecting, as well as those searching for a sweet little handmade gift.

You can purchase the pattern using this link:

Many thanks and happy knitting :)

A New Pattern: The Womb Wisdom Headband/Ear Warmer

Really pleased to announce that my new pattern ... The Womb Wisdom Headband/Ear Warmer ... is now available through Ravelry.

This pattern is a fun and fast knit that makes a beautiful and practical headband/ear warmer.

I used my bulky Rainbow Merino handspun yarn for this project, but any aran to bulky yarn would work really well.

Gauge is not important, because you make this to fit any size from a child to an adult.

Please use this link to purchase the pattern:

Many thanks and happy knitting :)

nb ... The inspiration behind the pattern:

I called this the 'Womb Wisdom Headband' because it was made as a gift for a friend that I have not seen for over 10 years. She happens to be the author of many books including Womb Wisdom.

A New Pattern: The Draft Excluder Cowl

We all love snuggly necks don't we?

I conceived of this pattern because I wanted to eliminate those pesky winter drafts from coming in to the 'V' created when wearing coats, jumpers, etc. The ultimate solution for chilly and windy days.

One more plus ... it won't migrate and become displaced like some scarves and cowls do, because it's shaped to fit from your chin to your breast bone.

This shaped cowl can be worn under a normal scarf or in place of a scarf, and it is customisable to fit all ... from children to adults.

It's a fun project that knits up really quickly in either commercial or handspun chunky yarn.

Please find it available for purchase in my Ravelry store. Here's the link:

Many thanks and happy knitting :)

Summery Sock KAL 2013

Many thanks to all the lovely knitters on Instagram and Ravelry who took part in the first Summery Sock KAL (Knit-Along) this year. With the success of the event, I'm planning on organising it for the 1st June 2014 also.

So with the beautiful array of socks knitted by participants of the event, I thought that I would bombard you all with a feast for the eyes in this KAL write-up.

This years pattern was the fabulous Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder.

After a false start (!) I decided to make it easier on myself and omit the contrasting toe, heel & cuff. I also decided to do them one-at-a-time/top-down.

At the end of the month I'd allocated to the KAL, I'd only managed to finish one of the socks, but have cast on my second so that I have a WIP rather than a potential second sock syndrome issue.

I was also delighted that two of the KAL participants used yarn dyed by my own fair hands in my own little workshop at home.

Here are @amberweinberg's beautiful socks from my first batch 'Epiphany' self-striping sock yarn.

And here are @scarffaces' finished socks from my 'Afternoon Tea' sock yarn.

So the following pic is a lovely montage of some of the early days of the KAL, showing the exciting start of things to come.

And now on to some more progress pics of peoples' beautiful knitting.

As you may or may not know, purple is one of my favourite colours, and I particularly enjoyed looking at the high percentage of people who chose this wonderful colour to make their socks with.

And here are some TA-DAH moments from some of the KAL participants who achieved an FO!

I was so excited to be given the opportunity to offer prizes to KAL participants. Ramona Burke (IG name @ramonarose) got in touch to say that I could award two lucky KAL-ers with one of her gorgeous and practical Sock Sack patterns.

I decided I would give one of the prizes to my 'favourite' pair of socks, and one to a random participant. On the 30th June, I made my selections.

The favourite prize went to @rijelviolent who knit her socks with 'Across The Universe' by Lynai Yarns, which is just a beautiful array of some of my favourite shades.

However, this honest young lady got in touch to say that she was very grateful for the prize, but that because she already owned the Sock Sack pattern, that she would rather offer her prize to someone else.

So, I chose another favourite ... by @stripeymonkey.

The film geek in me loves these socks because they are totally in theme for the Harry Potter inspired Hermione pattern because they are in Gryffindor colours. And the eccentric side in me loves the fact that there is an odd green contrast toe that the creator of the socks calls her 'lucky green toe', which I think is fabulous!

And then on to the winner chosen using a random number generator was @milliemull, but very deservedly so with her stunning earthy green socks.

If you would like to go onto Instagram and look at more photos of the event, please do a search under hashtag #summerysockkal13.

So let's add to that ever-growing pile of hand-knitted socks ... See you all again next year :)

Tweaking a Pattern: My Vite Headband FO

I enjoyed knitting my Vite Cowl so much that I knew I wanted to make another, and when I started wearing it more as a headband than as a cowl, I began to hatch an ingenious plan!

I had just the right amount of Rainbow Chunky (BFL) handspun yarn for the project.

For the headband version, I decided that I wanted to take some of the width away from the cowl pattern so it was a little more suitable for head wear.

I am really pleased with the result (please excuse my early morning/before caffeine photo) ...

So if you would like to re-create this, you will need to download Kristi Johnson's free Vite Cowl pattern from Ravelry HERE.

Then you omit the last YO and K2tog on the odd rows, and omit the first P2 stitches on the even rows.

Carry on in the pattern in this way until your knitting is long enough to reach around your head.

Cast off and then seam both ends of your headband together.

And then wear your modified Vite Cowl on your head with pride :)

Happa Handspun and Handknit Hat FO

My trip to Unravel Fiber Festival earlier this year was very fruitful ... I came away from it with lots of goodies ... Well, it would have been rude not to!

One of these purchases was 100g of merino fiber from Skeins in the Pale Jungle colourway.

I was itching to spin it up and so this happened >>>

This was such an enjoyable spin, as these are some of my very favourite colours, plus of course being 100% merino ... Yum!

It all fit onto one bobbin, so I wound the singles on to a yarn winder to create a center-pull-ball.

And after the plying, I had a lovely squashy 2-ply yarn ready and waiting to be used.

I began looking through Ravelry or a suitable pattern for the correct yarn weight and meterage. I kept on thinking that I wanted to make a cowl, but then I asked for the advice of my Instagram friends, who instantly suggested that a hat would work well.

And so the 1 of 6 Hat KAL was born.

With very short notice, as this was all so spur of the moment, I simply couldn't wait any longer and cast on the Happa Hat within days of organising the KAL. There was no urgency or rush for others to follow suit, and they participated when they had the yarn and tools to hand.

And there it is ... the beginnings of my hat. I had learnt a new stitch too (I love an educational knit) ... the twisted 1x1 rib stitch, which I couldn't quite work out at first because I thought that my hat looked way too small for an adult head, but once I was further into the pattern I discovered (with great relief) that this rib stitch is uber-stretchy.

And on to the lace pattern, which is always so thrilling to see as it starts to take form. I just love the leaves effect of this design.

Being worsted weight yarn, it knitted up nice and quickly. In between a busy lifestyle it took a few evenings over the course of about two weeks to complete.

There's nothing quite like knitting with your very own handspun yarn. Truly satisfying to the MAX.

And here it is ... with some daytime FO photos :)

And a cheeky selfie of one happy spinner/knitter ...

Daybreak Hand Knit Shawl FO

It's only taken me six months to be able to say this, but ... I've finished my Daybreak Shawl ... Yay :)

I had a serious case of inertia with this project, and had to put it down on several occasions, but I did really enjoy this knit and am thrilled with the result ... I just got a little distracted with other projects along the way.

It all started with the idea to do a knit-along with some Instagram buddies.

I had been admiring this pattern on Ravelry for quite some time, and felt like I was ready to tackle it.

Being Autumn when I started the project, I decided on a sympathetic colourway with Ochre (a mustardy-yellow) and Cordovan (a rich dark chocolate) Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

And so I cast on ...

As with all shawls, I do love how the first handful of rows knit up really quickly, and then with frequent increases, they begin to lengthen ... especially with sock weight yarn. And so with this pattern I eagerly looked forward to being able to add my second colour.

It was really exciting to begin the stripes as I could then see the pattern start to take shape.

I became side-tracked quite a bit by other faster projects with bigger needles and chunkier yarn. Inertia sometimes happens when I'm faced with a project that doesn't grow quite quickly enough.

Picking it up and putting it back down again over the next few months, I made one last concerted effort to finish and gave myself a stint of a good few nights in a row ... and here it is, freshly off the needles and awaiting its first bath ...

And on to some VERY satisfying blocking ...

And then the utterly gratifying first trying on session, where all the blood sweat and tears were forgotten (okay, okay, I'm exaggerating a bit now).

And I must say I'm over the moon with my new hand-knitted shawl. It is a beautiful and striking pattern and I'm really pleased with my yarn and colour choice. I missed the boat to make the shawl in time for Autumn 2012, but will be wearing it with pride when the colder weather returns in September 2013.

A New Pattern: The Lovebird Beanie Hat

Well, here it is ... my debut into the world of knitwear design ... The Lovebird Beanie Hat. Now available to download through Ravelry.

Modelled here by my friend Claire, it is a simple fair isle pattern that knits up quickly in DK to Aran weight yarn.

If you go on to make this hat I'd love to see your creation, so please link it to the pattern listing on Ravelry.

You can purchase this pattern here:

Thank you and happy knitting :)

Holden Shawlette Lace Knitting FO

A month or so ago I decided to embark on the Holden Shawlette from Ravelry.

Using my lovely green variegated Zitron XXL sock yarn, I cast on in earnest. After the initial head scratching of getting to grips with two 90 degree turns and picking up stitches, once I had my ah-ha moment, I was away.

And I was happy to see the shawl begin to take shape quickly at first, with the rows becoming longer and longer each time.

Before long I was ready to begin the main lace section of the shawl, and was a little apprehensive, so I added a life line just in case I had to rip any of the lace rows back.

My fears were unfounded as only a few rows later I could see the pattern forming correctly.

Staying up very late one night, I was excited that I only had the cast off to do and was highly motivated to finish the shawlette. Not having done the picot cast off before, I'd underestimated this section of the garment entirely. Not only did I have to log on to YouTube to get a more visual tutorial on the technique, but I then did the first several dozen too tightly and decided to start over. At about 1am I was seeing double and fit for my bed.

The following evening I continued the picot edging and finally fully cast off.

Well, what can I say? It was such a satisfying knit.

Here it is taking a first soak in the bath ;)

Being a relative newbie to blocking, I set to work straight away taking full advantage of using the warmth from the log burner to assist in the process.

Despite the poor lighting of the lounge late at night, I was too excited to miss out on taking a photo of my shawl in its full stretched out glory.

So here's the final TAH-DAH moment ... A very proud FO indeed.

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Joining in with these fabulous memes today. Please go along and have a look at all the lovely crafting people have been doing.

TAMI'S AMIS

NATURAL SUBURBIA