#Handmade Monday - easy knitted wrist warmers make it to New York!

These aren't actually for me! I was just having a cheeky wear of them here before I sent them to @copperspiral in New York. She's already got them - so now I can publish this picture of them! They were super easy to make and I was rather sad to let them go. The pattern is from Bronwyn Lowenthal's Love To Knit book. They're made of Louisa Harding 'Thistle' yarn bought from @CafeKnit - and I made both gloves rather surprisingly out of one ball. The yarn is really lovely and soft and they were quick to knit on four 6mm needles. They were, er, even quicker than the pattern suggested because I made them a lot shorter in the arm. The ones modelled in the book came nearly to the model's elbow and were all bunched up - but I did about 23 rows then did the thumbs. For the thumbs, I used the 'live stitches' method rather than the method described in the pattern. It may well have worked fine, but I couldn't figure out how - so I stuck to a method I know works!

These are a really good gift for a friend - though I do have enough wool to make myself some now...

In other news: teaching crochet @cafeknit on Saturday was really good fun. I had really lovely students and everyone got to make at least part of a granny square, and tried chains, double crochet and trebles! It was interesting teaching crochet to knitters - it reminded me how different the skills are in some ways. I think a good time was had by all!

 

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In Which I See Some Valentine's Yarnbombing

 

 

 

Here's my Louisa Harding Hiking Hat, looking out towards Blakeney! It was a gorgeous day, with a dark, bright light - still winter, really. And, below, the cheery sight of some Sheringham yarnbombing!

 

These were at the crossroads by the station, just in time for Valentine's Day!

 

 

There's so often some fabulous yarnbombing in Sheringham: I've blogged here about knitted fish, flags and now hearts! Whoever is doing this, I salute you - it's really cheerful and lovely to spot it. The hearts in the bushes were gorgeous. Sadly, it's all been taken down now, but I'm sure it made other people smile as well as me! It's also inspiring me to mount a knitted onslaught on a local landmark ... ;)

#HandmadeMonday - My Hat, At Large.

Finally, the Louisa Harding Himalayan Hiking Hat is done! This took three skeins of Debbie Bliss Blue-Faced Leicester Aran (from Les Tricoteuses in North Norfolk) rather than the two skeins the pattern asked for. Frustratingly, the third skein was needed for only two or three rows of knitting - but the pompom took rather a lot of wool. It has been pointed out to me that the pompom may be, er, a little outsized . . .  but I *love* this hat. The pattern is a good mix of cables, rib and bobbles. It's easy to do and the yarn is lovely - really warm, with a lovely texture which isn't too silky or floppy.

I was so pleased to see snow, so that we could go off and photograph it out and about! If you want to make one of these, see Louisa Harding's page about her fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Care, a really worthy cause. This hat is 'Parju', and the pattern for this, plus 5 others, can be found here: http://www.louisaharding.co.uk/macmillan/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, what to knit next? This brilliant charity-shop purchase by my GF has given me an idea:

 

 

 

 

I feel a tea cosy coming on . . .  How can it be that I have never knitted one of these? Scary thought: could it be that I am turning into someone who knits from those "Knitted Bazaar" books?! Help!

 

Happy Knitting: what have you made for #HandmadeMonday?

In Which I Mostly Drink Coffee & Buy Wool...

This was *just* what I needed: a huge cheese scone (missed photo opportunity there because I just had to scoff it) and a lovely, dark strong coffee at Back to the Garden in Letheringsett, near Holt, Norfolk.  Here is the interior of the cafe:

 

It is in a gorgeous restored old barn, full of light and beautiful beams. *And* they have a knitting group on a Tuesday morning - I'm a bit envious of people knitting and drinking coffee in this gorgeous location. They have a farm shop, too:

 

 

Luscious. Here is their website:  http://www.back-to-the-garden.co.uk/

 

Then, on to Holt, and to its lovely wool shop, Les Tricoteuses. Managed to buy more Debbie Bliss Blue-faced Leicester Aran there, to make another Louisa Harding hat. It's lovely yarn, not too silky and quite plump (not the technical term, I'm sure, buy hey) and feels like it'd make a nice hat. The shop is jam-packed with wool - you need to leave time to have a rummage! So, all in all, a successful day!

A British Wool Week Trip to Cafe Knit, Lavenham. Oh, and a Chunky Snood #FO!

 

Lovely jaunt through the Suffolk countryside today, along beautiful autumnal country roads to Cafe Knit. Somehow, courtesy of HeartFM, this journey was set to an 80s/90s sound track of the Pet Shop Boys, Simply Red and Tina Turner: not my usual choice, but I was singing at the top of my voice as I hurtled along.

Cafe Knit never disappoints: a lovely cappuccino with good conversation from a friend and the other customers. We had a good rummage around the Debbie Bliss yarns and looked at Louisa Harding's hat patterns - I really want to make one these, and what a good cause:

http://www.louisaharding.co.uk/macmillan/

Indecision prevented me from buying wool today, but I will be making the pompom hat soon . . . or the green heart cable one . ... or the beret-style green one . . .

I did buy a great shawl pin for my Sarah Hatton jacket: picture of this to follow. This means the jacket is finally wearable - a genuine FO!

Oh, and Louvera The Sheep is outside the cafe to celebrate British Wool Week!

 

In other FO news, I made this snood for my sister's birthday last week:

 

 

It is a version of the hugely-popular Gap-Tastic Cowl by Jen Geighley over at Ravelry. It's a lovely dark teal colour - not as navy as it looks here. She was very pleased with it (or very polite!) so I hope she enjoys wearing it!  Still, what with that and the crochet snowflakes for the Workwise shop, I'm rather behind on my Lady Friend's jumper... better get to it!