Titchy snowman

I sincerely hope that this is as close as I come to a snowman this winter, but he's awfully sweet.  He's from Mochimochiland's tiny collection, brilliant patterns and well written and clear to understand, I'd recommend them.  Knitted in Sandnes Garn mini duett (bought at Scandinavian Knitting Design) with a thread of Drops Glitter alongside, his scarf is rather big for him, I forgot that it was supposed to be 4ply, but at least he won't get cold?



The penny is in the picture for size reference, not because he has holes in his pockets as one of my Ravelry friends suggested!  I think I'm firmly in Christmas mode already, but if you knit presents and decorations I suppose you need to get organised early.

A blogger's miscellany

1. I'm aware it's been a while since I last posted, unfortunately I haven't been too well, I overdid things somewhat and then muddled up the date of my flu jab and turned up 24 hours too early.  This lead to me missing sleep to get up early two days running which is what finished me.  It seems that despite more than 12 years' practice I still haven't quite got the pacing thing quite right.

In order to combat my disorganisation I have purchased a diary for the coming year, it's simple, small but stylish and a great cheerful colour.


2. I have been enjoying this song a lot lately, it is simple but full of hope


3. I have done a lot of knitting lately but most of it is secret Christmas knitting, which I can't show on here just in case.  In between I have been doing some small ornaments though such as the small jumper below.  I'm also having a go at the adorable mini snowman from Mochimochiland's miniatures' collection.


4. I'm very excited about Kate Davies' forthcoming book The Colours of Shetland and am looking forward to knitting the shawl shown at the top of her blog and in the meantime am planning to knit her pattern which came out today - Snawheid hat, .  You can see her adorable dog Bruce helping with the photographs of the hat here.

I'll try not to let it be quite so long before the next post.

St Mungo's Simple Hat - free pattern

I made the prototype of this hat for St Mungo's Woolly Hat day and having wrestled with the crown decreases for a considerable period of time thought that the pattern might be worth sharing.  At some point I intend trying out a larger size for those of us (myself included) who do not fit in the "one size fits all" sizing favoured by high street shops.



St Mungo's Simple Hat
125m/137yd heavy sportweight or light double-knit yarn.  I used King Cole Mirage
4mm 40cm circular needle, 4mm double pointed needles, or your favoured method for knitting in the round

24sts/4 inches

To fit medium adult head, c.20 inches

C/O 100sts and join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

Knit for 4 inches in K2 P2 rib (or less if you do not wish to have a turn up in the brim)

Then change to stockingette stitch (knit every stitch) for 5 inches.  If you wish to have a slouchier beanie make this section longer, but bear in mind that it will require more yarn.

Crown decreases: (when the stitches become too few for the circular needle transfer stitches to the double pointed needles)
*K8 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K7 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K6 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K5 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K4 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K3 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K2 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K1 K2tog* around
*K2tog* around

Cut yarn, thread it through the stitches remaining on the needle, pull tight and fasten off.

St Mungo's Woolly Hat Day

St Mungo's, a London homeless charity, are having a big fund-raising day on 26th October 2012 and they're looking for people to knit orange woolly hats for them to use to highlight the problem of homelessness and then to sell to raise funds.  They're hoping to collect 5,678 hats, one for each of the people who slept on the streets of London in the last year, a 43% increase on 2010/11.

I'm getting involved because I remember seeing homeless people on the streets as a child and how sad it made me feel, that early experience has meant that homelessness has always been a cause close to my heart. Anyhow the point of this post is to say: get knitting!  Join in!  There are free patterns on St Mungo's website and on ravelry.  Have fun knitting and make the world a better place while you do it!



My first hat

A couple of FOs

Finally, after several months of hard work I have finished my Thelonious socks and I feel like I understand better how travelling lace patterns work.



I have also finished the stripy scarf I showed off in my last post.  For a scarf in knit 1 purl 1 rib it simply flew by, the chunky yarn helped, as did the mesmerising colours.  In fact I do have to admit that I have been plotting more similar scarves and wondering if there is a limit to how many stripy scarves one person needs.  The scarf is lovely to wear, smooshy, soft, squishy and elastic and I am hoping it will brighten up the winter.



This finishing has not left me bereft of knitting though, I am beginning seriously on Christmas knitting, early though it seems, these projects take time.

Stripes before my eyes

Five years behind the trend, I have started knitting a Noro Striped scarf, using Jared Flood's instructions and am finding it utterly compelling knitting. It is very much "just another row" knitting, or rather in this case "just another stripe".
 
I would also recommend it as a soothing, almost meditative knit. When I was planning this scarf I was worried about getting bored of knitting a knit one-purl one rib for the entire length of a scarf, so I bought some now discontinued Noro Silk Garden Chunky from Black Sheep Wools at a discount. Although the boredom has turned out not to be a factor I am still glad I went with the chunky weight. It is becoming a thick, soft, stretchy and squishy scarf and judging by the weight of it draped across my lap as I type, should be gorgeously warm.
 
Naturally being Noro there is the odd unfathomably itchy bit and the occasional bit of straw/grass/vegetable matter but I am being fairly successful at picking those out and with a wash it should be fine. Silk Garden is definitely the softest of the Noro yarns I have used so far and I am definitely thinking of giving the sock weight a whirl - Noro striped socks here I come?

 P.S. While we're on the subject of socks, I should have some finished sock photos to share tomorrow.

6am

Sometimes there's an advantage to being awake before 6am and thankfully I did eventually get back to sleep. I have got terribly behind with blogging and still haven't managed to write about our holiday. I had intended to post a photograph each day: I'll try to catch up soon.