Not a surprise then.

Not so long ago I posted a close up of a secret Christmas project for someone who might look in on this blog. Well it's not a secret anymore as my sister announced at lunch time today that she desperately needed some gloves and was going to have to go out and buy some. As a knitter and provider of woolly garments I couldn't just allow a perfectly good pair of Commuter Fingerless Mittens to sit unworn until Christmas Day while the intended recipient went out to spend money on an inferior alternative.

Luckily she was really happy to receive them and not at all bothered that I had ruined a Christmas surprise. She also thinks they are really cool so I'm patting myself on the back for a job well done. I had planned to wrap up the leftover yarn with the mitts so that Jess could knit herself a hat to go with them, but if I have the time I'll do that myself so that she gets something knitted on Christmas Day too. Aren't I a super dooper sister?!

The yarn is Rowan Kid Classic which is very fluffy and soft. The mitts were a really quick and simple knit and I'd definitely knit them again.

 

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New WIP

I finished Cassie's owl mittens right before I went to bed last night and woke up this morning with a spring in my step (well as much of one as the average 31 weeks pregnant lady can manage) knowing that I would get to cast on something new today. The mittens are currently drying so they'll get their own post hopefully tomorrow.

So what have I cast on for today? Well I have one planned Christmas gift left to knit so that really should be a priority, but it's more colourwork and I could do with a day or two off from charts. For that reason the winner is another hat for baby. A nice quick simple project, easy and instantly gratifying. Also watching the little basket I've set aside slowly filling up with woollies just for her reminds me that before we know it she'll be here. Predictably it's another hat from Wee Woolly Toppers, Kilkenny this time in cerise Drops Lima. At this rate baby will have the entire book of hats to choose from but I don't care, they're all so cute!

 

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Drive by blankie update

After giving myself a couple of days off from the owl mittens I've put in a bit of work on the star blanket for baby. I'm getting back on with the mittens again now, but it was hard to put the blanket down, I'm enjoying knitting it so much. I'm getting towards the ends of the first two balls of yarn now which means that I am roughly almost a third of the way through and the pattern is really beginning to show itself. It's kind of magical.

 

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WIP: Owl Mittens

The first of the owl mittens is mostly done, obviously it is lacking a thumb but it's nearly there. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to crack straight on with the thumb or whether I'll knit the second mitt first and then do both thumbs at the same time. I'm sort of putting it off a bit because it looks fiddly so I should probably just get on with it. However I'm putting the whole thing aside for today and concentrating on the baby's blanket. Cassie is still a bit fiery at the moment so I need to work on something I can easily pick up and put down. The poor thing has had snot pouring out of her nose for nearly a week now so I can't blame her for being cranky, I am very much looking forward to her feeling better though.

 

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FO: It's a secret

My secret Christmas present project I've been working on is done. I'm a bit bummed that I can't really share anything about it but I figure an extreme close up won't do any harm, so here you go.

So there you go, it's black and has at least one turquoise button, intriguing.

With that done, it's onwards and upwards so I'm casting on for Cassie's Convertible Owl Mittens. I'll be honest, I've had to read and re-read this pattern so many times before it made complete sense to me. This is probably nothing to do with the pattern and is most likely because I've never knit anything with a similar construction. Now I've got my head round it all it actually seems pretty straightforward, but I've annotated the chart with simple instructions in my own word which should clarify things if I start to get a bit foggy again. Now I just need to get Cassie to bed so that I can give these my undivided attention. She's having a 'difficult' day and I'm fairly sure arsey toddlers and stranded knitting do not mix.

 

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Stashdown update October

As promised, here is the latest installment of my stash graph

Stash | Create infographics

The general slight downward trend has been slightly upset by my recent shopping spree which is a bit annoying when you see the sharp upswing in the number of balls being used this month.  I guess this very nearly offsets the number of balls added though, so it could have been much worse.  Pretty much everything I bought is earmarked for an upcoming project so hopefully I should blow through it all pretty fast and I can continue to see the numbers going down.  As long as I end the first year of this graph with less balls of yarn than I started with I will consider this stashdown a success.

New yarns!

My much anticipated package of yarn arrived yesterday which was very exciting, it's been a while. I'm now furiously knitting away on my current project so that I can cast on with some of it. It's all earmarked for little projects I have coming up so now I just have to decide what to knit first.

This Drops Alpaca is destined to become a hat for my SIL for Christmas, the pattern I have chosen is As The Leaves Begin to Fall by Eliza Jarvi. SIL is totally knitworthy so I'm hoping this turns out really nicely and that she likes it a lot.

The grey and white Drops Nepal is for a pair of Convertible Owl Mittens by Rebecca Reveal for Cassie. These are so cute I think they may be my next project. The pink will be combined with some turquoise Nepal that is already in my stash to become a Little Coffee Bean Cardigan by Elzabeth Smith for baby

This Drops Delight is actually not for me, my MIL has been muttering about learning to knit socks so this yarn will be part of her Christmas present along with some DPNs and a beginners sock knitting book.

These two balls of Drops Lima will each become either a Kilkenny or a Cubba (both Woolly Wormhead patterns) I haven't decided which is for which yet.

And lastly this ball of Drops Big Delight is for one of the worsted weight shawls in my favourites, I haven't decided on that one yet. I also got 3 of the Drops pattern leaflets, all of the patterns are available online but each leaflet was £1, there are loads of patterns in each and it saves on printing if there are a few things you want to make. I foresee quite a few Drops projects in my future now.

 

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