holiday knitting

I am just back from a short break in London. I'm not a great reader so wanted to bring some knitting for any spare time I had when I was away. I was only taking hand luggage so wondered how I could get knitting needles past airport security. My usual Knitpro Karbonz had to be left behind and instead I took a set of bamboo dpns. I knew I couldn't take scissors either, so I purchased a Clover yarn cutter - makes an attractive pendant too.

 I wanted a nice easy knit so decided on some preemie hats for the local charity Tiny Life. I contacted them a while ago and they kindly sent me some patterns.
All went well going through security and the needles went unnoticed, no problem. On arriving at the hotel, I "bagged" the lounger as my knitting chair, lovely and relaxing and the light was nice and bright.

I got quite a few hats knit, being so small they knit up very quickly. Here's a few of them in a variety of sizes....

As well as the hats I practised a bit of cabling, something I haven't done before and wanted to have a go before starting my next project.

  Till next time, Ali.

a bit of sewing

This is my sons last year at secondary school and hopefully he will be going to uni next year. To mark this milestone I decided to make him something. I did a bit of up cycling using his old blazer, old tie and PE kits, which I've kept over the years. Had to blow the dust off the sewing machine it's been so long since I've given it a whirl. I pieced together bits of the uniform and ended up with a cushion I even inserted a zip on the reverse side. Here it is.......

A wee memento of his seven years spent at Inst, Im not sure if he will appreciate my efforts but I had great fun sewing it, must do more sewing.
Good luck to anyone who is waiting for their exam results tomorrow, or later in the month.
Till next time, Ali.

fingerless mitts

Its summer here.....well supposed to be anyway. Awful though it is, still not the weather for wearing woolly mitts but this hasn't stopped me knitting up two pairs. For the first pair I used my all time favourite pattern - Susie Roger's Reading Mitts. My old grey ones were looking very sorry for themselves so these are a replacement. The pattern is a freebie and available on Ravelry, click here.

A girl cant have to many accessories, so I wanted to knit a pink pair as well. I decided to look for another pattern and found one by Louisa Harding. This one, Victoria Mittens is available in her book - "Knitting Little Luxuries".

The pattern is written for two needles which is a shame as mitts tend to lend themselves to be knitted seamless. I tweaked her pattern and used my trusty dpns. What I loved about it was her use of picot cast on and off.... I thought it gave a pretty effect.

I used the loveliest of yarn for these two projects, Findley dk by Juniper Moon Farm, found in the Textile Studio, Ballyhackamore, Belfast, so soft and with a lovely sheen and a delight to knit up.
And after trying both patterns, the Susie Roger one is still my favourite.
Enjoy the rest of your week, Ali.