Happy Christmas

During the night there must have been a riot at the top of my tree... this little fellow won !!

I fell in love with his friend at Harrogate and the lovely Pat sent me the pattern, he is an interesting knit (I'm sure he had a safety pin in one ear but it seems to have fallen out..)

I've been busy knitting, but I'm not going to say how well (or badly I've done...) If I could remember where my crochet hooks were that would help my quest... and if I cast on the right size that would have also helped...

There is still time to enter my competition below, just leave a comment on how many wips I had and how many you think I will finish before midnight on New Year's Eve...

I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday and that Santa brings you all that you want, and now I'm off to find a 3.5mm hook, I might be gone a long while !!

Dont believe all you read...

In magazines...
This is from Women's Weekly dated 11 December.
You will have to click on it to read the details...

Now as far as I am concerned I was asked to design and knit this in June when the 'lady' mentioned was not even in the country...

I can tell you which patterns were used as inspiration for the shaping, show you the file stored on my desktop from 18 June...

Now if her surname had not been used but the company name I would not have minded - I know that it not the magazine's fault as they will have only printed what they were told to. I also know that there is no point in me phoning up and saying something...

I dont even want to see my name in print, it is just the principle of someone else taking credit for something they did not do or even know about - and by the look of it no one has reknitted the garment (if they had they would have realised that it takes about a week for the dye to wash off their hands !!)

So I'm not a happy bunny. Friends that used to work there are even less happy.
I have decided never to go to the Mill Shop again - I will meet up with people outside if asked (and that includes going to their 'close out' sale whenever that happens)
I know that in the last year there has been a lot of staff leave, most have not been replaced. If anyone has any knitting queries there is no one left that can answer them.

And now I feel better for sharing, all I ask is for people to think before they buy - do you really want to do business with a company that treats people in such a way ?

And if I were you Knitwitches and Silkwood have a lot nicer yarns (and the colour doesn't come out while you are knitting)

My flu did take a long time to leave me, thanks for all the messages.

I'm now having problems finding my knitting mojo - I only have one present left to knit, problem is that it is an aran jumper for my brother - but speaking to him last night he said that he is not in a hurry for it, which is good as it is knitted in not nice to knit with yarn (20% wool in 400g balls) I will try and be good and finish it sometime soon otherwise it will lurk and hang over me in that annoying way - I knew at the time I shouldn't have knitted the one for his girlfriend last year.. (she was wearing it when I was up in Liverpool a few weeks ago, and it did look as though she had been putting her knees in it as she said she would...)

And the next post will be an anniversary competition, I cant believe that it has been two years since I started blogging ...

Flying off the needles...

First, a Tina Shawl update, only two more repeats until I pick up stitches for the borders, so this is the last time you will see this until it is completed - gathered knitting does not make for good photos !!



Back of Aran is now completed.

As I used different yarn to the pattern and didn't check my tension before I started (bad girl!!) I'm going to have to play on the sleeve shaping so it may take a little while to complete the rest...

Two head warmers started last night and finished this morning !!!

The blue & white is based on this I used some aran weight doubled and it came out bigger then it should so I only did 4 reapeats and not the 5 in the pattern.

The other is one of these and it is huge !! So I'm going to put two buttons on it so it can be adjusted.... Made with Colinette Prism.




A nice thick jumper for me taken from the latest Simply knitting. The pattern is for a cardi but as I wanted a jumper I did two backs (and two sleeves!!) Using Freedom chunky from stash and I only ran out of the varigated for two rows of the neck !!



And then we have a yoga mat bag.

This was going to be a Christmas present for a friend, and is now going to be a two weeks late birthday present !!

Pattern was made up as I went a long, it has a crocheted bottom and a very long icord ...

Close up of the cable pattern...

All knitted from stash and two completed for me, so that only leaves another two things before I can buy yarn !!!

Knitting photos are going to be few for a little while, house clearing (not mine !!) OU assignments for two courses (yes I know I'm mad !!) and some rather large knitting that cannot be shown are going to be keeping me amused and the lambing is going well but I dont want to show until the birth is completed....