Literary hotties...

Carrying on with the woolly makes on this warm and sunny Spring day! Not so seasonally inappropriate though as it is still rather chilly at night and so just right for a literary hottie

I love the idea of giving a hot water bottle, beautifully matched to some bedtime reading, an idea found in Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Knitting. These are knitted in Cascade 220, a dream to knit with, in colours Harvest and Atlantic. I did find the funnel part of the pattern a little too long, but maybe this was just these hot water bottles. The fit everywhere else was nicely snug, and I ended up just tucking the extra in at the top. Next time I would knit a few less rows for this part, and maybe measure it against the hot water bottle rather than merrily knitting the pattern.

This really is a snug and squidgy cover and I do need to knit myself one. Maybe before the summer. And so much fun had selecting some classic Penguin titles... One Pair of Hands, Mrs Parkington...

 

 Do hope you are enjoying some snug bedtime reading Linda and Ems!

A Where's Wally World Book Day

Initially Patch decided he would like to be God or Jesus for world book day. Indisputably both are from books, yet I worried that our slightly irreverent interpretation may upset some. Other suggestions made by Patch included Willy Wonka, Bob the man on the moon, or Claude and Sir Bobblysock. As we were informed only on Monday afternoon that children may dress as a character from a book on Thursday, and that Tuesday was already spoken for as it was my birthday, that left a day. The Willy Wonka idea is most certainly stored for another occasion, and Where's Wally was settled on as the only thing we didn't have was a suitable pom pom hat. Obviously not a problem

Sadly my over full basket didn't contain anything suitable, so a trip to the local wool shop resulted in a purchase of two balls of katia Peru wool. This is a chunky wool knitted on 6 - 6.5 mm needles, a smaller size than the 8 mm suggested in the chosen pattern - the purl bee's super soft merino hats for everyone. In an attempt to stop this hat becoming a more expensive item I decided to use needles that I already own, which are 7.5mm. Oh, and are straight needles whereas the pattern is knitted in the round. And I had no head to check the fit as it was either at school or playing at a friend's after school. So I bravely knitted the child size, quickly as it is indeed a quick knit, and waited to check the fit on the head when it returned home. And it is fine, and we had a rather happy Where's Wally

A pom pom-less woolly hat

Oh my, I wasn't sure I had it in me but this hat remains without pom-pom and for that I think Mr R is perhaps rather grateful.

This time I knitted the twisted rib beanie from Jenny Lord's Purls of Wisdom, using Rico fashion country aran in aubergine and Rico essentials soft merino aran in mouse grey. I prefer the merino aran, the aubergine is just a bit sheddy and scratchy. I followed the suggested adaption to make the beanie into a fisherman style... that is I added extra rows so the contrast could be turned up.

 And I do like those twisted ribs. My attempts at photographing this hat without a head just didn't show those nice twists, and you may wonder why the hat is squashed into the corner of the chair, propped up with a cushion. Well, I found that in the absence of a head a balloon makes for an adequate substitute. This probably isn't true for all situations where a head is normally required, but for modelling woolly makes it really is fine. Here is the photograph I have including a head, but with the general gloominess it is rather dark!

Sweetie Pie hats

How could a hat given that name be anything but sweet....

 This is Purl Soho's Sweetie Pie hat, a lovely pattern which can be found for free here. If it wasn't for the fact that I read today that winter is over, I would urge everyone to knit one of these delights. I may still be tempted to knit myself another. I have wool waiting.  I knitted this first hat (for there are more) in the larger size, somehow reading that as more of the adult size rather than mansize. I do not feel that my head is super large, and yes the hat is a little roomy but not oh my so. The wool used is a mix... Yum is Rowan pure wool aran in banana. It is one of the least banana like yellows I have seen, more of a mustard. Though banana sounds more yum. I have been looking for a lovely mustard shade for a while, found this and was oh so pleased with myself, only to find that Rowan declare it banana. The grey is Rico design fashion nature DK in light grey, knitted in double thickness. I haven't used Rico wool much but they seem to be a lot lighter weight than other makes. Even knitted double thickness this grey was still thinner than the Rowan...

Obviously I added a pom pom.

And then knitted another. Can you tell I like the pattern

This time using Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran in denim blue and mulberry. I followed the smaller size this time and this one fitted to, probably more the fit the pattern intended as it was more well, fitted.  I saw this one looking snug on the birthday girl's head in Brighton last week and it did look delightful! 

Happy birthday George and Maisie Mae!

Happy birthday (of sorts) Miss Ethel

Though it isn't her birthday at all, rather a happy you have been with us for a year day! Celebrated with a new toy chosen by Patch and a play in a plastic bag

This is a treat indeed for a sweet kit who just loves plastic bags... usually they are whisked away as Miss Ethel loves to eat them as much as hide inside them, a habit that disagrees strongly with her insides...

On a gloomy day it has been oh so nice to be snug at home, munching a freshly made biscuit

A lovely day! And glad that it is still the weather for yet another winter woolly hat. This time the classic beret from Jenny Lord's Purls of Wisdom

The red rib is an unknown from the basket with a Rowan aran in charcoal for the main. I did enjoy knitting this, and just love the lines on top, though I slightly prefer the hat off than on. Hoping this is a result of me having an odd shaped head rather than the hat itself, as this is a present! Do hope you had a happy birthday, Sarah... and that you like your hat!

Quite nice actually to knit something that I don't immediately think oh I need one of those too, and add it to the must one day knit this pile...

More wintry pom-pom hats...

Still having far too much fun with the pom-pom maker. So thought I should make hats to go with the pom-poms

Ooo, and matching cowls too to keep those little wintry necks snug. 

The pattern for the hats is the Chili Pepper hat from Spud & Chloe with added pom-pom. Of course.  The navy hat is knitted in the oh-so-soft Millamia dreamy wool, using midnight and claret. The grey was from the wool basket, left over from making these Minion goggles, a still surprise to me snug James C Brett DK. The blue hat used up the rest of the grey, and also the leftovers from making  Minion dungarees, and yet more lovely Millamia in scarlet.

The pattern for the cowls is the Uno Cowl from Millamia's Bright Young Things. With some stretchy blocking they happily fit two nine year olds,  not just the toddler mentioned in the pattern. Hope your Auntie knits are keeping you snug this winter, Reuben and Casper!

And causing great excitement yesterday was the loss of Patch's first tooth. Swallowed along with his brioche. Patch was a little concerned about lack of tooth so wrote a covering note to place in the little pot for the tooth fairy, and we gave him Mater because until we get used to these adult teeth he reminds us just a little of his favourite tow truck... So thank you for the sweet pot Goodmums Linda and Ems - finally put to use!

Some winter makes

... some of which may have been Christmas presents, but as it is almost the end of January it seems a little late to be mentioning festive makes. So winter knits they are!

This though was made before Christmas and was an excuse to use my newly purchased larger size pom-pom maker

A new hat for Patch. As this was a must knit now hat it was a search through the basket to see what I can use... the green was leftover from the lining of a tea cosy knitted for Mum and Dad, and the white and red wool are unknowns I was given. I know I followed a pattern but cannot remember what. Oh my, this was only November. Maybe the hats for everyone from purl bee? I think the pattern was in the round but as I only had appropriate needles for flat knitting I did it that way. Gosh, I know I did knit this hat. But not much else. And had fun making a large pom-pom. I was oh so tempted to buy the extra large size pom-pom maker but Mr R wondered if it may be too much of a statement pom-pom. And this is quite large, and uses a lot of wool...

A lovely snug hat, which doesn't really help as I couldn't knit again as I know neither the pattern nor wool. Hopefully I shall remember more for the next make!