Eight-by-Six

I posted this back in 2013 and its been such a popular post but the link was broken, here it is  again because I'm sure my readers would love to knit this up for gifts over Christmas. I'm currently knitting one in King Cole Twirly Tweed Chunky and the colourway is called Raspberry Ripple. I'm using 7mm knitting kneedles althought the pattern states 6mm. I bought the yarn in Brighton back in May. Its going to look great with my grey coat or a grey jumper, perfect accessory for the chilly weather. I have cast on 33 stitches for this yarn but the Rico yarn uses larges needles and only 19 stitches. I've knitted this for friends and family for Christmas presents and it looks great. Happy Knitting Amanda

Yeah for the long Easter weekend full of tea drinking, chocolate eating and lots of knitting and crochet. The weather is going to be awful but I don't mind as I'll be surrounded by colour and warmth and a big granny blanket. I've just released my second pattern this month for the tea cosy, there is no stopping me! It combines my love of knitting and crochet together with a retro look! The inspiration for my tea cosy came from growing up as a kid in the 1970’s, surrounded by a colour palette of browns, orange and mustard that I didn’t appreciate at the time. We always visited my gran on a Sunday for tea and home made cake. She always had a knitted tea cosy and taught me to knit at an early age. I wasn’t that taken with knitting and my skills didn’t further develop until my son was born in 1992, a few garments frogged along the way (ask my husband about the first green jumper I knitted!!). Since then I’ve knitted lots of accessories as gifts for family and friends and ...

I finished my second Hitchhiker shawl on Saturday evening and I have to say I just love it in this Ocean Blue colour. I decided to add the eyelet row to row 8 of the pattern and I wasn't disappointed, just look at that drape! You can find my first Hitchhiker shawl in Batik Swirl  HERE Ocean Blue shawl If you are in need of a hug in a shawl then pop over to my Etsy account, its now listed and needs a new home. In the meantime I've started a new project for me, a Stashbuster jumper using the fabulous Debbie Bliss Rialto DK and Heathers range. Pure luxury just for me. This is the main colour Denim in the Debbie Bliss Rialto Heathers range, isn't it lovely?  (now discontinued but I managed to gran the last 7 skiens in C&H Canterbury) oh happy days.

Well since you last heard from me I've been mega busy finishing (and starting new projects) managed to have another quick break in Norfolk and yes, you guessed it made another granny tee ! I think its fair to say that I am now addicted to this pattern!! I just love it, the best bit is turning the circle into a square and depending on which yarn you use, the stitch definition is wonderful. So here is the denim blue version I made for my weekend in Norfolk but I didn't get round to wearing it as we had lovely weather. This version uses three 142g balls of Lion Brand Heartland but you won't use all of the third. Why not experiment with other yarn like I did, it's great fun. Go raid your yarn stash! my second granny tee in Lion Brand Heartland Glacier Bay And I've started two more both in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran- I have six balls in the rusty rose colour so this will be a kids version for my Etsy shop. The purple version I bought 9 x50g balls of the sa...

I've been working on the loveliest of custom orders (from my niece for my great niece). A request came in about three weeks ago would I knit a bunny costume for my great niece because she was attending a fancy dress party in May, she's only two months old so how could I resist! I took two seperate patterns that I had found on Pinterest and made them into my own version adding a few little tweeks. I really love how the knitted bloomers turned out. The pattern does suggest the knitted band on the legs, but the first pair I made were made on 4mm needles and looked a little small and restricted on movement so for comfort I've left this part out. The pattern links can be found here  for an alternative pattern in garter stitch and here  for the one I used. The baby bunny free knitting pattern can be found here I do take custom orders (but please allow plenty of time because I do work full time and this is my hobby in my spare time) So a big ta dah moment from me ....... ...

Would you look at these colours, wow aren't they just so bright and cheerful! I'm trying to go a little vintage 1970s style (my era and childhood) I'm sure we had one of these, maybe not quite as bright but I just love the Orla Kiely colours and this is going to be another huge snuggly blanket sure to brighten everyones day! And its so cold I can really get on with this over the weekend and add lots more colourful stripes. Have a fab weekend and keep warm and snuggly and maybe do some crochet too.

Another granny blanket for #sixtymilliontrebles. Just couldn't get into the other one. This is going to be a rainbow granny stripe but its gone a little wobbly, I hate that. Tempted to start again, I probably will! I have over 30 colours plus parchment and I'm guessing it will be about 46 rows. So most of the colours will get used. It was a quiet weekend. Sunday I woke at 6am with a headache which lasted most of the day. Hay fever is bad at the moment and the windy conditions didnt help. But by 5pm I felt a little better and took Moss for a walk in the sunshine. Yes the sun came out after such a miserable day, typical. But I did get all my ironing done and a lot of crochet the start the yarn stash and more colours! Sunday evening crochet in bed

For those of you that read my blog and follow me on Instagram will know that I am totally obsessed with granny squares!  I post pictures of them quite often and I've got a box of them, I love to look at them!  It also drives my husband Ian crazy with wool all over the house in the car and also stashed in a cardboard box under my desk at work! So when one of my lovely followers, Bridget over at Malbridgehouse  contacted me to tell me about an exiting new project, I was itching to learn more. At first I wasn't sure that this was a project for me, but after watching the recent program on the BBC that followed the plight of the Syrian refugees I decided to give it my attention. I couldn't image having to leave my home, my country in search of a safe place, could you?  my first 36" square in progress So here are some of the facts and why the project was started by a group in the UK. The UN at the end of 2015 estimated that there are 60 Million re fugees Worl...

I know, its a bit warm to be sitting under a granny blanket, but as I'm now trying to complete the border I am trying to do this in the evening in the garden in the shade. I gave up last night in favor of my granny square inspired top, the back (or front) is almost finished, it will be tonight (yah!) granny square jumper in progress glorious granny squares June was definitely a granny square kind of month, just looking back on all my Instagram feeds, wow so many granny squares. I am totally hooked or obsessed, which ever way you look at it. Last night I sat in the garden crocheting and the big pot of red geraniums are about to flower. Good old Morrison's supermarket, always great quality plants and reasonable. Well gardening shouldn't be about spending vast amounts of money, should it? I potted three plants into a plastic tub my mum gave me ages ago. I went back to get more geraniums for the matching pot but sadly none left. I will post a picture once the buds a...

It's definitely getting colder and I have a family birthday next week, my sister in law Ellen. So I thought I'd knit her a slouchy hat to keep her warm, it's the first hand made item to gift this year. I started out with the Blackberry Beanie pattern but changed it slightly and I'm using seed stitch. It knits up quickly because the set up row is all knit, the right side is K1, P1 all the way across. I'm going to rename it Ellen! I gave her a sneak preview last night and it's going to be finished this week. She loved the colour too! slouchy hat  seed stitch  I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in silver but in daylight it's very much like duck egg. I do love this yarn. so soft and snuggly and great stitch definition. I've already bought more yarn for my next project! I'm back to Louisa Harding Akiko for some more luxury, I love knitting with this one too.A new hat for me to go with my padded grey winter coat. My da...

It's hard to believe that today is the 31st October, all Hallows Eve, its just too warm isn't it? I took a quick walk outside my office at lunchtime and it is a beautiful day out there. Warm and breezy with such lovely autumnal colours that I am missing from my office desk. fallen leaves some leaves still on the tree outside my office fallen leaves, a sign of autumn I stated my Moss Stitch snood last night, and I've almost knitted through one ball. I love the colour and its so soft. Should have it finished this weekend and I plan to knit another one in a different colour. Enjoy your Halloween, I'm off for a swim, my local pool will be empty! Moss stitch snood in progress

I did it, I finally got my act together and finished the tiny granny square blanket for Abbie's baby. Abbie is my hairdresser and she's expecting her fist baby in November, so what better gift than a hand-made bright snuggly baby blanket made up of 64 little granny squares. Wow 64, I hadn't realised I'd made that many. Tiny granny square blanket finished Each little granny square is made up of 3 rounds, the 3rd round joining as I went along. I finished off with 3 rounds of pink granny stripes all in Stylecraft Special DK. It's machine washable and could double as a play mat. Sorry about the picture quality, I took them at 10:30pm the other night after I'd finished it! blanket in progress, I changed it to 8x8 I've enjoyed making this blanket so much and will miss it. It was a small project (24" square) but still a challenge. I'm now pretty good at putting the little squares together and now plan to finish my granny square blanket now t...

I seem to be having a pink phase at the moment. It all started on Monday with my new kindle Fire HD cover, Wednesday my new shellac nail colour, lovely pink post from The Pigeons Nest with my toadstool magents (they are so cute) flowers in my front and back gardens, a new baby blanket pattern , pink knitted wash cloths and flowers at my sisters villa rental in Spain. The baby blanket is an easy pattern, not really a pattern, just cast on 130 stitches and knit until each ball of yarn is finished a join a new one, seven in total hopefully. But because I am using Debbie Bliss Rialto DK (soft merino) it will be a squidy blanket to use from baby to toddler, a lovely hand made gift for a November baby. I'm not normally a pink person but this week I am surrounded by pink! I hope you enjoy the photos and pattern links   hand knitted waffle wash cloth   toadstool magnets pink Shellac nail varnish and matching Debbie Bliss wool pots of fuscia i...