Eight-by-Six

Those of you who regularly follow me over on  my Instagram  will know that I've been obsessed with knitting the Big Easy Beanie this summer into Autumn. I've knitted it in so many yarns and colour combinations I can't stop! So I thought I'd share with you this versatile pattern (not the actual pattern) but the yarns I've used and what I recommend. You can buy the  pattern here on Ravelry ( its not mine!) the stripes edition All my left over Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran has been used in my stripe beanie edition shown above. I used under 50g in the grey plus a few oddments of colours I used in previous hats.  It knits up quickly and is a great little project to knit for Christmas gifts or charity hats. Its definitely not your basic beanie. Whatever yarn you choose I bet you can't stop at one hat! If you don't fancy knitting one I have most of these beanies for sale in my Etsy shop . They can be supplied in a gifting box or just the beanie. I'm adding other...

There's nothing more satisfying than knitting the last cable decrease on a Christmas gift. I mainly use Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for winter hats, and this baby pink is just beautiful and has a vintage vibe to it. I buy mine from Love Crafts and they have good offers on throughout the year. The pattern I use is one designed by Debbie herself, it was free on her web site a few years ago and is so easy to follow with horn cable stitch (or antler cables). Its the perfect choice for hand made Christmas gifts. I'm currently knitting three for my nieces (Meg, Beth and Grace) as they are spending Christmas day with their mum and new dad (my husbands twin brother) You may remember we attended their beautiful wedding in Lake Como in September. The colours I've chosen are Baby Pink (603), Oatmeal (27) and Biege (102) they look so gorgeous when paired with the pom poms I buy from the lovely CraftyFriendsUK . I buy from Catherine because her pom poms are consistently exc...

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'm still here, just some bad news on the 10th October knocked me for six. My dad has cancer (again) this time its stage 4 and lots of chemo has started, so I went a little quiet to reflect on this and my family and life in general - like you do when you get such bad news. Anyway as my dad wouldn't want me to dwell on bad stuff, he is such a fighter, I am filling my life with colour and knitting (I'm off the crochet briefly, I always find myself knitting at this time of year for gifts and just comfort in front of the TV watching I'm a Celebrity (its now finished :-( Knitting at this time of year is addictive, isn't it? I've found a new passion, the Trendy Chale, you will see this on Pinterest and regularly on Instagram (as you know I post almost every day now and have over 770 followers, not sure how that happened but it s a comfort to know that people enjoy my work and pictures). Anyway this is just a brief pop by to say hello and to show you some of my cur...