Eight-by-Six

I was asked to test knit a beautiful new shawl pattern recently by one of my lovely Instabuddies (Lisa at Lisasattik ) and the yarn suggested was Scheepjes Whirl. You've probably seen this on Pinterest , Instagram and blog land. It's a fabulous new yarn made up of 60% cotton and 40% acrylic. My choice of colour was green tea tipple, there are so many to chose from but after seeing this knitted up (and crochet) I was drawn to the colour. You can follow my progress over on Ravelry just click here looks too good to dive in The only problem with starting with such a dark colour it was hard going but now that the subtle colour changes are emerging the knitting is much easier, quicker and far more enjoyable. I've not tackled many lace patterns before (but the birch trees scarf that I love) but because the panels are inter mixed with garter ridges and garter bands even I've managed to cope. The pattern flows beautifully and the colour change yarn guides you quickly to ...

January is a long cold month, Christmas is a distant memory and I find myself wishing for Spring to hurry up and make an entrance. I'm trying to be good, not spend too many pennies and not be tempted into buying more yarn (very hard!) So when I came across this pattern on Ravelry by accident it was the best find ever. Fiddly Bits by Hipknitizer. I have a whole box of yarn scraps I keep in my craft room and a bag in my loft, maybe some in my desk at work too! All Debbie Bliss Rialto DK merino yarn in yummy colours and this box was screaming out for a nifty project like this. All those colours, some discontinued from various granny square blanket projects all put to good use in a colorful cowl to keep me warm. All you do is knot them together, all those bits of  cut offs or end of ball and then knit to watch the stripes emerge. So easy but I did have to learn provisional cast on using a crochet hook, so I'm learning new things too.  Oh and kitchener stitch for the grafting of th...

You might remember this post from last November, the free knitting pattern for the snood knitted in Rico Creative Twist Super Chunky. I have finally ordered my grey wool through Loveknitting this week and I can't wait to start. The pattern link is Here   Moss stitch is my favourite pattern, especially on 10mm needles so it knits up super quick. I call Moss stitch little kisses and its so easy to knit, I also use it in my wash cloth pattern. For this snood pattern you only have to cast on 19 stitches, which makes it a great project for a Christmas present! You can find the pattern here at Ravelry its free to join and the pattern is also free!