Wip Wednesday - Don't Panic

So here's the situation, I have nothing on the needles, nothing! I have projects I want to start and I have yarn but I have quite a severe case of startitis! 

I finished the owl hat (which will be featured soon) and since then, nothing. We've been quite busy over the weekend with getting things ready for when this baby makes an appearance, painting, cleaning, getting things out of the loft etc, so that hasn't left a lot of time or energy for knitting.

Also I wasn't at my knitting group this week as I was at a Foo Fighters gig (which was awesome) and had I been at the group I would have cast on something, not to worry though I'm sure there will be something cast on soon! 

In the meantime I'm off to check out what everyone else is knitting! 

The guy next door cowl

Or otherwise known as a cowl for Stu! Ive been meaning to blog about this cowl for ages. Stu asked me to knit him something a while ago, but he is really fussy and I didn't want to put in lots of time and effort if he wasn't go to wear/use the finished product! We did finially find something he would wear though, Stu drives a motorbike and wears buffs and cowls to keep his neck warm. I found this pattern and thought it would be perfect. Thankfully Stu agreed and I even let him choose the yarn.

 I really enjoyed knitting this once I got the pattern repeat memorised. It wasn't a very complicated pattern repeat but my poor pregnancy (yes I am using baby brain as an excuse!) brain did struggle at the beginning. Thankfully the pattern and the colour Stu chose were both rather forgiving! Once I got going though it didn't take very long to knit up and was off the needles before I knew it! 

Stu was really pleased with it and couldn't wait for it to be blocked so he could wear it! I also have enough yarn left over that I am going to make a matching one for Angus! 

Stu got a bit carried away with posing in the next photo, apparently this is his mysterious look! I think it's safe to say he like the cowl.

Who Wednesday - Owl hat

Oops it Thursday, never mind...

So I cast on this hat last week when I was off work, unfortunately all my plans to be productive with knitting and my blog all disappeared. I didn't do any knitting other than casting on and as you will have noticed no blogging. I don't know really what happened, Angus and I spent a lot of time together and that was really important. 

But here I am and with a new wip, a baby owl hat, the pattern can be found here. I am kind of winging it a bit as I've used different weight yarn and different size needles so we'll see what size it comes out as. I have plenty yarn so I might have to make another. That wouldn't be the end of the world as it been a really enjoyable knit so far. 

Hoping to get it finished soon, I'm off work today and Angus is at nursery so as long as I don't have too many naps, who knows...

Puerperium cardigan

This was actually finished last week but it's taken me a week to get round to seeing the buttons on! 

But how cute are those penguin buttons?! I love them!  I actually really love the whole cardigan, love the colour and loved knitting it. This will definitely be on my list to do again! I opted for short sleeves as baby is due end of June so hopefully it will be warm enough for short sleeves.

There will of course be another photo with baby in the cardigan and I may have to make the bigger version too!

Well that's it for me, I'm on holiday this week, so hoping to get lots of knitting done and I have a few blog posts I've been working on that I hope to get posted.

Have a great weekend!

A button buy

The puerperium cardigan is all finished apart from the buttons. I went to see them on last night and can you believe it I'm one button short! Gutted! 

Not to worry though Angus and I decided we would go button shopping today! I don't really need an excuse! Other than the penguin buttons for the puerperium cardigan I didn't really have anything specific I needed but I did tell Angus he could also pick some! 

Here's what we got 

Can you guess what Angus picked? Yellow is his favourite colour and when he saw a little bag of yellow buttons he couldn't resist! I love the ladybird ones and the blue ones are for a secret project! 

Buy the time we got home it was trying to rain so we spent some time playing with our new buttons!

Happy weekend!

Wip Wednesday - Puerperium cardigan

As I finished the monster sweater at the weekend I cast on something new. This cardigan has been on my ravelry list for years! The pattern can be found here. I really don't know why I haven't done it before now, anyway it's cast on and going well! 

I'm really enjoying knitting this and so far my only complaint is that it might be finished much sooner than I would like. The pattern is simple to follow and I love the yarn I'm using - Rico baby, cotton soft dk in a gorgeous green! 

Well that's it for me today, happy knitting! 

Monster Sweater

It's been another quiet week here on my blog, we've had more visitors and Angus has also been poorly which has made for a very tired me! This whole month has been a bit of a blur, we've had lots of lovely visitors a and been away, Angus and I have both been poorly and Stuart has been working lots. I haven't even made it to my knitting group once this month, which I have really been missing. Although this month has been crazy busy  I am really pleased to share today Angus' monster sweater completed.

This sweater has been a long time coming, I checked my knitting notebook and I started it last July! I haven't been working on the whole time, in fact I think I put it down for about 7 months. If I'm honest this sweater was probably too advanced for my skills. It was a lot of hard work for me and I had to ask my friend several times for help! Having said that I want so pleased yesterday when it was finally finished and because it's challenged me so much I feel I've added lots of new skills to my knitting. 

New skills -

1. Intarsia

2. Using a circular instead of dpns 

3. Picking up stitches correctly 

4. Blocking

I should have blocked my pieces separately! Lesson learnt!

The other great thing about the sweater is Angus loves it!

Weekend baking

This weekend has been much more relaxed than previous ones, we were at home and had no visitors. Stuart has been at work most of the time so Angus and I have had to amuse ourselves.

We spent some time looking out baby clothes, went to soft play and then decided that our Saturday wouldn't be complete without some baking! I wasn't in the mood for anything too complex but wanted something that would be satisfying when finished, I decided on scones.

Nothing fancy but easy for a 2yr old to help with and very satisfying when baked.

Happy weekend!

Wool for Ewe!

It been a bit quiet on the blog this week as we've been back in Scotland visiting friends and family! We've had such a lovely trip up north, catching up with old friends, watching Angus play with his cousins and just spending some time together as a family! Stuart and I also got some time to ourselves with was great and a great opportunity for Angus to spend some time with his grandparents.

On Tuesday morning Angus was with his grandparents so Stuart and I went into town to look round the shops and get some lunch. We had such a relaxing morning (anyone with a toddler will understand how difficult looking round shops can be!) and a really nice lunch. 

I was especially pleased as it meant I finally had the opportunity to go to a yarn shop I have been going on about for ages! The shop is called "Wool for Ewe" and is right round the corner from where I used to live. It has a wonderful selection of yarn, needles, bags and all kinds of accessories. The staff were very well informed and happy to help. They also run classes and do workshops. I was very restrained and only bought the yarn I needed, which turned out to be quite boring.

The yarn is for a cowl for Stuart so he got to choose the colour, which is not what I would have chosen but it has to be something he'll wear.

I did however, manage to pick up a couple of extra things!

A very handy tote bag, some cute tissues with balls of yarn on them and a bookmark.

I will definitely be going back to "Wool for Ewe" the next time we are in Aberdeen. I could have spent hours in there just touching all the lovely yarn, but I was conscious Stuart was with me and although he hadn't said anything I could tell he was getting bored! I was still happy with my purchases though and so glad to finally visit the shop!

"Wool for Ewe" also has a website if you want to check it out

Www.woolforewe.com

Fo Friday - Shaun the sheep

Really pleased to be posting this today, Shaun the sheep is finished! 

He was a really quick and straight forward knit. Even the sewing up wasn't too bad. The only thing that held me up was an eye infection at the weekend and having visitors! 

He's not perfect but I'm still really pleased with him! Angus also loves him and picked him straight up and gave him cuddles! So cute! Shaun even got to sleep in Angus' bed last night which is a very high honour! 

Well that's it for me today, we are just packing up and heading off to Scotland for a few days! 

Happy easter

Wip Wednesday- the easter edition

This week we have been embracing all things Easter. We have visitors coming for the weekend, so we have been busy buying eggs, decorating the house, planning activities for the weekend and thinking of lots of nice Easter treats! 

I have also been preparing Easter baskets for our niece, nephew and Angus for Easter Sunday. It's been really fun picking up little things to put in their baskets! I have also knitted some small things for the baskets, for my niece, a little rabbit, for my nephew a little chick and for Angus I'm making something slightly bigger, Shaun the sheep!

We took Angus to the cinema a few weeks ago for the first time and the movie was Shaun the sheep. He loved it and ever since has been slightly obsessed with it. I don't  mind as it's actually quite funny and definitely one of the less annoying children's programs!

At the time the movie was out a newspaper was including a pattern for knitting your own Shaun the sheep and even provided the yarn! Unfortunately I missed it! However, Rowan also released the pattern on their website, so I quickly downloaded that. I wasn't too worried about not getting the free yarn as I'm trying to stash bust and I have plenty white and black yarn. 

It's been really quick and easy to knit so far, although I suspect I may start cursing it when it comes to seeing up all the pieces! Here it is so far, not much to see really

Hopefully it will be finished for Friday! 

Is it spring yet?

So the clocks changed last night so technically it is spring but it doesn't really feel like spring yet! There are signs it's coming though and that is good. It nearly April, the nights are getting lighter, the sun can be seen more frequently, the temperature has risen a bit (some days) and there is the first signs of growth in the garden! This all makes me feel quite positive, I've had enough of winter, I'm ready to feel the sun on my face again! (Plus none of my coats fasten anymore, so it will be nice to not have to wear one!)

To help spring along I've been surrounding our home with little things like daffodils, Easter cakes and little chicks! I've also picked up some yarn in lovely spring colours and my new wip is very seasonally (more of that on Wednesday)

Is it spring yet? Is just one of the questions I've been asking lately, others include - is it nap/bed time yet? Is it the weekend yet? Is it time for mat leave yet?

You may be sensing a theme, this week has not been a great week sleep wise, lots of getting up for the toilet and then not getting back to sleep again. Everything is much harder when you're tired and I've really felt like I need a break or a rest or a lovely holiday to lie on a beach (that last one is never gonna happen!!) But today is the first day of spring, I had a good nights sleep and feel ready for action! Well maybe not action, maybe just a bit of pottering around, making lists, eating cake and a bit of knitting!

Just keep knitting...

Still knitting away on my Angus' monster sweater, just the collar to go! Hopefully tonight is the night! I wanted to do some more this afternoon but Angus wants to make cakes and really who can argue with that! 

Wip Wednesday - the late edition

This post is slightly misleading, mainly as I don't have a wip to show you. Don't get excited the monster sweater isn't finished, I don't have a wip to show as it hasn't really changed from last week. I have finished a sleeve and cast on another but the picture I took looks just the same as last week. As predicted having my in-laws to visit has hindered my knitting.

However, I can't complain as they have babysat for us twice and gave me several long lies. My husband and I made full use of the two evenings out, the first of which we spent at the cinema. We saw "Focus" which is the new Will Smith film. We were both really impressed with it! It was funny and smart and really kept you on your toes but without being to hard to watch! I love Will Smith anyway but this really good and I'd recommend to anyone. Our second night out was spent at the theatre watching "Shrek" the musical. This was fab! We are both big fans of the movies so we were hoping to love this and again we were not disappointed! My favourite character/actor was Lord Farquhar, he played the role on his knees and he really stole the show for us. He was very funny! The costumes were very good and characters like the dragon and gingy were very cleverly done. My husband and I had a great time!

 It's been a really nice week with my in-laws actually and Angus has loved spending time with them!

I do have one wip to share with you and that's my bump. This was me on Sunday at 25 weeks!

Well that's it for me today, next week I will have lots more to share as we will be back to normal! 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day in the U.K. was Sunday just past. My husband has always been pretty good with birthdays and Christmas so I was never worried that he would fail on Mother's Day! And this year was no different. 

First he got up with Angus at 6:15am and let me sleep for a further 3 hours. When they did wake me they brought a cup of tea and some pain au chocolat. This was lovely but there were also presents!

The first of which was this lovely Mother's Day yarn box from Devon Sun Yarns! (Turns out my husband is a very good listener) Inside the box was lots of lovely things including some gorgeous sock yarn. It's come out quite blue in this photos but there is quite a lot of purple in it too! Perfect colours for me! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make yet but it will be something for me!

There was also a teabag and some chocolate which was very nice. The little pins are very sweet and I love the stitch marker! My husband and Angus also very thoughtfully chose me a card with knitted pictures, they know me so well! 

The second of my gifts was this little lot, which Angus made at a group he goes to, the cakes were eaten mostly by Angus but I love the photo frame and the handmade card!

I had a lovely relaxing morning and in the afternoon we went into town for a lovely walk down by the river and then for some coffee and cake! Although I had a white chocolate hot chocolate which was so yummy!

My in laws also arrived from Scotland o Sunday, so we all went out for a lovely meal to finish the day off

If it was Mother's Day with you I hope you had a lovely relaxing day too filled with treats! 

Wip Wednesday- the monsters are coming

(Image)

Well just one monster!

As today's title suggests the monster sweater is nearing completion, I'm really pleased with how it's coming along. I've made a couple of mistakes but I'm ok with that, I've cracked intarsia and that's fab! 

Here's where I am as of today

I have the sleeves to finish, the neckband and then just seeing it together. I am really hoping that next week I will have a new wip to show you and this will be a FO! We do have visitors coming at the weekend so this may hamper how much knitting I get done, but fingers crossed! 

A chocolate cake kind of day

On Friday Angus and I decided to have a quiet day, I'd been feeling pretty yuck all week with a cold and cough, so taking it easy was ideal. I asked Angus what he wanted to do thinking he might say play trains or make a tent but no Angus wanted to make a cake. When I thought about it, it was actually a great idea, a chocolate cake was just what we needed!

We just used a simple Mary Berry chocolate tray-bake recipe, nothing very complicated, really just a throw it all in.a bowl, mix it together and bake! However I think you'll agree it turned out pretty good and was very tasty! 

Also to say we had a very happy daddy when he came home to chocolate cake was an understatement, so win win really! I mean who doesn't like chocolate cake?!

10 tips for intarsia

I am pleased to say that I have finished the intarsia part of the sweater for Angus! I'm so pleased, I think it's going to look great when its a finished sweater. I thought that now I have finished my first piece of intarsia that it might be a good time to share some tips that I found helpful when doing this for the first time.

These are by no means all you need to know but they have definitely helped me, so hopefully they will help you too!

1. Watch some videos on YouTube so you get an idea of how it's supposed to look when you are doing it

2. Have a good look at the chart before you start and make notes at the side of you need too. Things like whether it's a knit or purl row

3. Make your bobbins before you start so you are ready to pick them up and use them

4. Keep bobbins close to your knitting so you dot get in a tangle

5. Leave a long enough tail to weave in when you change colours

6. When changing colours take the new colour under the old one, when working on the wrong side 

and this will avoid holes in your knitting 

7. Weave in ends to match the same colour. Remember to tighten the stitches when you weave in as it will improve the look at the front of your knitting

8. Weave your ends in as you go to avoid a tangle in the back

9. Block your finished piece of work. I don't usually block (lazy knitter) but I can see already that it 

will make a big difference to the finished sweater!

10. Don't panic, it's not as hard as you think and you will manage master it

I also thought I would share some of my favourite intarsia patterns too, just in case you needed some inspiration! These were all found on Pinterest. (Links below)

Sheep blanket

Star Wars hat

Reindeer sweater

Monster trousers

Heart bag

Penguin cushion

Wip Wednesday - monster sweater

I have been a bit quiet lately, my mum has been visiting and then the husband had a cold at the weekend which he's very kindly passed onto me. This has unfortunately meant that not a great deal of knitting has been done. However, I am really happy with what I have done.

I think I've actually cracked intarsia! After watching 3 YouTube videos, doing some reading and consulting a very knowledgable friend, I finally started this sweater for the third time on Monday night and look! It's a bit untidy but I think once I weave in the ends it'll be fine! It wasn't nearly as hard as I was fearing and I'm so happy with how it's coming along.

I was taking this photo this morning and my son Angus and I had this conversation:

Angus: baby hat mummy?

Me: no

Angus: baby blanket mummy?

Me: no Angus, this is going to be a jumper for you!

Angus: oh wow!

It was very cute but the way he went on you'd think I never made him anything!

Anyway that's all from me today!

And the winner is....

I am a little late with the winner of my giveaway, I don't know where the last couple of days have gone! Anyway I made a list of everyone who entered and did a random number generator and the winner is Andria! 

Congratulations!

Andria if you email me (sam_mcconachie@hotmail.com) with your address I'll pop your yarn in the post! 

Thanks to everyone who entered!

To buy or not to buy

That is the question...today

So what am I talking about, I am of course talking about the Devon sun yarn club. My friend joined last moth and I was so impressed with the parcel she received  (below) that I am really tempted to join too. 

I mean isn't this just such a lovely package to receive in the post, who wouldn't want it. Also my friend Vikki made this gorgeous cowl with the yarn. You can find Vikki's blog  "Bake Day Wednesday" here, she makes lots of lovely, very clever things.

There is also a ravelry group for this yarn club with ideas of what to make with the yarn, so it's not like it would be wasted... But I don't really need to buy yarn for unidentified projects and I shouldn't

really be spending money when we are expecting another baby. Then again it's not a lot of money and I would use the yarn (eventually), also I don't really make many yarn purchases during a normal month and I could just sign up for the initial 3 months then stop. However, this could lead to other purchases, it may be a slippery slope but what pregnant lady doesn't need a treat?! I don't know I think the jury is still out of this one...

Are you in a yarn club? Do you use the yarn you receive? Should I sign up? 

Oh only 3more days left of my giveaway!

Book review - 2015 #1

Jasper Fforde - Lost in a Good Book

I was given this book at Christmas, I had read the first one in this series and really wanted to read the rest so this was a very welcomed Christmas gift. I had another book to finish before I started this one that I started just before Christmas, so this is technically the first book I've started and finished in 2015.

First a little background to the story, the first in this series is "The Eyre Affair" and is an inventive adventure based around literature. This second adventure follows the  main character Thursday Next, who is a literary sleuth. In this adventure Next finds herself fighting to get the love of her life back, apprenticed to Miss Havisham from Dickens "Great Expectations, caught up in a deadly series of coincidences and is the only one who can save the earth.

There is never a dull moment in this novel and the pace of the story really keeps you going. I really like the main character Thursday Next and find it very easy to be sucked into the world which she lives in (which is an alternative England/world from our one.) the characters which are often from other novels are really convincing and entertaining. These books have a comic element running through them which I really enjoy, it also adds another level to some of the more tense dramatic scenes which I think is really clever. My only problem which is book is that it doesn't have an ending and now I really want to read the third book in the series to find out what happened! 

Jasper Fforde has a great imagination and a really great style of writing. The only thing I would say about this series is that they are not stand alone novels, you really need to read them in order. The story isn't overly confusing but they do follow on from each other and it is a lot easier to follow when you have read the previous novels.

Happy reading!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway which ends on Sunday!

Fo Friday - baby bear hat

In my last post I said one of the things I wanted to do this year was use up my yarn stash. Unfortunately I have already added to my stash with 2 50g balls of Rico. The only upside of this purchase is that I do know what I'm going to make with it. I did have to buy some yarn to finish my baby blanket but I used so little I gave the rest of the ball away so I don't think that counts. 

Speaking of the blanket, I did run out of the white yarn and used some from my stash so that definitely counts towards stash busting. I was left with some of the third colour, the plain yellow. I was not prepared to just add this to my stash so I thought I would use it up with a little baby hat. This was extremely easy and quick to knit, just stocking stitch and then just knit for the ears. I do love the ears! I still have some of the yarn left, too much just to throw away so I think a pair of booties may be in order.

Once the booties are done I think if there is any yarn left it will be such a small amount I can just throw it away and then I will have used up all the yarn from the blanket! And I won't be left with some yarn that I would probably do nothing with. 

Happy Friday!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Wip Wednesday - new/old projects

I've been quite quiet about any goals for my knitting this year, other than saying I must do more than last year. This is for 2 reasons I don't think the pressure helps me, life has enough pressure and my knitting is supposed to be fun and something I do to relax. I don't want to always feel pressured or that I'm behind in my goals. The other reason is that half of this year I will be pregnant and the other half I'll have a very new baby, so I have no idea how much knitting I'll get done. Having said that I do have some things I would like to do, the baby blanket was one, using up some of my stash was another and trying to reduce the number of wips I have, also to just generally make more than last year. 

So far things have been going great, I have finished the baby blanket, so that's off the list. I have also made another stocking so that's helping to work towards finishing a wip. And the Fo I have for Friday has helped to stash bust so all in all I'm very happy. I'm under no pressure and really enjoying my knitting and being back on my blog.

Now onto today, not so straight forward I'm afraid. This is a wip I started last year, it was intended to be a sweater for Angus for Christmas (the less said about that the better) it started off great I got the back knitted up in no time, got started on the front and here's where the trouble started. I have only done colourwork with my stockings which I've found to be really straightforward and I've really enjoyed it. The front of this sweater has a stripey monster on it, which I thought would be no problem, I've done some colourwork before so what's the big deal. Well as this is now the third time I am starting the front I think it's safe to say colourwork is the big deal. I think what I need to do is floats which, I am going to be honest here, scare me! I don't know why but they do! Thankfully I have a friend who I'm hoping will help get my floats started and then there will be no stopping this sweater. The only problem then will be if it still fits Angus!    

Oh don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Monday....

This is definitely how I feel today. Normally I quite like Mondays but it's a miserable day today, Angus has been up since 5:10am and the husband is on call tonight so I can't go to my knitting group tonight! Grumble grumble!

I do have some positives, over the weekend I managed to make another stocking (no 16) and a very cute baby hat (more of that later in the week!)

Well I suppose there is nothing else for it on this rainy Monday but lots of tea, some knitting and a bit of Agatha Christie! 

Oh don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Hope you're having a good start to the week! 

Fo Friday - baby blanket

I'm super excited today, not only have I finished my first item this year but I've finished the baby blanket! I can't believe how quick I completed this, I thought, in fact worried that it might drag on like the last time I attempted to make it! But no, in just 6 weeks it's all finished. Hooray!

I really enjoyed knitting this and can't wait to use it when our baby arrives! 

I have some yellow yarn left so I've cast on a baby hat that will match! 

Oh don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Happy Friday everyone!

Giveaway!

In my post on Sunday I was talking about how it's been 4 years this month since I started knitting. In honour of this I am having a giveaway. The prize is 2 balls of lovely purple chunky yarn! 

I used this yarn to make my snood which was also in yesterday's blog.

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to comment on either this post or Sunday's. I'll draw the winner at the end of the month! 

Good luck!