knit n bitch

Huge Surprise!

One of my friends from over east recently discovered that her hands were suffering everytime she knit.  Baby items were all that she could handle!  Tragedy!  I almost wept for her!  As a result she decided to clear some of her stash and send it to me (dontchajustloveher).  So, I am now the proud owner of some lilac Zara and some pale lemon Snuggly. 

I wish the yarn hadn't come to me under such conditions, but thank you Sandy for sending the stash to me.

Sophie

Here's a before and after shot of my Sophie bag that I knit using Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed (taffeta).  The felting wasn't as tight as the cascade yarn probably is, but I love the colours (pale lilac with olive flecks) so I don't mind that you can still see stitch definiton.  I also felt 2 more Rowan Big Wool roses, which look fab, and I now have to decide whether I want to add them to the bag, and if I will felt up some leaves in the Silkroad Aran Tweed, colour Wintergrass.

Will post final, final shot very soon.

 

Stripey Booties

Had a massive sort out of my stash on the weekend and now I have 7 large boxes pack with yarn and labelled with the relevant supplier (Rowan, Noro, Misc., etc) so that I can grab a yarn without hunting through everything.  It was very satisfying and I even managed to sort out my needles and accessories so that they are no longer sprinkled around my house in various bags!!  As a result, I came across a yarn that I had forgotton all about (very exciting).  It's a cheapy 4ply variegated cotton and I orginally bought it because I loved the colours (olive, pale green, pink, yellow) and I thought I should knit something with it to see how it looks.  Decided on a quick fix that will double as a gift for a friend with a new baby, so here's the first bootie in the cotton.

Remember You're a Womble

Dontchajustlove EBAY? One of the IV's, Gayle, discovered a Womble knitting pattern in a little store in New Zealand. I was very jealous! In case you don't know, The Wombles were a hugely popular kids program in the UK when I was a kid (oooo about 20 years ago), and to see the knitting patterns re-emerge on Ebay was very exciting. I have just won Madame Cholet and Orinoco.

 

I also bought a Clanger pattern (another cool kids program in the UK many moons ago).

Stuffed Fish

Progress report for IV Knit Along project.  These are the three fish that are now stuffed, with a little magnet in their noses.  I suspect I will need a really strong magnet as the 'hook', as it will need to grip through the knitted yarn.

Kemp Bag Sewn Up! (Finally)

Before we start, I must first point out that I really can't take all the credit for this bag.  I did the easy bit....the knitting.  The craftily gifted Miss Nicole (yes, she comes up a lot in my blog) kindly offered to sew up, line and decorate the bag for me (coz otherwise it would rot in my 'to be completed' knitting pile....yes, we all have one).

She lined with purple fabric (my favourite colour), attached the flower with a VW Beetle button (coz I've owned two classics) and popped on her legendary beaded butterfly!  What a star!

A bit of a cop out on my part, but thought you might like to see the finished item none the less!

 

Fluffy Booties

A good friend of mine in the UK has just given birth to a little girl & I decided to try the cute booties pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  They were an hour long project knit all in one piece, so no sewing and I used Bouton D'Or 100% Angora in Rose.

IV Birthday Treat!

The IV girls have a new system going for Birthday pressies.  We all chip in some dosh and buy our girly friends a 'knitting' related treat!  As you know, my bithday was on the 2nd March, but we didn't have our get together until Wednesday, so here is what I got!

 

 

It consisted of felted beads, zecca stitch markers, a cute hand sewn not pad, the yummy chocolate and cupcake stitch markers and some fabric from Amelia's Patchwork Store.

Sophie Rose Bag

OK, so I said I wouldn't start anything new until I had finished my old projects, but at The Wool Shack monthly Knitting Circle yesterday, Nicole and I felted a rose from the Vogue Pattern to see how it went.  We made them from Rowan Big Wool and they came out really well.  Anyhow, that was enough to whet my appetite, so I started thinking 'what have I got in my stash that I could knit the Sophie bag out of?'.

Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed is what I chose.  The colour is Taffeta (a pale lilac) and it felts really well (yes, I felted a swatch like a good girl).

The rose's I will make will be in Lucky and Wild Berry, and I may even make Pistachio leaves to go with them.  Haven't yet decided if I want them all around the rim, or in a corsage on one side of the bag.

Here's the bag so far, along with the exquisite cupcake stitch markers that I was bought from my knitting pals for my birthday (along with other goodies).

 

At the rate I'm going with this bag, I hope to have the main bulk of it completed by tonight!  Horrah!

Flower Bag - new thoughts!

On reflection, and having seen several of the 'Vogue Flower Bags' knitted up recently on blogs, I/We (that'll be Miss Nicole and me) decided that we would do a variation on a theme.

Nicky Epstein has a new book coming out in July called Knitting Over The Edge.  It has THE roses, so the plan is to knit and felt a Sophie Bag and trim with the felted roses.  The result will, hopefully, be something much more subtle, but equally as yummy.

I still think roses out of the Rowan Big Wool will work and they have some great colours.