On My Needles: I'm Ready for Winter Cowl

When I say I'm ready, I mean nearly there.

I've got my hand knit fingerless gloves and hat already finished - I wanted to try and make a slouchy hat and I'm pretty happy with the result:

 
 My 11 year-old daughter doesn't want me to wear my slouchy hat, she likes to try it on herself and tells me she likes looking like someone from the 60s.

I'm not sure what she calls sixties style, but I'm still going to wear it, even though I'll probably leave the small round glasses a la John Lennon and the minidress for someone braver than me.

Anyway, I still haven't finished this cowl that I keep trying on to see if it's as big as I want it - I'd want to be able to put it over my head when I don't have my hat on (are we there yet?:-)

The knitting yarn I'm using is King Cole Riot Chunky in Monsoon shade, I just love how soft it feels and the self striping colours mean that I'm never bored with the colour. Also, the advantages of handknitting my own winter accessories means that I get everything to match, even though I won't go as far as knitting my own winter coat.

 I have a new matching;-) phone case planned so time to keep knitting this snood and free up my needles!

Saturday Etsy Share: Knit Halloween Goodies

I've decided to share some of the great stuff that's available on Etsy, so since Halloween is fast approaching, I am starting with Halloween items.

This week I have been looking at knit and crochet items. Of course there's a lot more than handknit and crochet on Etsy, but I had to start somewhere so why not with my favourite craft?

The first items are from members of the Etsy Ireland Team.

Here's Crow Cottage Crafts' Harry the Halloween Hamster

Next, check out these Victorian Vampire Mittens from Koticzka

Halloween Handknitted Art Scarf with cats, bats and witches from Purls of Colour

Olga Soleil has some Crazy Crochet Halloween Coasters

And a few more from non-Irish Etsy sellers:

There are a lot more cute and spooky Halloween items on Etsy, and I could spend hours looking at these, unfortunately I can't share them all here, so if you want to see more, head on to Etsy.

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My First Free Cowl Pattern is Available on Ravelry

I did it! For the last few months I've wanted to publish knitting patterns on Ravelry and I've finally managed to finally upload a free knitting pattern for my Infinity Super Chunky Cowl on Ravelry.

For my first pattern, I decided to give it away for free, mainly because how easy it is to make: you can't really ask for payment for a pattern that most people could work out themselves, and now I've worked out how to do it, it will be easier to publish some more free and paid knitting patterns.

What I would really like to do also is have a go at publishing a pattern booklet of between 5 and 10 knitting patterns, but first things first: here is the download link for my Free Infinity Super Chunky Cowl.

And here's the picture of the finished cowl:

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Knit Flower Tutorial: My Attempt.

Last week I came across a knitting tutorial for a flower on Craftsy.

I wanted to share it here so I've added the video to my Knitting Tutorials page. I think this flower would make a beautiful embellishment for a knit or crochet hat, bag, it could also be made as a brooch or attached to a hair band or hair clip for a cute girl accessory.

It seems difficult when you see the finished flower, but like most knitted accessories, it is easier than it looks and even a beginner knitter can make this. The instructions are easy to follow and to prove that it's not that difficult, here is what my own version of the knitted flower looks like:

This would look great also with beads or shiny sequins knitted into it, to add a bit of sparkle.

The Best Postman In The World

Sometimes you can really relate to the saying: "it's the little things that count".

I walk or drive my children to school every morning of the week (depending on the weather, and sometimes the mood). The timing seems to coincide with the time the postman delivers my mail, which is OK for bills, but if I get a parcel that doesn't fit through the letterbox, I have to wait until 4.00pm before I can get my package from my local post office.

While this is not a huge inconvenience, you must be aware of how much knitters love their wool; I can't even start describing the trauma we go through when we have to part with our yarn (can you believe that some flights don't allow knitting needles or crochet hooks on planes? What's a knitter supposed to do when traveling, it's bad enough leaving lots of wool at home - On the other hand, think about what treasuries can be discovered in the yarn shops of faraway countries). But I am straying: let's go back to my postman:

I had been waiting for a yarn delivery and expected it to be delivered on Monday but I had to walk my children to school. I spotted the post van on my way home and when I got home I took off my shoes and jacket and I had just started doing my morning housework when I heard the doorbell: I was my postman who said he had turned around when he saw me walking towards home and guess what he had for me?

 6 balls of Wendy Serenity Super Chunky in Celery shade: of course there are only 5 on this photo as the last one has already been turned into this (you'll have to excuse the picture quality, as I haven't had a proper photo session since last weekend:

 I love my Postman!

Little Hats for Charity: The Big Knit 2013

Every year, Innocent Drinks has a fundraising event for Age Action, that they call The Big Knit.

This year I've decided to try and knit some mini hats and send them off: these will be put on Innocent Smoothie bottles and for every bottle with a hat, Innocent Drinks will give 30c to Age Action.

So far I've made 4 hats and my daughter made one (the yellow one, she also made my Pom pom, for some reason mine just keep falling apart):

It's been fun to make these, and also an opportunity to experiment with different hat shapes. I might get around to make another 2 or 3 before I send them off on Monday (the deadline is October 4th). I got the pattern for the bird on Deramore's website (they have really funky ones you can download for free here). Unfortunately my bird hat doesn't look as good as the one from the pattern; my excuse is that I didn't have the same size yarn in the right colours.

I hope I can make more next year, if only I thought of starting in early summer!

Yarn Bargain Alert: Aldi Special Buys on Sunday 29th September

For my fellow Irish knitters, Aldi Ireland has 4 types of yarn for sale this Sunday 29th September.

It's not going to be the luxurious Alpaca or Merino wool variety, nonetheless, in a time where most of us are strapped for cash and for people who are allergic to wool, Aldi yarn is not to be sniffed at.

Acrylic yarn (as I assume it will be) is also very useful for making accessories like toys, phone cases, bags and what not. Here are quick links if you want to check the offers:
 - Chunky knit yarn: 300g for €7.99
 - Gorgeous Baby yarn: 200g for €3.99
 - Luxury Scarf Yarn (Poodle or Spectra): 150g for €4.49
 - Rustic Aran yarn: 400g for €7.99

Now if I had bothered checking the Aldi app on my phone, I would have found out about these myself, thankfully I have great friends on Facebook and I want to thank Maire from the Nattering Knitters group for sharing the offer.

Now you know where I'll be on Sunday!