White Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (almost) from cold and frosty Scotland! No snow, but lots of frost that looks very like snow, has landed and covered everything in sight...

the rosehips...

and Angelica.

Luckily, there is respite from the cold - look, my Mum's LYS! It's fantastic; Three Bags of Wool is run by Sarah, and stocks loads of unusual yarns and patterns. Imagine, in the middle of the North East of Scotland, a little village called Aberlour has the best yarn store ever!

Here's a glimpse of what I purchased: two balls of the first Colinette, two balls of the second Noro Silk Garden Light (not to mention a great Noro pattern book) and several balls of the third Eskimo yarn (I hadn't heard of it, but it's really soft and felts really well). I also stocked up on some needle-felting needles and a sweet button in raspberry ripple.

Here are a couple of my Mum's scarves using the Colinette thick-and-thin; they look fantastic in moss stitch:

Below is a shawl (obviously unblocked) that I started over Christmas using Noro Sock; this isn't even a ball's worth so far and I'm planning on using two. The wool's scratchy, but according to Sarah it softens when washed - I've seen evidence.

I've already started working with the Noro Silk Garden that I bought - elbow-length gloves (the yarn has a really luxurious feel).

That's all for now folks but I'll be back soon.

Destash: Sale or Trade

Hi,

I have 8 skeins of Koigu KPPPM P716 89 for sale or trade (I’m happy to trade for another Koigu shade or different yarn altogether).

The earthy colour is beautiful - cream background with mainly maroon/burgundy and a few dark blue speckles in it. Overall it looks cream/burgundy speckled. Please see my Stash page on Ravelry for more photos (my Ravelry name: Rowanberry).

FREE SHIPPING TO ALL WORLD!

Comes from a pet-free and smoke-free home.

I originally bought it for the Big Bad Baby Blanket in the Stitch ‘N Bitch book and it would be perfect for that (I have already made one in the P118L colourway which is quite similar).

I paid $13.50 per skein (total $108). I’m happy to sell it for $80/£50 in total. Alternatively I’ll swap for the same no. of skeins of Koigu in a different shade, or another yarn altogether.

Thanks a lot, Rowan

Happy Holidays!

Here's our little tree. You can't get a large tree into our flat so we have a wee one each year. It looked like a dumpling when I first brought it home, but the decorations have pulled down the branches now.

A few more decorations...

The heart with poinsettia below I just made up myself.

And a couple more.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas. Snuggle up with your family and try to forget about the economy! xx

I'm back!

Sorry for the long delay, but I've been busy.

What with finishing lots of Christmas presents (my poor family members!), designing some projects of my own which I have called the Ripple Collection (the three russet-hued items below - check out my Etsy) and managing to squeeze in a break in Cornwall, I've been pretty busy.

Here's a glimpse of the last six weeks in photo's:

The mittens below are from the pattern by the eminently talented Malin.

Our week in Cornwall was wonderful. After my poor DH's spate of working til 2am and doing all-nighters at the office it was great that he downed tools and let me whisk him away down to the farthest, most south westerly point in the country.

The rugged landscape, stormy seas and little harbour villages really moved me, and I was inspired to pick up the needles. Look out for the Cornish Collection. Coming soon....

Aren't these fetching!

I made these this weekend. They're a very quick knit and the yarn really shows off the cables. This was my first cabling project, and easy, despite the tight knitting (in order to use one skein, as specified). I'll have to make another pair for someone with the emergency skein I have - unfortunately in the same colour. Looking at the skein I couldn't believe I would get two gloves out of it, but I did.

Pattern: Fetching by Cheryl Niamath for Knitty
Needle: US 6 / 4.0 mm

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran (1 skein = 87.5 yards (80.0m)/50g) Colorway: DBRA03
Yarn purchased at: Stash, Putney

Here in Brook Green Autumn is in full swing and the rowanberries are out on our street. My favourite time of year:

I'm getting ready for Christmas too with these mini Christmas trees to hang on the real tree. Some will be off in the post to my Mum, and I'll hang the others at our house. The pattern is by Frugal Knitting Haus. I've made them in snippets of malabrigo worsted and koigu (using a much smaller needle):

Package in the Post!

Look what I've got! I finally gave in to my urge, bit the bullet and ordered a swift and ball-winder. The swift is huge and I've no idea where to put it - I may have to knit a yoga-mat bag to put it in! The blue yarn is a Cascade Heather.





And the finished products:

It's finished!

The Big Bad Blanket is finally finished:





And a few more gratuitous close-up shots:

This was actually finished last week but I had to block it on the bed at the weekend. Then my DH took the digital camera away with him on a business trip so I couldn't take a photo of it stretched and pinned.

It took about a month to complete, but I wasn't able to knit every day and my progress was sporadic. All in all, I'm very happy with it, but prefer the colours close-up where you can really see that the wool has been hand-painted, to from a distance where it has the tendency to resemble those dodgy 80's marl jumpers.

Anyhoo, if you fancy making it, the pattern's in the Stitch 'N Bitch book and there are quite a few FO's on Ravelry. It's a very easy knit and garners much satisfaction upon completion. I'm going to pack mine up and store it until it's needed by one of my friends.

So, my list of projects to be completed is as follows:

1. Secret fun present for my Sister
2. Hat for DH that he can wear to work (i.e. sombre colours) and that isn't "too rustic" in his words. I believe that means he wants a tight knit in a thin ply. Having already made one that he didn't like, that project's now on the back-burner.
3. Secret Christmas present for my Mum (so sorry can't talk about it here, but will post photos later).

Welcome!

Hi Everyone,

Yes, it's yet another knitting blog! Just to introduce myself, my name is Rowan and I hope to be posting every three to four weeks.

I'm currently working on the Big Bad Baby Blanket from the (first) Stitch 'N Bitch book. It's progressing well and I only have 44 rows to go! I'll be sad when I finish it; I've loved working with the yarn - now I know why everyone loves KPPPM. I've stockpiled a few more skeins in different colourways for future versions. I did this one in #118L, as the book says but this is very much darker and more multi-coloured than that pictured. I suppose the colours must have changed dramatically over the years, and of course as it's hand dyed it depends on the dye lot. Has anyone been able to find KPPPM in #118 that actually looks like the light colourway in the book? I'd be interested to know. After much searching online I ordered mine from the States. It was a great service and I'm very happy with the colour now that I've decided to get over the fact that it's not the same as the one in the book!

Next up is something for my Sister but I can't tell you what it is in case she reads this. However, it does involve using two strands of two different yarns throughout and promises to be fun.

Yesterday I made a pilgrimage to Stash in Putney, probably my closest, but also best, LYS. I couldn't resist getting this:





The colour is garnet, #42. I fell in love with Malabrigo when I did my first felting project. The orange in the bag below was made of Malabrigo and it felted really well. It seems such a waste to felt such beautiful wool, which literally feels like you're pulling a sheep's fleece apart when you unravel it. Does anyone else think so? What are your favourite yarns? It's also pretty extravagant, so I think I'll use this new purchase for something where you can see the fibre, perhaps Ysolda's Urchin beret.

In other news, I am known for not being able to keep houseplants alive for very long (yes, even a hardy live-through-anything cactus died), so imagine my surprise when I returned home from work on Thursday to discover this:

Yes, our chilli plant has bloomed. There are some other little buds too, and the 8 other plants look like they might bud too - there's hope for me yet. My parents gave these to us last time they stayed with us so they're a nice reminder of that visit.

By the way, I live in West London (UK) and would love to know if anyone in the Hammersmith/Shepherds Bush area wants to arrange a knitting group, perhaps in a cafe nearby.

Well, I'm off to finish the blanket - hopefully blocking it tomorrow night. I'll post a photo when it's finished. Please feel free to leave me a comment, Rowan xx