New Hat, and Birthday Surprise

Well, I promised more knitting, and here it is.

Another snowboarding hat for DH's Cousin, this one in an all-over 1x1 rib. His Mum liked the last one so much that she asked for another; I love getting commissions!! I made this one up as I just couldn't find any good patterns out there, and I'm happy with the way it turned out. Let me know if you would like the pattern and I'll email it to you. It's done in Rowan Pure Wool Aran in Navy.

What's OTN? Remember this? I'm doing another, this time at the request of a friend (can't say any more at this stage as it's a secret).

I've done this much. This is one of those projects that looks incredibly complicated, yet is really a simple knit, using mosaic knitting to create an illusion of fair-isle. The spectrum of colours and interspersed garter rows really make this a beautifully-textured and pretty piece. It also goes very quickly, considering it's quite a big blanket. That must be down to the large-ish needles (4.5mm) and the changing of colours, which makes me want to plough on.

Last week I turned THE BIG 3-0 (don't worry; I still feel 17, so far). I received some beautiful presents, both in the post from my family and in person from DH. Plus work threw me a little party with cake, balloons and pressies, and we went out for drinks. So I thought that was it.

I was wrong.

On Friday night I arrived home after work to find DH cooking. Thinking he was preparing a birthday meal, I went into the spare room to take off my coat and change my shoes. The door was closed which is unusual, but I assumed this was because DH wanted to stop the cooking smells from entering the bedrooms. Imagine my surprise when I pushed open the door mid-conversation with him, to reveal 4 Hamiltons squeezed into our little spare room!

DH had organised for my whole family to fly down from Scotland for the weekend, including DB's girlfriend Rachel. Most of Scotland was cut off last week because of the heavy snow, so it was also a miracle they made it. They had to leave home at 5am to catch a 4pm flight (it's only an hour's drive to the airport), and Rachel even had to take a different flight.

We had such a great time, once I had recovered from my fright, and I was given lots more presents, including a wonderful landscape painted by my incredibly talented Dad.

DH had made Pho with beef three-ways, his speciality and much-loved by the whole family.

On Saturday he had arranged for us to go to Greenwich by boat, so we got the boat from Embankment and took a great trip down the Thames (something none of us had ever got round to doing before), admiring the architecture on the way.

We got off at Greenwich, had a nice lunch, looked around the market and did a spot of shopping (naughty me), then took a look around the Naval Museum and Naval College. It was so interesting, and there were some wonderful buildings to look at.


A huge fresco inside the dining hall:

That night we had dinner at Roussillon, another family favourite, and they left after breakfast on the Sunday. The weekend was perfectly finished off with another party on Sunday afternoon: with my friends! It was another surprise, and a great way to end the weekend.

Here's a gorgeous plant that DH's grandma gave me. Can anyone tell me the name of it? To me it looks like a daisy, but has the fragrance of a chrysanthemum, which makes me feel really nostalgic; I love the smell of chrysanthemums.

Meanwhile, back in the reality of real-life now the birthday celebrations have finished, I'm considering what I really want to pursue this year with my knitting.

I started off the year really aiming to complete some knits for myself, as I spent most of the last two years making things for other people. This is not a complaint: I truly adore giving people things I have lovingly created. It's just that I really need to get some more skills under my belt, and I feel that I can do that when making things for myself, when they don't need to be too perfect if I'm the only one wearing them.

In addition, I'm considering designing some more things. I've had so many different ideas in my head for a couple of years now, and I've just started to get them down on paper. I really need to get them onto needles, and plan to do that soon. When it comes to what I knit, I make up quite a large percentage of my projects, as I can't always find patterns for exactly what I need in books, on Ravelry and elsewhere. My free patterns have attracted a little attention so far and some time in the future it would be good to earn just a little money from my designs, though I'll work on that later.

It'll be a long processs before I can release anything, as I also greatly enjoy knitting from a pattern, and you can imagine how long my Ravelry queue is! What do you think? Please tell me; your comments mean a lot and I look forward to them after every post.

Greenwich Market & Pressie in the Post

On Sunday Julia and Jo, two University friends of mine, and I went to Greenwich for lunch and a good look around Greenwich Market.

Here we are at one of the stalls. Jo and Julia are wearing scarves they had just bought, knitted in Scottish lambswool (of course).

We proceeded to buy up most of the rest of the market too. Here we are (minus me - taking the photo) at a stall with a girl who makes beautiful hand-sewn skirts and jackets. Yes, we bought those. They were really inspiring, and I'm really looking forward to the dress-making course I'm starting in April now.

If you haven't been to Greenwich market before I'd really recommend it. I'm ashamed to say that I had never even been to East London before, and was pleasantly surprised. We're going to make a point of having a proper walk next time, maybe flying a kite at Blackheath, and visiting the Observatory and the Maritime Museum. The market itself is a foodie and crafter's heaven, with everything from hand-crafted leather makeup purses, to handpainted lampshades, and tiffin bites and mulled wine.

Over the border, and high up into the Highlands, my Mum has got hens. Isn't this the sweetest photo of her? She's so happy with her new brood. The one in her arms is Biddie.

While not looking after her new feathered friends, she found time to knock up this beauty and spirit it down in the post to me:

This is one of her own creations, a scarf knitted in Colinette Point 5 (major thick-and-thin fun) and my favourite colour combination so far. This one is a rib, though she also does stockinette and moss (all work really well). If you look closely you'll notice that she held two yarns together. To pump up the colour, there is a beautiful purple Debbie Bliss tweed running through this, with litle flecks of red and green.

Tonight's our Spinning Night at Hammersmith Stitch N' Bitch, so I'll report back soon with photos. Can't wait!