Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 32

It's been much colder here for the past few days, but the sun is shining so that more than makes up for the cold. Besides, it's the perfect excuse to wrap up in layers of knitwear! With the start of a four week lockdown here in England, now might be the right time to learn a new knitting skill and this week's prize ticks that box nicely.

The prize includes a beautiful pair of Hamarsland handwarmers knitted and donated by the true Queen of Colourwork Knitting, Hazel Tindall. They are just perfect! There is a copy of the book Fair Isle Designs from Shetland Knitters volume 2, which I was donated via Hazel from the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers. It's full of inspiring patterns with a range of difficulty - something for beginners as well as more experienced Fair Isle knitters. Of course, you need some yarn too, so there's 13 balls of 100% pure British wool which is perfect for colourwork knitting, and a large Jamieson & Smith tote bag to keep it all in. Julie from Wool Zone has also donated some Emma Ball sheep stitch markers and tin and some colourwork cards to help you organise your knitting. Jamieson's of Shetland has donated a kit to make a pair of gloves featured in the book. So a truly wonderful prize! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated a prize this week.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 8th November, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Let's see how much we can raise this weekend! With luck, the total should pass £7500, which is 75% of the target. I have to pinch myself sometimes that you've helped me to raise so much money. Thank you! xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 31

What with the clocks going back an hour last weekend and the gloomy weather we've had this week, I think that this week's prize is the perfect antidote to those damp autumnal days. It combines two of my favourite hobbies - knitting and reading.

The prize includes a beautiful project bag which has been made and donated by Nikki from Lupinlanehandmade. Nikki has also made the coordinating lavender sachet and the delicate tatted stitchmarkers and progress keepers. I am in total awe of her skills as I tried tatting once and found it really difficult! As well as those delights, Nikki has given two skeins of Wensleydale and BFL yarn in pale blue and lemon which would be perfect for some colourwork mittens. One of my favourite authors, Erica James, (who also happens to be a great knitter) has donated a signed copy of one of her books - Swallowtail Summer. There is a set of Knit Pro Zing interchangeable needles and to complete the prize, a skein of Eden Cottage Yarns BFL sock yarn. Thank you to everyone who has donated a prize.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 1st November, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Let's see how much we can raise this weekend! Last week the total passed £7000 which is all down to you! Thank you! xxx

Colourful days

It's been pretty grey and damp here in my little patch of Norfolk, so I've been enjoying some colourful things inside. 

My chemo socks, knitted using Pixie Yarn's 'Healing Hugs' colourway are finished!

I treated myself to this gorgeous kitty notions case from Mrs Moog.

A splash of pink in my garden with these beautiful Japanese anemones.

The beginning of another jumper in Stylecraft's Softie yarn.

(The Battenberg stitch marker is from Chapel View Crafts.) 

Joining the final squares in my Aria blanket, designed by Lucy at Attic24.

Just the border to go now.

A sweet sheep stitch marker and pin badge gifted to me by Hannah Daisy Crochet.

Planning a new design using my colourway of Head over Heels All Stars yarn.

Flo curled up tight with Santa!

I hope that there's plenty of colourful things brightening your day too. xxx

 

Amigurumi Christmas - a review

 

I received a copy of Amigurumi Christmas from Search Press and I absolutely LOVE IT! I know that it seems strange to be talking about Christmas when we've not had Halloween or Bonfire Night yet, but it's only 8 weeks until Christmas! So definitely the right time to be getting gifts and decorations made so you're not panicking at the last minute! I've been there and done that! In fact, one year,  I gave Mr JK one sock and a half finished WIP which I then went on to finish knitting over the Christmas holidays! 

The author, Sarah-Jane Hicks, was new to me, but I have started following her on Instagram where she is @flo_and_dot, and she has a lovely, colourful feed. (And I discovered that she lives in Norfolk too!)

The book is packed full of super-cute projects - there are 20 of them in total. If this kind of crochet is new to you, you might be interested to know that 'amigurumi' is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed yarn creatures. As well as all the projects, Sarah-Jane has given lots of information and tips on the different techniques you will need to complete the projects - from inserting eyes to sewing together the individual pieces to finish your work off. If I could add one thing to improve the book (and I am nit-picking here) I would like there to be some kind of indication on each pattern about the level of difficulty. You know what I mean - easy, medium, advanced. But that's just because this type of crochet is totally new to me and if you've already crocheted amigurumi designs before, it won't bother you in the slightest! There are lots of photographs and the instructions are very clearly written, step by step.

It's really hard to pick a favourite project because I can honestly say that there is nothing in the book that I don't like. I just need a magic wand to be able to crochet them all! But here are my absolute favourites...

I'm going to rummage through my yarn to see what different shade of green I have because I need some sprouts in my life! Do you see what I mean about the cuteness of the designs? They are all like that, seriously! 

If you are a crochet fan, or know someone who is, then I would definitely recommend getting this book. It's very reasonably priced and with twenty designs to make, I think it's really good value.

Amigurumi Christmas by Sarah-Jane Hicks is published by Search Press and is available now.

ISBN: 978-1-78221-907-1

RRP: £9.99

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 30

 There's rather a magical theme to this week's prize. Someone commented recently on Instagram about how they appreciate all the thought that I put into each prize, trying to coordinate things and it really brightened my morning. I do have a lot of fun putting all the different goodies together to make each week's prize, and try to choose things that go together. See what you think of this week's prize!

The prize includes a copy of the book Harry Potter Knitting Magic which has been donated by Knit One Kits. This is a really lovely book with all kinds of patterns in it, linked to the Harry Potter films. To go with it, there are 7 balls of Stylecraft Special Aran yarn, enough to knit a Gryffindor scarf for yourself or as a gift. Stripey Cat Yarns has donated a sock set in the colourway 'Spooky Speckle' and it's brilliant. I'm currently knitting a pair using the same set and blogged about it a couple of days ago. There is a cute kitty notions case from Three Bags Full which has a sweet black cat bead on the zipper pull, and Cheryl from Chapel View Crafts has donated a set of ghost stitch markers which glow in the dark! Finally, there are three mini skeins of yarn to complete the prize. Many thanks to everyone who has donated a prize. 

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 25th October, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. My fundraising efforts even got a mention in their latest news update, and that's thanks to you! Let's see how much we can raise this weekend! With luck, we should reach £7000! xxx

Just a big Softie

I finished my jumper! It was a super-fast knit, and I am absolutely thrilled with it. I knit it using Stylecraft's new chunky yarn, Softie, which is 80% premium acrylic and 20% wool, and the finished jumper is light and soft, and feels incredibly cosy. I can't wait for colder weather so that I can snuggle down inside that neck! The yarn comes in six colourways: Cream, Oats, Rosehip, Zest, Peony and Fig. I used one ball of each colour apart from the Rosehip, of which I needed two balls. I love stripes, and knitting it top down meant that I could match the stripes on the sleeves and body which was very satisfying!

I pretty much made up the pattern as I went along, remembering a lovely jumper that I'd bought from Sainsbury's many years ago that had a deep cowl neck. I'm going to try to knit a smaller version for my friend Julia. She's picked the four paler colours - Zest, Cream, Oats and Peony - so I'm going to see how easy (or more likely, tricky!) it is to downscale it. There's a lot of maths involved in grading a pattern for multiple sizes and I'm very uncertain about my skills in doing that! If I do manage it, is it a pattern that you'd be interested in knitting? Please let me know. xxx

Knitting Learn it. Love it. - a review

 

As soon as I received a copy of Knitting - Learn it. Love it. from Search Press, the title rang a bell with me. Then I remembered that I had reviewed another book, Crochet - Learn it. Love it. last year. This book, written by the experienced designer and teacher, Debbie Tomkies, follows a similar structure. The book is divided into six chapters: Getting Started, Essential Stitches and Techniques, Stitch Patterns for Texture, Knitting in the Round, Colourwork and Finishing Techniques. Within each chapter, Debbie has designed a pattern to practise the skills you've learnt, and has also invited five guest designers to each design a pattern. So there are ten great patterns to work through. Unlike some 'learn to knit' books, where the patterns seem a bit, errrr how can I put it, well, a bit naff, I think that all the patterns here are things that people would love to knit and feel very pleased with what they have made. Even the simplest pattern, to knit a scarf, is one that looks stylish. Just like in the Crochet book, there's a double page spread 'Be Inspired', which shows other ideas of what can be made using that chapter's skills.

These are just a couple of my favourite patterns from the book - a wonderfully squishy scarf which is trimmed with pompoms (what's not to love?) and some stylish colourwork mittens.

I think that it's a brilliant book and it would make the perfect present for  someone who is wanting to learn how to knit or to move beyond the basic skills. Team it with some needles, balls of yarn and a project bag and you've got a Christmas (or birthday) gift sorted! 

Knitting. Learn it. Love it. by Debbie Tomkies is published by Search Press and is available now.

ISBN: 978-1-78221-853-1

RRP: £12.99