Tiny Tassels

 Another day, another finished knit! Get me! I've clearly got far too much time on my hands at the moment. An Instagram friend got in touch to ask me if I would knit her a shawl using a kit that she bought from Loop in London. Having bought the kit, she decided that it was too complicated for her. I said that I'd knit it in exchange for a donation to my FibreFibres fundraising page and Natalie was very happy to do that. The shawl is called Tiny Tassels and it's free to download from the Loop website. You can find the pattern here. They also sell kits to knit the shawl, but you can use any pretty skein of yarn for the shawl and leftovers for the tassels if you prefer. The body of the shawl is pretty quick to knit, being garter rows. You just need to make sure that you're concentrating when you do the yarn overs in the central spine and at each end. I knit that part pretty quickly but left it for a while as I wasn't particularly looking forward to making the tassels. Having read lots of comments about the tassels and how fiddly and time consuming they were, I wasn't looking forward to it! There's a photo tutorial on Loop's blog which is quite helpful. However, I found a great video which showed exactly how to make them and that made the whole thing a lot easier. I marked every 4th stitch on the cast off edge with a stitch marker to show where I needed to put the tassels and once I got going, I found it surprisingly easy to do. The shawl is now on its way to Natalie and I hope she likes it! xxx

A floofy hat!

 I knit a floofy hat and on a scale of 1 - 10 in floofiness (I might have just invented a word!), this hat is a definite 100! A couple of weeks ago, I bought a hat kit set from Kelly over at Lay Family Yarn. It included a skein of fingering weight yarn, a skein of silk mohair and the most perfectly floofy pink pompom. Also, as I was one of the first customers to buy the kit, I was lucky enough to get a bag of little yarny treasures from Kelly. The hat is the Magpie hat, and it's a free pattern on Ravelry. You can find it here (be warned, this will take you directly to Ravelry.) The pattern is very versatile in that you can knit either a ribbed or a folded brim, and adjust the length of the hat to suit you. It's called the Magpie hat because knitters, rather like magpies, are known for hoarding their favourite, extra special yarn leftovers, and this hat is the perfect showcase for them, knit into the middle band of the hat.

Here's a look at my kit...

I cast on pretty much as soon as I got the kit, but for some reason, it took me a while to knit the folded brim - the round where you knit your cast on round with the live stitches to create the folded part. To be honest, I did find that a bit fiddly as my eyes kept playing tricks on me lining up the stitches! But once that was done, there was no stopping me and I whizzed up the body of the hat at lightning speed! You may even have seen smoke coming from my needles. The pompom on the top is the cherry on the top of an already delicious cake. I've had to keep it hidden from Flo, who has shown definite interest in it becoming her latest trophy! And since I've not yet located a ball of yarn that she pilfered from the sofa, I wasn't prepared to take any risks! Kelly now stocks the pompoms in her kits, but you can find them in The Crafty Bird's Etsy shop. I may have purchased a few more as I want to knit this hat as gifts for Christmas. (Yes, I mentioned the 'C' word in August, but I think I may have got away with it!) As you can see from the photos, Flo was keeping a beady eye on the pompom. Luckily, it's secured with a popper fastening, but I will keep it away from her paws anyway. I like the slouchy style of it, and now that my hair is longer (no hair cut since February), I think that I suit hats better. What do you think? xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 21

 I can't believe that another week has gone by! I'm counting the days in terms of my chemo sessions at the moment. I feel a bit rough for a few days afterwards (but thankfully have some anti-nausea medication which helps a lot), then I get back to feeling my 'normal' kind of self just before it's time to start it all over again! This was my second cycle of chemo last week. I will have to have blood tests done midweek to make sure I am good to go for next Friday!

Anyhow, here's the details about this week's fabulous prize in my Fibre4Fibres virtual raffle in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a beautiful large size kitty print Beckett bag which has been sewn and donated by my lovely friend Michele over at Three Bags Full. There are 5 balls of Jamieson's Ultra yarn donated by my fellow Stylecraft Blogstar Julia from Hand Knitted Things, a skein of Malabrigo lace yarn, a skein of Rowan Fine Art sock yarn, a pair of cosy fingerless mitts donated by Emma from Seren yarns and some gorgeous stitch markers donated by Fiona over at Scarlett Stitchcraft. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated a prize.

You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2 - less than the price of a cup of coffee! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 23rd August, 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. 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! £4000 is the next milestone to pass. xxx

In print

Hello! Just popping in  to let you know that I’m in the latest issue (59) of Crochet Now magazine. The theme this month is ‘Exhale’ so I took the opportunity to reflect on how the last few months have affected my crochet habits. The magazine comes with a booklet of popular crochet patterns from Stylecraft as well as a very cute pattern to make Snoopy and some other Peanuts pals. It does feel quite surreal to see myself in a magazine but I'm proud to have contributed as one of Stylecraft's Blogstars. xxx

 

PS - if you're on Instagram, I've currently got a giveaway running to win a skein of gorgeous sock yarn. All you need to do is go to my Fibre4Fibres page, find the photo of the yarn, make sure you are following my Fibre4Fibres account and tag fellow yarnies who you think might be interested in my weekly raffles. Here's a photo of the yarn to tempt you. It's open worldwide so please do join in. The more the merrier! xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 20

 Another week, another raffle prize! Here's the prizes that are up for grabs this week if you decide to buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a set of Knit Pro Zing interchangeable needles in a case, with 8 different sized needle tips, a gorgeous set of mini skeins donated by Ellie from Craft House Magic. Ellie names all her yarns after songs and this is her set of Lockdown minis, including colourways 'Don't stand so close to me' and 'Behind the mask'! You can see all the different names on her website. There's a Team Knit tote bag, a set of cute button stitch markers from Betty Arthur Creations, a ball of Stylecraft Head over Heels Boho sock yarn, a fun knit badge and a crafty postcard donated by Lana Bou. Thank you to everyone who donated a prize.

You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2 - less than the price of a cup of coffee! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 16th August, 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. 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! £4000 is the next milestone to pass. xxx

Hot and bothered!

 Hello from a very hot and sticky Norfolk. Despite the fact that Mr JK and I went to Greece each year for a holiday, I am not a huge fan of the heat in my own back yard. Give me cooler weather any day. I can be found sitting close by a fan, with Flo nearby, not really knowing what to do with herself. Wearing a black fur coat must be tough for her, poor thing. My current medication and sunshine don't make a happy combination, so if I do sit outside, I have to be in the shade, with sun protection and covered up. I've found it better to stay inside during the day and then sit in the garden in the evenings when it's cooler. This heatwave is due to break in the coming days, and the thought of cool raindrops splashing the garden is very appealing. My knitting has been limited to socks as they are small enough to not make you too hot whilst knitting them. I have also kept up to date with my temperature blanket, and had to introduce some new colours into my palette as the temperature went well over 30 degrees for several days. Anyhow, I thought I'd just share a few snippets of what I've been doing over the last week.

*** Yarn buying ***

These beauties are from Lay Family yarn, one of my favourite yarn dyers.

*** Baby knitting ***

I've started knitting a little stripy jumper for Dottie. These were the colours her mum picked out so I cast on a sleeve to check she was happy with them. She loved them and said they looked like a 'posh boarding school uniform'! I can't wait to see Dottie wearing this in the autumn. The yarn is Stylecraft Bellissima and Bambino, which are interchangeable.

*** Casting on a sock ***

This is the second sock in a new design. I'm really happy with how it's looking, and will hopefully be ready to publish it in September. The yarn is from Ducky Darlings and is called 'Ice Lolly'. I could do with one right now!

*** Getting excited about colourwork socks ***

Someone I follow on Instagram has been knitting some absolutely amazing colourwork socks, so I asked her where she got her patterns from. She recommended this book and it is absolutely brilliant. I've wanted to do colourwork for ages now (and I really do mean ages!) and am excited to start my first pair. I just need to make a decision on the pattern.

*** Adding more colours to my temperature blanket ***

Thank goodness Stylecraft Special DK comes in so many colours, that's made it a lot easier to add some extra colours in to show the temperatures over 30 degrees this summer!

What's been keeping you busy this week? Leave a comment and let me know. Also, if you have any tips about how to keep cool, do share them. xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 19

 

The days are certainly rushing past as it certainly doesn't feel like a week since I was here, shouting from the rooftops about the Fibre 4 Fibres raffles starting up again! Here's the prizes that are up for grabs this week if you decide to buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a beautiful large size drawstring project bag with a stunning nature themed print which has been sewn and donated by SarahJoMakes which comes with a co-ordinating lavender bag, a skein of self-striping 4ply yarn in donated by The Yarn Badger, three miniskeins donated by Blue Fern Yarns, a set of progress keepers donated by Betty Arthur Creations and a fun badge and pencil donated by Lana Bou. Thank you so much to everyone for their generous donations!

I love this week's prize and really wish that I could enter to win it! I can't, but YOU CAN! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2 - less than the price of a cup of coffee! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 9th August, 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. 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! xxx