Stormy!

I've had a LOT of knitting time this weekend. I travelled from Norwich down to Devon on Friday evening to meet up with my old University friends. We meet up once a year and it's always good to see them and catch up. The weather was mixed - we did manage to dodge the showers on Saturday and went for a walk in the local countryside.

 

Of course a cream tea was obligatory too! I really do love clotted cream!!

The weather on Sunday was wild to say the least, and we battened down the hatches and played a variety of games. Qwirkle and Phase 10 are current favourites. The weekend passed all too fast, and before we knew it, we were back on the train heading home. Luckily I had my sock with me, because thanks to a lightning strike on some signalling equipment, all trains into London Paddington were delayed by over an hour! This is the Roxy sock, a free pattern just released on Ravelry by one of the members of the Three Bags Full group. It's Kim's first dabble with designing, so we are having a KAL in the group to show our support. I've been knitting the socks for less than a week and have already turned the heel on the second sock! The yarn is one that I've had in my stash for ages - a Regia self striping yarn that I bought in Canada many moons ago!!

 

My hand knit gifts were well received and orders placed for next year!! Thankfully I won't have to travel because my friends are coming up to see the new house!

 

Mr JK and I are off (again!) on Friday after work. We are taking the night ferry from Harwich over to The Netherlands and spending the week in Germany visiting family and friends. I am going to try to be relatively monogamous with my knitting and work on my Caissa sweater. I am desperately in need of a new cardigan and this one has been on the go since (ahem!) Boxing Day last year! It is pretty straightforward knitting so I hope to make great progress on the autobahns! So all being well, I shall be back blogging again at the beginning of November. Until then, happy knitting everyone! xxx

Time to dig out the woollies!

It's feeling very autumnal in our little corner of Norfolk. The temperature has dropped and the lawn is covered with leaves in varying shades of red, orange, yellow and brown. Needless to say, Flo is delighted and thinks we have been most generous with all her outdoor cat toys!! Mr JK and I have been walking every morning, and this past week I have had to delve into the wardrobe to unearth some cosy knitwear! As long as it's not pouring with rain, I don't mind the walk. We are both starting to see the benefits too, so that's really motivating us to keep going! So picture me, bundled up at 6am, wearing my handspun Fartlek hat ..........

 

 

.......my Tidal Sands cowl..........

...... and my Plain Jhayne mitts. These are so warm and light, it's a treat to wear them!

I may not look especially co-ordinated, but hey! I'm nice and warm! (Note to self - search Ravelry for hat, scarf, cowl and mitts sets!) What are your comfort knits that you dig out once it starts to get chilly?

 

Despite a very busy couple of weeks at school, I have managed to get some knitting and spinning done. Firstly, I finished off a slouchy hat for one of my Uni friends. We are meeting up next weekend, so I was keen to get it finished by this weekend. The pattern is Squish Me, and I know it would have been better knitted in a wool yarn. But my friend specifically asked for an acrylic hat! Sorry the photo isn't very good. I have been looking on ebay and think I will buy a model head to show off hats a bit better!

 

 

I also finished the first of a pair of handspun socks. I'm using some fibre that Marianne gifted to me. It's a mix of 50% BFL and 50% ramie, a plant fibre extracted from stinging nettles! They are a little more rustic than my usual handknit socks, but I think they will be perfect for slouching around the house or wearing in my walking boots. I love the way the colours blend together.

 

 

 

 

I'm taking part in a Spin-Along in the Fluff-n-Stuff group on Ravelry. We are spinning up our swap fibre with the aim of knitting some mitts next month. I haven't got very far yet, but am enjoying spending time at the wheel again.

 

 



This is another braid of Stinger fibre. I'm trying to spin it quite fine. Time will tell how it plies up, it's always a bit of a surprise!! I received another parcel in the fibre swap (we had an odd number of people taking part and so I gave myself two partners. What can I say except that I am clearly a total fibre glutton!!) This parcel was from Nic and she sent me a gorgeous braid of Halo, which is a mix of Polwarth and kid mohair. I think it is going to become a cosy cowl at some point. Nic also sent me a very pretty lace pincushion she'd bought while on holiday in Austria and a seriously cute Christmas tree ornament hot from Yarndale!

 

I was delighted to find a fun neck warmer in Sainsbury's yesterday. I have been suffering from a stiff neck and wanted one of those warmers that you could just bung in the microwave. Of course all the Christmas gifts are on display, and I pounced on this. It's got a pretty colourwork pattern and is wrapped around my neck as I write my blog!

 

 

If I don't manage to blog next Sunday, it'll be because I'm travelling back from my weekend away in Devon. But that will mean lots of knitting time on the train!! Keep warm and see you soon! xxx

Happy things!

These things have made me feel happy today.

The colours in my hand spun yarn. Such a lovely mix of blues, purples and greens.

   

A fried egg on top of granary toast! Mmmmmm! The eggs come from my friend Tom's hens and are really delicious.

A new bar of soap for the shower. I love these fruity soaps and shall be restocking when Mr JK and I go to Amsterdam in December.

 

Florence shadowing me the whole time I was spinning. She lay by my chair and snoozed!

 

The water lily in the pond flowering for the first time. We bought the water lily earlier in the year to give some shade for the fish.

Little splashes of colour all around the garden from these beautiful Japanese anemones. There are different shades of pink as well as white ones in bloom.

 

A mug of Yorkshire tea and a Reese's peanut butter pumpkin! Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell Mr JK!!! xxx

A hard day's night!

Remember last week, when I said I had a new project to share with you which was going to be a high pressure knit? Well, here it is! Meet the Beatles!

 

The Fab Four are going to be part of a birthday gift for a dear friend in Germany. He is a complete Beatles fan, so Mr JK and I thought they would be perfect for him. I spotted the pattern in the summer holidays and ordered the book, only for it to go astray. Finally the replacement copy arrived along with the yarn last week. Having looked more closely at the patterns, there is no way that I am going to be able to have them all knit up by the time we visit Wolfgang in four weeks time. So they will become a longer term project and I shall try to do a little work on them each week. I have cast on John Lennon and will report back on progress in due course!

 

In the meantime, my knitting needles have not been completely idle. I have made a start on the next wide strip in my 64 Crayons blanket. It's easy knitting when my brain can't cope with anything  more complicated!

 

I am also halfway through knitting a pair of socks. The Roger sock is my favourite sock pattern, it's a really great fit.

 

 

I also unearthed a sock that I started some time over the summer. I spun up some fibre and decided to see how it would look knit up as socks. So far, so good! I still have to ply the yarn for the other sock!

 

I also received two swap parcels this week. The first was from Judy in Indiana and was part of a bag and knitting notions swap in the ThreeBagsFull group on Ravelry. We agreed to swap a skein of yarn in addition to the bag and notions. I love the cherry red colour of the yarn she picked out for me.

 

Judy's cat Timothy sent Flo some of his favourite treats and madam couldn't wait to get her paws on them! (She also sent some treats to Timothy, I hope he likes them!)

 

The second parcel was part of a fibre swap in the Fluff-n-Stuff group on Ravelry. Stephanie sent me a braid of Stinger fibre (it's called Stinger because some of the fibre comes from nettles!) and three extremely decadent bars of chocolate. We are having a spin-along in October so with any luck I ought to get this spun up. It's a semi-solid mix of beautiful teals and blues.

 

 

Mr JK and I are still walking every day and I am very surprised by how much I am enjoying it. The mornings are dark now when we leave the house, but when you get rewarded with a view like this, it's easy to keep going!

 

Florence has taken up residence in her furry igloo now that it's getting a little chillier. She really is such a darling, we love her to bits! See you next time. xxx

 

 

Alpaca SOS!

I don't know about you, but I'm rather fond of knitting with alpaca yarn. It gives the finished knits a wonderful halo and it's so warm. The animals themselves are seriously cute too, aren't they? So I was very shocked to read recently about what's been happening in Peru. There have been terrible snow storms following an already very harsh winter. Three feet of snow fell in a short space of time, destroying houses, cutting off farmers and starving and freezing to death thousands of alpacas. There are reports that up to a quarter of a million alpacas have died. Not only that, but many thousands of people are homeless, or unable to heat their homes, since their fuel is alpaca dung. Obviously this is an absolute disaster for the local people, who rely on earning a living through their flock of alpacas. You can read a lot more about the situation here. Loveknitting are working with a charity called Practical Action to try and help the alpaca farmers and communities that have been devastated by this disaster. I'm going to get my thinking hat on too and see if I can come up with a way to help. Watch this space!! xxx

 

 

Not enough hours in a day!

Well, that's what I think anyway! The start of the school year has been really busy. Factor in Mr JK's and my efforts to try and improve our fitness and I barely seem to have sat down on the sofa in the evening before it's time for bed! If you remember, I told you that we have both got a Fitbit. In essence, it's a posh pedometer, but it counts steps, flights of stairs, very active minutes, miles walked and calories used as well as monitoring your sleep. It automatically syncs to a computer, and it is addictive. We find ourselves trying to reach our daily targets, and going out for another walk if we are low on steps for the day. You can link with other Fitbit friends to spur each other on too!

 

Last weekend we were away in Germany visiting family. We had a great time, although it was sadly cakeless!!! I am ashamed to say that I didn't take a single photo while we were there either. Must do better!

 

However, I do have a couple of finished knits to show you. Firstly, a pair of plain vanilla socks for my friend Charlotte. She loves hand knit socks, so I was happy to knit her a pair using an easy wash Regia yarn. This is a pretty self striping one that's been sat in my stash just waiting for a worthy recipient! They were an easy holiday knit.

 

I also finished test knitting a hat pattern for knitspot. This pattern incorporates my favourite sock pattern on the brim (the Roger sock) with a slouchy tam. I like the button detail too. Mine was knit using Plucky Feet in the colourway 'Well Preserved'. It's going to be very well used on our early morning walks now that it's starting to feel a little chilly first thing. (See if you can spot Miss Flo in the photo below!)
 

 

I received a lovely squishy parcel in the post this week. I was lucky enough to win a sock giveaway in the knitspot group on Ravelry. Agnes, one of the moderators in the group, sent me a beautifully knit pair of socks in Posh sparkly yarn. Not only that, she also included a skein of Shalimar Breathless DK yarn which Mr JK has his eyes on for a hat!

 

I love the gift tag that Agnes fixed on the socks. Here, take a closer look!

  

I shall have to ask Agnes where she got them from, they would be perfect for finishing off hand knit gifts.

 

I've made a start on the next strip of my 64 Crayons blanket, and I have a pair of socks on the go, as well as two sweaters. One is so close to being finished, I need a boot up the backside to get it done so I can wear it this winter! I really don't like all the sewing up but shall have to make myself get on with it. It will be worth it in the end!

 

The garden is still looking wonderful. It's been so nice to see things emerging each week. The previous owners were obviously very keen gardeners, and it's been planted for year round colour.

 

I'm waiting for some yarn to arrive  to start a special project which I need to have finished in the next 5 weeks! I'll tell you all about it next time. Have a good week! xx

Colouring in

 

Sometimes you just need a spot of no-brainer comfort knitting, to ease yourself back into the working world. That's exactly what's happened to me this week, with the start of the new school term. I picked up my 64 Crayons blanket, and have been knitting away on a strip. Beautiful stripes of Noro yarn, with some unexpectedly pleasing colour combinations.

 

 

I have now finished three of the strips - two narrow and one wide. I thought it was about time I saw how they looked side by side.

 

Of course someone else thinks it's for her - we'll just humour her for the moment, shall we?!

I have my next two balls picked out and shall start a wide strip this evening. It's starting to feel just a touch autumnal in the evenings, and the idea of snuggling on the sofa with a cosy blanket is rather appealing! xxx