Parcels of wonderfulness

I've got a new project in the planning stages... This makes me very excited. I've had my eye on the pattern 'Your Victory Jumper' since I first ventured into the world of Ravelry, but I never felt confident enough to do it justice. I mean it's just so cute, with its little waves of colour, just a little bit of lacework. What's not to like.

 

It was the lace and colour changes that intimidated me, well, terrified me. But since finding out how easy it can be when I made the Nurmilintu shawl, it feels a good time to give it a go.

Normally I err on the side of budget when I buy my wool, mostly browsing ebay for a bargain. Not this time, I've lusted after this jumper for so long I want it to be special. The colours have to be just right, and the yarn lovely and soft. So I decided to ignore ebay and check out other internet sources. I found the perfect 3ply combination on loveknitting.com, it's a cascade heritage in a navy, wine red, and cream which are just yummy. To my surprise, not much more expensive than ebay... Go on.. I told myself... This will be an amazing jumper! 

I am so glad I did, I love these guys now.

The parcel turned up in 2 days (the cream is coming from America, which they've told me about and I'm expecting it this week), and the hanks came in a gorgeous little organza bag...

 

That was a wonderful touch, I thought. So I dive in to give my new yarn as smush (which we all know is the softness test), and yes it feels like silk, with such rich colours that I'm in love! But what do I find when I open the bag?

 

They sent me little sweets too!!! I'd like to point out my camera refuses to capture the lushness of the colours, so they look really dark here... But sweets!!!

 

It says on the invoice 'packed with love' and you know what.... I believe them!

You must wear socks!

So my target for this year.... The big one... The intimidating one.... Socks

I am so proud of myself, I have managed it within a mere four months (no I've not been continuously knitting them all that time, most of it was the build up). May I present to you....

 SOCKS!!

These are knitted up using Regia Zoofari sock yarn (75% wool with polyamide to give it extra strength). I loved the colours of most of this range, but it was the turquoise in the 'Chameleon' which sold me. I found a pattern on Ravelry (Vanilla Latte) which was free! But also really easy to follow, though reading about heel turning only made me more nervous.

 

The pattern has a lovely knit/purl rib to it which is super easy to remember, so the pattern wasn't a problem, it was getting the hang of the rest of it!

Once I had mastered the DPN challenge, and managed to separate the heel flap and manage a knit slip kind or rib.. I then began to fret about the heel.

The truth is, once you're there and doing it, it's really easy. I felt so proud once I had a little heel cup on the needles. Once you've mastered that it's just picking up stitches and decreasing once on each side. It really is easy, I couldn't believe it.

 

Of course it's never completely plain sailing. Firstly I made them very small ankle socks because I had a dread that I would get halfway through sock 2 and run out of wool... Look at how much I had leftover though...

Loads!! (Also rubbish picture... Sorry). I really wish I'd made them longer. I also discovered halfway through sock 1 that they were huge. I don't really see my feel as being particularly small (I'm a size 4.5 for pity sake), but they were very loose on me. So I ripped back and adjusted the size by taking out one pattern repeat, and reducing the sts on the heel flap. They fit perfectly after that.

 

I'm so proud of these socks, my very first pair... Of many I should add.

Oh, and guess what everyone's getting for Christmas this year (mwoar har har)

Birthday frock

I may have mentioned that I had some holiday before Easter, this was because it was my birthday last week. What better excuse to make a pretty new dress (well a girl needs something shiny and new when she's going out for a birthday dinner).

 

I had a lovely lawn weight cotton in my stash, and had recently obtained a new pattern from the front of "Sew" magazine, everything was falling perfectly into place. The pattern I used was New Look 6184, which I decided to make in view A (although belts aside I don't see much difference between that and B). And the cotton is a navy blue with red roses on, and you can't see it very well in the photos, but there are little gold leaves dotted about too. I like to think of it as casual glamour.

This was such an easy pattern to put together, not many pattern pieces, bias binding for armholes (which I continued to the hem too)

 (Check out those little gold leaves!)

It just looks so neat and professional... I love this method for the hem, just cut the skirt to 1/4" longer than you want it to be and flip it under rather than folding over the hem.

The worst thing that went wrong with the making of this dress was my buying the wrong length zip, it stops a good 3" from the neckline. I didn't have time to go and buy another, so I made a quick fix by adding a button to the neckline (I found a great bright red one in my button jar which matched the roses)

 

I think it looks cute. I was tempted to make another version of this dress with buttons all the way down the back, but that would be a bugger to fasten.

 

I really love the pleats around the neckline, giving just a bit of interest without being fussy.

And of course I do love a big full floaty skirt. This will be a favourite dress of mine through the summer.

 

Not so grim up north: Barter Books

I had a bit of holiday time just before Easter, so I decided to have a day trip out to my favourite bookshop. This is quite a title as I am a big fan of the book, and a big fan of the shop of book, but this is the most wonderful place... Ever!

Built in the old train station in Alnwick (the nearest station now is Alnmouth... Which is also beautiful), it was opened in the 90s as a second hand trade in shop. You can take your much read books and use them (barter them if you will) towards future purchases of more books. It is the biggest second hand bookshop in the north, and you can find anything from Jamie Oliver through Haynes Manuels, to OS maps, to first edition rarities.

I swear I have never managed to leave this place without at least three books!

 

Because it is the old Alnwick station it is such a beautiful quirky building, there are rows upon rows of bookshelves absolutely packed with all kinds of weird and wonderful things.

 

Big cosy sofas to snuggle into to decide which of the 15 books that you want, you are actually taking home. 

In one part (where the tills are) there is even a little model railway that trundles around above your head... Such a soothing noise

There are pieces of art and quotes all over the place, and if you don't come for the books then you must surely be in need of the tiffin!

 

That's what was on that plate, chocolate (malteser and toffee) tiffin cake slice (home made don't you know) with a big pot of tea in their Platform Buffet cafe. And yes... That is indeed an open coal fire smouldering away in there! They are all over the place!

It actually takes 1.5 hours to get here on the bus... I'd travel for much longer for an afternoon here. You can spend hours just browsing, I found myself an old knitting book on my last visit (hardback and only £4!) though I forgot to photo that! And because of the unpredictable rotation of stock, it's best to visit every couple of months... Just in case you miss something (or need more tiffin)

 

Yarn Bombing in the Metrocentre

We've all seen the pictures online of yarn bombing around the world. I absolutely love it! The creativity of the knitters is just wonderful.

Imagine my surprise when I'm wandering around the Metrocentre (big big shopping centre in Gateshead... Well worth a visit), and come across these guys...

 

I stopped dead and almost shouted "yarn bomb". This without a doubt made my day. The little purse is wonderful, and the cropped top and dress, wow! What creative knitters I thought as I reached the end of the mall, headed up the escalator and turned round to find...

 

This just keeps getting better. This guy is actually waving to the ladies above who are on the lower floor. But these peculiar statues are all over the Metrocentre, so it's not long before we find...

 

 

 

I mean... Check out the little dudes hat!!

Yarn bombers of the Metrocentre... I salute you