Happy 2015!

Happy New Year. I am so looking forward to 2015 and all the new possibilities and mystery's that lay at my feet. I wanted to take some time to reflect over my crafty creations from 2014. I have learnt so many new skills, which I am using a lot.

I learnt how to knit on double pointed needles! Yippee. I was wary about trying dpns for the longest time, but I wanted to have a go at knitting socks. I had heard that hand knitted socks were the best socks in the world. So off I went and bought a ball of sock yarn...and the rest is history. I found it fiddly at first,with the cast of, and getting to grips with handing so many needles, but once I got going, it was so easy. I've no idea why it took me so long give it a go. 

Tah dah! My first pair of socks completed. I loved knitting them. Took me a while to knit them because the yarn is fine, but never the less I did it. Even my other half was impressed and he wanted a pair.

So obviously I used this excuse to try another pattern to make more socks. I knitted these ones in Aran weight yarn for a more chunkier feel. Which I thought was the best option for a men feet. These took no time at all to knit up, with these ones I knitted them using 4 dpns, whereas my first pair was with 5dpns. I prefer knitting with 5dpns, I find there is less strain on the stitches.

In 2014 I also developed a taste for the more fancier yarns. Don't get me wrong, some of the bargin yarns are brilliant, but sometimes I just fancy some of the fancier ones! I recently went to a knit and stitch show and there were so many hand dyed, hand spun yarns I could have stayed there forever and be quite content.

Now in 2015, my resolution is to knit, crochet more and to do more sewing. Last year my hobbies got pushed to the wayside because of university. In the past few months, I have learnt that I can do both, IF I organise my time properly. Even though I love what I do at Uni, I will always love to knit and crochet more. One of the career paths I can take with my Textiles degree is a Yarn Designer...think I may look into this.

Ciao for now

Nikki x

Work In Progress (WIP) - Wool Eater Blanket, Twilight Jumper and Socks!

Hi Guys,

I wanted to share with you what I am currently working on. To be honest I have about 50 million projects on the go (bit of an exaggeration ha :)), but these three are the ones I am working on at the moment.

I am obsessed with crochet at the moment, in the morning I am on pinterest looking for inspiration and ideas, not to mention the odd pattern, my crochet board has so many pins, I think I have a serious love for crochet. I'm fairly new to crochet so this is probably why I'm obsessed with it.

Anywho, I have a lot of odd balls of DK left over from the coral reef I did for my uni exhibition and I needed to use them up. Mum was telling me about the wool eater stitch a while ago, it eats through your stash, I was like yea! I need to do this, that would be perfect, so off I went onto pinterest and I found a pattern. Each colour is only two rows, and it looks awesome! I've already finished off two balls.

First two colours

Making progress. 

The back of the blanket.

A while ago I wanted to knit something in DK on the larger scale, like a jumper for me. So I decided I would knit myself for Christmas the Stylecraft Twilight Jumper 8672. I'm also knitting it in the same yarn as in the pattern picture ( I don't normally do this ha), and that is Stylecraft Amethyst 1281, for me I need 4 balls.

I really enjoy using Stylecraft yarns. This particular one, is really nice, it is a black DK with a purple metallic thread going through, it is really nice to knit with. I am currently still on the back piece, but as of yesterday I am up to shaping the arm holes. Can't wait to get the back piece done, I want to start the front piece, it has a diamond like, lacey type pattern going on, which looks fun to do.

It is a fairly easy pattern to follow at the moment, it is just st-st. I am knitting this on my interchangeable Hiya Hiya circular needles, I'm knitting it flat though, and not in the round. I have found it so much easier to use circular needs to knit flat with because there is long needle in the way, plus it makes it easier to carry about ( I'll tend to knit when I'm travelling)

I started my socks a few months ago, and I am enjoying knitting in the round, it baffles me how I only need to knit every row to get the st-st look. I still have a few more rows to do of st-st before I turn the heel. Excited. I am enjoying using the yarn, for the life of me I can't remember what brand it is, I remember the ball band having a cat on it, that is it. But I do have the ball band somewhere, so when I find it I will let you know! 

I am using Hiya Hiya dpns for this project. I really like using bamboo needles, I find them so much nicer to work with rather than steel or plastic. 

My tension is a bit all over the place, but with it being my first pair on dpns, I am not really bothered. My feet won't notice :-)

I have also recorded a video about these projects, so you can listen to me ramble on about them :-)

Nikki