And some photos (finally)

They aren't very good photos though...

This is Dad's scarf for Christmas. I'm not sure why I keep knitting cables. I don't enjoy the knitting all that much even if the end result is lovely. The colour isn't great in this picture - it's actually a proper bottle green

These are button cuff slipper socks in Jitterbug for a January birthday. They haven't been blocked in this picture but you get the idea. A rare venture into toe up with a short rowed heel

OTN - a hat for me in a lovely wool/silk blend

Again no photos

As you might have noticed it's winter - with a vengeance. It's not made it above 0C for about 3 weeks here although we've only had minimal snow. We're also edging ever closer to the shortest day of the year (shortly followed by my birthday) which means I'm rarely at home in daylight to photograph FOs. That doesn't mean I'm not knitting and finishing things though. I've actually been quite productive. So with photos to follow here are my updates:

Knitting Updates:
Lymond Socks - FINISHED! And washed, blocked and worn once.
Through the Woods (toddler size) - Frogged and waiting to be reknit in a larger size for a toddler with a 52.5 cm head and lots of curly hair
Through the Woods (adult size) - not even cast on. Some very purple Wendy Mode Chunky keeps looking at me with sad eyes as it gets neglected
A cabled scarf for Dad's Christmas present - finished and blocked. This is 5 feet of simple cables in Forsell Touch of Silk Aran in Bottle Green
Slipper Socks - these are finished and for a January birthday. They are an improvised pattern in bright red Jitterbug, knitted toe up with a knitted on moss stich buttoned cuff
Plain socks - these are for a February birthday and are plain toe-up socks in Skacel Trampoline in a variegated blue and purple colourway

Pattern Updates:
Whipple - out for download on Ravelry and there should be a link in the side bar
Pie Crust - waiting for yarn
Unnamed pleated and cabled scarf - yarn bought, yarn would rather be a cowl and a matching hat so this might be a while

Purl City

Manchester has a new yarn shop!

Since Kendals stopped selling yarn a few years ago the only yarn shop in Manchester has been Abakhan which, whilst great in many ways, is mostly a fabric shop. Now we have a new yarn shop on the block - the lovely Purl City Yarns. Based on the Piccadilly station edge of the Northern Quarter in a recently renovated row of shops off Newton St, this gorgeous shop is providing a home to some very nice yarns including a range of yarn from local independent yarn dyers like Six Skeins, Green Eyed Monsters and Wild Fire Fibres. The shop is spacious with lots of natural light, a sofa, and quite a lot of samples showcasing the lovely yarn on offer. Upstairs there's a gallery space which I didn't investigate but I'm sure is as nice as the rest of the shop.

I was going to take a picture of the yarn I bought (Wild Fire Fibres Hercules wool/silk DK) but me, the yarn, and natural light haven't coincided for a few days so I don't have a decent picture.

Well worth a visit and handy for Piccadilly Station

Knitting Updates:
Lymond Socks - on the ankle gusset of sock 2, definite progress being made
Through the Woods (toddler size) - waiting on head measurements but otherwise on the ribbed hood border. I'm convinced it's too small so I don't want to do anything more until I get measurements

Pattern Updates:
Whipple - testing nearly finished, should be available soon
Pie Crust - waiting for yarn
Unnamed pleated and cabled scarf - yarn bought, must finish other things soon

Quilting update:
It's been washed and pressed and it SURVIVED

Friday FO: Lap Quilt for Mum

I actually finished this a few days ago but it's been a very busy week so I haven't got round to writing about it. This is my very first quilt using about half of a Moda Layer Cake from the Little Fabric Store in the Fandango fabric range. It's backed with a plain ivory calico and lightly hand quilted horizontally and diagonally, and then finally with buttons. The binding is a shop bought reel of satin biad binding from Habbyworld all handstitched (because I'm insane)

Here's a close up:

It needs to be washed before being wrapped up for Christmas but first I need to stop being terrified about it disintegrating.

In other news:

• No progress on the second Lymond sock as yet
• 75% of the way through a Through the Woods hood using dk rather than chunky in the hopes of it fitting my smallest niece
• Two testers have finished Whipple successfully so that's going well
• I have commissioned some custom pie inspired yarn for a new pattern
• I've just bought some lovely Wild Fire Fibres Hercules yarn for a further new pattern that's brewing in my head. This yarn came from Purl City Yarns which is a new yarn shop in the Northern Quarter. More on this place next time...

FO: Whipple (a new design)

This is my latest design which I'm calling Whipple after one of my favourite authors. I'm about to have it tested and then will release it into the wild. It was a very quick knit (2 days) and is a lovely textured piece. I've used two yarns to give a subtle striping effect (Knitting Goddess 4ply 100% wool and Natural Dye Studio BFL) but it will work with one skein of sock yarn.

 And a detail look at the pleated ruffle border

And finally, Mizzle is out for free download on Ravelry and doing quite well.

FO: Limestone Shawl

I've been getting things finished this week. The picture above is a detail photo of the Limestone One-skein Shawl from Fickleknitter (linked in previous posts). It's a lovely quick knit with a very pretty border. I knit it in about 12 hours I think so almost instant gratification although it's not for me.

The quilt has made huge progress and is now mostly quilted (all by hand, all yesterday - must buy thimble). I'm quilting it very simply with corner to corner diagonals across the squares. I will be adding some buttons to the quilting I think and have yet to start making the binding strip. I'm not looking forward to doing the binding at all. It looks very precise and I'm using to lovely fudgy knitting where mistakes can be easily dealt with or covered up.

I'm rather impressed at my progress this week as it's been a very busy week and I've spent an awful lot of time asleep trying to catch up with myself. I like sleep

Autumn is really here

Fog at the station

Yesterday we were driving back from Yorkshire and it was truly eerie. The M62 was shrouded in fairly heavy fog, there were crows pecking on the had shoulder, and it was Halloween...

However crossing into Lancashire we soon came through to clear skies (unusual) and heavy traffic (normal). Our early Autumn days have been quite nice so far with clear crisp mornings, blue skies and hard frosts. The colours on the trees have been amazing this year - everything from vibrant pinks to ochres. The ferns round our pond have gone a wonderful rich golden brown and we can actually see them after some intensive tree felling a couple of weeks ago.


To continue the eerieness this morning I woke to find the fog had followed us home, creeping round the M60 in the dead of the night...

The picture above is my local train station about 8.30am. Suitably Autumal I thought.

So as the nights are drawing in my thoughts turn to stocking up on things to knit, sew and read over what is seems likely to be a long cold winter. This was my postal delivery on Saturday

At the top is a skein of Posh Sylvia in Cotillion, named after the Georgette Heyer book and presumably the colour of one of Freddie's waistcoats. The book stack is a haul from Abe Books and is most of the Lymond Chronicles and the first two of the House of Niccolo all by Dorothy Dunnett. Should keep me going for a while...