Hexipuffs and Jitterbug

Here are my first few Hexipuffs for the Beekeepers Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits. My puffs are made with Colinette Jitterbug in 3.75mm needles and stuffed with polyester stuffing. This is a long term project (himself wants it to be 6' x 4'!) and will be quilt tied. I'm not doing the crochet bind off, just an ordinary three needle bind off and then threading the ends through the stuffed puffs. In the picture they are skewered on a 4 dpn - they don't actually stand on end!

I don't normally knit 'trending patterns' - I've not made a February Lady Sweater or a Clapotis. My BSJ, Fetchings and Monkey socks were done long after the trends seemed to be over - but the Beekeepers Quilt taps into a deep seated need to snuggle under sofa blankets and the days shorten and the temperatures drop. There's something comforting about snuggly blankets big enough for two

Third shawl and first sister

My eldest sister turned 50 this year - and you'd never know it so I hope the youth genes run in the family - and so I started her entry in my sisterly shawls series. Except it's not a shawl. It could be a shawl, and when I write it up it will have a shawl option but at the moment it's a very long (82" x 8") shaped scarf. My other sisters named it so it's definitely a family affair.

Presenting Rosehip:

Knit in Posh Arabella (Cashmere/Merino) in Souffle, Rosehip has subtle cables and simple undulating lace resulting in a restrained piece of elegance. Perfect (I hope) for my classy eldest sister!

So, a very belated Happy Birthday to her (just over a month late) and this is going in the post.

Secrecy and Science

I'm struggling to blog at the moment as most of what I'm knitting is either samples for publication (yay!) or things that I'm hoping to submit for publication in the near future - hence the secrecy. I'm also really busy at work and in life generally which isn't helping!

That being said there are a few things I can talk about:

The Manchester Science Festival is coming up in October and the knitting group that I go to is knitting a solar system (as you do...). If you're local and interested then you can join in - more details here.

My Audrey has made precisely no progress and is making me feel guilty.

I have just downloaded the Bee-keepers Quilt pattern from Tiny Owl Knits  because I need a long term project like I need a hole in the head. I've also ordered a Colinette Jitterbug Creative Pack for all those hexipuffs.

I have nearly finished the third of my Sisterly Shawls - it's provisionally called Rosehip and is in lovely Posh Arabella cashmere

And really that's all although perhaps I should provide a teaser...

In posts to come I will be talking about Lanaloft Sport, Etruscan inspired hats and thinking about jumpers...

In Print

I may have mentioned that a couple of my patterns are being published in a new print magazine in the next few months. Whilst I don't want to ruin the surprise by saying which ones they are I can tell you about the magazine.

Knit Now is a brand new magazine focussing on accessories and homeware. It's being edited by the gorgeous Kate Heppell (indie yarn dyer and designer) and will be distributed nationwide. You can subscribe here for a truly bargainous price. The first issue is out on or around October 20th and I'm not sure if I'm in Issue 1 or 2 but one or the other...

I'm very, very excited - I've never been in print before!

Knitting for a good cause

After putting my colourwork mitts on the back burner for ages I can now very proudly announce that the pattern is available via p/hop in return for an honesty box donation to Medicins Sans Frontieres.

P/hop is a fantastic programme and I'm very proud to be contributing to it. If the mitts aren't for you then there a plenty of great patterns for all tastes and you get the extra pleasure of knowing you're supporting a very worthy cause.

Yarn shopping in Florence

I wasn't really intending to do much yarn shopping in Florence which is a good thing as we arrived towards the end of Ferragosto so lots of places were shut. Using this blog post from Knitting Tidbits and the comments I only went to Campolmi Roberto Filati but that was quite enough. This is a treasure trove of a shop staffed by very nice people and with some wonderful wool winding machinery turning cones into skeins in the middle of the shop. I bought 390g of a lovely wool/acrylic in navy blue (incredibly soft) and 140g of pale gold silk bourette for the princely sum of E15. They had baby alpaca for E7.50/100g which is about half the price of Rowan

Wall of cotton and cotton blends at E2/100g

Table of English Merino at E2/100g

Odds and sods table at E2/100g

One third of the non-sale stock part of the shop

FO Friday - Mojo knitting

I finished the hat without needing to buy more yarn!

Here it is blocking over the lid of a cake tin. I had about 7 yards left of the yarn which is lots really...

And this is the detail of the centre which has more accurate colours:

Simple cabled hat (improv.pattern)
Colinette Art (0.6 of a skein) in Ischia (I think)
3.25mm and 4mm needles

I don't think it's worth writing up but I might change my mind. Some things I improvise are just 'mojo' knits - I'm in a slump and need to get my knitting mojo back with something simple but lovely.