A Cosy Post....

First - three finished tea cosies. Inspired by the St John Ambulance 'Big Tea Cosy' fundraising drive I've knit a few cosies from the Tea Cosies book. These are knit in a wool blend so should be washable. For some reason I really had to force myself to sew these up. It seemed like some Herculean task whenever I thought of it. Odd really, as of course, it took very little time and was pretty straight forward.

The Loopy Ewe cosies have proven quite popular in the office so I expect that I'll be sending a 'donation in lieu' for them!

I've also finished these cosy 6ply weight socks. It's a Regia 6ply - 'Country Colour' yarn. They were knit on 3mm KnitPicks dpns. I like the sharp points and slippery needles -- but they do feel much heavier than the bamboo and birch DPNs I'm used to working with.

They were a speedy knit, which is just as well as I actually have no idea who they are going to! That's a slight exaggeration - they are for a friend of M's who apparently suffers from poor circulation in his feet due to MS. How could I refuse to make him a pair of socks. Whoever he is.

And most importantly - my house is once again cosy and warm. Hurrah!! Thanks so much for all your warm thoughts and messages of concern. They didn't fix the leak in the water tank, and the flue they installed outside my house is horrific and will have to be replaced -- but I have heat. And for now that's what I'll focus on! (But British Gas should beware - I will get my second wind.)

Other knitting is underway but I can't talk about it here (yes Dyl, that's because YOU are reading this.) I'll post some pics in Ravelry (a Dyl free zone) later this week......

I just got an email that the yarn for my mom's cardigan has shipped. I hope I love it as much as I expect I will!!!

Exit from Muir

I blocked Muir yesterday, and I'm really pleased with the final product.

As I mentioned in a previous post I used a needle size (4mm) that was larger than what I've generally knit laceweight on (2mm - 2.75mm). I love the effect and will try to remember that when I cast on my next lace project and the 'looseness' freaks me out.

The pattern is a 32 row repeat (even rows are all purl) and the pattern is pretty intuitive once it has been established.

I used 4mm needles and 4.5 balls of Kid Silk Night. The only modification I made to the pattern was a mistake on my part. I made the picot at the beginning of each row instead of on alternate rows as indicated on the chart. When I realised this on row 6 I decided that picots on every row was a better idea then attempting to rip back Kid Silk Night.

Pre-blocking it was 24 x 58 inches.

Post blocking it was 28 x 72 inches.

I used blocking wires to straighten the edges - but I didn't block it hard at all. In fact I didn't attempt to stretch it at all while blocking, and I didn't pin it. I just let the weight of the wires hold it in place.

I was worried the blocking would mean the stole lost its fluffiness - but it didn't. It's still oh so fluffy and welcoming.

This weekend I'll be working on tea cosies. I still have a couple of 'Loopy Ewe' cosy requests to fill, and I want to get one or two off to St John Ambulance this week. (As it was their tea cosy fundraising campaign that started this latest trend in my knitting!)

I'm pondering my next big project. I have a few contenders - all of which have been on my 'to do' list for ages! I'll keep pondering which one to tackle while I finish up these cosies and expect then I'll cast on for something else entirely.

Working for a Living....

....sure gets in the way of knitting!

Work has suddenly become really busy- which I'm not complaining about because I love work best when the day flies by and I've got good, interesting stuff to get my teeth into. The downside is that knitting has to take a back seat as the work day gets a lot longer.

But all is not lost. Last Sunday I watched a bit of afternoon television and tackled tea cosy number 1 while enjoying (not for the first time) The Princess Bride. It was a fun knit, and I love the loopy sheep I ended up with.

Well, except for the fact that he's WAY TOO BIG for any teapot I own.

I pondered my lovely creation a while, and then decided action was needed. I threw it into the washing machine, and 35 minutes later I had a smaller, less loopy, more sort of 'bobbly' sheep tea cosy. Which I also love. AND which fits my teapot!

So - alls well that ends well. It was knit on 4mm needles using some brandless wool I bought last week using the pattern from The Tea Cosies book. Although the fact that I used 100% wool meant I could felt the result, it does make the cosy a little - well, ummm - impractical. Oh well!

The sheep cosy made it into the office to be shown to a few colleagues and I can confirm that, if you want to impress non-knitting type people, forget the Nieblings -- go for a sheep tea cosy (or an iPod sock). There was much oohing and aahing and immediate requests for tea cosies from many corners. (The Caked Crusader in fact was so enthusiastic that she's already named her yet to be cast on tea cosy.)

I also managed to finish these socks for my gorgeous goddaughter G. She thought that were 'very cool' which is high praise from a 13 year old. They are modified Monkeys knit using Middle Earth Yarns 'Captain Jack' colourway. Captain Jack yarn contains the many colours of the dapper Johnny Depp character from Pirates of the Carribbean. It creates a great spiral swirl of colours as it is knit up in this pattern.

The Monkey modification is one I've used before -- simply replacing the purl stitches with knit stitches. I also replaced the heel flap with an afterthought heel to keep the colours swirling......

This leaves me pondering my next project....but that will have to wait for now as a little more work calls.....

From the Sublime Niebling....

...to the ridiculous!

Just before the latest postal strike started this arrived on my desk!

Yep. A whole entire book of tea cosies.

I was first drawn to the book when the St John Ambulance in the UK made a request for knitters to make tea cosies as part of a fundraising effort. I did find a few patterns on line, but I loved the look of that cheerful tea cosy on the cover of the Tea Cosy book. It reminded me of the several thousand pairs of Phentex bumpy slippers my mother and I made when I was a kid.

(Egads! I've just found the Phentex slipper pattern online! I should say that we favoured the checkerboard pattern over plain stripes. But we were sophisticated like that.) (Phentex for those of you lucky enough to have not experienced it is 100% olefin(?) super scratchy, indestructible yarn that was popular in the 70's, primarily for things like slippers. It bears no resemblence to any natural fibre. It was man made and proud of it.)

I digress. The Tea Cosy book arrived and I've selected my first tea cosy!



How cute is that?

The postal strike continues, so I will buy the necessary yarn on Thursday when I attend:

Wahey!