Presents

I’m not going to do much in the way of knitted gifts this year, but I am going to be knitting something for my brother again.  Last year I knitted him the Starsky and Hutch cardigan, but this year it will something much smaller.  I can’t say what, in case he reads my blog (unlikely, but he might if he was bored one afternoon at work!), but I cast on for it last night and virtually finished it in one evening.  It’s made with Rowan Cocoon, which is lovely and and soft and warm.  It has mohair in it, so sheds a bit, but I think that’s only to be expected.

I’ve also been knitting some scarves and a hat for a friend who puts together Christmas boxes for children in Eastern Europe.  I did some scarves for this last year.  My friend (who is a beginner knitter herself) did a scarf from some brown acrylic yarn and then gave me what was left and asked if I’d make a matching hat.  I didn’t have a pattern for a child’s beanie, so sort of made it up.  Knowing what size to make was the hardest part and I asked around on Ravelry for suggestions.

The finished hat has a moss stitch band and then stocking stitch for the rest of it.  The crown shaping isn’t great.  I decreased in 8 places around the hat, but I think that might have been a bit too much.  6 might have been better and perhaps not on every row.  I think that maybe I should have done some plain rows between.

The yarn was awful to knit with though.  The first ball I tried to use, actually kept breaking as I unwound it.

Decorations

I’m planning to knit some small Christmas tree decorations too.  Simply Knitting recently had a supplement featuring an Advent tree designed by Alan Dart.

New Yarn

A friend of mine from church recently went on holiday to the US.  She’s a knitter too and brought back a suitcase of yarn and knitting books.  (You can see her new stash on her blog castoncallout.blogspot.com)  She generously brought back a yarn of Peaches and Cream yarn for each of her knitting friends and I got to pick a ball in a lovely shade of white, pink and purple.  It’s a really soft cotton too.  It was so thoughtful of her!