FO: Polka dot cardigan and the interloping scarf

She's finished (finally). The polka dot cardigan (Rowan Babies) with no polka dots. Knitted for little Harper Hope born on June 9th. Welcome little one, and congratulations to mum and dad Pam & Dan!

I think it looks fairly gorgeous even without the polka dots. The trim is knitted in a stash busting oddment of Jaeger 4ply, and the rest is knitted in Rowan's organic cotton (DK weight). The buttons are vintage from the button box I inherited from my grandmother.

It took a lot longer than I planned. First, I ran out of yarn and had to buy an extra ball of Rowan's organic cotton. Then, I came to the sewing up bit. It just seemed to take ages, and there was a project burning a hole in my stash, so I'm afraid I allowed myself to be diverted by yet another Purl Scarf (from last-minute knitted gifts), aka the interloping scarf.

I love these scarves - I think this is the third one I've made. It's gone into the gift stash (or long range planning department as the yarn harlot would call it), although I'm tempted to nab it for myself. I used 2 balls of Patons Soho (closing down sale, £1 per ball I think), one ball of mystery DK yarn and half a ball of turquoise lace-weight mohair (both acquired from charity shop raids). I've got a bit of a thing for bluey-turquoisey colours.

Now that the tennis (Wimbledon) is in full swing, I need some knitting to keep my hands busy while I watch (come on Andy!!). I ought to pick up the lacy shrug again - it's aged 3-4, so it ought to be quick, but I've already ripped back one front because I got the pattern wrong (doh!).

Finally, today is my 3rd wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary my love.

FO: Irish moss socks

I've been wearing these socks for a couple of weeks now (not All the time... you know what I mean), and thought it was time to share with you. The pattern is the slip-up sock from Posh Yarn, and the yarn is from the Yarnyard ('olive' for the toe & cuff; 'grow' for the rest).

As usual I knitted a short leg - cos I like my socks that way - and reckon I have enough left over (from 2 50g skeins) to make another pair. Mods: I knit a plain k3 p3 rib at the top and couple of purl bands before getting into the pattern on the leg. I also finished the foot of the sock with a couple of purl bands before starting the toe decreases.

Because I started them in Ireland, I'm calling them my irish moss socks, it seems to fit somehow.

Hard as it was, once I finished these little beauties, I decided it was time to get on with Other Things. I picked up Deli again, and managed to finish the back (sleeves already knitted) over the weekend. I am pleased about this - with only the fronts to go (oh, and the endless knitted trim, but I'm overlooking that for now) it feels like progress, and it's good not to have something in the knitting basket which requires forensic examination to discover where you got to in the pattern when you last put it down.

Another (girl) baby is on the way - and should have arrived by now (c-section scheduled for Monday just gone) - so I cast on for the polka dot cardigan from Rowan babies. Only, there wont be any polka dots - it'll be plain and gorgeous anyway. [Just for the record, I made a lovely green and purple version about 3 years ago and didnt enjoy it much, although I like the shape and details. I hate intarsia and knitted it fair isle instead, which was okay, but still not v enjoyable]. I'm knitting with some Rowan organic cotton which I bought last week from a charity shop (50p for 2 balls) ... there was modest stash enhancement (all for £3).

This compounded the already overflowing stash situation, so on Friday evening I got it all out (that's a lot of wool, said my husband) and organised, tidied and put it away. The fabric which had been sharing stash space in this part of the house has been moved, and will have to find its own place to live. For now, the yarn can snuggle happily.

FO: Shopping bags

I think I mentioned last time that I've been on a bit of a sewing bee lately. I made some bags - like this:

I made three, but sent one off to help celebrate a friend's birthday before it got a chance to do any modelling. Another bag has since been sent (and arrived) in the States to assist with the carrying of small items belonging to the recently arrived baby Chloe (congratulations to mum and dad, Suzanne & David! Chloe also received one of the baby beanies from the stash). One bag remains, waiting for a use or a home to beckon.

I would have made more, but I ran out of webbing for the handles. There are more cut out waiting to be sewn. The fabric came from local charity shops, picked up for a song. You cant see (sack the photographer) but the bags are lined with a matching plain green fabric. I didnt follow any pattern in particular, just copied the dimensions of a well used cotton bag from the drawer and made it up as I went along.

FO: Small Rainbows

While we were in Ireland I finished my second pair of rainbow socks.



For all their plainness I managed to make the whole process rather complicated. Knowing that I had a finite amount of yarn I used a provisional cast on and then knit 10 rounds before making the heel flap. On the first sock I knittted the toe using a solid red yarn from my stash. It looked awful and after knitting the second sock down to the toe I realised I would have enough yarn to frog the offending toe and reknit in the original rainbow yarn. So I did. At that point I still had some rainbow yarn left - along with a very small quantity of cherry red yarn that matched rather well colourwise. I divided the yarn into two equal portions and knit up from the leg in a rib pattern to make quite a short sock. I'm not wild about the red tops and have considered reknitting in a grumperina stripe, but they'll do for now...


Here you can see just how much sock I managed to squeeze out of one skein of rainbow yarn. Not bad eh?

The emerald isle

We've been on our holidays. To Ireland and the fair county of Kerry. We stayed in a lovely cottage, had lovely weather and got to spend time with my brother and sister in law, who live in Atlanta with their small boy (18 months). Our small boy (15 months) seemed to have fun following/chasing his big cousin around and we had lots of fun encouraging them to hug each other and do other cute things which we could photograph.

I did some knitting (FO to come) but not much, being content to relax in our lovely cottage and enjoy the views.

Inside: Lapin felt very at home




Outside: Ireland's highest mountains - Macgillycuddy's Reeks



WIP. I started this while I was there - it just seemed right to be knitting something lush and green (yarn from the Yarnyard). I'm still working on the first sock - not because it's difficult, but because the light and dry evenings we've had since we came back mean that I try to get on with gardening rather than knitting AND I've been on a bit of sewing bee too....I'll tell you about it sometime.

FO: Rainbow socks & baby hats

Finally, here are my lovely rainbow socks, knit with yarn from Natalie at the Yarnyard. They are just ordinary, plain jane top-down socks. I knit them quite short in the leg because I like them that way (and in the hope I might make my skein stretch to two pairs). Given the loveliness of the yarn I didnt think I needed to choose a fancy pattern. I love the mini rainbows that appeared magically underneath each heel.

I've also been busy in a frenzy of baby knitting. So frenzied that I sent two items without taking any photographs. One was a pair of 'tranquil' bootees from the Rowan babies book, sent to Australia to celebrate the birth of Charlotte. Congratulations to mum and dad, Angela and Damien. The other item was a small hat destined for baby Elizabeth, born on Good Friday, to Susan and Simon. Mum Susan deserves an extra special congratulatory mention for managing to avoid a c-section by persuading her midwives to let her have one last push. Well done you.

Inspired by the smallness and quickness of those items, I motored on with a couple more baby hats for my gift stash. We know of at least 3 more babies due this year to friends (and countless others to work colleagues and friends of friends). Another hat is on the needles.


This is just a made up baby beanie pattern, which can be knit flat or in the round. The stripey version was made following grumperina's instructions for stripey socks, and worked fabulously as a means of using up some oddments from my stash of baby 4 ply. I started with three colours - green, white and very pale green (it's very, very pale). Just as I got to the shaping for the top, the very pale green ran out, which is why the stripes change here.

accepting the challenge

There are more FOs to blog, but today is about something rather more serious. Before Easter, I was at a conference in Belfast. One of the keynote speakers was Jonathan Porritt. He was an engaging speaker, and someone I have set a lot of store by over the years. The main thrust of his message was this - the implication of the recent IPCC (inter governmental panel on climate change) report is this: in order to limit climate change to a rise of 2 degrees celsius, we need to shift to a low-carbon economy within 15 years or so. You'd have to be quite old for that timescale to seem beyond your years. 15 years is soon. Really soon.

I've been reflecting on Jonathan Porritt's words since then. What does a low-carbon economy look like? What can I do in my personal and professional life to help bring it about? Can I shift my life to a low carbon existence?

Leaving aside my professional contribution, I am thinking about the other choices I make. Knitting and crafting can fit well into a low-carbon life, as they offer the opportunity to make bespoke garments (more likely to be used, looked after and given a long-life), to mend and repair existing garments/items; to recycle and reuse yarn and fabric. There are some other choices to be made for a low-carbon world - using natural rather than synthetic fibres (wool, cotton and other animal/vegetable fibres are intrinsically low carbon compared to synthetic yarns which originate from petrochemical sources); local and organic yarns where available (local just to reduce yarn miles and organic because this system does not rely on petrochemical inputs such as inorganic fertilisers and pesticides). Oh yes, and using up the stash. I think there is a lot to be said for that - making do with what we already have. I'm sure there are other things too.

What would you add?