THE GREAT RADISH FAMINE - FRAGGLE ROCK

Hi Everyone

I used to love Fraggle Rock when I was a wee'n.

Here is a wee clip I found that might amuse some of you.  Of course it involves knitting - what else lol.




Cheerio till next time.

NOT A LOT OF KNITTING BEING DONE

Hi everyone

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much this last wee while but I've been under the weather.

I haven't been knitting much at the moment either as you can well understand.  Luckily I got all the Christmas presents I was working on finished before I feel ill (After Christmas day I will upload a photo of the presents I knitted).   One of the project I have been working on is a Rick Rack Scarf.  

I would really like to get better at making my own patterns but hey ho, that will come one day .

I will upload a pic of my scarf once I have finished it.

If you would like to have a go at knitting this pattern please see the link below.

http://www.purlsoho.com/create/2011/11/23/whits-knits-rick-rack-scarf/

I have also been practicing some knitted squares for our knit along.

 I can't wait for the new year to get knitting with you lot and see what colours and combos you come up with.

Cheerio till next time

CELEBS KNIT TOO

Hi everyone

So I found an article about celebs who love knitting. 

I always knew we were cool anyway, but for though who had doubts hers some celebs that you might like knitting. 

http://www.knitcrate.com/blogs/knitting-news-buzzworthy-and-interesting/34283396-20-celebrities-who-happily-knit

You don't need to follow the trends, well I don't anyway. I knit because I love it ❤. But if your someone who likes to be in the cool gang, now with knitting you can be. 

Cheerio till next time. 

KNIT WITH ME

Hi everyone

Christmas is coming up if you haven't noticed by my other posts lol, but what comes after Christmas The New Year. 

This new year I was hoping we could all work together.  So that's why I'm announcing a wee gem for 2016

I was thinking we could all knit a patch blanket with 1 square every 2 weeks.  

Twice weekly I will be posting a pattern for a square that once finished can be sown together to give you a blanket to be proud of.  

If your pretty advanced at knitting you should be able to get through this very quickly.  But if you are new to knitting I'm hoping that this will help you learn a new skill.

There are still a few weeks till Christmas so start hinting that you would like some wool and knitting needles from Santa.  

To make this Knit Along cheap and with less hassle trying to find supplies all you will need is a pair of 4mm straight knitting needles & some balls of double knit yarn.  I said this project would be cheap because if you are a knitter like me you will have lots of double knit yarn hanging around your house.  But if your new to knitting you can pick up double knit yarn from your local pound land or ask your granny for some spare balls of yarn she isn't using any more.  

Cheerio and keep warm till next time.

WOOLY CHRISTMAS PRESSIES

Hi everyone

It's the middle of November & yes it has been snowing this weekend. Which makes it feel very Christmassy.

So how has your attempt to get all your Christmas presents rounded up before the big rush of last minute shopping happens?  Do you like home made presents?  

I love them. I love receiving them and making them. I love the idea of one of my friends or family opening up their Christmas box and knowing that a lot of love went into making it. 

So this year I'm trying to knit some quick knits to wear so your warm in the winter or other lovelies a to keep you warm. 

I'm posting this blog in November to allow you to be inspired to knit up some wee Christmas presents of your own without rushing too much. 

Unfortunately I can't show you any of my knits yet because the receivers might be reading this so here is some festive wooly sheep. 

Here our some free patterns that maybe you could use to knit some pressies for a lucky friend or family member. 

Unisex scarf pattern

Shroom hat pattern

Ribbed hot water bottle cover pattern

Cheerio till next time. 

KNITTED CHRISTMAS CARDS

Hi everyone

Yes it may be November but if you want to knock a few of these out I thought I would give you a good amount of time.

CHRISTMAS TREE CARD 

(I can't take full responsibility for this pattern - this is just my version of many patterns floating about).

You'll need

• Green DK yarn

• 4mm straight knitting needles

• Darning needle

• small buttons to decorate 

• Blank card or piece of card folded of your own colour choice 

• Glue dots

Your tree will be knitted in garter stitch (knit every row). 

Cast on 17sts 

Knit the 1st row without shaping. 

Row 2 knit 15 sts k2tog

Row 3 knit 14 sts k2tog

Decrease in this way at end of each row until you have 8 sts. 

Next cast on 4 sts on start of next 2 rows. This should give you 16 sts. 

Now decrease by knitting 2tog at the end of each row until you have 6 sts. 

For your last level cast on 4 sts at the start of the next 2 rows.

Then decrease as before until you have 2 sts left. Now knit these 2 sts together. 

Cut yarn and tread through remaining sts. 

Darn in the yarn ends.

Now your wee Christmas tree is finished. You can leave it plain or decorate your tree with small buttons of your choice. 

All that is left to do is take your glue dots and stick your wee tree to the front of your card. Make sure you have enough glue dots to stick each corner down. 

I drew a stalk and pot but it is up to you weather you want to bother.  

CHRISTMAS JUMPER CARD

You'll need

• Red DK yarn

• 4mm straight knitting needles

• Darning needle

• Small colourful button to decorate 

• Blank card or piece of card folded of your own colour choice 

• Glue dots

Cast on 14 sts

Knit 4 rows

Continue in stocking sts (knit 1 row, purl 1 row) for 14 rows

Cast 7 sts onto next 2 rows, keeping in stocking sts - you should have 28 sts

Stocking sts 4 rows.

Next decrease for neck. 

Knit 11 sts, cast off 6 sts then knit remaining 11 sts. 

Continue with last 11 sts.  Purl 1 row then cast off these 11 sts. 

Rejoin wool to the other 11 sts. Purl 1 row then cast off remaining sts. 

Darn in yarn ends.

Take your colourful buttons and randomly sew them over the front of the wee jumper so they look like Christmas baubles. 

Now stick your jumper to your card with your glue dots the same as the wee Christmas tree. You may need more glue dots then last time as you want to stick down the curly sides of the jumper. 

If you knit some cards why not leave me a comment and let me see your creations. 

Cheerio till next time. 

OH NO!!

Hi everyone

Yesterday something all knitters fear happened to me.

(Yes this is what my face looked like when I realised). 

I had nearly finished a project and my ball of wool ran out. For some reason I thought I had another ball in my stash.  To my horror I couldn't find any more. 

Once I got over the shock of having to start the project again with a different ball of wool that I made sure I definitely had enough of, I thought just leave it and go to bed. 

This morning I have started the project again. I'm enjoying knitting the project (trying to forget all my hard work I ripped out last night). 

The project is a Christmas present for some one (no names they may be reading this).  Knitted presents - I'll leave that one for another day. 

Let me know if this horror of running out of wool has ever happened to you and what you did to fix it.

Cheerio till next time.

JUMPERS FOR CHICKENS

Hi everyone

Today I will be chatting to you about jumpers for chickens - yes you heard me right jumpers for chickens.

You may have seen it in the media a while back.

They are jumpers for rescued battery farmed chickens who have stopped producing enough eggs.

These poor chickens lose their feathers from the stress of being caged up for their whole lives.

Happily for some lucky few hens they get rescued by some very lovely people out there.

I have linked down below hencam.co.uk.  Not only can you get yourself the knitting pattern for the splendid chicken jumpers but you can see how the rescued hens are enjoying their new lives.

Here is my attempt at a chicken jumper.

Mine is very colourful because it is a great way to use up your odds and sods of wool.  I really enjoyed knitting them, not only because I found it rather easy to sit and watch my favorite programmes on TV while knitting but also because I knew it was going to be adorning a rescued happy chicken.  

I've always hated the idea of an animal being treated so badly by us humans just for the pleasure of filling our tummy's (no I'm not a veggie).  

Please give this wee quick project a go and feel great knowing you are helping keep the rescued chickens warm while they grow their feathers back.  I know this won't be the one and only chicken jumper I knit.

All the details of where to send your jumpers once you have finished is in the link below.

Cheerio till next time.

http://www.hencam.co.uk/hencam_forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=414

HUBBY'S SOCKS

Hi everyone

These socks cost $760 that's £505 to you and me living in the UK. 

...that's per pair, not for like a pack of six. Made out of vicuna wool, the German company Falke only made ten pairs of socks. 

I don't think at that price I could bear to let my hubby wear them ... never mind put them in his comfy but scruffy run arounds he wears most of the time. 

Isn't my hubby lucky to have me in his life. He doesn't have to spend an extortiate amount of money to adorne his feet with luxury. 

I finished his socks today. I even managed to use a simpler coloured wool as the pricey German socks. 

He loves them and don't they look fetching on him. 

If you want to give these a go the link to the free pattern by Red Heart is at the bottom of this page. 

If you do give these socks a try why not let me know how you get on. 

Cheerio till next time 

www.redheart.co.uk/files/patterns/pdf/LW3456EN.pdf

THE LAST KNIT

Hi everyone

I thought today you would like to see a wee animation about knitting.

It's a good few years old but I think it's fab.

It's about a women who just can't stop knitting (I know the feeling). She knits so much that eventually she runs out of wool. But just because she runs out of wool doesn't mean she has to stop right?!?
Watch and find out.

The only Thing I disagree with is the ending to this wee animation. As a knitter no matter what I could never throw away my knitting needles. 

Cheerio till next time

SIMPLE NUTELLA COOKIES

Hi everyone

Today has been such a rainy day. 

At least it stoped long enough to allow me to shop for the ingredients for these tasty treats. 

They have to be one of the easiest cookies to make ever.

You'll need

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4. 

Line 2 baking trays with grease proof paper if not non stick.  

Mix all the ingrediants together in a bowl with a fork. 

When the mixture becomes quite crumbly, use your hands to press the crumbs together to make a ball of dough. 

Knead the ball of dough until it becomes an even consistency with no specks of flour. 

Roll teaspoon size bits of cookie dough into balls. Evenly space out the cookie dough balls onto the baking trays and press them down with 3 fingers to make a round cookie shape. At this point you could add a small piece of chopped nut to the top of each cookie. As you can see I decided to leave my cookies very simple. 

Bake for 8 minutes, until the cookies have just set.  When they come out of the oven they will be quite soft, but don't be tempted to over bake them as they will lose the lovely chewy consistency. 

Allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Enjoy these with a hot beverage and a a good friend. 

Cheerio till next time. 

Here's a little poem for a rainy day. 

SMILEY BOOK REVIEW

Hi everyone

The Smiley book review is going to be me letting all you lovely people know what I think of the books I'm reading at the moment. 

I'm going to start with Ann Cleeves Shetland series. I first came across this series when I saw the BBC adaptation which I thought was great.  The TV adaptation deviates from the books a little but not enough to annoy me like some film adaptations. 

Dead Water is the 5th book in Ann Cleeves Shetland series. 

When the body of journalist Jerry Markham is found in a traditional Shetland boat, outside the house of the Fiscal down at the Marina, young Detective Inspector Willow Reeves is drafted in from the Hebrides to head up the investigation.
Since the death of his fiancée, Inspector Jimmy Perez has been out the loop, but his interest in this new case is stirred and he decides to help the inquiry - for Willow, his local knowledge is invaluable as the close-knit community holds many secrets. Markham - originally a Shetlander but who had made a name for himself in London - had left the islands years before to pursue his burgeoning writing career. In his wake, he left a scandal involving a young girl, Evie Watt, who is now engaged to a crofter. He had few friends there, so why was he back in Shetland?
Willow and Jimmy are soon led to Sullom Voe, the heart of Shetland's North Sea oil and gas industry. In a community where traditional values are held very dear by some, the advent of new energies, even renewables, is not always welcome. It emerges that Markham was chasing a story in his final days. One that must have been - for someone - significant enough to warrant his death..

Of course I love the who done it part of a crime novel, but what I also love about these books is that when I lie in bed and turn on my kindle (yep reading it on a kindle - but don't worry die hard paper book fans ... I still read real books too) I am transported right to The Shetland isles.  Walking by the sea with my wooly scarf, hat and gloves on taking pictures of the puffins - who doesn't love a puffin right.

Let me know if you have read any of Ann Cleeves Shetland books - what did you think of them?

Cheerio till next time

FIRST DAY

Hi everyone

This is my 1st blog post.  Really hope you enjoy reading it. It is going to be mostly knitting, cooking and my ups and down in life. 

At the moment I am knitting (not busily my I add) my hubby a pair of socks.  It has taken me longer then I thought it would but then again I'm not a very fast knitter.

I usually end up knitting more then 1 project at a time especially if it is a big project like a blanket, much like the blanket I knitted my Granny In-Law.

This blankets wrong side wasn't very pleasing to the eye so I decided to back it with a fleece.  Not only does it look nice  (if I do say so myself) but it will keep her super warm.

I wish I could let you know how often I will write you all a wee blog post but because this is my first time, I don't want to promise anything but hopefully once a week. 

Cheerio till next time.