Knitting for my mother-in-law

We'll gloss over this first one quite quickly, as it must be my most hated project ever - the backstory to this is that I took her to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts show in Cardiff last autumn, and she spotted a sample cardigan hanging up in a booth which she wanted to buy.  I explained that it was only for display but then in a moment of selflessness said if she bought the yarn I'd do the knitting (she's not a knitter).  The yarn was really nasty to work with but I managed it in the end!

The second one was because she admired my Hockey scarf and was very impressed with the publication of my pattern, so I decided to reward her good taste by making her one for Christmas (lol)!  I made some modifications to the published pattern as detailed here on my Ravelry project page.

Squeeee!!!

Way back last autumn, I entered a competition with Knitting Magazine to design a scarf.  I didn't expect anything to come of it, but although I wasn't the winner or either runner up, I was told that my design had been successful and would be published in a book this autumn.  The book is now out, and my copy arrived the other day.  Imagine my delight when I looked at my pattern page and saw my name!  I'll even be getting my scarf back!  Here are some photos of the book:

Photos, finally!

I finally took some photos of my Spriteling, they're still not great as I had to do them on my own, maybe one day I'll be able to get some better ones but for now these will have to do!

Also, here are some photos of my finished silk and mohair scarf, made from a kit bought from Artisan Yarns at Knit Nation 2010.  The yarns are Colinette Tao and Colinette Parisienne, the pattern is really simple but very effective with the way the yarns are dyed.

Last Christmas

"I gave you my heart" - sorry, couldn't resist! Actually, although I should really be thinking about knitting for next Christmas, I thought I'd post the makings from last year rather late.

For my mother, I made a scarf from Rico CanCan - I'm pleased with the result, but I wish I'd looked for tutorials on YouTube on knitting with this stuff BEFORE I started, there might have been less swearing as a result! I think when I make another one of these, I'll make it shorter and wider as the weight of the ruffles makes it stretch a lot.

For my sister, I made a scarf from Rico Pompon, I used a backward loop cast on and made it one bobble wider than the pattern suggested. For future attempts, I need to find a stretchier cast off so it doesn't bunch up at the end.

I ran out of time for any other knitting (disorganised as usual), but did quite a bit of baking. I made a Christmas cake at the beginning of November because the recipe said it would keep for two months. Poured a couple of tablespoons of brandy over it every two weeks, then iced it just before Christmas. Considering we only just finished eating it last week, I'd say two months is a very conservative estimate of how long it will keep!

I also made my own mincemeat, which I used to make mince pies and a "last minute" microwaved Xmas pud. The pudding was the nicest I've ever had, though I'm sure I shouldn't say so myself, because it was much lighter than others I've eaten. I even made my own brandy butter to go with it, as well.