Sister's Winter Woollies Part 4 - Fingerless Gloves

 I have actually finished my sister's fingerless gloves. They area little neat on me but my sister has tiny hands so I'm not worried. I picked a pattern which had a cable in it. That way it matched the hat and socks I have already knitted up. The cable is a little less central than I wanted but in the end I actually quite like the effect.

The pattern is by Cecilia Brooke. I think I got it from ravelry via pinterest but I'm having trouble finding it again. The title of the pattern is simply, Fingerless Gloves, in case you are interested in finding it yourself. What I liked about it was that it had a decrease and increase for the wrist and the hand. It looks a little odd when sitting on the table but makes sense once they are on.

I have to say that the pattern itself wasn't the best. There were quite a few mistakes in it (including row numbering). However, if you are a fairly experienced knitter you will be able to ignore the mistakes. Other than that it's a fairly easy pattern to follow.

 

This finish can only mean one thing. I have completed my sister's winter woollies set. In fact my sister has not only seen them but worn them. Not sure which was her favourite. She ooed over all of it. Possibly the pom pom. When I knitted my own version of the hat she said I should knit her one with a pom pom. Over and over again! So often that I came close to telling her it was always on the cards. Thankfully she also suited it the colour with her purple hair. I did tell her I was worried that it was too dark a colour for her (she wears black but accessorises bright) but she liked it.

Now I will have to think up a winter woollies set for next year.

My Winter Woollies 2015

I finished my hat! It's exactly the same pattern as the cream one I knitted not that long ago.  There are two main differences. First of all I used the second skein of yarn from the cowl kit that I bought from Lisa. Secondly I used a larger needle size so that it was more like a slouchy hat.

See! A lot bigger than the last one. It doesn't feel like it's going to pop off my head. My sister feels that it is missing a pom pom but I prefer my hats to be pom pom free. It's warm and cosy, perfect for this horrible weather we are getting.

The colourway of the yarn kind of drowns out the cable pattern but I don't care. I think that it's still pretty and I love the colours. Took no time at all to knit up and was fairly easy to follow. You can see more about this pattern with the first hat I knitted.  You'll also be able to see the cable pattern better.

That's me pretty much sorted for the winter. I have a pretty and cosy cowl and a matching hat. Thank you for the yarn Lisa.

Sister's Winter Woolies - The Cowl

Every winter my mum would make my sister a set of winter woollies. My sister loves a woolly hat and mitts and some years she would even get two sets. I've decided to try and keep this tradition going and I am working on a full set of winter woollies. Watch this space to see if I get them all finished.

Firstly I made her a cowl. I used the crochet pattern from the cowl kit I received from the lovely Lisa. Although she has bought cowls before this will be the first one made for her. So at least I know she likes them.

My sister doesn't like them too close in to her neck so I decided to make this a little longer than mine. I had planned to use 150g of yarn but it turned out the one 100g ball was more than enough.

You can see a close up of the pattern here. It's a simple ripple effect which stands out even in this darker yarn. Once you get into the swing of the pattern it's fairly easy to do and it crocheted up in no time.

The yarn is a lot darker than I was expected it to be. I was hoping for a brighter teal which I think would have looked good against my sister's pink hair. I still like the colour though and I think my sister will too. The yarn is an alpaca tweed by Stylecraft and is one of the softest yarns I have ever had the pleasure of working with. It does cast a little but it's worth it.

One Snuggly Cowl

So I finished my cowl. I started it one day before my night shift and then finished it while over at my sister's. This is something that I could easily have done in a day because it's just so addictive.

 Just a wee reminder of what it looked like when it first arrived. Two skeins of yarn and a lovely sparkly hook to work with (I am fair collecting them). All from the lovely Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. In my favourite colour too.

It's a simple pattern. I mean if I can do it then anyone can. Simple but effective. I love it and yes, I plan to do another one but for my sister. This close up shows just how lovely this yarn is. It's the donegal base in DK. I have a thing for tweed yarn just now.

I could have added the second skein of yarn to the cowl and made it a lot longer. I normally prefer scarves long but I decided that I wanted to save the second skein for a hat, which you may be well aware I have already made a start on. I love how the colour changes look throughout and I can't wait to see the same thing in the hat.

Use this as a lesson to be learned. Don't wear blue when trying to show something else that's blue. Hard when it's your go to colour.

Winter Is Coming.

I never knit myself anything for winter. I always say that I am going to and every year I pin away of pinterest lots of lovely cabled woollies. But I never get round to it. I'm good at that. Plan and plan and then it's spring. Everyone tells me I'm good at the planning. Well, I bought some double knit tweed yarn by Sublime. I had intended on using it to finish off the lap blanket that I was making for my gran. Sadly this double knit was a lot finer than the lovely donegal based yarn by Lisa. I would ruin the blanket and waste both yarns by using it. So now I have 6 balls of this yarn and no idea what to do with it. I did consider getting a pale pink and making a blanket with it but I didn't like the pink this yarn came in. So I decided to knit something for myself that would keep me warm on the way into work.

Hence this hat. I managed to knit it using just one 50g ball and just a tiny bit to spare.

I saw the pattern on pinterest (all those hours are not wasted after all). It's called The Woods Hat by Po Lena and you can purchase it from ravelry.  It stood out to me mainly because the images in the pattern show the hat knitted up in teal which (as you know) is a favourite of mine. It also has lots of cables which I also loved. While you look at the cables please ignore my tired face. Post night shift isn't the most flattering of looks.

I had hoped it would be more like a slouchy hat but it is meant to be a beanie style and it fits perfectly as such. I didn't think I would suit the beanie but I actually quite like it. I would be very tempted to knit this in other colours. It didn't take me long at all and only work got in the way of finishing it sooner. Isn't that always the way? It's a fairly easy pattern and the cables aren't too complicated. I think someone who wanted to move on to cables would find this as a good beginning. The pattern itself works over a 6row repeat and as I said knits up quickly. I did add an extra repeat and I think if I was doing it again I would maybe use larger needles.

I have 5 more balls of the tweed left. I plan to knit a scarf with that. Just need to find a pattern that I like. Any recommendations? Must have cables.