Custom knitted wristwarmers

Remember this lovely purpley wool?

Well, I thought a bit more about embarking on a double pointed needle journey, and decided it would be a bad move and end up in an unfinished project. And that would be sad because the wool is so nice it deserves to be worn, not languish in a cupboard somewhere.

So I thought I would find someone who could do some knitting for me. And I found Lottie Lodge on Coraindr. She's ace. Look at what she made me!

I'm so pleased with them, they're exactly what I wanted. She was very specific in the information she asked for, and I had to draw round my hand (which was fun :) and provide measurements so they're the perfect fit. And all for the bargain price of £10!

I'm wearing them now, as it's bloomin freezing, and I really can't bring myself to have the central heating on during the day until it's at least November :) If you want something knitted but don't have the skills Lottie's service is perfect. She'll provide you with a quote before you commit to buy, and you can either send her some wool you already have, or she can find yarn for you. Or maybe even buy some from Woolworks or Tomato Tea and have it sent to Lottie!

Christmas Making - Neckwarmer no. 2

This one's for my mum, and is in a lovely soft maroon wool. She recently had a big wardrobe clearout, and the button is salvaged from a cardigan she got rid of. Bit cheeky, giving her back her own button, but it went so well I couldn't resist :)

When I was at the shop choosing the maroon wool I saw this lovely purpley-blue and couldn't resist as it was in the bargain basket. But what to knit with it? I really want some wrist warmers, but looking at all the patterns it seems I'll need to use double pointed needles, and I think they're a bit beyond my skills at the minute.

Even though in this video, the lady demonstrating at the end says, 'It's that simple!' It really doesn't look it. It looks like it could end in tears and possibly some eye gouging with the spare needle. I'll just have to put wrist warmers on my Christmas list :)

From blanket to neck warmer

I have a confession to make - I'm a bit scared of knitting. The language of knitting patterns seems alien to me, too many abbreviations and special codes. It's like some sort of secret club. I can do your bog standard knit, purl, cast off scenario, but anything other than that and I get the fear.

So when I found out I was pregnant with Munchkin, I came up with a form of knitting therapy to help me resolve my issues and transform me into a confident and prolific knitter, churning out matinee jackets and bootees by the day.

I took some lovely soft chunky wool, and knitted practice squares using different stitches. The idea was to sew them all togther at the end to make a snuggly blanket. I managed to do quite a few, but then couldn't find any more patterns that fitted in with my square size - I was doing some complicated thing whereby the sequence had to be 17 stitches long plus or minus 2 stitches or something. Anyway, the squares were put in a bag and stuffed in a cupboard.

I recently retrieved them and was determined to find a use for them. So they have been very cunningly (if I do say so myself) been turned into a neck warmer. I took four of my squares and sewed them together into a scarf. I then overlapped the ends diagonally and stitched them together. Hey presto! It's a bit like a bandana shape, which I'm loving. And it felt really quick and easy and satisfying because I did all the hard work about two years ago :)