A shawl without a beach

 Last year Helen and I knitted shawls together and we so enjoyed ourselves that we decided this year to do it again.  So a few months ago we picked a pattern and I bought my sock yarn. A quiet morning at work saw me winding my first centre pull ball from my skein.  Heh heh.

Here's what I ended up with. 

The day before I went on holiday to Yorkshire I spent a quiet bit of time (again at work!) in the company of Zac Efron casting on.

And had this before we left.

And got loads done while we were away. 

Last weekend? Well I was on a roll and spent about 6 hours each day zipping along to get it finished. My first pico bind off!

 Accompanied by, who else, Zac Efron. *g*

And here she is, my finished Pebble Beach Shawlette.

 I love it to bits, the colour and crescent shape make it super wearable.

And I love that edge.

2 weeks start to finish? Even allowing for holiday knitting that's quick, might make another!

Yarny deets:

Pattern: Pebble Beach Shawlette

Yarn: hand painted 4 ply "Stormy Weather" by Jellybeans Yarns on Etsy

Needles: 4mm circulars knitted flat

Holiday wardrobe

 I was thrilled to bits last summer holidays to wear handmade skirts 4 out of the 5 days I was away. Well this year I only wore a pair of jeans on 2 days that I hadn't made. My other jeans, skirts, tee shirts, tops, shirt, shrug, sweater and hoodie were all my own. Yaay!    

There was a full length mirror on the halfway landing of our cottage so getting a mirror self everyday was a breeze!  I mixed up a few outfits, too, wearing different tops and jeans/skirts than I have before. Lots of fun! 

My favourite newly found outfit was this one that I didn't actually wear on holiday! But I was still off work when Chook and I went Pokemon chasing on Sunday so I'm counting it. *g*

Did I show my Linden sweatshirt? I was convinced Spouse would hate it "why are you wearing an old lady's curtains?" but he keeps saying he loves it!! I do like it paired with this Moss mini - I have plans for another outfit but in black and red. 

Gotta go now, gotta catch 'em all! #pokemonmania

Little Crakehall

We had the most fab week in North Yorkshire last week. We fluked it and last minute rented a smashing wee end terrace cottage in the village of Crakehall,  near Bedale. 

This is the view from the window behind Spouse. That's our front garden, the main road, Crakehall Hall and the cricket club behind the trees. Absolutely picture postcard English village.

Bedale is a little market town less than a 5 minute drive away. It was a great mix of convenience (a Tesco Metro and Co-op), a couple of lovely pubs, tea rooms and independent shops. Including a real greengrocers - the smell took me back 35 years! And a takeaway place selling Parmo - finally, finally got one!  *g* It rocked our socks.

We did a lot of relaxing and eating and knitting and telly watching and played a load of Pandemic Legacy, too. We suck at it but are having such a laugh doing it.

We did get about a wee bit. A trip to Harrogate and a lovely day in York in the sun (our weather was great all week, actually) where I found a Trollbead shop (whee!) and Chook found second hand record and video games places. And we had fabulous fish n chips since we couldn't face the 3 hour round trip to Whitby to the Magpie.

And sneaking into the end of our week was the Pokemon Go! phenomenon. This is in Bedale outside the golf club at a Pokestop.

And Bedale also has a couple of yarn shops - I loved the name on this one and may have relieved them of a few balls. Ahem.

Yes, nice relaxing week was had by all! We loved our location so much we've looked into booking the same cottage for next summer. It was just that nice.

14

I say it every year but she is just growing (up!) so fast. Today is her 14th birthday and we're actually on holiday in sunny North Yorkshire. Here she is by the back door of our cottage this morning in her new Fall Out Boy tee, Twenty One Pilots style red beanie and Panic! at the Disco dog tags. It's all about the bands just now!

There may also be a new pair of Panic! gutties. There's a fab lady on Etsy paints them in all sorts of bandoms. 

And tonight? Well we've not strayed far from the door today, only a stroll round the Village and lunch in the nearby town. Chook wants her fave enchiladas for tea and we've chocolate birthday cake and a game of Pandemic Legacy planned. She really is growing up.

A hoodie

I'm off on holiday to North Yorkshire next week and really wanted a new hoodie to take. What a job I had finding one with any length in the shops (they all stop at your waist) without it being mumsy. So, I would just have to make my own, right? Well it's surprisingly difficult to find a zip up pattern and not an over-your-head one. But I came up trumps with the Halifax Hoodie from Hey June Patterns. Check this out.

Cool,  right? Keeps my hips and bum nice and warm. 

And the fabric was a bargaintastic £5 a metre from Girl Charlee! It's slight seconds, apparently, but I've yet to find any faults. It's a lovely soft sweatshirt jersey with a brushed cotton reverse side. The cotton jersey for the hood lining and zip binding was from them, too.

Speaking of zips I was so chuffed with how it came out - see how nice the bottom is? 

Here's the top of the zip with one of my Black Sheep Co labels. I took out 5 teeth at the top of the zip with pliers (as instructed in the excellent pattern) I think that makes all the difference to a neat finish. 

And my pattern matching of the stripes is not too bad. I deliberately left the bottom cuff with horizontal stripes to keep the longline illusion of the body but switched it up to make vertical ones on the sleeve cuff. 

It's a nice big hood, too! I didn't put in a cord since I didn't have any eyelets and didn't want to do buttonholes on the hood. I never use the cord anyway but I do like how it looks - maybe on the next one.

The pattern comes in 5 styles - this one, a pullover with hood and a pullover with cowl neck all with the same body style. And another two with an interesting twisted side seam and a high/low hem - one a cowl neck and one plain round. Definite, definite room for lots of playing!!

Garment deets:

Pattern: Hey June! Halifax Hoodie, view C

Fabric: striped fleece back sweatshirt from Girl Charlee,  2m. Floral cotton blend knit, half metre.

Size and changes made: size M, no changes

Last day of school.

That's her finished for 8 weeks summer holiday.  EIGHT WEEKS! Oaft. 

I might be jealous a little. But I've had a lovely spot of lunch with her and Mum so it's hard to be grumpy. Even if she did get to wear jeans to school. 

One in ten

When I made my very first socks 2 years ago I was utterly captivated by self-striping yarn and the very first ball I bought was Adriafil Knitcol DK in the Beethoven colourway. They now live with a friend as do all these other 9 pairs of Knitcol cosies. Two of these pairs I have knitted for myself and at the last stitch they have been perfect for someone else. 

(clockwise from top left, Degas, Kandinsky, Dali, Chopin, Chopin (again!) and Renoir, Leonardo and Michaelangelo, Beethoven and Warhol)

I'm not good at keeping socks - they make such great gifts I am forever giving them away. I've finished 14 pairs and only have 2 pairs myself. And none of my fave Knitcol yarn. Well, no more! These are mine. Mineminemine. My tenth pair.

Ha! Even better, the brand new colourway (bought because it had black in it) is named Chagall - who is a favourite artist of mine. Aren't they great? And they're a quarter 2 Finish-along finish as well!

I think I might make one more pair for me and then start trying "proper" 4-ply socks. I do love DK ones but they're not so great for going inside shoes. But they are so soft and cosy for round the house.

Yarny Deets:

pattern: Beginners toe up socks by Knit Freedom - adapted for dpns, knitted up the leg til there was none left!

Yarn: Adriafil Knitcol  Chagall, 2 x 50g

Needles: 3.5mm dpns