The Mohair Sweater

FINALLY I have finished the mohair sweater that I was commissioned to make for a very good friend of mine.

The friend in question has a taste for quality, hence the choice of wool: mohair. She needed a replacement of an old favourite and couldn't find the same one anywhere. I mentioned that I love knitting and she jumped at the opportunity. The pattern I used can be found here, the wool here.

There's Ruby making sure I'm doing a good job.

The most annoying part of any knitting project is blocking and sewing it all up:

Blocking, for those who don't know, is the process of flattening out your work and making it the right shape. The technique I used was to gently hand wash the pieces, and then to pin it out neatly onto a towel, letting it dry properly. I  did the front and back first because I had to stitch the shoulders together and knit the polo-neck straight onto the work.

For the sleeves I had a brain wave left it on the Aga, it dried a LOT quicker than the front and back.

 And then the absolute worst part - for me anyway - is sewing it all up. However, anything is ok if Ruby is keeping me company.

Here it is all wrapped up nicely - despite the fact that it was ripped open immediately, as my my friend was so excited to see it.

I have decided my new 'design name' is "A Fatcat Creation". My nick name (and all my user names) is Hatbat the Fat Cat, so I felt it was fitting. I don't even like cats... I also have a friend who has created a new cocktail, and on my suggestion he is naming it 'The Fat Cat'. Yesssssssss.

I have already moved onto my next project. It is another jumper... but it is in chunky wool this time so will grow a LOT faster.



After the chunky knit sweater I will be moving onto another chunky project. Miffy made a blanket a while ago using chunky, green wool. She has given me the left-overs (of which there is a considerable amount) and I am going to make something out of it...

Any ideas for what I could make.....?

Knitspiration #4

Todays' knitspiration is all about my favourite look: baggy! I love wearing baggy tops with skinny bottoms, not only does it look pretty good, but it is also so comfy and cuddly.

 I love the colour of this jumper as well as the stitches used, if only I could afford that much wool..

 Gotta love a classic nineties style, complete with rolled sleeves. I didn't even know that this many cable stitches existed.

 This one, complete with ripped jeans and cuppa tea, is making me want to snuggle up with my dogs.

 I love this girl's boots as well, that jumper looks so comfy.

 An example of how you can do baggy and look smart at the same time; I would love a coat like this.

Lastly: classic nineties child! Sadly I still dress like this ...

Current Projects

I have been working on a few projects at the same time recently, one of them is a big secret as it is a Christmas present for someone special (my sister), so I can't post it on here til after I give it to her.

Here's what I'm working on...

 I'm making a cabled headband for someone...

 I'm making a ribbed beanie for someone...

And I tried out crochet! It doesn't look too bad for a first attempt, however I have to concentrate and look at my hands pretty much the whole time so I can't enjoy it while I'm watching TV like I can with knitting. Maybe I'll practice some more and see how it goes, but for now I'm going to finish off the top-secret-sister-present...

Just Another Miffy Monday #3

It's been over a week since I last posted, I have been reallllly busy finishing at work, going to London with Miffy to assist on her buying trip, saying all of my goodbyes to my true Jersey friends and then packing, traveling, arriving and unpacking in DURHAM. So...! Without further ado I am back on the blog scene and what better way to return than with a Miffy Monday?

Sadly last week we attended the funeral of Miffy's uncle Roger, so for Roger's wife, Aunty Wendy, Miffy made her a blanket. It was the fastest I have ever seen her crochet! She just got straight onto it and spent every free minute for the 7 days she had crocheting. By the end of it she had repetitive strain injury.. well, not quite.

What a beautiful stitch.

I love the border too, she really is a perfectionist.

It's so big! Not bad for a week's work.

Here she is, crazy woman.

Combining Arts

I have recently been inspired by things I've found on Pinterest and other blogs to combine embroidery over other things. I have never done embroidery before, so despite wanting to go straight in at the deep end and achieve something like this:

Or this:

Or even this:

I decided to hold back and try something more simple, as inspired by my favourite blogger One Sheepish Girl. I had a couple of cards to write, one was a thank you card, the other a birthday card, so I thought I'd put my skills to the test and use them for these two occasions.

The birthday card was for my driving instructor. I took my test on her birthday and I passed!!!!! She was pleased with the card, despite my perfectionist self not being happy with the fact it isn't very neat:

To do this I write out the words in pencil, then stab holes through with my needle:

And then I stitch over it. Here's the second one, for the thank you card:

I went for a French style writing which I prefer as well.

I've really got the embroidery bug and if I find time this weekend I intend to try some 'proper' embroidery and practice all the different stitches. I have ordered an embroidery hoop, it will arrive on Tuesday.

The other great thing about this is that I'm using wool (rather than cotton) and it is using up my stash and getting me one step closer to completing my wool-athon!

Knit News

Look at that sheepish face. She takes any opportunity to lie on something comfy, even if that's my clothes.

I have begun the jumper that I have been commissioned to make. It's looking great! However when I go home tonight I'm going to unravel it all...

The reason I'm unravelling it is because the pattern and the wool don't work together. This pattern needs aron weight wool and although this wool is advertised as such it is definitely far too skinny, it looks and feels like a double knit to me, so I have found a new pattern that will work much better. The lady I'm making it for wants it to be a cozy, baggy jumper for the winter, so too small will not do.

Look how much work I've done already... it's going to be painful to unravel all of those rows... 

In other knit news: I've started Emily's headband. The one I made her wasn't good enough apparently, so now I'm using this wool that she's chosen from my stash and I've made the pattern even better.

It never looks that neat until it's stitched up and made into the proper headband, but I'm pleased with it so far.

That's it for today's update, I can't wait to get home and unravel all of my hard work and start again.....

Just Another Miffy Monday #2

Everyone's favourite feature is back, let's see what Miffy has been up to since the last Miffy Monday...

Miffy has been making lots of puddings lately, this one is my absolute, hands-down, without-a-doubt favourite so far: lemon tiramisu.  She topped it off with popping candy and amoretti biscuits... YUM. It was so much better than real tiramisu, the flavours were rich and refreshing. I am taking the recipe back to university with me, that's for sure.

The more I stare at that picture, the more I want to eat it... I'm craving it now. Great.

 Just to make me even hungrier, here's another photo of it, from a different angle.

Time for something less edible, but equally delicious: Miffy's completed baby blanket. She seems to constantly be making them for people. This one is knitted and so perfect for a little baby girl. It's in the softest wool too. I love the colours, they're so soft.

 Perfect tension.

 What else is Miffy up to? She's just gone mad online and bought three new crochet books...

I love the look of Geek Chic Crochet, I want that one please.

These two look so cool, there may be some good Christmas presents ideas in here that I might sneakily photocopy before I head up to uni...

What's she up to at the moment then? Look at these lovely colours, she loves Debbie Bliss, and who can blame her? 

Surprise, surprise! Miffy is making another baby blanket! This is for a little one on his or her way, I guess she knows it's going to be a girl because of the colour scheme, but hey - there's nothing wrong with boys liking pink.

That's all for this Miffy Monday, I have just been commissioned to make someone a mohair jumper, she'll buy me the wool and pay me for my time too - I love it when a plan comes together.

Finished!

I have finished both of my projects! Woo!

That's right, I finally made up Mini Fox:

Foxes everywhere... I got that notebook from Bloomsbury and the fox badge was a present from my friend (and first-year room mate) Emma; I wear it lovingly.

I've started playing around with the settings on my dad's Olympus camera, the above picture was taking using a lighter tone setting, I think it looks quite nice for this close-up.

I saw a T-shirt with these Doctor Who owls on it once, I really love it! This is the section with Tom Baker Owl on it and he's represented with his stripey (and longggg) scarf, it's almost like mine...

Ems being an amazing model: in this photo we went for the 'at one with nature' look. In this photo I used the 'pop art' setting which makes the colours really vivid. I don't know if it was necessary in the evening sunlight, but hey-ho it doesn't look too bad.

Here she is again (looking fabulous with her recently done hair) going for the 'classic knitter magazine model' pose (with added Spaniel).

I like this one, although Binkie looks like she's ready to attack the scarf (which she did later, but don't worry we saved it).

And finally, Emma looking her best, going for the 'scarf on face' look. Brilliant.

Next project?? Any ideas??

I was really inspired by a photo from my first knitspiration post (#appropriate, it is called knitspiration after all). 

This photo, to be precise. I downloaded some simple instructions for cable knitting last night, but it was not the right type of cable for this headband. I dug out an old Rowan pattern book that I had with a cable knit scarf in it, the scarf had two types of cable in and one of them was pretty close to this style, so I'm going to trial and error until I come up with the right look. 

If you have any ideas for some projects that I could make then please comment below!