Enjoying the Colours

There have been some beautiful colours to admire this Autumn.  The trees have been just amazing.  It's a delight to go for my morning walk and marvel at the gorgeous yellows, reds and oranges.

I've been knitting up some colourful goodness of my own.  My Fair Isle cardigan is now complete.

It's knitted entirely from leftovers of gorgeous Shetland 4ply wool, a mix of Jamieson & Smith and Jamieson's Spindrift.

In total I used 19 different colours and 369g of yarn.  It's a true stashbuster.

I'm really pleased with how it looks and the colour combination is just perfect.

I'm loving knitting Fair Isle (I always do).   It gives me so much pleasure to see the colour patterns evolving.  The only thing I have never knitted in Fair Isle is socks.  For some reason I've shied away from these.  I think I'm worried about the fit.  Socks need to fit well and if the tension is wrong on the Fair Isle, then it could be a disaster.  But I feel that the time is right for me it give it a try, so my next Fair Isle project will definitely be socks.  Just got to steel myself to cast on and get on with it.

Last week was my husband's birthday.  I thought I'd share a picture with you of the cake I made him (I pinched the idea from Pinterest).

He liked the surprise and the cake was delicious. (For anyone concerned, Barbie's legs fitted back on no problem afterwards!)

Have a good weekend.

Treats For Me

I've just got back in from a walk to the local charity shop, to drop off a bag of unwanteds.  Typically, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this, I then bought a bagful of other people's unwanteds.

Fortunately, the bag coming home with me was smaller than the one I left with, so overall I managed to reduce the junk in our home.

Amongst my finds from the charity shop, I was lucky to pick up some vintage Ladybird books for only £2 each.

The garden flowers book dates back to 1960.

They really are gorgeous.

A trip to the charity shop, especially if I find some lovelies always puts me in a good mood.  Now that I'm happy knitting with the cardigan, I'm feeling especially jolly.  Another reason for jolliness is my approaching birthday.

Anyone who has been reading my blog over the years, will know that my birthday is the most important date in the entire year.  I start planning treats for myself as soon as Christmas is out of the way.  Now it is less than four weeks to my birthday, so the countdown steps up a gear.  I'll be putting myself on light duties soon, so that I can indulge myself!

In addition, I have nominated Thursday as an official day of rest for me, starting today.  Thursday is my favourite day of the week, I was born on a Thursday and nice things always seem to happen on that day of the week.  As a Thursday's child, I should have far to go, but as a home-loving introvert, it doesn't apply to me.

I've made some scrumptious cakes.

They're called doffins, a cross between a donut and a muffin!  I found the recipe in an old Asda magazine when I was decluttering my recipes.  I was unsure how they would turn out, but they are lovely, quite a pleasant surprise.

Anyway, as a treat this afternoon, and as the knitting is going well, I'm going to have a cast-on party.  I'm going to go wild and cast on all the projects I've been wanting to make in the last few weeks.

It's going to be a fun afternoon - am I a little strange in finding this exciting?

I'll let you know how it goes.  Happy knitting to you.

Fair Isle Love

I hope you all had a wonderful time over the Christmas holidays.  We had a super Christmas with the family.  Everything went according to plan and with all my advanced planning, it was a very relaxing Christmas.  (Note for next year - go easy on the baking - we'll be eating all the cakes I made for some time to come)

Grace has gone off to Switzerland, skiing, so we're in charge of looking after her hamsters while she's away.

They're just so cute!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

I have lots of photos to sort through of Christmas projects that had to be kept secret so I'll maybe do a collage to show them off.  In the meantime I'm eager to show you the Fair Isle cardigan I finished in time for Christmas.

Two of my favourite things - cardigans and Fair Isle knitting.

I love my new cardigan.  I've made it slimmer than previous cardigans (although I'm looking a bit lumpy with all those cakes!) and it has a slightly higher neckline.

It's knitted in 4 ply Shetland wool.  A gorgeous purple colour called Heather.  The wool is from Rosie's Moments Etsy shop.  Grace got it for me.  Besides being a gorgeous colour it's lovely and soft next to the skin.  I only had 190 grammes of the wool so I beefed it up with the Fair Isle pattern to make a long sleeved cardigan.

The Fair Isle section uses up lots of oddments of wool that I have accumulated over the years.  The colours work well together.

At some point, when I'm organised, I'll publish the pattern (which I've called Tasha) but I'm already behind in my pattern writing.  2015 will be the year I'm organised!

Full details of the wool used etc for this cardigan can be found on my Ravelry page, here.

So now I'm back to the usual holiday activities, knitting, watching TV and eating more cakes!  Enjoy your day.

A Lovely Birthday Weekend

Have you had a good weekend?  I hope so.  It was my husband's birthday on Friday so we've had a lovely time celebrating.

Yummy chocolate cake and delicious banana loaf - no better way to celebrate than to eat cake!

Grace came to stay for the weekend. She had been working in Manchester so it was easier for her to visit us than for us to travel to Sheffield.  We had a great evening on Friday, a meal and a drink in the local pub.

On Saturday morning we had a Skype with Eve.  Not quite the same as the four of us being together, but the next best thing.

Saturday afternoon we drove the few miles north to Formby and had a walk to the beach through the pine woods and the sand hills.

It's amazing how, just a few miles up the coast, the shoreline is so different.  I love the way the beach at Formby suddenly appears between the sand hills and jumps out at you shouting "Surprise!".

The weather across Liverpool Bay over in Wales doesn't look as pleasant as ours - although it was rather cold and windy for us.

We had a little diversion with the outdoor gym equipment - who can resist a play?

I think I would have looked more committed if I'd taken my backpack off!

After that bracing walk, what shall we do next? - time to go home for more cake of course!

So What Next?

Well, I've now started the mittens to match my Tantallon Hat.

I'm using the Tantallon Fair Isle design but following the pattern for the Ursula mittens I made last winter.

I'm modifying the pattern to include a lined cuff - for extra warmth, and I'm making them slightly longer than the Ursula mittens.  I'll also add an i-cord edging to the cuffs, to match the hat.

I'm not sure my bits and pieces of pink 4 ply will last so I'm knitting them simultaneously to keep track of each colour.

The weather has turned rather nasty now.  Summer is definitely over.  Time for some comfort food, so I made a carrot cake using this recipe.

Very moist and yummy.  Knitting, carrot cake, a hot mug of tea - sounds perfect to me.

Golf and Knitting Were Made for Each Other

This weekend we are watching the Ryder Cup on television.  I always look forward to sporting weekends, as it's a fabulous excuse to sit and knit or crochet whilst watching whatever sport is on offer.

So this weekend it's golf.  An excellent sport for knitting as each match lasts for hours.  I'm watching Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson and the rest of the European and US teams.

And whilst it's on I'm crocheting and knitting away happily, and eating this delicious cake I've made!

I've made excellent progress with my little squares for my sun rise cushion cover,

And there's no better way to cope with the boredom of endless stocking stitch, than to have an exciting sport to watch.

Look how fast I'm knitting my skirt!

Wow, the golf is exciting - I'm racing through my work-in-progress.

Apple and Sultana Cake

I thought I'd try a new recipe for Grace's birthday.

When we were on holiday in Shropshire recently, I had a most delicious slice of Apple and Sultana cake in the tearooms at Ludlow Castle.  So I Googled a recipe and made my own.

Absolutely delicious and wonderful.  What a  lovely and moist cake.

This cake is set to make regular appearances in our home.  The recipe I used is here.

Will It Be Finished?

An update on the Black Forest Log - despite looking like someone had sat on it, it was delicious.  I'd definitely make it again but I think I need to work on my construction techniques!

Moving on, I thought I'd let you know what I'm working on, knitting-wise at the moment.

A few weeks ago I couldn't resist buying this pattern book by Martin Storey.

I particularly love the pattern called Thelma.

This would be lovely to wear at Christmas.

Now, Angora Haze is a gorgeously, soft and cuddly yarn by Rowan - but rather pricey!  I also have issues with the idea of Angora as a yarn, not all Angora yarn is produced from happy bunnies.  Rowan have categorically stated that theirs is ethically sourced with a view to animal welfare but I'm still not comfortable with the idea. So in the end I settled for some 4 ply wool cotton by Rowan in a lovely jewel pink shade.  This gives wonderful stitch definition which shows up the pattern beautifully, with the Angora yarn I feel the pattern is a bit lost.

I've finished the back - just.  I've started the front and I'm conscious I'm running out of time.  So, forget the housework, I'm going to just have to sit and knit to make sure it's done!

I Tried...

The tree is up, the knitted figures have colonised the living room, so I'm all set for Christmas.

So how about baking something exciting...

Black Forest Log - sounds delicious...

... but sadly looks like road kill.

Never mind, I tried!

Delightful Ways to Spend a Hot, Sunny Day...

Blowing bubbles...

...and eating home-made scones...

...beside the beautiful clematis.

Phew!  It's exhausting work.