Knitting and Stitching Show

I was a bit late photographing my purchases yesterday, hence not posting the pictures til today.  We had a good day.  The drive down was uneventful as you would wish it to be. We parked and had time for a coffee before our timed entry. A vaccine passport or negative test was the requirement for entry so it made you feel more comfortable to know that the risk of infection was minimal.  The stalls were well spaced out, which meant there were a lot less vendors but the stalls all looked to be doing good business.  We did pop on masks on some of the busier stalls rather than run the risk.

I bought a sweaters worth of yarn to make a cardigan for me.  And of course I couldn’t resist a couple of skeins from Pigment and Ply, such beautiful yarn.  These will become shawls at some point.  I actually have a fair bit of “posh” yarn now so I need to match them to patterns and get knitting. But first the cardigan. 

Knitting - my list keeps growing

Every time I think I am running out of things to knit, I get another request or an idea, which is good as I was starting to panic, can't have a evening in without some knitting, its what keeps me awake!  I still have Ru's slipover to finish but as I won't see him for another couple of weeks I have plenty of time.

Whilst away last week we spotted a baby in some cute legwarmers and I thought, I can make those, so I played around yesterday and came up with these.  I included some little straps to keep socks or shoes on and because I still had some yarn left I made a matching wide headband.  Whether Miss J will keep it on remains to be seen, but it will keep her ears warm.  The yarn I used was Sirdar Click Aran with wool

If you fancy having a go at some yourself then these will fit approx 12 months.

Cast on 34 stitches on 4.5mm needles.  Work 4 rows in 2 x 2 rib, then garter stitch until the work measures 5" (or the length you want), then work 6 rows in 2 x 2 rib and then cast off.  For the strap cast on 16 stitches and work 3 rows in garter stitch. Cast off.  Sew up the side seam and attach the strap to to shorter rib edge.  Make your second on and there you have it a pair of leg warmers.  For the headband I just cast on 66 stitches and 2 x 2 rib until it was roughly the size I wanted, cast off loosely. Add a flower or decorate as desired.

I will post a photo of them being worn when I have one.

A yarny day out

The annual Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace has come around again.  We went yesterday and had a great time.  Stayed the longest we ever have. Possibly bought more than usual, though maybe not. We took a newbie with us yesterday - Jan, who is Stuart's mum, she's not a knitter but loves to sew. There was plenty there for her to enjoy.

Rachel wearing her new top.  Lots of admiring glances, though it may have been for
the baby bump

The first thing to greet us with this yarn bombed taxi - great job Cate and Co.

The picture quality is brilliant as I only took my small Sony, as this fits easily into my bag, but I have no lens control, basically what you see is what you get.

Black Sheep Wools - what did I buy more on that later

Some aisles were a bit of a crush

Toft Alpaca's knitted toys

No sorry I will not make this!

Jan purchased one of these kits

Interesting!!!!!!

 Then a walk through some of the design and needle art displays

Rachel's top was much admired, in fact one lady saw her earlier in the day, then came back to "find" us so I could tell her the name of the pattern and yarn.  She was very complimentary, its great feeling.  Another lady felt it was perfectly acceptable to stroke Rachel's baby bump, she was actually lucky that Rachel didn't deck her!  What makes people think they can do that?

So on to the purchases - these were from Black Sheep Wools, I love their yarn piles

100% wool - £19.99 reduced from £29.90

80% bamboo 20% wool - £16.99 reduced from £39.90

85% cotton 15% kapok - £19.99 reduced from £49.90

 Then on to the buttons, some bright fun ones for a change

4 packs for £10

perfect fit

 Then just some acrylic for a couple of projects on my list

Next, we saw this dress knitted up and Rachel really admired it.  So being a good Mummy I said I would knit it for her.  She purchased pattern and yarn immediately. There is just enough detail to stop it getting boring, plus aran weight so should be a fairly quick knit.

Jan and Rachel bought lots of fabric for a baby quilt and mobile.  We actually got a bit fabric'd out by the end of the show. As usual we ended the day with dinner in Green Lanes. Same restuarant, same meal, we daren't go off piste for fear of being disappointed, and at this place we never have been.

It was a great day out and many thanks to Rachel for driving us and to Jan for joining us, hope you both enjoyed your day as much as I did.

Baby Pack Project

Yesterday we were discussing Baby Pack Project at our knitting group.  I have so many knitted baby items in house that I decided these should go to a useful cause, plus they were taking up valuable drawer space.  I have duly put together a large parcel of blankets, hats and cardigans. I love to knit baby clothes, they are so quick and any excuse to knit is always good. 

I have also joined the Baby Pack Project group on Ravelry too, so have a UK contact for my parcel.

Watch this space for further knitted items for this worthwhile project

Your opinions would be appreciated

The other day I was discussing with a friend the merits of hand knitted items versus shop bought, in particular children/baby clothes. 

What we'd like to know is do you love or loathe hand knits? 

If you loathe them, what is it you don't like?

If you love them, what fibre content do you like, acrylic, wool, bamboo, silk, alpaca, the list is endless?

If you go for the fancier yarns are you prepared to wash them properly? Hand washing rather than just chucking them in the washing machine.

Are you prepared to pay the price premium for a hand knitted item?  It is very difficult to put a true worth on a hand knit, especially if you consider the cost of the yarn, time it takes to knit, though you are getting something unique, even if the knitter has slavishly followed the pattern.

We'd really value your comments good or bad, because at the end of the day no knitter wants to waste their time, when they could be knitting something more interesting.