FO Friday: It's been a while!

I've been doing a lot of knitting for craft fairs and Christmas commissions, but by the time I get home there's not enough light to take decent photos.

I found time to knock out a hat for myself though!

The pattern is from my recollection of this one, which has sadly disappeared, and it's knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I knit it as-written the first time, but it came out far too big. I ripped the whole thing out straight away, knocked fourteen stitches off the cast-on, made it shorter, and ended up with something I'm far happier with. I don't mind repeating things - it's a trait which makes me suited for a career in science, hopefully - but if I leave redoing something for too long it becomes a looming gargantuan task that I can't possibly tackle.

Every other hat I've made has ended up frogged, gifted or sold, but I have a good feeling about this one! If nothing else, I can pretend that I look like Link for as long as it's cold.

My aunt asked for a few neckwarmers and scarves to give as Christmas presents.

I really like how the green one turned out. It's knit with Studio Donegal Soft Merino, which, incidentally, can be bought by the kilo.

 

I got around to making a physical Christmas knitting list, because I do love me a list, and between commissions and "You know that [item] You made X? Could you make me one of those for Christmas?"s it's a little bit longer than I'd like it to be.

But since taking that photo I've finished the last entry - it's blocking on my floor now, so I couldn't take photos - so I'm pretty much half-way there.

My sister didn't believe that the first entry was 'circle scarf', so I had to show her how I write the individual letters in 'circle' in order to convince her. I wasn't just practising at the top of the page. Over the Summer I worked with some teachers with beautiful hand-writing, and resolved to improve mine, but apparently it hasn't taken.

I won tickets to the RDS National Crafts and Design Fair this Thursday through May Fly, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Can't argue with free! :)

I also posted some pictures of my craft-fair knitting here!

FO Friday: bobble hats!

I've finished three of my October birthday presents, but the need for another yarn-shopping trip meant I had time to get some other work done. It has been a long time since of my yarn stash could fit into the box under my bed (I almost always buy yarn just for specific projects! I don't know how it happens!), and since my family are getting work done in the house and space is becoming a rare commodity, I've been getting a move on on emptying out my bag-o-yarn.

I bought quite a few balls of Cygnet Seriously Chunky at the start of the Summer in the Woollen Mills closing down sale. (They said they would be open in a smaller premises within a few weeks and I can't find word on any such thing online. Sad times.)  The size of them made them an obvious target for getting out of the bag first.

I made bobble hats with cartoonishly large bobbles! They are different sizes as I was working out the best size as I went along.

They can be worn slouchy or with the brim rolled up for a snugger fit.  (Sorry for the dead-eye stare. I'm sharing my sister's room at the moment, and if she came in while I was taking self-photos she would make fun, and it would be perfectly fair.)

I like how the hats turned out, and while I'm not one for bright colours, they're more autumnal than I realised while shopping on a sunny day. I think Cygnet yarns are a very handy staple. They seem like nothing to write home about - they're nothing special to touch, though they're certainly not uncomfortable or abrasive. That said, they have a pretty good range of weights and colours, and are inexpensive enough that they can be used for toys without it feeling like a waste and clothes without spending a great deal. (Acrylic is also useful if you're knitting for people with wool allergies.) Except Hickeys don't stock them. WOOLLEN MILLS WHERE ARE YOU? :(

Moving down the weight scale (my god, the feeling of using anything lighter than chunky yarn after several nights of knitting with chunky yarn) I made a child-sized version of my cupcake hat to use up the yarn I had left over from it.  It wasn't going to be child-sized until I realised how little pink I had left. At the moment I'm using the Louisa Harding Millais I bought on sale (... okay, this might be why I have so much of all the yarn) before Christmas to knit another owl hat. I have a feeling I wrote down the pattern for that hat, but my pattern notebook is trapped on the wrong side of some boxes, so I'm improvising.

I'm hoping to sell at a few craft fairs over the coming months, and I've booked a place at the New Art Market in two weeks. So moving things from the bag-o-yarn to the 'To Sell' bag mightn't seem constructive yet, but eventually at least one will be empty and then everything will fit under my bed.

Recent FOs: gloves, a bobble hat, and a helmet

I finally used the last of my Willow Tweed. These will be going to a craft fair next month, unless I think of someone who would like a pair as a gift. "I'll make these just in case" isn't really how I operate with hand-made presents, though.

I used two of the same stitch patterns as for the green yarn, but I think the yarn brings them out very well.

I've finished two of my October birthday presents, but one of the recipients-to-be reads this! This hat is for my little brother. It's made from a whole skein of Noro Korogashi - the ends went into making the bobble. Making bobbles is a bit more fiddly than I remember from when I was eight, but them's the breaks. The pattern used is Bobble-Head Ray (Ravelry page only). I don't think it can quite be said to be one-size-fits-all, as it's a bit loose on me - I'm planning on making one for myself, and knocking off at least one 8st repeat. My brother is a sight taller and broader than I am, so the size shouldn't be a problem. I'm happy with how it turned out, and it feels lovely to wear!

This wee centurion hat was a commission, based on this. I'm not enamoured with either crochet or paying for things, so I improvised a knitted version. I intended to write down the pattern, but that didn't pan out.  The hat is knit with Debbie Bliss Rialto Chunky on 6mm DPNs, and the credt was crocheted using fluffy yarn that's been leftover from a scarf for years. I used ~DK yarn held double, and I think it gives it a bit of stiffness that works better than a row of tassels would have.

It's to be a gift for a friend's six-month-old nephew, but I don't know what size babies' heads are, and couldn't find any patterns for six-months-olds so I could extrapolate. Hopefully it's larger than this teddy bear's anyway. On a related note, it seems like people almost always describe babies as being a good size, or big for their age. If all babies of an age are big for that age, it's possible that that's just the size that babies are at that age.

Tow more October birthday presents to go, and then I can move on to Christmas knitting! No staying up until three in the morning every night of the week before Christmas for me this year, no sir.