Owlfit of the Week

It's Christmas!!!  I've been a bit slow on sharing the old Christmas jumpers and now I realise I have lots to share and little time to do it!  I have a December birthday, so growing up, Christmas didn't start until the day after my birthday, which meant no decorations, Christmas song or clothing for the first two weeks of December... then WHAM straight into the Christmas spirit!

So here's how Little Owl has been going about for the last few days!  The hat was knitted by LittleOwl's Fairy God Mother for her first Christmas, so chuffed that it still fits!

I'm in love with the Snuggle Fleece from Frugi.  All Frugi snuggle fleeces are reversible, with printed cotton on one side, and this lovely snuggly fleece on the other!  Until this week, Little Owl has been wearing this the other way round, but the fluffy white fleece feels very festive!  They are quite expensive at £30 but hard wearing and a generous fit so I'm sure we'll get a lot of wear out of it.  I was lucky to pick this one up in a flash sale that Frugi had about a month ago, I think I got 20% off.

The trousers are from the Little Bird range at Mothercare.  You might have noticed by now that I have a soft patch for cord trousers so couldn't resist these flares from Little Bird for £12.

Finally, Little Owl's beautiful boots from Livie and Luca!  You may remember me debating over whether to get the pink or blue pair a few weeks ago, well I went for the blue.  These will feature loads over the coming weeks, so expect a more detailed review soon, for now, just know that I love them!

Oh - there is one more thing - you might just spot a red bell on Little Owl's boot, it was one of the gifts in her advent calender, and its bit of a tradition of having festive bells on your boots in the Owl household!

Owlfit of the Week

Pinch Punch its Bonfire Month!

I know its early for most people, but here in Sussex we take Bonfire seriously (notice the capital B?). Every Saturday from the end of September to the end of November you can find at least one bonfire taking place in Sussex, usually 2 or 3!

Eastbourne Bonfire took place last weekend, and this was as usual the first bonfire of the season for Little Owl and I.  We are members of Hastings Borough Bonfire Society and wear stripes in the Hastings colours of red, blue and yellow.  The jumper in the picture is the one I knitted last year and is much too short for Little Owl now but the one my mum is knitting wasn't finished in time!  The leg warmers are also the ones I knitted last year, while the hat is one from Little Owl's first bonfire season!

The trousers are from H&M and I guess are jeggings - but they are much softer than normal jeggings.  Little Owl is also wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt under the jumper which is from H&M.  The boots are new and are from Mothercare.  I really like the detailing with the buckle and zip on the outside and suspect they are going to go with lots of Little Owls autumn and winter clothing!

Knitting Fridays

 My needles are empty.  All of them!

But they are all together in their new home!

Another of our Ikea purchases, I now have two Expedit to store all my 'crafty' bits!

These four shelves hold my knitting.

 The two on the left hold half finished projects.

Guess I either need to finish them or...

The yellow box holds my wool.

Thought I would have more than this!

 There's one other shelve holding my knitting books and patterns.

So there I am.  Now all organised and ready to do some more knitting.

Pity I don't feel in the mood.

Maybe its because I am packing my bags for India!

One week to go!



Knitting Fridays

ITS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And what's best - Little Owl loves it!

I solved the neck problem, was a bit of a pain but I undid the cast off, counted the stitches and realised that I was 10 short, so I knitted another row, and just to be on the safe side, added another 20!  I then cast of looser than I would normally, and all was good!

Sewing the sleeves in was a bit awkward, again I had cast off too tight.  Never been a problem before, but I couldn't face redoing them, perhaps I should have. 

But now I have a completed jumper! 

After 12 long weeks of Knitting Fridays.

False starts.

Redos.

Its finished!

What's next?  Little Owl has some ideas...

Knitting Fridays

So here's my last knitting post of the year and I really hoped to have a finished jumper to show off but I'm afraid an Angel costume got in the way of those plans.

I managed to get the final sleeve finished before the Angel crisis hit and my mother-in-law translated the finishing instructions for me - it was only then that I spotted the instructions in English were on the next page!  I had thought they were for the next pattern, but once I knew the translation I realised they were for this jumper!

The instructions said I had to pick up the stitches at the neck with the dark green wool but then purl the first row in the orange.  I had only ever picked up stitches before by kinda tugging at the knitting and creating loops but seeing as I had to pick them up in a different colour I figured that this wasn't the 'proper' way of doing things! 

I dug out my knitters handbook, looked at the various methods (none of which included 'kinda tugging') and decided on using the crochet hook method where I poked the hook through the knitting and pulled the dark green wool back through and then threading it onto a knitting needle.  The neck was then knitted on a round needle which I quite enjoyed and was ever so excited when it was finished and I could cast off.

IT DOESN'T FIT OVER HER HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So near and yet so far... could cry but I am so tired, I must admit I swore... maybe next week eh?

Knitting Fridays

Don't you hate it when Christmas shopping gets in the way of knitting?!!!  I am a committed internet shopper, which means its an evening task for when Little Owl is in bed.  I only started my shopping on Monday and with a carol service on Wednesday evening, there hasn't been much time for knitting! 

So here is the second sleeve, not quite finished.  Am I going to reach my goal of completing this jumper by Christmas?  I feel so close but with a tree to decorate and presents to wrap I'm not feeling that confident! 

Oh, and a pattern still to translate...

So how is everyone else getting on?  If you take a peek over at Toby Goes Bananas you'll not only see a completed elf hat, but a rather cute Toby modelling it!

Don't forget to pop back next week to see if the jumper makes it under the tree!

Knitting Fridays

It feels like I have made loads of progress on the jumper this week. 

I finally untangled the great big knot that I had last week and have managed to complete a sleeve!

 And made a start on the second one!

It feels like the end is near... and so I glanced to the end of the pattern to see what was next and....

Nothing.

The sleeves are the last bit on there.

On the English version at least.

The other 3 languages have 'finishing' or 'assembling' instructions at the end... so part of the challenge this week is to translate the German, French and Dutch instructions to see how to finish the jumper!  Its not just a case of sewing it together, I will need to pick up stitches and knit on the neck... I have a pretty good idea from the picture in the pattern book but would rather know for sure!

I feel so near and yet so far!

So how are your knitting projects going this week?

Take a look on TobyGoesBananas to see if Sarah has managed to finish the elf hat in time!

Also joining in on the knitting fun is the lovely Kerrie from Wife, Mum, Student Bum who has been knitting scarves for her family... if only they didn't leave them at school!

If you are a blogger and have posted about a knitting project recently, leave a link below and I'll include you in next week's post!

Knitting Fridays

The back is finished at last!  After a couple of false starts,

I have finally finished the back of the jumper.

So now its onto the sleeves.  I had hoped to knit both simultaneously like I did with the legwarmers but I only have one ball of orange and one ball of yellow. But I have made a start on the first sleeve...

 I would have got further but the light green ball got itself in a bit of a knot,

and I have spent the last 2 nights trying to untangle it!

With hindsight I should have just cut the yarn and start again...

Meanwhile....

Over on Toby Goes Bananas, Sarah has nearly finished his elf hat! Pop on over and take a look!

Knitting Fridays

Not as much progress as I had hoped this week!  I always imagine that when I go away for a weekend, that somehow I will have lots of time to knit... think I managed about 3 rows!  Not to worry though - I did get the chance to let my Mum take a look at the pattern and scribble some notes so hopefully I can finish the neck now!

More exciting than my knitting this week is that I have been joined on my Knitting Fridays by the lovely Sarah from Toby Goes Bananas.  She is busy making Toby an Elf hat for his Christmas party - be sure to pop over and take a look, the colours are fantastic!

Knitting Fridays

Here it is - this week's effort.  The next light green stripe will decrease for the arms, then two more dark stripes before I really do have to shape the neck and shoulders... can't put it off much longer...

Knitting Fridays

So it appears that I had knitted the front of the jumper and not the back!  I had wondered why the pattern hadn't mentioned stopping the stripes and continuing in the green like the picture showed but as it had missed out the yellow and dark green stripes I had assumed this was just another error.  However, my eagle eyed mother spotted in one of the pictures, that the stripes continued all the way up the back. 

Luckily this was spotted before I had gone too far - the neck on the front of tops starts lower than it does on the back.  I couldn't put off shaping the neck and shoulders any longer.  Here are the instructions:

bind off the middle 14 sts and on both sides thereof bind off in every 2nd row another

3 sts  once, 2 sts 2 times + 1 st  once.  Slope shoulder at the same length as for back.

Ugh?

I hadn't understood how I was meant to shape the shoulders when I thought I was doing the back, but they didn't need shaping for another 4cm which at least gave me time to sort the neck. 

I had 56 stitches on my needle, if I was to cast off 14, that would leave me with 21 on each side of the neck, so my next line should actually read:

Knit 21 stitches, cast off 14, knit to end of row



Next, working on the right shoulder, I decreased at the neck by 3, 2, 2 and 1 stitch.  This left me with 13 stitches.  I continued in stocking stitch until I had reached the right length to shape the shoulder.  These instructions read:

bind off on both sides in every 2nd row 4 sts 2 times and 5 sts once

Brilliant - this is 13 stitches, the exact number that I had on my needle.  Job done!

 

Finally I have completed part of this jumper! 

And so, for the 3rd time now, I am starting the back of the jumper, here it is, 9 rows of 192 stitches!

Knitting Fridays

Look what I've done in a week!!!

Little Owl was a bit off colour last weekend which meant lots of cuddles

on the sofa and quite a bit of knitting!

But now the fun begins... so far on this pattern I have had to look at the picture as well as trying to read the Dutch version to figure out what was going on - they had missed the yellow and dark green stripes out on the English version!

Next I have to shape the shoulders and the neck.  I think I can figure out the shoulders but the neck instructions read:

At the same time as beg shoulders bind off the middle 22 sts and on both sides thereof bind off in every 2nd row another 3 sts once and 1st st once.

This is going to need some thinking about!

Wish me luck!

Knitting Fridays

I couldn't leave it any longer... it was time for me to knit my first tension square!  The original needle size of 4.5mm was obviously far too big, so I opted for 4mm as this is a pretty standard size.  I cast on 22 stitches as instructed and started knitting... but I got board... I was meant to knit 30 rows in order to try and achieve a 10cm x 10cm square.  I got to 10 rows, measured, tripled and realised that this square was still going to be too big, not much but nearer 11 to 12cm.  So I tried again.  This time with 3.75cm needles and I like the results, the stitches were neater, tighter, looked more professional.  It was slightly under 10cm but not by much.  I liked what I saw.

The smaller needles are going to make the jumper look brilliant.  But that does mean its going to take longer to knit.  Bit worried about that as I had estimated on the original jumper that it would be finished by Christmas.  Now I'm not so sure.  The pattern is in European sizes and I have opted for size 92 and Little Owl is still wearing most of her clothes that are sized 86 and only just growing into those that are 92.  However, it does mean the race is on!

The bottom of the jumper has a frill which means you have to knit an awful lot of stiches - 192 in fact!  It has taken me about 25 minutes to knit each row and there were 10 rows before it reduced to 78 stitches.

Having completed the frill, I could compare the two sets of knitting properly.  I struggled to get the focus right on the camera but hopefully you can see that the bottom set of knitting is might tighter.  This is the last photo I could take like this as it was finally time to unravel my original knitting as I needed the orange wool.  It felt ok doing it now I had started the new jumper, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to do it before!

Knitting Fridays

My needles are empty.

This is sad.

As you know in last week's Knitting Friday, I had starting knitting a jumper for Little Owl which I had been excited about for a long time.  But the reality of the jumper wasn't matching up to the image on the pattern.  I plodded onwards but the jumper was beginning to look a bit on the large side.  I measured the length and while I was still going on the pattern of the main body, I should have started decreasing for the arms. 

My knitting was too loose.

For the first time ever, I am going to need to knit a tension square.

I'm not even sure if this is what it is called.

The idea hasn't appealed.

And neither has the thought of taking a weeks worth of knitting off of the needles.

I am a slow knitter.

I might have to knit several squares to get the tension right.

And so I haven't started.

I haven't however been totally off of the needles.

Last night my Rangers took part in The Big Knit.

Most of them had never knitted before.

Two hours is the perfect time for even a beginner to knit a very small hat.

So here is our collection.

Now back to that square...

Knitting Fridays

So here it is - the new project!  I've been excited about this for about a year, waiting for Little Owl to grow big enough to fit it!

Front of jumper

Its been a bit of a leap from knitting the Innocent hats last week! In fact, being the geeky maths teacher I am, I worked out that there was as many stitches in 2 rows of the hem in this jumper as there was in a whole Innocent hat!

Its also interesting yarn to knit with.  Note that I say yarn as it isn't wool!  Apparently its 50% Nylon and 50% Acrylic which probably explains its silky and light weight texture.  Its being knitted on 4.5mm needles (I remembered to switch for once) which means this jumper is growing much quicker than expected, especially once I had dropped from the original 192 stiches of the hem down to just 98!

I am also having fun with the pattern.  I think its Swedish but also has French, Dutch and English on the same page.  I have already noticed an error in the English pattern as it didn't match the picture and so have been doing a bit of translation from the Dutch with the help of Papa Owl.  Luckily it was only the colours we were questioning on that occasion but the pattern is written in an unusual style so wish me luck with the rest!

Its nice to be knitting without a deadline, although I'm starting to plan one for myself, two weeks for the front, two for the back, two for sleeves and another for making up... which takes me to the end of November, even the beginning of December!  Might have to put the project to a side for a bit if I want to make anything Christmassy!

Knitting Fridays - The Big Knit

With this years bonfire costume complete, my hands have felt restless in the evenings so I was delighted when heard about The Big Knit, run by Innocent drinks to raise money and awareness for AgeUK.  

The idea is simple - in the words of AgeUK "The Big Knit is a joint campaign between Age UK and innocent drinks to help vulnerable older people. You knit the hats, innocent drinks wear them and 25p of every drink sold will go to Age UK".

If you can't knit you can still be involved by designing your owl little virtual hat and sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.  This is mine - cute eh?

This project has been really well thought out with 12 patterns available for either knitting or crochet for a range of abilities.  I decided on the 'doddle' patter so I could getting going quickly and soon had completed my first hat.  Feeling inspired I soon followed this with a bonfire hat!

These hats really are simple to knit and very quick too!  I was that impressed that I asked my Rangers if they would like to make them too!  They were keen having seen the hats for sale in previous years.  About half of them know how to knit although most of those can't cast on so I'll have to have the needles fully loaded before hand!  I have also had a go at making hats that only involve knitting, not purling for those who are complete novices. 

I think these will make great starter projects.  They are simple to make and very quick to do.  I can make one in about 20 minutes which means there's a real chance of a beginner completing one in a two hour meeting.

Meanwhile, the wool has arrived for my next project - I can't wait!

Knitting Fridays

Leg warmers

 So here are the legwarmers nearly finished!  I have tried a couple of different things with these.  First I knitted both at the same time which I think I prefer.  There is nothing like completing something and then having to start all over again with exactly the same thing!  The second thing was to not break the wool off at the end of each stripe.  This is going to save me loads of effort when it comes to sewing them up as I won't have too many loose ends to deal with.  It did mean I was juggling 6 balls of wool with the help of Bonnie Cat!

Loose ends

 I haven't dealt with the loose ends on the jumper yet... I'm thinking I might cheat here... I figure as I have already sewn up the jumper I could just tie a reef knot in each pair of loose ends, then chop off the remaining wool.  Little Owl will be wearing this jumper tomorrow night (as well as the leg warmers),  so this sounds like an ace idea to me!

With the jumper complete and the leg warmers to be finished tonight, my needles will soon be empty.  Knitting has rather taken over my life for the last couple of weeks meaning I haven't had as much time to blog, hopefully I can slow down for a bit now.  I am trying to source the wool for a great jumper for Little Owl but I'm not sure how long that will take. 

I bought this pattern yesterday to make some funky hats... only trouble is, I've never crocheted before but how hard can it be?!! 

Knitting Fridays

The jumper is finished, well nearly finished - all the loose ends to sort out but more importantly - IT FITS!!!


Bonfire Jumper

Now its time for the leg warmers!  I've never made any before, I had a play last winter with some circular needles, and knitting 'in the round' (is that even a thing?), but without a pattern I didn't have much success.  Luckily my mother has dug out a pattern from 1983 and with a week to go I have decided to knit both at the same time!

Leg warmers

Knitting Fridays

With two weeks to go until this jumper needs to be worn, the front and back are finished and I am on the first sleeve, will I get it done in time and make a pair of leg warmers to go with it?

Bonfire jumper, week 3

Still haven't found a stitch holder so everything is on the needles, had a great suggestion last week in my comments that I should put it all on one thread, but I just haven't had the confidence to do so!  Luckily its only a small jumper... hope it fits Little Owl through to Christmas!

Knitting Fridays

So it looks like last weeks right?  Well this is the front and that was the back which you can see on the left as I haven't found a stitch holder yet!

I love knitting clothes for small people - they are so quick!  A bit of a whoops when I realised that I hadn't changed needles after finishing the rib, so its going to be a bit tighter than it should be but as long as it fits that doesn't matter!