Socks

I have started kntting the Socks!

More news soon......

A stripy scarf for Ali

Today I finsihed Ali's Scarf.  Another Christmas Present ready.  Ali is quite tiny and the scarf is quite long.  It was meant to have tassels but I used pom poms instead.

Picture to follow

Knitting Socks

I decided that I wanted to learn how to knit socks in the round.  I just found this video on YouTube, which has been helpful in showing the basics of knitting on 4 needles!

Knitting on 4 Needles

Why do I knit?

Why do I knit?  It's a fair enough question.

I knit at the moment because I am depressed.  Knitting keeps my mind occupied and my hands occupied.  It helps me to centre and to relax.  In the process I am making things, gifts for other people.  When I am knitting the rest of the world sort of stops.  I think about the person I am knitting for.  I focus on them, I pray for them.

Perhaps this is why my Prayer Shawl remains a work in progress.  Just at the moment, focusing on me and why I am depressed is just a bit too much to cope with. 

Being depressed is.....well it is many things.  It is challenging.  When you have a broken arm, people can see a cast and so they know that there is something wrong.  When the cast comes off, for a while you will wear a sling and a support bangage and so folks are reminded to tread carefully and to be gentle.  When you are depressed there is no plaster to see. 

Being depressed is a bit like a big tangled ball of string I suppose.  The wires in the brain have got confused and they are consuming the chemicals that the body makes to help us cope and be happy all wrong.  As you begin to untangle the string, things improve, you can use that bit of the string.  But then.... you come to a bit of string that is really tangled or in the process of untangling one bit, another bit that was alright gets tangled.  It's all a bit of a mess and it just needs time and paitence to untangle.  Not to fast, but not too slowly either. 

I guess this brings me back to the knitting.  The yarn, a single length of yarn gets knitted into a piece of fabric, be that a scarf or a hat or a pair of gloves.  It is fashioned into something useful. 

In untangling my ball of string, I get the opportunity to fashion it into something that is useful. 

A scarf for Ruth

I've knitted this scarf for my special friend Ruth.  Whilst I have not been able to live in my flat, Ruth has collected post and kept an eye for me so that I have not had to be there!  She is an AMAZING friend and I love her to bits.  I hope she loves the scarf to bits too!

The Scarf

The Scarf was knitted with Sirdar Bamboo Yarn and I used 4 x 50g balls.  I found the pattern here Lacy Scarf

And a hat to match

And a hat to match...

This is another skye hat, to match Elizabeth's Mittens

Elizabeth's Gloves

Elizabeth's Gloves

I knitted these gloves for my friend Elizabeth.  She requested Teal/Turquoise/Jade colours and I think this yarn meets those criteria.  This yarn did knit up rather wide, so I hope that the gloves will fit.  There is abother left for a hat as well.....

I found the pattern

The pattern for the poppy beanie can be found here poppy beanie pattern

Prayer Shawl



The Wool

 I thought I would knit a prayer shawl.  I have found a pattern and I have the wool.  So here goes........

Hat and Gloves

So whilst in Lyme Regis last week I finished off some projects.  This hat and mittens are knitted in Debbie Bliss 4ply and the pattern for the mittens was found at zig zag mittens and I increased theh size to 61 stiches wide.

I can't find the pattern for the hat and I can't remember where I found it! Doh.  When I do I'll post it.