Sunday 30 November 2014

My Favourite Knitting Blogs

There are lots of great knitting blogs out there, so I would like to share some of the ones I read regularly and look to for inspiration. Each of the blog authors have written a small piece about themselves and their blogs:

Abso-knitting-lutely

Abso-knitting-lutely"Hi, I'm Nadia and I blog at Abso-knitting-lutely! I post about all things woolly and colourful. If you love reading about knitting, spinning and dyeing, then you should drop by my corner of the internet: every five days, you can read new posts about things I have been making, craft books I've read, and find knitting or crochet inspiration. I'd love to hear what you are making, so feel free to comment on posts. I look forward to meeting you."  

Nadia also has a shop which you can find here selling yarn and knitting accessories, including loads of super cute stitch markers.


Hardknitlife

Hardknitlife
"My name is Jenna. I'm always up for an adventure. I love to knit, cook, eat, drink tasty beer, and hang out with interesting people. Those who knit are infinitely more interesting to me than those who don't. The hardknitlife blog is about my adventures in knitting and life. I try to be honest about my personal knitting process and like to post on the blog as a way to connect with other people who work with fiber"

Jennas blog is full of tasty looking yarns and the intricate projects that she is working on.


Noget Uldent

Nogent Uldent
"Hi there, I’m Pia, a twenty something full theology student, with 2 part time jobs. Noget Uldent is where I share all about my life and struggles as an emerging knit wear designer, which is my 3rd part time job. When I began designing I looked in vain for blogs that shelled out the good, the bad and the ugly of the life of a designer. Now I pride myself on honestly sharing successes, trials and the lessons learned along the way. If I can help you not feel alone or get over a hurdle with a bit more grace then I’ll be elated, if I can only make you laugh at my misfortune, then I’ll take that too… I’m passionate about helping others by promoting them, sharing their stories and what humble insight I have to offer."

Noget Uldent means Something Woolen, although Pias blog also includes other creations, including food how-tos.


Woollen Wilderness

Woolen Wilderness
"My name is Tahnée and I’m a passionate knitter from the Netherlands. I’ve dabbled in some knitting as a teenager but didn’t quite catch the knitting bug. Then when I went off to uni I really needed a better way to relax and get my thoughts off of studying. And ever since I’ve been quite addicted. At the beginning of this year I decided to expand my knitting world by starting a blog, Woollen Wilderness. I love blogging and the connection you create with the online knitting community is so rewarding and loving!"

A great blog with lots of gorgeous projects, in particular I am a massive fan of Tahnées amazing socks!


I hope you enjoy looking at these pages as much as I do. Please share any other blogs you regularly read.

Sunday 23 November 2014

Knitted Drop Slippers

Knitted Drop Slippers

I have had this pattern: Knitted Drops Slippers pinned on Pintrest for a while now, and finally decided to make them for my friends birthday. I didn't buy the specific yarn suggested in the pattern, instead I used some 8ply acrylic yarn that I had leftover from my Poncho. I used my 6mm circular needles with a 30cm cable.

I found the pattern a bit confusing at places, it's not the most comfortable to read and follow; at one part it says 'when the piece measures **cm..." but it doesn't explain whether it means the whole piece, or just the section you are currently adding to. Another part reads 'Insert 1 marker mid front of toe and 1 marker mid back on heel' but at no point in the instructions has it explained which part of the foot you are currently stitching. However, with a little trial and error, I was able to figure it out and end up with two foot pieces and two ankle pieces.

Knitted Drop Slippers

From here the instructions say to 'Pull leg 2 cm / 3/4'' down on foot with buttons on the outside of slipper and sew leg to cast-on edge on slipper from WS with invisible stitches.' which, although pretty wordy, is quite simple to do.

Knitted Drop Slippers

Because the yarn I used wasn't as bulky as the one the pattern suggests, the slipper looked very 'gappy' when I tried it on, so I decided to sew in some socks to line the inside of the slipper and this improved the look significantly, and made them much more snuggly and warm.

Knitted Drop Slippers Knitted Drop Slippers

Overall I am happy with how the slippers turned out, but if I made them again I would go for a chunkier yarn probably in a different colour. I really love the cable band around the ankle and I think the buttons make the slippers look really cute.

Knitted Drop Slippers

Knitted Drop Slippers

Find this pattern in my Ravelry Projects.


Sunday 16 November 2014

Knitting Songs

I hope you're feeling musical.... after stumbling across this post sharing a song about knitting, I decided to do some research and see what other knitting related music there was out there... I was pretty surprised/ amused by some of these. Here's what I found, enjoy:














Sunday 9 November 2014

KnitPro Review

Sorry I didn't post last week, I've been on a really great family holiday.

So last month I posted about my new KnitPro Needles & Hooks I've now had a chance to try them out, and I have to say, I am very impressed!!

KnitPro Nova Cubics Interchangeable Needle Deluxe Set, Shiny Brass


I love these needles; they are square (or 'cubic') rather than round which I thought may be a little odd, but it actually feels really comfortable to hold and gives good grip. The brass feels really strong but also very lightweight in your hand. The smooth surface means that the yarn glides on the needles, and the join of the needle to the cable is seamless, so the yarn doesn't catch at all, which is a problem I have had with other cable needles.





I like the neat packaging and the smart look of the set, and I know it isn't exclusive to KnitPro, but the whole idea of interchangeable cables is great. The different length cables and needle sizes make these suitable for such a wide range of projects, and I can replace a whole bunch of odd needles I've collected over time with this one set.

I particularly love the stoppers you can put on the end of the cables, which was particularly useful for me while I was on holiday; I could just throw my work back in my bag without worrying about losing stitches. The needles are easy to take on and off, and the little pin ensures they are screwed on tightly so they don't come loose.





KnitPro Waves Aluminium Crochet Hook, Set of 9, Pink


I do way more knitting than crocheting at the moment, so it was never my intention to buy a full set of hooks at this stage, but this set was so pretty I could not resist. I love the casing because pink is my favourite colour, but I also love all the fun bright coloured hooks.




Aside from the appearance of this set, the hooks all feel really strong and durable. The rubber handle is new to me as I have not used hooks like this before, I was really impressed with how comfortable it was in my hand and the extra grip it gave me.


Overall I would highly recommend both of these sets to either beginners who want a ready-to-go kit, or to more experienced knitters/crocheters who want to update their needle/hook collection to these uniform sets.

KnitPro has loads of other sets available, varying in material, styles and budget, so go check them out. The cheapest place I found the above sets available was Amazon UK, the NZ supplier is Trendy Trims and they have suppliers for all available countries on their webpage:  http://www.knitpro.eu/