Sunday 15 February 2015

Scrap Yarn Baby Blanket

I would like to share a little bit about my current WIP. I wanted to make a baby blanket, but because I have so many random odd colours of yarn in my stash, I knew I would not enough yarn in any one colour to make a whole blanket, but I wanted to use what I already had.

I was really keen on doing another patchwork blanket, so just had to decided what colours to use. I found this fantastic colour combination chart on Pintrest:
Be Sweet Yarns

I really liked the 'Underwater' combination, and since the blanket is for a baby boy, I thought the blue shades were very fitting. I looked through my stash and found some similar colours that I thought would really compliment each other:

Baby Blue  turquoise  Ocean Blue  Navy Blue  Pale Blue Charcoal
        Baby Blue                       Turquoise                     Ocean Blue                     Navy Blue                          Pale Blue                        Charcoal

These photos don't do the yarn colours justice, but gives you an idea of the colour palette I was working with.

I don't want to give away too much more of what I have been doing, because I'm sort of making it up as I go, but I am really pleased with how the colours are looking together.

I also think I will use this colour chart again for inspiration for future projects where I want to use up some of my stashed yarns.


Sunday 8 February 2015

Another Slouchy Beanie

Slouchy Hat

This is the Slouchy Stripes Hat pattern I initially started on my camping trip, but found it too much effort knitting magic loop with my circular needles, so put it on hold until I got my DPNs. 

Slouchy Hat

These DPNs are great to knit with, they are very strong and have a really smooth finish, the only down side is that because they aren't particularly long, and they are so smooth, the stitches can easily slide off of the needles if you aren't careful, but for something smaller, like socks, the needles would be plenty long enough for this to not be an issue.

Also, an update after my confusion on my needle sizes in my previous post, I had to contact KnitPro direct, and it turned out to be something to do with different sizes being sold in UK to rest of Europe, and there had been a mix up on the packaging. So, living up to their reputation of having great customer service, KnitPro are sending me the missing needle sizes. 

Anyway, back to the hat… It was a really straight forward pattern, and once I had my DPNs, it was very quick to knit up. I had to increase a few stitches when I switched to my DPNs though because I didn't yet have the 4mm needles.

I am content with the way the hat turned out, but the yarn I used is a cheap acrylic, and I found that, particularly the grey, doesn't have a lot of give in it, making the hat quite stiff. In fact I think I had a similar issue with my Poncho last year, as I used the same yarn.

  Slouchy Hat Slouchy Hat Slouchy Hat Slouchy Hat

So despite all the issues I came across over the course of making the hat, my husband is happy with it, and it looks good on him (anything would…) so overall I am pleased with this project.

Monday 2 February 2015

New Knitting Goodies

Yay, my Christmas goodies have arrived! These are the latest additions to my knitting bag:

I got these Hiya Hiya Cable Needles, they are really low priced and very pretty; I love the glittery look to them. The set contains a 3mm, 4mm and 5.25mm sized needles, so are useful for most common sized cable projects. The needles are made from a light plastic, which feels like it would snap quite easily under pressure, especially the small 3mm, but for the price, they are a quality I would expect. 

I have never bought any Hiya Hiya products before, so I can't comment on the quality of the rest of their products, but they have some super cute sets and accessories on their page: http://hiyahiyanorthamerica.com


I have seen these scissors being used in lots of craft tutorials previously, but have never seen them in any craft stores. I finally stumbled across them on Amazon, and they are actually eyebrow/eyelash trimmers

Anyway, I think they are gorgeous scissors, and pretty inexpensive, so I ordered them. They feel really good quality and cut through yarn really easily.



This is a KnitPro Needle Sizer; I bought it primarily because of the new DPNs I ordered, as they don't have their size marked on them, I had read in reviews they were easy to muddle up if you accidentally tipped them out of the case.

It feels quite strong and is really handy to measure gauge and/or small pieces of work too, as it has a 6inch/15cm ruler along the side. The clear panel in the middle is magnified, I'm not really sure what that will come in handy for yet, but it is another feature!


Finally, my favourite buy, my new sock needles! They are the KnitPro Nova Metal DPNs. I am yet to be disappointed in KnitPro needles, I think they feel really strong and sturdy, even though they are such small needles. The tips are strong and pointed suitably.

My only complaint about this set is that I actually couldn't remember the exact needle sizes in the set I had ordered, my invoice simply says they were a set of sock DPNs, when they arrived the packaging said there was a set of 5 (2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.5mm & 4mm) but inside was a set of 6 (2mm, 2.25mm, 2.5mm, 2.75mm, 3.mm, 3.25mm) which is very confusing to me.

Although I have 6 instead of 5, I don't have any 3.5mm or 4mm DPNs for any slightly bigger projects. Even more confusingly, the listing on the KnitPro page has a picture that doesn't match the listing. I have followed this up with the company I ordered from, so hopefully this will be cleared up.

I am currently testing them out on a hat, because I have never knitted socks before, but I am looking forward to trying my first pair.