Miss Winkle!

I finished Miss Winkle!

I actually finished it a couple of weeks ago so she has already had a few outings 🙂

I am really pleased with this pattern, it was quick to work and shows off the Rosie’s Moments – ‘Christmas is Coming’ yarn perfectly. And I am so happy with the way the loops came out, I used a broom handle to block them.

So now the out of office is on at work, presents have been wrapped and I am looking forward to a lovely break seeing friends and family, oh and cracking on with lots of knitting!

I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas! x

 

So here it is… Merry Christmas!

To everyone that reads my little blog here I would like to say a big Happy Christmas to you all! Thanks for stopping by over the year and reading my ramblings about knitting. and cats. and other random things.

Christmas in the Arrowsmith household is in full swing now – last night the presents were wrapped, the Christmas songs were playing in the background and the mulled wine quickly ‘evaporated’ ;). I love this time of year!

If you read one of my previous posts you will know the dilemma we have with putting up a christmas tree due to 3 mischievous cats intent on destroying it. But thanks to The Twisted Yarn and her wonderful knitted Christmas Tree pattern we haven’t gone without.

It’s already been batted to the floor a few times but it’s better than chasing baubles across the room and fishing them out from under the sofa!

On Monday we had our office Secret Santa present swap (Santa obviously knows me too well as he bought me wine and chocolates, thank you Santa!) We also had an office quiz. One of the rounds was a dingbat round so I thought I would share a few with you. I bet you do better than I did!

Here we go, say what you see! (Answers are at the bottom of this post)

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(I have to say No. 7 had me completely stumped!)

Have a lovely Christmas one and all, see you on the other side!

Jem x

(Scroll down for answers to the Dingbats)

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1) Midnight mass. 2) White Christmas. 3) Mixed Nuts. 4) Noel. 5) Peace on Earth. 6) Mince Pies. 7) Tinsel (‘t’ in ‘sel’ – groooaaann!)

A Post About Knitting. And Cats.

I had set myself a deadline to finish my C&G module by end of November and I am tantalizingly close to the end, just a few more colour samples to knit and a bit of typing to do…but I have to admit defeat and push my deadline back a couple of weeks. Meh. The last couple of weekends have been really busy seeing friends and family and this weekend the wonderful Mr. A has announced that he is whisking me off to London. And who am I to argue with that?!

For some reason I find it hard to work on the course in the evenings, I think I need to be in the ‘zone’, which I find so much easier to get into at the weekend. Mr. A doesn’t argue with my need to knit at weekends, he is a keen musician so it means he gets to retreat to his man cave studio and work on his projects too. It’s a happy balance!

During the week I work on stitch samples, ongoing projects and designs. One ongoing project I have yet to cast off the rework of the mobius cowl I seem to have been working on forever.

Only 4 more rounds to go though and it’s already twice as wide as it was before so that’s a good sign surely….I did the rework in the Roman Stripe stitch I posted about on Sunday.

I have also been inspired by the wonderful blogging community this week. Firstly, if you haven’t read the Contented Crafter’s recent post on Sharing the Love, you really should. It’s a wonderful and thought provoking post on just how powerful the blogging community can be. Pauline offers the chance to take part in two random act’s of kindness and it’s so inspiring that my next project is going to be dedicated to one of them. At the moment my work is taking me to London a few days a week and thanks to Ravelry I have found the perfect project for this that will accompany me on the commute.

I have also been inspired by the Twisted Yarn’s wonderful Christmas Trees. Living in a house with 3 cats it’s not feasible to put up a real tree as it will just get demolished so I have decided to knit one. It will probably still get batted over by curious paws but it’s a risk I am willing to take! Today I went to my LYS and stocked up on supplies.

Speaking of the devil’s please let me introduce you to ‘they who like to sit on anything knitted’ – Micicles (Mike the small one), Pea (the great big doofus) and the sinister grumpster herself…Moomins (The Mooms).

These 3 are the reason why we can’t have a big Christmas tree, however it doesn’t stop me dreaming….

Alonni Hat – Free Download!

One week to go…and I think I am nearly there…most of my presents have been brought and wrapped, all gift knits completed and I am faced with a lovely quiet weekend – which feels a bit strange being the week before Christmas, I don’t think I have ever been this organised!

I don’t know about you but I am quite looking forward to some time off work this Christmas and indulging in a spot of selfish knitting….I have a long wish list of projects that I would love to get my teeth stuck into, a C&G module to complete, some design ideas to play with and some WIP’s that need to finally come off the needles!

If anyone is after a quick and fun knit over Christmas I am pleased to be able to post up my ‘Alonni Hat‘ pattern, available as a free Ravelry download 🙂

A close fitted unisex beanie, the Aloni Hat is worked in the round and made up of 5 repeats of a cable and zig-zag rib and eyelet pattern.

You may remember that quite a few weeks ago I  posted some pics from our honeymoon in Greece, and since then I have been working on some pattern ideas. I knew I wanted to design a hat and found there were 2 images in particular that I kept coming back to. A sea urchin and a jetty. And so the Alonni Hat was born…a inspired by the summer for the winter!

The finished hat.

Thanks for stopping by, and if I don’t get chance to post again before the 25th I would like to wish everyone reading a very Merry Christmas and  Happy 2014!

Jem x