J's Big Little Hat

So my gorgeous nephew has recently turned four.  He's growing up fast and becoming a big boy.

But for him, it seems to be going a bit fast ...

I had a phone call back in February one evening from my brother with my nephew sobbing .  He was really upset that he was growing up too fast and in particular was upset that a certain hat no longer fitted him and, to this little lad, this was the end of the world.  They were phoning to see if Auntie Lucy would be able to knit him a bigger version of this hat.

How could I resist that request?

In the top photo is the original hat and the photo that I worked from.  I had the green shade in a Patons yarn which I thought matched pretty well, but lacked the black and gold, so any excuse for new yarn - I ordered them in from Wool Warehouse's Paton Yarn.

I found a child's hat pattern and judged how that would fit in comparison to the original hat and started knitting.  I knitted the brim in a folded over rib as that was what the original hat had from what I could see in the photo.

I then had to judge how far about the stripes were.

And get my son to model it for me so that I could send the photo to J to see what he thought and to show him that it was made and would be on it's way to him very soon.

And within a week or so of being asked to knit the bigger version of the little hat J had received it and - I think - he looks very happy!

Below is J with the new hat and his brother wearing the original.  Not a bad match, eh?!

I have enough yarn left over so I'm wondering if I make him the next size up ... or perhaps one for Mummy and Daddy too ...?

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#nephewlove #craftyphoenixlady #thecraftyphoenixlady #newhat  #ravelryknitter #knittingismyyoga #AuntieLucy 

Sock it to me!

I have, for several years now, been wanting to knit up some socks.

I started some, again several years ago, but didn't get beyond finishing the first one.

However, a spark ignited when I saw that Louise from Louise Tillbrook Designs was going to run a Sock Knit-A-Long using a new pattern of hers named Precious Metals.  Where this little spark of determination came from I cannot tell you, but I was GOING to knit these socks!

I chose my yarn.  Not a particularly good choice as it would have been better to have been one colour or just tonal rather than varigated.  However, I chose this yarn as it was already in two 50g skeins (Sprightly Sock Yarn from Devon Sun Yarns  - I forget the colourway name) and I had decided to knit the socks two at a time!  

Eeek!  

Mad, I know.  

There was, however, method in my madness as I decided that if I knitted them at the same time then I wouldn't get to the same stage I had with my previous sock attempt and not finish even one.  I also figured that if I learnt this way - then it would be a cinch next time I knitted socks!  And if I didn't like it, at least I would have one finished pair of socks!

So I religiously stuck to printing out the clues each week and religiously ploughed knitted through them ...

Posting photos regularly on instagram so that it would give me the incentive, the encouragement, whatever to keep on knitting!  I thought perhaps if I announced to the World (or at least my little part of it) that I was knitting these socks ... then I would just HAVE to finish them!

And what do you know?!  I finished them!

Not a brilliantly smooth finish with bagginess in places ... 

but I had FINISHED MY FIRST PAIR OF SOCKS!

And I am so pleased with myself!  This was such a huge accomplishment in my (knitting) book!

I managed to knit mini cables and follow the pattern (ticking off each row as I knitted them (twice - once on each sock!) and knitted two heels!  

Now ... to find another sock pattern ....  sometime soon ....

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#craftyphoenixlady #thecraftyphoenixlady #louisetillbrookdesigns #preciousmetals #preciousmetalsocks #preciousmetalsockskal #firstknittedsocks #iamarealknitter #louisetillbrook #knittersofravelry #knittersofinstagram #ravelryknitter #knitterslife #devonsunyarns #sprightlysockyarn

Long time, no post

I've not been keeping up on here at all and I do feel sad that I haven't had the time or inclination to do so.  It's really that I couldn't have posted, I could have - if I'd put aside a little time for doing so!

I know!  So many promises of writing regularly on here ... and I've been missing in action!

Let's see if I can amend that and start again from now.

There are so many projects that I have made that I think should be recorded for me, if for no-one else!  At least that way I know I haven't wasted all this time!

So ... I'll be back very soon with lots of photos of my projects!

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