Happy Easter

Hey folks! As you can see I've been in full on crochet mode these last couple of weeks. I even managed to knit a chubby little chic. Isn't he sweet!

Meet Ramona, Ana, Mary and Jennifer! Each of these clucky (get it!?) ladies is guarding a chocolate egg. Nom. The pattern I used is from Idea Ivana and it's free - big thanks to Ivana for dreaming up and sharing such a fun project.

I also want to say hello and thank you to Adele of Nice Things By Adele *waves*. A few weeks ago I won this cute little bobble hat egg cosy through a competition on her blog. It arrived swiftly and atop a creme egg. Thanks so much Adele!

Obviously, the chocolate didn't last long but I soon found a new use for the bobble hat. It's a perfect fit for Dave the chick!

I hope all you lovely people have a great Easter break. I plan to watch movies and eat ALL the chocolate.

Fondant Fancie Hat

Since learning how to knit last year I've knitted several scarves. So I've been feeling ready to take on a more advanced knitting project. As I receive so many lovely comments about my pink 'fondant fancie' hat (see it here) I thought it would be a nice challenge to see if I could make my own.

I set about searching Ravelry for a pattern and lots of lovely projects popped up. I decided on this 'Snappy Hat' pattern. I used Sirdar Big Softie yarn in a striking shade of purple. The pattern suggests 6.5mm needles but as I was using super chunky yarn I used 5 double pointed 8mm needles and a 6mm cable needle.

I made the medium size and I found the pattern was really easy to follow. I’d say it took me about 5 maybe 6 hours to complete, but I am still a rather slow knitter.

Of course, I couldn't consider it finished until I’d added a giant pom pom to the top!

Learning to knit

Over the past couple of months I've been learning to knit and now my first project is complete! These hand warmers should keep my hands toasty over the coming months.

I went to a couple of knitting classes at The Sheep Shop, where the lovely Sarah taught me the basics. If you live in the Cambridge area and want to learn how to knit or crochet this is the place to go. In addition to the friendly and relaxed atmosphere, it is yarn heaven! A little while ago fellow Cambridge blogger Claireabellemakes posted about learning to crochet at The Sheep Shop, including an interview with Sarah and lots of lovely photos, check it out.

At the moment I can cast on/off, knit, purl, increase and decrease. I also learned moss stitch, which I used to make cute little bows for my hand warmers. This was a great project to start off with. If you'd like to keep your hands warm this winter, here's how to make your own:

Knitted hand warmers

Supplies: 5mm needles, 50g worsted weigh yarn, small amount of contrasting yarn.

Cast on 25 stitches. Knit 60 rows, cast off. Repeat for second mitt. Block and sew each
rectangle into a tube, remembering to leave a space for thumbs. 

For the bows - moss stitch: Cast on 12 stitches. Knit 1 purl 1 to the end of each row,
repeat for 8 rows (so that you knit the purl stitches and purl the knit stitches of the previous row),
cast off. Repeat for second bow. Wind some yarn around the
middle of each rectangle, pulling reasonably tight to create the centre of the bow,
fasten off and stitch on to the front of each hand warmer.

I'm already making more for Christmas pressies! I think I'm ready to move onto something a little more challenging now though - any ideas for my next project?

Olympic Knitting in Saltburn

With the Olympic Torch making its way around the country at the moment, I thought I'd share some fantastic Olympic themed guerrilla knitting that I came across a while back.

Back in March while we were up North seeing the family, a collection of wonderfully crafted creations mysteriously appeared on the railings of Saltburn Pier. There was a whole host of knitted Olympians. I think you'll agree they look awesome!

My favourite was these synchronised swimmers, complete with tiny nose clips!