Best Year Ever KAL, January–March 2017

At the start of this year I said that I would join in on only one knitalong this year, the Best Year Ever KAL being hosted by Nikki of the Tea and Possibilities podcast. I know I haven't managed to stick to that, and joined in the Sockmatician Sockalong in March, but I did actually complete those socks, so I'm glad I did (and that yarn definitely needed knitting - the finished socks are lovely!). Now we're a quarter of the way into the KAL, so here's a little update.

At the start of the KAL I aimed to knit an Antler jumper, a Lush cardigan, a purple shawl and a reindeer head (if you want to read the whole list you can find it here). That hasn't quite gone to plan...

My list has had a complete reshuffle. Item one on my Best Year Ever KAL is now my Dotted Rays shawl. I am really enjoying working on this. The rows are now LONG - over 300 sts, though now I've memorised the pattern the stitch count isn't critical, so I have given up counting the number of stitches (I gave up when there was a discrepancy between my numbers and those in the pattern; I am certain I am correct, but don't wish to question Mr West's maths...). I am a little way into the third of five balls, and suspect that when I sit down and work on it I will whizz through it. The Easter holidays are coming up, and the amount of mindless garter stitch makes this a pretty perfect soft play knit.

The second item on my list is my pink socks. They do have a planned name for when I release the pattern, but if that falls through I might just go with 'Whhheee!!'. I struggled a bit with these socks at first; they're part of a collection of three patterns and the first two went really smoothly. This pair was meant to be the easiest, but that turned out not to be the case. To make matters worse I started these off as two at a time socks and it messed the gauge up, so I had to start again. But as soon as I had sorted out the pattern and fixed all the early glitches I started to really enjoy them; the spiral nature of the rib means it really does feel like you're going whhheee! as you're knitting them! And the pink is so wonderfully vibrant; these socks have made me very happy.

I am undecided on my Antler jumper: I had been having gauge problems, so when I got to the end of the sleeve it wasn't long enough. I could just about have coped with that, expect that I am wondering whether the yarn might be too itchy for me to be able to wear it. I fished it out this morning to photograph and I am wondering whether it might be salvagable. If not, it's not the end of the world - I am considering casting on a new jumper for myself in the next few months, possibly a Pavement by Veera Valamaki, which looks like it might be a good transitional season jumper.

Have you been joining in with the Best Year Ever KAL? How are you getting on? It's not too late to join in the fun; if you want to know more, head over to the thread in Nikki's Ravelry group.*

*Ravelry link, you must be signed in to Ravelry for the link to work.

New design: The Cat's Whiskers

My Instagram feed features an awful lot of knitting and yarn, and every now and again an adorable kitten or cat; it turns out cats are remarkably photogenic (and who wouldn't want to be a cat? I am a big fan of being able to curl up in the sun and while away the day). Inspired by this, a few months ago I decided to design a children's jumper featuring a cat's face: The Cat's Whiskers.

The Cat's Whiskers. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

This jumper would make an excellent first intarsia piece: the cat's face is mostly a single block of colour with the more complex colourwork coming much later in the chart, by which time you'll be pretty experienced in the colour changes! The project is also sufficiently small that it needn't be a daunting task.

The sweater is knitted in Lana Gatto Super Soft, which is an excellent value DK weight 100% merino yarn that comes in lots of lovely colours. I hadn't come across this yarn before I used it for this design, but would definitely recommend it; if you can't get hold of the recommended yarn, the design would work in any wool or wool blend DK. If you fancy making a cheap and cheerful version I often use Paintbox Yarns DK* for children's knits as it wears really well and comes in 60 colours - you could even use colours to match your own cats!

The Cat's Whiskers. Image copyright Practical Publishing.

The Cat's Whiskers is knitted flat in pieces from the bottom up, and the neckline is knitted on in the round after the body and shoulders have been seamed. The cat's face is incorporated using the intarsia technique, and the mouth is embroidered in upside-down duplicate stitch so that the sewn stitches sit between the knitted stitches. The pattern is written in five sizes: 2 (4, 6, 8 and 10) years, to fit chest sizes 53 (58.5, 63.5, 67, 71) cm [21 (23, 25, 26.5, 28) inches]; the sample shown is in the age 4 size.

The Cat's Whiskers is published in issue 72 of Knit Now magazine, which is available in all the usual places (newsagents and supermarkets) now. If you can't get hold of a copy locally, head over to the More Mags website to get a copy delivered to your door; alternatively you can order a digital copy of the magazine here and get started right away.

*Affiliate link; see the Disclaimers and Policies page for more information.

The Single-Minded Sock Knitter

This week hasn't totally gone to plan so far. After the glorious sunshine and warmth of the weekend, the past two days have been cold! I had planned to do a photoshoot for my Barley Twist cardigan yesterday, but the day started foggy, so I made other plans for the day, and once the sun did come out I couldn't quite summon up the energy to drive across town to the place I was planning to take the photos. It will happen this week, just not when planned...

I had hoped that the clock change at the weekend would have solved the sleep issue we're currently having (namely a certain two year old having an internal body clock whose alarm rings at 6.20), and yesterday it worked: we got up at 7.20 (hooray!), and it felt totally ok to go to bed a little after 10, which was perfect. And then this morning my daughter wandered through at 6.20 and suggested that it might be time to get up. I have no idea how she's managed to change her body clock at the same time as the actual clocks; I shall continue to be bleary eyed for the foreseeable future. I did cut out some new curtains for her room at the weekend. Hopefully when I have stitched and hung them I will get a little more sleep. I can hope.

Things have been going well on the knitting front though. Yesterday morning I cast on the second of my pink socks. And yesterday evening I completed the heel. Suddenly they have clicked and I am loving working on them! I fully anticipate that I will finish the second sock this evening. I will have a finished pair of socks very soon. The pattern for these still isn't complete though - it turns out the charts are more involved than I was hoping, but I will get them done by the end of the week (if you fancy test knitting them, head over to my Ravelry group and let me know in the testing thread).

Last night I went to my regular Monday night knitting night and, as ever, had a lovely evening. I also got my hands on some amazing yarn, courtesy of my friend Fay, who is an amazing knitter and indie dyer (you can find her Etsy shop here). Some of her yarn popped up on my Instagram and Facebook feeds last week and I couldn't resist! The yarn is inspired by kingfishers, and is utterly beautiful. It's a merino nylon blend, but is far too wonderful to become socks; this yarn deserves to be some sort of shawl. Watch this space.

How's your week been so far? Any tips on sleepless toddlers?

Linking up with Louisa for Keep Calm Craft On.

Happy Mother's Day

Good morning! Today it is Mother's Day in the UK, and I am up bright and early (the clocks changed last night, so while they say 7.30 it doesn't feel like it!) while my daughter pootles around the living room, enjoying the first proper full weekend of sunshine we've had this year.

When I was small Mother's Day meant bunches of flowers given to the child at school and handed to their recipient a couple of days later, slightly wilted, and a handmade card. There was also usually a homemade cake, garishly decorated with as much food colouring and smarties (colourful chocolate 'beans' coated in a sugar shell) as we could get a way with.

While I was at junior school (7-11) and also a Brownie, the church in whose hall Brownies was held always invited the Brownies and their mums to the service on the Sunday (Mothering Sunday is technically a religious date, falling the third weekend before Easter); this was often a poorly attended service, which meant the chances of being designated flag-bearer were pretty high (I was always very excited about being flag-bearer; at some point during the ceremony each Brownie and Guide unit at the service would parade their unit flag to the front and place it in the special holder where they would be displayed for the rest of the ceremony). And no, being a flag-bearer wasn't exactly a gift for the mother, but it's always nice to watch your children doing things they're excited about!

These days I am a mum, and Mother's Day has become a rather more commercial event, with the shops being littered with balloons, chocolates and all manner of floral gifts, and anywhere that can hosting special afternoon teas. We're not doing anything special; I know that my children have each made me a card (the one from my daughter dropped out of her lunch bag yesterday when I was tidying up), and there is promise of my not having to cook this evening. It's nice to know that I am appreciated, but equally, I am lucky enough to know that I am appreciated as a mother every day of the year.

Having said that I don't want any gifts, I would like a couple of hours peace and quiet so I can get on with knitting on my Dotted Rays. It's my current weekend project and I've just finished the second ball of five. And maybe for someone else to make me a couple of cups of coffee...

Happy Mother's Day!

P. S. If anyone is interested, I am doing ok at the monogamous knitting. I have one pink sock and my Dotted Rays is keeping me company when the pink sock is too tricky!

The Curious Case of the Monogamous Knitter

I've you've followed this blog for any period of time you'll know that I am not a monogamous knitter. But recently this appears to have come to a head and I have so many projects on the needles that none of them seem to be making any progress (and when I want a set of needle tips or some notions I can't find them as I can't remember which bag they might be in). So this weekend I decided that I would choose a project and work on it until it was finished.

I chose my Sockmatician Sockalong socks as they need to be done by the end of the month in order to qualify for the competition (a deadline is a great way to encourage me to actually work on a project). When I started on Saturday morning I had just finished the toe of the second sock. Every time I sat down to knit I picked up the socks and added a few rows. By the end of Saturday evening I had reached the heel, and I rattled through the rest of the sock on Sunday, finishing it on Monday evening (a bit of effort required there as I have mislaid all my tapestry needles. I found a few large darning needles, but nothing appropriate. I did eventually remember the pile of magazine freebies and located a needle that would do, and a cute tin. Both the tin and needles are now in general circulation, so I fully expect to have lost them in action within a week.).
 

I'm really pleased with these socks. They match to the stitch! And the colours of the yarn (Arne and Carlos sock yarn from Regia in the colourway Island) are lovely. I wore the socks all day yesterday and the fit is great. Hooray!

Having finished the pair of socks, I decided to stitch the buttons on the cardigan I finished last week, especially as I had a needle to hand. The buttons are from Textile Garden, and feature cute little bird silhouettes. My daughter had requested cat buttons, but I couldn't find any that would coordinate with the yarn (MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino Aran in Ochre**); she is yet to try wearing the cardigan as the weather today has been rather too wet to do a photoshoot, so I don't yet know whether she'll agree to wear it... The cardigan is a scaled-up version of my Barley Twist Cardigan, which I'm hoping to release in the next couple of months.

Two projects finished, time to pick up another. My pink socks have been stalled for a little while so I picked them up this morning and have worked the whole gusset today and will definitely have the heel done by the end of the day. I still haven't finished writing the pattern, but I do now know what I'm doing, so this pair should be finished up pretty soon. Maybe monogamous knitting is the way to go!

As it's Wednesday, I'm linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along.* I am currently reading Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and really enjoying it. I watched the film on Netflix at the weekend and so far the book is very similar. A girl in her twenties gets made redundant when the cafe she works at shuts down and she takes on a job working as a companion to a quadriplegic man in his early thrities. I cried my eyes out during the film, and I imagine the book will have the same effect.

What's on your needles at the minute? What are you currently reading?

*I went to grab the links for Yarn Along and Ginny has decided to stop doing it on her blog. So this is the last Yarn Along (which I was always a little erratic about anyway), but I will keep sharing my reading along with my knitting.

**Affiliate link. See the Disclaimers and Policies page for more information.

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017

The weekend before last I went on another yarny adventure (my second in three weeks having been to Joeli's retreat, which is pretty good going!), this time to Edinburgh Yarn Festival. This was a real treat as I had thought that I wouldn't be able to go as my husband was going away that weekend, but his plans fell through and I got to go! I decided to post a photo an hour to Instagram for the day, so have lots of pictures to share here now. Here is my day at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival.

My day started way too early - I managed to get up even before my alarm went off at 5.50am. As I was up so early, I had time to make and drink a coffee, and wound the next skein of yarn for my Dotted Rays, just in case I finished the skein I was on (which seemed pretty unlikely as I had about 25g of that skein to go, but it's always good to be prepared).

6.10am: First coffee and yarn of the day

I had planned to get the bus to the station, hence the very early alarm call, but in the end decided to drive and park so I wasn't left hanging around waiting for a bus in the evening. This meant plenty of time to get breakfast at the station, and a bit of knitting while I waited for my train to arrive.

7.05am: At the station: coffee and breakfast

The train from Durham to Edinburgh takes a couple of hours (and is a very scenic route as it runs along the coats for large sections), which I spent in the company of knitwear designer Katya Frankel, which was lovely. I also browsed through my copy of The Simple Things magazine (I love this magazine and love to have a copy with my while I'm travelling; I am clearly their target audience - there was an advert for the knitting shop Loop in there!) and did a few more rows on my Dotted Rays.

8am: Magazine reading on the train

I arrived in Edinburgh and was greeted by my friends Lynda and Leigh (Leigh makes excellent knitting bags, you can check out her shop here) who I joined for (another) breakfast, before finally making our way to the show.

9.37am: Second breakfast

10.40am: I have arrived!

When I arrived at the Festival I was on a bit of a mission; I wanted to get two skeins of red yarn to make a scarf, two Portuguese knitting pins and some buttons for a cardigan. I had been warned by many of the people that had gone to EYF on the Friday that it was incredibly busy, that the marketplace was rammed with people, and that if I wanted to buy particular things, I would be best off heading straight for the stall and buying straight away. Taking this advice I headed straight into the marketplace when I arrived and started my search. Saturday was (fortunately) a bit less busy. There were a lot of people, but not so many that it was overwhelming, and there were lots of spaces in which you could take a break and breathe for a few seconds.

I saw a lot of beautiful red yarn: Phileas Yarns, Travel Knitter and Easy Knits all had yarns that I loved. Dye Ninja was my favourite though; there were so many beautiful, intense saturated colours on the stand. I loved all the shades of blues and greens too. Having a definite plan made browsing a lot easier; I saw a lot of things that were beautiful - everything The Wool Kitchen had for sale was so vibrant and cheerful - but having a plan meant I wasn't tempted to buy things I wasn't necessarily going to use (and I have plenty in my stash that may never be used, so don't need any more!).

1.30pm: Drooling over the Dye Ninja stall

I could only find one stall selling buttons, but it was a good one! Textile Garden had loads of tiny glass pots with a huge variety of interesting buttons. Obviously I was drawn to the novelty section... I have no idea how I resisted the octopus buttons!

Buttons = essential purchases

One brilliant thing about Edinburgh Yarn Festival is the podcast lounge: a large seating area where you can sit and knit, chat and eat (including picnics; which allows more money for yarn!). I sat in the lounge for a few hours over the course of the day, catching up with people I know well, people I've met before, people I know of through Instagram and meeting new to me knitters. Everyone was very welcoming, and it was lovely knitwear-watching as so many people were wearing amazing knitwear!

2.25pm: A little sit down and knitting time

I left the Festival around 3pm, and enjoyed a walk through the city with friends, followed by afternoon tea and a bit more knitting. I deliberately tried to take it pretty easy as I know that overdoing it when I go away for the day tends to knock me for six. Finding a peaceful cafe was very welcome after all the hustle and bustle of the festival.

3.30pm: A walk through the city

4.05pm: Afternoon tea

5.05pm: Still sitting and knitting

I caught my train home a little after 7pm, and slept pretty solidly almost all the way home!

And here are my very modest purchases: 200g red (Nanny Ogg's Bloomers, with a donation to the Alzheimer's Research UK, in memory of Terry Pratchett) merino/silk blend DK from Dye Ninja, two Portuguese knitting pins from Textile Garden and a mini skein from Easy Knits (which will be added to my sock yarn blanket). I didn't buy any buttons as I couldn't see what I wanted (cats), but have since bought some bird buttons from Textile Garden, and they are lovely.

My lovely purchases

Did you go to Edinburgh Yarn Festival? What did you buy? Will you be going next year?

A week in the life: 19th March 2017

This week I have mostly been... a bit poorly. Nothing major, 'just' a sore throat, but enough that I've been going to bed a couple of hours earlier than planned, and getting up as late as I can get away with. And as a result the days have been shorter and I feel like I haven't got a huge amount done. Not nothing though, here's what I have achieved!

Working in a sunny spot

There has been sunshine! And while I did have work to do so couldn't go out and revel in it too much (it's still not warm, in spite of the sunshine), I did manage to find a sunny corner to do some work in one morning this week, which was lovely. I also treated myself to some new pens; my favourites are cheap Bic biros, and I was delighted to find a pack containing pink, purple, green and blue ones. No more notes in boring colours for me!

Pink socks and A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second

My pink socks have been on and off the needles several times, but I think this time they are right. I'm now knitting them one at a time as knitting two at a time was affecting my gauge. The colour is wonderfully uplifting, but this is as much progress as I've made on these socks this week as I haven't finished writing the pattern, so some rounds require more brain power than my brain has seemed capable of this week. I really hope to finish the pair next week.

I am on to the second book in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series, and while I'm enjoying them I am not getting through them as fast as I thought I might. This may be a rare occasion when I liked the film (TV series) better than the book. The TV series is more fleshed out, while the book is very much the bare bones. I will read them all, but might be on a bit of break as soon as I've finished the second.

Swatcher's block. Cake cures everything, right?

Thursday was when my throat was at its worst, so while I tried to do some work at home - swatching - it just wasn't working. I decided to call it a day and went for a walk instead. As is often the case, a bit of fresh air made a huge difference, and I sat in a coffee shop for a bit knitting a swatch that did what I wanted it to, while eating a delicious bakewell tart.

Hot cross buns are always a winner

I know hot cross buns are available all year, but I only ever buy them around Easter. They're one of my favourite breakfast foods, especially when toasted. I'm sure I'll be enjoying plenty more of these over the next few weeks. At home when I was little we used to make hot cross  every Good Friday, and I think I might reinstate that tradition this year; nothing smells better than freshly baked bread.

Splish splash!

The weather this week has been a bit of a mish-mash, but my youngest was delighted when our walk to the shops on Saturday involved a fair portion of muddy puddles to splash in! These wellies have been a delight, and get many admirers while we're out and about; this weekend was their final outing as they're getting rather snug. We bought some new Paw Patrol ones, but they're just not as good.

Anyone for lemon cake(s)?

We had guests yesterday, so I picked up some cake while I was at the shops. Apparently I had lemons on my mind as there was definitely a theme! The lemon fondant fancies are my favourites and I always make sure I pick up at least one box while they're available. I am still baffled as to why Mr Kipling don't have three lemon ones in a regular box; the strawberry ones are just weird!

Homemade lemon drizzle cake

The lemons became a lemon drizzle cake, which is one of my favourites. I always use the recipe from Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell (I've just looked it up and it might be out of print. Boo.). I know several of my friends have bought copies on my recommendation, and I haven't had any complaints yet...

Monogamous knitting makes things grow faster, apparently

Yesterday I decided to work solely on my Sockmatician Sockalong socks as I want to get them off the needles. I went from the toe to the heel yesterday; apparently working on one item at a time means you actually feel like you're achieving something. Maybe I should do that more often!

What have you been up to this week?

New designs: I Like Knitting magazine, April 2017

This week's new patterns are all about the bunnies! The April issue of I Like Knitting magazine has a section called Some Bunny Loves You, which includes several patterns featuring Bunny motifs, perfect for spring.

First up we have my Peter Rabbit Pillow and Blanket set. 

The Peter Rabbit Pillow and Blanket feature the same motif: a rabbit silhouette with a fluffy tail. Both designs are knitted using the intarsia technique on a stocking stitch background, and would make a perfect nursery set.

The designs are knitted in chunky weight yarn (Hayfield Baby Chunky and Sirdar Snowflake Chunky) so are quick to knit. The set is shown with a pink background, but could be knitted in any colour - I think the bunnies would be perfect on a purple or green background.

And secondly we have my Baby Bunnies Cardigan.

The Baby Bunnies Cardigan features a border of cabled bunnies knitted in stranded colourwork on a background of reverse stocking stitch. The cardigan is knitted in stocking stitch from the top down with a garter stitch border, raglan shoulders and buttons down the front. The pattern is written in sizes 2-10 years, to fit bust sizes 21–28 inches (52.5–70 cm).

The cardigan is knitted in Drops Merino Extra Fine, a DK weight 100% Merino yarn that comes in a huge array of colours and is excellent value.

All the patterns are available in the April 2017 edition of I Like Knitting Magazine, an e-zine that can be accessed either online or via the I Like Knitting website. Subscriptions are available from $19.97.

*This post contains affiliate links for both Love Knitting and I Like Knitting magazine. See the Policies and disclaimers page for more information.*

Want to add these patterns to your Ravelry queue or favourites? Here are the links:

Peter Rabbit Pillow
Peter Rabbit Blanket
Baby Bunnies cardigan
 

All images in this post copyright I Like Knitting magazine.

Two steps forwards, one and a half back...

This week hasn't been great for knitting; while I did finish a cardigan on Tuesday (minus the buttons), I did have several days where progress was definiely in the wrong direction.

My Dotted Rays shawl that I cast on before going to Joeli's retreat wasn't perfect - the i-cord tab at the start was a little messy (possibly twisted?), and the i-cord edging had the odd error, but nothing too untoward, so I merrily added a few more rows one evening, then did a stitch count and it was all wrong! I had totally forgotten to do the increases. Normally I would have carefully unravelled the work to get to the last point that I knew was correct, then rework what had been unravelled. I tried the careful unravelling, but the short rows made it impossible, and before I knew it the shawl had been returned to a ball of yarn. Ah well, at least it was free of errors!

I started the Dotted Rays again and my second attempt is much tidier. And I'm paying a lot more attention to the pattern, so there shouldn't be any more mistakes (probably tempting fate there). It's growing a lot faster now as I understand the pattern, and have started using markers to work out where to turn the work. I think it might now get knitted quite quickly as the yarn is lovely and I'm certain I am going to love the final shawl.

The pink socks I showed you last week are also no more. The lace pattern was perfect for the leg, but required a lot more work on the foot section. I've unravelled them and will put them back on the needles this weekend once I've rewritten the pattern.

Thank goodness I've had some lovely plain vanilla socks on the go. My SockmaticianSockalong socks are progressing really nicely. I have just finished the first sock and it looks great. I decided to make them a bit 'Sockmatician-y' by working 2 x 1 rib for the cuff, which is what Nathan said he uses. I am trying to make the second one match, but this yarn has a lot of short colour changes, so it might not happen...

I am off to Edinburgh for the yarn festival this weekend. While I'm there I'll be trying to keep up with a special photo an hour (#EYFphotoanhour) on Instagram (I don't think it's the official date for March, but I thought it might be fun), and I'm certain I'll have lots to post here next week. This week has been a tiring one, so while I am giddy excited about going to a yarn festival, a huge part of me is looking forward to being able to sleep on the train! I do have a shopping list so I avoid getting carried away: 200g red semi-solid to make a huge squishy garter stitch shawl (I need one, I decided yesterday), some dark wood buttons (and some featuring cats; the request of a small child), and a second Portuguese knitting pin so I can do colourwork. If you see me there, feel free to say hello. I'll be the tired-looking one!

And while I remember, anyone waiting for the books read in February post, it's not happening; I read one Famous Five parody in February, and that's not really worth a whole post - I'll tag it on to March's.

Joeli Creates a Retreat 2017: Portuguese Knitting with Julia Billings

In late February I went on my first ever yarn retreat (I am certain it won't be the last). I've already told you about the retreat in general and the first class I attended (Lace Knitting with Katie Westermann), and today I'm going to tell you about the second class I attended: Portuguese Knitting with Julia Billings.

Portuguese knitting was a mystery to me when I signed up for the class several months ago, and was still a mystery to me when I sat down in Julia's class. I was aware that knitting techniques varied around the world, having heard of English vs. Continental Knitting, but it wasn't something I'd put too much thought into. Julia's class stared with an introduction to the technique: Portuguese knitting is practiced in Portugal and South America, and the yarn is tensioned by one of two methods, either by allowing the yarn to flow round the back of the neck, or by running the yarn across a Portuguese knitting pin, which is a little hook that you pin on to your clothing. The knitting itself requires very little movement of the hands (stitches are worked with just a flick of the left thumb), and allows the purl stitch to be worked very efficiently, so people who knit using the Portuguese technique will often purl every row to work garter stitch or knit stocking stitch in the round by purling every round.

Julia showed us how to hold the yarn and how to work the stitches, and after a little confusion and a few dropped stitches everyone in the class was able to work knit stitches. Some people in the class went straight for knitting with the pin for tensioning, but I wasn't wearing clothes that would happily have had pins put through them and went for tensioning the yarn round the back of my neck. The movements used in the knitting really were efficient, and even more so when we all moved on to purling! Julia said that the technique is good for people with limited mobility in their hands, and because the hands don't move much at all I think I might be able to use this technique for using small-circumference circulars, which have previously been my nemesis; once I've got some other things off the needles I'm going to have a go at knitting a pair of socks using Portuguese knitting and mini-circulars (though maybe not on the bus as the yarn round the back of the neck will get some odd looks!).

Once we had all mastered the basic stitches, Julia showed us how to work lace - I really struggled with yarn overs as I was over-thinking how to work them and ending up with double yarn overs instead. I did eventually get it, and with practise might be ok. We were also shown how to knit stranded colourwork using the technique and this is another area where I think the technique will come in handy. At the minute I pick up and put down to work stranded colourwork, which is really inefficient, but with Portuguese knitting you can wrap one colour behind your neck in one direction and the other colour in the other direction, then just work each stitch in the correct colour. I will try this with Portuguese pins though as having them both round my neck I was forgetting to release more yarn for each stitch and the work kept getting closer and closer to my face!

While I didn't know what I was expecting at the start of the class, I really enjoyed learning a new technique.

I hope you've enjoyed the posts about my yarn retreat adventure. I really did have a fabulous time and hope to do it all again some time. Have you ever been on a yarn retreat or taken a particularly enjoyable knitting class? What do you recommend I try next?

New Design: Reach for the Stars baby blanket

In the autumn a close friend announced that she was expecting her second baby. I had knitted a hat and blanket for her first child, but every new baby requires a special present, so I decided that I would knit a blanket for this new baby too. The design is one that has been in my head for a long time, and may be familiar to anyone who has been following my work for a while: a zooming rocket with a fiery tail! The rocket motif first appeared on my Reach for the Stars baby jumper, which appeared in an issue of Knit Now a few years ago, and I had always had a blanket in mind for the same motif.

The Reach for the Stars baby blanket is knitted in a single piece with a large moss stitch border surrounding the central stocking stitch panel; the moss stitch border makes the blanket lie flat, and means that blanket requires minimal finishing. The rocket motif is knitted into the blanket using the intarsia technique. The chart for the rocket motif is split vertically across two pages to maximise the size of the individual squares, while you only have to work from one chart at a time.

Chunky weight yarn is used in this design, allowing it to be knitted up quickly. The sample is knitted in Paintbox Yarns Simply Chunky, an acrylic yarn that comes in a huge array of colours, so you can mix and match as you please. This yarn also has the advantage of being machine washable, so is perfect for new parents.

The pattern is available now from my Ravelry store at the introductory price of £3 until 11.59pm GMT Tuesday 14th March 2017, after which the price will increase to £4.

The Reach for the Stars baby blanket will be joined by other designs featuring the same rocket motif over the course of 2017, including a cushion, baby/toddler jumper and children's jumper. If you know now that you would like to have access to all the patterns, you can buy the ebook for the introductory price of £7.50; the additional patterns will be added automatically as I release them. The ebook will increase in price to £10 as soon as the second pattern is released.

*This post contains affiliate links. See the Disclaimers and policies page for more information.*