Sheep Carousel

Another item complete: Sheep Carousel tea cosy, designed by Kate Davies.

I enjoyed this as I got to grips with Fair Isle (well, my first sustained bit of stranding. I'm not convinced I keep the tension very well, but it's a good start). I also tried my first steeks, vikkel braids and i-cord bind off.

Now I have a rather magnificent tea cosy. Although, it's a bit too big for my tiny tea pot. Boo.

More cosy feet

I made a quick pair of these for Toby's sister's birthday next week. You may notice that they're very similar to the other slipper socks. You'd be right! Only this time I added a cuff to them to make them extra cosy round the ankles. All finished off with a picot edge.

Fair Isle sample

After admiring some Fair Isle gloves made by a friend of a friend at a party a couple of weeks ago, I felt inspired to give it a go myself. I'd made a couple of tiny samples after getting a Kaffe Fassett book but never done anything seriously (not that this is much more serious).

I took a pattern from Sock Knitting Masterclass* and knitted it in the round, reversing the colourway on each side. I wasn't intending to make the socks so just did one pattern repeat, stuffed it with capoc & lavender and sewed up the ends.

Now that I've got the hang of holding and moving the yarn I need to think of a serious project to do. I could make more of these little lavender bag, but with different patterns. Perhaps some gloves, glasses cases, phone cosy or should I attempt a jumper?

* This is my favourite sock book. It's got lots of different techniques to try. You can follow patterns or adapt the ideas for yourself. It's clear and so far, I haven't found any mistakes.

Cosy feet

First item from the stash is complete!

I made these little slippers using this pattern from Moogly. I didn't do the cabling though.

They are lovely and warm, but having worn them a few times they've stretched a bit so are rather loose. I have more of this yarn so have been thinking about amendments apart from making them shorter.

I could make them so they look more like a pair of Mary Janes, or could extend them up (they are made toe-up) so they keep your ankles warm.

You can see from the second picture that there isn't shaping for the heel. I'll probably make the very back of the heel go up a wee bit so they grip my heel better.

And yes, I appreciate that this first item I've made is crocheted but "knit and crochet my stash" is a less snappy blog title!

The Stash

It's now 11 days into January and I haven't knitted a single thing using stash yarn - whoops. But I have a good excuse. I needed to finish Toby's Christmas socks and also find out what yarn I'd got lurking upstairs. The socks are now complete and being worn and my Ravelry notebook has full details and photos of my yarns.

So what is there? I've got things like this ball of felting wool which came with a pattern to make slippers. Can't find the pattern at home and a bit of googling has found it in Swedish. I might just have to make it up.

This ruffle yarn should make a scarf. I like the colourway of this but I'm not a massive fan of ruffle scarves. I've made cushion covers out of another ruffle yarn which works well. Not sure what to do with this - unless anyone wants a ruffle scarf?

 Then there's a lot of vintage yarn from my Grandma's stash.

This fuzzy peach yarn has patterns to make 80s style baggy jumpers. I'm not sure that fuzzy peach is really my colour but I'm tempted to make a jumper because it should be a quick knit and I've never made a jumper.

New Year's Resolution

I may be being rash - it being the first day of January and being in a slightly weakened state - but I'm going to try to knit and crochet through my stash this year. I don't have a lot of yarn (in comparison to some) but I have enough to make Toby's eyes roll when I come home with more yarn.

Two dalmatians I made for the Tobacco Factory's
101 Dalmations production this Christmas

Quite a lot of what I make comes from the stash. Phone cosies, wristies, toys (these two little dalmations), and blankets have all been produced so I'm pretty sure I can create some good stuff whilst trying out new techniques and getting through the yarn build-up. It's more a question of what to make, and who to make it for. Family and friends - watch out!

Is there anything you like creating with odd balls of yarn? Is there anything you think I should make?