Best laid plans....

Having finally succeeded in using up my 4 ply yarn, apart from a few scraps, (which may have a future use, after all), I decided to use up my Aran yarn which is taking up an unreasonable amount of space. I knitted my favourite, easy hat pattern. I have knitted many of these in the past. It is very simple. I found the pattern on the Loving Hands website. I don't know whether or not it is still there, but it is called Ellie's Easiest Ever Hat and certainly lives up to its name. It is knit in the round with Aran wool. You simply change the needle size to make it fit a child, teenager, woman or man. I definitely recommend this as a quick, easy pattern.

This one will fit a teenager and will go to Operation Orphan when I have enough to post. It barely made a dent in my bag of aran yarn, so I can see another year of knitting hats ahead of me.

My plans to clear the big yarn fell apart when someone gave me three of these humongous balls of wool for Christmas. The beauty is that it won't take me long to knit something with such a thick yarn. The downside is that I have had to order new larger broomsticks knitting needles and I also have no idea what to knit. 

A quick search on Ravelry shows that most people use it for thick scarves. I have enough of those, so will probably make a simple, thick lap rug. Any other ideas? I only have 150 metres of it....all pink!

The person who gave me this wool is not a knitter. They just thought it was lovely and it was a kind thought, so I'm not really complaining. The original expression about best laid schemes comes from a Robert Burns' poem about a poor mouse whose home was ploughed up in a cold winter.

With thanks to Robert Burns, To A Mouse, 1785, and Wikipedia 2019:

The original wording

The poem in modern English

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie, O, what a pannic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle! I'm truly sorry man's dominion, Has broken nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion, Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal! I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request; I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, An' never miss't! Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin! It's silly wa's the win's are strewin! An' naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December's winds ensuin, Baith snell an' keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste, An' weary winter comin fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell- Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. Thy wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble, Has cost thee mony a weary nibble! Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble, But house or hald, To thole the winter's sleety dribble, An' cranreuch cauld! But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain; The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me The present only toucheth thee: But, Och! I backward cast my e'e. On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear![5]

Little, sly, cowering, timid beast, Oh, what a panic is in your heart! You need not start away so hasty With bickering prattle! I would be loath to run and chase you, With murdering paddle! I'm truly sorry man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, And justifies that ill opinion Which makes you startle At me, your poor, earth-born companion And fellow mortal! I doubt not, sometimes, that you may steal; What then? Poor beast, you must live! An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves Is a small request; I will get a blessing with what is left, And never miss it. Your small house, too, in ruin! Its feeble walls the winds are scattering! And nothing now, to build a new one, Of coarse green foliage! And bleak December's winds coming, Both bitter and piercing! You saw the fields laid bare and empty, And weary winter coming fast, And cozy here, beneath the blast, You thought to dwell, Till crash! The cruel plough passed Out through your cell. That small heap of leaves and stubble, Has cost you many a weary nibble! Now you are turned out, for all your trouble, Without house or holding, To endure the winter's sleety dribble, And hoar-frost cold. But Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often askew, And leave us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy! Still you are blessed, compared with me! The present only touches you: But oh! I backward cast my eye, On prospects dreary! And forward, though I cannot see, I guess and fear![citation needed]

Two preemie blankets...

Here are two tiny blankets that I knitted with wool donated to me. Thanks, Betty. I was in the mood for simple corner-to-corner blankets. 

The one on the right is James C. Brett Baby Marble. It isn't a colour that I would ever have chosen because it contains yellow (eugh!). I initially started a complicated, fancy pattern; but it did the wool no favours. So I ripped it out and settled on simple garter stitch. I think it has turned out reasonably well.

The blanket on the left is one that I started last summer which is the last time we had real daylight for more than about 2 hours per day. I left it for a few months and picked it up again a few weeks ago. I alternated rows of blue and white and then edged it with rows of double crochet also in blue and white. I'm really pleased at the end result and would even consider knitting another larger one for any family members who decide to have babies. Come on, Eileen. (No one in my family is called Eileen, but they know who they are!)

These small blankets will eventually go off to PreemiesUK.

The cat sat on the mat...

Someone gave me a ball of very coarse black and silver wool several months ago.  I wondered what to do with it until I realised that I have never knitted anything for our cat Fleur. How remiss of me!  She sits next to me patiently when I am knitting and is usually very good about not playing with my wool. Sometimes, however, she will try to pull on my knitting needles. That is her way of saying that she is hungry or bored. Generally, though, she is a very good audience member and companion.

Fleur was a rescue cat and is now about 14 years old.  She was found by Cat Protection volunteers locked in the back room of a squalid flat whose owners were intending to use her for breeding. She had already had her first litter of kittens at a very young age. They were also taken away and rehomed.

She started off as my daughter's cat, but became mine when Daughter grew up and left home.  So far, she has been a very fit cat. But last winter I had to take her to the vet a couple of times to get her claws trimmed. There was a lot of cold weather and she wouldn't go out into the garden which is where she normally exercises. Both visits to the vet were traumatic for Fleur, me, the vet, the people and pets in the waiting room, and (possibly) the next door neighbours.

.

Desperate to avoid regular vet visits, I bought an expensive scratching post which Fleur sniffed disdainfully and has studiously ignored ever since. I then bought a small, cheap raffia mat with a cat toy attached.  This has been a success. Typical!

Fleur immediately claimed it as her own special place to sit. I've decided that she likes the texture as it is very similar to our front and back door mats where she can also sit happily for hours.

We recently bought a lovely faux leather sofa bed for our spare room.  Fleur has discovered it and often jumps up if I am sitting there watching the spare tv. I decided that the coarse black wool would make an ideal cat mat. I combined it with some pink that needed to be used up and knitted a simple corner-to-corner square. I also attached a small pompom which is barely visible in the photo, but might be a nice plaything.

I just emailed this photo to Daughter and to the person who gave me the wool. Their reply was "Awwwww". So I think everyone is happy.

Still knitting....

I decided to end a really dreadful week with something good.  I know I haven't blogged for ages; but I have been busy with lots of things including knitting. I used up the last of the donated Peter Pan Cupcake yarn by knitting a preemie blanket. The yarn is thicker than I would normally use for preemie items. But on the label it advertises itself as "deliciously soft" and it really is. That is surprising as it is 50% acrylic and 50% nylon. But whatever way those ingredients are combined, the result is a little cloud that would wrap a baby beautifully.

I haven't been able to take a decent photo. The colour is a pale green and lilac, so it should suit any baby.

The next photo has been more successful. This is the pile of items that will soon be flying off to PreemiesUK There are seven small blankets and a cardigan.

Hopefully my little pile of goodies will make the world a slightly better place. We can only do our best.....

The "little and littler" blankets...

I finally finished knitting the preemie blankets using the wool kindly sent to me by Jo of the Three Stories High blog. The yarn is Water Wheel Comfy 4ply and Jo confirmed after my last blog post that it is indeed vintage yarn and used to belong to an 83 year old lady. It must have been stored very well because it was in pristine condition. I'm glad I was able to turn it into something useful.

Jo suggested that I should knit some preemie items with this yarn. I was originally going to call these the "Little and Large" blankets. I knitted the smaller one first and then cast on about an extra 18 stitches to knit the larger one.  This wool is so fine that it is really difficult to tell them apart. The larger blanket is actually the one underneath. It is wider and longer; but not in an obvious way.

These blankets used up 160g of yarn. I still have 40g left and could knit some preemie hats or a cardigan. The charity I am planning to send these to (PreemiesUK) likes matching items. I am trying to finish something else at the moment and then I will be able to think more clearly.

More free wool...

Look what Hubby brought home from work yesterday. A colleague knows that I knit and brought in all this lovely wool for me. Most of it is acrylic double knit which is exactly what I use.  Believe it or not, the charities that I knit for usually request acrylic because it is easier to wash.

Most of this is destined to be turned into blankets and clothes for children and babies. My friend, who knits like a demon for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, will also receive her share. If you see two "ladies who lunch" drooling over a bag of wool next month, that will be us!

Today is a brilliant sunny day. So, while we still have daylight, I'm off to sort the colours. Bliss!

The déja vu blanket...

The blogging world is a marvellous, friendly place. Jo who writes the inspiring Three Stories High blog contacted me a few weeks ago to offer some baby yarn. Of course, I said yes...what else? So I soon received 200g of  Water Wheel Comfy 4ply in a soft shade of green. I haven't heard of this brand before and there is no barcode on the labels. I might be wrong, but I usually take that to mean the yarn is vintage.

Jo suggested it would be suitable for preemie knitting. I looked through my patterns and eventually settled on an old favourite called Daphne's Blanket. Sadly, there no longer seems to be a working link to the pattern. Luckily, I printed it off a few years ago. 

I love this pattern because it is easy and gives a puffy lozenge texture to the blanket. I'm calling this one "Déja vu" partly because I have knitted it several times. The other reason is that it would now be twice as long if I hadn't had to rip back about 2 inches!  It was turning out very flat and it took me a while to realise why. I thought I could remember the pattern and ploughed on through it. But I was garter stitching instead of purling on some of the rows.  Eeek!

I tried to convince myself that it looked just as good flat. But my heart wasn't in it. So, after 3 honey sandwiches and some chocolate, I pulled out the needle and ripped back to where I had started to go wrong.  Taking inspiration from my new blog button, I managed to keep calm while doing it. I'm glad I did because Mark II is looking lovely. 

I think I will be able to knit 2 preemie blankets with this yarn and they will eventually go off to a Preemie charity. Thanks again to Jo. Her blog is well worth a visit.  She is a clever crafter who makes something every day and writes regularly about it.

Two hats...a blog button...and lots of links

Here are two very simple hats to fit an adult. They will go into my charity box until I have enough to post off to Knit-for-Nowt.  I used a pattern called "Ellie's Easiest Ever Hat" which I think I found on the Loving Hands website.  It really is easy.  It is written for 2 needles, but I always knit this on a circular needle to avoid a bulky seam.

The pattern calls for chunky yarn or dk doubled.  I used Robin Paintbox dk in shades of blue and purple.  There is just one set of instructions.  You simply alter the size of knitting needle to adjust the hat to fit a teenager, woman, or man. I used a 5.5mm needle and dk yarn doubled to knit the woman's size.  The finished hat weighs 80g. So a standard 100g ball of dk yarn could easily be divided and then knitted together to make a cosy hat.  I think that is a great way to use up those 100g balls of yarn that are not big enough for anything else.

Moving on to a completely different subject, huge thanks go to Amy at Love Made My Home for suggesting sites that would be useful for making a blog button.  Eventually, I used a combination of Bannersnack to make the poster, Canva to turn it into a button and Inlinkz to generate the code.  Another useful site for generating code is Mycoolrealm.  I plumped for the Inlinkz code because it added my blog name under the button.  But I really liked the Mycoolrealm site as well because it lets you change the colour of the rather unattractive code box. I would have chosen this code if my blog name had been more obvious on the button. 

The days here are dreary at the moment and perfect for sitting indoors geeking.  It has been time well spent because I have been able to refresh my html skills which used to be quite good. I had to tweak the code which originally gave me a HUGE code box and I altered some of the wording.  There are still areas that could be improved; but there is a limit to how much time I can spare!  I could probably change the colour of the code box if I'm ever snowed-in for a fortnight.

So my sidebar is now hosting a blog button!  The jury is still out on this.  Some people love them and some hate them.   I have always had some belonging to other blogs on my sidebar, so I must be in the first category.  It is interesting to see that my blog stats show a huge spike in visitors since I even mentioned making a blog button. I'll watch the stats.  If they fall dramatically, that will be time for a rethink.

By request, five hats...

Towards the end of last November, I sent a parcel to Knit for Nowt. This is an organisation that supplies knitted and crocheted items to people in Hull and East Yorkshire.  I was impressed at how quickly the organiser contacted me and even more impressed when she asked me for more hats and scarves in adult sizes. I do like a good communicator and I am happiest when I know that what I am knitting is actually needed.

I finished the toddler size hat that was already on my needles and then started on the adult hats.  I had some aran in grey and some in a sparkly beige colour.  Neither of them looked appealing to start with, but both knitted up beautifully. I don't remember where it came from, but I think it must have been filling a space in a job lot.  The grey is Sirdar Supersoft and definitely lives up to its name.  The beige was missing its label but measured as aran. The sparkle is just enough to make the boring beige more interesting. Both colours were perfect for adult hats.

I used up all the beige on two hats and then most of the grey on another two.  I still have enough grey left for another hat. But I was knitting so fast that I actually wore out the circular needle! I had several near disasters with the last hat when the stitches flew off the end of the collapsed cable.  Luckily, it is fairly easy to pick up aran stitches if you stay calm.  I wonder if there is a poster that says "Keep calm and pick up stitches". Maybe I will design one.

I wasn't too upset about the cable.  I have used it for several years without problems. I always knit hats "in the round" to avoid seams. I have another cable on order.  But the parcel is going off tomorrow with the five hats I managed to finish.  I want them to reach Yorkshire while the weather is still cold.

Wrapped in a cloud...

Having recently knitted with a dk yarn that was more like 4ply, I have just gone to the opposite extreme and knitted with a dk yarn that was more like Aran.  This was the Peter Pan Cupcake yarn that was kindly donated to me by Loving Hands.  

It is listed on Ravelry as a dk yarn. But, very tellingly, it does not say that on the wrapper.  However, it does recommend needle sizes 3.5-4.5mm which would imply that it is a dk yarn. Believe me, it isn't.  So, for any project that has to actually fit, a swatch would be essential.

But I had already decided to knit a preemie blanket, so fit wasn't important.  I had 100g of white Cupcake which was enough for a 15" square.  This will eventually be going off to PreemiesUK.  Normally, a yarn this thick would be unsuitable for a newborn baby of any size. But this is so beautifully soft that it will be like wrapping a baby in a cloud.

I still have a lot of the Cupcake in other colours. Ravelry has some pattern suggestions for this yarn.  Many people seem to have made blankets and toys with it. A few brave crafters have knitted cardigans and hats.  I will probably err on the side of caution/cowardice!

Wow! Look what I just received....

This beautiful yarn arrived today.  It was sent to me by Kate at Loving Hands. This is the biggest online community of knitters, crocheters and sewers that I know about.  I was delighted when I came across it years ago.  There is a very active forum where many members log in every day for a chat. The group is heavily into making items for several charities, though there is no obligation to do this.  Many members are busy just making things for friends and family.

Occasionally, people send donations of yarn to Loving Hands.  When that happens, Kate puts a note on the forum inviting members to ask for it.  She then does her best to divide the yarn fairly among everyone who replies.  Loving Hands is a non-profit making organisation but still pays the postage costs which are very high in the UK.  It is entirely optional whether or not members send in a small donation to cover the charges.  Many members use the Easyfundraising website to raise funds when they shop with participating stores.

Some very generous yarn donations were made recently.  I made a request as I am running short on baby yarn for my preemie items.  What arrived certainly exceeded my expectations.  There is some lovely quality yarn here including the very soft Peter Pan Cupcake.  I have never knitted with this before.  There is just enough white to make a small preemie square.  So I am off to cast on now...

Birthday bounty....

Today, I am another year older (unbelievable but true) and another year wiser (really?).  I noticed that it is a whole month since I updated this blog.  Summer is always my busiest time.  I have been knitting, but only have a preemie blanket to show for my efforts.  Here it is.  It is so plain and boring that I didn't open it up for the photo.  Just picture this multiplied by four and you get the idea.

This morning, I decided that the weeds and grass can party as much as they want to.  I went to the shops under instructions to buy a new blouse.  I don't need a new blouse.  But, if someone else is paying, I'll attempt to buy one.  The weather here is very warm and summery.  The shops, however, have brought in their autumn jumpers.  No wonder they struggle to get customers through their doors.  I eventually found a lightweight jacket, which I do need, and bought it.

My mind then turned to wool.  I don't need any of that either and have been very good about not buying any recently.  But a charity shop was selling balls of aran wool for £1 each.  I bought two grey balls which will make a lovely scarf as they are an acrylic and wool blend.  I was very restrained because I picked up and then put back two more balls.  They were a sickly mustard shade and even I would have trouble finding a use for them.

Then, I saw a wool stall which is normally only open on a Thursday.  I think it must be under new management because the prices are now very reasonable as opposed to jaw-droppingly expensive.  The range of wool has also improved.  It now resembles what most people would actually knit with.  Before, the wool was so specialist and expensive that I was almost afraid to touch it.

The stall holder was very chatty and told me he was selling 100g balls of King Cole Country Tweed for £2 each because they are now a discontinued line.  He had a huge range of colours and choosing what to buy was difficult.  Eventually, I bought 2 variegated pinky balls and two maroon balls.  Again, these are an acrylic and wool blend.  I am going to look through my patterns and start something today with this lovely yarn.  Decisions, decisions!

More 4 ply...

Well, the scarf that I have been working on is now finished.  It is 48" long and will fit a young child.  I was knitting with two balls of 4 ply pink yarn together and kept going until one of the balls was completely used up.  The remainder of the second ball has gone back into the bag and will star in a future project.

Then I took a couple of balls of 4 ply blue yarn and made an aran weight hat to fit a toddler.  I still have quite a bit of blue yarn left.  But my 4 ply mojo has left the building, flown the coop and gone awol. My collection of 4 ply yarn barely fills one carrier bag.  But it will probably last me for five years if I keep using it at the current rate. Never mind.  It will eventually be turned into useful items.

Both these items will go to Operation Orphan for their Keep A Child Warm project.  I'm afraid I don't have links for the patterns. They were both so easy that  I just scribbled them down instead of printing them off.

I am now happily looking at blanket patterns.  I want to knit one that will be easy enough to qualify as mindless knitting and interesting enough to take my mind off some very depressing world and UK events.  Enough said...

A sneak preview of that shocking pink....

I finally made a start on using the shocking pink yarn that I mentioned a few weeks ago.  I have a huge ball of it.  I found it in a big bag of tangled yarn that someone was trying to sell at my local market.  I said "Oh, it's all tangled", offered a cheeky price, and the stallholder snapped my hand off!  I quite enjoy sorting out tangled yarn.  So I did that first and then mulled over what to do with the shocking pink.....and mulled, and mulled.

Then I remembered a pattern that I had saved on one of my Pinterest boards.  It must be good because lots of other crafters have taken the pin.  Here it is:

Observant readers might notice that I copied the colours.  That was by sheer coincidence.  They are exactly the colours I needed to use for the start of my project. The pattern and video tutorial are very well done.  I was able to follow them easily and I did so until I reached the grey rounds.  Then I winged it a little as I wanted to continue making a much bigger granny square.  

The fact that I was able to crochet something that looks like a flower and then adjust the pattern to make a larger square has me stupidly chuffed.  I might be starting to understand this crochet business!  

I usually stay well within my comfort zone when crocheting.  But this pattern has made me think that I might tackle one of those beautiful mandalas that I see on other blogs.  At least it's on my future "to do" list and that is progress for someone who always has to look at instruction books whenever she starts a new crochet project!

PS: If I regularly comment on your blog and appear to have stopped recently, it could be due to a new Blogger problem.  Some comments are coming back as "undeliverable".  I'm hoping this is just a temporary glitch.

The "One in, one out" scarf...

My scarf drawer is now officially full.  If I knit or crochet a new scarf for myself, I have to get rid of one.  Spilling over into another drawer is not an option.  Our 5-10 year plan includes the strong possibility of downsizing, though there is a lot of water to go under the bridge before then.  Meanwhile, I am trying NOT to add to my possessions.

I had lots of scraps of various blue yarns left over after crocheting a big blanket. I like blue and have a couple of blue jackets.  So I decided to crochet yet another scarf.  I used a simple v-stitch pattern and a 5.5mm hook.  Eight full v stitches plus a half stitch at each end of the row gave me a scarf measuring 6.5 inches.  

I combined some variegated 4 ply yarn with 3 different dark blue dk yarns.  I managed to reach a length of 41 inches before the dark blues were used up.  This length is fine on me as I like to tuck my scarves into my jackets and prefer not to have lots of unnecessary bulk.  

It is not a thing of beauty and I wouldn't dream of giving it to someone else.  But it looks better on than in the photo, is warm, suits me and made good use of left over yarn.  Win, win, win, win.

No scarves suffered in my scarf cull.  I found one that is small, soft and pretty.  It will be perfect for a child and is now destined for my next Operation Orphan parcel.

The Stop Gap scarf...

While I ponder what to do with some really bright pink yarn that I recently rescued, I have been busy crocheting this scarf.  I used up most of the red wool that was left over after I knitted a boy's jumper.  

This is one of my favourite crochet scarf patterns as it suits my abilities.  For some reason, I don't have any problems at the start and end of each row.  I think it is because the pattern is so well written and illustrated.. Here is the link.

For this scarf I used 136g of dk wool and a 5mm crochet hook. That produced a scarf measuring 5" x 55".  This is intended for a child and will eventually go off to Operation Orphan.  The yarn is 85% real wool and 15% nylon so it should be very warm and hard-wearing.

I now have just 25g of this wool left.  So it will probably reappear one day as a stripe or two.

Decisions, decisions...

Do not adjust your brightness control.  This pink really is this shocking.  In fact, it is probably even brighter than it looks here.  I bought it very cheaply at a local boot fair. It weighs just under 300g and seems to be a 4 ply acrylic.  

I like rescuing unloved yarn.  It's only later that I think about what to do with it.  I rarely knit with 4 ply yarn and, when I do, it is usually something delicate for a baby. This is too bright for that.  So, I could combine it with another yarn for a speckled effect.  Or I could knit with two strands to make it roughly equal to a double knit yarn.

I have no works in progress at the moment.  I think I will use this pink shocker next. This afternoon, I watched a version of "Jane Eyre" that I hadn't seen before.  Probably because there are already so many versions of this story, the director spiced it up a little by using flashbacks which don't appear in the original novel.  My eyes were, therefore, fully occupied.  But my hands whiled away a couple of hours by rolling this yarn into smaller balls.  

Now I am ready, just as soon as I decide what to do with it.  Any suggestions would be very welcome!

The Clew Bay blanket...

I started this blanket months ago and then had to put it away to protect it from the clouds of dust that filled the house while we were renovating the ground floor.  Well, the renovations are over and I have almost finished dusting, polishing and painting. So I felt it was safe to take out this blanket and finish it.  It is basically just one very large granny square.  It has now gone off to SIBOL from where the busy Sue will add it to others and deliver it to a home for elderly residents.

Sue likes to name the blankets.  The only name that sprang to mind when I was making this was "Clew Bay".  Anyone who knows the west coast of Ireland will know where I mean.  The bay is best viewed from high up the Croagh Patrick mountain in Mayo. Here is a typical view of the bay.

It shows a few of over 100 sunken drumlins or small islands.  I have happy memories of climbing that mountain when I was 11 and being amazed by the view.  Little did I know then that I would end up marrying a man whose ancestors had close connections to this part of Ireland.

I used a variegated blue and green yarn that I bought in Poundstretcher.  I find their wool to be a very reasonable price and a more than acceptable quality.  It is a strong acrylic which is perfect for items that will need a lot of washing.  I added to that various balls of blue and green yarn that I needed to use up.  

I like some parts of the blanket more than other parts.  But that's life. I learned a good lesson near the end of the blanket.  I could see that I would not have enough green to complete a round so I turned the blanket and went backwards.  This produced two corners that needed a lot of concentration to sort out.  I just about got away with it, but I won't be repeating that mistake again!

I used my favourite easy Double V-stitch edging that can be found on the Knot Your Nana's Crochet blog.  It is pretty and does not use a ton of yarn.

I am already planning my next blanket.  I can see it in my imagination, though it will be a long time before it stars in this blog. There is a lot of water to go under the bridge before then!

A Wednesday WIP...

I don't usually write WIP posts, but I haven't finished anything lately due to decorating commitments.  This is what I am working on at the moment.  A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to receive lots of wool from a Freecycler.  I have used most of it.  But there was a bag of wool that left me stumped.  It contained lots of 25g balls of Doubleknit Wearwell by Hermit Wools in West Yorkshire.  This is a new brand to me.  It is 85% wool and 15% nylon.  I think it is really old as the labels don't show a barcode, though the measurement is in grams rather than ounces.

Then I had one of my very rare brainwaves.  I decided the wool and nylon mix would make a very warm and strong jumper for a child.  I found a pattern that I had torn out of a Yours magazine some time ago.  It is called Little Boy Blue and might still be available on their website, though I have just had a quick look and couldn't find it.  I have already knitted the back of the jumper and can recommend it as a lovely, quick and easy pattern.  

This pattern comes in sizes ranging from newborn to 7 years old.  I am knitting the biggest size and it will go off to Operation Orphan eventually.  The wool just happens to be a cherry shade  I think that is fairly gender neutral, so it should have a lot of use.  The downside of 25g balls is that there will be lots of ends to sew in.  But that is a small problem in the great scheme of things.

I think there will be enough wool left over for a couple of hats.  So I am going to plough on until I have used it all up.

Yarn chicken: you win some, you lose some...

I bought the first issue of a new crochet magazine last year.  The only reason was its cheap introductory price.  This made the free gift of two balls of yarn very good value. One was a useful white and the other was a cheerful green.  I chose to make something with the green last week as it reminded me of the spring that can't be far away.  

The yarn bands did not give any information about its weight or recommended hook/needle sizes.  I measured it as 5 ply which is not something I am really used to.  I decided to knit a baby hat.  I like this colour on children but I chose the 6 months size as it might be a bit too strong for newborns.  I wasn't confident that I would have enough yarn and I was right.  I had to speed up the crown decreases and this hat would probably now fit a baby of 4 months.  

I then took the white yarn and knitted a hat for a newborn.  I'm much happier with this one as there was enough yarn to knit the pattern as written.  The pattern is the Simple Lines Baby Hat by Heather Tucker and I will definitely knit this again.  The designer has even included links to coordinating baby blanket patterns.

I realised too late that I should have knitted the white newborn hat first.  That way, I would have been forewarned that I didn't have enough green yarn for the 6 months size.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing!