Sizzle Pop Shawl

Not only am I waaaay behind on blogging, but I am also behind on taking (halfway decent!) photos of finished items!  Since I took pictures of my Sizzle Pop shawl today, I figured a blog post about it wouldn't hurt!

My Sizzle Pop started life as two skeins of truly uh-maze-balls Merino/Yak/Silk Singles from Chester Wool which I dyed last year (I even blogged about it!)  This base is just beautiful!  After deciding to use them for this pattern I overdyed the lighter skein black.

Yarn: Chester Wool Merino/Yak/Silk Singles (dyed by me)

This was only my second attempt at brioche but I'd wanted to make a Sizzle Pop since it was released so figured I'd just go for it!  Apart from needing the charts to refer to every MC row, I found it quite an easy knit - just not TV knitting, so it took me a while (especially as it hibernated for about 6 months!)

Pattern: Sizzle Pop by Lesley Anne Robinson (Knit Graffiti)

Yarn: Chester Wool Merino/Yak/Silk Singles (dyed by me)

I then decided I *had* to wear it to Nottingham Yarn Expo...so had a few frantic weeks of knitting!  I completely fell in love with it all over again whilst I was knitting - the squish of brioche, the yarn, the pattern!  

Then as I was on the last few rows of the last repeat, disaster struck and the cable of my needle snapped, dropping all but a few of the stitches.  I'm not ashamed to admit I cried! 

I picked up all the stitches and then spent a couple of hours the following day ensuring they were all in the right place, picking up any dropped yarn overs and fixing it as I went.  Not a task for the faint hearted but it was a HUGE sense of achievement when it was done and all put to rights again (but I definitely don't recommend dropped a couple of hundred brioche stitches!)   Thankfully it was cast off, washed and blocked with plenty of time to spare for the Yarn Expo!

Pattern: Sizzle Pop by Lesley Anne Robinson (Knit Graffiti)

Yarn: Chester Wool Merino/Yak/Silk Singles (dyed by me)

I have worn this to death since I cast it off and it's most definitely one of my favourite knits!  Obviously it helps that it matches my hair and most of my wardrobe but it's made me fall in love with brioche in a major way and I can't wait to cast on my next brioche shawl!

All Hail the Hat Queen

I can remember, very tentatively, attempting to knit my first hat - way back in October 2009.  It was actually the first thing I had knitted since I was about 7/8 years old and also the first time I had ever knitted in the round and used either circular needles or DPN's.  Very much a learning curve but a successful one and that hat is still kicking around here somewhere!!

Since then I have made a fair few hats and I, without fail, turn to Woolly Wormhead patterns when I need one.  I took part in both the 2014 and 2015 MKAL and when the sign ups for 2017 came around I decided to make both Hat A and Hat B.  Obviously the patterns have long since been revealed since the MKAL clues are released during November, but I've been considerably lax at blogging so am playing catch up!!

So...here we have Hat A - later revealed as the pattern Joyce.  I knitted this in the recommended yarn (very much against my rebellious streak) which was Stolen Stitches Nua.  A truly heavenly blend of merino, yak and linen - really a complete joy to work with, or just fondle!  I went for Frog on the Wall and Kitten Fluff,

 

 

 

Gorgeous huh!!  And for Hat B - Sette Vele - I chose CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK in the Aeacus colourway (not surprisingly, it's green)  Again, another amazing pattern.  I very rarely knit in anything thicker than sock weight (or 4 Ply/Fingering if you can say the latter without sniggering!) so these were a nice change for me!  Sette Vele has the added bonus of a really ingenious cast on.

I couldn't stop there though - I was itching to cast on one of the patterns from the new Elemental collection from Woolly.  I'd already knit a sideways hat from the Circled book so knew how innovational the technique was - if you haven't tried a Woolly sideways knit hat, do!!

Deterred only by lack of suitable yarn, I picked up a few skeins of Crazy Eight DK from Chester Wool Company and dyed them in my favourite colours in the hope they would work together!  I'd already decided that my first hat would be the Toph pattern as I had swatched with a few different yarns but had been unhappy with the colours/yarn substitutions I had made.  Turned out that my favourite colours combined have a very Eighties throwback vibe!  It's a wonderfully squishy knit due to the construction and completely ideal for the current cold snap.  I'm already itching to cast on the rest of the collection!

NB - the hat queen is Woolly Wormhead in case my slightly stalkerish, fangirl post has not made that totally apparent!  

Year of Colour

Absolutely loving this fantastic tool from Makelight, which takes the colours from your Instagram photos over the last year to form a unique, and quite frankly beautiful collage!

Here's mine - not remotely difficult to tell what me favourite colours are!

Dyeing Up A Storm

Seems quite an apt title given that Storm Ophelia is currently blowing away and we've had the weirdest orange sun and sepia skies today!

But I was more referring to yarn, of course.  I've loved dyeing my own yarn for quite a while (would one day love to delve into becoming an indie dyer should the 48 hour day ever be invented) and am finding more and more at the moment that I will dye my own yarn unless I see something that I *have* to have!

So, recent (how on earth has it been 5 months since I blogged?!) dye jobs include...

A trio of Merino Singles Sock Yarn dyed with Dharma Fluorescent Dyes.  No plans at all for these as I was just testing the dye out but they do look rather good together!

A sweater quantity of Merino Sock Yarn (purchased at Yarndale 2016) to make a Polaris jumper.  I couldn't decide between green or pink but eventually decided to stick with my original plan of eye searing pink!

Spooky Sparkle Mini's in Sparkle Singles Sock.  Halloween is by far my favourite time of year and couldn't resist dyeing up a set of mini skeins in Halloween inspired colours.  The singles sparkle sock base looks amazing dyed up (I was slightly unsure of it when undyed!) 

And last but not least...

Black Pumpkin Self Striping Sock Yarn.  This was this weekends project and I loved dyeing it - did not love winding it quite as much!!  Destined to be yet another pair of Sod Socks! Gloves which I am just casting on.  

I have another few skeins of sock weight left to play around with and have plans for some neon speckles.  I've also got a few hat pattern that require DK on my wish list so think I'll have to pick up some more undyed skeins for those too.