Monday, March 26, 2012

Fangorn forest scarf & another baby beanie

I have finished knitting a new scarf for myself using 2 skeins of thick chunky wool 'Moda vera Fiammone' on 8mm needles in garter stitch. I've decided to call it my Fangorn forest scarf (See below for photo of the scarf).


Recently I also made a baby beanie using the first of the lovely yarn from Hannah: hand-painted 100% merino wool in a light blue colour (Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe) using the pattern 'baby beanie hat' from 'Simple knits for cherished babies' by Erika Knight and 4mm and 4.5mm needles. I am thinking of making some matching booties to go with the beanie as I still have more than half a skein of this wool left over.


Photos above are of the finished baby beanie, also Boots caught in the act of trying to steal my knitting needles while the beanie was in progress.

New York!

I have just returned from a fantastic week in New York! I have never been to NYC before, and I was quite surprised how much I loved the time I spent in this city compared to any other city I've visited in the US before. The city is full of amazing architecture - old buildings and cobbled streets mixed in with ultra modern skyscrapers. It was the perfect time to visit too, as all the spring flowers were just starting to bloom - terrace gardens, curbside flower boxes and parks were full of daffodils, tulips and many other bulbs, and there were numerous streets and parks lined with gorgeous trees covered in magnolia or cherry blossoms. I spent most of the time in NYC attending and presenting at a science conference which was amazing, followed by a couple of days free time to explore the city. I spent a lot of my free time walking the streets, sometimes with a specific destination in mind, other times just wandering where ever my feet took me, taking in the general feel of the city. Some of the highlights for me were: Central Park (beautiful place), the view from the top of the Rockefeller building, seeing the Lion King in a Broadway theatre overlooking Time Square, the Chelsea Markets (gourmet cheeses, breads, meats, chocolates, coffee, seafood....mmm food heaven), the Highline (elevated old railway line converted to walking path and gardens with views over the city and the dock lands), the Met Museum, the Explorer's Club headquarters....I also visited one of the most awesome craft shops ever, "Purl Soho" (associated with the Purl Bee blog), which was just full of every imaginable colour of beautiful hand-dyed wool, and quilting fabric etc. I could have spent all day (and a lot of money) in that shop. I selected a few really lovely yarns (merino and silk blends) which I can hardly wait to start knitting something special with.
The time passed so quickly in New York, leaving me with still many things to see and do and eat, so hopefully I will return there at some point and take up where I left off this time. Here's a few photos from my wanderings in NYC.

Monday, March 12, 2012

An outfit for baby Eliza

Over the last few months I have been working on a couple of knitting projects to make an outfit for my friend Hannah's baby who was due early March. Baby Eliza has now entered the world, and hopefully both Eliza and her mum will like the little shoes and matching beanie :-)
Now they have received the outfit I can share it on my craft blog :-) The shoes were made following an online pattern: Saartje's bootees www.saartjeknits.nl and the beanie was made following a pattern in a book I have called "Simple knits for cherished babies" by Erika Knight.


Since my last post I have also finished knitting a scarf for a birthday present that I will be giving in the near future, also started making another scarf (this one is for me), and also started knitting some little baby projects using some of the beautiful hand-painted wool that Hannah sent me earlier this year from Purl Soho in New York. Pictures of these projects will be posted soon. :-)