Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
I finished this hat last week. The pattern – Hello Yellow – is available as a free download from Ravelry. I’ve now sent it off to our friends who own Wispa and Aero – the alpacas that keep me supplied with gorgeous fibre to spin.
I spun some more yarn especially – a 3 ply (I’m loving playing with my new Christmas presents, especially the ball winder)
The hat has a deep band in twisted rib.
The cable was quite straightforward to do and I love the way it looks.
To finish I used the pompom maker to make a nice fat bobble. I’ve added a press stud to make it detachable.
No “Scone of the Week” post today – my fellow scone eater had a prior engagement so I made a big pan of broccoli and stilton soup and had some of that instead. Then I had a think about some of my past projects and decided to share this one on the blog.
Here in Northumberland, throughout the summer, there are agricultural shows held most weekends. We go to quite a few and there’s always a lot to see. Immaculately groomed livestock are judged; horses and ponies compete in showing and jumping classes; talented crafters bring their work to exhibit and try to win a prize; gardeners show their fruit, flowers and unfeasibly large vegetables! Barnacre Alpacas attend many of these events, bringing some of their cute alpacas and selling alpaca yarn and hand knitted items.
A couple of years back I bought some of their alpaca yarn, in a creamy beige colour – I couldn’t resist any longer! It is sooooo soft! I didn’t have a project in mind at the time, but decided it would make a wonderful warm hat for the winter, so I had a look for a pattern on line.
I love knitting cable, and when I found the 14 Cable Hat pattern I couldn’t wait to get started – it is the busiest cable hat I’ve ever seen, with 14 different cable designs running up the hat. It’s the perfect one to knit if you are a cable fan. It’s a free pattern and includes a very colourful chart. Some of the featured designs I’d never seen before and are quite complex. It made for a really interesting project. I used double pointed needles, which wasn’t great – I’d definitely use circulars next time.
I bought a furry pompom to go on the top – it is attached with a press stud to remove for washing (or changing on to other hats). I wear it often during the winter months – it is delightfully warm and cosy.
Stitches by the Sea 