A Bag o’Soap

The usual Christmas knitting frenzy looked like it would be toned down before it started this year.  With one recipient not being visited until January, two recipients struck off the list as they never acknowledge what they receive and another having their knitted offering postponed until their birthday due to a perfect bought present, this meant that I could relax and just ‘quickly’ knit 4 simple knitted bags to fit hand warmers, the perfect personalised Christmas stocking present.  As is usual with my plans, the idea of a personalised bag by way of…Read more …

Top of the Christmas Toppings

It started as an idea for a birthday present, way back at the start of 2022. The birthday in question was in August. Plenty of time. But the summer was sweltering and knitting was a long way from my mind. No casting on with sweaty fingers for me. September or October would provide plenty of opportunity to knit during the autumn evenings in France. The idea of posting the pizza abroad from France was a definite attraction since Brexit, but a boxed set kept my eyes on the screen and my hands in…Read more …

Two Boats, One Lighthouse

One of the toddlers on my list for knitted presents loves vehicles but I found a pattern for a double decker bus too late during this Christmas Knitting Frenzy of 2022 - I’d already plumped for two boats and a light house. The pattern is from 100 Little Knitted Projects by Sarah Keen and I have seen at least another 20 projects I’d like to make, from a lollipop and an ice lolly (I love knitted food) to Noughts and Crosses and dominoes. The introduction suggests each project could be done in an evening:…Read more …

A Loveliness of Ladybirds

One lovely young lady was the exception to my ‘knitted gifts only' rule during the Christmas Knitting Frenzy of 2022.  What to make for a (nearly) 4 year old?  Did I mention I’d left this year’s knitted present planning to the last minute?  Of course, I couldn’t let her miss out.  I’d already bought and wrapped a Build-a-Ladybird game so…I had three days…I made her a ladybird…  I’d found this pattern on line some time ago and it looked like it fit the bill and would easily be achieved in the time frame…Read more …

A Christmas Knitting Frenzy (1)

This has been one frenetic spell of knitting, knitting, knitting.  The standard I set myself when babies began being born in my extended family and friends’ circle – to knit individual, unique gifts rather than buy something off the shelf – has presented some deadlines requiring proportionate levels of discipline and effort.  This year has been off the scale with 2 babies and 3 toddlers to knit for, an outstanding promise for another toddler plus a baby and toddler in my extended family.  Plenty of ideas out there, Ravelry delivering, as usual, but…Read more …

What can you do with an old bag?

Plarn. Qué? Plarn. PL astic y ARN.  See what I did there? I’m a little late to the party, I know.  Apparently, plarn has been a thing for a long time.  I know because I found Eco-Friendly Knits Using Recycled Plastic Bags by Emily Blades, published in way back in 2010.  I’d dabbled with twine and string over the years, and I’d made some shoulder bags out of discarded tee-shirts.  But plarn? Never ‘ad it, Mr Fawlty. I was very excited to discover plarn.  I’ve been a successful hoarder of plastic bags over…Read more …

A Toad in the Hand is worth Two in the Bath

Not a proverb you’d have heard of but it’s one that suits this jotting. If you’ve read any of my musings before now, you’ll know that most of the pieces I produce are knitted flat.  I’ve eschewed the Magic Loop and the dreaded sets of four or five dpns for years now after one disastrous attempt with four needles when my fingers jerked uncontrollably, needles slipped to the floor and stitches twisted upon themselves.  I couldn’t see the attraction or the point of fiddling with more than two needles.  Until the other day. …Read more …

Leaf it out

My toad-loving friend and I reached the anniversary of meeting each other 50 years earlier (how did that happen?).  This time, a toad (or a frog, we’re not particular) wouldn’t really do, even though the amphibian affinity began early on in our friendship.  It should really be something that marked the literal beginning.  It was Decimalisation Day; surely there would be something knittable within the currency theme?  Nothing inspiring, as it turned out.  I haven’t mastered basic crochet skills and I suspect coins are a perfect crochet go-to.  How about the school logo?…Read more …

Pour l’homme qui a tout

I’ve asked it before and I’ll ask it again.  What do you give the man who has everything?  If the top of his present wish list is a pizza oven shovel for putting the pizza into the oven and a hot ash shovel for removing hot ash from the pizza oven, which, by the way, he has built himself, from mining his own stone to cutting and shaping it, then finding the perfect gift is nigh on impossible. A bowtie then.  Why not?  He’s a man of many parts and a man of…Read more …

My ears are burning…but in a good way

You know when you get up in the morning with the intention of going out on your bike?  Yes, you really fancy an energising blast that’ll set you up for the rest of the day.  While making your coffee, you observe that the breeze looks…refreshing.  Great, it’ll cool you down as you warm up on your ride.  The sun keeps peeping out.  That’s a dose of vitamin D right there.  Another good reason to stick to your plan.  But as a plastic flowerpot bowls along the path and the branches of distant trees…Read more …