The Yarn to Knit Blog

Thursday, 1 March 2012

HAPPY GLOVES AND A WONDERFUL WEEKEND

What a busy, lovely weekend.

Last Saturday, Me, Oliver and our little Cedric went to Unravel - a knitting festival in Farnham, Surrey. It was Cedric's first trip in a car and he was screaming his head off for half of the journey while we were stuck in traffic. I hate it when you can't help those little people while driving. I was quite relieved when we finally got to the car park in Farnham.

This was my third year at Unravel. I first went there 3 years ago as a visitor, last year I had a Yarn to Knit stall there and as much as I love this show I have decided not to have a stall there this year due to Cedric being only 8 weeks old now..In fact, I won't be doing any shows until perhaps October.

Spotted at the Best in Show

It was quite a different experience to go as a visitor again. There was enough time to browse properly all the lovely stalls. I had a nice chat with Julie of Tilly Flop Designs, Sarah of The Undercover Owl and Anna of One Hand Knits. It was also lovely to have a chat with Marianne of Picperfic who I bumped into while she was browsing the woolly goodness with her family.

Spotted at the Best in Show

After Unravel, we went to visit our relatives in nearby Woking where we stayed overnight. As a thank you for letting us stay and for cooking a wonderful dinner for us I have knitted these Happy Gloves for Sorcha, the lady of the house. :-)

photos © Yarn to Knit

I have three words for those handwarmers: pretty, easy & quick. :-)

I used our Bluefaced Leicester DK in Brasicca. The free pattern by Creativeyarn can be found on Ravelry here.

photos © Yarn to Knit

On our way back to London on Sunday we stopped over at National Trust's Clandon Park near Guildford. It was open as part of "Waking up the house" event although most of the furniture and porcelain collection was still covered. Its grand two storey white marble hall is well worth a visit and so are its grounds. We finished our tour with a tea in their cafe.

photos © Yarn to Knit

Thursday, 9 February 2012

FEBRUARY SOCK CLUB

It is a LEAP year and 29th of February is a leap day.

Here are some facts / traditions which I found on the internet..

A leap year (or intercalary or bissextile year) is a year containing one extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year.

On the British isles, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years. While it has been claimed that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, this is dubious, as the tradition has not been attested before the 19th century. Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow. In some places the tradition was tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, February 29, or to the medieval (bissextile) leap day, February 24.

In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on the bissextile leap day, February 24, and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.

In Finland, the tradition is that if a man refuses a woman's proposal on leap day, he should buy her the fabrics for a skirt.

In Greece, marriage in a leap year is considered unlucky. One in five engaged couples in Greece will plan to avoid getting married in a leap year.

A person born on February 29 may be called a "leapling" or a "leaper". In common years they usually celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March.

Do you know of any other traditions? Are you a leapling or a leaper? Tell us. :-)

This month's pattern suggestions:

1 skein:

2 skeins:

HaPpY kNiTtInG !

Saturday, 28 January 2012

MOUSEY DOG & STRIPEY BLANKET

Wooo hooo I have finally finished my crochet projects!

I discountinued the Lang Yarns Cotone and other branded yarns from the shop as I want to concentrate on my hand dyed yarns only. For both projects I used leftovers of Lang Yarns Cotone in various colours. I love these bright colours.

Mousey Dog. This was supposed to be a Sausage Dog but some say it looks like a mouse, the others like a dog or even a rocket! So hence the title. The free pattern is Amigurumi Wiener Dog by Lion Brand Yarn. I do have to give a credit to my sister-in-law Sophie who assembled and sewed all parts together while I was in hospital with our little Cedric (pictured bellow) being born. So at the end the Mousey Dog was ready for his recipient's arrival. Thanks Sophie!

Stripey Blanket. This was easy and fun to do. The blanket grew pretty fast. A perfect project when watching the telly. The finished blanket measures 125 x 85 cm. It is slightly heavier for a baby blanket so I think I will be using it as a mat for Cedric to lie down on and play..and maybe learn the colours ;-).. The free pattern is Granny Stripes by Lucy of Attic24.

photos © Yarn to Knit

Thursday, 19 January 2012

JANUARY SOCK CLUB

Pattern suggestions for this month's sock club are:

1 skein:

2 skeins:

happy knitting!

Friday, 23 December 2011

SEASON'S GREETINGS

©Yarn to Knit

Thursday, 8 December 2011

DECEMBER SOCK CLUB

December is here and so is the last month of our Sock Club 2011!

Thank you to all of you who subscribed to our sock club this year. Some of you once or twice, some of you three times and even five of you were with us for a whole year!
Some of you bought it for yourselves, some of you as a gift for your friends or family..

Also thank you so much for your lovely comments and photos of your finished projects! It always makes my day when I receive it - honestly!

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the club as much as I did dyeing the yarn.

I have some subscribers for next year already and now it is also a time, it seems, to buy it for your loved ones as a Christmas present. If you subscribe before 25th December, first skein(s) will be sent about the first week in January 2012.