Goodbye 2013 Hello 2014

Well 2013 was a year of ups and downs my Grandson Charlie was born 25th June.
I turned 60 in September and  had a lovely day with my Husband and a lovely necklace and ear rings you can see them in the picture below.

Me on my Birthday September 2013

 In October  my Son ( Charlies Father) decided to drag up the past and blamed me for everything and no longer wants to have contact with me. So a very upsetting close the year.

In between I did a lot of knitting for my Grandson and for various Charities and Friends. A lot of Stash busting was done along the way and I loved every minute of making all the things I had planned on making.

So what does 2014 hold?
A Mystery, but I do know this I will be knitting up a storm as I have had a gift of new yarn to use from my dear friend Diana. So I will be making new things to give to friends and charities using up my stash and the lovely new yarn that I have.
I will be making Hats, Squares, a Scarf/Stole and Innocent Smoothie hats.
I will be using this book for the knitted squares
200 Knitted Blocks

Tiny hats for Age UK

Various hats to give to Charities 14 in all on the Knitting Paradise site 14 for 14

Then I will make this as well A Prayer Shawl using my own pattern.

So guess who is going to be busy knitting?

I have a new problem to deal with my left hip is very painful and I have a trapped nerve in my leg as a result so off to the Doctors and Hospital to see what is going on. In the mean time I rest it up and knit away and read so I will not get bored.

2014 is going to be a good year no matter what happens. I hope that we will have more Stash Busting from Linda's Crafty Corner as it was fun and I found it very helpful.
Here's to a wonderful New Year and I hope it will hold good things for all my Friends where ever they are.

Two Challenges

2014 is going to be a busy year knitting wise I am doing two Challenges.
One is 14 hats for '14 on the Knitting Paradise forum.  Knitting Paradise
It is a KAL and we are going to try and complete 14 hats for a charity during 2014.
I cannot seem to master knitting in the round so I will knit my hats on straight needles.
I have found these:
Cecily Beanie  I will add my own embellishments

In the Woods this I think is an aran weight yarn I will have to see what I have in aran weight yarn before starting this one.

Bev's Cosy Hat This one I can make for all ages so a good one to have.

Ellen's Knit Hat Nice and easy to do and versatile I can add stripes to this as well

Wel Hats I can chose which one of these to make so again a nice one to have.

I have some other patterns in an old note book that I have but no idea where  the patterns are from as I was given the notebook by a friend who can no longer knit, so I will make them but have no idea where the patterns are from.
The other Challenge is this
Knit a Block a Week on the Loving Hands forum  Loving Hands   and a great way to use up stash. We will be using this book 200 knitted blocks  I have ordered it and it has been dispatched. I am hoping the patterns will be written as I am still not great with charts but will master it if the book is all charts so fingers crossed there is a mix of written and charts.

So lots to keep me busy and out of trouble plus I get to make some new things.

My version of Peppy's Simple Shawlette

I have made my version of the Shawlette and added a crochet edging to it, I like crochet edgings they seem to add that finishing touch to a lot of projects

I liked the colours and wanted to mix them up a bit so chose to go with random stripes it turned out better than I thought it would. It is about 50 inches long so just about right to be worn as a scarf under a coat.
I made these fingerless gloves to go with it, I used up the rest of the yarn making them.

So the yarn I had has made two items that will hopefully be given to someone who will like them.
I gave a lot of knitted stuff to the Salvation Army as there are a lot of people who need things like blankets, hats, scarves and gloves.

New Project

So now all my projects are complete I need something new to use up more stash. I am fed up knitting squares and want a break from blankets for a while. Yet I want something that will be useful and help others, scarves? yes they are always welcome but can be boring after a while then I found this.
Peppy's Simple Shawlette

So I will give this a go and see how it works out, I have plenty of yarn left that needs using up in various colours and this looks a good way of using it up.
I can make the shawlette in colours to suit male or female and could give them to charities to help the elderly or homeless. The Salvation Army comes to mind as they help both and I can get the items to them easily without postage costs.
I will see how it looks first before deciding what to do with it once it is made. I will make a start tonight, I plan on making things that can be stored away ready for use next winter.
So these and little hats for Smoothie bottles will be made and stored and maybe a blanket or two as well it will depend on my mood and what I feel like doing at the time.

Patchwork Blanket is complete

My Knitted Patchwork Blanket is complete, all those squares that I had that were odd sizes have made a colourful unique blanket.

Each wide strip is made up of odd sizes squares from a swap I had joined, I added the narrow strips to hopefully give it a more structured look.
I added a picot crochet edge to it for a more finished look, it looks a little wavy along the edges but that is the way I laid it down rather than the blanket itself. It does need blocking.
Here it is on my sofa

I took the cushions off the sofa so I could get a better picture of it.
So now I have a very colourful blanket made up of stash yarn that is truly different. It will be used in the evening when we turn off the heating to save on the energy bill and I will nice and cosy. My Husband has nice thick aran weight afghan to keep him nice and warm that I made 2 years ago and it is his favourite.
It took ages to make and used up all my aran weight yarn it washes up nice and soft and is big enough to use on the bed as well.

Yes that is folded in half so you can see it is large but oh so soft and warm. Just right for those cold winter days and perfect for if they decide to have power cuts.

Keyhole Scarf and Fingerless Gloves

I love stash busting and finding patterns that are easy to do and yet create something useful is a bonus.
I found this whilst looking for a new scarf to make from my stash.
Keyhole Scarflette

The pattern is so easy and depending on the yarn you use can be plain or fancy. I added a flower embellishment to mine.

I used two different colours and created a stripe alternating the yarn every two rows. I added a Picot crochet edge to both ends and a crochet flower and leaf. The yarn I used was DK and I used 7mm needles as I wanted the scarf to be soft and lose. My Crochet hook was 4mm using DK yarn.
Picot Edge

The flower was really easy and remember I do not know how to follow a crochet pattern but following the video I created the flower.Easy Rosebud  I wanted to add a leaf to the flower and eventually found this easy crochet leaf  Easy Leaf 

Having completed the scarf I went ahead and made a pair of Fingerless gloves to go with it and made these.

Here is the pattern for the gloves
Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves

I used the same yarns as for the scarf adding the Picot Edge to the wrist end only and adding a tiny Rosebud and leaf to match the scarf. The tiny Rosebud pattern was easy to do again a video so be patient she does get there in the end.Tiny Rosebud

These are for my friend who sent all the yarn for the baby blankets for the Neo Natal Unit.

Easy Brezzy Scarf

This pattern is so easy to do you end up with a scarf that is diagonal and very soft and lacy.

I used 7mm needles as I wanted the pattern to be very open and light it also means it knits up very quickly as well.
The yarn I used is DK but any yarn will do adjust the size of the needles to about 2 to 3 sizes larger than stated for the yarn weight if you want an open effect.

CO 36 stitches

Row 1:  K1, P1 to end

Row 2: P1, K1 to end

Row3: K1, P1 to end

Row 4: P1, K1 to end

Pattern Rows

Row 1:  K1, P1x2 ( Yo K2tog) repeat in ( ) to last 4 sts K1, P1x2

Row 2:  P1, K1x2 (Purl to last 4 sts) P1, K1 x2

Repeat Pattern rows until the scarf is as long as you want then add the first 4 rows and B.O

I said it was easy didn't I and it is. I used two colours alternating every second row I that way I did not have to cut off the yarn and tie it in again.
You can add tassels to the ends or a crochet edging, I used a shell crochet edging as I thought it would look nice. I used a white yarn to make the shell edge on one end and a red yarn for the shell edge on the other end.
The result is a soft light scarf that looks more complex than it really is. I had this pattern written down in my little book and cannot recall  where I found it as I did not record that information at the time.