Yarn Shopping

Today I went yarn shopping with my niece. We went up to the Yarn Barn in Shaw.I love going to that shop if only to see the loads of display garments that she has on the wall and in her window display. They really make you want to make them when you see them finished. Much better than just viewing a pattern or feeling a ball of wool. It was the best kind of yarn shopping for me as I didn't spend anything. My niece was choosing some more wool for me to make her a second long chunky jacket. I made one for her last year and used Sirdar Click chunky. I don't know what happened whether it was the wool, the pattern or the way I knitted it but it dropped and kept on dropping until my niece now wears it as a dressing gown. This time we have chosen a yarn that feels more substantial but it is still soft. I am making a smaller size anyway as she has lost quite a bit of weight but I am considered juggling about with the needles to use a couple of sizes smaller to tighten up the fabric this time around and give the jacket a bit firmer tension. I often do this. Even if my tension is spot on to the pattern but I feel that the fabric is a bit too loose I will knit a larger size and drop a needle size. She has chosen King Cole Magnum lightweight chunky in a purplish colour.

We chose a pattern for the charcoal Patons Diploma DK that I had already bought for my younger niece. My older niece knows what kind of jackets my younger niece likes so has chosen this one but without the ribbon fastening at the waist.

My niece kindly bought me the two chunky patterns for me to use with the sale chunky that I bought before Christmas from E Kemp. I am so glad that I bought it when I did as it has all been sold out now. My older niece likes the garter stitch jacket so some of the sale wool might just get knitted up for her. She had a browse in my stash room today and picked out some colours that she liked. I have far more in there than I need for myself so I will know what to make for her in the future. I will get her to chose patterns from my stash another day to match up with the colours that she has chosen.

Since I have found a way to partially knit a hat on the knitting machine I have now made 3 on the machine.I knit the decreases on the crown by hand. The first brown one that I made came out a bit large but the second brown one and the multi coloured one came out a lovely beanie size. The crocheted hats are based on the beanie hat from the Stitch n Bitch Happy Hooker book. I was using some old Listers Can Can with the contrast stripes of red and blue done using scraps from my stash. I really want to start my new projects off but I am going to make a couple more hats (my total is now 12) as I may be going to the Kings Arms Knit Club on Monday when I can hopefully hand them over to be taken to the Big Issue office.