Everyone Needs A Hug

The sun is out today which is a refreshing sight but there's still snow on the ground and it's very cold. I think the worst of the weather may be behind us now and soon I might venture outside for longer than 5 mins without fear of my nose dropping off.

It's Scotland I'm in..I should be used to the cold for goodness sake.

I said in my last post that I'd show you what I have been knitting, and so I shall...just don't get too excited I'm no Elizabeth Zimmerman!

First up is my attempt at the 'Hug Scarf'

(pattern by Sarah Pasternak and published on Knitty.com).

It called for Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky Hand Dyes yarn which I'd never heard of so I substituted with Sidar Bigga instead (which has a 50% wool content).

It's an fun pattern and can easily knitted up in a night.

The only problem I had was that some of the American knitting terms are different to U.K ones. I'm an 'uneducated knitter' so it took a minute or took to work out the 'B.O' means cast off .

The pattern also called for a 'provisional cast on' which I had never had call to attempt before. It's always nice to learn something new and say 'ohh I can do that now'.

Another trick is when sewing up use the tails of wool to reinforce the 'fingers' to maintain a good firm hand shape or you lose the 'hug' effect.

This pic shows The Mister giving himself a 'pat on the back' for being such a great and willing model. Thanks xx

Keeping my charity knits going I have rattled up a few of these very simple but toddler sized pullovers. Each one only takes an evening or so for me to knit and is great at busting my stash of all the little odds and ends of wool. They are knitted in one piece and then simply folded and sewn up. The slash neck in the ribbed section easily stretches over a little un's head.

The pattern can be found here

Other than that I am finishing off long forgotten items that had previously been abandoned and only recently rediscovered whilst tidying out my knit cupboard (aka 'black hole'). How I hate sewing on buttons!