Heart Mittens Complete

I have completed the mittens finally! I will be giving them to their recipient today. They are kids size but turned out pretty well. I made a few pattern errors but nothing major that ruined the result.... The thumb should have been white, but blue will keep it looking a bit cleaner in the end I think! Lets hope that she likes them!

What I knit on the airplane...

Just incase anyone was slightly curious about what I was knitting on the plane here is a picture. There was also a hat but that's been given away already and I forgot to take pictures.... 

First Mittens....

and the problem with me never checking any gauge before I begin a project!

I decided to make these heart mittens and about half way into the first one I realised that they were going to be way too small for me. I was hoping to get a nice loose mitten and be able to line it with flannel or fleece to keep me toasty warm!...but alas, I am not going to be able to wear these. I think my friend's daughter is just small enough to be the recipient of these mittens. Im already modifying the pattern to make myself a pair in the same yarn.

Ah well.... better luck next time!

Airplane knitting

As I live in England and am from Canada each year for Christmas I HAVE to fly out to see my family. I cannot have a Christmas without them! This year I really wanted to be able to knit on the plane (since I can't make cupcakes on a plane, I had to do something!). So I trolled the internet for something saying I was allowed! I called Thomas Cook, who I was flying with, and they said it should be ok but check at the airport.

And Bingo!   Direct Gov's authority telling me I could knit on the plane! Woot Woot! So I packed it in my hand luggage and off I went.

Now, most people would think "Those are very dangerous!" so I took circular needles and double pointed needles as both I think would be hard to grip and use as an effective weapon! When I got to the airport and before I checked my luggage I went to security and confirmed that I could infact bring them on the plane. The guy said Yes, so I went and checked my bags. Off to security and I realised I was in the grumpy man's x-ray line. Crap. So I took my laptop out and put it in a bin, then asked him "do you want my knitting needles seperate as well?" He did not like that. He got even grumpier and when I told him that the guy downstairs said I could he went to his colleague and went "This girl's trying to bring knitting needles on the plane. Do we allow this?" and the other guy just goes "Yep" and carries on walking. Wooo Hooo! Horrible guy 0, Me 1.

So off it went to be x-rayed and I walked through the Beepey Scanners. Which Beeped. I'd forgotten my belt on in the knitting kerfuffle. Oops!

But in the end all was well and I wandered off to find some sushi (sooo much yummier on a plane!) and get ready to board the plane.


Once on the plane Im knitting away and halfway through the flight attendant comes up to me and goes "you're not allowed knitting needles on this plane. Its company policy. How did you manage to get them through security?" So much for the woman on the phone a few days earlier saying it might be ok! So I asked him "Are you going to take them from me?" and he laughed and said he might need to borrow them instead.


Alls well that ends well... and I finished a hat and worked quite a bit on a pair of fingerless mittens for myself! Lets hope the flight home goes the same way!!! Here is the Canadian link for the authority's stance on knitting...which is a thumbs up as well!

Obsession...

Is it wrong that I just want to tune people out when they are not talking about food, Christmas or knitting?

Perhaps no more wrong than my boyfriend deciding Nitin (Knittin') is a good name for one of our potential children... maybe he is more obsessed than me???

I really wanted to work on my end paper mittens at lunch today, but instead had to run errands. Now Im packing my bag (and updating blog clearly!) as I am off home in just two more sleeps! I cannot wait! I haven't been to Toronto since last year this time and cannot wait to see family and friends... and maybe share some knitted goods with them (the HWB cover, slippers, hats, all for them) and hope they talk about the aforementioned interesting topics or I might end up knitting while they speak - Sorry Loved Ones!!!

hehehe...

My Gap Cowl...

Gap have this cowl that my boyfriend was nice enough to buy me for Christmas! (woot, go boyfriend!)

Before I got this from him I started to make my own. I have changed it from the Gap one, which loops twice around your neck, to one that is just a straight forward cowl which will fit nicely under a jacket. I attempted this many times, at all different widths and settled on 29 stitches amounting to exactly a foot in this yarn/wool.

I cast on the 29, and knit the whole first row and then began the moss stitch for the second row and continued in it. I then knit it for 2 feet, 5 inches. I ensured I did another knit row before binding off to ensure I had a nice crisp finish once sewing the two ends together.

Sew together, pull over head and wear away! :)

Me in my own creation!

Pattern: 

Using Super Chunky wool and 9mm needles cast on your desired number of stitches, making them an odd number. (Mine was 29 stitches) 

Row 1: Knit all stitches (this will be your seam row when you are done, so it is easier if it is all knit stitches) 

Row 2: K1, P1 and repeat to the end. You should finish on a knit stitch if you do in fact have an odd number of stitches. 

Row 3: K1, P1 and repeat to end. Again, finishing on the knit stitch. 

Repeat Rows 2&3 until you have your desired length. 

Final row: cast off. 

Seam and enjoy! 

Knitted Hot Water Bottle cover!

Cast on 38 stitches and move to DPN. knit first row to pattern. In the second row, for the vertical colour line include a stitch increase to bring the total to 40.
Continue to knit to pattern ensuring you have enough slack inside the project when colours are not in use so that later your HWB will still fit inside. Because of the colourwork I won’t have to line the inside of the project - the double layer of yarn should do the trick. Where there was no white/grey changing i kept the colour wrapped every few stitches to keep it orderly and to create the lining.
When doing the neck of the bottle for the white vertical stitches knit both and then slip the first one over the second. Knit the rest of that row the same.
For the next two K2tog for each except the white stitches remaining. Change to rib stitch and add a stitch every 10 until you reach the top of your HWB. Knit one row in Grey then purl the next before binding off.
And that's it!

Easy Ballerina Slippers

These are really simple...and after a garter stitch scarf they were my first project!

Voila, a cute slipper. I decorate with little flowers etc.

 You pick a stitch you want to use, then knit a small sample to get your gauge right. Then cast the right number of stitches to measure from one ankle to your other. Knit the project the length of your foot.

Then the hard part! You will need to knit two stitches together for two rows. Drawstring the end together and stitch up to create the toe part of your slipper. I don't do any stitching up of the slipper until both are knit so I can use one to measure against the other. (Maybe do this, especially if you are like me and are VERY lazy about counting stitches as its easier to match them up to make sure they are the same length!)

Stitch up the toe part to make the front and then stitch up the back of the slipper! Then structure by threading yard around the opening of your slipper and if they are a present leave this tied but only in a bow so the person can fit them to their own feet.

Recipe Copycat

So what you probably do not know is that I am from Toronto but I live in England. I am IN LOVE with food and when I lived in Toronto I never cooked. Its not that I couldn't, just that I was always out running around and meeting people for breakfast, lunch and dinner on most days. So moving to Surrey, England has been a bit of a change since people here don't really go out for meals everyday, let alone three times a day. I have had to resort to learning to cook more things, and at times, copying the meals I would get at the restaurants! One in particular, 7 West, does a dish called Rosie Ravioli . RR is stuffed with asparagus and ricotta and topped with a creamy tomato Rose sauce. I LOVE it! Although allergic to onions I still eat it and regret it (they seem to put them in the sauce) so making it at home has made it guilt free! It doens't photograph well and looks really orange instead of pink, and I used cannelloni instead of trying to make my own pasta at that time. It definitely tasted just as good as 7 West's and my boyfriend was able to try my favourite dish from Canada! If anyone wants the recipe please let me know as I have written it down somewhere but need to find it to remember what all went into the sauce besides white wine! mmm... 

Chocolate Hazelnut SPARKLE!

These sparkles are The Boyfriend's favourite. I had to share according to him. I did the vanilla cupcake and made a Nutella Cream frosting... the people at work LOVED them! It was a new job, I was trying to buy friends! They were a light fluffy result, and I think I ate two....

Dirty 30 Cupcakes

So, my boyfriend turned 30, old I know... so of course I made him some cupcakes! I really like how the icing turned out only problem was that it was from Betty Crocker! But really, Betty knows what she's doing. Perhaps I will name my first child after her! Maybe Martha Stewart will come out with a rival line to Betty and they will bring it to the UK.

Quality over...well anything really...

I made these for a birthday, and they are the prettiest cupcakes I have made I think, but unfortunately I bought the butter for the icing from Tesco, and it was Tesco's own... Blech. It tasted ok, but definately not the BEST tasting frosting I have ever made. Luckily they were very pretty and the cake part turned out wonderfully (I used the Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cake recipe) so they were saved a bit. And the sparkles. It was the first time I used sparkles with baking, and I LOVE the results! I think everything should be sparkly from this day forward - my house mates might not agree, but since they aren't here let the sparkles reign!

Next time, Im going to go back to the shop and get the right quality butter because when you spend about 5 hours on some cupcakes you really want them to be their yummiest!

Cupcake Guidelines

I have been looking at cupcakes online for a few days now, looking for new recipes and ideas. And have decided that fondant has no place on cakes. It looks sleek and clean, but its a CAKE. Its meant to be fun, fluffy and delicious. Fondant is none of these things. Long live buttercream, whipped cream and well anything else that looks gooey yummy and fun!

Hearts Galore

After working in black for so long I really wanted a nice girly colour to bring things back to an even keel. Ive had this horrible acrylic yarn for a while and decided to use it to have my first go at lace stitching. A heart pattern seemed good enough for me so here's my first lace project. Sadly all it is destined to be is a curtain tie but alas it is a fate better than just sitting in my yarn bin (rapidly growing since discovering the current sales at my local yarn shop!).

Voila! Holey Heart! (and my gorgeous Filofax in the background stretching it out. I just love it).

Back to Black

I have REALLY struggled with knitting some black slippers for my 2nd cousin. She's a bit of a nutter and only wears black or white, and I think sometimes grey. So I thought I'd start on these and have finished them finally. I really did struggle with the gauge and when I had to re-do it I decided to change the stitch to my fall-back of a 3-5 stitch broken rib. This one was in a single stitch broken rib and I was really sad not to be able to continue as I really like the outcome of it.

To jazz them

up a bit after having to change the stitch I have done a colour swatch heart on them, to fight her white/black affliction with a bit of colour! Its a heart of the sole! Lets hope she gets the humour and still wears them. They are going to be finished with a white bow and some white contrast stitiching around the top of the slipper. Will have to post pictures when I do get motivated to finish them fully!

For my mom...

I have been working on these "broken rib" ballerina slippers for my mom for AGES. I still only have one finished, but I have a bit of time before Christmas. I'm also not sure about this colour for her, she's a bit more subdued, so they might end up belonging to someone else and I will get her a dark green or burgandy yarn to knit!

Im not fond of knitting on the bamboo needles. They all came in a set and I do use the bigger sizes but the smaller ones (like pictured) always just feel a bit fragile, but perhaps they will let me bring them on the plane when I fly home at Christmas? Lets hope!

The New Start

I had a blog before, hidden somewhere in cyberspace. And now that I can't remember where I have left it I must start again!