The Erin Hat

It has warmed up so nicely here in Johannesburg for now, we are aware that a freezing cold front will be arriving over the weekend and our temperatures are going to plummet once again. But for now I am so grateful for the warm sun... We are still battling with illness, Jen has tonsillitis, Kye a cold and Cady seems to be over his tummy bug. Sometimes when the whole family is sick like this, it feels like you are travelling a long road, uphill with no beautiful sunset on the horizon... I am really hoping this bug leaves our home soon... I feel tired...

Last night Richard and I sat working at the computer preparing the document for my Knitting Flowers e-book. We finished editing, my hubby is so clever at formatting, I am very grateful he has been able to help so much with the preparation of the Word file for e-book conversion. We eventually sent it off at about 10:30 pm last night. It was so exciting to see the file upload to the publishers website!! I couldn't believe how much emotion I was feeling! Such happiness, to have finished writing and then sending it off. I must say a special THANK YOU to Kristen, you have been so wonderful, helping me with all my questions about e-book covers, file sizes, formatting etc... You are such a great and lovely friend, I am blessed to know you! I am sure many of you already know Kristen, she is an amazing writer and the kindest person I know...

The e-book should be available for purchase from Amazon within 2 weeks, it will also be distributed through the iBookStore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Gardeners, Baker & Taylor and Copia. I will keep you updated though.

I have designed a new hat pattern that I would like to share here with you today, Erin has been my test knitter, so we have called it The Erin Hat. It has been knitted with a 2 ply hand spun Angora and Merino yarn that I bought from Nurturing Fibres. This yarn is SO exceptionally soft, REALLY! It is just amazing! Thank you dear Carle' we both love it so much.

Here is the pattern if you would like to give it a try:

Materials:
100 grams of hand spun 2 ply Merino and Angora yarn. (This yarn isn't quite a chunky weight, when I look at the ply is looks like 2 double knitting yarns plied together, perhaps just slightly thinner, if that gives you a better idea of the thickness so you can substitute). Just check the hat on your head for size though while you are knitting. The handspun is 9-10 wraps per inch.
5.5 mm circular needles for knitting in the Magic Loop technique
Sewing up needle

Pattern:
Cast on 60 stitches and join for knitting in the round with Magic Loop technique.
Rounds 1-4: Knit in rib, (knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches across the round)
Rounds 5-7: (Knit 3, purl 3) across the rounds
Rounds 8-10: (Purl 3, knit 3) across the rounds
Alternate rounds 5-7 and rounds 8-10 another four times (R 5-7, R 8-10, R5-7, R 8-10, R 5-7, R 8-10, R 5-7, R 8-10) Altogether you will have 10 pattern sections of three rounds each, the pattern sections excluding the rib will be 30 rounds.

Decreasing:
Round 35: You will just be knitting plain now, (knit stitch) and decrease 5 stitches evenly around the round. (55 stitches)
Rounds 36-39: Knit
Round 40: Decrease 5 stitches evenly across the round. (50 stitches)
Round 41-43: Knit
Round 44: Cast off 10 stitches evenly across the round (40 stitches)
Rounds 45-46: Knit
Round 47: Cast off 10 stitches evenly across the round (30 stitches)
Rounds 48-49: Knit
Round 50: Cast off 10 stitches evenly across the round (20 stitches)
Round 51: Knit
Round 52: Cast off 10 stitches evenly across the round (10 stitches)
Break yarn, thread onto a wool needle and thread through stitches, pull tight and finish off.

I have added the pattern to Ravelry so you can link your projects there if you like:)

Happy Knitting!

I have really been enjoying reading Wuthering Heights and then I'm going to read and re-read some of the Jane Austen books. Many of them I read when I was at school and now I feel it's time to revisit them again... Which was your favourite Jane Austen book?


I am joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along today.

Happy day to you!

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along... Lavender Flowers...

 

I love Lavender, it's one of my favourite flowers and has so many uses. There are many different varieties growing all over our garden. I add the essential oils to our homemade cleaners and also add a few drops to the vinegar that I add to soften our clothing in the washing machine. A few drops on a Lavender pillow will help you to fall asleep and can also soothe headaches...

The new Lavender we planted has been growing so well in our pot on our veranda, even a few tomatoes have started to sprout all on their own. I was inspired to knit up this Lavender flower yesterday and I have added the pattern to my flower ebook. I am so excited to share it with you. I have almost finished and will be sending the document off the the publishers next week. Then it should be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Apple store etc.. after just a few days.

Happy Yarn Along to you :)

Joining with Ginny's Yarn Along

Spinning and How Much Drama can Just One Day Hold?

I have finished my wool and tussah silk hand spun, I am very happy with it and it's going to be a Winter scarf. I really love wearing scarves in Autumn and Winter and the fact that they are hand knitted makes me feel so happy to wear them.

It has been rather an interesting day so far, hence the title of this blog post. It actually started last night when we had no hot water to bath with. That was still fine and then this morning the geyser started to leak. It was later confirmed that it had burst in 3 places and would have to be replaced. Thank goodness we are still under warranty with the geyser company! They are going to install another one with no cost to us tomorrow. We do have another small solar geyser, so as long as we stagger the bath times we should all have hot water. Caiden has gastric flu, but seems to be feeling a little better now.

Later in the day I was taking the girls to their art lesson and our car overheated, I made it to a service station and when we tried to start the car again, the battery was flat??? The owner of the service station was so helpful and managed to charge the battery enough for me to make it back home and now we are off to buy a new battery.

Phew, it has been a day all right, but I am so grateful for all the wonderful and helpful people that have appeared throughout the day. At one point, I remember smiling to myself and thinking, maby it's time to slow down, forget the panic and see all the goodness that surrounds me...

Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my blog post yesterday about simplifying our life, I have really enjoyed reading all your messages and I am still busy responding to each one:) You have all given me plenty to think about.

How has your day been so far?

WIP Wednesday

I have been working on a few flower patterns, this one is for a Poppy, the pattern will be ready soon.

An E-book for these flower patterns and more is going to be happening soon:) I have signed up with bookbaby and I'm VERY excited, what a lovely publishing company!

My Circumnavigate cowl is coming along nicely. Can't wait to wear it!!

My little Hippo is almost complete, I have been typing out all my patterns on my I-Pad, have I mentioned how much I love this little piece on technology? It has made pattern writing so much easier for me:)

What have you been working on this week?

PS There is a REALLY HUGE giveaway on my blog from the Natural Kids Team, just go here to see it!

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

I am so excited about this Tea Leaves cardigan, I am past the armholes now, tried it on and it fits perfectly! Happy dance!! All that doubt I had, dreading knitting this far, thinking it would be too big and well, it isn't :) What joy!

I am also thrilled the colours are showing through in this photo above...

PS 'A Faithful Journey' asked which wool I was knitting with. The wool is an aran weight which I hand painted myself with earth friendly dyes. I was going for a vintage, antique effect.

Our Koek-koek and Buff Orpington chickens have grown so big already...

Meet Marty, she lives in the garden with her other rabbit friend Jack.

Joining in with Ginny today.

Have a lovely day and thanks for visiting...

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

I have cast on and being knitting my Tea Leaves Cardigan, such a lovely knit. I can't wait to wear it. I am enjoying the colour, muted and pleasant with an Autumn feel. I used Vioset dye for the wool, combining a red brown and a few scatterings of grey. I hand painted the wool, which makes it easier to add more colour or less where you want.

Yesterday I finished my Rhino pattern, there is a giveaway for his pattern in the previous post.

Our mornings and evenings have become really cold, we lit our first fire today, but then as the sun rose, the day became glorious and warm.

Joining with Ginny's Yarn Along today

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

This week has been a week for finishing projects.
I finally finished off my Shalom Cardigan!!! I am so thrilled with it, I made it slightly bigger than the pattern, I added an extra row on the yoke and then I thought it was going to be huge, so I left it sitting in a basket for months... finally I picked it up again, finished the sleeves and blocked it. When I tried it on, it had such a comfy fit and I am ecstatic about it!! Really!

I also finished Kye's Boy Hat, I really love this quick and easy pattern and Kye is so excited about his mama knitted hat.

And you won't believe it... but I finished The Harris Shrug, a lovely chevron pattern.

My two girls have been knitting scarves and hats over the past two weeks, oh my!
This neck warmer is so cute, Jen knitted it as a fun project, it's called Incognito and has a moustache embroidered on to the knitting.

Have I told you how happy I am that they love to knit?
Yesterday, Erin, "Mom?",
me, "Yes?"
Erin, "I love to knit mom!"
me, happy dance!!!

Erin and Jen both knitted this Capucine hat, I think I am going to knit myself one too!

Erin finished this Ear Flap Hat yesterday in chunky cotton and a thinner Merino double knitting.

I am about to dye wool for my Tea Leaves Cardigan, anyone fancy a Tea Leaves KAL? Let me know:)

I am still reading Farm Anatomy and enjoying it.

Joining in today with Ginny's Yarn Along.

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

Yesterday a friend and I went off to Colourspun Yarns to buy some yarn, oh my, the colours were so beautiful, it was hard to choose. I chose all Aran weight yarns for hat knitting for my children because it's cooling down here quite considerably these days.

I have started knitting a hat for Caiden, he is so excited that I'm knitting his hat first, the pattern is called The Boy Hat Pattern, a free pattern on Ravelry. I also bought quite a few skeins of undyed yarn to dye up and knit The Tea Leaves Cardigan, such a beautiful cardi.

Almost finished the Harris shrug, just the rib to go.

I am reading the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Farm Anatomy, I am enjoying both of these books tremendously!

I am so very grateful for this day, yesterday, while returning from our wool excursion, our car was almost hit by a speeding truck, he was travelling extremely fast and almost hit us, he missed us by seconds, it was awful, horrid and left me with a migraine for the rest of the day and night. Today I feel better, this experience has helped me to remember and realise just how precious life and each day is...

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along.
xo

WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

Oh happy day! I managed to finish my Journey Slouch Hat! I remembered when I was spinning this roving that there was a small ball that had been spun up previously. I went searching for this yarn, scratching through the wool cupboard and I found it! So the hat is finished, Jen was so kind to wear it for the photos. I love the softness of this yarn, a flax, silk and Merino blend. I wasn't too sure about the colour, but I fell in love with it when I first saw it as a roving, (you know what I mean, you see some yarn, have no idea what you're going to do with it, it makes your heart so happy to just look at it and you simply must have it).

I am also busy designing another creature, when I saw this variegated blue I just knew it was the right colour for the project:)
Hope you are having an inspired day.

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along
Linda

Hat Knitting

 

I am still busy with my, stranded knitting hat from Solsilke, I have made quite a lot of progress and I'm enjoying this tremendously. Each round has been two stranded knitting and then last night I began on a three stranded row. I thought all was going well and then at the end of this particular row, I was a stitch short:( When I checked back, I had knitted four instead of three stitches right at the beginning of the row which put the entire pattern out just slightly. Now I am in the process of unpicking this row and, well, the stitches are really tiny, so wish me luck:)

I love the colours so much and I am thrilled I gave, stranded knitting a try.

This hat design is called, The Blue Light Hat and Scarf Pattern. A few people asked me last week to link to the pattern, it is on the Solsilke Bohus page on the link above. You can write to them under 'contact' and they will send you a price list:)

This morning my hubby and I went out for a quick breakfast date, how lovely it was to spend some time with Richard...

Reading: A kindle book by Kristen D Randle called The Gardener and really enjoying it, she is a wonderful writer.

Joining in today with: