Christmas knitting

I saw this cartoon on the Lion Brand Knitting Newsletter and I thought I would share it. How is your Christmas knitting going? I have 2 scarves left to knit but as I have 2 Craft Fairs this weekend and they both are all day I should get some knitting done in between talking about my knitting. I found a new website this week "A new Stitch a Day"  Full of helpful videos and new stitches.

Knitting Tips and Tricks

Knitting Tips and Tricks I saw these tips on Knitting Daily and I thought I would share them with you.  Weave in Yarns as You Go Place the needle in the next stitch and, before wrapping it, lay the yarn tail over the working yarn. Now work the next stitch; the tail is now fastened in. Repeat this for about 1 to 2 inches making sure to carry the yarn tail loosely to avoid puckering. This technique is a real lifesaver when you're knitting a striped project. This is the correct orientation for adding new yarns. Positioning the yarns this way created a continuous length of yarn and will make your joins invisible. Joining Yarns Hold the old and new yarn together so that the tail of the old one overlaps with the tail of the new one, creating a continuous yarn. Knit with both strands for about 4 to 5 stitches. Then discontinue knitting with the old strand and continue on with the new one. On the next row, treat the two yarns as one stitch, not two. This join can be used for light- to worsted-weight yarn. Tracking Your Project Needle Size Take a very long piece of contrasting scrap yarn and tie the exact number of knots to represent the size of your knitting needle. That way, if you remove your needle for use on another project, you will always know what size needle you were working with on the unfinished project. (This is one of my favorites! I hate doing gauge swatches again just to see what needle size I used.) Tracking Your Cable Rows Tie some scrap yarn with the cast-on yarn tail when working a cable. Take the scrap yarn and flip it over the needle every four rows—it looks like a running stitch up the project. You will always know what row of the cable you're on as you only have to count four rows. Why do it every four rows? Because so many cables are based on a multiple of four rows.

Busy Week & another Fair

Another fair, this week at the Cowes Yacht Haven.  It was a fantastic place to have a fair, very spacious and there was a continuous flow of people.

As for what is on my needles at the moment.

My Mother's Scarf

Aquamarine Scarf

I started to knitting another Peridot Scarf. Also today Mum asked me to knit her another Peridot Scarf but with a wider lace part so I am thinking about that, which will make 2 Scarves.

Also several people commented on the aquamarine Scarf especially how the beads sparkle. However the one I have for sale is knitted out of silk and alpaca is £45 so I would like to knit another one but with a different yarn and hopefully slightly cheaper.

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I love Wight Christmas Fair

Christmas Fair season has started. :-) The first one was last Sunday. This is the first time "I love Wight" has been run and it was a huge success. So good that they are hoping to run one for Mother's day, and in the Summer as well as next Christmas.

 It was a lovely sunny day and loads of people came to look at all the stalls. Here is a link to some photos taken by Sara of IOW Makers of some of the stalls.
Photos from the Fair

Unfortunately the lighting was quite poor where I was, but I still had several people interested in my items and organising a knitting workshop. 2 lovely children, helped by their dad, bought a lovely scarf for their mother's Christmas present.

Update on the Local yarn

I have finished the Beatrice shawl. I like the colour but I am not too sure about the feel. It will be interesting to see what comments I get at the Christmas Fairs I am going to to.

I have also started the Caplet. This wool is defiantly only suitable for an outer garment as it is quite harsh to touch, but I am very please with the stitch definition and I think it will make a lovely caplet. I just have to get some more balls. :-)

Local Yarn

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for Alpaca Farms on the IOW and came across Godshill Park Farm. 

Although she did not have any Alpaca yarn for sale until December she did have Pure Castlemilk moorit (sheep) wool (dark brown) and a blend of Alpaca, llama and Castlemilk moorit (caramel).  I bought some 4ply in the mixed yarn and some Double Knit in the Castlemilk moorit.  Neither of them would I describe as soft, but as an outer jumper or jacket would knit up well.

Kathy Kelly Cable Caplet by Renate Haeckler

I have nearly finished Beatrice in the mixed yarn and I have started Kathy Kelly Cable Caplet in the DK.

Beatrice by Goddess Knits

New Outlet

At Easter I was contacted by a shop in London, NICOLINA lifestyle boutique, saying that they were interested in featuring some of my shawls and scarves. At first I thought it was a hoax but after some emailing back and forth it seems it is for real.

I had to have high-resoultion photos taken of 3 shawls and 3 scarves and they could only be made from silk, merino, or cashmere. These are the 6 items which I used.

I sent the photos off and now I have a page. Have a look, I would love to know what you think.

Scarves and Shawl