Secret Springtime Santa revealed!

This morning I received my parcel from the Springtime Santa Swap on the Angel Yarns Forum.

Inside were 6 balls of Twilleys Freedom Spirit which I have had on my wish list for a while, I've seen so many lovely things knitted up in it that I was really keen to try it myself. It also felts well too apparently, and felting is on my must-do list, so I am very chuffed with my gift.
And for my sweet tooth there were 5 wee chocolate sheep which I duly shared with DD.
The clue to who my gift was from was a quote from Jane Eyre. I knew it was book related but didn't get the Jane Eyre reference (shame on me). However, the literary reference was enough for me to work out it was from Bronte. Thank you!

This is the first Secret Santa I've taken part in and it's been a lot of fun finding out about fellow forum members. News on whose Secret Santa I am in the next week (I hope).

Another week, another hat.....

This is another hat for DD, made in Sirdar Luxury Soft Cotton purchased on my travels last week. Very nice yarn to work with.
As the bathroom was (and still is) a work in progress we hot-footed it to my Uncles in Peebles for a few days last week. Veitch's department store is closing down and they had a sale - 30% off all yarn. So I got 5 balls of Wendy Fusion - 3 blue/green colourway and 2 juniper berry - and a ball of Sirdar Blur which is destined to become yet another hat for DD. The closing down sale has been on for a fortnight and the shelves were decimated. There was one woman came in and was nearly crying at the thought of losing her wool shop. It's great that there's loads of online wool suppliers now, but nothing beats going into a shop and having a fondle!
I came away from Peebles with a carrier bag and a half of yarn from my Auntie Christine, a right mix of baby yarn and very bright acrylics. So that's it - I'm not buying anymore yarn till I make inroads into what I have already.
In progress at the moment is a polo neck jumper for DD in Sirdar Bonus Flash. It's knitting up really quickly but no photo yet.
I'm also keenly waiting on my Springtime Santa gift from my Secret Pal from the Angel Yarns forum. Lots of people have been posting what they've received and there's been some lovely parcels.

This Week's Knitting

This has been a disrupted week. We are getting a new bathroom fitted so I decided to take DD away for the week down to Blackpool, which is where my husband works during the week at the moment. So I had some time to knit, but deliberately took wee projects with me.

First thing to be completed was pawkies for me. After the success of DD's pawkies I decided to do a pair for myself. They're on the big side though, but very cosy none the less. The pattern came from one of my Christmas presents 'Easy Knitted Accessories' by Jeanette Trotman and it was indeed a very easy pattern. I knitted them up in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky, a wee bit of luxury for my poor hands.

While away, I had a wee shopping spree. I visited Hobbycraft in Preston and was disappointed. I bought some acrylic cheap stuff, and also some Sublime DK. Then on to the Sheep Shop in St Annes which had a good selection of Sirdar, Debbie Bliss, Noro, Louisa Harding etc. I bought 2 balls of Sirdar Luxury Soft Cotton, the same of Louisa Harding Kashmir DK and some Bonus Flash for a jumper for DD.

I've also completed 2 hats for DD.

This one is made from the Sublime mentioned above. It's the first time I've knitted with this yarn and it is lovely. Very soft and has a silky sheen to it when knitted up. The pattern is a Sirdar Snuggly one (Number 1711). Sirdar have a really good range of patterns just now and even though most have babies or toddlers on the pictures, the sizing goes up to age 6 which is fantastic.

The second hat is from the same pattern but knitted up in my cheap pink acrylic. She loves the colour!

The only thing I have on the pins at the moment is the pink cardigan I started in the Hipknits sock wool. I've just to do the border but for some reason I am very reluctant to pick it up. I think it's because I'm worried it may be too wee for DD.

I'm itching to get stuck into a big project but most of the yarn I have is in small amounts (around 100g) and I feel I should use it up before buying lots of yarn to make a jumper.

So - lots of wee projects or one big one? Watch this space!

What to do with leftover sock yarn....

I have been tidying up my knitting paraphenalia and came across some leftover sock wool, from my first ever (and only ones so far) pair of socks. I was reluctant to bin it, as it had been a Christmas present, so I made this rather fetching ensemble for my DDs doll:

The hat looks a bit wild, but this particular doll has one hell of a head of hair under there.

Also, I came across two bonnets that I made a couple of weeks ago, in an attempt to reduce my stash. They're homeless at the moment, so I'll keep them till a wee girl baby comes along. I was a bit over zealous when pressing the feather and fan one, and have flattened it a fair bit along the edge. Needless to say I haven't bothered with pressing the second one yet.

Also this week I got my copy of Rowan Magazine (41) and spent a nice half hour with a cup of tea reading through it. This is only the second copy of the magazine I've had and I really like it. I loved loads of the patterns in Rowan 40 but never got round to knitting any of them. I always associate knitted things with Autumn/Winter or babies so it was inspiring to look through a magazine of knitted things for Spring/Summer. I'm not saying I'll knit any of the items in there either as I have a to-do list that is massive, but I thoroughly enjoy the magazine and will keep buying it.

Other excitement this week is that I have signed up for a Secret Pal gift giving on the Angel Yarns Forum. We have been assigned a Secret Pal to buy a knitting gift for, up to the value of £20. I have been busy reading all my Secret Pals previous posts to see what she likes and have already made some purchases. Not saying any more till she gets the gift!