A Few Signs that it’s Nearly Autumn

A week or so ago I was thinking that summer will leave us soon, but at the same time believed that there are still enough days to enjoy the rest of it. Now I’m noticing that everything’s changing quite fast – we get more and more rain, the sky is turning cloudier and I have to push myself hard to get out into the open. No, it’s not cold (yet), but my mood is somehow different – I guess I’m turning into a rodent (not literally!) who wants to prepare its den for the winter.

Since last April I haven’t touched my knitting needles, but now in just three days I’ve managed to make a new jumper! No need to think I’m some “SK” (superknitter) – it’s just a small jumper for my 2 year old godson, but still it’s a garment that will have to keep him WARM.

What do you make of it? I’d say that my biological clock is working well (apart from the fact that I’m 29 and think that I’m FAR too young to have children). Anyway, let’s shout “hurray!” for the knitting season. And here’s one more knitting pattern.

It isn’t difficult and looks good, can you ask for more?

Please use the diagram below.

Hopefully one day I will be able to post some photos of my nephew actually wearing the jumper – it’s hard as he lives 300km away from me; but it seems that my niece likes hers a lot! She couldn’t put it down while spending a week here with us. By the way my nephew is in one of the photos below – he’s the stripy one on the horse.

The Sense of Completion

A few days ago my friend asked me about my latest ‘projects’. She knows that I’ve always got lots on the go… it’s also not a secret that many don’t get finished – I have so many half knitted things hidden behind the sofa that buying some more yarn is always a sin! After telling her about the latest unfinished ‘creation’ I suddenly felt so guilty… I forgot my usual excuses and just got on with it!

Here’s the result, a jumper for my beloved niece.

I must admit it felt so good to have finally have it DONE, that hopefully it will inspire me for some more finishing stitches (my most famous excuse – I can’t nicely sew the knitted parts together). And then I also wondered – if the sense of completion is so satisfactory when you knit a jumper what did my father feel when he finished building our house?

Pattern

The knitting pattern that I used for this jumper is really easy and it gives it a nice soft effect.

For reference please have a look at the diagram below.

Simple Christmas Projects – Beaded Poinsettia

I can finally feel Christmas coming – we’ve had our first snow, shop windows glow in different colours and the main square in town has a huge Christmas tree. It seems that despite the economical crisis, that we keep hearing about on the news, everyone is getting ready for the festive period and there’s nothing better than the anticipation of the big event.

There’s still 4 weeks, seems like a lot of time, but this waiting can bring its own pleasures - I love decorating, baking little biscuits, buying and wrapping up presents! So having flicked through a lot of magazines, looking for inspiration, and searched through my head what else I could come up with I decided to make some beaded flowers – poinsettias.

Last summer I was asked to become God mother to my nephew and had to buy a candle for his Christening. I wanted to decorate it in small white beaded flowers. As I had never done this before I looked up on the internet and found an example of something I had in mind on this website - http://www.craftbits.com/

For this project you will need: small red, green and yellow beads, thin flexible wire and a bit of patience.

Instructions: We’ll have to make several red and several green petals – as many as you want. So here we go - cut a length of wire around 30cm for each petal. Thread a single bead onto the wire and slide it into the centre. Push one end of the wire through two more beads. Push the other end of the wire through the same two beads. Now you have the second row of your petal. Work the other rows adding one bead more than the previous row or one bead less – that’s how you can shape your petals.

Be creative – petals don’t have to be exactly the same, some can be bigger, the others smaller. You can also vary the colours – add green beads to the red petals to make your flower look more natural. If you want your poinsettia to be yellow in the middle just finish a few petals making the last petal bead yellow. After you’ve added the last bead just twist the two wires together making stems. Once you’ve made all of your petals twist their ‘stems’ into one. That’s it.

I hope you enjoyed it and that you will find a place for your ‘home grown’ poinsettia – decorate your presents, wreaths, Christmas table…