Kilt Hose - Knitting WIP

When I was made redundant on 2nd January 2009 ("Happy" New Year!) from my job at Battersea Park Children's Zoo I tried to make the best of a bad situation. My then boyfriend had gone to study in Holland for three months, and I figured I'd finish those Kilt Hose I'd promised when I'd made the little anteater socks (see earlier post).

The yarn was pure wool, Dream in Colour, Night Watch, Double-Knit, absolutely gorgeous colours, came together beautifully and was soft and easy to work with, and smelled like sheep (not really)! Bought from Stash Yarns in Putney at a ridiculous price this was a work of art, a labour of love and would have been a gift to treasure forever. The pattern, John Anderson Kilt Hose, can be found here.

Problem is, he broke up with me about three inches away from having the second hose of the pair finished, and when I sobbed every time I tried to finish them my mother confiscated my knitting and so they are still not finished!!!

Little Socks - Knitting

I had a quest: to make kilt hose for my (now ex-)boyfriend. I didn't have time to finish them for his birthday.
The pattern which he found required the hose to be made on circular needles, so I made a trip to Stash in Putney, a luxury yarn shop, for some wool and the necessary needles. This was where I was introduced to Ravelry!

I thought I ought to practice making socks on circular needles, and found a pattern at Mind's Eye Yarns . So that I wouldn't get too confused I made one sock at a time, and made little baby ones so that I wouldn't spend too much time on them. The pattern is easy to follow, and the socks simple to make and nice when finished. The two prototypes now form part of the birthday present, on a toy giant anteater.

I used some blue acrylic DK I had lying around for the prototypes, and they look quite nice now, what do you think?!

Banana Cosy - Knitting

A very silly project but also a lot of fun! When visiting Stash, a yarn shop in Putney, I picked up a postcard with a pattern for a banana cosy, from a pile of postcard on the desk. It was an advertisement for "The Rebel Knitter's Guide" to be published in The Guardian that Saturday, which I duly bought. The Monday after the guide was published I started and finished it!

It's simply stocking stitch to the length of a typical banana, with a bit of increasing at one end to get a tapered shape, and a few YOs at the other end to thread a ribbon (or, in my case, an icord) through. Check out the pattern on Ravelry!

I got a lot of funny looks from people watching me knit it in public, I think the shape of the item was suggestive! ;o) My cosy is constructed from yellow acrylic yarn, left over from Tom's Watford United scarf (see earlier posting). The guide I've kept, and the post card I've given to my grandmother, who is planning to make cosies to sell to raise money for a charity "Containers of Hope", who fill boxes with useful items to send to places of conflict/famine/natural disastors etc..