All Fingers and Thumbs

I'm home again and happy as can be. So much fun has been had over the last week and a bit and the gift knits were actually done in time! (Well almost ). It seems that I took next to no photos of Christmas down in Cornwall with my family but here's a suitably Christmassy shot in a rare patch of sun - though I should point out that these are pet geese that didn't get eaten :) The last two knits on the gift schedule were both socks and were both nearly there by the time I caught the train on the 19th. I thought I had finished these Angee socks off on the way down and was very happy with that as they were for my Mum and so not the easiest thing to knit at her house. I was so excited to start these back when I first got my hands on Cookie A's book but I did not love knitting these as I never 'got' the pattern and had to check the book all the time in the most annoying way. I should have abandoned them early on but stubbornly carried on and it seems I was so keen to f

I've hit the December point known as - "if only there were more time" - I think it about a thousand times a day as I have yet another crazy idea of something to make/cook/do for Christmas. I like to think that if I could just abandon the job for December that I'd get it all done. I'd get more done for sure but it could never be 'all' as the inspiration out there ensures fresh supplies of schemes for wintery delights - like learning to crochet just to make snowflakes or building my own snow village or... well I'm sure you all get the idea and have a billion things bubbling over that you'll never quite get to. So it's prioritise like crazy, craft for sanity (and if it is as simple as wrapping some berries and mistletoe round a heart shaped wreath - jump for joy) and I try to remember that seeing the people I'm making the presents for is the most important thing of all! I don't think I'll be back here before I head down to the wilds

Malabrigo Hat? Check. Mock Cable Socks? Check. Two more Christmas presents checked off the to knit list (and two more checked off that list when I found lovely shop gifts this weekend) means the control thing might not just be an illusion this year! Pattern: Skye Rib Hat - Dreamcatcher Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted - Forest - about half a skein Needles: 4mm DPNs Started: 19 November 2009 Finished: 07 December 2009 This is my second version of this pattern, a great beanie which is super stretchy enough to fit all but the biggest noggins I would think. Thank you Dreamcatcher for a great classic pattern. The Malabrigo is so lovely for a snug hat as it so soft around your face and I'm hoping there might be enough left in the skein for a second. Pattern: Lacy Mock Cable Socks - Scarlett Knits Yarn: Regia Kaffe Fasset Design Line - Shade 4250 Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs Started: 28 August 2009 Finished: 06 December 2009 Love this pattern. Wins an award from me for a stitch pattern that lo

I'm so glad it's December - my self imposed no mention of Christmas ban is lifted! I'm so excited this year, I don't quite know why the magic is stronger some years than others, maybe it's just having enough time and energy to enjoy the fun and not feel like it's lots of work? I feel like I'm in control of the Christmas knits (we're still at the illusion stage). A few are done - like those rocking red socks - and most are on their way like this version of Dreamcatcher's Skye Rib Hat in a good Christmassy green shade of Malabrigo . I'm making this for the Secret Santa swap at work, I pulled out a colleague who has been begging for a hand knit - serendipitous! The decorations came down from the loft last night and though we can't get our tree till the weekend some things went up. Last years pompom garland was a lot more fun to make than to untangle this year, come January 6 th I must be in less of a hurry to just get the stuff down! I do l

So if we can get a drum roll please, I am delighted to announce the winners of the third blogiversary yarn drawings from All Fingers and Thumbs. For the the Piccolo iiiiiiitttttttssssssss.... Lori , for the Manos our hedgehog loving friend... Kelly and last but not least for the Plaid... Fiona. If the the three lucky ladies could be in touch with addresses by email or PM to Thumbelina on Ravelry I'll get this yarn in the mail; Fiona: Blogger didn't capture any of your details so I hope you see this here :o) Thank you to everyone who joined in and for all the compliments you left me for my blogging, enough to keep me going for at least enough another three years I think! Here are some winners of another kind, a pair of lovely socks, a finished object I do believe. Something not seen in these parts for quite some time! These are the Socktober Mystery socks finished just in time for the prize draw - quite an incentive to focus! I'd done well at keeping up with the clues until

Why is it that some crafty techniques are easy and some difficult? Why are some easy for one and difficult for another? Who owns the scale that says what is easy and what is not? When I was on holiday I finally got around to cabling without a cable needle. I've often read of people learning to do this but never quite had the impetus to take what felt like it would be a plunge myself. I thought it was an advanced technique and one that I wasn't sure I would ever bother with. I'm not the world's speediest knitter and have never really minded the extra time involved in using a cable needle. While travelling my main project was the Over the Knee Stockings from Handknit Holidays which has one fiddly cable every ten rows as part of the gorgeous seam that runs up the back of the leg. Part of my getting my knitting on the plane strategy is to avoid taking metal needles in the hand luggage and I thought I could just use a spare DPN as my cable needle, which I did for a while,

It's a magic number. My blog is three years old today. I can't quite think whether it feels like I've had a blog for three minutes or if I always had one. Do you ever feel that way about time? Somehow that first post is forever ago and also yesterday. Anyway it wouldn't be a good blogiversary without some prizes for t'dear readers would it now? Three years means three prizes in my book and as my destashing efforts have been hurt by my yarn tourism I think I'd better share some stash as prizes and redress the balance a bit. These are all yarns that I'm just not sure what to do with so I hope your imaginations are better than mine. Excuse the photos from the archives, weathery gloom means these are the best we can get. 1) There are fifteen skeins of this Lana Grossa Piccolo Print, which gives you just under 900 metres of it. It was a gift to me and I've never quite had the vision of what it wants to be. 2) Three skeins of Rowan Plaid, I think this colourwa

Oh there was yarn shopping a plenty on this trip; I knew to look for yarn stores in Portland and Seattle but even Cannon Beach has its own beautiful store. My pre-trip target was just some Raven Clan Socks that Rock as the perfect local souvenir. Howeve it's rare stuff even in the Pacific Northwest and I didn't find any until the last store I visited and it just seemed impossible not to collect a little something from each shop. It has to be said that I am a dreadful yarn shop yarn shopper - so indecisive - I like to check EVERYTHING out maybe three times and in the end tend to go for a safe skein of sock yarn I know I'll use. Free WIFI or use of networked PC would be such a great addition to any bricks and mortar store. I hinted to see if the assistant would look something up for me in one place but I think I was too subtle! Aaaanyways, I digress - here's the haul: As well as being too shy to ask outright for use of the internet I am also too shy to take photos in st

Today at work I had that "it's as if I never had a holiday" feeling. Definitely time to pick out a sample of the over 300 (!) photos I managed to take in Seattle to share with you and remind myself how fun it was. Oh it was such fun, such a great trip all round. We got the train from Portland up to Seattle, fabulously comfy knitting opportunity ahoy. We stayed right by Pike Place Market which is a maze of little shops and stalls, quite focused on the tourists but fun nonetheless. The views from the roof of our hotel out over Puget Sound were wonderful. I may have become a little obsessed with the view across to the port and the cranes which look to me like some sort of prehistoric monsters standing waiting to feed on the container ships. I think I could stare at this view forever and never tire of it as it changes so much. We did our normal walking, walking, walking around. Loved the sculpture park. Had to visit perhaps the most famous public library in the knitting worl