You wouldn’t think it from the complete absence of blog posts in recent months, but I have been doing quite a lot of crafting! Something about working from home is making me a bit laptop-averse during non-working hours and my blog has suffered as a result. 

Back in April I knitted a cowl for Mum. By the time I finished it the weather was warm, and with the Covid situation I was nervous of going to the Post Office, but also worried that if I just guessed the postage and put it in the village post box it might not get there (they always ask you what’s in a parcel when you go to the actual post office and I had it in my head they might not send it if it only had normal stamps on it), so saved it for her birthday in late summer / early autumn. It was done on circular needles, which I always knew I hated, but this confirmed it! For all I tried reeeeeeeeally hard not to twist it, it got twisted; time and again. I even tried hanging little hair clips from it, but no, it still got twisted, and pulled out and cast on again loads of times. I like the end result, it’s Sirdar colourwheel and though the pattern says to use alternate ends of the ball to get a stripy effect I thought it would like nicer in the larger blocks of colour so just knitted with it normally. It’s an acrylic yarn, which I felt a bit guilty about environment-wise, but it’s nice and light for the neck and not itchy, plus hopefully will last a long time as a garment so long as the yarn and my knitting are good enough quality for it not to get holes in it, so it shouldn’t end up in landfill for quite some time. (This is me wearing it, not Mum, though I felt a bit rude trying on someone else’s gift!).

I also made a hat for my brother, in MillaMia Naturally Soft Aran. The pattern is one of MillaMia’s own and I couldn’t see that they named the designer in the pattern. The yarn has a very nice feel and will certainly keep the head warm! The yarn was for sale on LoveCrafts and when I’ve looked for other colours to make another one I can’t see that anyone else in the UK sells it. (I think it goes without saying that this is also me wearing the finished product!). Oh and yes, that is the bathroom, it was the only place I could find that was light enough and where I could perch the camera (on the bathroom cabinet) to take a photo with the self-timer on the camera! I like the cable in this; it included a twist stitch I hadn’t done before but which worked well.