Hi! I’m hard at work on bee blocks and my table runner for the Swap, but I needed a break so I’m gonna share some of my recent knitting finishes with you. And happily I can also enter this post in Rachel’s Celebrate Color yarn contest.

I’ve been busily trying to get everyone ready for the winter. I only started knitting a few months ago, but I absolutely love to knit and very, very few days go by with me not working on some knitting project. I taught a friend how to knit and we get together every couple weeks to stitch together.

For some inexplicable reason, my tween daughter Savi has suddenly become very fond of wearing knitted hats. Like all the time. For all I know she’s even sleeping in them. So I wanted to make something special for her, something she could wear inside or out, in colours she loves. This is what I came up with:

BUT. There’s always a but. This is actually my 2nd try. Ladies, I have learned the hard way that you MUST do a tension swatch before you start knitting. Because if you don’t, your hats look like this:

Yeah. Not so great, huh. Luckily my friend Chris suggested I could pick up stitches round the bottom and make it longer with ribbing. I’m still knitting it. If I get a real hat out of it, I’ll send it to my sister Serena.

I also knitted a hat for my sister Nina which I managed to get right the first time (I don’t know how, as I didn’t do a tension gauge for that either):

I used this free tutorial from Ravelry.

And I couldn’t neglect my lovely Buzz. He works so hard for us, commuting 4+ hours daily to and from work, and I wanted to make him something that would remind him of the warmth, love and comfort of our home while he’s away. So I made him a very warm, soft scarf using Fyberspates yarn, which is 55% merino wool and 45% silk. Yum. (This pattern is free on Ravelry too.)

Trust me, when he’s wearing his suit and overcoat it looks really swish.

Last but not least, I’ve been knitting for myself. I’ve discovered the joy of socks. I LOVE knitting in the round using 2 circular needles – I think it makes me look smart. Especially with my new knitting/reading glasses too 🙂

I’ve knitted myself socks before, but those were sorta house socks. These are proper socks, which let me tell you will keep your feet toasty!

This was my first attempt at grown up socks:

What do you think? I used this free tutorial via Ravelry.

These are my second pair, and the pattern is also available for free on Ravelry:

Thing is, although they take aaaaages to make, and the needles are super small so you have to have good light, there is, I assure you, no prouder feeling than what you get when you slip a pair of socks on that you’ve knitted yourself. And if you need help, you can come over to my house and I’ll show you how to do it. 🙂

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

© J C Excell, 2011