Blankets

This is the finished baby blanket. It's now en route to my nephew who is nearly two weeks old and home from the hospital.
I have started another blanket for him for an xmas present, it is a dark blue (sort of denim blue in colour) and is a pinwheel shape, so round but with a pattern running though that separates the sections (from ravelry, very useful for patterns and ideas). I made a small blanket following this pattern once before and it is simple to knit but looks lovely. I went to John Lewis and stocked up on wool for it - this blanket will be Sirdar Snuggly in shade 0353. It really is lovely and soft and nice to knit so should be good for the baby.
I also bought some more grey wool that will become scarf (the alpaca will be a hat and wristwarmers I think) and some purple wool to make another beret style hat.
Which makes me think that I haven't posted anything about the beret hat - another ravelry pattern and knitted in multicoloured wool. Photo of that another time, need to finish this so that I can go and put homemade pea soup through the blender and have lunch.

Wool and Projects

So, at last the baby blanket is finished. I knitted a smaller square one first and then decided to knit a bigger one. They are both yellow and I don't think that I will add any decoration to them as they look quite finished with the pattern and border. I will post a picture soon (when I take one and then work out how to post it!).

And this does of course mean that I can start working with something other than yellow acrylic, and knit some new projects!

I went to the Knit Shop on Lee High Road yesterday (http://www.knitshop.co.uk/) and bought some thick green wool that I had seen a few weeks ago (but didn't buy as I didn't want to be distracted from the blankets). I am now halfway through a tam-o-shanter style hat with it that will be a Christmas present. I won't put a pompom on it - partly because that is not very stylish and partly because I don't like making them. I will knit a purple flower for it instead and put that on the brim.
I also bought some beautiful dark grey angora wool. It is so soft but I have knitted with it before and I know that I'll have to wear an apron when using it or I'll be covered in it. I think it will become a hat or scarf but haven't decided yet.

And now I have a very happy hour or so to plan this week - going through the box of wool and working out what wool I have and what I want to make with it. It is September so it doesn't seem too early to be making Christmas presents. And I want to make sure that I don't run out of time, the sewing course starts this month so I will probably spend more time on that and lose abit of knitting time.

That's all for now, I want to get back to the hat!