FO: Greyson

I know things have been a bit quiet here but that's not because I haven't been crafting it's just because a lot of my crafting of late has been of the super secret squirrel variety and I'm not allowed to share just yet :-)  I have been lucky enough to do two super secret test knits so fat this year and I have another one on the needles at the moment but once that is done I have a nice long list of wee quick projects to fire off and get things moving again.
Anyway as usual I digress completely from the point of this post.  In amongst all the super secret squirrel testing I have also had the opportunity to test this gorgeous new boys jersey pattern from the ever talented Julia Stanfield.  Julia's ability to get classic and practical designs just right is amazing.  This latest design is for a classic unisex v-necked jersey which was exactly what I had been looking for to knit for Mr A in some yarn I had stashed away here.  As with all of Julia's designs this is a top-down seamless knit and it is super quick to knit up even in the larger sizes.  It will be available in several yarn weights and from nb to 10y so again a great value pattern.
Here is my version of Geryson knitted in Three Irish Girls worsted weight yarn in colourway Aiden.  Anyone who knows me will also know that I really don't do lime green so I struggled a bit knitting this up but I must admit I like the colourway now.  Also the yarn did some pretty funky pooling things on the sleeves but that's ok.

For the bands and sleeves I used Spud & Chloe Sweater in a lovely dark chocolate brown.  I now know why people rave about this yarn it is so scrummy to work with.

Because Mr A is still pretty teeny for his age and is only 21.5 inch chest I did the 22 inch chest size (which is a size 3) and did size 4 length in the body and sleeves.  This turned out to be a perfect fit on him, nice and slim through the body so it works well under a fleece on the cold morning walks to school.
The day I finished this we all went to the Pauahatanui Wildlife Reserve so I took the opportunity to snap a few pics even though the jersey wasn't blocked at that stage.

Here are a couple more pictures after I blocked it, it did grow a little in length of body and sleeves and the fit is fantastic after blocking.

Best of all though is that he loves it.  The TIG yarn has washed up so lovely and soft, my only problem now is getting it off him long enough to wash it.  I can see this will become my go to pattern for Mr A over the next few winter's.  Once again well done Julia on another awesome pattern.

PIF Results

I know this post is long overdue but I have been ill all week and haven't had any computer time at all.  Well that's not strictly true I did manage to actually do the random.org draw on Tuesday but haven't been online to blog since then.
Anyway enough about that and there is no need to chat about the weather since it has been pretty diabolical here of late, so without further ado I can tell you that random.org picked comment number 6!!

This means the pattern will be winging it's way (in just a couple of minutes) to Shortly as requested by Hoeanz via the information superhighway :-)

I hope everyone is staying safe, warm and healthy!

Entangled - A Chance to PIF

So the other day I was browsing Facebook, as you do, and I spotted a link posted by the lovely pattern designer Just Jussi.  This link caught my eye as it was about a local fibrecraft magazine called Entangled.  Now I have come across the name before but I must admit I have never really bothered to go out of my way and take a look at it, as in general I'm not much of a magazine reader.  This day however I had a bit of time while Miss M was having a sleep and I was enjoying a cup of tea and the peace and quiet.
The actual link posted was to a fundraising page aiming to make Entangled bigger and better than ever and the more I read the more I liked :-)  I downloaded the free preview issue and was really impressed with both the layout, all the pretty pictures and also the actual content.
So what is Entangled?  Stolen from Zinio, "Each issue of entangled features an indepth view of fibrecraft and those who participate. We seek to inspire and inform crafters who craft because they love the process, those who craft as a means to an end, those who craft because they feel they have to, and everyone in-between."  Okay so maybe this is a mag for me after all?  
I decided to 'support' the efforts of this magazine and bought a one-year subscription and with it was gifted a free pattern for the gorgeous NZ themed mittens "Tiki Mittens".

I have been lucky enough to have already been gifted a copy of this pattern previously and have been told I can pass this copy on, so I felt a bit of paying-it-forward was in order.


If you would like this copy of the gorgeous Tiki Mittens pattern just leave a comment on this post, if you have a favorite magazine or book (crafting or otherwise) that you enjoy I would love to hear about it but it's not necessary, and please make sure you leave details of how I can get hold of you.  I will use random.org to draw a winner on 12th June at 8pm NZ time :-)