Autumnal Enthusiasm

Colour Block Mitts

There's a chill in the air and a distinct spring in my step - and I'm happy to report that my knitting mojo is now out of the summer doldrums and officially back in action.

There's nothing like a morning chill (and the fact that you have Raynauds syndrome) for kick starting that hunt through drawers and last years coat pockets for fingerless mitts.

As ever, I always seem to come up short of a mitt or two but luckily these colour block mitts don't take long to knit, even though they are knit in leftover sock weight yarn.

The matching cowl takes a little longer but as my old one was 'borrowed' by a friend I might be knitting myself another one of those too.

Flash Sale - 20% off patterns

If your knitting mojo has returned with a bang too, you'll want to take advantage of my flash sale - just until tomorrow I'll be offering 20% off all of my patterns.

So you can treat yourself to an autumnal themed pattern or two - or get ahead and start lining up those Christmas knits.

Use code AUTUMNLOVE at checkout for 20%

Be quick though - code expires at midnight on Oct 4th.

A new shawl for crisp autumn days

Autumnity Shawl

I'm sure you are well aware of my love of all things autumnal, and when I came across a new word - Autumnity - for some reason it stuck in my head and wouldn't leave.

It kept making me think of crisp autumn days, the rustle of leaves and the slight chill in the air. It struck me that as we have petrichor (the term used to describe the smell of wet earth after summer rain) we should really have a word to describe the smell of those autumn days.

I can't recreate that in knitwear, obviously, but this wonderfully crisp Yak-based sock yarn from Banshee Yarns ticked all the right boxes for me - fabulous stitch definition, crisp but soft - and of course a gorgeous autumnal colour.

The shawl is an extended triangle, knit sideways with the straightforward lace border knit on as you go.

You do need access to weighing scales for this, but other than that it is a wonderfully relaxing and straightforward shawl to knit. Just make sure that if you are knitting on the move, you have some portable scales with you (don't be like me and end up carting our kitchen scales with you in your hand bag. It wasn't quite an 'everything but the kitchen sink' moment - but my husband did raise an eyebrow when he spotted it in my handbag).

The pattern is available on my Payhip store as usual, but this time - for the first time - I have a pattern launch available directly on my website (cue trumpet fanfare). Just click the button to buy and if you’d like a copy for your Ravelry library please email me after purchase and I’ll make that happen.

Happy autumn knitting.

A belated start to Socktober

It seems as though every blog post I start recently has something to do with time flying, or lack of time. And true to form here I am sliding in, slightly breathless into the second day of every knitters favourite month - Socktober.

There isn’t an official KAL that I know of but since when did dedicated sock knitters need any excuse to dig through their stash and cast on for a new sock project.

These autumn-inspired scrappy socks have been on my needles for a week or two so I’m making a determined effort to get them finished and then see how many pairs I can polish off during the month. DIY self stripe socks have become something of an obsession of mine over recent months. There is something very satisfying about being able to use up the smallest of scraps from your leftovers. If you haven’t seen it already, I use the Clasped Weft Join for this which is great fun and makes joining in new yarns an absolute breeze.

Thrillingly we have also experienced some cold mornings in my part of the UK. It’s always a slightly smug feeling, as a knitter, when you can pull on some warm woollen items to make your walk to work, toasty warm. You might of course be boiling hot by lunchtime but that’s another problem altogether. With the cold mornings in mind I knit up a larger, wrappable version of my Coffee Break Cowl using 2 skeins (rather than 1) worsted weight yarn. I was really surprised at how quickly it knit up and it has just the right amount of length. Enough to wrap around the neck once, without giving you that strangling feeling.

RAVELRY PATTERN