Wool Britannia

I may have been a bit premature in proclaiming the arrival of Spring, it is freezing again. Time to wrap up warm and keep the cups of tea coming.

One snow day mitten

While hiding inside away from the cold, I’ve finally created something useful out of the lovely green wool that I bought months ago. I’m knitting more snow day mittens. I’ve just finished my first one.

The mitten actually fits the hand that it is destined to keep warm. This is normally where my knitting falls down, so I’m making progress. Now I just need to knit mitten number two, I don’t seem to be as fast as many knitting bloggers, but I’ll do my best.

The Aran wool, is from Knitwits in Penzance. It’s British,  so it must be good for my carbon footprint with it’s minimal wool miles.

Stripy knitting

Wool Britannia

One snow day mitten

Arctic Air

After the bitter cold we experienced before Christmas, Penzance is beginning to revert to it’s more usual climate. The temperature has increased and little crocuses are beginning to appear in the garden. The sun is shining and January 2011 is feeling lovely.

Frost and delicate snow on my new calendar

This year I am following the seasons using Chris Hardman’s beautiful Ecological Calendar. It has four panels, one for each season. The calendar tracks the tides, sun, moon, planets and stars and illustrates the changing natural history of each season.

The lovely illustrations match my current caribou obsession. There are no reindeer in Penzance, yet I feel captivated by the migrating caribou herds of Alaska. The cold weather has drawn me towards the tundra regions of the world.

Little lavender bags

Not being able to visit the tundra, I am doing the next best thing and knitting caribou. Not quite the same, but nevertheless I am happily filling my home with little caribou lavender bags.

Maybe 2011 will be the year of seasonal knitting.

xx

Loving Christmas

A happy festive elf

I’ve finished the shopping, the presents have been given out and the baking is all complete.

It’s time to relax, watch festive films, eat festive goodies and spread the love!

For the last few weeks I have been happily knitting little elves, presents and reindeer; hopefully they are all happy in their new homes. I’m now contemplating a new knitting project, it might be time for an actual piece of clothing (or… I might just sit back and eat some Christmas cake).

Happy Christmas xx

Live naturally…choose wool

…wool inspires passion, provenance, loyalty and increasingly is a positive force for social networking.

Campaign for wool, 2010

Happy Welsh sheep

Last month, the UK quietly celebrated national wool week. I missed it, but I definitely agree with the sentiment.

My latest hat has been created using Wool Britannia’s Aran in Rannoch Moor, it’s aptly named after a wonderful moorland wilderness in Scotland and I’m loving it.

My hat does fit, which is a massive bonus. The secret seems to be doing the maths before starting to knit. I’m still a beginner knitter, but now I’m becoming a confident beginner knitter; with a lovely purple floppy hat.

Happy Welsh sheep

My big floppy hat

Heather coloured stitches

Circles

To knit or not to knit

Lovely new organic wool

Having just discovered crochet, I’m in love. It’s quite addictive.

But, I’m not quite ready to leave behind the knitting yet. I’ve just bought some lovely new wool from Knitwits, it’s a gorgeous leafy green colour and it’s about to become a hat.

The big question is whether to knit or crochet? Crochet is quite speedy, but the soothing sound of my bamboo needles is quite difficult to leave behind!

As my annual attempt to create the perfect hat begins, I just have to decide whether to knit or not to knit!