Knitting in the Round - latest FO: Toasty

Hello all!  Hope all my readers are well!

Well I'd like to announce that I've taken the plunge and knitted.....fingerless arm warmers lol!

No, seriously, this was my first knitting in the round project. No, I lie, its my third...but its the first I've completed.  I first learnt how to knit in the round using DPNS (double pointed needles) two years ago on a sock knitting class held by the lovely Jane at Tea And Crafting but I had such trouble knitting my first pair of socks that I kept frogging and starting over and in the end I got frustrated so I gave up.  Two years later I  thought I'd try again and thought I'd try tackling knitting in the round with a more easier pattern, inspired by my sister who knitted her own Toastys - pattern here.

Starting off

After binding off for the thumb 

Complete

On me :)

I actually enjoyed knitting these. The thumb was the only part I had been having trouble with, but with a lot of patience, I succeeded. I added an extra stitch for the thumb as I do like a bit of room  - and my thumbs are big lol! I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for this project. I love the feel of the yarn. I actually can't wait till winter now so I can wear them hehe - wait, did I really just say that? I hate winter! LOL.

I have decided though that I really dislike knitting with DPNs and that if I ever do another project that calls for knitting in the round, I will try circular needles.....but that's for another post. Until next time, everyone :)

World Wide Knit in Public Day Saturday 8th June 2013

So, earlier in the week I saw a tweet on my twitter feed announcing a Worldwide Knit in Public Day event in London, hosted  by Love Knitting. So I thought "hey that sounds fun" and decided to go.

The event was held in St Pancras International Station and boy what a turnout it was!

It was such fun. I sat down and joined in knitting with everyone else and  also met and spoke to some lovely friendly ladies and for once I didn't feel awkward about having to knit around loads of people and feel like this incredible weirdo for doing so.   There were also some guy knitters there which I thought was cool.  There were some people who came along to learn how to knit and had made some lovely mug cosies. I wish I had made one because they were great!

I had also signed up to take part in a lace knitting workshop held by Sarah Hatton from Rowan. So after two hours of knitting and nattering, I joined in the workshop with some other fellow knitters.

We were all given a nice ball of Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK. I chose this beautiful colour - not a colour I'd normally pick for myself but I thought I'd be different for a change, and I am glad I picked it.

I learnt how to read from a chart and spent the next two and a half hours following a chart and knitting and chatting away with other friendly knitters

The pattern I believe, was for a tiny pincushion, so Sarah kindly gave us all a nice selection of fabric to use. I totally love what i picked out and i could probably use one of them to line the bag i am in the middle of making.







The event finished at 5pm, although there were still some people still knitting. I didn't finish my pattern at the end of the event but I did take it home to finish off and came out looking like this

The whole day was brilliant and I have now decided that I need to find a knitting group closer to where I live and join in the fun because it was great just chatting to like minded people while knitting - or as a fellow knitter who joined me from the workshop said, start my own!

Thank you to the team at Love Knitting, it  was fun!