Verb: pootle
poo-t(u)l To move in a leisurely unhurried way,
with no real purpose


Tuesday, 4 February 2014

This and that ...


Before I even begin this post all I can say is ...WOW ! 
Sooo many lovely comments on my For the Love of Grey post,I was completely blown away ..
.. thank you all my lovely bloggy friends.
And I am very happy to report that I am not alone in my passion for all things grey.
It would seem that there are many of us out there - and I would like to commend Chrissie for her excellent detective skills in immediately hot footing it  to the internet, sourcing grey nail varnish and reporting straight back to HQ !

Quite surprisingly for me there is a little more colour in todays post, first being in my 'perpetual' blanket.
It still continues and I am having to be really very firm with myself in getting on with it as whilst I was able to wrap all the end of row ends in a rather nifty little fold over border - no such good fortune with all the endless bobbles that seemed such a good idea at the time.
I'm sure it will be worth it in the end but each row of bobbles takes about half an hour to tie off and sew in, and interesting work it is not !


So, I have found myself getting really very distracted from this task really very easily.


Just before Christmas I finally managed to get round to the much overdue job 
of sorting out all the various bags and piles of wool from all their little hidey holes around the house and I now feel extremely self righteous as everything is where it should be and order has been restored.
And even better than that I can see what wool I have ....
which has been brilliant when I'm looking for small little inbetween things to make.


These small inbetween makes have tended to mostly be of the scarf variety ( 4 to date ) but when I sat and counted the other day I realised that 5 Man Hats have been made since the beginning of January as well.
They have certainly proved to be a bit of a hit with 2 out of the 3 Boyfriends happily sporting them.
( I should explain here that obviously these are not my Boyfriends, what with being happily married and all , but Daughter Boyfriends ! )


They really are the simplest hats ever and I have all the pictures ready and waiting for 
me to write up the pattern.  
By my reckoning there's not a lot of crochet makes for the men folk so it has given me a very warm and happy feeling to have produced something that has been so happily received - and more to the point, worn !
Better still, I am slowly but surely using up all my little odds and ends of leftovers.




Now, this last hat, well, what can I say !
Being curled up on the sofa yesterday feeling very coldy and a bit yuk generally I thought I'd try a pattern that I had found on Ravelry for a Minion Hat.
A couple of hours later and look !


It certainly put a smile on my face and made me feel a whole lot better 
and an order has already been placed for Boyfriend 3's 21st birthday present.


Just lately whilst looking through all my favourite blogs I have noticed that many shawls are being carefully worked on, with some truly beautiful results.
Now, as much as I love them, I'm just not sure that I am a shawl type of person, bizarely its something about the pointy bit down the back.
 But much as I have tried to put this thought to one side, when I was sat at the weekend, cold nicely brewing, I really could see the appeal of something other than an all enveloping blanket to provide a bit of comfort and warmth.
I love scarves and also wraps, but there is just something about the delicateness of a shawl.
Maybe, I thought , I need a Shwrap !! 
A wrap type shawl without the pointy back bit !
This thought naturally took me straight to Pinterest and there it was......
in all its wonderful, bobbly glory.... exactly what I had in mind.


Before too long and with the amazing powers of the Internet I tracked it down to being a pattern from a book called juju's loops.
Ten minutes later and the book had been ordered, paid for and happily is now winging its way to me.



Don't you just LOVE the internet ?
I can't wait for it to arrive and to get started.
It has to be said that I haven't knitted for some time so either this will prove to be '"fun and challenging" or it will mean a quick drive to Mums to ask her if she can make it for me !
I'll let you know.


16 comments:

  1. I love your perpetual blanket ~ the colours work really well together, but I don't envy you having to deal with all those ends though! Your new yarn storage solution is wonderful and looks so neat and organised. I could do with something like that myself ~ it would maybe stop my hubby moaning about all the yarn that is lying about the house just now. They just don't understand ~ lol! :O)x

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    1. No, I agree that our other halves don't get it, make him a Man Hat quick and he'll be forever grateful !
      Kx

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  2. You will love the patterns in that book!

    It doesn't surprise me at all that you found so many grey lovers ... I posted about my love of grey back in the summer and got a similar response.

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    1. I'm even more excited about receiving it now ! I must take a look back through your blog and find your post on grey.
      Have a good week Annie,
      K x

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  3. I would never have thought of the sewing in needed for the bobbles! I hope that you get them done soon. The hats all look great, and your yarn organisation is a triumph to behold!! I am sure that there is a lot of yarn storage envy going on, I know that I wish I had a beautiful place like that to store mine. You must be so happy with it. Hope that you are having a good week and not suffering too much from the rain. xx

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  4. Love the perpetual blanket (you need a bobble night with friends and cocktails to take the boredom out of that task!), love the hats, and really love the shwrap idea! I'm making the infamous Nordic Shawl, and yes, it will be a big pointy arrow right to my backside...shwrap me up, baby! ;-) Chrissie x ps I'm typing this with lovely grey fingernails...

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    1. Loving the idea of a Bobble Cocktail party, bring it on ! Looking forward to seeing your shawl finished, it's such a pretty pattern that one isn't it ?
      Enjoy your gorgeous grey nails
      K x

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  5. Recently found your blog and love it - makes me want to stay at home and knit something in grey. Love that photo of your dogs, by the way.
    I love the idea of a wrap but agree with you about the pointy bit on a shawl. Not sure why, just not right. Now, a wrap, that's something different. I LOVE the pattern you picked out and the colour. May order the same thing myself but will keep an eye on your blog in the hope you will write about it.
    Denise @ http://ToadRockStreet.typepad.com
    x

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    1. Hello Denise
      Thanks for dropping by, I'm glad you found me !
      I have just had a quick dip into your lovely blog and I will definitely be back soon.
      I'll let you know how the wrap goes..
      Kx

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  6. Love your blanket and the hats, and the sound of the shwrap idea! The bobble pattern is gorgeous! I love your yarn storage, I have a similar style piece of furniture stuffed with art materials, but it would look so much prettier like yours filled with yarn!
    Hope your cold is better!
    Helen xx

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  7. Hi, i found your blog last week and love all the colours you use. i even asked my 18 year old daughter if she had any grey nail varnish as it looked so good on your blog! i would be interested to know where it came from. Having seen the shawl book you have bought I think i now 'need' that too.
    Thanks for an entertaining read.xx

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  8. Hi Vanessa
    So glad you enjoyed having a little read of my blog. Try Amazon for Nails Inc grey nail varnish, .
    Come and visit again soon,
    K x

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  9. Hi Kate...I completely adore the minion hat! My daughter adores both the Despicable Me films and is constantly running around pretending to be a minion! The hat you made is amazing...I showed your post to my wee girl and she thought so too! Also, I really love the look of the shawl you are planning to make and I am sure it will be beautiful as all your makes are.
    Marianne xx

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    1. Hi Marianne
      Do you know the Minion Hat was soooo easy and absolutely loads of patterns on Ravelry.
      Have a good weekend,
      Kx

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  10. I love all the hats Kate, and the Minions one made me giggle (as did the films!) Your yarn storage is lush...I bet you get so much pleasure just looking at all that delicious yarn. Finally a huge thank you for adding me to your blog role, what a lovely surprise!! Have a super weekend, Sarah xo

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