In December 2011 I finished a project I'm particularly proud of - the Alan Dart Victorian mice. It would be no exaggeration to say this project was very much a labour of love that took months and months of fiddly effort. The final project was displayed at the Brighstone Christmas Tree festival in order to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust (among other charities)
the final project with display
Father Christmas made a special appearance
This Romeo hoped to be lucky under the mistletoe
Even the chistmas tree was knitted, and with the fairy lights, wall lamps and lit fire it looked very atmospheric.
So that is what I was doing for most of 2011.
In 2012, my friends were getting married in August so I decided to make them a wedding cake. Again, I used an Alan Dart pattern to great success. I modified it slightly so that the groom had a beard (to match the real groom) and I stitched their initials on the cake icing to personalise it.
The groom's cravat also matched what the real groom was wearing. This was another labour of love. Getting the cake stuffed took more than one trip to the shop to get the correct material. It was also difficult to keep it a secret as the bride is my knitting buddy. Also, keeping white wool completely clean with 3 cats in the house is almost impossible!
I started the cake in February 2012 and finished in time for their wedding in August 2012. Two weeks later I fell over in Exeter and tore my ankle ligaments. I suddenly found myself sitting around and in need of a knitting project which is how these socks came into being. I knitted them in a week as I had all the time in the world.
The pattern was an old one I had knocking about - the sort that comes with a ball of wool. These socks came in so useful with the hideous winter we've just had! I also knitted some hand warmers which also came in useful. The keep the mits warm without having to take them off all the time to fish things out of your pocket or to use your mobile.
These were constructed using a pattern from http://swordqueen.tripod.com/catsandacurmudgeon/id15.html
I chose to make them shorter for my own reasons and they work quite nicely.
There are more projects on the horizon. I got some really nice books for Christmas, including The Twelve Knits of Christmas - I sense another entry to the Christmas Tree festival this year!
