Tuesday 21 January 2014

Another New Hat and a Challenge!

Hi all!
OH and I got back from a week in Austria on Saturday: a skiing holiday, on which (as usual) I did not ski. I was joined in my week-long apres-ski by J who was not skiing due to the fact she is expecting her first baby. During the week we celebrated, amongst our group of 6, a 50th birthday and an engagement. We knew about the birthday and went prepared, but the engagement was a complete surprise.


In previous years I've made myself a new hat to take away, so decided to do the same again.  This time it was knitted in a cable design. It was supposed to be knitted on a circular needle, but I didn't have one the right size so I adapted the pattern to knit it on a pair of needles. It's also supposed to be more like a beret but, due to my tendency to knit too tightly, it's more like a beanie (The pattern is called Saffron but I don't remember where I got it from I'm afraid. I have a pdf if anyone is interested.)


On the last day of the holiday, J and I bought tickets to join the rest of the group at the top of the ski lift for lunch. I was really pleased we did, because the other time I went up it was too foggy to see the amazing view.

Another day we watched the men ski, from the bar half-way up the mountain. We managed to pick them out with the help of M's rabbit ears.


Back to normal now, and to the 'challenge' I decided to set myself for this year - or however long I decide to continue. I felt that I hadn't got my money's worth out of the crafty books and magazines I've bought over the years. When I thought about it in more detail, though, I realised I've taken inspiration from my books for a few of my projects, but the only item I've made from scratch and word-for-word is the knitting needle roll (above), the pattern for which I followed from The Crafters' Companion

Because it's my challenge I'm not going to put any pressure on myself, such as a time limit or amount of projects. The only rule is that there are no rules. As you know by now, I don't plan much when I start a project. It just sort of evolves. But this challenge means I'll occasionally have to plan a little. And it doesn't mean following patterns exactly - I might just use them for inspiration. As I said before - My Challenge. My rules!!

Bye for now
Teresa x