Finishing Things

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

I know it's now mid-Feb but this year seems to have brought in me an urge to finish things. This has to be a good thing as I'm slightly alarmed by how many things to finish I had.

Firstly, I finished some socks - the first one had been knitted for some time (like about 5 years) and I rattled off the second one in double-quick time when I used it to demonstrate for my sock knitting class. Sent the pair off to my Mum for her birthday and, stupidly, didn't take pics first (I was late for her birthday - plus ca change).

Secondly, I finished the tea cosy which had been in the planning stages for about a year. I'd knitted the hot water bottle cover:


















and had enough wool left over for a tea cosy and, after many requests, decided to knit a traditional (granny) tea cosy. So I'd done a lot of research and worked out how to knit it but just never quite got round to doing it. Then I was asked to produce a pattern for a book and that, finally, kicked me into action and, as with so many things, it was so quick and easy in the end it was ridiculous! Here it - finally - is:















So - for two skeins of wool you get the pair:










Some people may think it's a tad extravagant to knit a tea cosy and hottie cover from pure wool/wool and alpaca blend (as Peruk is) but, in fact, if you want them to be practical and actually keep you/your hot water bottle cover/your tea warm then, actually, pure wool/wool and alpaca blend is the best thing to use!

Then I knitted a teddy which had been on the "to do" list for a while:


















He's made from King Cole "Cuddles" (identical to Sirdar Snowflake Chunky) and, again, took a total of 3 evenings once I'd got my a**e into gear.

Now I'm finishing a waistcoat which has been on the needles for about 6 months. Foolishly, I thought I'd knit it in the "quiet" periods in the shop - ha, ha! The two fronts have taken me 6 months and the back has taken me 1 day. (That sounds mightily impressive until I reveal that it's knitted in Superchunky on 10mm needles) Last night I tackled the collar, which has a ridiculous and, to my mind, unnecessary stitch detail which nearly drove me mad. Then I looked up the borders and they have the same (and to my mind unnecessary) stitch detail and my heart sank. However, I will persist. Borders tonight - onward and upward. (Don't you just hate that, though, when the designer seems to add totally unwarranted details which are put in there purely to annoy and infuriate you and, at the end, you're really not sure they were worth all the effort?)

After that I have a baby blanket to finish (before the baby starts walking, hopefully), one more (long) sock and then a lovely (freebie) sample from Debbie Bliss (which shall be my well-earned reward).