Winter knitting

My knitting basket

This winter I've been steadily knitting.  My basket comes everywhere with me and I knit in the school playground, at a 2 year old's birthday party, at friends' houses, on the tube, and in the evenings while I am watching all this fantastic winter tele that's on at the moment (Sherlock, Call The Midwife, Edwin Drood and Earthflight - what a great month it's been on the BBC).

My Victoriana shawl

Just before Christmas I finished my Victoriana Shawl, and I have worn it pretty much constantly ever since.  I love it - the yarn is soft and thick, the shawl is stylish, and I can use the hairpin I wore at my wedding as a clasp.

Circus socks for C

Last week I finished some socks for C which had been hanging around in my knitting basket for a shocking eleven months.  I don't honestly know why they took me so long - the yarn (a Regia 4 ply sock yarn called Circus) was lovely, the pattern was a straighforward one I'd knitted many times before.  I guess I just wasn't in the mood for socks in 2011.

C loves them though.  I knitted them with growing room, because his feet are practically expanding in front of my eyes at the moment.  They also fit me, so when his feet are so big that the socks no longer fit (which won't be long), I can have them. Cunning heh?

Junior Toast for O

My winter knitting for O has been much speedier.  It only took me a month to knit this pair of purple armwarmers for her.  I used the very popular Toast pattern on Ravelry, and adjusted it to fit her slimmer, shorter arms.  They fit her perfectly and she loves them.  If you want to make Junior Toasts of your own, you can find all the details here.

And now that my knitting obligations to my children have been discharged, I am back on the shawls again.  I am knitting myself a very simple lacy shawl using all the little balls of leftover sock yarn I have. 

Sock yarn leftovers - to become a shawl

I don't know how big the shawl will end up.  I'm just going to keep knitting until I've used up all my leftovers.  The pattern is this one, and is as simple as the name suggests.  I think simple is good with all this crazy multicoloured yarn.

Multicoloured sock yarn shawl

I am hoping to get it finished before camping season, as I think a warm, multicoloured lacy shawl around my shoulders as I sit by the campfire drinking mead, will be just the thing.