Knitting

I am one happy lady this week, I am on my very last slipper, hooray!  This is pair eight, I cannot believe I have now knitted fifteen of these.  I am hoping this will be off the needles by the end of the week then I have the small matter of sewing.  I will need to sew on twelve soles, I have already done this on two pairs, four by Christmas Day the rest by New Year's Eve.  I think I can probably have this done in time....

Then I am looking forward to casting on something else, in fact I can't wait.  I am not going to knit so many of the same thing next year, you would have thought I would have learnt from last year with all the socks I made.  So I have a jumper for my eldest, a shawl for my mum and a shawl for a friend to make.  I have decided on the patterns for the first two, but not the last can you help?  I have a skein of 4ply, which is in my picture above, about 280m/305yds but cannot decide on a pattern, any suggestions?

In between times, in those free moments, I have also knitted a few bowls which I have felted!

I am still reading 1215: The Year of the Magna Carta, nearing the end now.  I am really enjoying this window into a significant period of history.  I studied so few parts of history at school, it always seemed to be the Romans, that I am really enjoying expanding my knowledge now, it is never to late to learn as they say!

Joining in with Ginny for this weeks Yarn Along, head on over to see what others have been making.

Knitting

I am still working on slippers a different pair this week, the green pair are now off the needles and awaiting their soles.  It's weird how each Wednesday when I write a knitting post I am at the exact same stage of the next slipper, just starting the instep, all my picture look the same.  Despite having plenty of Christmas knitting to be getting on with I needed a diversion this weekend, and my husband had an day off work so I couldn't knit the slippers anyway.

We recently changed our seasonal table to mark the change to winter and I thought it looked a little bare.  I have some ideas for bits and pieces I would like to make, but am saving them until after Christmas when I have more time.  I thought making some holly leaves and berries would be an easy and easy addition.......but after a scan thorough my flower pattern book and online I could only find crochet patterns, I cannot crochet and now is not the time to be learning!  So I had a go a making a pattern up, after all I have nothing else to do, right?  After several attempts I finally came up with a pattern I am happy with and I thought I would share it with you all, in case anyone else has a burning desire to knit some holly leaves too.  You could use any yarn to knit these, the heavier the weight of yarn the bigger the leaf will turn out, just use the appropriate needle for the yarn you are using.

Holly Leaf Pattern

Cast On 3 stitches

1. P
2. K1 m1 K1 m1 K1 (5 stitches)
3. P
4. K2 m1 K1 m1 K2 (7 stitches)
5. P
6. K3 m1 K1 m1 K3 (9 stitches)
7. P
8. K4 m1 K1 m1 K4 (11 stitches)
9. P
10. Cast Off 3 K1 m1 K1 m1 K5 (10 stitches)
11. Cast Off 3 P to end (7 stitches)
12. K3 m1 K1 m1 K3 (9 stitches)
13. P
14. K4 m1 K1 m1 K4 (11 stitches)
15. P
16. Cast off 3 K to end (8 stitches)
17. Cast off 3 P to end (5 stitches)
18. ssk K k2tog (3 stitches)
19. P1 p2tog (2 stitches)
20. K2tog

Berry Pattern

Cast on 3 stitches

1. P
2. K1 m1 K1 m1 K1 (5 stitches)
3. P
4. K2 m1 K1 m1 K2 (7 stitches)
5. P
6. K
7. P1 (p2tog) 3 times (4 stitches)
8. (k2tog) 2 times 
9. Cast off

Cut thread and sew through stitches and pull to make a small berry.

I have left a small loop on each leaf and berry so that I can hang them on our little tree…..

I finished The Winter Ghosts and really enjoyed it.  I am now stepping further back into history with 1215: The Year of the Magna Carta a description of what it like to be alive in that momentous year.  Thus far I have read about the houses people lived in, the shape of the landscape, the towns, education, families, tournaments and the forests.  The forest were strictly managed you could pay with your life if you broke the rules, they were managed by forest officials who sound like they were the modern day equivalent of traffic wardens in my country!

For those of you interested in such things the date today is a special one if you write your dates, day, month, year it is the 11/12/13 you won't be able to do that again for just over 86 years I will be long dead by then.  If you write your date month, date, year you have missed your last one but I have just realised that it was my eldest's ninth birthday!

Joining in with Ginny for sharing of knitting and reading and Tami for this weeks work in progress, head over to see what others are up to...