Toasty Volume 2

I have the enormous privilege of editing for Rachel Coopey. I may have mentioned my love for her a few times before on the blog... But it never gets old. 

Rachel's latest book is the second in her Toasty series, showcasing the beautiful Titus 4ply from Baa Ram Ewe. This is a truly beautiful yarn. The colour palette is stunning, and it works brilliantly in both colourwork and in textured knits.

If you're thinking about knitting accessories over the next few months, then definitely check out the patterns in this collection. As well as the 7 hats there are also a pair of mittens and a lovely cowl - guaranteed to keep you snug as the temperature drops!

Jim and I worked on this collection over the summer and it's such a thrill to see our names together in a pattern book - more on this to come...

You can order a print copy of Toasty volume 2 from Rachel's online shop (and each print copy comes with a code to give you a copy of the eBook as well): Print Toasty 2 £12.00

Alternatively, if you're having the urge to CAST ON NOW, then you can download it instantly from Ravelry for £12.00. You will be Toasty!

Jam Heaven

Or how to get blackberry jelly to set... I posted a smug tweet last week about how I had made 10 jars of blackberry jelly before 10 on a Monday morning. Well, it came back to bite me in the bottom, as that jelly failed to set, and I ended up hunting around for hints and tips on how to fix it. I had some great suggestions from friends on Twitter, and it was reassuring to know that many people struggle with blackberries!

I eventually found a great article from PickYourOwn.org explaining how to fix jams and jellies that don't set. So off I trotted to buy a bottle of pectin, some lemons and more sugar; and having boiled it up again according to the instructions in that article, I now have set blackberry jelly! Whoop, whoop! And it's completely delicious.

However, I still had a dozen empty jars and half a bottle of pectin, so last Saturday I decided that I would see whether I could buy some fruit at the market to complete this year's jam collection. Boy, did I hit the jackpot! A 5kg tray of damsons for £2.00!! They were starting to go over, so we spent a fun 20 minutes picking through them and chucking the ones that were too mushy or already a bit mouldy, and still ended up with nearly 3kg of damsons.

And this is the result of our efforts - a shelf packed with home made jam, and an aspiration that it should last through until next year's harvest. This year we ran out of home made jam in February, so fingers crossed next year we won't need to call on the talents of the Bonne Maman at all.

FO: Wee Cria

This is a really, really lovely pattern. When Little Red in the City first came out, Cria was my favourite design by a long shot. When my good friend Nic bought Ysolda's Wee Ones collection for me, I was delighted to discover that Ysolda had designed a babies' version called wee Cria. Did you know that you can buy patterns and eBooks as gifts for your knitting friends? I've been lucky enough to be gifted patterns a few times through Ravelry, and it is such a lovely treat!

Wee Ones was a great present - thanks Nic! - and I've really enjoyed knitting my wee Cria. I cast on back in July, before the summer holidays started. I chose a skein of Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash, in the Sabrina colourway, that had been sitting in my stash awaiting the perfect project since Knit Nation 2010. It's a good thing that yarn doesn't go mouldy...

I had previously knitted up 2 skeins of Wollmeise - one in twisted stitch socks and the other in some pretty complicated gloves, and I'll admit that I didn't much enjoy knitting with it. I know that many people feel similarly - it doesn't have much in the way of stretch and if your needles are too sharp, it's easy to split the plies of the yarn. This time it was different. There was no complicated texture, as I had used in the past, and the yarn made the most incredibly beautiful flat stocking stitch fabric. I absolutely fell in love with the fabric, and would definitely choose Wollmeise Pure again for a kids' garment. It comes in 150g skeins, so this cardigan, in the 12 month size came comfortably from 1 skein, and I'm completely chuffed with how it looks. It just goes to show how much the pattern and needles can affect your enjoyment of a yarn...

And that's what we were waiting for... A picture of the cardigan on my clever niece, Honor! Happily, the cardigan is a bit too big at the moment, but I'm hoping it will be just right in a month or two's time, when the weather starts to get colder.

I really enjoyed the construction of wee Cria - it is knitted from the top down, with all the sleeve head shaping incorporated, so there is very little finishing beyond sewing in a few ends. I struggled to remember to count the rows between buttonholes, but managed to drop a couple of stitches and put them in a few rows later when I realised my mistake. I should have been using some scrap yarn to track the rows, but it wasn't a big problem to fix.

I even discovered that I had some great contrasting buttons in my button box. They work so well with the cardigan, that Honor was in danger of being too well camouflaged on her quilt!

You can find all the technical details of my project over on Ravelry: JenACKnitwear's Wee Cria where you will also find an option to purchase the wee Cria pattern from Ysolda for £4.00 or buy the whole eBook (7 kids patterns) for £10.95. If you have little people to knit for, I would definitely recommend it!