On Saturday we all went for a lovely family walk with our friends Sally, Peter and Billy to Thornley Woods near Newcastle. It's a lovely place to walk and we have often had fun expeditions with our friends. I'm sure if I was patient I could trawl through old posts to find you previous trips - but I'm not patient enough :o)
The river photo is actually of a fisherman who caught at least 10 fish while we were watching but let every single one go again.
The colours weren't as deeply autumnal as I was expecting but it was still beautiful and I got some nice photos - including lots of the children but I don't think they'd let me post them anymore :o( If they agree I'll update later.
My fair isle obsession is still in full swing - I'm just so delighted that I now have the confidence to attempt to do this type of knitting. I don't get perfect results but I have all the fun of the patterns to play with.
The plain grey hat that I had knitted for Mr Locket wasn't deep enough (because I'd mis-measured, although initially I thought it was the pattern's fault - I should have known better!) so I decided to try again so that it would have a deeper fold over for the brim - only this time I was going to include colour work.
The second attempt: Again the colour combination was wrong........
The third attempt: I put the colourwork band in too early so the brim would cover it up completely
Finally I knitted a hat that was roughly the right size, had a colour combination I was happy with and had a deep enough brim. There are still problems - like the colourwork is now too far up the crown and the brim could have been a bit deeper but on the whole I'm pleased with it and feel confident that I can develop further hats for the children - especially after all that ripping out. Happily Mr Locket really likes it and was very kind and modelled it for me - now he just has to wait until his birthday next month to be given it - unless he has any cold days on site planned in the meantime when I'm sure I'll relent.
The whole time I've been knitting Mr L's brown, grey and cream mittens and this hat to match I have had a hat in my memory from when I was a child. I remember loving the pattern on the hat despite it's not very childlike colours but I always found it a bit scratchy to wear. I was fairly sure Mum and Dad still had it in a drawer some where so when we went to see them yesterday I had a quick hunt and there it was...
..... a real McCoy Shetland hat from Tullock of Shetland that I'm sure I have had since I was about 6!
The ages spent with Dot in the wool shop a couple of weeks ago trying to decide on the colours for Mr Locket's mitts would have been much easier if I had remembered this hat earlier instead of part way through the knitting!
Did I mention I love fair isle?
Thank you for all the comments on my last post - sorry I haven't replied yet. I'm not sure if I told you before, but the archaeological firm that Mr Locket worked for closed down in July so he set up his own consultancy firm with two colleagues. He is now based at home and working hard - which means I very rarely get on the main computer where I can reply to emails! Not that I'm complaining in any way - I think he is a complete star and as soon as I can I will reply to your messages :o)
P.S. Squeee! I've just ordered some more Shetland wool from Jamieson and Smith in Lerwick!
7 comments:
Lovely photos from your walk, Locket :)The countryside is so beautiful at this time of year.
It's great to see how much fun you're having with your Fairisle knitting. It has endless possibilities and I can't wait to see what you knit next.
Great shots of Mr Locket looking happy in his hat :)
xx
Loving mr L modelling the hat what a brave man putting himself out in Blogland like that. I am pretty sure I could not unpick a hat 3 times and then finish it well done is all I can say. Great walk pictures.
Well Hello There Mr. Locket!!!! You're looking very handsome in your new hat!
Mrs. Locket, are you going to try and duplicate the hat from your childhood? And...speaking of Lerwick -- I'll be sending you an e-mail shortly....
Could you design a hat that looks like that fox peeping out from the tree! I don't like what they do to hens (I know, just nature) but they do make good characters!
Well done to Mr L for going it (almost) alone. Wishing him much success.
What a young handsome looking Mr Lockett. Great job with the hat...and lovely countryside pics.
firstly good luck to mr locket. my husband also works in construction and the last few years have been hard in the building world. Now, the knitting, love the hats. In my teens I got wool to knit fairisle jumpers from Jamisons. Good to know they are still going. (wish I had kept that 4ply fairisle jumper)
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