Those of you who have sampled the delicious cakes in Tea Bags Full, may have wondered where these delights come from? Well, the homemade cakes are all made by a lovely lady called Leona. Yesterday when she popped in with a new selection of sweet treats she also brought along her latest knitting projects. As always we love to see what people have been up to with Black Sheep yarns. Not only does she make yummy cakes her knitting projects are very pretty too.

Leona has made two garments  for her grand daughter who lives in Canada – a cardigan and a top. The cardigan is knitted in Sirdar Flirt Dk, following a pattern from Sublime book 636 and the top in Sublime Baby Kapok DK. They are both to go with the super cute skirt that you can see on the photos. What a gorgeous gift to receive in the post!

Lesley has just completed her very first pair of baby booties and as you can see has done a fantastic job. The day after she came in with a very cute matching pair of mittens (there is no stopping her now she has the knitting bug!). Before the birth of her friend’s baby boy in summer Lesley plans to knit a cardigan too. Choosing to knit with the juicy shade of  Hayfield Baby dk (100g balls) Lesley followed the Sirdar pattern 1365.

Helen is a new member of staff here at Black Sheep Wools. Many of your orders will have been picked and packed by her already. She is a keen knitter and has brought in her first UFO to share. After seeing the free snowdog pattern in an issue of Womans Weekly magazine Helen couldn’t resist knitting this little cutie. Helen has knitted him using a combination of Sirdar Snowflake dk and oddments of Sirdar dk yarns for the colourful patches and ears.

Helen had him knitted in no time at all. I imagine we will be seeing many more UFO’s from her in the future. Do you have any recently finished projects you would like to share here on the blog? Please email any photos to amy@blacksheepwools.com.

Monday is always a good day for cake (or any day of the week really!). I am talking about knitted cakes, not edible for a change. The ‘witty knitters’ knitting group have been busy knitting cakes ready for the tea shop, which will be opening in the coming months here at the Craft Barn. These cute and tasty looking cakes have been knitted from the Sirdar book ‘Knit Vintage‘. Taking photographs has made me very hungry and fancying a piece of cake. The bakewell tart has definitely caught my eye, if only it was real hey!

Stacey has finished yet another UFO. I would say Stacey has probably finished the most in our UFO (Unfinished object) month of January. I have finished a couple of things and added more things too. I don’t think that was really the idea but at least I have managed to get some of my projects completed.

Before christmas Stacey knitted a men’s tank top in Sirdar Click chunky as a gift. Since making this one (as it seems to be the case with many hand knitted garments) she has been asked by other male members of the family to knit one for them. This time she has used a different shade – green 177, a shade that is now only £1.59 a ball. The pattern for this is a Sirdar Click Chunky pattern 9193.

Stacey’s second UFO is a crocheted hat – this time she has made an owl (Wendy 5708w), using purple shades of double knitting yarn.

Catherine was very excited when the Sirdar Funky Fox yarn arrived in stock. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on the brightly coloured yarn. There are 6 different shades to choose from including ‘Ultra Viloet – 805‘, the shade Catherine chose to knit her fluffy ‘Nook’ cover. It only took one ball to make – Catherine simply measured her Nook and from her tension square worked out the number of stitches required, continuously knitting in garter stitch until the piece was long enough to cover with a flap. Finishing by adding a pretty flower button from her stash to fasten. It only took 1 ball to make, just £2.29 a ball!

It is lovely to be able to share everyone’s knitted or stitched treasures here on the blog. I like hearing the story behind something, who it was for? where it has travelled to? do you love it or hate it?

Today I have two treasures from blog readers………

A blog reader called Janet sent in a photo of a beautiful blanket she knitted for her son just before he was born. Janet said that her little boy was overdue and as time went on waiting for him to arrive her blanket continued to grow bigger and bigger.

This is such a pretty blanket, the heart detail with a reverse stocking stitch gives a subtle embossed look. A piece that Janet will treasure forever.

The second is a recently finished project from a Facebook follower called Daisy.

Daisy said on her email that she just had to have the Sirdar snowman jumper when she saw it advertised on our website. This is her first ever intarsia project, which is hard to believe when you look at all of the colour changes perfect shaping in the snowman. Very impressive Daisy! She said that she was determined to finish it franticly knitting it in just 3 weeks, ready to wear over Christmas, this year and every year for the rest of her life. It is great to think that Daisy already knows this will become her knitted treasure.

Thank you to Janet and Daisy for sharing there treasures. If reading this has got you thinking and inspired you to go searching through your wardrobes and drawers for those tucked away treasures please do share a photo – amy@blacksheepwools.com.

Lots of Christmas presents are being knitted and crocheted here at Black Sheep Wools. It seems that members of staff are gong home at the end of the day to Santa’s work shop and working away like elves making their Christmas gifts. I must get myself organised and start this soon. The November days are gradually passing by.

Janet has knitted a sweater for her daughter Maria following Sirdar pattern 9723. I say followed, but she has made a few tweaks to the pattern as requested by her daughter. She had asked for a longer length ‘Christmas jumper’ that she could wear over leggings, in green, with snowflakes. Even with this list of amendments Janet was happy to knit the jumper, choosing an aran weight yarn rather than double knit to make it slightly chunkier using shade 898 – Supersoft Aran.

For the snowflake designs Janet searched on the internet and found 2 different patterns that she really liked.  I love the cheery snowman on this pattern! This will be a lovely gift to open on Christmas day. Do you have any Christmas knits you would like to share here on the blog? Obviously gifts made for those who won’t read the blog and spoil a Christmas gift surprise! Send them in to amy@blacksheepwools.com.

Yesterday we had a little visitor to the Craft Barn. Yvonne came in with her grandson Gabriel to show off his fab Debbie Bliss Blue Faced Leicester Aran cardigan, she had knitted for his christening. I had been looking forward to seeing the cardigan for a while as Yvonne had spoken so highly of her experience with the Debbie Bliss yarn. A nice change to have a real life model, a very cute one too.

After knitting baby Gabriel all sorts of different little cardigans, sweaters and blankets Yvonne realised that he was coming out in a rash when wearing certain items, coming to the conclusion that he is allergic to acrylic fibres. Whilst looking for a pure wool yarn in a plum shade Yvonne came across the Debbie Bliss Blue Faced Leicester Aran and decided this was the one. Although the pattern is actually a Sublime dk pattern (one knitted previously here), Yvonne took a chance and knitted a smaller size with the aran. On this occasion it has turned out fine and needed no tweaking. It can be a bit risky choosing a pattern which is a different thickness to the yarn and more often than not will result in a disappointing outcome, be warned we have all tried it at some point!

Whilst he was here Gabriel also kindly modelled two hats Yvonne has knitted in Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo dk (blue hat) and Sublime Oranic cotton dk (beige). The cardigan is from Sublime book 626 and Yvonne used a basic double knit baby hat pattern, adding her own designs for the hats.

A customer project to share with you today sent in via email by a lady called Marian. The sweater is knitted in Sirdar Hayfield Bonus Aran in an intricate cable design. Marian has knitted the sweater for her husband and he has kindly modelled for the photograph. It is always good to see what you have been knitting with your latest internet purchases.

Has anyone decided to knit a Christmas jumper this year?  Please send any photos to amy@blacksheepwools.com