So its been a very long time since I updated the blog! Things have been happening (or to be completely honest not happening) at a rate which meant I have been a bit discombobulated!! I have been looking for a full time job for 18 months now due to the fact that in order to be able to come home at some point we need to do a lot (and I mean a lot) of refurbishment to our house before we sell it - and repairs don't come cheap!! Despite having a ton of experience in HR I don't seem to be able to land something which is anything like the level I want to be - or I interview, it goes really well and then companies just don't bother to get back to me and disappear into thin air! I think to be honest this is definitely a UAE thing - I'm fairly sure its not the same in the UK! Anyway I am doing a little bit of consulting work which is good but so precarious since lots of things get cancelled at the very last minute and when you think you have 8 days work in a month it suddenly shrinks to half a day - or approximately 2 metres of 4x2 to fix one of the many windows!!
However of course there is always a silver lining in every cloud and that means that my creating is in full swing! I have days when I get really frustrated and you know the best thing for that......pick up the needles or the hook!!
So without further ado or discombobulation..... this is what I have been up to.......
Firstly I decided to make a really bright and cheerful baby blanket! This is the Blackberry Baby Blanket which is a free pattern on Ravelry which I made in very bright cotton yarn which I bought locally! As you probably know we had very little choice of yarn locally when I first arrived in the UAE (9 years ago - can you believe!) but now we have a pretty decent selection (although I guess thats all relative - nothing at all like a LYS in UK or US ha ha!). The pattern was deceptively simple and I am so pleased with the result. Shame that I don't yet have a recipient!!!!
Then a pair from 2 skeins of Drops Designs sock yarn which was a lovely present from an Instagram friend in the UK. I designed these myself in more a a traditional construction and I absolutely love them - although yes of course I need to keep them until a winter trip to the UK!
Fast forward onto February and the Ravellenic Games! I decided to enter a sweater - now not just any sweater but a fine fingering sweater - what was I thinking!! I went for the Tegna Sweater by Boyland Knitworks which I had been wanting to knit for a long time - in fact I started it twice before and can you believe both times I twisted it in the round......face:palm!!
I wanted to do it in the Mabel and Ivy Coast yarn from stash and I had an Ombre set in Ocean blues. I knew I did not have enough to do the whole sweater in the main yarn so I did the first lace section in the ombre colours and I am so pleased I did, because I am really happy with how that turned out.
Finished the evening before the games closed and I was awarded my 'Sweater Skeleton' badge - Yay!!
What can I say about the Tegna - its a lovely pattern, really well written and although yes its a LOT of stocking stitch the construction is easy and I liked picking up the stitches for the sleeves because that meant I could make the sleeves in a larger size to the body - I have hideous 'washer woman' arms where they are definitely disproportionally big to the rest of my body and I really struggle to get sleeves to fit or not be too tight! But these I was able to make longer and wider and I was really happy with how they turned out! The yarn is perfect for the UAE weather and I have already worn it quite a bit! Definite winner!
So I have a couple more items on the needles which I will share with you soon - but I really wanted to tell you about the Rags to Riches initiative in the UAE. This is a lovely idea where knitted and sewed garments are donated to needy children in places such as Syria, Uganda, Bangladesh etc They make many garments out of donated materials such as fleece blankets etc - check them out - Rags to Riches. Anyway they are currently running a Knit a Thon to try and get enough squares to make blankets to auction off or donate to the kids - however that has sort of morphed into a challenge to break the world record for a blanket made of knitted squares! I have of course made a start as you can see!!!!
If you would like to know more or want to get involved then do get in touch with me or check out their Facebook page here Knitted squares 15cmx15cm are needed for the world record attempt but for other blankets crochet squares of the same size are also in demand!
Anyway thats it for knitting news...........in other news I HAVE BEEN SEWING!!!! Up next I will tell you all about it!
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