Too hot to knit ..

with wool?
 So why not use cotton yarn instead! My hands have been too hot to knit with wool so I've been busy making wash cloths out of cotton yarn. My plan is to use them as gifts with a lovely bar of soap for an event in December. (I'm trying not to use the C word yet!) They are so easy to knit and there are some amazing patterns on the internet and Ravlery, just google wash cloth patterns.
Here is the easy peasy pattern I've been using

knitted wash cloth gift

A ball of double knit cotton yarn - not smooth and silky (mercerised) but 'fluffier' if that makes sense!!
4 mm needles
Use garter stitch throughout.
Cast on 4 stitches and knit a row.
At the beginning of each row knit 2 stitches then yarn over the needle and knit to end of  the row, until you reach the size cloth you would like. Knit the yarn over as a stitch in its own right, so each row will grow by one stitch.
I used 40 stitches for a cloth that measures 22cm.
Then
Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of the row.
Repeat this row until there are 4 stitches left.
Each row will then decrease by one stitch.
Cast off.

knitted wash cloth

This is also a brilliant little project to have in your bag if you ever have five minutes to spare.

17

17 presents

OH at last I've worked out how to add captions to photos, all this time I've been writing my blog in 'Edit HTML' mode instead of compose, which lets me do all sorts of things - I am daft!

It was our babysitter's 17th birthday, so Pickle-Lily and I got together 17 (mostly) handmade presents. They were ...

• a finger of fudge - a finger of fudge is just enough to give the kids a treat (she looked at me very strangely when I sang it to her).
• smarties - got to have choccies on a birthday, and of course because only smarties know the answer.
• a flower drawing pin - from Paper and String
• a funky chicken - P calls her Mrs Chicken, inspired by After Hours ( I wanted to buy one from here, but couldn't organise it in time.)
• bath bombs
• bath confetti - both bought from some lovely ladies at Weare Street Fair.
• body butter
• soap - because you have to have smellies for a birthday gift.
• a painted birthday girl stone paperweight
• a painted slate decoration - both from a lovely lady I met at a fair, who sadly doesn't have a blog or website!
• a party popper
• a packet of lovehearts
• a pot of bubbles - you are never too old for bubbles!
• a phone sock from Pickle-Lily
• a felt keyring
• a student survival kit
• all in a pretty bag made by Pickle-Lily herself for Mrs Chicken!

We had great fun finding and making 17 little presents together.
Once again a big thank-you to Wendy for hosting / organising Handmade Monday.
Jo x