I am currently taking part in a basket challenge in a group I belong to on Ravelry. I haven't done one of these before but it's proving to be great fun. The idea is that you fill a basket (or box or bag, or just nominate yarns in your stash) with yarn of your choice from stash and then you have a certain amount of time (in this case it's until the end of March) to get through as much of it as you can. These are my nominated yarns. They are (from top) a pack of Valley Northfield (the navy blue), a full skein of Wollmeise Lace-Garn (the purple), a skein of Wollmeise Pure (the greeny one), a ball of Rowan Cotton Glace (the yellow), a part skein of Valley Huntington (the light blue), a part skein of Wollmeise Pure (dark brown - looks black), and a skein of Dye-Version BFL sock (the blue-green).

As well as working through as much of this stash as possible there are also optional fun points to be earned through various means from completing finished objects to having the yarn in your stash for a while, to working on the projects in an unusual (but safe) place. Knitting in the sandbox, anyone?!

So far I have a finished sweater from the Northfield, and my charity coffee cup cosy from the blue and dark brown partial skeins. I'm now three-quarters of the way through a pair of socks using the Dye-Version. I've been saving this yarn as it was bought on a trip to Canada where I deliberately bought local yarns. When you know it's not going to be easy to get more, you save stuff, but I decided it was time for this yarn to realise its potential and the colours are beautiful.

Whether I'll get through all of the rest in the next six weeks is up to see, but I'll give it a good go and no doubt will have fun along the way, whatever the outcome.

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Yes, you read that right. Sometimes a successful attempt at writing a knitting pattern depends on the weather. Let me explain...

First of all I will concede that knitting is largely an indoor sport. Of course it can be performed outdoors should the knitter prefer but it does lend itself to sitting quietly in an armchair, curled up warm and cosy indoors. In the summer I love to take my knitting to the garden or a park and watch the world go by in the sunshine while I work on a few rows but at this time of year, my knitting is by and large an at-home pursuit.
My actual writing of patterns is done almost completely inside the house. I write on a laptop, and while it is portable enough to take into the garden, the wifi signal out there is patchy, and if the sunshine is bright I can't see the screen! Writing indoors does mean that it doesn't matter much whether it's hot or cold, wet or dry, foggy or snowing, the writing can still go on.

However, this weekend I came upon two stumbling blocks. One was for a pattern, the other a design submission, but both had the same problem and it relates to photography.

The pattern has been written bar photographs for a few weeks. It's been too wet to take pictures outside, and on the dry days I've been out until dark (sounds awful but it's still dark by 5.30pm at this time of year) so not able to take them. The design submission required a sketch and a swatch and I've been knitting and blocking the swatch so had to wait for that to be ready.

This weekend was dry. I grabbed my camera, the shawl, and the sketch and swatch and headed for the garden. The sun was shining. It was a bit cold, I knew that, but what I hadn't appreciated was that it was also really really windy.
The shawl didn't do too badly pinned to the fence, and then draped over a tree branch. I've got some shots of it against the fence, and some of it blowing gracefully against the tree.
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The sketch and swatch caused more of an issue. How on earth are you supposed to take a photo of a sheet of paper and a 6" knitted square when they blow away every time you let go of them?! I'm glad our street is quiet without too many passers-by to see me, because I ended up crouching behind my car on the driveway. It was the only spot I could find with good but not direct sunlight and enough shelter from the wind! I still had to hold the paper until the wind died down but after no less than 8 attempts I managed to get a picture of the sketch and swatch lying exactly where I'd put them flat on the floor instead of a blurred red and white streak as they blew into next door's garden wall!

Last week I took up a design challenge on Ravelry, to design anything of my choice but including a technique that was new to me. I've been knitting a long time and I've used a lot of knitting techniques along the way, but double knitting was something I'd never tried. The technique uses two strands of yarn, used to work alternate stitches independently, to create a double sided piece of fabric with no "wrong" side. Using two colours allows you to make a motif on one side and it's negative on the other. 
I had to think of something that would be small enough that I could manage a whole new technique and design in it too, but I also wanted it to be practical, not just a swatch. I decided on a cup cosy. The double thickness of fabric would be more insulating and the size would give me just enough room for a fun design to allow me to include a two-colour design.
And here it is! The Hot Drink cup cosy is available on Ravelry as a free download, but I'm asking knitters to make a donation to charity in return. The charity I'm supporting is Marie Curie. This is a UK charity which provides help and support to people with terminal illnesses and their families, including information on practical matters (such as financial and funeral planning), nursing care at home and hospice care. Donations will be on an honour system - please consider making a donation of whatever you can.