Santa Dash and Crocheting

Hello all,

Not long until Christmas!!!! and I hope that you have all of your knitted gifts ready to give your loved ones. If you haven't (like the rest of the knitting community) I hope your not up too late at night trying to get it done.....remember, you probably never specified which Christmas your loved ones will received their knitted gifts ;-) 

I have completed the Santa Dash !!! It took place on Sunday and I went with my friend Laura. We arrived in Warwick where we were given our Santa Outfits. It was hilarious being dressed up with a mass gathering of Santas. It was at this point I whipped out my yarn, which I had brought from Wool Warehouse. I decided to go for a acrylic yarn so it wouldn't get damaged in the rain! I also went for a chunky yarn so that my scarf would be created much quicker. I used my 10mm crochet hook and began crocheting my scarf whilst completing the Santa Dash. I decided to work 11 trebles on each row and worked on the piece until the 2 balls of yarn ran out. There was a lot of support as we completed the dash and I would do it again!!

I would like to thank Countryside Online, Myton Hospices and Inside Crochet for there support whilst completing the Santa Dash. I would also like to thank Laura as without her, I would have missed this brilliant opportunity, 

 Myton Hospices is a brilliant charity that provides wonderful end of life support. If you have enjoyed my antics and are able to give to a great cause please follow the link to my Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/sarahssantadash2015

I've decorated my house with some of my previous Christmas knits which includes the Christmas stocking bunting and my knitivity. It is also not too ling until I pull out my Christmas Jumper!! I feel my new home is ready for the family to visit so we can celebrate Christmas together. I'm really looking forward to it!!!!

I currently have two patterns in the guide to Crochet volume 5 created by Inside Crochet.. this beautiful bookazine contains 2 of my Tunisian crochet patterns from this year. Please check it out 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting my work and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. 

Until 2016

Happy Crafting. 

Sarah x

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Man hat and Santa Dash

Hello all, 

I am happy to announce that the man hat is completed after all of the drama. As I did not have measurements, I felt it was safe to work with a 2 x 2 rib pattern. This would give the hat much give. I used DK weight yarn and cast on 112 stitches. I wanted the stripes to be distinct so felt it was best to change the colour of the yarn every 10 rows. I wanted the hat to be too big so this would allow a length to fold the hat back. This makes sure that the hat would not be too short. After much tea drinking and tv watching, I completed the hat!! I think it's fab but I felt I needed to make it clear where my loyalties are :)

West Yorkshire Spinners have gorgeous Christmas yarn, which I am now the proud owner of. They also have a beautiful sock pattern which I am currently working on. I only happened to find this pattern by going to my local knitting group at Stitch Solihull. The wonderful Anna showed me this pattern and I have fallen in love with it. The pattern has a new challenge for me as it is worked toe up. I will show it off when it is completed :) I found the pattern on the following link http://www.wyspinners.com/patterns/WYS_Holly_Berry_Free%20Pattern.pdf

I have now ordered my yarn for the Santa Dash I am taking part in. This is on the 13th December around Warwick. I will be dressing up with Santa with my friend and completed 2 laps of the park. To make this more challenging I have decided to crochet a scarf as I go around the course. I think it will be quite a laugh and hopefully I will be able to raise money for Myton Hospices which is a great cause. The charity support people through the final part of their life and also support families. If you are able to donate to this great cause please follow the link to my just giving page www.justgiving.com/sarahssantadash2015 

I have also now released my patterns on the Love Knitting website. Please check out the link to my designs http://www.loveknitting.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=relevance&dir=desc&q=sarah+reed

I think all of my Christmas knitted and crocheted gifts sorted to give to the family. I just need to sort out my decorations. I had a lovely time Christmas tree shopping but I still need to try and get other bits and bobs. I think I will be pulling out my Christmas stocking bunting and adding it to my fireplace. The dilemma is how soon can i put the tree up........

Right back to the Christmas socks

Until next time

Happy Crafting

Sarah :) 

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Halloween and Man Hat Drama

Hello all,


Hope you have all enjoyed your Halloween and Bonfire night. I am proud to say I managed to sneak a bit of crochet into my Halloween costume. I was struggling for an original idea and contacted my sister for inspiration. We searched far and wide and came up with a brilliant idea. I needed to wear clothes that looked French. I already owned a striped top and I went to a fabric shop to buy red cloth to be my scarf. I was in need of a beret.........I looked on Ravelry and I found a free crochet pattern. I was able to whip the pattern up quickly and it completed my outfit. I painted my face like Gene Simmons from Kiss, which made me a............French kiss (haha genius!!!)


I met up with the lovely Denise from Peeko crochet. We met in a cafe and she taught me how to create double sided Tunisian crochet. Denise is a great tutor and I would recommend attending any class that she is teaching.  It was lovely to meet with a fellow enthusiast and chat crochet. I saw some of her patterns and after this felt more inspired to create more original design work :)

I have been given a mission to knit a hat for a man. The specification was that he is a hiker and he wanted a purple and blue hat. I went to Stitch Solihull where the lovely Anna prevented me from ripping my hair out finding a masculine purple. We found some lush Bergere de France yarn which was manly in colour. After further conversations with the man I came to realise that he was a Villa fan......and then said he would like his hat in the colour of the football kit!!!!!!!......Back to stitch Solihull this time with my friend Becky and Anna stopping me from ripping my hair out. In the end we found the colours needed and I have started work on this piece......

Right I'm going to get back to it :)

Until next time 

Happy crafting

Sarah :) 

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Tunisian Cross Stitch Cowl and another use for yarn

Hello all,

I am currently drowning in Christmas projects which has made the months fly by......I have 1 and 1/2 more family projects and some friends to knit for and I'm done.

I recently had a project published in Inside Crochet. It was my Tunisian cross stitch cowl, which is my first design made in the round. The design includes West Yorkshire Spinners Yarn and a new stitch. The project involves a double ended hook which means the forward pass is worked on one end and the return pass is on the other way. It's a great technique as it means no sewing!!!!!!!!

I have also been out and about trying out new things. I can now say I've attempted clay pigeon shooting and archery. It went well until I found the recoil of the gun painful........turned out I don't have enough padding. After being covered in extra layers of coats, it wasn't so bad :)

I have also found another wonderful use for yarn. Another hobby of mine is walking and I recently went on an 8 mile walk. I decided to wear fashion boots instead of my walking books as they matched my outfit. After damaging my poor feet I was unable to walk when I got home. Slippers did not relieve the pain however resting them on top of a ball of yarn was pure bliss......

Right back to work

Until next time

Happy crafting

Sarah :) 

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Car dealerships and Holiday yarn shopping

Hello all,

I can confirm that an acceptable place to crochet is in a car dealership. I had my car serviced and whilst I was waiting I whipped out my Toft T-Rex project. Unbeknown to me, I was in the presences of fellow crocheter, Tinkyblink. She is also a Tunisian crochet fan and we lovely yarn shops in the area. The time passed quickly as we shared projects and exchanged Ravelry page details. There were also a few other people who were intrigued with what I was working on. All in all, a car dealership is an acceptable place knit. hhhmmmm where to try next.....

With this extra time of working on my project, I completed my T-Rex project ready for Christmas. I sadly did not find the missing leg so had to make another one.........(grumble grumble). The pattern was straight forward to follow and I am please with the result. I would recommend this pattern if you would like to make a cute dinosaur.

I have been away on holiday and found some lovely knitting shops in the area. I have been to Periwinkle in Ilfracombe, which is not only a knitting shop but a cafe as well. There was a delicious range of home-made cakes and speciality teas and coffees. What I also loved was that there were knitting magazines to browse whilst having a brew. There was a range of yarn  to explore and sweet knitting accessories. I brought myself a hand mirror which has pictures of wool on the back. This is a place worth visiting if you are in the area, I recommend the bakewell cake. 

On the way back from holiday we stopped in Tiverton and I popped into the Tiverton Bead and Wool shop. Downstairs they have an extensive range of beads, however, upstairs there was a whole floor of yarn. They stocked the beautiful West Yorkshire Spinner's yarn and drops yarn. The yarn was affordable and there was a good range of colours. I felt a bit of inspiration and brought some yarn for the next project. 

I am going to get back to gloves that I am knitting for another Christmas present but before I go, you may wish to have a look in this month's Inside Crochet for my latest pattern..........I will talk about it more in the next blog.

Until next time

Happy crafting

Sarah :) 

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Autumn and the hunt for the missing leg

Hello all,

The weather appears to be changing quite quickly and I am currently............. freezing!!!!!!!! For a knitter, the change in season is great as it brings back more motivation to make woolly goods. I have completed my Christmas project for my sister.......with a lot of yarn left over, so I will need to think what other present I can create with yummy chunky yarn.

I have also finally completed my West Yorkshire Spinner's Mallard socks :) They are fabulous and really warm. I like the colour combinations and I feel they may come on holiday with me to the caravan. I have successfully recovered from the second sock syndrome and back to good health. I am now on my next project. 

Work has started on my nephew's dinosaur using the TOFT pattern. All was going well until I lost a leg that I had made..........I suppose there is a slight possibility it walked off (I guess more accurately hopped off as it is only one leg). The hunt to find it has began but it could be anywhere between Birmingham and Reading. If you do happen to find an orange crocheted leg about.....please tell it to come home!!!!!!

There are a lot of lovely knitted accessories coming out in the shops. Whilst with my sister, we found some sweet knitted jumpers for the nephew and gorgeous chunky cardigans for us in Primark. I am at the point where I am considering popping the heating on at home but I am trying to resist the urge...........until the real autumn arrives.

The holiday planning is going well. I am  trying to locate the local yarn shops near Bideford. (Please do share any recommendations) I have found a knitting cafe called 'Periwinkle' which I would love to pop in. Not only does it sell beautiful yarn but it also has tea and cakes. This sounds like a knitters dream to me and a must do on the holiday list. 

I am also still on my quest to find other socially acceptable place to knit. So far I have found on a train and a cricket ground. Tomorrow, my car needs to be serviced and I intent to be making my dinosaur in the waiting room. This is a new knitting territory for me and I hope it is well received. 

I am still fundrasing for Birmingham Children's Hospital after spotting all of the Big and Little Hoot owls. I am happy to say I have reached my target and I want to thank everyone who has been able to sponsor me. If you are able to help this great cause my page is www.justgiving.com/sarah-reed2015

Right....back to the dinosaur and the hunt for the missing leg.....

Until next time

Happy crafting

Sarah :) 

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Second sock syndrome.......

Hi all,

I have successfully completed the Big and Little Hoot for Birmingham Children's hospital. The project was set up by Wild in Art. It was great fun and it was a brilliant way to explore the city. All 211 owls have now been spotted and I now have more time to knit again :) I am still collecting sponsors so if you are able to help in anyway that would be much appreciated. My page is www.justgiving.com/sarah-reed2015.

My knitting buddy Becky and I felt we wanted a new venue to knit at. We looked into acceptable places to knit and found that a cricket ground is the place to be. We booked our tickets and went to watch an exciting match.....however, it was not meant to be. I arrived just after 1pm and the rain began to fall. We stuck it out for 5 hours but after that, we gave up and the match was called off. Despite the rain we continued to knit our current makes. I have finally finished Christmas present number 2 for my sister. It involved a TOFT pattern and some very chunky yarn. I also picked up the Mallard sock and got most the way to completing the first sock.

The next day I persevered and completed the first sock. I have began the second sock but I am now suffering from the terrible aliment of 'Second Sock Syndrome'. I am working on the cuff and I am struggling to complete it. I feel that they way to recover from this terrible syndrome is to put on a great movie and knit to the end. I am hoping to complete it over the weekend.

I have my next project lined up, which is of course a Christmas present for my nephew. He seems to have befriended his toy T-Rex. My nephew has such a strong bond with this creature, that he now feeds it and gives it his dummy. I felt it would be nice for the dinosaur to have a little friend and TOFT have some lovely dinosaurs patterns to make up. I haven't crocheted a toy for a while and I am looking forward to working on this.

The family are plotting their holiday to Bideford and I am currently trying to spot where all of the fabulous yarn shops are. If you have any suggestions, please do share :)

I have noticed that Age UK are starting to promote the Big Knit project. This involves knitting little hats to place on Innocent smoothies. For every smoothie that is sold wearing a hat, 25p is donated to age UK. Look online for more details on how you can get involved. 

Right!!!!!! I will not be beaten by this sock!!!!!!!!

Until next time

Happy crafting

Sarah :) 

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