Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone and thank you so much for reading my blog over the year (currently at the rate of 1,500 hits a month!).  If you read my last post you will realise why it's been a bit quiet on the blogging front here at chopkinsknits for the past couple of months.  However, despite a big chunk of sadness we have been working hard to decorate the house, wrap presents and bake Christmas goodies and so I think we are now ready

AND, still I had time for some jolly Christmas knitting.  Most of it is wrapped up under the tree but I can tell you about one very frivolous item.  At the beginning of November DD2 casually asked if I could knit her a Christmas sweater for 'wear a novelty jumper to school day' at the end of term.  I should say DD2 is not a student she is an art teacher.  So it goes without saying that she needed something, while not tasteful certainly not even on the cheeky side of rude but it needed to make a splash.  

Well my friend Alli suggested something based on a Primark sweater and involving lots of felt, pompoms, glitter and a glue gun.  But I just couldn't bring myself NOT to knit.  So with little delay I found this pattern on ravelry that uses super chunky Drops Eskimo.

so easy to order on-line

I added a few more decorations

reindeers around the yoke

red noses added later

caption as requested by DD2

and a little extra sparkle added on the day

By all accounts the sweater was well received (and the batteries in the lights lasted all day!).

Now I'm off for mince pies with a glass of good wine and wish you all...

A very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.

xx

c

Fenton & The Running of the Deer

I've been tweeting and blogging about this for a couple of weeks, teasing you with little hints and glimpses.  But, at last...

The Fenton sweater is finished in time for Christmas!!

It all started two weeks ago, someone was quietly filming the deer in Richmond park on his phone when his attention was caught by some frantic shouting - FENTON! OH *****!!! FENTON!!!! Swivelling around to the source of the shouts the camera man began filming a small herd of deer in full flight closely followed by an energetic black labrador and less closely followed by a very anxious harassed owner (it was he who was shouting)

Then there was the challenge, delivered by a couple of my friends to knit the scene in the style of one of Sarah Lund's sweaters from the Danish TV series The Killing.

Perhaps the Non Knitting Friend thought I could run up a little something in no time - lickerty split - as NKFs do.  But the other friend does knit and Should Know Better.  Of course so should I but I couldn't resist making a traditional Norwegian style sweater and adding in Fenton and his master's voice. It took ten days (a personal best) but it's done

In case you are not one of the 2.5m people who have seen the film already - here it is

Norwegian sweaters often come in very simple styles - this helps to show off the stitch patterns.   No2 son kindly offered to be my model.  He described it as a good Christmas sweater - a compliment I should add not a sly reference to Rudolf sweaters in the Bridget Jones movie!

The Deer run across the front of the sweater, hotly pursued by Fenton at the back (with Fenton's 'man' shouting from the wings)

The pattern is for sale from my ravelry shop here

xx

c

PS Thanks to another good friend for bringing all the elements of this post together in this...