What I Did Actually Do in February

 (channelling my inner Morwenna Banks in the title there.) 

So craft in February was as always mainly knitting but I finished a trio of cross stitch cards that have been hanging about the place unfinished for years

And then there was the knitting. In no particular order

hats using up left overs for Bonnie Babies. I'd planned to do lots more of these until it occurred to me that it would take ages to use up small amounts and given that my aim is to reduce my stash as much as possible my time would be better spent on larger things. Mostly. So most of the left overs went off to the Charity Shop That Shall Not be Named.

I'm so proud of finishing this. I had completed the knitting over a year ago but it's knit in the round so you end up with a tube and then have to graft the two ends together, After two very frustrating and unsuccessful attempts to do that the project had been consigned to the 'I'll never be able to do that' pile, but when I picked it up out of Box 1 I realised that it was taking up a lot of space and it would be a good idea to have another go. And this time it went really easily. Whether I picked a different You Tube tutorial that made things clearer to me I don't know. I didn't enjoy it because it was a long slow process but at the end I had a beautiful cowl and could add 'grafting a tube' to my skill set so it was worth the time and effort. 

This is Poppy the Penguin who came to live with us, or I should say , with the OH at Christmas. She was a bit chilly apparently, so I grabbed a small amount of cream DK left overs and made her a cosy blanket. Since I was knitting some squares anyway - see below. 

Socks for me that almost got thrown away several times. I bought the wool in a destash in Ravelry years and years ago and never knew quite what to do with it. At some stage I had obviously decided to make socks because in the depths of box 1 there was a leg of a sock. I've never been 100% sure about the green sections in this ball of wool but as I'd done the leg I thought I might as well finish it. For some reason  unknown to man I put a 64 stitch foot on a 56 stitch leg and didn't realise my mistake until the toe didn't line up properly and I really looked at it. Once again I hovered on the brink of throwing the whole thing in the bin. But then I had a bright (?) idea.  I would redo the socks in the right size but I would cut out the green bits that I didn't like and just use them for heels and toes. So that's what I did. I think I could probably have done the whole pair in the pink/white but I didn't want to risk running out.  Also the cable detail that you can see on the outside of the leg is supposed to continue down the gusset and all the way along the foot to the toe, but given that I wasn't really in love with the yarn that seemed a step too far so I stopped it at the end of the leg. Not my favourite ever project and a lot of faffing about, but I suppose the upside is that at the end I had a wearable pair of socks.  

A small group of us in one of my Ravelry Forums made squares towards a blanket for another member who is going through some tough times health wise and a total hero of the group ( obviously not me) stepped up to sew them altogether. The end result was lovely, and these four were my contribution. The designs were taken from the pattern for last months sampler cowl, as indeed was the pattern for Poppy's blanket, so knitting that has been useful in more ways than one.  

And a pair of  mitts that I made for a swap. These are Helen Stewart's medley mitts which  have become my go to pattern for fingerless mittens.

In addition to the above I made a lot of progress on a large project which still isn't quite finished, but the end is in sight. I had a special reason for wanting to finish it before the beginning of May, and in fact it should be done very soon. I'm quite excited about it. 

And unrelatedly, a velvetiser update. For interest  and information there's a pretty comprehensive review here. Meanwhile I have tried the Black Forest Gateau flavour and although I was doubtful beforehand  ( be honest, it does sound fairly disgusting doesn't it?) I liked it. I am hopeful that the plain, darker sachets will be more satisfactory than the milk ones we originally bought, and the OH is also experimenting successfully with instant hot chocolate powder and cocoa.