New Year, New Knitting

Hurray for January, no more crafting to deadlines (although it can be useful & productive!), it's a time of having a think and deciding what YOU want to make!
So after looking at what I had in my yarn stash, rather than buying new wool, I decided to find a better use for the Rowan Felted Tweed I've had for about a year now.  I originally bought 4 balls of this as I'd seen a pattern on Ravelry that I liked, no matter that the suggested yarn was alpaca and a bit thicker, I thought with a bit of maths to amend the pattern and some swatching I'd be sorted.....yes...well...I am a novice knitter I forgot, the maths I eventually mananged, what I couldn't get was the stitch tension looking nice on the larger needles I'd chosen.  So to cut a long story short, the project wasn't getting done because I wasn't happy with it, so with my January 'can do' attitude I had the brain-wave to search Ravelry for a pattern based upon the yarn I had *ding* - *lightbulb moment*!
Now it also had to be fairy easy as this was to be my first garment! I think I've done well, I've found 'Redhook' by Brooklyn Tweed, which is a lovely long waistcoat/vest type garment with small cap sleeves and is just rib and stocking stitch.  Head over to Ravelry and find me, I'm HoldMyHand, where you can see more!

I had an awful time starting off though, casting on and counting 244 sttiches was difficult for my little brain but then trying to get the rib pattern (k2p2) started proved to be beyond my novice skills!
I think I ripped back and re-started about 5 times, getting into a rhythm and having the right amount of stitches at the end of  every row was a nightmare, but I perservered, I broke down the three parts onto a piece of paper and wrote down what the pattern would be for each RS & WS row and what type of stitch I would be on at the end of each part so that if I did go wrong I'd know quickly and not at the end of 244 stitches!!
I've done about 1.5" of the 5" rib section now and once I got into the rhythm it was so much easier, that and remembering to purl the bumpy stitches!  The yarn is looking really nice too, the flecky colour is working up very attractively

While all the bad juju was going on with the above project I needed a soothing project to complete, ie. something easy!  So with the Sirdar Big Softie I got before Christmas I decided  to do some quick wristlets..

Very easy, I cast on 19 stitches (measured around knuckle width) and did a long rectangle in stocking stitch until I got a length from fore-arm to knuckles.  I then sewed up the side seam, leaving a gap for the thumb, nice and quick!  The bulky wool is really soft and warm, one ball was just enough for two, but I have a second ball left, so might think about a scarf to match, something short with a bit of character, more like a neck-warmer than a traditional scarf, I think I will have to peruse Ravelry again!