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I have achieved a new record for my knitting: this cushion has the most colours I have ever combined in one knitted project.

I used thirteen colours in one cushion.

I chose Marie Wallin’s pattern ‘Folk Fairisle Cushion’, but I went rogue with my colours. Looking at Ravelry projects for this pattern, I see that most knitters have followed the pattern exactly, using the recommended yarn and colours; only one other knitter chose their own colours as I did. It was not intentional, but friends say that my colour choices have a bit of a Christmas vibe.

When I ...

I was invited to a baby shower last weekend, so I crocheted a baby gift to take. I might know next to nothing about the care and maintenance of babies, but I think I am pretty good at making baby things.

He is such a handsome dinosaur.

I had a bit of a false start with some 4-ply (fingering) wool, and I soon realised that the finished toy would be very, very small. I ripped out that attempt and restarted with 8-ply (DK) cotton. The pattern actually calls for 5-ply (sport), but 8-ply yarn worked perfectly.

I had a false ...

In recent months, I needed gifts for new babies, so I crocheted a couple of toys.

The first was for my Kiwi neighbours. Crocheting a kiwi crossed my mind, but I chose to make a sheep instead because I already had a pattern for a sheep. It is the ‘Simon the Sheep’ pattern by Kerry Lord, from her book Edward’s Menagerie, but his new family have called him Harry, not Simon. I made him with one skein of Dos Tierras from Malabrigo.

I added to the gift by buying a large square of double gauze fabric and hemming it ...

I recently finished two very out-of-character knitting projects at the request of friends and family.

A dear friend asked me to make a Klein bottle hat for a maths-loving boy. (I had to look up a Klein bottle. Think of an infinity loop in a hat form.) The hat was to be striped according to the numbers of pi, and the recipient chose the colours.

I knitted the stripes in the round using a jogless stripes technique.

I love a geeky project, but this had several of my least favourite knitting elements: purple, acrylic yarn and a million ends to ...

Earlier this year, LoveCrafts asked me whether I would like to try some of their products. Of course I would!

My first thought was to make something for the new grandson, so after much delay and consultation with his mum, I chose an amigurumi donkey pattern by Kristi Tullus and yarns from the Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran range. I felt that realistic colours would help make him recognisable as a donkey, so I ordered black, white and slate grey.

Hubby says he is the best of the crocheted toys I have made.

The yarn arrived in the mail, beautifully presented ...

I decided that my charity knitting project was going to be knitted knockers (prostheses for breast cancer survivors), and that will be where my focus remains, but I was encouraged to help out at a recent craft bee at Calico & Ivy, where we made pouches for injured wildlife.

On the first day, I started crocheting a nest. The group tried a couple of nest patterns but unanimously decided that we liked Karlen Gunderson’s best.

The top of the nest folds down to create firm sides.

The pattern instructions create a base that sits flat.

The nest was made with ...

My favourite colour is red, but there has been a lot of blue in my life recently.

I knitted a simple blue cowl from a single ball of Lang 4-ply (fingering) baby wool that I found in the sale bin. It was such a pretty colour and all on its own.

The stitch pattern forms a pretty texture.

The wrong side of the knit looks nice, which I think is important when it is likely to be visible.

The cowl pattern I used, ‘Sea Oats Serenade’, is small rather than loose and drapey, but it works perfectly to create the ...

When my grandmother moved out of her house and into a nursing home a few years ago, we had to find homes for a lot of her extra belongings. She was never much of a knitter – she much preferred golf, tennis and bridge – but she had a small craft stash that included nine balls of cream yarn.

All but one of the nine balls had its ball band.

The yarn is pure wool, but it is a little too rough to wear on the skin. My friends and I guessed that it must be at least 20 years old, based ...

Ages ago, I bought two skeins of Knitcraft & Knittery 4-ply (fingering weight) yarn on a whim because I liked the shade of eucalyptus green. I planned to make a shawl or scarf and, after a long period of indecision, I chose Sylvia McFadden’s ‘Waiting for Rain’ pattern. The pattern has almost 5000 projects in Ravelry; it is hugely popular.

The shawl’s shape does not photograph well flat, but it sits nicely around shoulders.

The ends usually curl more than this, and I love their curliness.

I finished it in September, but it took a while for me to ...

When two skeins of discontinued blood-red sock yarn appeared in the sale bin, I pounced on them. They were labelled ‘beef’ by the dyer, Fleece Artist. The colour does look like raw meat, but in a good way. I like a dark red.

The yarn is a mixture of bluefaced Leicester and nylon for strength. I feel an affinity for bluefaced Leicester (and their bendy noses) because my family kept border Leicester sheep, the source of the bluefaced Leicester, in my childhood.

I used Wendy Johnson’s toe-up sock pattern ‘Lace and Cable Socks’ to knit one skein into a ...

It is almost the end of October, but I have only just realised that October is breast cancer awareness month. Obviously, I am not very aware. Even the huge breast cancer screening truck parked in front of my workplace this week was not enough to give me the hint.

Despite my obliviousness, I have been doing my bit. I have been knitting my second batch of knitted knockers, cotton breast prostheses that are given to women who have had mastectomies. One of my neighbours and friends has been knitting them, and she got me started. The charity supplies us with ...