Snowman

Awwwh! I just wanted to show you this little cutie. Yeah, I know it's early, but I needed a quick softie to knit and the first stash yarn I grabbed was white so, I had to knit him!

I knit him last week whilst watching Raw and his scarf & hat whilst watching Iron Man 3, so he didn't take long at all.

I used the Angus the Attic Monster pattern for the body and made the rest up myself. The hat and scarf is knit out of GnomeAcres Superfine SW Merino, Silk and Stellina DK Sparkle in the Mistletoe colourway from last years Christmas collection. I'm quite excited to see if there'll be more this year.

All knit on 3mm needles.

And now he's just being cute, sat on top of a clock, waiting, waiting for those Cola Lorries to appear!

Happy September!

An August Review

It's been a pretty decent knitting month for me, the stupidly hot weather has died down and a designing bug has bitten me, not to mention a sewing one [that's sewing, not grafting!].

I've mostly been knitting on socks, finishing up 2nd socks so that single ones don't go friendless.

Designing

This month I've designed / knit up from my head a few things. I am thinking of writing up the patterns and having a little e-book or something like a pattern collection.

Happy Hoppy
When a pregnancy was announced I came up with a little character who could be in some cute little stories that could be told to future-child. When out in town I came across some gorgeous self striping baby yarn that was sweetly gender neutral and set about creating a secure baby toy with no small pieces and very little sewing.
I think I'll be writing up a pattern for this one definitely.  I am completely in love with it, my husband even did a quick drawing of it, which has inspired me!

She Sells Sea Shells
A sweet top down sock pattern which is so much fun to knit. I love the little garter sections, which aren't tedious at all, and they frame the main stitch pattern is simple yet effective.

A Basket Full
I've wanted to knit a toe up sock for a while now, but I actually rather enjoy grafting the toes on my socks, so I worked out a way that I could do both. It also gave me a better sense of how much yarn I can use in my socks to make them longer. It knits up to a pretty dense and toasty sock. It's a great pattern for self striping yarns too.

Snug
A great little cowl to make the most of that random ball of chunky yarn in your stash. So simple you can knit it with your eyes closed (trust me, I did).

Wonderhat
An interesting knit, steady repeating diamond pattern and a reverse stocking stitch crown makes a comfy, slouchy hat.

A Shawl a Day
The easiest, most simple triangle shawl to use up a random ball of gradient aran weight.

The Sock Yarn Sweaters

Last year, whilst branching out into more luxury yarns, I bought two skeins of Araucania Lonco Multy with absolutely no idea what I was going to knit with them. They were reduced to clear and I couldn't resist myself. 

I hand wound one skein as it was knotty, which cause a few expletives to come out of my mouth. As I couldn't face the other skein, I cast on for a shawl with it, but ended up frogging it as I didn't like how it pooled.

I came across the Kaleidoscope pattern and knew it would be perfect, but it needed an accent, which had me frog a sock from the this-will-never-get-finished pile so I could use my  Knitting Goddess 4ply merino/nylon sock.

I extended the ribbing, omitted the waist shaping, worked my first garment with a provisional cast on for the sleeves! Hell, I even worked magic loop on the sleeves for the first time, go me!

I just love it. I love the colours, the shape, even the buttons (bamboo and not sewn on when I took the photos).

I loved knitting it so much that I decided I needed a tunic from the same pattern. I grabbed a ball of King Cole Zigzag from my stash in what I thought was a variegated colourway. Nope. Just a very thin self-stripe, but given that it would be on a project larger than socks I let it do it's thing. I had to buy a 2nd ball of it, but more on that later.

 

I cast on 10 stitches more than what I required using a provisional cast on, as I didn't know how I wanted the bottom to look. I knit for a while, gently decreased to the number of stitches that I required and knit for a while longer.

I worked out where the cast on would have been on what I'd knitted and placed a stitch marker so I could follow the pattern for the waist shaping.

I joined in the provisional cast ons for the sleeves, then I worked out the neckline I wanted. So some stitches went on a holder and I started the back and forth with the decreases for the shoulder shapings. I carried on decreases more than the pattern says so that it'd stay on my shoulders.

I grabbed my leftover yarn from my colour affection to knit the contrasting ribbing. I love the green against the pinks and yellow.

I had to join in the 2nd ball at the neckline, only I had checked before hand which way the pattern went, it started reversing, but given that that section was worked flat I didn't think that it would matter too much.

In other news, I knit and designed a shawl using a Crazy Zauberball, I call it "Monster Hugs" on my rav page, but now I've knitted it it's certainly more "Mike Goes To University" as in Monsters University. I also knit 4 hats and a pair of gloves last week, but they're Christmas presents and can't be shown.

And now I've been rummaging through my project box and have chosen a sweater and a pair of gloves to get finished, so [hopefully] they'll be shown soon.

Ciao.

Hot hot hot

Hello peoples!

I don't know about you but I can't seem to finish anything lately, I just keep casting on! I think it must have something to do with this glorious weather we're having. I'm talking uncharacteristically hot.

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year, and oh boy I felt it. A walk that usually takes us 10 minutes from Ikea to home had us take a 10 minute pit-stop in the shade. So it's no real surprise that knitting hasn't been a top priority, although I have tried!.

I have 1.5 sleeves left to knit on a sock yarn cardigan, ribbing and cap sleeves on a sock yarn top. I had started the ribbing on a sweater that is the majority ribbing, but that's in DK and far too hot to work on right now. Socks are without partners, which I really ought to get off the needles so I can play with my Japanese stitch pattern book.

But my lovely husband hit me right in my weak spot, he bought me a Zauberball, not only that but a blue & green Crazy Zauberball that reminds me of Mike & Sulley from Monster's Inc and Monsters University (which we're going to see in an hour [yay]).

And, well, I've cast on a shawl with it, a little lace with garter and stockinette, so far I like it!

So, enjoy the uncharacteristically hot weather if you're in the United Kingdom, and I've heard of heat waves in other places! Remember to keep hydrated.

Until next time! xo

Weasley Blanket & Wedding Blanket

I am one of those insane people who think casting on for a blanket is a good idea. I keep thinking that it'll decrease my stash, and yet I don't think I've completely used up a ball of yarn in one of these projects. In fact I think I may have added to my yarn stash because of these. Add to the fact that I've learned to do granny squares in crochet *insert a victory dance here* and that I still haven't finished my bee keeper's quilt, well I may be drowning in blankets.

And yet I have finished two of these stash busting projects!

The Weasley Blanket

It will come as a surprise to no-one but I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I went on the studio tour with my husband as part of our honeymoon week.
So for me to have something Potter without outwardly screaming; "HARRYPOTTERHARRYPOTTER"  is a good thing. And it's a replica.

It's the Ron Weasley Blanket by Penguineer and here is my version.

I have loved knitting this, each square has been lovingly researched and you can knit it up with stash! I loved that aspect so stash was used.

I used 5mm needles and DK yarn. I even managed a neat single crochet border.

It's great to be curled up underneath it with my husband.

And talking of husbands! [What a great transition].

Wedding Blanket

My friend recently got married!

So since they announced their engagement I've been knitting log cabin squares to make into a colourful blanket. Pretty, huh? I almost didn't want to part with it.

You can see it's project page as there's no pattern for it.

It's been knit out of various DK yarns on 4.5mm needles.

My Peggy Sue

I've knit a few sweaters/cardigans now, my husband [yeah, we got married last month] has 4 now, my nephew has one, my mom has one and I've knit myself one in the past. They've all been bottom-up. Well, I've recently cast off my first top-down cardigan!

Woohoo!

P-A-R-T-Y? Because I gotta!

I chose to knit the Peggy Sue, with my own modifications of course. Here's My Peggy Sue (links to my project page).
It's a free pattern on Ravelry, a delightful little 1950's style cropped sweater, very feminine, very flattering. The neckline follows your collar bone whilst the cabled ribbing accentuates your waist.
And you'll notice that mine has no such effect, well except the neckline, I like that neckline. There's also the stripes, I haven't seen anyone else do stripes yet.

I did omit the shaping in the body as I was extending it.

I based the stripe pattern on one of my favourite cardigans, which is blue/brown/yellow, and I really wanted a green one.

So, below are my modifications.

Let's start with the yarns. I have 5 colourways in my cardigan. All being from the Stylecraft DK ranges.

Colour 1 - Fern (Collar, button band & stripe) (100g ball)
Colour 2 - Daffodil (Stripe) (100g ball)
Colour 3 - Zingy (Ribbing & stripe) (Will need 2x 100g balls)
Colour 4 - Charcoal (100g ball)
Colour 5 - Pebble (100g ball)

Cast on with Fern and work the collar and raglan set up row.
Change to Daffodil for 14 rows.
Change to Zingy for 18 rows.
Change to Charcoal for 18 rows.
Change to Fern for 18 rows.
Change to Zingy for 18 rows.
Change to Pebble for 18 rows.
Change to Daffodil for 18 rows.
Change to Zingy for 30 rows of 2x2 ribbing.
Cast off and rejoin for sleeves, and keep the stripe pattern (above) the same as the body.

When you rejoin for the sleeves, pick up 5 stitches on the under-arm and decrease them down the next few rounds. I chose the slp1, k2tog, psso method.

The sleeves are bracelet length on me, though still a little baggy. I decreased 6 stitches in the Pebble section as it's where my forearm starts to get narrow.

There are 8 buttons which are 15mm wide and spaced evenly along the button band which is followed by the pattern only with more stitches picked up and a little maths which meant the button holes were being worked after every 19 stitches.

I hope these notes are helpful, or just of interest to you.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013 - Day Three: Infographic

Ah, I do like to start projects, I don't tend to finish them very quickly though. I'm terrible with blankets though, usually with the thought of "Oh, this'll decrease my stash!" but you know what? It never bloody does!

Log Cabin Blanket (not yet on Ravelry)

"Stash Depleting" Blanket

Sock Yarn Blanket (not yet on Ravelry)

Weasley Blanket

Log Cabin Squares

Bee Keepers Quilt