Summer colour

I'm Ready for Colour, warmth and all things Summer. So I thought I'd share a few FO's and WIP's That I've been up to recently. And a few Photo's Hector and I have been taking this weekend (the poppy is one of his Photo's), that are getting me all inspired for summer.

Below is a sneak peak at my new shawl pattern that I'm designing. It should be available next month. It's predominately in this Bergere de France, Ideal, Citronnier, which if you could have a subtle Hi Vis this would be it, I really love it and it's nice to knit with. 

This is a Purl soho, Chevron baby blanket Pattern that I knitted recently in Bergere de France, Sport, Aran weigh yarn, I wanted a boys baby blanket that wasn't all pale blue and teddy's, I was really pleased how this turned out, and the joy with this yarn is it's machine washable which is a must for little baby projects I think. 

I've gone a bit crazy on pinks for probably the first time in my life. 

I feel I should say I do have other brands of Yarn in my stash but Where I teach sells Bergere and I find it hard to leave on a Thursday evening without buying something, hence the above photo from this weeks impulse buy.

 

This is the Flower Doily pattern available through Red Heart . I knitted it on, Fingering on 2.5mm DPNs and the larger one which is dinner plate size is in an Aran weight on 4mm DPNs. It's a really well written pattern, easy to follow especially if your not a big lace knitter.

I hope this gets you a little inspired to get knitting in colour this summer. Happy Knitting!!

Spring Flowers.

It's Spring at Last! (though it doesn't look like from my window right now). And what better way to celebrate than teaching the lovely ladies in my knitting class how to Create some colour work. So I came up with this pretty cosy to keep our mugs warm while we are out getting our gardens ready for Summer.

Yarn:

Special by Style craft - Parchment

                                      Meadow

                                      Matador

Robin Double Knit -     Sunflower

 It's a great pattern to use up scrap wool, But I would say predominantly use a lightweight DK, or drop to 3.25mm needles for a a heavier yarn. 

 Please click on this link to get the PDF pattern, Spring Flowers Mug Cosy PDF  If you do give it a go i'd love it if you put your finished Item on my Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com.

Now I know that if you are used to colour work, you may wonder why I've flipped the chart 90 degrees. It's so in class we can get to adding the colours and following the chart before our time is up. Feel free to use the chart which ever way up you like. It also helps with being able to determine how long the piece should be compared to your mug.


And.. If you like making charts yourself there is a BRILLIANT knitting website: http://www.tricksyknitter.com/shop/page/2/ where I created this chart.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting for others.

Recently I've been doing a lot of knitting for a charity called 'Hand in Hand for Syria', They are a fantastic Charity that take supplies into Syria and offer help and support to those who so desperately need it.

So I thought I'd share with you a few links to the charity's, groups and some of the patterns I've used. Because if your like me and you've got a lot of wool, it's great way to help provide warmth and comfort.

Charity's 

www.knitforpeace.org.uk

www.handinhandforsyria.org.uk
Hats and more for war torn Syria - Facebook and Ravelry group.

Patterns

These are a few patterns I have used.

Childs Jumper - http://knitforkids.org/pdf/KnitForKidsKnit121107.pdf

Adult Hat - http://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.
                   http://www.yarnspirations.com/patterns
Baby comforter - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kitty-baby-blanket-buddy

Baby Booties - http://patternduchess.com/no-sew-knitted-baby-booties-pattern/

Holes In The Plot.

Knitting Lace for me has either been a fantastic triumph or a colossal fail. I have many dormant projects that I just can’t face. But I love it, and these packed away nemeses of mine never seem to put me off tackling something new. I think partly because the lace stitches have such great names like; Feather and fan, Fern lace, Indian cross and Ostrich plume. And even the simple stitches look very impressive.

So this week in my knitting class I’ve come up with a really simple pattern to teach my lovely ladies the joys of Yarn over’s.  I’ve chose the not so romantically named, Eyelet lattice insertion stitch, it looks great and it is a really easy introduction to Lace and eyelet stitches.

Fantastic work created in class this Thursday.

So here it is:

HOLES IN THE PLOT- BOOKMARK

What you will Need:

4mm needles

Double knit wool

Wool needle

Abbreviations:

K2tog- knit 2 stitches together

YO- Yarn over, bring yarn to the front as if to purl but knit the following stitch.

S1- slip 1 stitch on to the right hand needle without knitting.

PSSO- pass the slipped stitch over the stitch you have just knitted, as if casting off.

 Let’s Get Started:

Cast on 12 stitches

Row 1 & 2 - Knit all stitches

Lace Pattern - This section is to be repeated 11 times.

Row 3 - K3, (K2tog YO) 3 times, K3

Row 4 - K2, P8, K2

Row 5 - K4, (K2tog YO) 2 times, K4

Row 6 - K2, P8, K2

Row 47 & 48- Knit all stitches

Row 49 - K1, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K1

Row 50 - Knit all stitches

Row 51 - K1, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K1

Row 52 - Knit all stitches

Row 53 - K1, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K1

Row 54 - Knit all stitches

Row 55 - K1, K2tog, K2tog, K1

Row 56 - Knit all stitches

Row 57 - K1, K2tog, K1

Row 58 - Knit all stitches

Row 59 - S1, K2tog, PSSO

Cut yarn, leave approx. 15cm and thread through final stitch.

Make tassel and attach using the15cm thread.

Note:

• If you do not want to do the tassel, cast off after Row 48.

• The finished bookmark will need blocking, as it does curl up. I simply wet it slightly and put it in between 2 chopping boards and left to dry.

This Pattern is available through my Ravelry page, so if you do have a go please let me see by sharing it on the pattern page

And of course the more adventurous you get you can add a different lace pattern in to the book mark, the eyelet pattern is repeated over 8 stitches, I’ve added 2 knit stitches either side. For example: Row 3- K2, K1, (K2tog YO) 3 times, K1, K2.

Little Fountain lace stitch.

Happy Knitting!

I've made you the moon.

I've made you the moon,

so when you're in bed at night

you can think of it shining 

as you shut your eye's tight.

Well here’s hoping!

I think Hector thinks the Moon and has something to do with cows, as sometimes when looking at picture of one he’ll point to the sky and say ‘Mooooooo’.

As I was trying to explain to him the difference one morning I had the idea to knit him his own little moon.

I’d just been given some great chunky yarn from his Nana Marie and it’s so dense and well, in my eyes moon looking; having been unraveled and wound into a big ball.

I hadn't intended it to be a pattern I might share, but if you would like to make your own little moon here it is. It’s a pretty quick knit to make the structure, It just depends how many craters you add, they can be a little tricky if you're not used to picking up stitches. But each one is over so soon that it feels achievable.

The Moon

A few notes on the pattern.

I've used a chunky Rowan cotton yarn but knitted it up on 4.5mm needles to make it a really solid construction. For the craters I split the yarn in 2, but you can always use a similar colour in a finer ply.

The Yarn I used is Rowan, 'All Seasons' which is now unfortunately discontinued, but the tension is: 7mm needles (as the wool band states), 11st/ 16rows for a 10cm/ 4inch square.  On 4.5mm needles it's: 18st/ 22rows.

You will need:

Chunky wool (any chunky stash yarn will do as long as it's moony) 

4.5mm needles

set of 5, 2.5mm dpns

Toy stuffing

wool needle for sewing up.

The moon

Cast on 6 stitches.

Row 1- Kfb all stitches
Row 2 - Purl all stitches 
Row 3- Kfb all stitches
Row 4 - Purl all stitches 
Row 5 - *K1fb K1* to end of row
Row 6 - Purl all stitches 
Row 7 - *K1fb K2* to end of row
Row 8 - Purl all stitches 
Row 9 - *K1fb K3* to end of row
Row 10 - Purl all stitches 
Row 11 - *K1fb K3* to end of row (total of 60 stitches)
Row12- Purl all stitches 
Row13- Knit all stitches 
Repeat rows  both 12 and 13 a further 6 times 

Row 25- *K2tog knit 4* to end of row
Row 26- Purl all stitches 
Row 27- *K2tog knit 3* to end of row
Row 28- Purl all stitches 
Row 29- *K2tog knit 2* to end of row
Row 30- Purl all stitches
Row 21- *K2tog knit 1* to end of row
Row 32- Purl all stitches
Row 33- K2tog to end of row
Row 34- Purl all stitches
Row 35- K2tog to end of row

Cut yarn leaving a long tail and thread trough the remaining 6 stitches on the needle. Remove from the needle, pull tight and tie off.

seam up to about an inch before your cast on stitches then fill with lots toy stuffing, then continue sewing up till you have a solid moon. 
 I used mattress stitch to seam up, you can find loads of great tutorials on youtube if you haven't done this before.

Craters

Notes on pick up stitches for the craters:

Each stitch you have made for your moon forms a little V shape, for these craters I pick up one half of the V, I'll call them legs.

Step 1 
With a darning needle thread your yarn threw the leg of a V and tie (leaving a 5cm tail to tidy away when finished).

Step 2
Go to the next Leg of a V to the left and insert 1 of your dpns, this is will be your first stitch. knit this stitch through the back.

Step 3
Again go to the next leg on the left of your first stitch and knit this through the back to create your second stitch.


Step 4
 You want the craters to be as circular as you can so imagine a square or diamond shape when picking up these stitches.
I picked up between 3 - 7 stitches per needle depending on the size of the crater.

Step 5

When you have all your stitches on their needles you can decide either to, knit 1 round and then cast off all the stitches or simply cast off all the stitches made; depending on how deep you want the crater. I did a mixture.

Its a good idea when you have finished casting off, to pick up the first stitch you cast off and use this to cast off the last stitch in your round, it make it look neater (see the image above).

 When you have made all the craters with a wool needle sew in all the ends to hide them.

I kept the little green one.

Add a length of yarn to hang the moon.


Here are some other pics of a larger crater I made in a diamond form.

I hope you have fun making your moon I certainly did.

It’s all a lesson in reading your pattern.

 A new year and new knitting projects in the bag. I'm so excited to be knitting though the seasons again and I’m already thinking ahead to spring. Luckily it’s still a while off because my spring shrug currently looks like this…

But I’m not dishearten (much), I have put too many hours into figuring out how to increase the lace pattern too give up yet. It’s all a lesson in reading your pattern before charging ahead. I was on such a roll! Too much, I should have stopped 20 rows earlier.

Oh well to make myself feel better I thought I’d share with you the projects this winter that I was really please with.

If you happened to read my first blog you may remember I started my Mum a jumper some time in the summer of 2012, well… I finished it. A very satisfying feeling to finally sit down and get it finished.

 It’s great to go into the new year with no project bags half finished and making me feel guilty. The pattern is, Drops- Rings of saturn, I added a little Dandelion for my Mum as she makes a range of cups with them on and they are really pretty. 

you can see more at 'hints and tips for the potter'

On a Drops theme, I adapted this little scarf pattern for hector. I thought I’d make it a Fox as he loves chasing the geese and pigeons in the park and I had a small amount of this great foxy coloured wool that needed using. I love using up all the odd ends I have stashed. It a great weekend project, luckily as it started we got snow the week after. 

The pattern is excitingly called Drops- B14-16 Hat, scarf and mittens It's quite an old fashioned looking set but Drops on a whole have some great basic patterns to get creative with.

And I have to share these softies that I knitted for presents this christmas. I was really pleased with how they turned out. They are from this great book I got for my birthday Called Topsy-turvy Inside-out by Susan B. Anderson. 

Back to my spring shrug now, Happy Knitting!