K’s Super Warm Gloves
The weather turned really cold and K only had fingerless gloves! He hates normal gloves but I managed to persuade him that warm mittens wouldn’t be so bad. Took the Fluffy Cuff Mittens pattern from Stitch ‘N Bitch and converted it into a child’s size. Then used a strand of blue and a strand of blue green aran yarn held together throughout. It was a bit hard on the hands but I managed to finish them in a day. Good job too. A few days later, it started snowing!
K’s Netbook Cover
K got a netbook for his birthday, so I decided to make him a felted netbook cover. Found some shetland wool on eBay and set to. The yarn is listed as sport/5ply but, in my opinion, was closer to a 4ply, so I used it double throughout. Worked a swatch first and felted that so I could work out the initial dimensions for casting on. Unfortunately, I worked the swatch in garter stitch using 6mm needles but, at the last moment, decided to use stocking stitch for the cover itself. Bad idea! I should have done another swatch as stocking…
Armwarmers
Spotted a pattern for armwarmers in the Autumn issue of Knitty. My warm winter jackets is a little too tight to wear a thick sweater underneath — which isn’t a big problem but my arms do get a bit chilly sometimes. So I rooted out 100gms of Magi-Knit (James Brett — colourway:YW2) and a week later, I had a pair of armwarmers. I particularly liked the Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. I think I’ll be using that elsewhere. I also came across a stretchy cast on method that uses a crochet hook. I might try that for my next pair of…
Moiselle Hat & Quant
I have to stop buying yarn just because it’s pretty! I bought 250gms of Moiselle from eBay recently just because it looked so nice. Took some away with me to the Irish Discworld Convention in November and made yet another Quant. A Tea Cozy Hat followed shortly after.
Cabled Shrug
I love shrugs. Apart from the fact that there’s no need to work buttonholes and then try and find suitable buttons (not easy when your nearest LYS is a 30 minute bus ride away), they’re so easy to simply “shrug” on and off. I’d had my eye on a cabled shrug pattern for a while and finally decided to treat myself a kilo of Paton’s Symphony – colourway: Truffle. Love the finished shrug which was pretty easy to work up. Even better, Someone actually approached me whilst I was wearing it last week and asked me if I made it…
Marble Chunky
I’ve always liked the look of James Brett’s Marble Chunky. The colourways are absolutely gorgeous. So when K asked if he could have a new winter sweater, I took him down to my LYS (which is anything but local) and asked him to chose a colour. Surprisingly, he opted for a red/pink/orange colourway. I added 100gms of plain black to the 2 skeins of Marble (200gms each) and we had enough for a kid’s shirt-collar sweater. Having completed the sweater, I still had more than 100gms left of the Marble. So I also made a Quant (my favourite hat/headband) and…
Yuri MudFlap Top
Managed to get hold of 200gms of Noro Yuki recently. I love Noro yarns but they’re normally so expensive. This one was a bit unusual too. A multicolour mix of cotton and silk with a little nylon added to give it strength.
Blackberry Soleil
This pattern look so pretty in Knitty but was almost a total disaster! The yarn kept splitting all over the place and I somehow managed to completely mess up one of the armholes. I ended up abandoning it for 4 months. In fact I fully intended to frog it but, faced with the prospect of a 2.5 hour return train trip to London, I decided to give it another go. Ripped it right back to the start of the armhole shaping and re-knitted it. The neckline still isn’t right. The fit is a bit too loose. And I don’t like…
Quick Wrap
A simple dropstitch pattern to make a very quick wrap ready for summer evenings. I used Cygnet Grousemoor aran weight yarn and 6.5mm needles but it could be made using any weight yarn and the appropriate needles. Some of the shiny ribbon yarns would probably work well for a more glamorous evening wrap.
How Many…? Tools Updated
I’ve finally found time to update the How Many…? Tools. There are now 4 separate online tools that attempt to help with burning questions such as:
- If I want to decrease 14 stitches over 6 inches – how many rows should I work between decreases?
- My pattern needs me to increase 13 stitches evenly over a row – how often do I increase?
- I want to knit something 13 inches wide – how many stitches do I cast on?
- I want to knit a piece 22.5 inches long – how many rows do I work?
The tools should now provide far more practical suggestions for awkward calculations such as:
- decreasing 7 times over 90 stitches
- carrying out 5 increases over 7 inches with a row count of 6 rows per inch
And, after all that maths, my head hurts…
