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.
Truffle Shawl
I had enough Truffle left (450gms) to make a short Seraphina Shawl. That’s five Seraphina’s inside 12 months! Hey — so I’ll never be cold…
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.
Maui Crochet Shrug
I bought 200gms of 4ply terracotta merino yarn a while back that I originally intended to use to make a short shawl. However, I then decided I had enough shawls & stoles (last count – at least 8 of varying lengths and styles). So, after some pattern browsing, I opted to make a long-sleeved Maui shrug with cuffs of Strawberry Lace. Then the whole thing dropped way beyond what I expected when I washed it. So I ended up frogging the cuffs and taking about 4″ off each sleeve. It’s still lovely, though. And I had enough yarn left to…
Openwork Crochet Scarf
I had a single skein of Wild Fire Fibres Bambino (Purple Lotus) and was looking for something fairly simple that would show this lovely, drapey, yarn off. After some false starts, I settled on an openwork scarf with borders at each end based on Doris Chan’s All Shawl Strawberry Lace. Materials 400 yards soft 4ply yarn 5mm crochet hook Scarf Body Foundation: Ch 54st. Row 1: Skip next 8st, sc, * ch5, skip next 4st, sc **; repeat from * to **, turn (9 loops + 1 half loop) Row 2: Ch5, skip next 2 chains in the loop, sc…
