Ten Stitch Blanket

This is what a Prosperous Plum Tank Top looks like when it’s been undone and reknit into a ten-stitch blanket.  I’ve had to quickly learn how to do short row corners and they’re coming out pretty well, even though I’m still a bit under confident about doing them.  The pattern gives a really easy method though so that’s really helped things along.

The yarn is Sirdar Denim Tweed in Hyacinth, which I bought from Dianne’s Knitting Yarn at a great discount, since the colour had just been discontinued.  It looked great in the ball, but horrendous knitted up (especially in stockinette stitch) although the colours haven’t pooled as badly in garter stitch.  Some of the yarn has gone to waste as it barely survived a first knitting, let alone a second.  The yarn has a tendency to unravel as you knit no matter what you do, and even worse is that the plies break rather easily.  In my balls I found little hard bits of cotton, a bit like you sometimes find in cotton wool, and you can’t remove them without breaking bits of the yarn.  This was probably just a dodgy batch because Sirdar still produce the yarn in other colours besides hyacinth, so they can’t be all bad.

On a Roll

Ta-Da!  I’m on a real roll with finishing stuff, and this is the latest to breeze off my needles.  I think I was right in my decision to change the collar, and it’s worked out pretty well.  It’s quite loose so I shouldn’t have worried that it wouldn’t fit over my head!  After a good wash, the whole jumper relaxed a little and now even the cabled waist isn’t quite so tight.  I’m quite proud of this one - I played around with the sweater recipe I found and then added the pattern, so it’s now technically my pattern!

Swatching for my dad’s scarf ground to a halt shortly after I started.  The logo I was going to have at each end didn’t turn out well in colour work so that idea got scrapped.  My other plan was to use cabling instead, but I hit on some problems:

1. I’m using Double-knit not Aran or Worsted like I intend on using
   
2. I don’t want the curleyness of  stockinette/reverse stockinette so I’m trying to use garter stitch with two stitches either side of the cable in reverse stockinette. complicated isn’t the word
   
3. The pattern for the logo is too big, and finding/making something smaller is far too much brainwork for me right now!
   

I’m sure it’ll get done soon, and I know i keep saying that but it will!  I’ll just have to sort the logo out, and then there will be an excuse to buy more yarn.  I have after all just finished TWO new things, so it’s not like I’m not using it up as I go!

Not much to say on mum’s knitting front except that she’s working methodically if not particularly quickly.  She’s done about two inches so far, but each to their own.

Remember that yarn I bought ages ago that was on offer, the pink, purple, blue and white “denim” cotton mix that had me in a twist about this?  Well I’ve finally found a use for it! I’m knitting a Ten-stitch Blanket (link to PDF File) which happens to look relatively ok with a variegated yarn.  Mine is certainly turning out less like pink camouflage so it’s all good.  Pictures when it’s a bit bigger!

Knitting discipline

You may notice that my cream jumper is getting nearer completion – this is because I have been disciplined!  As soon as mum’s jacket was finished and sewn up, I set to and finished both sleeves. Now all I need to do is sew in the ends and the small underarm holes.  I’ve worn the jumper around a bit and have realised it’s actually really warm, so I think a big polar neck is going to be just too much.  I’m going to do something like an extended crew neck which hopefully won’t be as bulky either.  I’ve also decided to use plain ribbing as the cabled affect is going to be too tight to go over my head!

My mum is getting on with her toasty arm warmers as I write this and so far so good.  She cast on,  although I knit the first two rounds to show her what to do (she’s never knitted on DPNs before) and she’s done about an inch so far.  I’ll take pictures as soon as there’s something more to show!


I keep eyeing up this little fella here with a view to knitting him.  He’s by Jean Greenhowe from her “MacScarecrow Clan” collection, and he’s called Scamp.  I acquired a number of her pattern collections quite a while ago, but apart from Blue Teddy I’ve not used them yet and I’m looking forward to having a go.  FunkyKnitter over on Ravelry came up with a bigger version by both doubling the stitches and the rows, which looks like it has turned out well so i may try that.  This I think will be one of my “no purpose” knits, but with Christmas coming up i don’t think it’ll stay that way for long!

2009 Big Knits: The conclusion

Well it’s official, the hats are on the shelves!  Check JosieKitten’s picture Here.  I didn’t see any of my hats on THAT shelf, so I wonder where in the world they might be?

 

Mum wants to knit some long hand/arm warmer thingies with the leftover yarn from her jacket (of which there is plenty) and wanted a plain pattern to work from, so I spotted Toasty, on the A Friend To Knit With blog.  I’m just hoping she doesn’t struggle with holding the DPNs when it comes to doing the fiddly thumb part, else I’ll end up having to do it for her!

The Almost Finished Jacket

Well here it is, my mum’s Jacket all knitted and sewn up!  It’s just missing the zip which my mum has offered to do on the sewing machine, since I’m “sew” bad at it!  She’s using the tutorial on the Pickin' and Throwin' Blog, which includes both hand and machine sewing techniques.

This is the front, Sorry for the blurry image!  It’s not meant to be yellow, thats just the way it looks because of the lighting in here.  If it helps, the background is meant to be white!  The front is pinned together at the moment from lack of zip.


This is the back, note the hood! First time I've knitted a hood and boy was this a strange method!  I had to cast off either side, and then knit a middle bit, and then sew it all together afterward!  That answered my questions about why I had to pick stitches up for the border – the stitches were picked up from an assortment of side and cast off stitches.  I guess you could say how much I now appreciate the value of a short-row hood!

• The Pattern: Stylecraft Life Aran 8259
• Yarn: Hayfield Bonus Aran from Kemps Wool Shop
• Needles needed: 1 pair 4mm straights, 1 pair 5mm straights (although i used circulars for comfort’s sake)
• Other stuff needed: cable needle, row markers, row counters, measuring tape, pins, sewing needle, chocolate
• Knitting Time: Roughly about a month, on and off
• Amount of sewing up to do: quite a lot, it took me about a day, all told

Inherited talent

Even though I never knew my Maternal Grandmother, she still passed down her talent for fibre arts to me.  Every year my mum and her brothers would get a new cardigan or jumper knitted for them, but what survived is not her knitwear but her crocheted doilies.
The pictures that follow are just a small sample of the variety of colours, patterns and sizes we have.  They are all made in silk and I’ve pinned them out as best i can without putting stress on the yarn. 













According to my mum, my nan and her neighbours, friends and female relatives would all come for tea and cake and crochet or knit – just goes to show that despite the internet and all our mod-cons, time hasn’t really moved on!
In sharing these I was hoping that some clever and observant soul could possibly point me to the pattern so I would at least have a name for it!

Progress Report

This is just a quick one to let you all know that I’ve not dropped off the face of the planet, and that I’ve now finished the back of my mum’s cardy/jacket thingy and I’ve picked up for the hood and knitted about an inch!  Hoping it’ll speed along as it’s just stockinette stitch.  Strangely I have to cast it off and then pick up these same stitches for the border, I can’t quite work out why.  If someone could enlighten me on that point I’d be delighted!  Can’t upload pictures again and this time it doesn’t seem to be a size problem, otherwise I’d impress you all with my very neat and almost invisible seaming!