Some recent knitting projects

It's been a while since I shared any knitting and I've recently finished a couple of projects so I thought I'd pop in to show them to you.

I'll start with the one I finished most recently and that's taken the longest time - this is a top that I knitted for myself using a pattern called "Peaceful" from a King Cole pattern booklet that was included with issue 125 of Knit Now magazine. 

It's the kind of pattern that could look a little intimidating due to the all-over lace texture, but it was actually relatively simple to knit. It's only a four row pattern, and the pattern repeats over just six stitches so I had it memorised relatively quickly. I also found that once I had the pattern established it was fairly easy to read my knitting to see what I should be doing and fix any mistakes quickly. All of that combined meant that it was a more relaxing pattern to knit than I was initially expecting it to be.

I used the yarn recommended for the pattern - King Cole Cotton Top and chose the teal colourway. It's a DK acrylic and cotton blend and was nice to knit with. I haven't worn it that much yet because it's been too warm, but it felt good to wear on the walk when we took these photos.

One thing to mention if you happen to be thinking of knitting this pattern is that I actually ran out of yarn and needed to buy an extra ball, whereas I usually always have more yarn than I need. Thankfully I was able to get a ball from the same dye lot as the rest of my yarn so it wasn't too much of an issue, but you might want to be a bit generous when buying yarn.

My second project is actually also from the same King Cole pattern booklet from Knit Now - essentially I couldn't decide which I'd rather knit when I got the booklet and the yarn for both was very affordable so the obvious choice (?!) seemed to be to knit them both!

This one is called "Time Out" in the booklet and is a sweet and simple pattern which is knit in pieces and seamed (like all of the patterns in the booklet) and is just a lot of stocking stitch with rib at the waist, sleeve cuffs and neckband. It was definitely good mindless knitting, and that combined with the colour changes in the yarn meant that it seemed to grow quite quickly as I worked on it.

For this one I again used the recommended yarn - King Cole Drifter 4-ply in the colourway Bluebell. It's an acrylic, cotton and wool blend. I would say this felt a little more plastic-y to work with than the Cotton Top did, but it knits up fairly nicely and feels fine to wear. 

I'm quite pleased that I managed to get both of these finished within the appropriate season for wearing them! I think they'll both work well with layers as well as on their own though, so hopefully I'll be able to enjoy showing them off on into the autumn as well. And now I need to get planning my next garment knitting project! Have you knitted anything recently?

Some recent knitting projects

 It's been a while since I shared any knitting, so I thought I'd write a little post today to talk about a few projects that I've finished so far this year. 

The first was actually mainly knitted last year, but the finishing touches were put on hold while I worked on some gift knitting and so were only completed this year.

The pattern I used here is the Rainbow Cardi (Ravelry link - pointing this out in case you're affected by photosensitivity) by Yelena Dasher from the book Mini Skein Knits (Ravelry link). It's essentially a very simple stocking stitch cardigan, made much more special by all the colourful stripes. The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn and, as you can imagine, all of the stripes are a great use for mini skeins and leftovers. 

For my version, I used West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply in the Milk Bottle colourway as the main colour (I used about 150g), and the stripes are all leftovers from various socks and shawls. It was fun to knit as you always had the incentive of getting to add in the next colour. I was very pleased to discover that I had the perfect buttons already - by some massive fluke, my button jar has done remarkably well at providing me with the right buttons for projects when we've been in various lockdowns and in-person button shopping hasn't been possible! 

I love how this cardi turned out and it's already been worn a fair few times since I finished it in January.

Next up we have my Lesedi shrug, a pattern by Noma of Bigger Than Life Knits. The relaxed shrug style is kind of like a shawl that won't fall off your shoulders, and the fact that it uses chunky yarn means that it knits up pretty quickly and it's beautifully squishy. Wearing it kind of feels like a hug! 

The yarn I used is King Cole Chunky Tweed in the colourway Skye. It's a mainly acrylic yarn so is pretty affordable, but does also contain 25% wool for added warmth. I love the combination of the main navy colour with the rainbow tweed neps. 

I made this specifically to wear when I'm working at my desk as my office gets sun in the morning but not in the afternoon so I often need to add an extra layer as the day goes on. The Lesedi is perfect for that so it's another winner for me!

Lastly we have a project I finished just last week. The yarn (Willow & Lark Nest in the colourway Bougainvillea) for this project had been in my stash for quite some time. I originally had a cardigan pattern picked out for this yarn, but whenever I went to cast it on something was telling me that the plan wasn't quite right so I had a rethink. I decided to use the Hoxton pattern by Martin Storey/Rowan - I've just realised it's available as a free pattern on Love Crafts if you fancy giving it a try (I used a pattern booklet that I bought in a bundle from a charity shop). 

This pattern is knit in pieces and seamed, and the combination of the simple garter stitch with the single large cable on the front and back was very relaxing to knit. I think it works really well in this yarn, and I'm very glad that I decided to abandon the original cardigan idea in favour of this sweater.

The only slight problem I have with this sweater is that I've made my standard mistake of finishing it just as the weather starts warming up so I probably won't be wearing it much in the near future. Never mind - that just means I'll have it to look forward to come autumn! Now to try and get warm weather knits finished in time to wear them in the right season - wish me luck!

Knitting Round-Up 1/2020

Hello hello! How are you all? Staying safe and well I hope! In these strange times, with significant parts of the world in lockdown trying to curb the spread of COVID-19, I'm finding that all my various crafty projects are providing even more comfort than they usually do. So I thought it would be a good time to come and share some of the knitting projects that I've been working on since the start of the year.

First up is a project that I started last year, but which got put on hold for a couple of months while I was working on various Christmas presents. It's the Tank Top pattern from the book Simple Chic Knits by Karen Miller and Susan Ritchie and the yarn I used is West Yorkshire Spinners Colour Lab DK in the colour Deep Teal.

It's a really simple pattern - lots of stocking stitch knit in two pieces with ribbing at the waist, armholes and neckline. I made the medium size and followed the pattern exactly, apart from knitting 8 rows of ribbing on the neckline instead of 4 to raise the neckline up a bit. I'm glad I did that because it would have been a bit low otherwise. As it is, I'm pleased with how it turned out and it's a nice extra layer for added warmth on a chilly day!

Another project that got carried over from last year is my Siren Song socks. The pattern is by Vikki Bird and I really enjoyed knitting it! It's mostly a fairly plain sock with an interesting slipped stitch detail running in a panel along one edge of each foot. It's designed to work well with variegated yarns, and I think it does a good job of that with the gorgeous yarn that I used, which is "You Do Something To Me" by Mr B's Yarns.

Next up is my Minimania shawl. This is a project that I've been wanting to make for a while, and I'm glad that I finally got around to it! The pattern is by Lisa Hannes, and is really nice to knit. With the different sections being worked in different colours and textures, you're never doing the same thing for too long and you always have an incentive to keep going to get to the next section.

The mini skeins that I used for the middle coloured section are all by Mothy and the Squid and were part of a set that I was lucky enough to win in a giveaway a while ago. The off-white at either end is an undyed skein from Chester Wool. Happily the mix of colours are a really good match for most of my coats!

I also used a couple more of the mini skeins from my Mothy and the Squid winnings, combined with another one by Vicki Brown Designs, to make a Choose Colour Cowl by Maddie Harvey. This is a really lovely pattern designed specifically to use mini skeins or scrap yarn of varying quantities to give you various cowl size options (this is the wide single loop version, made using 3 x 20g mini skeins). You're always striping two colours together throughout the cowl, and it's interesting to see how the different colours play together.

It's a very relaxing pattern to knit, and the finished cowl sits perfectly inside my winter waterproof coat to keep my neck nice and cosy. I'm so pleased with this one that I'm already knitting a second version of the pattern using the leftovers from my Minimania shawl!

One of my Make Nine projects for this year is to try some more colourwork knitting, and I made a start on that with my first attempt at mosaic knitting. These are the Mosaic Mitts from the book Beginner's Guide to Colourwork Knitting by Ella Austin. My main yarn is Coop Knits Socks Yeah in the colour Benitoite, and the contrast is 'Taste the Rainbow' by Glendale Fibres (left over from my Kia socks). This is a fairly economical project - I only used about 25g of my main colour and just 5g of my contrast colour.

I love how they turned out, and really enjoyed watching the pattern emerge as I knitted the mosaic section.

Last but not least is another project from my Make Nine list - and another pattern by Ella Austin. This pattern is the Teign Poncho, and I included it in my Make Nine plans because I wanted to use this as an opportunity to use up the leftover yarn from my Lace Hearts cardi. It worked out perfectly on that front - I had only the tiniest scraps left when I finished!

It was another nice pattern to knit with alternating sections of stocking stitch and simple-but-effective texture. It's also already proving to be very useful at keeping my shoulders and upper back warm when I'm at my desk - they always end up cold, and this little poncho gives me a lovely bit of extra warmth just where I need it without being too bulky.

So I think we can say that my knitting has got off to a fairly successful start this year! And with extra time at home due to social distancing, I think the next couple of weeks/months will be fairly productive for knitting and crafting in general as well. Are you using creativity to keep you calm too?

Final 2019 knitting (& a little crochet)

Hello hello! It's been a little while since my last post, hasn't it?! Most of my creative time at the end of last year was spent making Christmas presents for my family that needed to be kept secret so I didn't have anything to share here. I'm back to making for myself again now, so expect normal blogging service to resume too! My first projects of the year are almost done, but for now I thought I'd pop in to share some of the things that I knitted in the last four months of 2019.

Having said that, this first project is actually crocheted! This is the first crochet that I've done for quite a while - I decided to give it a try again it give my hands something a bit different to do as a break from knitting. I do like crochet every now and then, but I don't enjoy it as much as knitting and also my tension is slightly crazy so everything turns out smaller than it's meant to be no matter what I do. That makes it a bit limiting because it means that I tend to stick to projects where final size isn't too critical.

Thankfully this shawl falls into that category, and was a nice way to put a pretty skein of yarn (from Woolly Mama Yarns) that had been in my stash for a while to good use. The pattern is the Movie Night Shawl by Purple Iguana Designs. It was easy to work up and it's nice light shawl to wear - what more could you want?!

Next up is a Blooming Bandana Cowl - a pattern by Molly Klein Design. This is a really great pattern for using up leftovers from sock projects as the pattern only calls for about 35 grams of each colourway (I think I may have used even less than that). I have plenty of yarn left over from my sock projects so I can definitely see myself making more of these.

It was another easy pattern to knit (that's a bit of a theme with most of these projects, partly because they have been my easy knitting that I've been working on alongside a more complicated sweater/jumper that's still a work in progress), and I've enjoyed wearing it. I always used to stay away from cowls because I didn't think they'd be as cosy as a shawl/scarf because you can't wrap them as snugly round your neck, but I've found that this is nice to wear when I'm at my desk and my shoulders/neck feel a bit chilly. Another winner!

Now we have some socks, specifically the Kia socks. This is a pattern by Dawn Henderson/dawn.landix, and deserves to be appreciated because it was inspired by the important conversations within the knitting community surrounding race, diversity, inclusion and representation.

It's a lovely relaxing pattern to knit. I used a slightly different toe (just my personal preference - I've found that the rounded toe from Helen Stewart's Magnolia Socks fits my feet really well so I tend to use that on all my socks now), but other than that followed the pattern and they knit up beautifully. This would be a good pattern to use for presents because it's speedy but more interesting than plain vanilla socks. The yarn I used is 'Taste the rainbow' by Glendale Fibres - it's lovely and colourful!

My next project was a Rayon de Soleil shawl. This is a pattern by Francoise Danoy/Aroha Knits. It's a simple shawlette made up of alternating sections of stocking stitch and garter eyelet rows - a simple but effective pattern that was enjoyable to knit.

I made this using more sock yarn leftovers - the variegated colour is 'Hendriks' by Vicki Brown Designs, and the pink is 'Orchid' by Lamington Lass. I love how these two yarns work together - pink and green is such a nice colour combination, which I didn't really appreciate until a couple of years ago.

Now we move on to a few presents that I knitted towards the end of the year. First, a super simple and speedy baby knit - a Tegan hat with top knot that I made for a friend who had a baby in early December. It's DK weight so knits up nice and quickly, and felt lovely and cosy in the yarn that I used - a mini skein of John Arbon Knit by Numbers DK in colourway 17. I'd happily knit more of these for future baby gifts!

There was a new addition to my family just before Christmas and I gained a new nephew, so obviously he needed an auntie-made present too! This time I chose to knit a little cardi - specifically 'The Gift' by kiddiwinksknits. This is a lovely pattern (and it's free!) -  the only change I made was to use normal  1x1 rib on the cuffs and waistband instead of the eyelet rib in the pattern - mainly because I knit most of it not knowing whether I'd be gaining a niece or a nephew and plain rib seemed a bit more unisex than the pretty eyelet rib.

I don't often knit garments seamlessly as the one time I tried it made my wrists really sore, but I want to give it another go and this was a nice way to experiment and see how it went. Thankfully no wrist pain this time, although it has to be said that obviously a baby cardi is a lot smaller and lighter than a garment for me would be!

I also knitted up a quick hat for my brother. It's the Violet Waffles hat by Halldora J - another freebie (I do pay for knitting patterns most of the time I assure you - I like to support knitting designers!) and another easy peasy project, and excellent gift knit. This project was mainly determined by the yarn (Blue Sky Alpacas Eco-Cashmere in the colour Black Rose), which I was lucky enough to win in a giveaway earlier in 2019. It's beautiful yarn and felt lovely, but it really isn't my colour so I knew all along that it would be used for a gift. Thankfully my brother wears much darker colours than I do so it suited him perfectly!

Once Christmas was over, I switched back to knitting for me - yay! My first completed project was a very practical one - dishcloths. I've been wanting to give knitted dishcloths a try for a while now, and knitting this super simple pattern (Gramma's Dishcloth by PJ Allen) was a good way to spend car journeys visiting family members over the Christmas period. I used Lily Sugar n Cream in the colour Psychedelic Ombre, which has given me possibly the most colourful dishcloths in the world! I've been using them for about a week now and they're doing well so far so I may be making some more so that I can have some in use while others are in the wash.

And last but not least, a hat for me! It's the Trellis Beret by Woolly Wormhead. I've had this pattern in my Ravelry queue for a while and chose to knit it now because I realised I already had the perfect yarn for it already waiting in my stash in the form of the leftovers from a top I made about two years ago (the yarn is Tivoli New Celtic Aran in shade 981). I really enjoyed knitting this pattern - it's well written, and I particularly like how the eyelet sections taper with the crown decreases.

Congratulations if you've made it through all of that! I think that's about all I have to share for now. I've got a sewing project almost finished though, so I'll hopefully be back again to share that soon - I definitely won't be leaving it as long between posts as I did last time anyway. See you soon!

Knitting: socks and shawls

I've finished a few smaller knitting projects since my last round-up post, so I thought it was probably time for another review. I never seem to have as much to say about knitting projects (especially accessories as opposed to garments) as I do about sewing, but I still want them all to have their place on the blog so it seems sensible to group them all together. I hope that's OK?

So, we'll start off with a shawl (Ravelry project here)! This is the Reyna shawl by Noora Backlund, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn that I used was a birthday present from my parents and came from Woolly Mama Yarns.

The Reyna shawl is a lovely relaxing pattern to knit, with alternating sections of garter stitch and a simple mesh stitch. It's specially designed for using single skeins of beautifully colourful sock yarn so it's no surprise that it worked out as a great match for my yarn. I enjoyed making this shawl and could see myself making more because it could look very different depending on the yarn you used.

Next up we have a handy little cowl. This was made solely based on the yarn, which was one of three different skeins that I was lucky enough to win in a giveaway from Mina of the Knitting Expat podcast. When it arrived, the Blue Sky Fibers cotton felt so lovely that I wanted to use it immediately. A quick Ravelry search revealed that the main viable options for the single skein that I had would be a dishcloth/washcloth or a cowl, and the yarn felt too nice to be used for washing so it had to be a cowl. I chose the Cha Cha Cowl by Jody McKinley - another freebie and another simple but effective pattern. It was a speedy project so worked up quickly, which meant I got to wear it a couple of times before the weather warmed up.

The final neckwear item for this post is my Amulet shawl. It's a pattern from The Shawl Society (I was given the book for Christmas) by Helen Stewart. I've used Helen's patterns before and really like the format that she uses - in case you're not familiar, she has a percentage checklist system so you know just how much progress you've made. It makes knitting them a real pleasure, and that was true again for the Amulet. I liked the fact that there are four different textures to knit so you get a bit of variety throughout the shawl.

The yarns I used this time both came from Little Stone Cottage Yarns (the colourways are 'I'm Blue' and 'Ocean') and I love how they work together. A blue shawl will definitely be a very useful addition to my wardrobe once the temperatures cool down.

Now onto some socks! First up we have the Precious Metal socks. This is a pattern by Louise Tilbrook, which I got free as a newsletter subscriber. It seemed to take me longer to knit these than socks would normally take me, mainly because I did have to keep referring to the pattern/chart, but it was still an enjoyable project.

I used John Arbon Exmoor Sock in the colour Mackerel Sky. I'm not entirely sure whether I'm going to be able to wear these (it's been too warm really since I finished them) because they felt a bit itchy when I put them on to take photos, but we'll see how they are once it's colder. And if I can't wear them then I'm sure they'll be gratefully received by someone with similarly sized feet and less sensitive skin!

The second pair of socks I have to share today are the Fernweh socks - a pattern by Mina of Knitting Expat. I used two yarns left over from other projects - Bert by Tracey Mustard (from my Sockhead Hat) and some West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply in Blueberry Bonbon (which I've used in several projects already). I really enjoyed knitting these socks and I love how they turned out - they're a welcome addition to my box of socks.

And, last but not least, my Nemesis socks. This is a pattern by Ambrose Smith, and I think it's actually surprisingly simple compared with what I thought it was going to be. It's not a mindless knit exactly, but you can memorise the pattern easily enough and that means that knitting them isn't too taxing. This time I used Coop Knits Socks Yeah in the colour Larimar. I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn and it feels really nice so I'd like to use it again at some point.

So that's all the knitting I have to share for now! There are more photos of each project (in case that interests you!) on my Ravelry project pages, which I've linked for in each case.

Have you been enjoying any knitting projects lately?

Knitting: Lace Hearts Cardi

As has become customary in recent years, I've finished knitting a cardigan just as the temperatures should be about to rise so I won't be wanting to wear it for a few months. Given the grey and chilly day outside my window as I type though, it seems likely that this project will get a few more outings this spring. Here's my Lace Hearts Cardi!

The Lace Hearts Cardi is a pattern by Martin Storey published in the book Knit Red. I picked my copy up secondhand for a few pounds, which was a bit of a bargain considering there are 31 patterns in the book. Admittedly I wouldn't want to make them all, but there are a couple that I definitely like the look of - particularly the slip stitch beret by Ysolda Teague and Debbie Bliss's dolman sleeve sweater.

Anyway, back to the Lace Hearts Cardi! It's a classic, slighty cropped and nicely fitted cardigan that alternates between moss/seed stitch panels and the eponymous lace heart motif on a stocking stitch background. It's knit in pieces and them seamed, which is my comfort zone when it comes to garment knitting. I didn't have any problems at all with knitting the cardigan, and the pattern for the lace hearts is simple and effective, and fairly intuitive to knit.

The pattern calls for DK yarn, and I chose to use Willow & Lark Ramble from Love Knitting in the Bluebell colourway. It's a 100% merino wool - I loved knitting with it and it seems to me like it's soft enough to wear against the skin. If it wears well in this cardigan, I'd definitely like to use it to knit something else. If you're interested in using it yourself, it's worth keeping an eye out for offers - I got mine for 40% off which made it pretty affordable, and I've noticed (and been tempted by but so far managed to resist!) a few similar offers over the last couple of months.

I had to go down a needle size to get gauge for the pattern. Even with the smaller needles, my swatch came out fractionally bigger than it should have been but I did some calculations and worked out that if I knitted the 37" size, then I should end up with a cardigan with zero ease (my bust measurement is 38"). I think my finished cardigan might be a little bigger than that, but I'm happy with the fit so it's all good.

The sleeves are perhaps fractionally longer than ideal, but that's because I knitted a little more than recommended before starting the cap shaping so that the decreases would end ready for me to bind off with a complete heart at the top of the sleeve. I decided I'd rather have a slightly longer sleeve than have one that was just the right length but with the final heart cut off in the middle at the shoulder, and I'm happy with that decision. And it'll help keep my wrists warmer!

All in all, I'm really happy with how my Lace Hearts Cardi turned out, and it's another item that I can cross off my Make Nine list. I'm making way better progress with my Make Nine challenge this year than in previous years - obviously I must have planned it better this year! How are you getting on if you made a Make Nine list?