How to knit my Noro sweater.
Category: Patterns
Noro Striped Hat and Scarf
Having so much left, I knitted a hat to match which, with hindsight, I would probably have knitted a little longer for a squidge more slouch, but it fits perfectly and is super SUPER warm.
So, without further ado, this is how to knit it:
In pictures, in progress… (updated with pattern links)
Last year, I designed a sweater I called the Vintage Chic sweater, in Paintbox yarns super chunky.
This year, I’ve reworked it for their 100% wool worsted range.
And I’m loving how it’s coming out.
Pattern to follow ❤️
Update:
I finished the adult version and then made a couple of little ones. The pattern is available in many sizes, from baby to adult. Here are some more pictures and links to the corresponding patterns.
You can find the adult version of the pattern, pictured below, here,
the child’s version, pictured below, here,
and the ‘Mummy and Me’ version, which includes both patterns as pictured below, here.
Happy knitting! x
Dots and Stripes. Dotty Stripes.
No. This post is not about socks.
Although, I have to confess, I could gaze upon the beauty of the beauteous boot socks in perpetuity. I enjoy looking at them almost as much as I enjoy wearing them. And this very frosty northern morning, they are peeping above the tops of my boots and keeping my toes toasty. Over tights, no less. Yes. That’s how I roll.
Oh, and I enjoy wearing them almost as much as I enjoy knitting them.
But I digress.
There is of course a limit as to the number of boot socks you can possess (although as previous posts have explained – teenaged boys + washing machine + wool socks = unmitigated disaster) and I still have quite a lot of scraps of the various yarns I used for creating them.
Added to which, my wardrobe of preloved goodness has expanded this winter, and my colours are all rather autumnal.
I needed a hat to match.
So I made one.
After which, beloved son number 2 requested one (he has a very chilly wait at the bus stop on his way to college in the mornings).
And I really love the colours he chose (and banana cake. And coffee).
After which, I made another one just because I could.
(I also made the lebkuchen because they’re my favourite and the blooming shops have stopped selling them now that Christmas is over. If you love them too, go and check out this recipe. It’s really simple and they’re bloody delicious).
If you have 100g or so of aran weight wool in a few colours and fancy a spotted, dotted, striped hat of your own, you can find the pattern here. And if you do make it, give me a tag? I do love to see it!
Happy Hump Day <3
Tumbling Vines Sock Pattern
Good morning!
Monday.
Awfully windy out there, up here in the North-East. Today is a day for ALL the knits. And there’s very little that brings me more gentle pleasure than knowing that the majority of what I’m wearing was fashioned with my own fingers.
Today, it’ll be boot socks, sweater, hat, mittens, cowl… The works.
And I’ve found myself thinking… it might be time to knit a skirt? Does that work? Any experiences you’ve had with successes or failures would be greatly appreciated. Will you spur me on to try it? Or will you tell me I’m a madwoman for even thinking of it? I can’t decide if it’d be a neat thing to have, or end up looking like a baggy nappy (or diaper for our friends across the Pond)…
Anyway, enough ramblings and to the point of being here today (I haven’t had my coffee yet, and last night was not the greatest in terms of unbroken sleep, so forgive me if I seem to meander into side-roads with little regard for having lost my way). If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll know I’ve recently come up with a new sock pattern, which I have now created both in Drops Nord yarn, and in Fondant Fibre glittery sock yarn. I’m littering this post with pictures so you can see how they came out, and if you fancy giving them a go yourself, you can find the pattern over here. Or from Yarn Canada here.
So feast yer eyes on the lacy creations.
Now.
Kids at school.
Coffee and time to finish writing up my Stashbusting Hats (which most definitely need a new name).
Have a glorious week. Once you’ve got over the fact that Monday has rolled around way too fast.
<3
New beginnings…
As we hurtle towards the end of the year with ever-increasing, head-spinning, brain-curdling speed, and prepare to enter not just a new year but a new decade, I had a little epiphany.
Ok, epiphany may be over-egging the pudding. But the germ of an idea which I just couldn’t budge.
It’s time for me to shake things up a little, to rejig, to shift the focus of what I do, how I spend my time and how I go about things in life in general, but with no small regard to the woolly arts.
I have a Patreon account, which a few people have been kind enough to contribute to, in exchange for free access to patterns. I am giving it a bit of a rejig, so that the minimum contribution is the lowest tier of $5 a month and instead of publishing patterns, I shall put all the details up here, on my blog, of what I am making, how I have made it, the materials I have used, and the lessons I have learned along the way (all my existing patterns will, of course, still be for sale here). Naturally, I hope it goes without saying that nobody is obliged to contribute, but those who do will also receive for free all the existing patterns uploaded there, and occasional exclusive information / patterns / offers 🙂
To start us off, here is a little tea cozy I whipped up in about half an hour the other night. My husband is quite particular about his cuppa, and has a small white porcelain teapot which, until now, has been kept warm with one of the myriad knitted hats my now teenaged sons wouldn’t be caught dead in (Sigh… such is the lot of a knitting mum’s life). So he requested a tea cosy a while ago and a quiet night at the kitchen table afforded me the perfect opportunity to honour said request.
Yarn: Paintbox wool mix super chunky.
Method (for a small teapot):
9mm circulars, magic loop method.
Cast on 32 stitches.
Knit 3 rounds of K1P1 rib, then knit around twice.
On one side of 16 stitches, knit back and forth in stocking stitch for 4 rows. Cut yarn and attach to other side and repeat 4 rows of stocking stitch on that side, then continue knitting around so you are back to knitting in the round.
Knit around 5 times.
Then decrease round 1) *knit 6, k2tog* around
2) *knit 5, k2tog* around
3) *knit 4, k2tog* around
4) *knit 3, k2tog* around
5) *knit 2, k2tog* around
6) *knit1, k2tog* around
7) *k2tog* around
Bind off and sew in ends.
Obviously, if your teapot is larger than our rather delicate, squat little thing, add a few more rounds, or a few more cast on stitches, to fit.
Happy teatime!
Next: I shall be sharing how I made this gorgeous little jumper and the hat that I am currently finishing to match it.
Notes:
- You can also, should you so wish, receive alerts to new posts / projects underway etc by following me on Instagram or my Facebook page.
- Occasionally a link will be an affiliate link, meaning that if you follow it and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. But please rest assured that I would not recommend or link anything I wasn’t completely delighted with myself 🙂
Double Pattern Heaven
So, at long last written up and published, ladies and gents I present to you the third (and fourth, as it happens) designs in my super-chunky range using Paintbox Yarns Wool Mix Super chunky (which comes in affordable 10-ball packs and 5-ball packs, for your delight and delectation) 😉
And on my way to designing the vintage pink jacket / cardigan pictured above, I began with something a little smaller, to work out my design before I got cracking. I started with a little bolero, but I didn’t like the way it ballooned out at the bottom. Although it looked gorgeous on the hanger, on the body it gave the impression of a bit of a humpback, which was really not part of the vision. So I frogged it back a way and took it in to finish up with the rather pretty wraparound pictured below:
Both of these are super-quick projects, given the chunkiness of the yarn, and the patterns are available together as an instant download if you are already a patron here. (See also all the other patterns available for instant download by clicking on the tabs above).
Otherwise, you can find the double pattern here.
Happy knitting!
Variations on a theme…
I may have come to the end of my playing with my Vintage Chic pattern until the autumn, but I have had so much fun with it (and plan to have more and, and, and I might also quite like to try it in a chunky cotton for cool summer nights).
When I first conceived of this design, I was quite excited by its sweet simplicity. Colour was going to do the work for me, and the motif would provide the cherry on the cake. And when it was finished, I became impossibly giddy. I swear, when I wear it people smile. It’s the yellow. It’s SO sunny. And I’ve thrown it on again and again at the merest excuse of a chill in the air.
Then I found some heavily discounted Mirasol Yaya, which is the softest squishiest stuff and the colours to die for:
I followed the pattern exactly, so with smaller needles and gauge I now have a more form-fitting jumper in muted cornflower, jewelled greens, pearly whites and gentle pinks.
And THEN I returned to my old favourite, Drops Andes, and made a cropped short sleeved version to wear over long shirts again following the pattern but stopping short of the full length in body and sleeve, finishing with seed stitch. And again, the smaller needle and gauge means I have a body conscious tank-top shape that I absolutely love.
(I also have a teeny tiny aran version in yellow cotton on my needles, and if I ever finish it amongst my myriad other intentions, I’ll let you know! 😉 )
Happy knitting, lovelies <3
Free Pattern and Chunky Revival
I kind of cut my teeth on chunky. As much as I love DK / 4 ply / even sock yarn, I do sometimes lack the patience, and something I’ve started gets put aside in favour of a weekend speed-knit; a garment I can make and wear in a matter of days, sometimes hours.
After a couple of months of super-fine sock work, I found myself drawn once again to the speedy joy of a chunky jumper.
I posted my Super-Boxy Sweater a week or two ago and am happy to say it’s available for free for a short while, over here.
And it’s sparked a bit of a super chunky revival for me.
No sooner than this one was finished, and realising that the chilly spring will (hopefully) turn into a hot summer before we know it, I’ve been keen to keep going while I can, and am happy to introduce my Vintage Chic Sweater. To my mind, the colours are timeless, the stuff of your grandma’s china, or the sitting room curtains, or that frill my grandmother had around the bottom of the bed – no one does that any more, do they?! It was so beautifully frou-frou.
But I’m fast disappearing down a time-travel rabbit-hole of Vosene shampoo, pink bathrooms, Imperial Leather soap and thick white toast dripping with butter and honey. So back I come to introduce you to my beautiful jumper. Yup, all modesty aside, I think it’s a stunner.
It’s a gentle enough fair-isle for a first colourwork project, and it’s a jumper you could probably knit most of during (are you subjected to these on a regular basis, too?) a Lord of the Rings marathon.
The concept behind it, for me, too, is that I can chuck it on over a tee and jeans or skirt rather than reaching for a jacket on a chilly spring morning, but I’m truly looking forward to wearing it ALL next winter.
If you fancy a go at it yourself, you can find it over here.
In other news, I knitted up a speedy bolero which you may have seen on my instagram or elsewhere. I love it, but the pattern needs tweaking, so have some pics of the original draft for now 🙂
And next? I have two projects on the go – the first is my Vintage Chic Sweater in cotton aran, for a little girl, and a full-sized Vintage Pink Cardigan.
The Super Chunky Passion is not dying out any time soon 🙂
Happy knitting, lovelies! <3
Super-Boxy Sweater
I have at long last written up my pattern for my dolphin blue chunky sweater.
It’s a super-speedy knit and, given the fact that we had snow at the beginning of this week here oop north, you might yet get some use out of it before Spring makes its presence more permanently felt!
It’s designed to be roomy, oversized, boxy and a ‘throw on’, and can be worn up on the shoulders, or pulled down for an off-the-shoulder look. And it’s also designed to be worn mid-hip so you can pair it with jeans or a skirt very easily, or with a long tee underneath for a layered effect.
And it’s written in two oversized sizes, in Paintbox Yarns Wool Mix Super-Chunky, in my case in dolphin blue.
You can find the pattern here, or it’s available for instant download along with a growing back catalogue which is also instantly available when you join me as a patron here.
