Well, here’s a teaser first: Diddly, Squiddly and Freddy’s finished and personalised jumpers
Category: Patterns
A little pouch
So I made a little bag.
I had a vague plan as I embarked on it, but it has turned out more beautiful than I had hoped. *whoop*! 🙂
It is, essentially, a pouch bag in a chunky yarn with a loop handle and top in lemon cashmere merino silk (by Sublime), and a drawstring fastening in contrasting vintage rose silk merino (also Sublime).
I stuffed a ball of wool in it for some pictures:
And I am off to make another, writing up the pattern and taking pictures for a tutorial as I go.
So… more anon!
In the meantime, though, I have finally written up the pattern for these gorgeous snuggly-but-oh-so-stylish slippers:
And you can find it here. Happy crocheting! <3
A Jack Russell, a Tunic and an Adventure.
Oh, I know, I know. I’m rubbish.
Life hurtles along at breakneck speed and before you know it months have flown past and now… SPRING! And hallelujah, because frankly winter can jolly well do one. There have been enough bugs under this roof to sink a small fleet of battleships and this family is emerging, battle-scarred but undefeated, blinking into the sunlight.
But I have been busy. Honest.
First of all I have this to share with you:
I mean loooooooook! And before people get all stuffy and snippy about dogs already having coats, take it from me that the harsh blooming winters up here do not agree with our dear teeny skinny Juno’s demeanour. Admittedly, pure wool may be treating her rather more as a Princess than warranted 😉 but she is most grateful for an extra layer.
If you fancy making something similar, have a little look over here, where you can download the pattern for free.
In other news, I have completed a granny square tunic, which will be on the backburner till autumn:
And I have just embarked upon a little after-school adventure with 14 of the children from our village primary.
This afternoon, armed with a great mountain of goodies from loveknitting.com (bless their hearts), I headed off into the unknown:
The hour flew by in a flurry of
“Miss, I can’t do this! Miss, is this right? Miss, what’s happened to this?”
(I know… “Miss” >.< It cracks me up)
But they were little troopers and are coming back next week for more punishment, and I am proud to report that we have a few already managing garter stitch, along with a valiant few who have yet to ‘click’, but we’ll do it!
And here are the fruits of the first session’s labours:
I will be very happy to report on our continued progress next week 🙂
Back so soon?
Why yes, I am 🙂
How’s this for a New Year’s Resolution not to fall off the face of the earth for a few months? Twice in one year – hurrah! 😉
So.
What’s happening?
Well, this morning I happened upon this video:
[vimeo 6723357 w=500 h=375]
DROPS Crochet Tutorial: How to do Tunisian crochet, Afghan crochet or Tricot Crochetfrom Garnstudio Drops design on Vimeo.
And I thought to myself ‘Now that doesn’t look too tricky!’
So I gave it a go.
It’s hard to express how gorgeous this is. It’s thick, and springy, and sturdy and yet still incredibly soft.
I wanted it to be something, so I carried on, and here we have my new glasses case:
And in case you fancy trying this yourself, here’s how I did it:
Tunisian Crochet Glasses Case
Drops Andes 65% wool, 35% alpaca (about half a ball)
7mm crochet hook
Chain 12 stitches (you end up with 11 on the hook once you have begun)
Follow the directions in the video for simple tunisian crochet
I did 22 rows of grey which I could rest my glasses on and fold about 1/3 back over.
I then changed the colour to chocolate brown and made another 16 rows.
Do not bind off, but fold the two colours together at the colour switch and single crochet back around the edge to create the case. I put a line of single crochet along the bottom as I went around, too, for aesthetic reasons. When you have joined the sides, continue up around the top of the case and when you reach the middle stitch put in one single crochet, chain 3 for the button hole and make another single crochet in the same stitch. Then carry on around.
If you’re clever (or is it lazy?) you’ll then cut the tail long enough to be able to weave it through the inside of the front and use it to secure your button before fastening it off and weaving in the ends.
Does this make sense?
If you try it and get stuck, please let me know where I have confused matters and I’ll try to clarify 🙂
In other news…
I made a bag over the weekend. That is, I found a ‘blanket’ (ahem) I had started and decided to give it a new destiny. So here it is:
And that’s my news for now, so toodle-pip till next time! <3
A Spring Scarf in Natural Wool
OK, so the spring scarf I mentioned last time? It’s finally finished. Here it is, being modelled by… well, me.
First things first. The materials used were:
1) a 2.5mm crochet hook, and
2) three different colours of natural, undyed wool.
The palest I bought on eBay many moons ago and no longer remember from whom. But the two darker ones are from The Knitting Gift Shop, which is owned and run by the gentleman who also owns the printing company that does all the printing for our own beard oil company, and his wife. Yes, that’s a bit convoluted. But I’m glad to know them – apart from the wonderful job they do with our printing, their wools are all locally sourced, fabulous quality and reasonably priced. And I loved working with them (and no – I’m not on commission!) 🙂
So, onto the construction.
It started with the Japanese flower.
This is a free pattern and there are many blogs (mine too, now) that tell you how to make it. I saw it, made it, loved it. And then worked out how to join the motifs, and then decided on a scarf.
So this is how it works (UK terms):
Chain 6 and join into a circle with a slip stitch in the first chain.
round1: Chain 3 (counts as one double crochet) and make 11 double crochets into the ring, for 12 in total. Slip stitch into the first ‘chain 3’.
round 2: Chain 5, then into each gap in the circle, make one double crochet followed by a chain 2. You will have 12 loops all the way around. Join with a slip stitch into the first ‘chain 5’.
round 3: chain 3 (counts as one double crochet) and make three more double crochets into the first 2-chain gap. Into all the remaining 2-chain gaps, make four double crochets.
round 4: *chain 5, miss 2 double crochets and make a slip stitch into the third. Slip stitch into the next** repeat from * to ** all the way around. Slip stitch into the previous round. These loops are the beginnings of the petals.
round 5: make 8 double crochets into each of the loops, with a slip stitch into the last round between each petal.
Done!
So, the next task (other than the ever-taxing weaving in of the ends) is to join them. For this, I made the next flower up to the end of the 4th round. Then I made 10 petals. For the 11th and 12th petals, I made the first four double crochets, put my hook behind the fourth or fifth double crochet of a petal on the back of the first flower, drew the yarn through it, and continued on with the next four. I repeated the process on the next petal and we have a join.
You can see the construction of the scarf very clearly in the above picture. They are all joined to at least one flower by two petals, and if you join as you go along (you can use this picture for reference) it makes the whole thing much easier than trying to figure a way to do it all afterwards.
It’s an incredibly portable project, too, so you can bundle it into a small bag for the car, bus, queue, waiting room… or in this case beach 🙂
Finally, the blocking. I’m not sure how useful this was really since the flowers are intrinsically quite flat and the petals designed to curl up a little. But I’ve just got these blocking mats and pins and, frankly, I still get a bit excited about using them. So I did 🙂
And ta-dah! That’s it!
If you fancy giving it a go, and my explanations are a little too woolly, or assume too much knowledge, or… whatever difficulty you might stumble across, I’m more than happy to attempt a better explanation or answer any questions – just holler 🙂
In other news, I have a bit of a plan for a lot more of these,
but you’ll have to watch this space 😉
Spring Tulips Sleeveless Sweater
Or tank top. Or vest. It’s difficult to know what people call them these days, as searching for any of those terms can bring up such a variety of garments, including waistcoats and cardigans…. I thought a vest was a sleeveless t-shirt you wore under your top when the weather turned chilly.
To me, it’s a tank top. Although I do accept that it isn’t a very delicate or romantic term.
Anyway, here’s the story:
I’m a mum. I have five children. I run my own business. I don’t often need to dress particularly formally. But occasionally, just occasionally, I do. I wanted a slipover – there’s another word for it! – an extra layer to go over a shirt when I wear smart trousers.
I chose a beautiful yarn – Drops Lima, which is a wool/alpaca blend – in grey. It may have been dark grey, or charcoal. Here it is:
I didn’t have a pattern. I figured, how hard can it be? *cough* and in my usual rather-too-gungho fashion, I embarked.
On 4mm circular needles, I cast on 176 stitches. Not sure why. I’d like to say it’s because I had worked out my gauge, measured my size and done the calculations, but it isn’t. I suspect it is because a similar jumper in a similar yarn on similar needles required the same number of stitches. And I knitted 5 rows of rib.
Then I rounded the number up to 180 stitches, making four at relatively equidistant intervals around the row.
Then I got knitting.
And knitting.
And knitting.
And, after all the fair isle I’ve been doing lately, I got really bored.
So I googled fair isle patterns and came up with a google image of a flower. And guess what! It had 9 stitches across, which meant I could do exactly 20 repeats without altering anything. So I ordered a couple of balls of the same yarn in contrasting colours – an off-white and an ice blue – and put a fair isle strip in there.
Then, I was faced with the shaping. I found a wonderful resource on YouTube. She is far more organised, methodical and scientific than I, and I watched her like a good little student and then forgot it all and did it my way, incorporating some of the lessons she had managed to make stick in my memory. You can find her here with her lesson on shoulder shaping. I also watched her v-neck shaping videos, did my own rather slapdash workings out, and got cracking. One of the most useful things I picked up was the tip to knit both sides at once, using two separate balls of wool. Genius! Then you can’t go wrong 🙂 (in theory…)
When I had done front and back keeping all the stitches live on waste yarn, knitted my short rows (for the very first time!) to shape the shoulders, and front and back had reached the same height, I turned the top inside out and fused them using the three needle bind-off.
I hadn’t made the v neck quite deep enough for my liking, so ribbing the neck was going to be a problem. I decided on a row of crochet in the grey followed by a row in the contrasting off-white which rather neatly echoed the edges of the colour join I had chosen before the tulips.
Same around the armholes and ta-dah! We have a v neck. Blocking (on my new Knitpro blocking squares which I love):
And the finished result.
I am wearing it as we speak 🙂
In other news, I have picked up an old WIP and am determined to finish it. My stashbuster crochet blanket:
And finally, I’ve been given a rather fabulous camera, so the very first finished object I ever made – a crochet camera strap – has had new life breathed into it:
And look – it takes lovely pictures!
The Sweater of Many Random Stripes
Ooh, I’ve had fun with this one!
Having done a couple of top-down, seamless yoke jumpers and been thrilled with the results, I was in danger of creating an entire wardrobe of very similar jumpers for myself – I tend to knit for myself until I have mastered it, at which point I feel more comfortable about giving things away or selling them.
So I embarked on a bottom-up jumper instead.
I used Drops Andes in a beige and a brown. It is the same as I used for this jumper, which until now was my stand-out favourite. And, clearly, I massively over-ordered on the yarn (*blush* “Hello, my name’s Alice. I am a yarn-addict”) I believe this jumper took around 6 x 100g balls.
100 sts on 8mm circular needles.
Random stripes begun
I cast on 100 stitches to an 8mm circular needle and knitted stripes willy-nilly until I reached a length long enough to reach my armpit from mid-hip. I purposely didn’t knit rib around the bottom as I had a vague notion to crochet a border around the bottom and cuffs.
I then embarked on the sleeves: 26sts on double pointed needles, increasing gradually to 34 by the time I reached the armpit. For example, I made a stitch at rows 11 and 13, then a couple more at around elbow level, and four more gradually on the way up to the top. I kept a note of where I increased so that I could recreate it for the second sleeve. I made the sleeve around 14 rows longer than the jumper body: I have long arms and hate when my wrists are bare in the winter!
I then put 6 sts at each side of the jumper body onto waste yarn, and 6 stitches of each sleeve onto waste yarn, too. They will be knitted together using the 3 needle bind-off at the end.
Then comes knitting across the body to the waste yarn, (place a marker), knitting the live stitches from the first sleeve onto the circular needle up to the sleeve’s waste yarn, (place a marker) knitting across the back of the jumper and repeating with the second sleeve. At the end of the second sleeve, you have your new row beginning.
I then knitted two rows before beginning the raglan decreases which, when you have the hang of them, are really quite simple. Two things to remember: Every other row is just a knit around, and use markers!
Every decrease row involves slipping the two stitches before the marker onto the right needle and knitting through them with the left needle. Then, after the marker, knit two together. So much easier in practice than it sounds!!
Then, basically, knit till you have the size neck you require. You can stop decreasing and switch to rib for a big chunky roll neck, or end up with something more boat-neck like mine.
Once finished, and all ends woven in, I crocheted three rows around the bottom, using a *single crochet, chain 1* pattern, crocheting into the spaces on subsequent rounds, and just a single row of the same around the cuffs. And ta-dah! No curling!!
I haven’t taken it off yet:
I must now attend to my severely neglected works in progress children 😉
These two, amongst others, are still on the needles:
Until the next time.
And if anybody fancies attempting the jumper, and I can help at all, please shout! <3
Beanie hats
I bought a pattern on Craftsy. We were going to see our lovely neighbours on Christmas Eve and I wanted to have something to give to little Pippa. Besides, Pip has that gorgeous, curly, wide-eyed, Shirley Hughes look to her, just like the baby in the pattern photo, so that settled it! 😉
It’s called the Backtrack Beanie.
I made it in chunky brown yarn, rather than the double-stranded approach prescribed by the pattern. It took an hour. So speedy. So I made one for me, too! And Pip’s mummy wanted one in her size, and her little cousin wanted one in pink. Pip and her mummy look fabulous in their matching hats…
Hat production!
I highly recommend this pattern, though I admit I made up my own brim… And flower embellishments… Weeellll… Who doesn’t modify? 😉
Photographic evidence:
My very first adult jumper!
On my travels around the interweb, I discovered the challengingly entitled Three Movies Sweater, written in Swedish and English. I loved the style, and the premise, so I took the bait and ordered the wool. Drops Eskimo, for the uninitiated, is a chunky (9mm needle) 100% wool for a very reasonable £1.70 for 50g. This pattern took around 12 x 50g balls to make.
Although I was thrilled by the outcome, especially for a first-timer, my jumper came out considerably smaller than the one in the blog, unless she’s teeny, and I bigger than I thought 😉
Also, I found there were a few omissions / confusing points in the pattern where I just had to wing it.
In short, I’ve ordered the wool for my next one and it’ll be better!
One thing I was REALLY pleased with, though, was a bit of an innovation – a risk that paid off. The ribbing at the bottom was too narrow for me, and curled up a lot. I searched the Net for tips on how to pick up and continue in rib, but found none. So I winged it again, and it worked. The join is visible, but not unsightly, and I have a new knitting fix in my arsenal 🙂 I tried to photograph it, as you will see below.
So… A picture story of its creation:
A Rather Rustic Shrug. {pattern}
I posted this picture on my Tumblr blog earlier today, and it has received a lot of attention, including requests for the pattern.
It was a weekend project, cooked up in my head and produced in a frankly slapdash fashion which, to my surprise and delight, paid off. Knitted ‘sideways’, it really is astoundingly simple – basically a long rectangle with slits for arms – and, once you’ve got it, could be tweaked and customised endlessly. Smaller needles, lighter weight yarn and more stitches for something less bulky and more drapey, for example… Or you could make one front section longer, so you can throw it over the opposite shoulder…
I have never written a pattern before, so bear with me, and if you do decide to give this a go and find glaring faults or have any questions, please just holler.
So here goes.
You will need:
Super chunky yarn. I used James C Brett Rustic, Mega Chunky, I think around 5 x 100g balls (that may be an overestimate)
12mm, long knitting needles
9mm or 10mm crochet hook
Darning needle
Chopstick or toggle or fastening of choice
Using 12mm needles, cast on 45 stitches. This is the length of your shrug, so if you want it shorter, cast on fewer, or longer, cast on more. I am 5 feet 9 and a size 12, and have given the number of rows mine took. It’s an easy pattern to play with and adjust for your size.
1) Knit in stocking stitch: one row plain, one row purl, until the work covers your front across your chest. (About 35 rows in my case) ending with a wrong side (purl) row.
Next (right side) row: knit 10, cast off 15, knit 15
Next (wrong side) row: purl 15, cast on 15, purl 10.
You have created the first armhole.
2) Continue in stocking stitch until the work after the armhole comfortably covers your back. (About 45 rows on mine)
Create the next armhole in exactly the same way.
3) Continue in stocking stitch until it covers your front again. (About 35 again). Cast off.
Attach yarn to a corner and double crochet UK (sc US) all the way around.
I did an extra line of treble UK (double US) around the bottom of mine, for a more obvious border. But of course your border could be anything you like. Or nothing if you prefer the curling up look of the plain stocking stitch… Weave in tails.
Fasten with chopstick, in whatever style takes your fancy, or leave open and draped, like a large scarf 🙂