Tag: knitwear design

Double Pattern Heaven

Posted on by Alice Neal

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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:

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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…

Posted on by Alice Neal

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.

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Then I found some heavily discounted Mirasol Yaya, which is the softest squishiest stuff and the colours to die for:

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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.

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(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

 

A Plethora of Inconsequential Nonsense

Posted on by Alice Neal

Good morning my fellow woolly friends (and of course any non-woolly ones who happen to have popped by for a visit).

I’m sitting here with a large bowl of porridge, made with coconut milk, fresh blueberries and just a little wildflower honey and all is well with the world. All children are deposited at their requisite educational establishments and Aphrodite and I have had a good ol’ stomp by the river.

Which leads me neatly to the reason for my post, really.

It’s becoming a year of new and healthy habits. Healthy not just physically, but mentally and fiscally, too. Working from home, and for myself, from a house that is in various states of ongoing repair (it was a bargain – we knew what we were taking on, but with five sons and our own businesses, it’s slow progress!) it is all too easy to prevaricate myself into a stupor. I can quite happily reach the end of the day, having squawked about like a headless chicken, and feel I have achieved almost nothing at all.

So it’s started with the walk. Every morning like clockwork, straight on from the last small person deposited at his primary school. There are so many beautiful walks around our village that there is no need to follow the same route every day, but inevitably mine takes me down to the river, by way of a field I can’t quite resist because of the several times I’ve come nose to nose with deer down there, and all the way along because of the ducklings and the swan who has just about stopped honking her distress at my presence.

Image may contain: tree, outdoor, nature and waterNo matter the time pressure of orders that need to be packed up, patterns that need writing up or planning, jewellery that needs to be finished and posted, that 60 – 90 minutes is a reset switch for body and mind. No matter how stressful the school-run time, when I’m back from that wander, I’m ZenWoman. It’s my meditation for the day (remember: “If you haven’t got time to meditate for 20 minutes a day, meditate for an hour” 😉 )

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Sometimes, my boys come too.

The newest resolution, though, is my Nothing New vow. Perhaps somewhat impulsive, but it feels right. I’m starting with a year, but I’m hoping it just sticks. Where I can make, mend or buy ‘preloved’, I vow to buy nothing new. For 365 days. (With the obvious exception of sundries like undies, right, but even socks I can make.)

The reasons for this are two-fold. The first and most important is my ever-growing distress at the excess and waste we are inflicting with alarming nonchalance on our defenceless planet. Trawl a flea market or two and you’ll find not just decent but actually very NICE stuff, which is often far better made than the tat you find new these days, with the added benefits, often, of the charm of a bygone era, and the cash you hand over not going to huge nameless corporations fuelling underpaid, zero hour, child labour somewhere we should know better not to exploit.

And, of course, it’s cheaper. Win win.

This week’s bargains are a pair of leather boots from eBay for a fiver, and a teapot that matches my recently-inherited china for 99p. Again, on eBay. Off to a flying start.

Bringing it all back to the woolly world, though, I also have a stash-mountain that would probably yarn-bomb most of my street. I wish I were kidding. And it’s good stuff. And I don’t want to get rid of it. So a happy side-aspect of this is that I need to get designing and knitting with what I already have.

(I can hear the howls of laughter as you choke on your morning coffee: “No new yarn!?” I hear you hoot. But I do have the caveat that I am allowed to make new things, which may of course eventually require some new yarn… But I’m going to TRY, OK? I’m going to TRY!)

So, coming up next is my newest pattern: a vintage-inspired cardi which can also be made as a wrapped crop. I’ve been prevaricating their writing for days, and I can prevaricate no longer – so keep your eyes peeled.

 

À toute à l’heure!

Free Pattern and Chunky Revival

Posted on by Alice Neal

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

Posted on by Alice Neal

I have at long last written up my pattern for my dolphin blue chunky sweater.

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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!

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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.

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For the intolerant…

Posted on by Alice Neal

… well, for those who struggle to wear wool, to be more precise.

Like my ma.

She loves jumpers and cardis of all descriptions, but wool sends her horribly itchy. Which, as you can imagine, is massively frustrating for her. And for ME! When I want to make her pretty things but so little acts with as much versatility as wool.

However… All is not lost.

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Following hot on the heels of my Dolly Socks, designed and knitted with Debbie Bliss Toast in mind (oh, *hello* cashmere!), I was determined to make her a birthday present of similar intricacy and beauty.

 

 

 

So imagine my delight when this bundle of squishiness appeared on my doorstep (and I say appeared because that it precisely what happened. This particular delivery company doesn’t bother knocking. They just try your door and stick it on your doormat if it’s open. Which is both a lovely surprise and somewhat alarming).

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The yarn is by Knit One Crochet Too and is called Cozette. It is 62% silk, 30% cotton and 8% polyamide and it just OOZES that luxurious raw silk feel.

If I tell you I started this pair of lacy socks two days before her birthday, I don’t think you’ll need informing that they didn’t get there on time. They should, in fact, be arriving today – 11 days late. But since I also owe her a jumper from her birthday 2 years ago, with this one I’m already winning, right??

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You can see how beautifully the texture of the raw silk holds and emphasises the stitches, and makes the lace pattern stand out.

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But best of all, the colourway is called ‘Seaglass’, which is most beautifully synchronous since it combines my two most favourite things: knitting, and making jewellery with the seaglass I comb the beaches up here in the North-East for (click the pics below if you are interested in more information).

 

I think they came out rather beautifully, but we’ll let mum be the judge of that 😉

The Dolly Socks pattern is available by clicking the link above, but it is also one of February’s Patreon subscriber patterns – for more information on instant access to all those patterns, click the link or look at the Patreon pages above).

Happy knitting, fellow yarnies <3

February Finished.

Posted on by Alice Neal

February was wonderfully productive, I’m delighted to say. I feel like 2019 has brought me back my design mojo, which was waning a little at the end of 2018.

Clockwise from top left (click links for patterns, where available):

  1. My Dolly Socks, in wool and cashmere superwash – the perfect prettiness for Spring.
  2. My first pair of gloves, knitted exclusively for me. I haven’t bothered with the pattern as they were my first pair, but I’m already looking forward to designing some beauties, now that I have these ones under my belt. Motto? Feel the fear and do it anyway 😉
  3. Aphrodite’s new jumper: the Juno’s Friend Jumper. And apparently we’re to expect a late blast of snow in a few days’ time, so that will come in handy. My beloved husband tells me I need to make her a pink spotty one next. Watch this space…
  4. My Lilac and Lime Bobble Socks, in a not-at-all lilac and lime colourway, which I love to bits with my Duckfeet.
  5. My husband’s woodland jumper, already tried and tested in the woods, and the pattern for which I have yet to write up, but WILL. I promise <3

I’m already excited to see what March will bring.

Happy knitting, lovelies! <3

Weekend WIPs

Posted on by Alice Neal

I’m not sure I’ll ever fall out of love with grey…

This weekend, I’m working on the fluffiest tee in the whole wide world, made on 7mm circulars from a cloudy ball of wool and alpaca:

And I’ve turned the heel on my second lacy sock, on 3.25mm needles in Debbie Bliss Toast 😊

Next up… A pair of yoga socks, I think.

Happy knitting, lovelies ❤️

Oh, a couple more, then…

Posted on by Alice Neal

Aphrodite has been wearing her sweater since yesterday. It’s not especially cold, but she seems rather taken with it and objects when I try to take it off.

So today I coaxed her to a spot in the house with a little more light, so you could see it in all its glory. Or her. See her in all her glory.

I give you Aphy, in her Juno’s Friend Jumper.

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A Canine Round-Up and Introducing…

Posted on by Alice Neal

… Aphrodite’s Jumper (also known as The Juno’s Friend Jumper).

I thought it might be time for a round-up of all the little jumpers I have so far designed for the hairier 4-legged people in our family. It’s been a while since I did, and the woolly family has grown since then, so let’s gallop down Memory Lane with a quick refresher of the story so far. (I’ll add links to the patterns in case you fancy a go yourself).

It started with the Juno Jumper. Don’t let her looks fool you – she’s a) a princess and b) feisty as all hell. But butter wouldn’t melt in this shot, huh?

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Then I was asked by Loveknitting to design and knit some little sweaters for Simon Cowell’s pups for a Christmas ITV special, which is where the Yorkie Christmas Jumper came in. (Have the pic of the man ‘imself, just to maximise my 15 seconds of fame 😉 )

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And then, of course, I felt that Juno also needed a Christmas sweater, and the Juno Christmas Jumper was conceived.

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And look, I’d kind of got the bug, ok? But I had guilt. After all, Juno isn’t our only furbaby. We have an enormous, gentle, but seriously-terribly-not-very-bright chocolate Lab called Aphrodite, or Aphy for short.

As a speedy aside, I recall one visit to the vet when I mentioned her, ahem, shall we say, slight deficit in the brains department? And the vet said “Yes. That’s chocolate labs, for you: heads full of fluffy pink balls”. At which point I decided it was best to just accept that she would never be graceful, would always fall over her own feet, would never learn that Juno doesn’t ever want to be her best friend, and that anything edible in the house that wasn’t under lock and key would be consumed. And some things that aren’t edible, too. Like Jenga. Most expensive dog chews I ever bought…

But I digress! It was Aphy’s turn, and she got The Lab Coat. Complete with buttons because I was worried about small holes and gangly legs:

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And… because I had some of the yarn left, and because I felt a bit matchy-matchy, Juno needed one, too. But in reverse, of course. So… And Juno Too!

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AND FINALLY!

Since the original one – the Juno Jumper right at the top – has proved to be my best-selling pattern so far and is the simplest of them all, I thought it was time a bigger version, modified for bigger legs and chests, was available. And the Juno’s Friend Jumper is now published. This one is made in Paintbox wool-mix super-chunky.
Me: What colour do you think will best suit Aphy? I’ve already used a lovely yellow…
Husband: Orange.
I think we can all agree, we’re not going to lose her in the dark! 🙂

 

 

 

So: if you share pictures of your Alice in Knittingland dog sweaters on instagram or Facebook  (links at the top) and tag me or the sweaters – e.g. #thejunojumper –  they will appear in my stories and go into my highlights. I just LOVE seeing your furry friends in their new threads.

Happy knitting, lovelies <3

PS If you are interested in receiving all the patterns, tutorials or ebooks I create as soon as they are created, you might consider becoming a Patron. You can find more information over here. Aphrodite’s Juno’s Friend Jumper pattern is already there and available for download as soon as you sign up, and here is a sneak peak at two patterns which will be appearing there in the very near future:

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