How to knit my Noro sweater.
Tag: stripes
Socks. Pair 2 of the 26 pairs of 2021
These ones are knitted with a sock yarn that popped up in my social media feed…
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
Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat…
It’s a joy and a blessing when the small people you’ve spent years running around after are at last able to begin to fend for themselves and, even better, to help around the house.
Dishwashers emptied, washing up done, sitting room tidied and hoovered… A total gift. And a blessed relief.
Buuuuuuut.
There’s a sore point about to be made and I’m sure you have already figured it out. It seems that every post I make at the moment mentions my Beauteous Boot Socks. There’s a very good reason for that. I love them. I love them so much that I knitted myself about 5 pairs over the last couple of winters. Indeed, if you click on the link, you will see that the photograph for the pattern itself is the very pair in question.
You don’t need words, though. You just need this picture:
Yup, that’s the very same pair. *le sigh*
See… when your darlings start putting on the laundry, it’s worth mentioning to them that wool – you know, proper wool – shrinks. It’s also worth NOT putting said wool in the family laundry basket when you’ve taught them how to use the machine, and asked them to put a load on.
How on earth only ONE made it into the machine is another question entirely.
So now, I have one delightfully soft and fluffy boot sock, and one tiny, stiff, very thick felted… thing. Don’t get me wrong, I still find it quite beautiful, but what to do with it??
Well, it started with a gulp, a pair of scissors and:
It then progressed to the 1950s PFAFF sewing machine we recently acquired for peanuts on eBay:
Next was a decorative button and magnetic popper and… voila!
My new handbag phone-sock is born.
I think it’s a thing of beauty and I guess I’m just going to have to shrink the other sock, right?
As for my plans for the bottom of the sock, oh, yes! I have some. But I had to order something to make it work, which will take a little while to arrive, and, to quote my husband, it is a bit bonkers. (At least, he thinks so 😉 ) When the time comes, I’ll let you decide <3
Debbie Bliss Toast Sock Yarn (1)
This completely gorgeous squishiness, which arrived in the post last week. It’s made with cashmere, dontchaknow, for the poshest socks you can fashion.
In the Pink
There are one or two advantages to not having a long, hot summer (though I’m a bit sensitive about the amount of rain we’ve had Oop North just lately, so do try not to bait me… 😉 ), the main one being longer months of wool-wearing.
Which, when you’ve just finished pretty much your favourite jumper yet, is some small consolation to offset the bloody RAIN.
*Harumph*
It’s outrageously pink, but striped enough not to be candy floss, and I chose a different solid colour for the sleeves and the main body to shake things up a bit.
The neck is wonderfully wide, and is left to furl slightly, as are the sleeves. 2-stitch raglan seams (my favourites) and a K2P2 rib at the hem are the final little details.
I made it with Drops Nepal and Drops Big Delight, which I had LOADS of kicking around, given my total obsession with knitting Beauteous Boot Socks 😉 but any Aran weight yarn giving you a gauge of around 16 stitches per 10cm would do nicely.
If you fancy having a crack at it, you can find the pattern here. And if you do have a go, do please think about tagging me. I totally love seeing the interpretations of others (we all know it’s impossible not to tweak a pattern, right?)
The pattern is in one size (pictured) and shown here on me – 5’9″ and a UK size 12 – though the bust is a generous 42″ and there are notes in the pattern about making it bigger.
So… happy knitting! <3
Ted’s stripes
Having made a gazillion pairs of beauteous boot socks, I had a mega-tonne (well, not quite, but it certainly looked that way in the sitting room cupboard) of Drops Nepal and Drops Big Delight left, and it was as I was knitting the leg of a sock that it struck me… that would make an awesome sleeve. This is the one I was working on:
So I found the cream and the blues and my measuring tape and set about measuring Ted.
He’s 6 – he’ll be 7 in August – and long and lean.
I decided that this one would be a bottom-up jumper, so: knitting from the bottom up to the underarm, then knitting the sleeves to that point, and joining them all on a circular needle to begin the raglan decreases up to the neck.
I worked out the gauge at 5 stitches and 6 rows per inch and jotted down everything I could think of that I’d need.
Around his tummy: 24″
Around his chest: 26″
From the nape of his neck to his bottom: 17″
From underarm to wrist: 13″
From shoulder to wrist: 18″
From underarm to bottom: 12″ and
Around his upper arm: 9″
I used 4mm circulars (80cm) for the 2×2 rib and switched to 5mm circulars for the rest of the piece.
Taking his widest point (his chest), I cast on 130 stitches (26″ x 5 sts per inch). With hindsight, I might have added another 5 for ease, though it does fit perfectly as you’ll see.
I knitted 6 rows of 2×2 rib on 4mm needles in Drops Nepal in cream and then switched to Big Delight and 5mm needles. The stripe pattern is 4 rows of Big Delight and then 2 rows of Nepal which 6-row repeat, most handily, is an inch.
I repeated this until I got to 14″ (13 x 6-row stripes and the rib) and then put it aside (on stitch holders or waste yarn, or even on the needles if you have enough pairs) to knit the sleeves.
Again, using Nepal and 4mm needles, I cast on 44 stitches (9″ x 5 stitches per inch, then minus 1 to keep the 2×2 rib simple) and knitted 6 rows of 2×2 rib, switching then to 5mm needles and Big Delight. Since sleeves are always longer, I knitted 14 x 6-row stripes per sleeve.
So, to join the sleeves to the body:
First, I *put 10 stitches of the body stitches on waste yarn (this will be the underarm, which you will join to the sleeve with Kitchener stitch at the very end) and put 10 sleeve stitches on waste yarn. Then slip the remaining 34 sleeve stitches onto the main needles, then slipped 55 stitches from the body** and repeated from * to ** I then had 178 stitches on the needles and placed a marker for the beginning of the round.
Using Nepal, I knitted two rounds.
Then I knitted around once in Big Delight and on the next round, to divide for the raglan decreases, I placed markers before the last stitch of the last round and after the first stitch of the next, knitted 53, placed a marker, knitted 2, placed a marker, knitted 32, placed a marker, knitted 2, placed a marker, knitted 53, placed a marker, knitted 2, placed a marker, knitted 32 and arrived back at the first marker.
For the 3rd row of Big Delight, I began the decreases (you can see them underway above), very simply: knit 2 together before and after the 2-stitch raglan (between the two markers either side of the sleeves)
For the 4th row of Big Delight, knit around making sure to slip the markers.
And I continued the decreases every other row whilst sticking to the 6-row pattern (4 rows of Big Delight, 2 rows of Nepal) until I had only 1 stitch left in the sleeve sections (between the two markers).
Then I switched to 4mm needles and Nepal for 6 rows of 2×2 rib and finished with a super-stretchy bind-off. There’s little worse than putting all that effort in and being unable to get the blasted thing over yer head! 😉
Maddeningly, Teddy was at school when it was finished (so inconsiderate!) so I had to wait until I was home from work and he home from school to take him back to the studio to get some pictures.
I think you’ll agree a) it’s very fetching and b) I may have overdone the pictures… Well – knitting and Teddy – two of my favourite things <3
Luscious LongSocks
You might be forgiven for confusing these with the Beauteous Boot Socks for they are, in fact, enormously similar…
However, the BBS are rather too thick to continue to wear through the Spring – early Summer and the late Summer – early Autumn seasons.
So!
The Luscious LongSocks are born.
Knitted with Cascade 220 for the solid colour and Lang Yarns Tosca Light for the graded colour, they are soft, light and still snuggly for chillier days under boots or with shoes, or chilly weekend mornings with your jammies 😉
If you fancy a go at them, you can find the pattern here.
Tabby Cattercushion (a free tutorial)
So I made a HUGE cattercushion.
Do you see what I did there? 😉
You can, of course make a gazillion of these (s)cattercushions so they can live up to their name, in a narrower gauge yarn, or chunkier, in all sizes and colours…
For this one, I used Schachenmayr Boston and Rico Creative Melange Chunky, 7mm circular needles and some enormous mother-of-pearl buttons. You’ll also need a cushion pad and some toy stuffing.
If you fancy having a go at it, there is a free blow by blow tutorial over on the loveknitting blog. Just click here to be taken to it.
Here’s a picture of him with my Wilfy, for scale:
You can download the tutorial by clicking on the link below.
Happy knitting and enjoy the snuggles!
Hobbit Hat (free pattern)
I find myself here, on the beautiful North Norfolk Coast. Wide, sandy beaches, and sunshine that has taken us by surprise.
But… you know… it’s February.
How in the world did someone who knits hats not bring enough?!
My new moniker is, apparently, “The Wool Psycho”, so it goes without saying that needles and yarn had found their way into my essential packing list.
Quick – cast on!
This hat fits us all, from Teddy (aged 6, above) to me. Though it might be a bit of a stretch (no pun intended) for beloved husband, since his bonce is quite spectacularly large. Probably the brains 😉
For this hat, you will need a ball of Rico Creative Melange Chunky (in this case in CurryGreen), a 7mm circular needle and depending on your speed, a couple of movies.
So without further ado:
Cast on 64 stitches and join in the round without twisting.
Knit 1 round, purl 1 round and knit the 3rd round.
Then begin the Knit2 Purl2 rib for 10 rounds. This gives a hat that is super slouchy without folding up the rim, or nice and snug if you do.
Knit for 34 rounds.
Then K2tog all the way around.
Then knit around.
Then K2tog all the way around again.
Cut the yarn leaving a long tail, then sew the tail through the live stitches and pull tight. Tie off securely and weave in the tail. Sew in the ends, and wear to your heart’s content.
Happy knitting! 🙂
