Tag: winter

Dots and Stripes. Dotty Stripes.

Posted on by Alice Neal

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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.

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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).

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And I really love the colours he chose (and banana cake. And coffee).

After which, I made another one just because I could.

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(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

Posted on by Alice Neal

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

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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Lace, we’re gonna need more lace…

Posted on by Alice Neal

Just a little update.

High on the beauty of my Dolly Socks, I cast on a new pair immediately.

These ones are being knitted with Blue Faced Leicester washable sock yarn I bought from The Knitting Gift Shop.

I’m casting the second on tonight, and I’m already a bit too excited about how they look.

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What’s on YOUR needles this week?

Happy Knitting, lovelies <3

 

Dolly Socks ftw

Posted on by Alice Neal

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Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know I’ve been playing a lot with socks, chunky and fine, of late.

And one of my newest discoveries is Toast, a washable sock yarn with cashmere by Debbie Bliss.

My first foray with them produced these

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(which I will write up next 🙂 )

But before I do, I got a bit excited about this yarn’s squishy softness and the way it holds the integrity of each stitch: it was clearly a contender for a bit of lace…

So I picked up the needles and a gorgeous ball of silver yarn, and

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I didn’t need to get beyond this to know these were going to be beautiful.

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And they’re NOT boot socks. These babies deserve to be seen.

So slip them on, dig out your mary janes (my chestnut beauties are Duckfeet. You may have heard me singing their praises before), and BRING ON THE SPRING!

If you fancy knitting a pair yourself, you can find the pattern here (or check out the patreon page up at the top, for info on instant access to all future patterns).

Happy Knitting, Lovelies <3

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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A Socking Success

Posted on by Alice Neal

Could it really be my third (is it third, or is it fourth??) post on the same pattern? I guess it could. But the thing is, you see, once you’ve designed it, knitted it, written it up… then the pressure’s off and you get to play.

So, as you saw in my last post, I’ve been playing with some bold and striking combos. This grey-black gradient, with the red-orange-brown has produced something I think is rather spectacular…

You saw the first sock, last time:

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but before I post the next picture, check out the colours on those balls of wool – the point I’d got to before casting on the next.

What I think is rather spectacularly beautiful is that as striking as the first sock is, the second looks like its long-lost brother – left on a windowsill for a decade until its rediscovering has reunited it with its counterpart, still as fresh as a daisy. Whilst our windowsill sock looks like a sepia photograph of the original.

So, now that I’m done with the waxing lyrical, take a peek:

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Also, gasp in wonder at how wonderfully well they match my kitchen table. 😉

Of course, they still look awesome with my Duckfeet boots

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So… which are your favourites? I have to confess, I’m pretty hard-pushed to decide:

And, as always, if you fancy a pop at them yourself, the pattern is here.

And the yarn is here. I used colours 5 and 68 for mine.

Happy knitting! <3

More Bobble Socks

Posted on by Alice Neal

So I really can’t call these Lilac and Lime, can I??

These ones, if you recall, from a week or two ago? (Click for pattern).

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Well, here’s how this story goes: I have a dress. It’s one of my favourites. Covered in owls, in autumn tones. And I always wear it with boots.

Here it is:

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I bought it in Norwich, back when I lived in Norfolk around 7 years ago. A spontaneous, impulse buy that paid off as I’ve worn it to death over the years and love it still.

And I fancied a pair of bobble socks in the right kind of colours to match it. I also fancied trying these ones with two balls of Lang Merino + Color rather than a different kind of aran wool, as I then plan to reverse the colours for another pair. See? There’s method to my apparent madness 😉

Well, I’m REALLY pleased with how the first one has turned out and am, as we speak, casting on the second.

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Can’t wait to finish and wear them with my owls. (The colours, for those interested in this colourway, are 68 and 5).

It’s OK, winter, you don’t have to go yet…

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Happy February knitting, lovelies <3

Teddy’s Mittens (free pattern)

Posted on by Alice Neal

And Teddy walked to school in his mittens. Delighted. But probably mostly because of the snow.