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Peacock
socks
[Started 12th December::Completed
20th December - 2nd pair 31st December]
The other yarn that made up the order for Wool
Warehouse, was a WYS
Signature 4 Ply,in Peacock, 851, [75% Wool / 25% Nylon:
100g=400m]. My sister and her husband like to guess the birds
when I deliver socks, and she (wrongly) once guessed peacock.
So I am knitting these for her - in a change to the usual
programme. I'm hoping to make 2 pairs of socks (one for myself)
combining Peacock with Blue Raspberry, 333, for the heels
and toes. This latter yarn I bought at Kathy's
Knits in 2018 when I went to the Edinburgh Fringe, but
I did not use it as planned, and this is a perfect match.
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Christmas
Coasters
[Started 20th November: :Completed
8th December]
I needed a small gift for secret Santa, and as I am engrossed
in patchwork I thought I would "quickly" make a
set of 4 coasters. I looked for a suitable design, and having
found a set of 4, tried creating my own scheme for a paper
pattern. It was a geometric nightmare, plus I also forgot
that a tiny project takes as much if not more trouble than
a large one if you have many pieces. Consequently - here they
are (finally) - but I have put so much into it that I am not
inclined to let them go to someone I barely know!
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Sail
Away Placemats
[Started 16th November: :Completed
12th December]
This design is in the third Westminster Quilting book from
2001 (usually available from eBay).
It is a full sized quilt that I have adapted for place mats,
drawing out my own design. However, I have reduced the scale
of the pieces, as well as the number of pieces, so although
I have many of the striped fabrics specified, they are of
a relatively larger scale pattern than the original would
have been. I think the effect still works well, but trying
to keep the stripes perpendicular was another nightmare even
though I used a paper backing technique to keep the accuracy
of the triangles; (maybe a nightmare "because" since
you have to view everything in reverse).
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Arne
and Carlos Secret Christmas socks
[Started 12th November: :Completed
23rd December]
This is another lovely colourway in Regia Design Line by Arne
and Carlos - "Fall Night" 3655, [75% wool / 25%
Polyamide; 100g=420m/460yds], purchased from PurpleLinda
Crafts. It is the sister yarn to Summer Night, and I think
this is the colour I should have chosen for my failed attempt
at the Såve Teddy Bear - it's a bit more lively, though
still subtle. [Shhh ... these are socks for George - not a
teddy!].
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Tuscan
Placemats
[Started 8th November: :Completed
9th December]
This design is from 2003 in the fifth Westminster Quilting
book "A Colourful Journey" (usually available from
eBay).
It has options for placemats and a table runner. I have adapted
the place mats to make them the size I wanted (a bit smaller
than the original), and have used different (though vintage
Rowan) striped fabrics, and coordinating vintage shot cottons
from the same era. I made the diagonal square elements just
using the machine, then created paper-pieced 2 inch blocks
which I sewed by hand to get better accuracy with the pinwheels.
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Autumn
socks
[Started 7th October: :Completed
21st October]
[Second pair started 30th October:
:Completed 3rd December]
To make up an order for Wool
Warehouse, as usual, I purchased a couple of extra sock
yarns and this is one of them: King Cole Zig Zag [75% Wool
/ 25% Nylon: 100g=420m / 460yds] a good value yarn and I liked
"Jubilee", but it seems they have increased the
% wool in this newer line.
The colourway 3247"Khaki" which does not
sound promising but actually knitted up to a lovely colour
mix which seems quite autumnal (even though they also have
a colourway called "Autumn Glory"].
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Aspiring
Santa socks
[Started 4th August :Completed
3rd September]
Snow
Star socks [Started
5th September :Completed 15th
September]
I needed to find some more Regia
Snowflake in colour Ski Cap 7708, [75% wool / 25%
polyamide : 100g / 420m] to "mend" a pair I made
for Terry in 2012 - in fact they are in such a well-worn (and
previously repaired) state, it's hard to know whether to repair
them or just knit anew. Anyway I managed to find a selection
of colours at PurpleLindaCrafts
- and bought several balls of sock yarn besides 7708, including
7709 Snow Star, and 7712 Sledge - which is the splendidly
bright colour I am knitting here.
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Cuddly
Little Bunny Blanket
[Started 1st August
:Completed 4th August]
This is a baby comforter - free
pattern from Love Crafts - knitted in left overs of Debbie
Bliss Baby Cashmerino.
Wool weight and thus tension is different from the specified
yarn (a quick-knit or 5ply rather than an aran or worsted)
but this is one instance where size surely does not matter.
I've actually gone my own way with knitting the garter stitch
square, making it a square
knitted in the round, without worrying too much about
whether or not it lies flat, (I used "make 1" for
the increases rather than "knit twice in the next stitch").
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Såve
Teddy Bear
[Started 24th July - frogged]
This is an Arne
and Carlos pattern intended to be knitted from sock yarn.
I like the Fair Isle bears by Debbie Bliss so these looked
fun and I thought might be easier to make but that hasn't
really been so. I'm finding it quite easy to knit matching
arms and legs, as that is how I make my socks work out, but
I am not sure I like the shape of the bear that much. Also
I made a poor choice of yarn - I spent a long time deciding,
and went for a colour I had used before ["Summer Night"
3657] which I thought looked like soft baby colours - but
actually looks like a washed out sock... I would also say
that for £9.60 the individual pattern seems to have
simply been lifted from the book in which it originally appeared
without suitable editing eg leaving references "NOTE:
See page 259 for increase method." - a useless reference.
SO
- I frogged the Teddy and made him into socks - nothing to
do with my moaning about the pattern - I just prefer this
colourway as socks (like
this in 2019). I may try Teddy again in a better colour.
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Northern
Lights Cardigan
[Started 29th June]
Another vintage Vogue knit from the Vogue
Baby Knits on the Go book . Knitted in Hayfield Bonus
4ply acrylic, which I seem to have acquired from somewhere
in my travels. Pink yarn is a fragment of acrylic DK (which
works well picking out this colour detail), and the buttons
are from stock (originally years ago from John Lewis I think).
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Baby
Pyramids Quilt
[From 2002 - restarted 20th June:
:Completed 24th October]
This is a patchwork quilt I started to make in about 2002
- and in truth had done almost nothing bar collecting together
the fabrics. I have been inspired to take it up again because
of Deborah's new baby - however it is paper-pieced and sewn
by hand, so heaven knows if it will still be relevant by the
time I finish it. [Worked up more quickly than I'd imagined].
The design is Baby Pyramids by Kaffe Fassett from the
second Westminster Quilting book (usually available from eBay).
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Kaffe
Design Cover
[Started 22nd June: :Completed
24th June]
I made a cover for the Sony eReader 650 using some Rowan Felted
Tweed leftovers with the Kaffe Fassett pattern sequence used
for the Lidiya
scarf in Rowan Magazine 48 (still available as a pdf).
I had often wanted to try out this pattern and I do quite
like it although despite looking very delicate in the pattern
photography, I feel that a whole dress made thus would be
very hot.
The only colour missing from my collection was blue (Maritime)
but I used a Jaeger Shetland wool which was the right colour
but a 4ply not DK - however, this made little difference on
such a small item. [Cast on 35, knit 110 rows in the pattern,
fold over, sew up the sides, add a ribbed cuff by picking
up stitches all round the top - would also work for an Amazon
Fire tablet].
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Seaside
Mobile
[Started 9th June:
:Completed 21st June]
I
wanted to make a baby mobile and I was totally entranced by
this charming
pattern by Alan Dart - so much so that I eschewed the
many free offerings on Ravelry in its favour. And all I would
say is that it was an extremely well written pattern with
all the many tiny pieces fitting together beautifully to make
totally convincing seaside animals (albeit in a variety of
acrylic yarns that I always seem to have to hand).
I wanted to use beads for eyes instead of the suggested felt
- but I had no black beads - so I painted some white pearl
beads with black nail varnish - as you do - and it worked
really well.
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VE
Day socks
[Started 8th May:
:Completed 23rd May]
While searching for a different yarn, (as you do), I found
"My
Yarnery" - a shop new to me. To make up my order
I purchased a couple of extra sock yarns and this is one of
them: King Cole Zig Zag [50% Wool / 50% Nylon: 100g=420m /
460yds].
The colourway 808 "Jubilee" is a bit bright
- but then, perfect for the anniversary of VE Day eh?.
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Baby
Surprise
[Started 9th April:
:Completed 14th April]
My
second attempt at Elizabeth
Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket. My last one,
in a sock yarn, was much too small so this time I used a self-patterning
acrylic DK,
King Cole Splash, colour 755 Blueberry, - which is ideal to
bring out the structure of this design.
I have to confess that I don't much like the the look of this
cardigan once complete - but it's an absolute delight for
any knitter to make with its weird origami-like construction
- and after all I'm sure the babies don't mind! I have some
perfect vintage "Tom Kitten" buttons to finish it
off but these aren't sewn on until after the baby is born.
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Baby
Blanket
[Started 12th March
:Completed 10th May]
This blanket from the Vogue
Baby Knits on the Go book has a pleasing fresh feel
of 1950's modernity, which I find most appealing. The pattern
is intended for a double or quick-knit but I am using 4 ply
weights (increasing the number of squares and colours). It
uses a strange stitch to construct the squares, which I find
fiddly but produces a very satisfying result when they are
sewn together.
For the background I've used some Sirdar Country Style [45%
acrylic/40% nylon/15% wool; 50g=240m/262yds] that I have a
complete packet of in cream, and for the contrasts I've used
half a dozen 4 ply oddments - making for a headache trying
to get a consistent tension...!
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Beach
Baby
[Started 6th March: :Completed
26th March]
As Deborah is expecting her baby in the summer, this seemed
an obvious choice from the Vogue
Baby Knits on the Go book. Again, found some suitable
cotton 4 ply in my collection, and am making it a little smaller
than designed as the smallest 6 month size would nominally
fit by around December. As babies cannot be relied upon to
keep within sizes, we'll just have to see what transpires
(is it destined to be be recycled to the premature baby unit?
watch this space....).
Yarn is a mixture of Katia
Saigon (100% acrylic) - which is thicker than a 4ply -
and vintage Patons' soft cotton 4ply (a cotton blend), with
edgings in Sirdar Soft Cotton 4ply (100% cotton)
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Hippy
Baby Cardigan
[Started 5th March: :Completed
22nd March]
So I was looking at some vintage Vogue knitting books on eBay
when I ran across one of those Vogue "pocket" books,
marketed as Knitting on the Go. I have several of them
on various themes - and was recently thinking I should dispose
of some - however you can never have enough knitting books
(obviously) so I bought Baby Knits. Attracted by the
cardigan on the cover, I have dug through my vast collection
of acrylics, and set off (or cast on).
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Bullfinch
socks
[Started 3rd March: :Completed
15th May]
Five minutes at Unravel in Farnham and I found another of
the "birds" colourways, "Bullfinch" colour
861, WYS
Signature 4 Ply [75% Wool / 25% Nylon: 100g=400m]. Can't
think why I didn't knit it before now (maybe I did?!). So
I have kicked off another pair of socks as "simple TV
knitting" (that's as in: in front of the telly and nothing
to do with cross dressing - if it were it would be a bit of
a disappointment).
[My only quibble is that bullfinches strike me as rather more
black than the brown colour in the yarn!].
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Wee,
sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie
[Started 1st March: :Completed
7th March]
I'd like to make something for Deborah's baby but all my "heirloom"
toys are not "child-safe". So I went back to Ysolda's
first collection of Whimsical
Little Knits and made this delightful mouse, which any
baby could chew to its heart's content (up to a point ....
yes I know ... choking hazard etc ... but Deborah's fully
trained so I am sure she will have all toys fully approved
or otherwise).
Yarn is vintage Phildar Luxe in grey and a tiny amount of
pink Jaeger 4ply.
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Robin
(limited edition!) socks for me
[Started 15th February: :Completed
25th February]
So I made the two pairs of men's socks and I did manage to
craft a tiny pair for myself using left over "Robin"
colour 941 WYS
Signature 4 Ply [75% Wool / 25% Nylon: 100g=400m]. . I
used the plain toe-up pattern in Socks
from the Toe Up
by Wendy D Johnson - and I had to eke it out using a toning
red yarn for the heel, sole and toe (WYS colour "Cherry
Drop" 529), with a picot cast-off.
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Spring
Flowers
[Started 31st January: :Completed
19th February]
I responded to a request for "spare wool" and knitters
to help with a planned yarn bomb of our local village - part
of the Spring
Yarn Bomb over Easter.
I'm not keen on fiddly little things but I found this splendid
website with simply lovely patterns for flowers, leaves
etc - so I made a few.
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Fleetwith
sweater and cowl
[Started 6th January]
I thought of Lyn when I saw this pattern in Rowan's British
Made by Lisa Richardson as it is the "sort of thing
she really likes", and I considered buying
Valley Tweed even though it would be pretty costly, despite
the excellent yardage. However I have an ever-expanding collection
of some very good vintage fingering yarns, so I felt bound
to consider them. The colour choice was a problem, and none
of them is a tweed, but in the end I chose a lovely cherry
red Hermit pure wool crepe 4ply (yardage unknown - also a
problem) which I think will suit the pattern and also possibly
my sister, (if not - it's a colour I like - what can I say?).
This will clearly be my only project for this year as the
pattern for the back begins "cast on 200" and after
lulling you into a false sense of security with 2 rows garter
stitch, it moves on to untold complexity.
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Weaving:
Woodland Scarf
[Started 30th July 2019]
This is "Blewit" - almost the colours that inspired
Janet Phillips as featured in her book Designing
Woven Fabrics. This time using a limited edition skein
from A Verb for Keeping Warm which I bought at SOAR in 2012
[100% wool; 100g=361m/395yds]. The weft is Erika Knight British
Wool ..... Blue Faced Leicester and Masham purchased at Fibre
East - too coarse and fluffy really but I went with the colour..
... I have wound a 2m warp - enough for a scarf length plus
fringe. The sett is 16 - doubling up in my 8 dent reed.
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Weaving:
Cotton Towels
[Started 23rd March 2019]
I was inspired to try this project by the newsletters from
Gist Yarn
and Fiber. I would have bought their cotton but the shipping
cost from the US meant I needed to be more cost-conscious
for a simple
rigid heddle project to do in the evenings. I settled
on a real budget option which was impossibly low cost and
astonishingly fast delivery despite shipping from Hobii
in Copenhagen.
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Little
Bottles Quilt
[Restarted 9th February 2019]
This is a patchwork quilt I started to make in about 2003
and in truth had done most of the hard work in appliqué.
I was undecided as to what technique to use for the striped
"curtains" - but have set off now with renewed vigour
and decisiveness.
The design is Little Bottles by Kaffe Fassett from
the fourth Westminster Quilting book (usually available from
eBay).
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Bella
Blouse
[Started 9th June 2011]
This is the Bella Blouse by Norah Gaughan from the Knitting
Daily Pattern Library. I am using a few balls of Rowan Damask
- a yarn I love but now discontinued - for the contrast and
I found an ecru cotton blend (Patons Washed Haze) which tones
with it quite well for the main shade. As my supply of Damask
is limited I am omitting the contrast band at the bottom of
the sweater.
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Two
[Started
22nd August 2010]
This is Two
- not another cardigan! But it is, like Puzzle, from
Queen
of Hearts - in fact, the cover design. The yarn is Patons
Misty
[25g; 150m], 70% mohair, 30% polyamide. It knits to a
double knitting tension of about 22sts to 4 inches, but I
am knitting it much looser on 6mm needles. I chose this yarn
also at Ally Pally in 2009; being a dress I thought it would
take for ever but it seems to be knitting up very quickly
so I have every expectation of finishing it soon...
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