Well, this afternoon, I got out my sewing machine and I sewed the first block from the Art of Quilting magazine that I mentioned in a recent post.
It was quite straight forward to do. One thing that the instructions didn’t make clear was how to pin the green and red squares together so that you get them the right way round. But I was on the ball..!
The thing I’m chuffed about is that the points all meet exactly!
Yet another FO to tell you about… This time it is the Cosimo scarf, knitted in Louisa Harding’s Simonetta yarn.
The Cosimo scarf pattern is a free pattern which you can download as a PDF here. The instructions give the yarn requirements to knit the scarf in either Louisa Harding’s Simonetta, Grace Handbeaded or Nerissa. I was tempted to do it in Grace Hand Beaded, but thought that the Simonetta would make the scarf feel more floaty and delicate and it only took 1 ball.
I don’t knit a lot of lace patterns, and at first I had to really concentrate on what I was doing, to make sure that I didn’t wrong. Trying to rip back lace knitting is not fun. I get confused with the yarn overs etc! But once I got into it, the 16 row pattern repeat became quite easy.
And look.. I even wet blocked it properly with blocking wires and my new blocking mat (which I will tell you about in another post)! Well you have to with lace knitting, don’t you.
I’m very excited about my latest finished knitting project, which took me just 3 evenings to knit.
You may remember that I received a book on Entrelac knitting for Christmas. Well I was keen to try out the technique, so I decided to try the cowl pattern from the book, using Rico Galaxy Chunky yarn – a yarn I’ve been eager to use.
And this is how it turned out…
I absolutely love the entrelac technique. I even got the hang of knitting backwards (as taught in the book) which saves you from keep turn the work around every few stitches.
The pattern in the book uses a DK yarn, whereas I wanted to use a chunky, so I based the cowl on 4 base triangles, rather than the 6 given in the pattern.
I loved the yarn too. It’s a single ply, so you have to be careful not to split the stitches, but I loved the variegated colours and the sequins add a bit of sparkle.
I want to knit an entrelac cushion I think, perhaps with a different stitch pattern, rather than just plain old stocking stitch.
This was a quick knit which I finished just before Christmas. I was given a sample ball of Adriafil Knitcol yarn and this Sirdar hat pattern seemed an ideal way to try out the yarn.
The pattern called for the hat to be knitted flat and seamed at the back. However as this yarn is self-striping I decided to knit it in the round instead to avoid problems with the stripes not lining up.
The pattern was easy and the yarn is great!
When I first started this blog, I had just started to collect issues of a partwork magazine called The Art of Knitting. Knitting a blanket square every week from this magazine really got me going with my knitting and I ended up with a lovely blanket.
A couple of years later the publishers started a series called The Art of Crochet. I bought a few issues, but I’ve never really been taken with doing crochet very much.
However yesterday, Mum picked up a copy of the Art of Quilting, another new title from the publishers. Each week you get some fabric and instructions to sew a block, which will form part of a lovely looking quilt.
I’m hoping that by starting to collect this magazine for a while, that it will give me the motivation I need to get sewing…
It’s quite cool that I started writing this blog at the beginning of the year because I can combine the birthday review and a new year review.
2011 has been an interesting year for me both personally and professionally. Personally I’ve made some lovely new friends and professionally I’ve been able to drop all the website development work finally and just concentrate on Hulu, full-time. I now have a woolly brain, as I told my Mum last week.
I was looking back at the things I’d listed, which I hoped to achieve in 2011, and unfortunately I didn’t achieve many of them. Running a wool shop has just taken over everything really!
I didn’t do more crochet, I didn’t do much sewing, I didn’t write any of my own patterns, I didn’t complete all that many projects… Oh well! It gives me things to put on this year’s list!
Speaking of which… here’s what I’m hoping to achieve in 2012 in the way of crafts…
What are your plans for 2012?
I hope that you had a good Christmas. We did 
It’s been a very relaxing week where I’ve just done some knitting, playing on the Wii and eating lots of good food.
Did you get any knitting related gifts? I got a couple of books:
Handweaver’s Pattern Book: An Illustrated Reference to Over 600 Fabric Weaves
plus…
An inkel loom!
The loom is from Lakeside Crafts, a husband and wife team who make some beautiful knitting/weaving/crochet tools and equipment. My inkle loom is just as good as an Ashford one. We saw them at a craft show in Exeter and I did ponder at the time, about getting an inkle loom from them. Mum kept their card and arranged it for my Christmas present.
The band I’ve started is being woven with some Rico Essentials Cotton DK yarn, a mercerised cotton and I’m really pleased with how it is turning out for a first attempt. My edges are getting neater as I am progressing with it. I’ve yet to try a pick up technique to get some sort of pattern in the band. I’ll do that with the next one!
Finished my brother’s gloves yesterday and got them wrapped about an hour before he came home for the holidays! Forgot to take a picture of them before I wrapped them though, so I will have to do that tomorrow when he opens them. Fingers crossed that they fit! I had to redo the fingers on the second glove because I’d done too many rows and they were bigger than the first glove!
I’ve just spent the last half an hour trying to knit a bauble from the 55 Christmas balls to knit book that I bought recently. However I keep going wrong on the increase rows and ending up with the wrong number of stitches. How hard can it be? Apparently too hard for my little brain on Christmas Eve. So I’ve pulled it all out and am leaving it now. I might try again next week.
Merry Christmas!
Edit: Here’s a photo of the gloves!
I have finally taken a photo of the Collinette Scallop Throw that I finished back in October (about 18 months after I started it). It was a kit that I bought at the Knitting Show in Ally Pally sometime ago comprising of lots of different Collinette yarns and a pattern booklet for different throws.
It’s meant to have a fringe on it, made with the left over yarn, but I decided not to bother with that. I enjoyed knitting it, the stitch pattern was easy, but I didn’t like knitting with some of the yarns. The mohair in particular was horrible. However the overall effect of the mohair with the various ribbon and tape yarns and other yarns is really, really nice and I’m delighted with how it has turned out.
I have a pair of fingerless gloves, which have a little flap to turn them into mittens, that my brother gave me for Christmas many years ago. I love them, but they are starting to wear thin in places, so I started thinking about knitting another pair of fingerless gloves (not necessarily with the flap though).
I also decided that I will knit a pair for my brother for Christmas this year. So the search began for a pattern.
For my pair, I decided to use some cashmere yarn that I got from Devon Fine Fibres. It’s a 4 ply yarn. I have a book called Holiday Knits: 25 Great Gifts from Stockings to Sweaters
So I frogged it.
I then found a pattern called Semplice Fingerless Mitts (via Ravelry) on the Knit Picks website for a basic fingerless mitt. It looked like a good basic pattern and so I started again. The shaping all looked good as I went and I thought it was going to turn out great. However I made a fatal mistake. The pattern calls for a Sport weight yarn and what was I using? A 4 ply. The glove was coming out too small!
So that was frogged.
Now a few weeks ago Mum, Dad and I popped up to Bovey Tracey. We went to the Devon Guild of Craftsman and to Spin a Yarn. Mum bought a ball of Lang yarn and got a free pattern for a pair of fingerless mitts. Why didn’t I just use this pattern to start with? It’s great! The gloves fit really well and haven’t taken me too long to knit.
