Addicted to Knitting

It's been quite a while since I posted anything on my little blog. I can make all sorts of excuses, like being addicted to other forms of social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - Oh and there's always Christmas - but the true reason if I'm honest is my obsession with knitting! What better way then to celebrate passing the 10 000 "hits" I've had on this blog than to update it with my latest knitting projects.

In November, when I last posted, I had just embarked on a bit of an experiment to use up some of my stash of yarn, some of which I have had since my kids were quite little. I had enjoyed knitting my grandaughter Martha a dress with a lacy yoke and hem which was knit from the neck down on circular needles. This was my inspiration for the pattern I invented for this balloon style striped dress.


Cotton DK yarn from stash



The colour combination





I absolutely love knitting on circular needles and nearly always choose to use them even when not knitting in the round


The finished garment.



After a great deal of debate of flower
versus cherries the cherries won

Martha is always a delight to knit for as she looks good in what ever she wears.

Martha standing on one of my upturned lucite tables
 - as you do!

Also she has a bit of an obsession with
washing her hands



It didn't really seem possible but when it was finished I still had a lot of the green yarn left and quite a lot of smaller amounts of the other colours so I felt I had to use it up. This time I used the the pattern I had previously used for her checky cardigan but instead of using multi-colours I added the details by working sections in different stitches. I enjoyed the mathematical challenge of choosing ones that divided exactly into the total number of stitches I had for the back and two fronts (which I knit as one as far as the armholes) so that the patterns at the centre front are identical. I like knitting the whole body together because then you have no sides seams to pattern match and it looks much neater.

Close up of cable section

Sorry I didn't take many pictures of the different sections but you might be able to make them out on the finished garment. There are no model shots either as I knit it for next winter as she's not exactly short of hand knits.

Finished garment with striped yoke

At the request of my daughter I embarked on a project to knit a chunky short sleeved cardigan in a tweed wool for Martha to wear with jeans. Unfortunately when I saw the pattern she had chosen I wasn't too keen so we decided I would use a pattern from a book I already had. This did however involve a bit of modification as the one I had had a hood and long sleeves. It soon became obvious, due to the dense nature of the knitting, that I was going to run out of wool. I contacted every branch of Hobbycraft in the North of England only to find that all of their current stock was of a different dye lot. Fortunately after an email to the manufacturer they sent me two balls of the correct one free of charge so I was able to complete it.

Completed cardigan

View of back showing pleat detail.

Detail of cable

Marha's wardrobe of handknits have been much admired at many of the toddler groups she goes to and we are always happy to share the patterns. One lady was so grateful the next week she brought in a fabulous book of patterns by a swedish company called Millamia. We both loved a knitted coat in it but when we priced it it was going to be too expensive so iI knit it in a substitute wool and I'm pleased to say it worked out well.

It was a perfect fit and when Martha was asked to model it she struck up this pose.

Such a Cutie!

When I was searching the internet to find out more about the thickness of the MillaMia yarn I can across another of their children's pattern books and it was a "must have". I fell in love with this gorgeous Fair Isle kimono.

We were straight out to the wool shop to select 10 colours of 4ply wool to get started.

Colour selection

samples to match up with colours on chart













It described the pattern as "challenging" but that didn't stop me deciding to "improve" it by knitting all three body pieces in one. This way there would be no pattern to match at the sides and would save me having to finish off quite so many ends!It is totally addictive, but as you are often working with 3 balls simultaneously and every row is different, progress is slow but this is how far I have got so far.

The different bands of pattern



Some times the back is as
interesting as the front



The Garden Yarners

This is just a quick post to tell you about a lovely new knitting and crochet group that my daughter-in-law Lynsey has started in her village of Whickham near Newcastle. I have posted an article earlier about the wonderful "secret garden" (well almost as it is tucked away behind the main street) called the Whickham Hermitage Community Garden and the group met there for the first time last Wednesday evening in the lovely surroundings of the Orangery cafe to knit or crochet.

It was a really warm and friendly atmosphere and people chatted and exchanged ideas while being served tea and biscuits from the pretty vintage crockery of The Whistling Bunting.

Several members brought along books and magazines for others to browse and many ideas, from types of yarn to good places to buy it, were all talked about.

It was a select little group to start with but we hope that when more people get to know about it it will grow just like the wonderful plants in the garden where it all happens.

Why not join us at the next meeting on the first Wednesday in December from 6 - 7 30pm?

You can follow it on Facebook

Keep Knitting





When I received this card for my birthday it brought a smile to my face because that is exactly what I do, especially now I have grandchildren to knit for. Anyone who has been following my blog will have seen  earlier posts dating back to April this year when I posted a smocked jacket for Martha. Then there were a few last year, one in August and one in December, and these were a cerise cardigan and another jacket style cardigan for which I wrote the pattern.  Since then I have been so busy knitting I have neglected to share any of them with you so here is the last six months worth in one go!



Kimono style jacket











Sorry this is the only snap I have
of her modelling it right now

 













Lynsey and I saw this pattern in a shop in Northallerton and decided we "needed it" even though it was the wrong season but now there has been a change in the weather it's great with jeans.

Chunky short sleeved jacket




  

Great with jeans

Rear view

Clever pocket detail

When I went to my favourite wool shop, Bobby Davisons in Hartlepool, to get the wool for the kimono I spotted this chunky knit jacket in the window so got the pattern and wool for this as well!

Chunky Knit cardi for the winter

Close up to show embroidery
and ribbon detail

Autumn stroll to the duckpond

At toddler group









 








This is another great pattern from Bobby Davisons and I loved knitting it but when it came to the embroidery I had my "Maths head" on and got a bit frustrated by the fact that the no of loops were not a multiple of the second type of embroidery stitch so i just left it out rather than end a row with half a chevron

The beginning of the next assignment

The completed cardi

Close up of embroidery detail
and cute buttons

Martha sporting her new cardi at ABC

This simple little yoked cardigan was dead easy to knit, a bit tricky getting a neat finish when picking up the loops for the yoke and definitely challenging for me to do random lazy daisy embroidery with no right or wrong placement.

For a change I knit a dress from the neck down

 

My stitch markers came in very useful
as keeping the pattern correct whilst
increasing was a bit tricky

Completed dress



 

Martha is always good at
coordinating her accessories

Perhaps not the most appropriate
dress for a soft play area

My daughter Lynsey spotted this dress pattern on the internet and we went off to buy the cotton yarn in our local branch of Boyes, where you are always granted good value for money. I loved the pattern so much I wanted to knit it but so did Lynsey and since she had spotted the pattern it seemed only right that she should. However we reached a compromise and decided we would both knit it but in different colours!

As I speak hers is not yet finished, as she does have a much busier lifestyle than me with 2 kids under 4 years, teaching part time and running Handmade by Martha a bespoke service making hair slides. I will just remind her though of the lovely cardigan she did that took so long it didn't fit!!!!!

Lynsey's creation now destined for someone other than Martha

I spotted this pattern and sequined wool
and thought it would be ideal for
Martha for her dance class

 


 

Project complete



Mini dancer

As Martha at just 2years has joined S&N dance school she did of course need to look good so to coordinate with her leotard she needed a little bolero to keep warm.

Aran "hoody"

hood detail

 


Cable detail

Looking a little uncomfortable



Lucas loved it at first.....







... but soon realised that it itched

 I decided that after all these knits for Martha it was about time Lucas got his turn. I had started this navy aran jacked about 17 years ago, and the models on the pattern were definitely from another era, but basically it was a very classic knit. My son Matthew advised knitting the hooded version but I didn't have sufficient wool so on his advice I went for a contrast colour which I also introduced into the ribs and button bands. I was really pleased with the outcome but we did hit a snag when Lucas declared it was "itchy" round the neck but I'm sure this can be resolved with a shirt with a collar. Fingers crossed.

 I've decided to stick with girly projects for now until we solve the scratchy problem

Selection of cotton DK from
earlier projects

Random stripes

After rummaging through my stash of yarns I discovered that I had sufficient of one type to knit another dress but this time in "random" stripes (well actually carefully planned to take into account how much of each colour I have) .