Wool Cardigan

The poor child got shown this yarn when I first bought it in July 2011. That is SIX AND A HALF YEARS AGO! She waited so patiently for her cardigan, dear love. Luckily she still likes purple.

This Hayfield Bonus Aran is only 20% wool, but it feels as though it has a much higher wool content. It feels wooly and soft, but not poly-soft. The yarn comes in the most enormous ball: 400g at once. The good part is that there are no joins between balls, and you never leave your spare balls behind. The bad part is that the ball gets in a bit of a mess as you knit with it because it falls apart as you go along. A lot of re-winding was necessary. But... no joins!

I eventually started knitting it up in January 2016. That is TWO YEARS AGO! I used the same pattern as a previous cardigan for her, the Lace Panel Cardigan from Fabulous Knits. I cast on for the 6-7 year size again, expecting that it might be a size or two larger in the Aran weight wool.

It was absolutely enormous! Larger than the ball of yarn. It was massively large on me. So I put it aside for another YEAR AND A HALF and re-cast on for the size 2-3 this summer.

I did a rib waistband. I should have stuck with my original 2x2 rib and a thicker band. This one is 1x1 and only about 1 inch deep so it is prone to flipping up - which is something I hate about home knits.

I had to re-think the raglan sleeves so that I could join them to the body and keep knitting. I should have left a stitch between the decreases to make a thicker seam, rather than a row of eyelets, but otherwise it worked well. I had to re-knit a section because I was decreasing too fast and I needed the height of the shoulder to be taller. I think I switched from decreasing every second row to every fourth row, but we tried it on as we went along, and it is pretty quick by the time you get to this part of the shoulders. My actual notes are on Ravelry.

I seamed the sleeves rather than knitting in the round. My rounds show where the needles break the pattern and never look as nice as flat knitting. So I chose to have one seam under the arm rather than four breaks all around.

I am in two minds as to whether I think the seamed on button bands are necessary or not. On the one hand, they allow you to stretch the bands into place, making the edges firmer and giving a good finish. They also allow you to place the buttonholes evenly, especially if you are making up the size as you go along - as I was. I suppose, on reflection, the seaming is worth it, albeit painful at the time. I very nearly didn't finish because of this seaming.

I only had six of the metal buttons so I couldn't add any more, and had to make do with the button placement as it is. One extra would have been perfect. I sewed them on to the first button band and left the knitting of the second one to match up the buttons with the buttonholes as I knitted up. This is the edge that I nearly didn't finish. Luckily, I am not one to allow myself to get going with a new project until the old one is finished.

I did make an exception of a PussyHat, in case Baby Donald showed up in town and I needed to go to a protest at short notice. I also needed a de-stress knitting project and this was the right sort of mindless knitting that is just what the doctor ordered.

Cashmere Baby Cardigan

Because every new mother wants a hand wash only cardigan, right?

This cashmere yarn was too lovely not to use though. I got it from the Johnsons of Elgin shop, in Elgin. They bundle up some odds and ends into yarn packs and sell them off in their factory shop. I chose this one because the largest ball was of a size to make something useful. Most of the others had three balls of the same size.

This is the third time I have made this pattern, the Sunnyside Cardigan. I keep coming back to it because I love the one piece knitting of it, and the cable/lace pattern is very effective at showing off some stitches, while keeping the pattern quite simple. I made the smallest size, because I didn't know how much yarn I would have, and it is very small. I have enough yarn left to make a stripe pattern using this blue plus the cream, in a larger size. I just have to think about the stripe placement. And I would probably skip the cables and keep the design plain.

I forgot to reduce the stitches through the sleeves, so they have come out too bell shaped. Sorry.

Cardigan is now blocked and ready to post back to Scotland as a baby gift. (Hand wash only!)

Cabled Baby Jacket

From a high of 25 items knitted or crochet in 2015, my output has declined dramatically. At the end of May, I have completed two things, one of which took up most of 2016 being knitted. This cardigan/jacket is the only thing I have started and finished in 2017.

Baby gifts are a worthy knit though. This one took me two months, but they are relatively quick, very satisfying and often well received too.

I really like this Rowan Tweed, now discontinued, which I bought on sale in 2011, knowing it would be great for boy-baby gifts. This pattern took about 2.5 balls, and I still have 1.5 left.

The pattern is Trellis, linked on Ravelry here, and I got the bamboo buttons from The Button Lady in Hampstead Antiques Market.

Wye Valley Jumper

It was a long and winding road (valley?) for this jumper. 

It started with a subscription to The Knitter at the end of 2015. Issue 95 was my favourite, and I immediately queued lots of the patterns. I made the Stride Socks first, but this jumper, Wye Valley, was always my favourite.

I even went ahead and bought the right yarn for the pattern - a first for me - Rowan Kid Classic. It is a lovely yarn. Kidsilk Haze sized up to an Aran weight. Since I love kitting with Aran yarn, and don't enjoy lace weight much, this is perfect for me. It is soft and slightly fuzzy and works up beautifully. Rowan do beautiful yarns, I'd have to say they are probably my favourite major yarn brand.

I chose this teal colour and ordered 10 balls, since the pattern called for 9-10. I used 5.5 for this project.

The reason I didn't come close to needing all that yarn is because this project came out way too small...

...I planned this for me! #fail 

Luckily, in my household, my girls are getting to the age that, if something doesn't come out quite the right size, there are plenty of other takers for it. In this case, Big Sis was happy to oblige. Luckily, teal is one of her favourite colours too. The model in these photos is Little Sis. (Big Sis was too busy.)

For sure, the sizing was my fault. Firstly, I went down a needle size. I did this knowing that in every single thing I knit, I have to go up a needle size. Had I done this, it would likely fit me. I went down a size because I liked the tighter, more saturated fabric that the size 4mm needle gave me. But my Ravelry notes tell me that I even knitted a gauge swatch and got perfect gauge with 5mm.

I made the back first. I wanted to make sure I was happy to knit the lace pattern before making the rest of the pieces. The bobbles didn't give me too much trouble, but there were no instructions for making them in the pattern. Just "MB": make bobble. Thank goodness for the internets and You Tube. As I got into the top half of the back, I sized down the bobbles by one stitch.

The rest of the jumper didn't cause me any dramas. But I didn't spend a lot of time on it. I hardly knit a stitch during the summer, and I didn't spend many nights on the sofa in the Autumn and Winter. 

But I did little bits here and there and eventually it was mostly done.

Since I made the sleeve length to fit me, but the rest of the jumper has come up child size, I was left with long monkey arms. They were comically long. I could have just rolled up the cuffs, but that is a waste of lovely yarn, so I looked up how to shorten the sleeves properly. Tech Knitting came up trumps. What a great website. 

I only had to pick up the sleeve side of the cut stitches. There is no cuff on this pattern. I used the Super Stretchy Bind-off to finish the cuff edge.

The hem and the neckline do roll. I know this is part of the pattern, but I don't think it is great feature at the front. The back is supported by the columns of lace stitching, so they only roll slightly. The front is a different story. I suspected this from the pattern photographs. The model is working hard to push the front hem down. I did a row of double crochet around the neckline and it worked to stop the rolling and bring it in towards the neck. I haven't done the front hem.

Northern Lights Shawl(ette)

In April, while my parents were visiting, we spent a weekend in the lovely city of Norwich. It is a charming place, full of history and beautiful buildings. A small and perfectly formed city.

One of my favourite parts is the covered market. It is row after confusing row of all sorts of stalls selling everything: butchers, greengrocers, cafes, cards, ribbons, toys, clothing, gifts, luggage and, of course, yarn. I had to get something while I was there, and what better souvenir for a knitter than a skein of yarn? I loved the colours of King Cole Riot, so while it is not an artisan yarn, nor a fibre composition of particular merit, I was taken with it and bought it in the colourway Rhapsody. I liked the blues and pinks, although it has come up with red as the dominant colour. The colour changes move evenly and then reverse through the skein so that each stripe is flanked by the same colour. Eg: violet, teal (start), violet, grey, red, pink, lavender (middle of change), pink red, grey, violet. And so on.

I was going to crochet a ripple scarf but there wasn't enough drape so I browsed Ravelry specifically for a scarf or a shawl in this yarn.  I loved the way this pattern really showed off the dramatic colour changes to their full effect. Most makers had used two skeins but I went ahead with one and knitted until I ran out of yarn. It is enough for a shawlette, which I find more wearable than a shawl anyway.

Tragically, I found this really boring to knit. There are no changes, just a yarn over at each segment and a psso once every 4 rows. I enjoy lace knitting and wanted more of it.  That said, the zig zag stripe effect is lovely and would have been more pronounced, had I had more yarn to carry on with. The acrylic content of the yarn means that the blocking has worn off and the points have lost their prominence and it curls when I wear it, but it is a nice flash of peacock brightness on a grey day.

As a souvenir from the epicentre of the worldwide wool trade, once upon a time, I'm extremely pleased. Ravelry link here.

Stride Socks

My first sock project, this comes from a knitting magazine to which I recently subscribed, The Knitter. I was so impressed with this issue, number 95. There are about 5 projects that I have added to my Ravelry queue. I started with these socks because I had the yarn on hand and knew it would be a portable project for a week away in the countryside.

The yarn was from Tiger, of all places, and it is 100% wool. Amazing considering it was £1. It is not terribly scratchy and I do love the colours. It is a combination of teal, black, blue, navy and khaki. The colour changes happen really quickly, about 3 stitches for each colour. The right sock has come out very flecked, but the left sock has managed to pool the colours in wonderful ways, causing a wavy line of khaki to run up the top of the foot!

I struggled to get the cast on stitches to fit over my foot. Even with a Twisted German Cast On. I upsized the needle and the pattern size to do so. The sizing of the rest of the sock is consequently much too large. After I finished the right sock, I tried to compensate in the left by knitting a smaller heel flap, hoping that a smaller foot size would be the result, but actually, I ended up with a smaller sock overall, including in height. It is quite funny really. The fit on the left foot is actually very good for me. I decreased the toes unevenly on the left, and much prefer the shape.

I confess that I stopped bothering with the slip stitches on the left by the time I got into the foot. I kept going with the rib though. I stopped the rib at both the toes, preferring a smooth stocking stitch in that area.

I do find them quite uncomfortable to wear. I don't know if this would be true of all socks, but when I wore them with shoes, as opposed to around the house, they hurt by the end of the day and I had to change them for something softer and smoother on my delicate feet.

My foot model is not the same size as me, but she is showing them off beautifully. I couldn't manage to photograph my own feet, and I didn't have a suitable background. We got photo-bombed by a jealous foot.

Maile Baby Cardigan

A baby gift made from my stashed-for-girl-babies-yarn. I used the pattern Maile Sweater, because I like the lace on the raglan and the sweet flowers around the hem. It only comes in one size, so I just went ahead and knitted that. My DK weight yarn, Rowan Pure Wool, had it come out at least a 6 month size. That suits me just perfectly since I only cast on after the girl was born.

Knitted Heart Shrug

I had time before Christmas to knock out just one more project, a shrug to warm up a party dress.

This yarn was given to me last Christmas, by my mother in law, with the suggestion that I might make shrugs for the girls. The yarn is lovely, Berocco Vintage DK, and I made 1 cardigan and 1 shrug instead.

The pattern is on Ravelry, the Heart Party Shrug, and guess what? The designer has added my picture to the pattern page! How very flattering! Thank goodness for a Christmas tree to use as a lovely backdrop.

When I was browsing the pattern gallery, there were almost no pictures of how it looks from the front. I know it is a shrug, and all the yarn is at the back, but it is still good to be able to see it from all sides. So I made sure I posted the front as well.

In truth, my girls are the same chest size so the cardigan and the shrug fit them both. But they are not keen on sharing their wardrobe.

Knitted Infinity Cowl

I got this lovely skein of mohair from Granville Island in Vancouver. I wanted to wrap it around my neck just as it was and wear it like that. Instead, I did the closest possible thing that I could manage: an infinity cowl with a twist.

According to the label, the yarn is hand dyed by someone called Yoriko at the Granville Island Fibre Art Studio. Sadly, she wasn't there for me to buy from that day, but the studio is full of wonderful fibre arts, including some gorgeous felted wraps and scarves. It is mohair and wrapped up at about Fingering Weight. The colours range from navy, through dark blue, to turquoise and brown. It actually looks much more blue in real life than in the close up photos.

My strong preference for scarves and cowls that have no right or wrong side meant that if I didn't want to knit rib (no thanks!), it would have to be garter stitch or reverse stockinette. A quick Ravelry pattern browse led me to the pattern I've linked to from my notes. It has rows of stockinette and reverse stockinette which add texture and interest, especially important when working with a variegated yarn.

I didn't actually look at the pattern, I just referenced it for inspiration. I also didn't do any counting or calculations at all. I feel like such a rebel - a knitting rebel! I don't know how many stitches I cast on. I used the thumb method and just stopped when my needles felt full. I added a twist so that I could laugh in the face of all those times that I have joined in the round and discovered an accidental twist. Ha ha! I want a twist!

I did about 5-10 rows of garter stitch as a border, then 4/5 rows of plain / purl alternates. I do admit to a moment of second thoughts and pulled it off the needles to rip out. Then I saw that it was larger than I feared, so I picked up all the loose stitches and carried on. I am sorry that the stockinette doesn't really show at all, the yarn looks lovely in the smooth side, but I kind of knew that would happen.

To end, I didn't really know how much yarn I had left, so I missed the garter stitch border at the top and just cast off. It doesn't seem to curl, which is unusual. I did run out of yarn about 40 stitches from the end, so I had to pull out all the cast off stitches (a total pain with mohair) and cast off lower down.

I can just wrap it twice around my neck so it is the perfect length. And, lo and behold, there are two twists in the join!

Icelandic Hot Water Bottle Cover

A perfect stash buster from my Icelandic yarn used for my pullover last winter. The nasty rubber of my hot water bottle, and the even nastier shade of pink, needed covering. This yarn is pretty scratchy to wear so something that touches only my feet is ideal.

I modified the pattern, All You Need, to incorporate the pattern from the Aefmaeli yoke. (Ravelry notes here) I used the small flowers at the top, with the red petals, and modified the black zig zags to go over fewer rows. Despite knitting with almost no tension in the yarn - I don't even hold the yarn - my floats are still very tight. It makes the pattern stretch out in an un-pretty way. You can see it quite clearly in the white sections.

I decided where to start the pattern by just putting the bottle in every now and then. I figured I wanted it to start when I was about half way up. I could have gone a little higher. I didn't want to break into a new ball of black so one quarter of the top zig zag border has no points. I was trying to use up the red - I can see more use for the black and white shades in any future projects.

I probably should have sized down a needle for the rib neck. It is quite loose and floppy. But the bottle fits in easily, and it is lovely and cosy to use.

Baby Knits

There's been a lot of knitting happening around here recently. Partly due to the Rugby World Cup, partly due to the darkening Autumn evenings and partly due to being unmotivated by my current sewing project. But Christmas is coming, so I'd better get on and finish the sewing so I can move on through my queue.

I am really pleased with how this baby cardigan turned out. It is the Sunnyside Baby Cardigan which comes in two versions and four sizes. I made the cable version which is more unisex and used the newborn size.

I have made this pattern before, where I made the lace version in a 3-6 month. This yarn is DK weight so I made the smallest size. I estimate it has come out at about a 6 month size. But, as Elizabeth Zimmerman puts it so beautifully, "knitting stretches and babies vary" so the finished size is not that big of a deal. The only variation I made was to continue the row of purl stitches beyond the cables and down the sides of the body.

I used exactly two full balls of yarn, Rowan Cashsoft DK, which is a discontinued yarn that I got on sale in 2011. I got it knowing it would be a good baby-gift-knitting yarn. The colour is a faint, eau de nil green, but in some lights looks quite creamy and almost oatmeal. The softness is lovely and Rowan does a good job of copying Debbie Bliss Cashmerino at a slightly lower price.

I got the bamboo buttons from The Button Lady, a tiny stall in Hampstead.

I finished in the nick of time - the intended recipient was born today!

Girls Lace Panel Cardigan

I got this scummy yarn for Christmas last year. My mother-in-law thought I could turn it into party shrugs for the two girls. She was right, but big sis has a very small selection of clothes and was desperately in need of a smart cardigan, so I used up two of the three skeins on a proper cardigan for her.

I didn't find anything I particularly liked in Ravelry, so I had a look in the few pattern books and magazines that I have. I notice that the quantity of patterns for children's knitwear is boundless for newborns, plentiful for toddlers and adequate for small children, but that as they get older, it peters out significantly. There is going to be quite a knitwear wardrobe gap from age 8/9 until she can fit adult sizes.

What I did find was one that made me very happy. I was given this lovely magazine, Fabulous Knits, for Christmas the year before, and while there are many beautiful things in it, I hadn't got around to using it. I checked the sizes carefully and decided to take a chance with this Sirdar pattern. It took a bit of convincing that: no, the bonnet is not automatically knitted with the cardigan; and ok, you don't have to have the collar.  I think is kind of sweet, and would have looked lovely. But I agreed to leave it off and do a crew neck instead. I do like it when she gets involved in the design choices.

The sizing only went up to age 6-7, but she is quite petite so I took a chance. She also has a younger sister that I could pass it on to if it really didn't work. It only just fits her. It is a great fit now, but probably won't last another season. The body is perfect but the underarm cuts in a bit. If I could figure out how to do just a few extra increases in the raglan sleeves, it would be ideal. 

The raglan sleeves are knitted separately and then seamed on to the main part of the cardigan, which is knitted as one piece. I honestly don't know why they don't have you join and then do the raglan decreases all in one. These are the perfect style of sleeves to knit with no seaming and no knitwear pattern designer should imagine doing anything else! That is probably my only beef with this pattern. It worked up really nicely, even if I couldn't commit the lace pattern to memory, and had to check the instructions every single time! The crew neck is just picked up and a few rows of garter stitch. Since it is a baby cardigan, the shaping at the waist is flared, which suits a chubby baby, but not so much a growing child. It also rolls a bit, even after blocking. A deeper, ribbed waistband might be more suitable, but less delicate. 

The buttons are salvaged from an old shirt of my husbands. I think it might even be the one that got subjected to the pink dye two years ago. (Here's how it looks now.) It keeps on giving and I used all 10 buttons from it. They look lovely and natural against the cream tones of the yarn.

My Ravelry notes cover yarn, pattern, needles and time. My self-imposed reduced knitting time means it took me three months to knit this.

Apparently, one has to pose for blog photos, and here is how to do it. I wonder where she learned that?

Matching Doll Dresses

Some doll clothes, made to match dresses previously made for the birthday girl.

I imagined a cute photo shoot: the girl and the doll in matching outfits, perfect hair, inspiring scenery, gorgeous lighting. Not going to happen. At least, not on this blog. This blog is my quick and dirty posting of finished projects. Get it done, release it on the internets. My own public archive of what I’ve made. 

In that vein, the finished objects are: a Popover Sundress, a “regular” doll dress and a Top-Down Doll Cardigan. My three favourite doll patterns. Dolls were willing to model, but only after I brushed their hair. Why, oh why, does their unbrushed hair bother me more than my own children’s unbrushed hair?

The Popover Sundress is the free pattern from Oliver & S, which I have made three times before (Apple Dresses and Red & White Flowers). No changes to the pattern. This pattern is perfect for showing off a really pretty fabric and/or using up a tiny amount of scraps of fabric. Both of which applied here. The fabric is the scraps from the single yard piece I used to make her a self-drafted dress for her 4th birthday – which still fits! This is one of my all time favourite fabrics and she still gets compliments when she wears is. I managed to get both the front and back pieces with butterflies lined up and centred. I still have a tiny piece left and I am contemplating making another by piecing a butterfly as the bodice with the accent plain as the skirt. Maybe the other pattern would work better for this. The yoke and straps are cut from a man’s shirt, of which I have a bountiful stash. Any colour, as long as it’s blue. I like this bright blue though, and this girl has it as her signature accent, featuring as the lining in her Oliver& S sunhat, teddy bear carrier and scooter basket. I think I’m out of stock of this now.

The “regular” dress is designed to match the first dress I ever made her. It is half of the pair of daisy dresses. Which also still fit. Either I am not feeding my kids properly, or I make their clothes enormous. These dresses are also super cute and still turn heads. Being the smaller size, and significantly shorter than her sister, there was quite a lot of orange fabric left from the dress. More than enough for the doll dress. I even had some leftover orange bias binding to make the piping at the waist seam. This is my go-to doll dress pattern. Modified originally and made up 5 times before: lame dress, pink floral (twice), pink ballgown, and on, anon.

Finally, a knitting project, my favourite pattern, the Top-Down Doll Cardigan, also made three times before. Here and here. I made this one up with no decoration at the hem, and long sleeves, also undecorated. I found the sleeves much easier to knit flat and then seam afterwards. Doll sleeves in the round are an exercise in frustrating knitting. The yarn is from my Ruby Tuesday cardigan but it is the button that really makes the cardigan special and much more American Doll-like. It’s a Scottie dog, which happens to be one of the AGD dogs. I think it came from the button stash that my mother picked up from the nature strip during a council rubbish collection! (Side note: I have re-worked Ruby's button band to include buttons down the whole front, also salvaged from the council pickup! That was a great haul.)

Unlike adult patterns, where I tend to make new things most of the time, it appears that my doll ambitions are completely lacking and satisfied by being rendered from these same TNT patterns. I wonder if it is because I am usually trying to either match something, use up the last of some fabric scraps or refashion something so I don't need the extra excitement of a new pattern?

Costs:

Butterfly Doll Dress

Main Fabric: used previously.

Accent Fabric: upcycled.

Pattern: free

Thread: Stash

Total: £0.00

Daisy Doll Dress

Fabric: used previously

Bias binding: used previously

Pattern: free

Thread: stash

Velcro: stash

Total: £0.00

Navy Doll Cardigan

Yarn: £2.30

Pattern: free

Button: free

Total: £2.30