Autumn Woodland Scarf

Temperatures are falling and the evenings drawing in. How time flies, autumn is here once again. 

I'm enjoying the colourful leaves and berries this season has to offer and inspired by the local landscape. This knitting pattern was inspired by woodlands in the highlands of Scotland and features leaf motifs in four autumnal colours.

Using the lovely Life DK by Stylecraft, I've enjoyed working with this yarn in shades, Fern, Copper, Mustard, Heather and Parchment. 

The scarf is knitted in the round with repeating leaf motifs on a neutral background. The pattern is suitable for knitters with some experience of stranded knitting where different colours of yarn are 'carried' across the back of the work. It also assumes an understanding of basic stitches and knitting terms including reading a colour chart.

Autumn Woodland Scarf is available to purchase and download from Ravelry and Etsy.

Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party

 

Welcome! Thank you to Lucy at Attic 24 for the lovely introduction to the Stylecraft Blogstars Garden Party. If you haven’t seen Lucy’s blog post and her gorgeous Summertime Tins crochet design check it out here.

Gardens are special places, during recent lockdowns they have become so much more important. Many parties and gatherings have been held outside providing a place for socialising and wellbeing in all seasons. Even now when restrictions have lifted I enjoy afternoon tea with family and friends in the garden. 

The Blogstars have been busy designing a range of festive treats for knitters and crocheters. So, if you are planning a garden party this spring or summer, small or large, tea party for two or a Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebration then checkout the designs. They will be revealed throughout the month of May, follow the link at the end of this post.

Inspired by garden trellis my design incorporates 9 pastel colours from the Stylecraft Special DK range which has a huge number of 100 fabulous colours to chose from. Keep reading to the end of this post to find out how to win the yarn used in this project.

Colours chosen (from left to right in the image below): 

Wisteria, Pale Rose, Spearmint, Duck Egg, Lincoln, Pistachio, Vintage Peach, Camel, Parchment.

The Trellis Tea Cosy is my contribution to the garden party. It’s knitted in the round using stranded colour work technique with added decorative tassels. Pastel colours punctuate the spearmint trellis. (The pattern is suitable for knitters with experience of stranded colour work and includes written instructions with a chart).

I think there's something a little bit retro about tea cosies as well as their practical use in the unreliable British summer weather. The dots of colour on this cosy remind me of those tiny biscuits with the swirls of coloured icing I loved so much as a child. Do you remember those biscuit treats?

There was ample yarn left over from the tea cosy to make some matching bunting. Adding some decorative bunting to a garden or outdoor area can make a familiar place feel festive.

A simple design, the bunting pattern is suitable for beginner knitters, a basic crochet stitch is used for joining the triangles, then finished off with a contrasting tassel. 

The Trellis Tea Cosy and Trellis Bunting 

are free to download from 

Ravelry 

(until the end of June 2022).

Trellis Tea Cosy

Trellis Bunting

Hoping you can enjoy an outside space for a party this spring and summer, whether it's a garden, a patio, a balcony or a local park.

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Win Some Yarn!

One lucky Stylecraft fan and their friend has the chance to win the yarn to make this project. Checkout the link to Stylecrafts Instagram account here to find out more. 

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Next to reveal her Garden Party design...

...is the lovely, talented Catherine Bligh.  Without giving too much away, Catherine's design is perfect for an afternoon tea in the garden. Her crochet pattern will walk you through the stages of how to make it with plenty of pictures throughout. 

Check out "Catherine's Crochet Corner" on Saturday 14th May for more garden party treats. 

Sven Scandinavian

 

First post in 2022 about my last completed project in 2021.

This is Sven Scandinavian. I loved knitting him! Sven was purchased as a knitting kit from the lovely Lucy Locket Land in the north east of England.

The pattern is by Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations and originally printed in 1983. Sven is knitted in the round and has no visible seams (the hat is knitted separately).

The yarn in the knitting kit was from New Lanark Spinning in the border area of Scotland and I used my 4mm double pointed needles throughout.

The little fellow has a backpack for his books and for going on picnics. The pattern was found on the blog, 'On the Needles' and is free to download.

This project was easier to knit than I thought and allows for lots of customisation on the jumper yoke and hat with options for easy and more complicated fair isle style designs.

The pattern also includes a female version called 'Solveig'. There's also enough yarn in the kit to make her, although I was short of time so she didn't make it onto my needles. 

Overall a great project to knit and very enjoyable pattern to follow with great instructions.

Wee Houses

 

It's cast on day for the Wee Houses scarf and cowl in the Stylecraft Yarns Make Along Group. Both the scarf and cowl are knitted in the round and are suitable for knitters with some experience with stranded knitting where different colours of yarn are 'carried' across the back of the work.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry and lots more details about it. If you join the Make Along Group you will find a discount code valid for use on Ravelry from 1st November to 30th November 2021. The pattern is also available from Etsy (but no discount code).

The scarf and cowl both use Highland Heathers DK, which currently comes in a range of 19 rich, tweed effect shades.

The scarf pattern gives the opportunity to use up lots of small quantities of spare yarn...

...decorated with pom poms.

The cowl is a shorter wider version of the scarf. It slips on over the head and is worn snug to the neck. Thanks to the lovely Juliet Bernard for knitting and choosing the colours of this cowl. 

The lovely Fiona of Yarn Etc knitted this great cowl using her alternative colour choices which have an autumnal theme. Thank you Fiona.

The Wee House pattern is the latest and most colourful in a number of designs which have been inspired by a little red roof croft house on the Applecross Peninsular in north west Scotland. 

It seems a long time ago since the Red Roof Croft House was published in 2010.

Then followed the Mini Red Roof Croft House knitting pattern in 2011.

The Home Sweet Home Tea Cosy in 2012 featured a house motif which forms the basis for the scarf and cowl. This design is further developed in 2013 on a cushion cover (see further down). 

Wee House Key Ring and Brooch in 2013. 

'Home' Cushion September 2013. The house motif from the tea cosy in 2012 is repeated in rows of neutral shades of grey 'strips' across the cushion with dots of different colours added along the 'window lines'. More photos and different views of the cushion are on Flickr here.

The Wee Houses pattern combines elements of the Home Sweet Home Tea Cosy and the Home cushion striping effect. Some solid lines were included between the rows of houses to add more colour contrast. 

For more information about the Stylecraft Make Along check out this link here.

Transitions Shawlette Pattern update

 

There's an updated version of the Transitions Shawl pattern.  New instructions have been added for a Shawlette. It's a smaller version of the original asymmetric shawl but long enough to wrap around and secure with a loose knot.

Knitted with a new yarn called Charm, which I received from Stylecraft as a sample. It's a blend of acrylic, wool and mohair with colour swirl shade changes. I love the colours of this particular combination called 'Spring Dawn' and enjoyed seeing the changes as the knitting progressed. Charm is a 4ply, light and soft yarn perfect for knitting shawls and accessories. There are 5 more different shade combinations in the range.        

The main part of the shawl is knitted in garter stitch with a simple eyelet edging, finished with a picot cast off. The colour changes are most evident and effective on the edging detail, see the image below.

The edging detail is also featured on the original shawl, seen below. 

Ever tried a picot cast off? 

There's a tutorial for a knitted picot cast off, you can find it here on my blog. Alternatively, there's a short video on my Instagram account - @handknittedthings showing the technique in detail.

The updated knitting pattern for the Transitions Shawl and Shawlette can be found in my Ravelry and Etsy shops.

Knitted Toys and Smaller Needle Size

There's a lot written about gauge and tension in relation to knitting which can be quite intimidating to the beginner knitter. Where toys are concerned, the good news is, you don't have to worry too much about gauge and tension except where you want something to be a specific size.

Generally, for toys the most important consideration is to prevent the stuffing from coming out or showing through the knitting. Using a needle size smaller than the one recommended for the size of yarn is the most popular way to achieve a closer knit fabric. There are other factors which can influence the end result of a piece of knitted fabric, for example, how tightly a person holds the yarn, how a person holds their needles and the type of material the needles are made from eg. metal, bamboo, wood, plastic.  

For this experiment I used Naturals Organic Cotton double knitting by Stylecraft who kindly sent me samples. The cotton is washable, has a lovely bounce to it when knitted up and there are 38 gorgeous shades. I particularly love the pretty sample colours and how they worked together: Rosewood (purple), Sage (pale blue) and Bone (white). (The embroidery on the houses is the same yarn and gives a hint of the other lovely shades in the range).

I used my pattern Mini Red Roof Croft House and chose three smaller size needles than the 4mm recommended on the yarn ball band. 

For each main house colour (seen on the walls) a swatch was made in stocking stitch and the number of stitches and rows were counted.

 

House Number One...

Even though I'd used a 3.25mm needle the gauge was very similar to the one recommended on the ball band. So the way I knit was influencing the end result. That said the fabric created was great for my toy. I could see a tiny bit of the filling through the garter stitch roof but none through the stocking stitch sections. (Gauge was 22st and 34 rows over 10 cm). House approximately 13 cm wide x 10 cm high.

House number Two...

This was knitted with 3mm needles and turned out slightly smaller than the first (purple) house. (Gauge was 23 stitches and 36 rows). House size approximately 11.5 cm wide x 9 cm high.

House Number 3...

The third house was completed with 2.75mm needles, the result being definitely smaller than my first (purple) house. The white house has the tightest fabric and had the best surface for sewing the embroidered flowers on the front. Finished house size 10 cm x 8 cm.

The size of each house reduced by about 1cm in hight and width each time the needle went down a size.

In summary, a tight fabric is good for toy making. Experiment yourself with a smaller needle size to see how that affects the end result.

Enjoy your knitted toy making!

 

 

Updated Scallop Mittens

 

Alternate bands of contrast colour on lacy cuffs. These mittens are knitted flat, suitable for confident beginner knitters. The pattern has been updated with new instructions and knitted in this gorgeous tweedy yarn Highland Heathers from Stylecraft.

Scallop Mittens Pattern is available to download from Ravelry and Etsy.

Knitting Skills 
Cast on, cast off, knit, purl, slip one stitch, pass a stitch over another stitch, bring working yarn forward, make one stitch, knit 2 stitches together, basic seam sewing

The Power of Knitting

 

So happy to have been gifted a copy of 'The Power of Knitting' by Loretta Napoleoni, published by Tarcher Perigee, October 2020.

The title grabbed my attention followed by a curiosity to find out what could this Italian journalist, economist and political analyst have to say about the gentle craft of knitting.

"In a fractured world plagued by anxiety and loneliness, knitting is coming to the rescue of people from all walks of life. Economist and lifelong knitter Loretta Napoleoni unveils the hidden power of the purl and stitch mantra: an essential tool for the survival of our species, a means for women to influence history, a soothing activity to calm us, and a powerful metaphor of life". (Extract from the publishers)

Loretta takes you on a personal journey through her life. Along the way she describes historical, social and political changes with knitting an unlikely and influencing feature. Family, friends and strangers feature in this story of how knitting has influenced Loretta and the people around her.

In a particularly interesting section (Chapter 7 Knitting in the Age of Neuroscience) the author describes discoveries in neuroscience which explain how knitting can be helpful for mental health and wellbeing. She describes the way she coped with personal challenges and over came them with the help of knitting.

There are also 10 knitting patterns included in the book.  As remembrance day is fast approaching the poppy pattern caught my eye. It’s a quick and easy project.

The book is an inspirational, positive read and I recommend it to anyone wishing to learn more about the gentle craft of knitting told from a different, interesting perspective.

Make Along and a Competition

Would you like to join a knitting Make Along for this blanket? It’s the Special Stripy Blanket in a new colour way called ‘Sea Breeze’ made with 7 shades of Stylecraft Special Chunky yarn.

The Make Along begins on 13th August in the Stylecraft Yarns Make Along Group on Facebook where you’ll be able to find the link to the pattern with a special discount code.

The original colour way 'Beach Huts' (on the left in the image above) and the new 'Sea Breeze' were inspired by the seaside.

There’s a competition to design a new colour way based on a 'Deck Chair' theme. You can find the entry template on the Stylecraft website by clicking on the image below and downloading. To enter the competition choose a 7 colour combination from the Special Chunky shade range. List your colours on the template chart (with your contrast colour first). Scan or take a photo of your finished chart and email to bronagh.miskelly@stylecraftltd.co.uk

I’ll be selecting my favourite colour way and the winner will receive the yarn courtesy of Stylecraft to make their own version of the blanket.

Good Luck!