Polkagris Kerchief

The Polkagris Kerchief is a lovely, quick and simple knit by the designer Kate Davies. 

I used a set of two mini skeins of sport weight, spun from Shetland sheep fleece. One a natural white and the other naturally dyed over marl grey in shade "Ocean".

Now, this was no ordinary Shetland yarn, it was a blend of wool from Shetland sheep originating from 4 farms near my croft in Scotland. When I dispersed my flock of Shetland sheep a couple of years ago the ewes went to live at one of those 4 farms. So, when I discovered that Julie from Black Isle Yarns had acquired fleeces from sheep which used to belong to me, I was keen to buy some yarn and see how it had turned out. 

Here's an image from 2012 with some of my Shetland ewes.

These are the mini skeins from Black Isle Yarns, 40g each. I love the green shade dyed over the grey giving the marl look. The are both very soft and have a rustic look. 

I used a 4mm small circular needle for this knit project. The garter stitch mini shawl is cast on at the centre back. Then increases are made to create an elongated triangle. 

To make the shawl slightly larger I knit some extra rows in grey and mustard in Buachaille yarn. 

I'm really pleased how this project turned out especially as I had in mind to gift it to a friend for her birthday.

Of course, I just had to take a picture of this kerchief with the view, over looking the fields where my sheep used to graze. 

Batik DK

In my last blog post I spoke about my visit to Stylecraft Mill in West Yorkshire where I met with a lovely group of knitting/crochet designers and bloggers, collectively known as the Stylecraft Blogstars.

 

A new yarn range had just been launched called Batik and I received this as a gift sample pack in all the 16 colours.  It is a double knitting weight yarn, 20% wool, 80% premium acrylic, 50g ball, recommended needle size 4mm, UK8, US6.

 

While at Stylecraft Mill I met the designer Sue Pinner who has created some amazing crochet patterns for this yarn. Sue arrived carrying two lovely crochet bags (unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph them). I generally knit but occasionally crochet. Inspired by Sue's shoulder bag creations and the look of the Batik yarn, I decided on a crochet rather than a knit project.

After sampling a few of the colours in basic granny square motifs, I settled on four colours: pistachio, coral, cream and sage for a crochet bag.

Then I made 9 granny squares mixing the colours making 3 of each combination.

For the back of the bag I made one large granny square.

The strap was made with a foundation of a single chain measuring 30 inches. Followed by single crochet stitches into each chain stitch. Repeating the single crochet rows until the strap width measured about an inch.

This yarn has been a pleasure to work with and I'm very pleased with the finished result. I still have several colours left in my basket and plan to knit with this on another project...

If you would like to try this yarn for yourself I'm hosting a Stylecraft giveaway of £25.00 worth of vouchers (redeemable at UK bricks and mortar yarn stores) and some other goodies.

To enter the giveaway please leave a comment in the comments section below.

The giveaway will end at noon GMT on Monday 26th September 2016 and a winner will be chosen. 

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Update 26th Sept 2016: Thank you all for the lovely comments. Comments are now closed and a winner will be announced on the blog.

Sirdar Crofter DK Socks on Straight Needles

A few years ago I taught myself to knit in the round on double pointed needles (dpn's) specifically to be able to knit socks. I hasten to add, that as an adult learner, knitting with dpn's was not a skill I acquired easily and took me a few attempts.

More recently I wanted to try out the Sirdar Crofter DK fair isle style yarn and initially chose the lichen shades of Glen #76 colourway. When I read the pattern I was surprised to find that it was written for knitting socks with straight needles not dpn's. I was curious about how the sock would be constructed so I decided to give this pattern a go. I should probably say now that I liked working with the Crofter yarn so much that I decided to make a second pair of socks right away but using dpn's in Galloway #73 shades of blue.

 

For the yellow socks the pattern states three pairs of needles - 3.25mm (US 3), 4mm (US 3) and 4.5mm (US7). 

For the blue socks on dpn's I used the same needle sizes but I improvised a short row heel turn, used some of the pattern instructions and stitch counts.

I enjoyed knitting the yellow socks on straights and very pleased with the fit. The seams are positioned so there's minimum chance of rubbing especially the heel which has no seam. The only down side is dealing with a number of loose ends and sewing the seams. If dpn's are not your thing then this pattern might be for you.

For the blue socks with dpn's somehow the yarn balls didn't start with the same pattern sequence consequently I have slightly mismatched socks. I don't mind this so much because I really like the colours and they are going to be worn with hiking boots after all.

Enjoy!

Lotta Jansdotta Bella Quilt

Never having made a quilt I was looking for a design that wasn't too complicated but still a bit of a challenge.  Inspiration came from Film in the Fridge's - Innocent Crush Quilt. Then I saw the Lotta Jansdotta Bella fabrics and put the two together. Squares and rectangles with boarders. How difficult could that be....Well I've learned a few things from making this quilt.

Cutting and Measurement
Precise measurement and cutting makes for an easier life later in the piecing together stage.

Blocks

I made the squares and rectangles a little larger than shown in the quilt block tutorial. Some of my prints needed a slightly larger square to see the design. If I made another quilt like this I would probably try using a smaller pattern print with less directional influence.

Quilting

I thought it would look quite nice to do the quilting stitch around each square/rectangle. A good idea but in practice this left me with a few problems with fabric shifting, hundreds of loose ends to sew in and on the back the effect not as pleasing as the front. Will remember this for the next quilt.

Binding and Fabric

Some time after purchasing the bulk of the fabric, I was searching online for extra Bella 'yellow dot' fabric to complete the binding. I discovered the range to be discontinued. I will have to plan ahead my fabric purchases (and get on with things instead of leaving them in a cupboard) similar to knitting yarn and discontinued ranges. They always do advise you to purchase enough to complete the project!  In the end decided to settled for making a plain white neutral bias binding to complement the other colours.

Finished Size
46" x 56".

Finishing

Some of my finishing work could have been executed with more finesse, however, for my first effort I'm please with the result.

Crochet Stool Cover

Recently finished is this crochet stool cover made with left over cotton yarn. The pattern is free and came from Annemarie's Haakblog. Instructions are in English and Dutch.

The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief

I downloaded the free pattern for The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower from Ravelry. On Thursday evening I started knitting and finished the project on Sunday evening. I didn't spend the entire weekend knitting, this was something I picked up and put down between doing other things. There's just enough stocking stitch without having to concentrate, but not so much it becomes a chore. The eyelet lace pattern is easy to follow and just enough to break up the stocking stitch. 

A lovely, easy and simple, well written pattern. I love the finished item. I would definitely like to make more in different colours.

Yarn and Needles

x1  200m (219yds) skein of Rowan Creative Linen. 

size 5.5mm circular needles.

Cedar Leaf Shawlette

I managed to finish this knitting project last week on a very rainy in Scotland. Details about starting this pattern are here in an earlier blog post. 

This lovely pattern is from Never Not Knitting. The Cedar Leaf Shawlette is a crescent shaped little shawl which can be used as a wrap around scarf. I'm used DK Scrumptious from Fyberspates in colour VR 1280 - Green.

Autumn Leaves

This simple embroidery project came from a download pattern called Day Three Tree via the lovely website called Lollychops (and well worth a visit). The embroidery hoop I used is 18cm (7") diameter and the backing fabric is some preshrunk medium weight unbleached cotton. I used the tree template from the pattern but cut the leaves out free hand in wool felt, pinned everything into position, then used embroidery thread to sew on in running stitch. Where there was space I used some wool fibre to stuff the trunk and leaves to give some raised relief texture to the piece.

Creatures Round Robin

Sometime in April I put my name down to join a "Creatures Round Robin" on the UK Handmade members forum. What exactly is that you may ask? The idea is that each participant makes a contribution to a creature design before sending the design onwards to the next person so that they can make their contribution. As there were four of us participating, four designs were being worked on simultaneously, each design had five stages which each participant contributed to. Very briefly the design stages were as follows;

1. Write a description
2.Draw a design based on the written description
3.Make a pattern, cut out and sew a creature based on the information in 1&2
4. Make a face
5.Finishing touches

Confused? If you are still reading, then I should tell you that it all worked perfectly and went like clockwork due to the excellent organisation of the host "Olly" who is the writer and artist behind the blog Wollies. The two other talented participants were Shaz of The Sock Garden blog and Kathleen of Murgatroyd Hoots. If you would like to see the other lovely finished creatures then click on the links below to visit each participants blog and read more about their creatures and the design process...

Olly - Wollies
Shaz - The Sock Garden
Kathleen - Murgatroyd Hoots

My rather long winded design description went through the stages and came back to me as this beautiful, colourful sleepy and awake owl.....

Colourful and beautifully detailed design interpretation from Shaz.

Pattern cut out, fabric and creature sewing done brilliantly by Olly.

Fabulous eyes and face embroidery detail by Kathleen.

A few buttons and ric rack added by me...