Scots Pine

The Scots Pine glove pattern I originally designed for "Make Your Own Gifts" magazine published in October 2014, has been updated. It's been modified to include instructions for two colours rather than the original one colour.

This new version uses Stylecraft Batik DK in Olive / Old Gold and has an autumnal look to the combination, with the contrast gold colour used for the rib sections. But you could use any DK weight yarn, approximately 140m (150yds).

The glove is knitted flat on two needles. If you haven't quite mastered knitting in the round with double pointed needles, this is an alternative. There's a lace pine cone pattern which repeats three times down the front of the glove (which is much easier to knit than it looks), a  thumb gusset, with a sewn side seam.

Skills required to make these include:

Cast on/off
Knit/purl stitch
Make one stitch by lifting the bar/strand between the next stitch and knitting through the back of the loop (M1)
Bring yarn to the front of the work (Yf)
Pass a slipped stitch over the next stitch (Psso)
Knit two stitches together (K2tog)

Seven Skeins - Buachaille Yarn

When I heard Kate Davies was developing her own yarn range, I was interested to find out more about it and decided to sign up for the Seven Skeins club. It included the yarn, a book of patterns along with a project tote bag.

The new yarn range is called Buachaille, the wool is sourced from Scottish sheep and then spun in a mill in Yorkshire. The yarn selection that arrived in the post included three natural colours and four dyed shades. The yarn and patterns all have a Scottish name theme such as Haar, Squall and Highland Coo. I especially like the name "Between Weathers" (mid blue, second from the left in the picture).

The book includes 12 patterns for knitted accessories, 5 traditional Scottish food recipes and a detailed description of a walk around the West Highland mountain Buachaille Etive Mor.

Recently completed  were the "Pawkies" stranded mittens in the "Between Weathers" and "Ptarmigan" colours, I'm pleased with the way these turned out. The yarn is a pleasure to work with, it has a rustic look without feeling coarse, in fact it is very soft.

 

Enjoyed making these gloves and they fit well. I might be making another pair in a different colour combination.

A Yorkshire Yarn

Having a relaxing time down in Yorkshire, drinking tea and knitting. Not only drinking 'Yorkshire' tea but knitting with yarn spun in Yorkshire too. The people at Yarn Stories have sent me some samples to try out from their mill in Huddersfield.  This small town was once at the centre of the Yorkshire woollen industry before the decline in the mid 20th century. However, there's a strong continuing tradition in the town for textiles and a resurgence of woollen products. Here's what Yarn Stories say,

"In a Yorkshire mill, steeped in history and tradition, a new brand has been created. Yarn Stories takes a unique approach to spinning, creating the highest quality yarns from superior fibres.

Our yarns have been shared with talented designers drawn from all over the world in a truly collaborative relationship. In turn, the designers have created collections of patterns unlike any other – designs that promote fashionable hand knit and crochet to a discerning audience."

Yarn Stories is currently offering a free shade card and free digital pattern until 1st July 2015. The shade cards have samples of 4ply, DK & Aran weights, in merino and fine merino with baby alpaca. Patterns feature international designers including, Carol Feller and Tanis Gray .

My yarn samples in 'Duck Egg' and 'Burnt Sienna' are fine merino 4ply. I've been working with a lot of Shetland and Blue Faced Leicester yarn recently which is very soft. But this merino is really fine and soft, it's also in a good range of colours. 

I chose to knit a pair of fingerless gloves with a simple Fair Isle motif called Junko by Katya Frankel. The pattern can also be found on Ravelry.  I knit these without printing out the instructions, just using the digital PDF version on my tablet. The pattern is very well written, nicely presented and easy to follow, also there are instructions for a matching hat. 

The finished gloves are a perfect fit and feel very comfortable. They'll be travelling back north with me, I'll probably need them, it'll be summer up in Scotland!