Trio of Owls

Inspired by things autumnal, 'Trio of Owls' is the latest toy pattern from Hand Knitted Things in seasonal muted colours. This cute little family is easy to make with knit and purl stitches in contrasting colours and textures, with the addition of large rustic buttons creating the whimsical character features. 

The colourful body and wings are made with a recent addition to the Batik Elements yarn range called magnesium. This is combined with two solid shades, biscuit and gold. 

Here's some pattern details for this project:

Yarn
x2 50g ball Stylecraft Batik Elements Magnesuim 
x1 50g ball Batik dk Biscuit
x1 50g ball Batik dk Gold

Needles

x1 pair 3mm (US3) knitting needles (small owl)

x1 pair 3.25mm (US3) knitting needles (medium and large owl)

x1 pair 5mm (US8) knitting needles (large owl)

Notions 

x1 3.5mm (US3) crochet hook for making the feet only

x2 x 20mm diameter buttons (small owl)

x2 x 30mm diameter buttons (medium owl)

x2 40mm diameter buttons (large owl)

x6 decorative 10mm diameter buttons (these are optional added to the front of the larger buttons)

Sewing needle suitable for the buttons

Blunt tapestry needle for sewing and weaving yarn ends

x2 large hands full of toy filling

Finished sizes

small owl - 9cm x 10cm x 6cm (3.5 x 4 x 2.5 ins)

medium owl - 14cm x 14cm x 8cm (5.5 x 5.5 x 3 ins)

large owl - 16cm x 20cm x 4cm (5.5 x 8 x 4 ins)

Skills required to make the owls
knit
purl
cast on 
cast off
make a chain of crochet
basic sewing on buttons and seams

Pattern is available on Ravelry called 'Trio of Owls'.

Buttons were sourced from a selection from The Textile Garden and some already in my collection.

Update: The giveaway is now closed, a winner has been chosen and notified by email. 

Thank you to everyone who entered.


The Giveaway runs from 

Tuesday 4th September to Monday 10th September 2018 

and includes the following:

Digital pattern 'Trio of Owls'

Yarn Pack from Stylecraft containing the following:

x2 50g ball Batik Elements Magnesuim 

x1 50g ball Batik dk Biscuit

x1 50g ball Batik dk Gold

(the buttons are not included in the giveaway)

To enter the giveaway follow the link below, 
enter an email address 
so we can contact you if you win. 
The winner will be randomly selected and notified by email. 

***GIVEAWAY***

Good luck!

Linen Drape

What a summer it's been with the hot dry weather here in the UK. There's been no need for extra layers and shawls. 

Back in February I had an idea for a design using the new Linen Drape double knitting from Stylecraft. The design was completed in May. Since it's now August, I though to write a short post about it before the summer turns into Autumn.

There are 8 shades currently available (from the top down): Peacock, Sangria, Cranberry, River, Coral, Lime, Wheat, Natural.

Some more yarn details:
70% Viscose, 30% Linen
186m / 203 yds
4mm (US6) recommended needle size
Tension 22sts over 28 rows 10x10cm (4x4ins)
Machine washable at 30 degrees

The fresh clean colours of Lime, Natural and River, were picked when it was snowing in February. I was looking forward to summer, blue skies, fluffy white clouds, green fields. There's certainly been the blue skies but I couldn't have anticipated the heat and the parched brown fields of England's green and pleasant land. 

The shawl is knitted from the top down working a combination of stocking stitch and yarn over knit two together eyelets. So far I haven't written up the pattern for this but hopefully I'll get round to it soon. 

The yarn lives up to it's name, in that it does drape really beautifully when knitted up. It is also lovely to work with and has a silk like sheen to the fibres. 

August is almost at end and the evenings, dare I mention, are drawing in somewhat cooler than of late. I'm looking forward to  wearing this shawl before summer is officially over. As I write it's been the Bank Holiday Weekend and of course, raining! The grass outside is slowing returning to it's more usual shade of green.

The weather forecast for the working week is for blue skies and fluffy white clouds...

Visitors from Scotland

Last week the Knitting and Crochet Guild Archive (KCG) in West Yorkshire welcomed some visitors all the way from Scotland, Carol Christiansen, Shetland Museum curator and Roslyn Chapman from Glasgow University. The KCG archive holds an enviable collection of hand knitted "Shetland" lace shawls. Some of the most interesting and delicate examples had been selected in advance to show the visitors. 

First on the morning agenda customary, tea, coffee and biscuits in the office and a chance to discuss the archive in general.

Carol and Roslyn outlined the purpose of their visit which related to research started in 2016.  It centres around the traditions of Shetland lace knitting, cultural implications, branding and the marketing of "authentic" Shetland knitwear. 

Filmed and broadcast live, a study day held in 2016 about the research gives an overview of the project. The recording can be see here or by clicking on the image below. Background information to this film can be found here on the Shetland Museums website.

Following our refreshments we relocated to the main archive. Much discussion and information was exchanged around each knitted item displayed. Carol and Roslyn shared their in depth knowledge of Shetland lace shawls, haps and garment construction, along with insights on authenticity.  

Members of the KCG team shared information on the history and provenance of items in the collection. Much discussion followed which I haven't included here, but the following images hopefully give a snapshot of some of the lace knitting the team had prepared for the visitors.

The above images show two good examples of large shawl/haps with the knitting pattern for both shown below.

Knitting pattern books dating from the 1800's are held by the KCG archive.  The Edinburgh based author Jane Gaugain wrote extensively on "Shetland" lace knitting. A blog post by Kate Davies  "In the steps of Jane Gaugain" gives an insight into this prolific pattern writer.

Going off-piste at the end of the day, some knitted treats from the archive were retrieved to show the visitors. Three lovely examples of children's Fair Isle jumpers dating from the 1930's to 1950's.

Then some excellent examples of Bohus knitting from the collection. (I wrote a little piece about this style in an earlier blog post here).

And finally the group photo, (unfortunately some of the team had to leave early and are missing from the photo). 
From left to right Trish, Julia, Barbara, Ruth, Carol and Angharad.

Following a very informative and interesting day our visitors left for the long trip back north.