Afternoon Tea Throw – Jam Tart and Cherry Bakewell

After much trial and error – I have managed to come up with a shape that is sort of round.  It is the best I can do in the space available.  The first block I have knitted is inspired by a jam tart.

 

I then knitted the same design again using different colours and added a “cherry”.

 

I am now going to adapt these designs to knit some Swiss Roll!  When I started knitting these blocks – I started to get cravings for cake but fortunately I managed to avoid buying any.

I still don’t know what the final throw will look like – I am just knitting blocks as the ideas occur to me.

Afternoon Tea Throw – Second and Third Steps

I have mainly been working on a fair-isle cardigan which I keep forgetting to photograph.  This week I have also knitted 2 more blocks for my throw.  As I hinted last time – the Angel Cake was an obvious next step.  

I debated a bit about which colours to use but in the end I decided to use the same pink and yellow that I had used in the main part of the Battenburg block. 

The third block is inspired by a Victoria Sandwich cake.  

I do not do baking myself and when I have bought this type of cake – it tends to have a cream filling as well as jam, but I remember hearing that this was incorrect and that a Victoria Sandwich should only include Jam!  Alternatively you could just look at it as a block made up of 3 stripes. 

I am now thinking about how to create some blocks with circular shapes on them – I think I need to find my pattern for the Japanese flag which is always a good starting point.    With knitting - the design has to be oval to turn out circular due to the fact that the stitches are taller than they are wide. 

Afternoon Tea Throw – First Steps

For a while I have been thinking about knitting a throw based on cakes or desserts – the idea being that it is healthier to knit them than eat them.  Unfortunately I think that if I spend a lot of time thinking about cake – I might be tempted to eat some!  The first step in the design process is to write down some ideas.  When the VE day celebrations were happening – I thought I would broaden the idea to include other things which are associated with afternoon tea – such as cake-stands and sugar lumps.  I haven’t come up with a proper design – I just have ideas swirling around in my head.

I often tend to make things up as I go along and I like painting with wool – so the next step was to order some yarn.  Karen Draisey at Oxford Yarn store is operating a mail order service – so I sent her an email with my requirements.  I do love Rowan Felted Tweed and so intend to use that yarn.  This is what she sent me.

I already have some other colours.  I am not exactly sure which colours I will use but I needed some pastry and cake colours. 

The next consideration was the size of needles to use and the number of rows and stitches.  I have already decided to knit separate squares to sew together afterwards and so I will cast on and off with a main colour.  When I have knitted the squares that I want to – I can then knit some more to pull the design together.  I don’t like heavy throws and I don’t want it to be too big  - so I have decided to use 5mm needles (so much larger than normal for this yarn), and I am casting on 34sts and knitting 48 rows.  Knowing how things turn out  - I expect the squares will still not all be the same size.

Anyway when I was talking about this idea to my sister – we somehow got on to talking about Battenburg cake – I think our father liked it – so I decided to use that for my sample square.

I think it has turned out well.  I think this piece of knitting does say “Battenburg”!  I am supposed to be finishing a cardigan but I am now itching to knit a slice of Angel cake.

Three Tea Cosies

I have finally got around to finishing 3 tea cosies which I started knitting about 5 years ago.  It was silly really the first one is based on a  Fondant Fancy and it may be that it was longer than 5 years ago that I started knitting this.  When I say “started” – I mean I knitted it all apart from putting the decoration on the top and sewing it up.

I could not decide how to do the decoration – whether to do embroidery or crochet.  This month – it still took my ages to decide what to do.  In the end I made a crocheted chain using 2 strands of yarn and sewed it onto the top of the cosy.  I then sewed up the sides and it was finished.

The second cosy was inspired by the Tower of London – so it is meant to be a Keep.  All it needed was sewing up.  I had started doing it years ago – there were pins in it – but for some reason – long forgotten – I abandoned it unfinished until now.

The third cosy was inspired by a bus.  I hope that is obvious.  It was much more complicated than the other 2 cosies and much less finished.

It is padded and lined.  I had only knitted one side of the lining and one of the end pieces was too short so needed to be lengthened.   I know why I stopped working on it – I had run out of yarn – but the new ball was there – so why didn’t I carry on a finish it after I had bought the new yarn?  The answer is – that I got interested in something else and just stuffed it into a bag with all the other unfinished tea cosies.  It took a bit longer to sew all the bits together, attach the padding, and then attach the lining to the outer knitting.  I am quite pleased with it because it does stand up on its own.  In the photos – there is a teapot under it but that is not obvious.

I have now drafted a design for a fourth tea cosy.  I wonder if I will knit it before I get distracted by something else.  I mean I have some old yarn that would make a nice summer jumper!  I bought the yarn about 15 years ago – and have no idea what I intended to use it for but now I have found a pattern…

Eyelet Infinity Scarf by Sarah Radow

Last week I decided I wanted to knit something easy.  This is the result.

It is the Eyelet Infinity Scarf by Sarah Radow which is included in the book celebrating the 20^th anniversary of Noro Silk Garden yarn.

There are lots of lovely patterns in this book and I did consider knitting some of the other cowl patterns but they are knitted in the round which put me off.  I started one – I tried it but I don’t like it.  I wanted to enjoy knitting not find it a struggle.  This pattern I recommend.  It is easy and interesting.  

I did use Silk Garden.  The pattern needs 3 balls.  I had 4 balls of Shade 418 which is sort of orange/brown/green and red.   

While I was knitting I thought about a new throw that I want to knit.  I can’t make a start on it until I have finished a few more projects.  However – the way I design things – I need to think about them for weeks before I make a start – the design process takes much longer than the actual knitting.

Baby Surprise Jacket

Every knitter probably has a bucket list of things they would like to knit if they had more time or more skill.  Ever since I had heard about Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Baby Surprise Jacket I have wanted to knit one.

In 2016 Cully Swansen published a book called The Complete Surprise which includes a step-by-step pattern for the Baby Surprise Jacket and lots of variations.

I had this book for Christmas in 2018 and added the Baby Surprise Jacket to my list of things to knit one day.  Towards the end of last year – I started to knit one but soon realised that I did not have enough yarn – so I unravelled it and used the yarn to knit a different baby’s jacket.  However I did go to my local yarn store and buy 2 balls of multi-coloured yarn for another attempt.

Last week I decided to have another go at the Baby Surprise Jacket.  This is the jacket as it appeared when I was knitting it – blindly following the instructions.

This is what it looks like now it is finished.

I am not sure that I would have chosen green buttons - but I have got green buttons.  They don’t look too bad.  Also I think when I folded the knitting I have got the wrong side outwards but I thought it looked the better side of the two.  

The only seams in this pattern are along the top of the sleeves – so it is ideal for those of us who hate sewing up (probably everyone) – and I also like the fact that you knit button-holes on both sides of the front and then sew buttons over one side.  This eliminates a problem I often have of how to space the buttons and where to sew them so that they line up with the button-holes.

Now I have finished this little jacket – I am hoping that I will be able to finish several other partly finished items that I have found.  Several of them I had forgotten about completely.

Yellow Marble Baby’s Coat

If you have read my previous post then you might be expecting to see the beginnings of another shawl, but I while I was knitting the Purple Fade shawl – I was also knitting this little baby coat.

Like a lot of knitters – I am raiding my stash both of yarn and patterns.  I have had the yarn for several years.  It is James C Brett’s Baby Marble Double Knitting which is 100% acrylic.  It is good for knitting baby coats as it is interesting as well as practical.  I had bought it to knit a plain coat for a baby of unknown gender.  I think I did use one ball, but I had one left and I found this pattern in my stash.

It has no date on it and says it comes from Yours magazine.  I think I got it from my mother.  I ripped out the pattern before the magazine got thrown away.  I have always loved the feather and fan or old shale pattern.  I know that there is a difference but I can’t remember what it is.  I like the combination of holes and decreases.

While I have been knitting other things over the last few weeks – I have been thinking more about my Everything I Ever Knitted project.  I am going to get back to it.  It is still going on in the background.  

One of the first things I ever knitted was a long-line waistcoat in feather and fan stitch but I have also knitted several multi-yarn throws that involved this stitch.  It is the movement within the rows which makes the stitch idea to use when you are trying to mix yarns or colours (or both).