A Family Heirloom

Knitting can bring people together – even people who don’t get on very well.  My mother had a younger sister who I did not get on with  - but for a few weeks in the late 1970s we sat together and knitted pieces for a patchwork blanket. 

Previously my grandmother had made me a knitted blanket from rectangles of blue, white and grey yarn – leftovers from various projects.  I am ashamed to say – I don’t know what happened to it.  Grandma thought she ought to knit my sister a blanket as well but she had lost her enthusiasm and run out of yarn – she knitted a few blue and grey squares and then stopped.

My aunt was a very good knitter and she took over the project – knitting colourful striped shapes.  I was just learning to knit properly and I knitted a few multi-coloured oblongs.  My mother also contributed some pieces – hers are in stocking stitch – I am not sure why – but they are distinctive in the final blanket.

This week I have not done much knitting but I have stayed in my mother’s house – and while I was there – I looked at and remembered the time I spent with my aunt knitting shapes for this blanket.

I definitely will have to knit another throw from odd balls which mean something to me.  For example I have some yarn left over from a cardigan that my mother knitted for me when I was a child, and I have odd balls left over from various projects that bring back happy memories – and would make a lovely throw.

Happy Birthday Maud Tabron Blog!

This blog is one year old today.  I have decided to celebrate this fact by looking back at some of the items that I have knitted since February 2014.  I often think that I haven’t done much knitting - but the photos below show some of the items I am particularly pleased with.

Last year I knitted 5 Arizona Dreams throws for Colinette – 1 in the Mojave design. 1 Denali, 2 Sonoran and 1 Yosemite.  I keep changing my mind about which is my favourite.

Arizona Dreams - Mojave Design

Arizona Dreams - Denali Design

Arizona Dreams - Sonoran Design

Arizona Dreams - Yosemite Design

I also knitted a throw for myself from my own design which I think is beautiful.

As for garments and accessories - I knitted a cardigan, 3 jumpers, 2 baby coats, a sunglasses case and 3 scarves – and my favourite thing of all – my latest knitted bag.

Last summer I knitted about fifty tea cosies mostly for All the Fun of the Fair, but also a couple to try out ideas!  It can be good to knit tea cosies in the summer because they are small and you don’t spend hot days with a lap full of yarn.

Looking ahead – I hope I get the chance to knit some more throws for Colinette.  I also want to knit 2 or 3 for myself (I have lots of ideas to try out).  What I am most looking forward to (I wonder if I will manage to do it) is knitting another bag – I have an idea in my head which arrived there when I was finishing the last one – and I said to myself – “next year!”

Sonoran Throw – Tic Toc  Rock Colour-way

I have finished knitting the Sonoran throw for Colinette.  I prefer this one to the previous one that I did because the colours are more subtle.

 

This colour-way contains 2 of my favourite shades of Colinette yarn – Castagna and Copperbeech – both could be described as brown but the first one has green and grey in it and the second one red and blue!

Finished Version of the Sonoran Throw

I have now finished the Colinette Arizona Dreams Sonoran throw.  It is knitted in a colour-way called Cennino.  It is very bright and cheerful-looking.

I spent Sunday afternoon making “curly ques” to use to edge the throw.  They are like twisted cords and seem to have a mind of their own.  Sewing in the ends took longer than I anticipated.  I should have done it as I went along but any minute I was expecting to have to unravel something because I had gone wrong.  Actually I found the knitting very straightforward – which is a good thing as mohair is very hard to undo successfully.

Colinette Arizona Dreams – Sonaran Design Progress Report

 

I am enjoying knitting this modular knitted throw and despite having a weekend away, I have almost finished knitting all the diamond shapes.  I have just got the last four individual ones to finish off.  I have then got to work out how to knit the triangles up the sides and do the finishing. 

I will take a photo of the whole throw when it is finished.

 

Crazy Patchwork Knitted Cushion

At the moment I am still working on a new version my previously unloved cardigan but I am thinking ahead – what am I going to knit next?  I think I may do another carpet bag using my adaptation of the crazy patchwork idea from Myra Wood’s book. 

 

Several years ago I did something similar to make a circular cushion as an entry for competition to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Knitting and Crochet Guild.

I had to include silver but otherwise you could use any colour.  I just used some colours that I had left over from other projects.  The cushion was made from the lovely but almost discontinued Colinette Fandango.  However, I still have several skeins left in my stash to use for the new bag.

Colinette Arizona Dreams – Mojave Throw

For the last week or so I have been knitting a throw for Colinette yarns.  It is called Mojave from their Arizona Dreams collection.  This colourway is called Desert Stars.

 

I love Colinette yarns – the colours and the yarns are so beautiful.   I had forgotten how good they were.  I used to buy a lot of Colinette yarn when they produced Fandango (cotton chenille for those who don’t know it).  Why do I always seem to like discontinued yarns? 

I was looking through my stash for some plain black double knitting and I realised that I still have quite a bit of Fandango in various colours, as well as Colinette mohair, Zanziba and some very old double knitting.

Knitting this throw has reminded me that you can make amazing items by mixing yarns.  I have become a bit conservative – tending to stick to double knitting or chunky – when mixing or blending yarns can produce wonderful results.

Patchwork Throw II

It has taken me about 6 weeks but I have finally finished my latest patchwork throw.

 

I am very pleased with the result.  I visualise how something will look and sometimes it turns out how I intended!

 

Patchwork Throw

At this time of the year I like to knit a throw to combine knitting and warmth.  I designed a modular knitted throw last year and intended to knit it using all 20 shades of Sirdar Escape dk.   This year I have made a start on it.  I am using 5mm needles to produce a lighter fabric.  The throw consists of 4 garter-stitch shapes made into a square.

 

Then the square is repeated to form a long strip of 7 squares. 

The throw will eventually consist of 7 strips - so 49 squares in total.  At the time of writing I am working on my 4^th strip and so far - due to the random nature of the yarn - no square is the same.