Knitting and Darts

Most people might think that knitting and darts are incompatible and certainly you can’t play darts and knit at the same time - but I have seen people knitting in the audience.  I love watching darts and find it hard to do any complicated knitting because I just get engrossed.  Fortunately, I am just knitting garter stitch squares for my charity blanket – so I can get some knitting done.

A couple of years ago I designed a darts inspired tea cosy for All the Fun of the Fair.

I originally knitted some tea cosies consisting of 6 panels and then while watching the darts – I thought “I could knit a dart board!”.  If anyone else is interested in knitting a dart board tea cosy – the pattern is available from All the Fun of the Fair on Ravelry.

Noro Knitting Magazine Issue 7

When I was out doing my last minute Christmas shopping on 23 December – I found the latest issue of the Noro Knitting Magazine.   I did not know it was out yet – it has not been mentioned in any of the newsletters that I get from various companies.

Anyway it is just as good as previous issues - it is full of inspirational patterns.

I like the cover design  - which is an entrelac blanket – but there are several other lovely patterns and interesting articles.  There is an interview with the designer Jenny Watson and another with the Canadian fibre artist Monika Kinner-Whalen who uses Noro for embroidery.  I have done some of this in the past.  It can be interesting to knit something fairly plain and then embroider something complicated on top.  Maybe I will have another go at that in 2016 – I will add it to the list!

My favourite pattern in the magazine is a “modular mitered blanket” knitted in 2 shades of Silk Garden – one multi and one solid.  It is similar to an idea I had a few months ago to use up some of my Kureyon.  My blanket will really be completely different as I intend to use a different yarn, in a different way with a different sized needles and a different number of stitches for each square – but they will both be from garter-stitch modular knitted squares!

In the next few days I intend to draft a list of “things to knit in 2016” – I wonder how many of them I will actually make.

Cardigan for a Little Girl

I am cutting it a bit fine this year – I am still making Christmas presents!  I have just finished a cardigan for the niece/granddaughter of some friends of mine.

It is a Sirdar pattern intended to be used with Snuggly DK – but I have used Robin Bonny Babe.  They are both  manmade but the Robin yarn is much cheaper.   I only needed one 100g ball for a cardigan to fit a 2 year-old.

I have found the knitting a struggle – since I have been ill my tension has been terrible.  The bit that looks the hardest – the edging – was actually the easiest bit to knit.   Now fingers crossed that it fits.

I have one more present to finish but as it won’t be delivered until January – it is not so urgent.  I am looking forward to just knitting – rather than making things for others.

Rowan Brushed Fleece Cardigan

Things have not been going that well recently.  I have been ill for several days and am still trying to carry on as normal.  I don’t even seem to have the energy to knit.  However I have finished this cardigan as a present for my mother.

I had done most of the knitting in October but I hadn’t sewn it together.  The yarn is lovely – Rowan brushed fleece – which is 65% wool, 30% alpaca and 5% polyamide.  This is shade 254.  It is sort of a dull brown – not at all exciting – but I am hoping my mother will like it.  I think I should call it “understated”!

The pattern is a very old one from Littlewoods.  The original design did not have pockets, but Mother likes to have pockets so I have added them to the front hiding them in the pattern. 

Every year I seem to forget how tired and stressed I get in December – note to self: do not knit Christmas presents next year!

Colinette Skye Jumper – Progress Report

I had hoped to have finished this jumper by now but unfortunately I have had to work long hours this week including working on my day off – so I have not made as much progress as I would have liked. 

I have knitted the back as one piece and the front as one piece and then I intend to join the sleeves at the top before adding ribs to the ends.

To give more room under the arms and to finish the neck opening at the front  – I have used triangles.

I thought things were going quite well, but I have realised that when I thought the sleeves were 5 squares long I had not counted the column of squares that end with the triangle – and so the sleeves should be 6 squares long.   However, this is the advantage of modular knitting – I can fix it.  I will add squares to the end of the sleeves before adding the rib.

To end on a more positive note – I am pleased with the colour of the jumper – I think you could call it brown.  I have managed to mix the different skeins quite well and I think I have got enough yarn left to lengthen the sleeves, knit the ribs and the button bands.  Then I will have my usual difficult search for buttons.

Colinette Skye Jumper in Domino Squares

A few years ago I knitted a thick jumper for my mother.  She wanted something very thick to wear on cold winter days.  I had some Colinette Skye in my stash which I used to knit her a jumper.  This year I decided to knit her another one as a present.

I haven’t got a pattern – I had to look at the original jumper and try to work out what I did before.  I thought I had written it down, but apparently not!

Colinette recommends using 4.5mm needles for Skye and so I started off using these, but I quickly decided that the fabric was too thick and so I unravelled and started again using 5mm needles.

Knitting a small “domino” square shows the yarn to the best effect because it has a short colour change sequence.  These squares are 8 + 1 + 8 (17sts). 

This time - I am writing the pattern in rough as I go along and will record it on this blog when it is finished – so that I don’t lose it again.

Autumn Leaves Shawl 2

This week I have been working on several different projects at once.  I wondered why I hadn’t got things finished and then I realised that I knitted 14 poppies on Tuesday and Wednesday.  However, I have finished my Autumn Leaves shawl. 

I decided to just do the diamond shapes with no edging and I left the ends pointed – rather than filling them in with triangles. And no – that was not because I ran out of yarn – I still have a bit left from the 3 balls I bought.  I have been wondering whether to block the shawl.  The purists will say that I should but I quite like the ridged effect of the rib and don’t really want to flatten it.

I have also been finishing off a cardigan for my mother doing the button and button-hole bands – but it will not be completely finished until I can find some buttons for it.  I am hoping I might find some next week when I go to Reading.

I have also been to the sorting office twice this week to collect parcels of yarn.  The first contained some Colinette Fandango which I want to use for a bag.

The second contained some Colinette Skye in a shade called Toasted Macaroon.

I was a bit nervous about opening the second parcel in case I didn’t like the colour.  It can be hard to order yarn online when you have not seen it in a shop.  Anyway – I do like the colour and I have now started knitting a very thick jumper with it – I will write more about this next week.