Another Baby’s Jacket

I have just started knitting another baby’s jacket.  It is urgent because the baby is due this week.

The yarn is James C Brett’s Baby Marble double knit which is 100% acrylic – in shade BM24.  It is mainly pink and yellow but it has a little bit of blue as well.  I chose it to make the knitting more interesting.

The same applies to the pattern which is from a Peter Pan booklet called Babies in Cream.  This booklet contains lots of little jackets, jumpers and hats for babies and children up to age 7. 

I chose this particular design because I liked the “rib” pattern. 

Hallowe’en Lantern Tea Cosy

I have recently been knitting some Hallowe’en Lantern tea cosies for All the Fun of the Fair.  I had to fit them in before they became “out-of-date”.

If you would like to knit one – the pattern can be obtained from All the Fun of the Fair.  Originally I knitted 2 designs – one was a simple pumpkin and the other had the face on it.  I really preferred the plain one.  It would make a lovely everyday tea cosy if it was knitted in other colours.

I am not feeling very satisfied with my knitting at the moment.  I have several partly finished items – and there are a couple of babies’ coats that are needed soon for imminent arrivals.  I would like to knit something exciting – but I had better concentrate on finishing things first.

I have been travelling about a lot on trains – and I intend to knit – but often I just seem to read the newspaper.  The other day I saw a lady knitting a complicated fair-isle pattern on the train.  I couldn’t – I would just make mistakes.  I will be back on the train again tomorrow – and I will try to knit one side of another tea cosy.  I ought to be able to manage that without going wrong.

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.

A Summer Cardigan!

I have finally finished something instead of constantly starting things and then moving on to something else.  Earlier in the year – in early summer – I knitted a cotton cardigan in 2 shades of Noro Kibou – it has been mostly finished for a couple of months but I hadn’t sewn on the buttons nor the pockets. 

This year I spent some of my birthday money on a decorative mannequin.  “She” is modelling the finished cardigan.

I am still knitting several other things but at least one is finished.  I probably won’t get to wear it until next summer.

My friend who owns the quirky gift business All the Fun of the Fair wants me to knit her some more tea cosies so I will be starting them before finishing anything else. 

Tedious Knitting!

I have been away visiting my mother and have not done much knitting.   I have been doing terrible things like “gardening”!  I know a lot of people don’t knit so much in the summer because they spend time on gardening but I am not one of them.  However my mother needed some help with her garden so I had to stop knitting and attack the plants.  Given free rein to cut down anything – I can cope with gardening – it is if I have to decide whether a plant is wanted that there is a problem.  I know a lot about yarn and knitting but practically nothing about plants and gardening.

Apart from gardening I have also been reading the Nathan Dylan Goodwin book shown below.

It is the fourth in a crime series about Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist and if you like family history and crime stories – you will enjoy it.  The reason I mention it is because the main character Elsie Finch complains about her married life in the 1940s was “ghastly routine” and mentions “dreadful knitting patterns given to her by her mother … Baking, tidying, washing, cleaning, knitting. Endlessly.”  Thankfully things have changed since the 1940s and knitting is much more exciting.  However a lot less people knit – in the 1940s everyone did it – now I meet lots of people who have never tried it.

I have done some knitting during the last week – in fact – I have just checked and I have just completed row 401.

I am not going to say much about this as it is a birthday present for a friend – who may be reading this and I want it to be a surprise.  However it is quite hard for me to knit – it is just row after row of stocking stitch – which I will admit can be a bit tedious!

Multi-coloured Knitting Samples

This week I have been continuing my latest attempt to reduce the amount of stuff that I have accummuated.  I haven’t looked at my wool.  I know I have got a lot of it – but I will knit it one day!

I looked under the bed (I have got one of those beds with drawers at the bottom and the sides) and found a few things that I knitted about 10 years ago (and then put under the bed).  I don’t actually remember knitting any of them.

I know that when I knitted this jacket – I was trying out a blending technique involving knitting with 2 yarns at the same time.

The following photo shows a little Fair-isle jacket that I knitted as a sample.

And this is a little jumper I knitted using a two-colour technique – I suppose it is Fair-isle as well – but it may have another name.

I have sent the first 2 to charity – but I have kept the last one for the moment.  I love this technique – many years ago I knitted a black and white jacket that was like this.   It was much admired and I would like to make another one.  It will go on the list!

Double Knitting

Yesterday I went to Oxford for the latest meeting of the Oxford branch of the Knitting & Crochet Guild.  This month’s topic was the technique of “double knitting”.

I have admired designs produced using double knitting – such as those by Australian fibre artist Annette Fitton.  I would like to knit one of her designs – but I think I will have to do a lot more practising first.

Several members of other branches came to Oxford to try double knitting – which is easier to learn with a teacher rather than from videos or from a book.   This is my sample piece.

Some of it is OK.  I got the idea of knitting both sides at the same time  –  but when I changed colours in the middle – I went wrong.  For instance -  I can see that  I have got my yarn at the back when it should have been at the front.   I have done something different wrong on the other side I have a white stitch that should be black.  I think you need a lot of patience!  I will have another go at trying to get it right.  Perhaps I will be able to change colours if I concentrate more.  I think I was talking when I should have been paying attention!

Everyone else did better than I did and a couple of people are intending to have a go at larger projects.  I think I will get back to a bit of easy stocking stitch.