A Few Knitted Vegetables and a Shawl

I know I had intended to finish something this week but I haven’t really.  I am still knitting the 10-stitch blanket – but it is quite large by now.  It takes a ball of yarn to knit each strip.  I think I will do 3 more strips and then I will say it is finished.

I have finished 4 knitted vegetables for All the Fun of the Fair.

I don’t think they are too unlike the originals. These are not completely finished because I am also knitting a yellow pepper which I have unravelled a few times.  It is nearly finished but the model looks very shrivelled and inedible.  I haven’t typed any of the patterns either – they are scrawled on bits of paper.

I don’t think I have mentioned it but a few weeks ago I started knitting yet another Noro shawl as a portable project. 

I think I will try to get that finished this weekend.  The World Snooker Championships starts on Saturday so I should be knitting in front of the TV for the following 2 weeks without getting distracted by housework etc.

Goodbye to a Kaffe Fassett Jumper

After reading about the new Kaffe Fassett Knit-along last week – I remembered that I had knitted a Kaffe Fassett jumper years ago.  I wondered if I had still got it or whether I had given it to charity.  I found it – but sadly it has been eaten by moths.  I hate moths.  I try to keep yarn and jumpers with “moth” repellents such as lavender and/or cedar balls but they still seems to thrive in odd places.   Recently I seem to have worn out jumpers before they have been eaten - but the ones at the back of the drawer are still vulnerable.  Incidentally – I haven’t seen a moth in years – I try hard to keep them out – but somehow they still sneak in and lay eggs on my jumpers! 

Anyway before I threw out the Kaffe Fassett jumper – I took some photos of it (avoiding the holes).  It is the Windows or Squares pattern from various books – but this jumper was in Kaffe Fassett at the V & A published in 1988.

Most of Kaffe’s designs are brightly coloured – but there is shawl in Glorious Knitting which is knitted in more subtle colours and so I followed that.  The jumpers was mainly dull colours – greens, beiges and creams with central squares of very bright colours – like little jewels.  I remember buying some of the yarn in Liberty’s in London shortly after Kaffe Fassett opened their yarn department.

Anyway – on Saturday I went to Oxford Yarn Store and bought some more yarn to make myself feel better!  I bought 2 skeins of Malabrigo Arroyo.  I couldn't resist it. I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet – probably another shawl.

I bought 6 balls of black DK yarn to knit a lace shawl that will go with my black and white coats. This is not very exciting - but quite practical.

And I bought some more Noro Kureyon.  It is hard not to.  I needed a bit more for my 10-stitch blanket and I am collecting for other projects which are in my head.

Next week I may have finished something and will be able to show you photos of something I have produced recently – and hopefully still moth free. 

Knit the Sky Scarf – March Update

I just about got the March update written in March!  I have just knitted two rows of red to mark the end of March.

The photo above shows the close up of March – it shows that there has been a bit more blue sky than in January or February.

The dark grey in February was the day before Storm Doris when the sky was very threatening.  There does seem to have been a lot of grey this year.  I used light blue and white today but if I had knitted the sky earlier it could have been light grey or dark grey.  Now the sky is even bluer than it was earlier.  I am trying to knit the colour of the sky when I am eating my lunch - whenever and wherever that is.

Before the clocks changed and the sky was light before I went to work -  there were some very beautiful pink and orange skies.  It would have been interesting to knit the sky when I have got up – but it would be very navy and black for a large part of the year.  Perhaps I could just accept that and do a scarf like that next year!

This week I have been working on another project for All the Fun of the Fair.  I have also started another shawl – that was supposed to be easy - but isn’t really because you have to remember which row you are on and it is easy to end up with the wrong number of stitches.  I prefer those shawls which are the same every row – now that is easy!

I haven’t finished my 10-stitch blanket and I haven’t done much of it for two reasons.  It has been a bit hot for having a blanket on your lap – and I was away last weekend and did not want to carry it around – hence the new easy shawl.

Rowan Yarns started a Kaffe Fassett Knit-a-long yesterday.  I am tempted to give it a go but I really haven’t got the time.  I have at least 3 other throws planned in my head.  I was a bit surprised to see that Rowan suggest that you should knit 4 squares in the first week – I certainly wouldn’t manage that.

5 Fruit Tea Cosies

I am still working on my 10-stitch blanket.  There is not much to say about it – so I thought I would show you the 5 fruit tea cosies that I designed for All the Fun of the Fair.  The patterns are available individually or as a bundle via the website: all-the-fun-of-the-fair-london.myshopify.com

While I was knitting these tea cosies – I felt the urge to knit a shocking pink pineapple or a turquoise blue apple.  Perhaps someone else will knit them and use some unusual colours.

Inspiring Other Knitters

When I started writing this blog – I wanted to keep a record of what I have been knitting and inspire other knitters.  On Friday – when I received the latest Oxford Yarn Store newsletter – I was thrilled to see the following photo.

This has been knitted by a lady called Penny who is an Oxford Yarn Store regular.  I have never met her but she must have seen my English Adventure throw.  Hers is more African Adventure – the difference being whether you knit “egg-timer” shapes or more rounded shapes.  I will reprint a photo of my poppy version – so you can see that I stressed the rounded shapes to produce the poppies.

I have just bee thinking – I must have a go at an “egg-timer” version of this throw – I will add it to the list!  If you are reading this and think it looks too complicated – it isn’t – it is really easy – it just looks complicated.

This week I have been working on my 10-stitch blanket.  This is what it looks like now.

As it gets bigger there are more straight bits and less corners – but I am still having a battle with the yarn to prevent the same colours appearing next to each other.

Garter Stitch

I do like garter stitch and I am glad that it is having a revival.  There is a book which has “garter stitch” and “revival” in the title which I must get around to buying.  I remember when I first learnt to knit – I used to do garter stitch with fine yarn on small needles – this is not that much fun.  Now I often use much larger needles than you are supposed to - so that the fabric is not so dense and heavy.

I have finished the Noro shawl that I was knitting last week.  I was a bit dubious about producing a picot edge while casting off – but I did it.  I won’t lie to you – it took ages – I think it took at least an hour!  There were a lot of stitches.  I am not sure how many in the end because I just kept going until the shawl seemed about the right size.  It is based on the Brian Smith design but it is not identical!

What I particularly like – which wasn’t in the original design – is that the edging changes colour from lime to navy.  Brian Smith used a plain colour to cast off.  My shawl would look odd if there was not so much of each colour – it looks like it was planned.  I knew there would be a colour changed due to the large number of stitches – but part of the fun of using Noro yarn – is that you are never quite sure what will happen.

I am now back knitting my 10-Stitch blanket.  It is in Noro Kureyon shade 319 which has a lot of bright definite colours and I am using large needles – 7mm I think.

I am pleased with the result so far.  It is another fun garter-stitch design.   I am not sure that I am doing it right – but I think it looks OK!

Another Noro Shawl

I have finally finished knitting tea cosies for the moment and have started knitting another shawl.  The last time I visited Oxford Yarn Store I bought 4 more balls of Noro Silk Garden 4ply.  They were half-price in the sale.

I have been looking around for a garter stitch based pattern.  I wanted something easy to knit while I was travelling about last weekend.

The original pattern is by Brian Smith – I ripped it out of Knitting magazine last year.  It is supposed to be knitted in double knitting weight yarn – so I have had to increase the second garter stitch section so that it will be a bit longer.  If I had just followed the pattern using 4ply – it would have turned out more like a head-scarf than a shawl. 

I haven’t finished it yet and because every alternate row has 4 more stitches – a row takes longer and longer to do.  I hope to finish it in the next few days because I want to get back to the 10 stitch blanket that I started in January.