Garter Stitch Jacket by Debbie Bliss

Last weekend I was knitting a few patchwork squares and I decided that I wanted to knit a pink one – but I didn’t want to waste the ball – so I started knitting a small baby coat.  I thought I will knit a little coat and then use the left over yarn for a patchwork square.  This is the coat.

It is very easy.  I seem to be making a habit of knitting easy garter stitch items – but knitting doesn’t have to be complicated.

This pattern came from Knitting magazine and is dated July 2010 (so I have had it a while).  You knit all the pieces and then join them together at the armholes – knitting the top part as one piece.  Now I have done a pink one – I suppose I ought to do a blue one as well.  I expect I will be able to find some suitable yarn – but I have now started knitting another shawl using some of the yarn I got for Christmas.  I would like to knit the items I intended – when I chose the yarn – then I can use the left over yarn for some other projects that I have in my head.

So much yarn – so little time!!

Garter Stitch Triangle Wrap by Pat Strong

 

I have finally finished this wrap.

I used 2 shades of Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury sock yarn – but the original pattern uses one shade of Rooster Alpaca 4 ply.  I am not sure I would recommend just using one shade unless you are very good at concentrating on increases. 

I thoroughly recommend the pattern.  I enjoyed knitting it and I like the finished result.

I have now got back to knitting squares for a patchwork blanket.  I like knitting the squares but I am not going to enjoy joining them together!  I have talked about knitting a blue and white throw – I think I will knit this in one piece.  There are pros and cons with both methods.  If you knit something in one piece – you have to plan it – you can’t just knit at random – and you can end up with a large piece of knitting which is fine in this cold weather but not so great in the summer when I often seem to be knitting blankets.

A Belated Happy New Year

 

I expect that anyone who reads this blog regularly will think that I have given up.  I haven’t – I have just had some personal problems which have taken up all of my time. 

On Christmas Day I opened the parcel of yarn which I had ordered from Oxford Yarn Store in November.

It was full of Rowan Felted Tweed in a range of colours.  I hope to use this for 3 projects – a fair-isle scarf, a Shetland shawl and a second version of the Jacqueline Van Dillen shawl that I knitted in the autumn during the lockdown.  I still haven’t blocked the first one – it is sitting waiting to be done.  

In theory I should have plenty of time again now as the UK is currently locked down – but unfortunately I have too many other things to do.  I don’t think I will get back to regular knitting until February.  However – I have lots of ideas for things that I would like to knit.  I have already mentioned some of them, but many years ago I sorted out a large bag of odd bits of blue and white yarn to knit a throw based on one of Kaffe Fassett’s fabric quilt designs.  I had mislaid the bag – but this week I found it again – maybe this is an omen that I should knit this throw next. 

I am still knitting the very easy garter stitch shawl.  I am sure that there isn’t much left to do.  It is knitted from point to point and I have now got to a part where I am completing rows very quickly (as they are so short) – so it won’t be much longer.  I may even finish it today if I sit and knit rather than find something else that I should be doing.

A Very Easy Shawl

 

A few years ago I chose 2 shades of Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock yarn to make a shawl but never knitted it.  One is pink and brown and the other is green and a brighter pink (Shades 17 and 02). 

Now I need some knitting to do that is very easy.  The pattern is Garter Stitch Triangle Wrap by Pat Strong which I found in an old copy of Knitting magazine.

I say it is an easy pattern but it wouldn’t be if I wasn’t knitting it in 2 shades.  The original design is one shade and it is a 4 row pattern with a different increase or decrease on alternate rows.  If I was knitting it in one colour I would lose concentration and get confused.  As it is – I know that I do the first row in one colour and the third row in the other colour. 

I am hoping that there will be a bit of time to do some knitting when I have sorted out the last few Christmas things.

A Jumper that Turned into a Shawl

 

Over the years I had collected together some shades of black, cream and grey to knit into a multi-coloured jumper.  At some point I had added a ball of cerise as a contrast colour.  This yarn has sat in a bag for years. 

The yarn is all DK – various mixtures of mainly wool and man-made fibres.  The cream is also part alpaca.  It includes some of my all-time favourite yarn - Sirdar Highlands and Islands which was a lovely mix of wool and acrylic and the equally old Hayfield’s Grampian Tweeds DK.  It also includes the more modern Stylecraft Luxury Wool Rich DK and Alpaca dk. 

During the second UK lockdown I was knitting things I was supposed to be making for other people but wanted to knit something easy  - so not a jumper – something that I didn’t notice I was knitting.  I have a couple of Jacqueline Van Dillen shawl patterns that I was going to knit one day and so I decided that “one day” had come and I would have a go at one using the yarn I had collected for the jumper. 

The design doesn’t seem to have a name but it is a biased striped shawl which was published in Designer Knitting magazine Autumn 2018.  I seem to be knitting a lot of 2018 patterns recently – probably because I have a backlog since then.  During 2019 and 2020 I didn’t really get much knitting done and my blog posts became less and less frequent.

This is the start of it.  It is knitted from point to point.

I have now finished the shawl but it needs blocking – it is still a bit curly in places.  I haven’t got the space to do it yet.   I didn’t completely stick to the pattern  - I had to make changes to fit the yarns that I had. Also when I knit the pattern again (which I intend to do) – I will make some of the sections much shorter.

I have now started another even easier shawl to make while I am working long hours in the run up to Christmas.

Two Finished Cardigans

I have finished the cardigan which is a present for my mother.  I hope she will like it.  Normally she puts a new cardigan in a drawer – to keep for best and carries on wearing her usual ones.  I am the same in a way – if I don’t immediately start wearing something new – I forget about it.

 

This second cardigan has been unfinished all year – but it is also now finished because I have sewn on the buttons. 

I found during lockdown that I had a button shortage – I have got a lot of buttons but none of them were suitable for what I was knitting.  As soon as Banbury Sewing Centre reopened – I went in and stocked up on metals buttons which can be used with any yarn.

This week I have also ordered a Christmas present for me!  During this lockdown I have had a chance to think about what I would like to knit next.   When I say next – I probably mean next year.    I choose some more shades of Rowan Felted Tweed with the idea of knitting 2 shawls and a scarf.  I did an email order to Oxford Yarn Store and my parcel arrived on Friday.  I haven’t opened it yet.  I will save that for Christmas day.

Ella by Sirdar

For the last few weeks I have been knitting a cardigan as a birthday present for my mother.  Her birthday is in December.   I have knitted this design before a few years ago.  I am not sure where the pattern comes from – it has been cut out of a magazine.  It suggests various Sirdar double knitting yarns that could be used.   My mother needs something that is machine washable which will also survive the tumble dryer.   

The yarn I chose is Stylecraft Life dk Vintage Look which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool.  This shade is called Prairie.   Unfortunately the yarn is discontinued.  When I saw it in my local yarn store – it reminded me of my mother because these are the colours she normally wears.  I only bought 4 x 100g balls.  I thought it ought to be enough – mainly because that was enough last time I knitted this design in the smallest size.

Yesterday I was doing that favourite knitter’s habit of knitting faster because you think you are running out of yarn.   It was very close. When I finished the second sleeve – having already done to neck and front bands -  I had about 2 metres of yarn left!

I did have a plan B for if I ran out of yarn.  The first plan B was to unravel the whole cardigan and knit a design which used less yarn - but that was  bit drastic if it could be avoided.  My second plan B (or plan C) was to reknit the sleeves making them slightly narrower.  I always find that shop bought cardigans have much narrower sleeves than handknit patterns – so there is always scope to do this without the sleeves being too narrow.  However – I am really glad that I haven’t got to do it. 

All I have got to do now is sew it up.  I had better get on with it rather than start knitting anything else.