Tag: blankets

Autumn/Winter Ranges Are Beginning To Arrive

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I’d like to be able to say that I have only recently started to think about new yarns for the coming Autumn/Winter season, but I’d be lying, really lying.  The truth is I started to look back in March, watching for the anticipated coming trends and beginning to consider shades and textures.  The actual yarn companies start to show their yarns as early as May and having to plan ahead can be a little difficult at times.

It’s clear from all of the yarn companies that super chunky yarn is going to be big, really big, with everything from accessories to garments.  There’s also a definite move towards creating home furnishings in knitting and crochet, which is great for those of us that like to decorate our houses too.

For us, it’s important to try and get our new ranges in in stages; most of it will arrive in from September on.  There are however several exceptions, one of which is Swift Knit from Stylecraft. 064 We’ve gone for 9 fab colours and I’m already busy knitting a shop sample with the grey. (see the photo at the bottom) Each 100g contains 60metres/66yards. It consists of 80% acrylic and 20% wool and knits to a tension of 8.5 stitches to 12 rows on 10mm needles. And all at the great price of €4.90 per ball

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As you can see there are lots of great patterns, which makes it a little difficult to choose one to knit.  So far I’ve whittled it down to either this one –

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or this one –

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and this is the pattern I’m already knitting as a shop sample and for Dina.

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It only takes 3 balls and is a lovely quick knit, providing you don’t do what I did and read the pattern wrong!  You’ll then have to frog your work and start again.  I’ll pop a photo of the finished cowl up when I’ve persuaded my model to pose for me.

Which pattern has tempted you the most then?

Happy Knitting!

Stash Dash Time

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For those of you that have been before you’ll know what it’s all about, the rest of you would probably best to read this previous post here http://knitmidleton.com/2012/07/23/everybody-keeps-asking-me/

 

Basically, we cover up all the shelves and lay out as many tables as we can fit into the shop; on top of these we put all the yarn we’re discontinuing.  There could be whole ranges of yarn, shades of yarn and some you might not have seen before.  There will be odd balls, several balls and packs of balls, no matter what, all balls are €3 each.

 

There are things to consider: you have to book your slot, you only have 20 minutes (you’re timed), you have to prepare, dig out the patterns, check your favourites on Ravelry, make sure you know how much double knit/aran/chunky you need.  Have a look at the post linked above if you’re not sure and make sure you book your place quickly before they all go.

 

This is what you should be expecting.

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Happy Knitting!

 

Very Dissappointed Moi

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I have posts to write about holiday wool shopping and holiday knitting but I returned to work today to discover that one of my favourite yarns is being discontinued.

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Rico Poem Aran

Poem Aran for those of you that need reminding is a beautiful, multi-coloured pure wool.  Each luscious 50g contains 100 metres of pure yarn love.  Most people tend to use it as a fantastic substitute for Noro Silk Garden or Kureyon and it is best used in plainer patterns that allow the beauty of the yarn to shine through.

Our shadow scarf hangs in the shop and is created using two different shades of the yarn.  By working in 2 row stripes the variegation of the yarns make for an interesting colour pattern.  This scarf takes 2 balls of each shade.

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Poems aran also felts, this little handbag also took 4 balls to knit

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If that wasn’t enough to tempt you, then maybe this will be.

poster poem

Everything Has Gone Square

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As you might expect my life is being dominated by squares at the moment. In my naivety I thought this latest charity collection would be lovely and simple – really! What was I thinking?!

So there’s the making of the squares, that bit is simple. Except I’ve had to take an executive decision and forgo the making part to move onto the blanket stage. This involves the all important selecting of the squares and laying them out into a blanket. (this can take a while)

Then there’s the sewing:

  1.   Sew 4 squares together to make a strip
  2.   Sew 5 strips up to make a blanket
  3.   Sew all ends in
  4.   Crochet the border

 

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Now to be fair to blankets look absolutely beautiful, particularly because they’re made up of multi-coloured squares that you probably wouldn’t put together if you had the choice. Mixing the colours and styles up really adds to the eclectic feel of the blankets and hones in on the popularity of ‘Shabby Chic’ at the moment. Truthfully, you could probably sell the blankets in a vintage store FOR A LOT OF MONEY with the current trend in all things handmade. Don’t worry I won’t.

I won’t…HONESTLY.

The good news is we have 40, yes 40 blankets in various states of completion, which is fantastic and has made all the work worthwhile.  We still have approximately a week left to get as many squares in before we have to send of the blankets, so please keep at it.

In the meantime I’ve just discovered that I’m short of a square to complete the blanket I’ve been sewing up, so I’ve had to crochet a quick one.

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Happy Knitting!

 

Wow, How Hot is It?

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It seems like ages since I managed to get on here and post up a little snippet of life in the shop.

For the past 2 weeks we’ve been so busy with the blankets that it feels like we’ve done little else.  Given the time restraints for the collection (3rd August) it’s very difficult not to get absorbed with knitting & sewing squares.  I have managed to get a pair of socks knitted and think I could become obsessed.  They’re the first pair I’ve made using the two circular needle method as championed by Cat Bordhi.  If you’re interested in seeing this method check out her video on youtube.com http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&p=cat+bordhi+socks

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If you were on Ardmore Beach this week you could have possibly spotted me trying to get ahead with my Autumn/Winter Samples.

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If that wasn’t enough the Innocent Smoothie/Age Action Campaign is back again, more about that another time.  I’m off to knit or sew, or both if that’s possible.

Happy Knitting!

Squares Everywhere

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Our blanket collection for The House of Hope in Vanadzor, Armenia is well underway and there are squares everywhere.

I’ve got piles of them sorted by size, strips already sewn to be made up into blankets and several finished blankets complete with crochet border, a very basic crochet border believe me.

We’ve calculated it takes approximately 7.5 hours to sew the squares together, sew in all the ends and crochet the border.  So we’ve been trying to sew the squares up as they come in to try and keep on top of things.  A big thank you to those that have been sewing as well as knitting.

As you might expect, the squares initially came in, in various sizes and dare I say shapes.  Undeterred all squares are being used and as you can see the blankets are beautiful when sewn up.

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Please keep your squares coming in as we would love to be able to give as many residents as possible a blanket each.  It might be a little ambitious though as there will hopefully be 80 people, nothing like a challenge.

Happy Knitting!

Blocking My Buttonbox

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Blocking your knitwear can really enhance your work by bringing out details and shaping.  It can also make your garment sit better when wearing.  Sometimes after knitting and sewing up I can be quite desperate to wear my work but will always try to block regardless.  Without exception all lace work should always be blocked to open up the stitches

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Most of the time after sewing in my ends I will wash my finished garment.  I tend to use Soak, a delicate washing liquid in which you quite literally ‘soak’ your clothes.  A sink full of cool water only needs a teaspoon of the washing detergent and you leave your garment submerged (soaking) for about 15 minutes.  You should always check whether or not your yarn is colourfast but in most cases I’d only be washing one garment at a time so it’s never really a problem.  The great thing about this washing liquid is that there is no need to rinse (yes, I did say no need).  If your using Woolite or something similar you will have to rinse your garment through at least three times to get rid of any detergent.

After soaking you should squeeze out any excess water remembering not to wring as you could stretch your hard work.  You can always place your work between towels and use pressure to extract more water (stand on it).  If I’m honest however, I tend to tie the garment tightly into a clean pillowcase and put it in my washing machine on the spin cycle.  You can control the intensity of spin on my machine which helps.

Once spun I pin the garment out to size on my childrens play mat using rust proof pins.  You can of course buy expensive blocking mats, they tend to be made of the same material as the mat I use but come complete with the measurements on them.

If you don’t have these mats you can use several old towels or maybe your ironing board for smaller projects.  The mats are easy to locate, I have 2 packs one of which was bought in Tesco whilst the other was bought in Smyths Toy Shop.

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Use the actual measurements if available on your pattern.  My waistcoat is supposed to be blocked to 36″ around the chest, but after being washed the yarn has relaxed a little and it is coming up at 38″.  I’m happy with the extra roominess but would always advise you knit, wash and dry your tension square to ensure you knit the correct size.  Obviously, I didn’t do that here – oops!

I have used the pins to ensure my bands and collar lie properly (I hope so anyway) and have inserted extra pins under each bobble on the pockets to try and make them stand proud when dry.

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You will tend to find drying your work can take some time.  If at all possible try to leave it somewhere warm.  If using towels underneath you might find you will have to change them to prevent them from becoming smelly and in turn making your garment a little musty.

This is the method I tend to use to block my work although there are other methods.  If at all possible avoid using an iron to press your garments as this can make your stitches flatten or worse still if you’ve used acrylic, melt.  The only time I would have used an iron is if my garment had been made in 100% cotton.  Then I held the iron above the work and used the steam from it to help set the garment.  If you’re in a rush you can pin the garment out first, spritz with water from a plant spray and leave to dry.

Please Note:- Be careful when blocking rib, I know one person who stretched her stitches so tightly that when dry the rib was completely flat.  Remember you are trying to enhance your work.

If you haven’t tried it before why not block your next project to see the difference.

Happy knitting!

Moody Blanket Update

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I thought it was time to update you all on the progress of my ever increasing blanket which is now 54.5″/138cms.  As you can probably imagine knitting the 2 rows per day is taking much longer now on account of the blankets size.  To be on the safe side I need to make sure I have three quarters to an hour spare when I start to knit.  Unfortunately, our weather is anything but May like which has inadvertently been a godsend as there is some warmth from the blanket.

Sitting under the weight of it whilst knitting in heat is not great.

I think I have a little over a months worth of knitting left before I’ll reach my target length of 6 foot.

In order for you to judge the length and to give you a bit of a giggle you can see me modelling the blanket so far.  I’m 5ft3 on a good day.

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Here’s Another Idea For The Blanket Squares

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Some of you may recall we knitted 14″ blankets for the maternity hospital a couple of years ago now and the pattern many of us used was knit on the diagonal.

20cms/8" or there abouts
20cms/8″ or there about

The beauty of the pattern was that you started with 1 stitch and increased by 1 stitch on every row until you’d reached your desired size.  You then knit one row plain and begin decreasing 1 stitch every row until they’re all gone.

Easy peasy!

8inch/20cm Charity Blanket Square

 Materials

Any weight of yarn

Appropriate size needles for yarn

 Eg: Double knit yarn = 4mm,

      Aran weight = 5mm

      Chunky yarn = 6.5mm

      Super chunky weight = 10mm

     

Abbreviations

K – Knit

KFB – Knit into the front and the back of the next stitch

K2Tog – Knit the next 2 stitches together

Instructions

Cast on 1 stitch

1st Row – Knit into the front and the back of the stitch, (2 stitches).

2nd Row – K1, KFB, (3 Stitches)

3rd Row – K1, KFB, K to end, (4 Stitches).

You can see that by increasing in every second stitch a decorative border is produced.  Repeat row 3 until either of the sides is approximately 8”/20cm (please note you are working on the diagonal). 

Next work one row in knit without any increase.

To decrease K1, K2tog, K to end.

Repeat this decreasing 1 stitch on every row until only 2 stitches remain, K2Tog

Cast off final stitch and sew in ends.

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Needs blocking

Blanket Squares

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GMI logo jpegOK so I’ve got the knitting needles out and had a good rummage through my stash so I can give you a couple of ideas for 8″/20cm squares.

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A really unblocked stocking stitch square

Stocking Stitch Square

 

Using 6.5mm needles and standard chunky yarn cast on 25stitches loosely.  Working in stocking stitch (1 row plain, 1 row purl) knit until your piece of knitting is square ending with a wrong side row.

Cast off loosely.

Hint The best way to check this is to fold the bottom right corner over to the top left corner diagonally.  If the edges meet on the left side your piece is square.

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Moss stitch square

Moss Stitch Square

Using 6.5mm and standard chunky yarn cast on 24 stitches loosely.

1st Row: Knit 1, Purl 1 to end of row

2nd Row: Purl 1, Knit 1 to end of row.

Repeat these 2 rows until knitting is square (as above).  Mine took 44 rows.

If you’re making squares remember it’s easier to block slightly smaller ones to 8″ but we can’t make larger ones smaller.  Having said that we will use them.  You can also use 2 strands of double knit yarn held together to make a chunky yarn.

Happy Knitting!