I thought I’d pop up the photos of the finished baby jumper I’ve been knitting with in the new Merino Flash from Katia. The 0-6months jumper literally only went into the third ball for about a third of the second sleeve (grrr).
So in a bid to be more aware of my ever expanding stash I decided to knit the accompanying hat. Now I only have a little bit of the yarn left and a much clearer conscience.
Not sure that button is in the centre now though? I’m sure it was when I first sewed it in.
The boxes are arriving thick and fast at the moment. All full of lovely new yarn to tempt and patterns to add to the list.
The first yarn I unpacked this week is Basic Merino Flash from Katia and I’m completely in love with it.
There are 8 beautifully variegated shades in this double knit yarn.
Each 50g ball contains 120 metres/131 yards and its a wool blend. 52% wool, 48% acrylic. Machine washable and according to the label it can go in the tumble dryer too.
I’m presently knitting one of the designs from Katia book 44, which is a special issue for beginners and I’ve deliberately chosen to work with a colour I wouldn’t usually choose straight away (I’m a blue girl).
I’m impressed though, I think it’s going to make a lovely little garment that may even end up in the grandma box.
For those of you wondering, it’s knit sideways from sleeve to sleeve.
I’m usually very good at staying ahead of the game when it comes to new yarns. However, I must confess to being caught out rotten by Stylecraft’s new baby yarn.
I’m not really sure we needed another baby yarn but I just couldn’t resist Lullaby. There are 14 beautiful shades available in the range and the pattern support is divine. You can really tell that Stylecraft have a new designer on the team.
Each 50g ball contains 135 metres/147 yards
The yarn is made up of 55% Nylon and 45% Acrylic and is machine washable at 30 degrees, it can even be tumble dried.
Tension is 22 stitches to 30 rows.
Even better it’s only €3.30 per ball
Which one of the 9 designs is your favourite? I think mine is the little blanket. Many of the patterns have an extra design on them so they’re great value for money.
Last week was a bumper week for our blanket collection and some of you may have already seen the photograph I’d posted up on our Facebook page of the 5 blankets Lil had completed. In addition to Lil’s contribution we also received 30 more squares from the clients at Oak Lodge, a full size blanket , 51 squares from Lucy, 2 from Edwina, 5 from Mary O and 1 more from Dina.
At my last count that means we have 61 blankets although only 52 of them are fully finished, some still have to be sewn. The collection will be going on until the last week in November so if you have time please get knitting or crocheting.
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.
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.
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.
Poems aran also felts, this little handbag also took 4 balls to knit
If that wasn’t enough to tempt you, then maybe this will be.
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:
Sew 4 squares together to make a strip
Sew 5 strips up to make a blanket
Sew all ends in
Crochet the border
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.
It was my birthday last week and to be honest I don’t handle them particularly well. I’m not really sure why, I’d just sooner do the whole present thing without the pressure????
My children were on time as far as ordering me a gift (a couple of days before the unmentionable event), however the said gift only arrived today. For me this is better, it means I have something to look forward to although my husband believes this is unacceptable (?????).
So today I happily ripped the packaging off my gift to discover a beautiful hank of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Ravelry Red and a beautiful book called Handmade in the UK with designs from Emily Wessel.
Usually, I’m pretty up to date on newly published books but I had yet to see this one so it was a complete suprise. There are 10 designs in the book all with an element of lace in the knitting and if I were to be completely honest I think I’d like to make all but one of them.
I thought you might like a little look at my favourites.
Rosewater
Rosewater is this beautiful little, double knit hat. Made in the round, the pattern includes 5 sizes from baby to large adult.
Windswept AdultWindswept child
Windswept is a double knit, v neck jumper with a lace panel running down the centre. Again the pattern includes an incredible range of sizes, this time from baby to 4XL (16 sizes). I love the use of garter stitch to make the knit look contemporary. It’s used on the deep cuffs, the bottom bands and runs up in between the middle of the lace panel and splits to form the neck shaping.
Estuary
Estuary is a gently shaped 4ply shawl/scarf with 2 lace patterns and is very like something I’ve been designing recently.
Vivid
The last pattern in the book is Vivid and there’s no denying it’s beauty. The instructions include yarn amounts for 1 square knitted in either 4ply, dk or aran weight meaning you can use your favourite yarn. All day I’ve been jumping from this to my final pattern and back. Obviously, though I shall have to begin with Winding Way as I have the perfect yarn already, don’t I?
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.
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.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 