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 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
OK 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.
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.
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.
As our collection of winter woolies for Chernobyl draws to an end we are happy to announce our next charity project.
Global Missions Ireland (Charity No: CHY13718) is a Cork based charity that undertakes in missions both at home and around the world. Locally they run feeding programs to reach the people in the City of Cork.
On foreign missions they work with the local church to reach out to the most vulnerable and marginalised in society. The charity’s main aim is to run mission trips, which provide people with an avenue to work abroad or help a community, which they feel, are in need. They send people from the medical field, construction industry, teachers, housewives any sector that they find will help in the country that they are working in.
This year Global Missions have got a team going to the ‘House of Hope’ retirement home in Vanadzor, Armenia. Here there are 80 men and women taken out of deplorable conditions to live in safety and comfort. It was set up to house the elderly community who had been living in derelict buildings and containers since the earthquakes in 1988.
The team will be running feeding programs, giving bread made in the ‘ House of Hope’ bread factory to those in the community that are in need. They will also visit with social workers other in the locality that are in need of help to try and rehabilitate and rehouse them into better conditions.
These elderly people need our help as they have very little and Global Missions has specifically asked if we’d be interested in making lap blankets. These will help to keep the residents that little bit warmer whilst at the same time giving them a gift of kindness they can cherish.
Calling all of you that knit and/or crochet for your help. We’d also welcome those of you that sew or can be a little creative with felting old jumpers.
What we’re after?
As we’re making lap blankets these can be either the complete, finished article or 20cm/8″ squares which we will sew together to make blankets 100cm x 120cms/40″ by 48″
Squares can be made using any yarn however, please remember these blankets will need to be washable and warm. Chunky yarn will knit up quicker and remember that you can always use more than one strand of yarn together. Two strands of double knit worked together is the same as using a chunky yarn.
Squares can be in any pattern/design of your choosing and we have no colour preference. knit, crochet or as I mentioned before sewn or felted it really doesn’t matter. Take this opportunity to use up your leftovers.
Spread the word – we’d love to hand over as many blankets as possible. Tell other knitting groups, schools & colleges, residential homes, church groups, etc.
The closing date for our collection is Saturday 3rd August. It would helps us enormously if you are making squares if you could send them in sooner if possible to allow time to sew them up. Even if it means giving them in in batches.
There are absolutely loads of lap blankets available on www.ravelry.com
There are also loads of patterns available for 20cm/8″ squares out there in cyberspace, just type ‘knit a square’ into your web browser.
The Knitter/Simply knitting Magazine ran a campaign for Refuge last year in which they asked for squares the same size to be donated. You may well have a copy of the magazines neatly filed on a shelf. Crocheting a square should be simple enough as you just stop when you’ve reached the right size.
I intend to pop up a few square patterns when I’ve knitted some examples but I wanted to get the collection underway.
Technically speaking if your tension is correct, casting on 28sts (loosley) with chunky yarn on 6.5mm needles will give you 20cms horizontally. Knit in stocking stitch until square is 20cms vertically and cast off loosley.
Hint: I’m terrible for casting on/off too tight so I use a needle at least one size larger
It seems we’ve finally got a hold of ourselves and tightened our belts (not sure mine was ever loose), we’ve seen the error of our ways and realised that everything isn’t disposable. There’s a whole upsurge in people learning how to remake, reupholster, upcycle and transform.
Change the sleeves on your dress
Hopefully there were very few of us that simply threw away a blouse if the buttons had fallen off but how many of us have given a dress away because we no longer like the style? Perhaps you cast away a piece of furniture because it didn’t fit in with your new contemporary styled living room? Can you see the charm in everyday objects from charity shops and house clearance stores if given a little love?
Reloved is a new quarterly magazine dedicated to restyling, transforming and revamping your world. In the first issue ‘Spring 2013’ there are 26 projects covering everything from transforming your clothes to upcycling your furniture. There is a masterclass on reupholstering a drop in seat pad chair and quick makes to create in an evening. There are several features including one on the original ‘Make Do & Mend’ series from the wartime upcyclers. Last but not least, there’s a guide to upcycling and knitting (ahem… of course).
The magazine welcomes you to a shabby chic lifestyle, full of colour and a renewed love for all things eclectic, mismatched and homely. Of all the projects some of my favourites are Changing Sleeves (above) and the Lacy Doily Lampshade which are really cool. In my house they’d have to be stained or painted though as the dust would turn them grey in a matter of minutes.
Lacy Doily Lampshade
On page 16 and 17 there’s how to create the Vintage Cake Stand, all the rage at the moment and much cheaper than some of those to buy in the shops. I think they’d look really good made out of old mismatched plates and full of naughty teatime treats.
Vintage Cake Stand
Loving all things knitted it goes without saying that the knitted Vase Covers on page 32 – 35 get my creative juices flowing and there’s also a lovely knitted footstool in the magazine. It’s cream and would again be a dirt magnet here, better to be done with it and make it in a tweedy grey for my home.
Vase Covers
Last but not least and my absolute favourite item in this issue is the ‘All Wrapped Up Chair’ which has actually been taken from the book Granny Chic. If I ever get the time expect to see very similar looking chairs in the shop one day.
All Wrapped Up Chair
The magazine has been extremely popular and you may find it difficult to get hold of a copy however the digital edition will be available soon on Apple Newsstand, Google Play and Pocketmags.com. You can get further information on the Reloved website http://www.relovedmag.co.uk/
The latest issue of Knitty has been released and as ever there are some truly beautiful patterns so be sure to go and have a look for yourself.
My three favourites in this issue are:
Lunatic Fringe
Lunatic fringe by Jennifer Dassau is a beautifully, quirky shawl knitted in Terra by The Fibre Company which is an aran weight yarn. Knitted from the bottom up, creating the fringe as you go to form an unusual, asymmetrical shape.
Easy As Pie is a technicolour blanket by OneHandKnits and is knitted in Sirdar’s Baby Bamboo which is a standard double knit yarn. Clever use of short rows and colour work creates this vibrant, funky blanket.
Last but not least and one that I have had to add to my ever extending ‘to knit’ list is Buttonbox by Elizabeth McCarten. This beautiful waistcoat is knitted in one piece using Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter yarn which is an aran weight. The shaped waist and shawl collar make it a very flattering style, whilst the little box stitch pattern adds enough interest to the overall look of the knitted fabric.
If these patterns haven’t been enough to tempt you (why?), it might just interest you to know that there is a new coloum in the magazine – ‘Techniques with the Neurotic Knitter’. Kristin Fraser aka The Neurotic Knitter has a look at cast ons this issue via videos. The techniques she covers for Spring/Summer are the Backwards Loop, Cable, Knitted and the Long Tail methods. Great if you only know the one cast on method.
i also urge you to check out the Templeton Square Competition Winners to see just how ingenious some knitters are.
I’ve been dying to get to work knitting a garment in the Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton Chunky Yarn since it arrived into the shop last month and finally my endless list of ongoing project has reduced (slightly).
The top above is constructed by knitting the back and fronts up to where the lace pattern ends and then joining them with your part knitted sleeves to knit the yoke as one piece. The lace pattern itself is very simple, 4 rows, only one of which forms the lace with yarn overs and working 2 stitches together.
The back lace section
The yarn is lovely to work with, it’s a chunky so hopefully this will be a fairly quick knit. There are a good few patterns available and I was spoilt for choice with the amount of shades as we’re stocking 12 of the 13 available.
The left front so far
My initial choice was the dark cornflower/royal blue but I’ve seen another jumper in this months copy of The Knitter that I rather fancy in that shade.
What was I saying about reducing my ongoing projects?
Here’s a quick snap of the lovely new sock yarn that arrived in yesterday. It’s the Sweet & Spicy range from Opal and there are 8 gorgeous shades all 4ply of course so they can be used as a substitute yarn for other 4ply garments.
Tempted?
These are the adapted Alice Mitts I made yesterday to show the girls at the Children’s Knitting Group this morning as there are a few of them that have asked to make them next.
Happy Knitting!
I used the Colourbrushed Chunky from Tivoli, which is very reasonably priced (€3.95 for 100g), soft and comes in very child friendly colourways. Even better than that I probably have about half the ball left, so it’s 2 pairs for the price of one.
The lovely little chunky Grandad cardigan I was knitting is now all finished except for the sewing – which I hate.
I know I’m not alone in this and i also know it’s only a baby cardigan, but I should probably also get on with some of the other sewing up that’s been waiting before getting on with my next project.
After my blogging procrastination of late it should come as no surprise that I have had loads of ideas for posts but very little time.
I must however, tell you all about the lovely lace weight and 4ply yarn that came in from Fyberspates. It’s been on display in the shop for a fortnight now but I kept forgetting to take photos or the light wasn’t great. Sweeping all of this to one side here it is.
Made from 45% silk & 55% Merino the lace has 1000m per 100g hank and the 4ply/sport has 365m per 100g hank and both completely live up to their name and who doesn’t like a little luxury?
There are books and patterns from Fyberspates too and both yarns work as fantastic substitutes,. I’m actually planning on knitting my Winter is coming Shawl in the gorgeous Deep Chestnut 4ply for the Knitguard KAL on Ravelry.
Petite Purls is a fantastic online magazine that specialises in knitting patterns for babies, toddlers and older children. Having said that, there are crochet patterns and sewing patterns too, all for little ones.
The magazine is published four times a year in January, April, July and October and is packed full of ideas. All of the patterns are free, for personal use only. Although not available to download as PDFs, it takes no time to copy and paste into a Word document to print off.
The magazine was first published in Summer 2009 and was the result of an online friendship between Allegra Wermuth and Brandy Fortune. Joan Bebe joined the creative duo as Technical Editor and Petite Purls was born.
Petite Purls concentrates on independent pattern designers; they will never publish a pattern from a company or a pattern publisher, although sometimes they may publish from a book. There are such lovely patterns available for free, you’ll be spoiled for choice. One of my favourite sections is the ‘Basics’. Here you’ll discover beautiful, basic patterns, which are great for beginners but also ideal for encouraging your creativity by changing stitches or using colourwork.
Garter Bottom Cardi
The latest addition to this ever-growing section is the Garter Bottom cardigan – it’s a lovely design by Amy Grace and is available in sizes 12 months, 2, 3 and 4 years. It is made in Spud & Chloe’s Sweater yarn, which is an aran weight.
All of the patterns are graded by ability, and under the name of the pattern and the designer there is a scale from young girl to older woman. The younger the lass, the easier the pattern.
Issue 14 is the current edition and as per usual there are several patterns I’ve already queued. Who could resist Belle & Beau by Megan Grewal?
Belle & Beau
It’s knitted in aran weight yarn and has sizes from 3 months to 8 years. Whilst I do adore the tree or the flowers on the bottom cardi, it’s the multicoloured yoke that I love.
Entropy Vest
My other favourite is the Entropy Vest by Anjali M available in sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 years. The little argyle detail is cute and quirky but the tank top would look just as good plain.
When the latest issue is released the patterns do go up on Ravelry so some of them could look familiar. The site also has an archive of its back issues – all worth a look.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 