Tag: quick knits

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!

 

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!

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!

Lap Blankets For Armenia

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As our collection of winter woolies for Chernobyl draws to an end we are happy to announce our next charity project.

GMI logo jpegGlobal 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.
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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

If you want to have a closer look at what the charity does checkout their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Missions-Ireland/119741718073281

New Magazine – Reloved

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New Magazine
New Magazine

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
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
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
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
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
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/

Happy Knitting!

(or should that be creating?)

The Latest Project is Underway

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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 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
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?

Happy Knitting!

Yesterday’s Goodies

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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?

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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.