Blogworthy Blogs - stash, knit, repeat

I can't quite remember how I stumbled across this blog, but I am so glad that I did. stash, knit, repeat is the blog of knitwear designer Amy Herzog, who has a "passion for well-fitting sweaters".

Lately the blog is featuring a series of tutorials called Fit to Flatter where Amy explains how to choose and modify knitting patterns to flatter your shape. I think it is essential reading for all knitters, especially if you are relatively new to knitting like me and have had issues with fit in the past.

I also like the idea of concentrating on your shape rather than size and have found the advice on her blog helpful and relevant to all areas of the wardrobe not just knits. I really love several of Amy's designs, especially Arm Candy and February Fitted Pullover, and will definitely be knitting these in the near future to fit and flatter my classic pear shape.

Cedar Leaf Shawlette

The Cedar Leaf Shawlette I have been knitting for my mother in law's birthday (which was on the 5th of May!) is finally finished and on it's way to the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand). I am really happy with how it turned out. I love the design, the colour and of course, the yarn.

This Never Not Knitting pattern is fantastic, it is clearly written and laid out. It was quite a straight forward knit, even though it was my first real experience of short row shaping, using the "wrap and turn" method. I loved knitting the body of the shawlette. I think the fact that you never reach the end of the row makes it quite addictive. Also I like that you knit fewer stitches as you go as opposed to more like some shawls.

I did have a bit of a mishap on the last row of the main crescent part, where you are supposed to pick up the wraps as you knit right across. I don't quite know what I did wrong but I think in some cases I was actually picking up a stitch before the stitch to be wrapped!! I was also a bit put off by the little loops left by the wraps on the wrong side (is that normal?) Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to fix my mess and ended up ripping back to the garter stitch trim (so almost the entire thing). Knitting it the second time in one week wasn't quite so fun but knitting the leaves was enjoyable even if they seemed to go on forever.

If I was keeping it for myself (alas I am not) I would definitely wear it as a scarf as opposed to a shawl but it looks great either way.

Favourites: Necklaces

Favourites is a new regular section of my blog where I will share a selection of patterns for a particular type of project, recently added to my favourites in Ravelry.

This week is all about Necklaces.

A friend of mine recently saw a cool knitted chain necklace being worn by a lady at a Sydney Writers Festival event. She asked the lady where it was from and was told that it was an Etsy purchase from Poland. After a quick scour for the "knitted chain necklace" on Etsy, I'm pretty sure that this is the one in question: Golden Chain by Celapiu



It is very cool! I like it but I would never wear something like this. It's possibly a little too big (and too cool) for me to wear at this stage of my life (maybe back in my twenties!).

So I took my search to Ravelry and found the following patterns for necklaces that I would wear...

#1 - sev[en] circle by Kirsten Johnstone. Free pattern available to download from Ravelry


sev[en] cirlcle. Image from Ravelry

#2 - Ruffled Crochet Bib Necklace by Stefanie Fail. Free pattern published on the A Common Thread blog


Ruffled Crochet Bib Necklace. Image from Ravelry

#3 - Indian Gold by Alyssa Kabel. Free pattern available on the concrete is made of glass blog


Indian Gold. Image from Ravelry

I love all three of these patterns and hope to have one on the needles in the near future.

If I could crochet...

Tomorrow I am doing a Beginners Crochet workshop at Morris & Sons in Sydney with my good friend Maja. This is my belated Mother's Day present and to add to the excitement of the day my husband has the day off (a very rare occurrence for my chef) and will be looking after my daughter with Maja's husband and then joining us for lunch. So in anticipation of acquiring my new skill I have decided to compile a list of crochet projects that I would like to undertake...

1. A big granny square cushion cover


Images from Ravelry. Copyright Nikki and thornberry

Left: Swanky Granny Cushion byNikki from Mama Blue Knitting Goods based on Craochet Cabana's Basic Granny Square
Right: Circle in a Square Cushion Front by Thornberry based on a motif from the quarter of an inch blog

2. Potholders


Images from Ravelry. Copyright Illanna and throughtheloops

Left: Illanna's Floral Pot Holders.
Right: throughtheloops' Potholders. Pattern by Bea Aarebrot

3. Pincushions


Images from Ravelry. Copyright Olesdatter and Leanda Xavian

Left: Naalepuder by Liselotte Weller. English version of the pattern available free here
Right: Hexagon Pincushion by Leanda Xavian. Pattern available to purchase on the very pretty One Loop Short blog

4. Baby Booties


Images from Ravelry. Copyright Sylvia Schuchardt

Left: Little Button Loafers (baby booties) by Sylvia Schuchardt
Right: Baby Mary Jane "Skimmers" by Sylvia Schuchardt
Both patterns available from Hook Candy

5. An Afghan


Images from Ravelry. Copyright Alicia Paulson and Nova Seals

Left: Sunshine Day Baby Afghan by Alicia Paulson
Right: Ruby Hexagon Blanket by Nova Seals. Pattern available for free on Ravelry or the Novamade blog.

Wish me luck!

Mrs Sniffles - Knitted Tissue Box Cover

Last week when it came time to take photos of my little knitting nook at home, I had to do some serious rearranging, tidying and styling. One of the items that stuck out like a sore thumb was the ugly tissue box sitting by the lounge. Solution: I decided to knit a stylish tissue box cover.

I jumped on Ravelry to search for a pattern, but there was nothing suitable. I did a google image search for inspiration and all it came up with was the frilly numbers you see at a country craft fair or school fete. Then I went back to Ravelry and searched for box, thinking I would find something with the basic structure I was after. What I found was Erica Knight's Knitted Baskets (Rav link) made from heavy string. I loved the concept and decided to give something similar a go. I purchased a ball of 3mm string from the local discount store and cast on....



Here's my pattern, designed to fit a tissue box sized 22.5w x 10.5h x 11.5d (cm).
Yarn: 1 ball (80m) of 3mm household string
Needles: 6.5 mm (US 10.5)

Main Panel
CO 22 stitches
Knit in moss stitch alternating K1,P1 rows.
Knit 22 rows or until it measures 14.5 cm from cast on edge.
Knit 4 stitches in moss stitch then cast off 16 stitches, knit final 4 stitches in pattern.
Knit 4 stitches, turn work and cast on 16 stitches using cable cast on. Turn work and knit last 4 stitches.
Continue in moss stitch for 22 rows or until work measures 30cm. Cast off.

Side panels x 2
CO 8 stiches and work 14 rows in moss stitch
Cast off
Sew side panels to main panel.

And there you have quite a funky tissue box cover. Feel free to use this pattern as a guide but you will need to experiment a little to get the right size for your materials. Warning: String is definitely not a great joy to knit! I'm thinking of making another one soon in leather thonging.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

#2 - An Inspirational Pattern

So the brief for Day 2 of Knit and Crochet Blog Week is to write about a pattern or project that I aspire to. The first pattern that came to mind was Herringbone Mittens with Poms by Elliphantom Knits.

Photo © Elliphantom Knits

I can't recall how I came across this pattern but I stumbled across the Elliphantom blog shortly after I picked up the needles again last year and I fell in love with it instantly. I printed out the pattern, took it my mum and said "this is what I want to knit next". With some motherly reassurance she suggested that it might be better for me to start off with something a little more straight forward and monochromatic. In other words it was beyond me.

A year later and I still haven't had the confidence or inclination to tackle a colourwork project. I'm sure that I could get the hang of it and am definitely much better equipped now with a good foundation knitting knowledge.

My latest colourwork knitting fantasy is the Pixie Poncho by Rachel Russ for Spud & Chloe. I may skip the mittens altogether now and start with this project for my daughter Nina. So cute!

Photo © Blue Sky Alpacas

The Easter Bunny's Coming

My almost 2 year old daughter is at that age of discovery where every second she asks (or demands) "what's that?". She was particularly curious about the brightly coloured shiny eggs and bunnies that started appearing in the supermarket a month or so ago. I explained to her that "the Easter Bunny is coming" and to my surprise she has been happy enough with this explanation so far. This year Easter will be a lot of fun. I'm planing an Easter egg hunt I'm the garden for her, at the end of which she will find a gorgeous knitted bunny!

I purchased the pattern for Ysolda's knitted rabbit Sophie last July but after one too many failed attempts at the fiddly disappearing loop cast on I gave it up. Easter gave me the perfect excuse to pick it up again but this time I did things a little differently. Firstly I did not try to knit it with acrylic yarn (I feel nauseous just thinking about the stuff I started to use last time), I bought myself a set of 3mm Knitpro Symfonie Wood DPNs, and most importantly I convinced my mum to do a Sophie knitalong with me.

We spent about half an hour huddled in front of the computer with out knitting needles trying to make sense of the instructions for creating the disappearing loop cast on. There was a lot of swearing, and dropped needles, and more swearing! But we both got there in the end. The head and body knitted up beautifully and quickly. I love Ysolda's ability to incorporate the increases and decreases into the character of the toy, and stuffing as you go and attaching appendages by picking up stitches means that there is now seaming or sewing in ends.

I've knitted the legs now and am half way through the first arm. The legs were straight forward enough but the arm was a bit tricking to begin with due to the head getting in the way and maneuvering 5 needles in such a tight space.

Milo Vest

I am very happy with the results of the Milo vest that I knitted for Nina. It's a great, simple top-down pattern knitted in the round. I chose to knit this for 2 reasons: 1) I wanted to road test the Utiku Perendale 8ply yarn that I bought in NZ last year (it is so reasonably priced and the colours are great so it could be a staple), and 2) I wanted to knit something with one skein and that included a cable. My first cable!

The yarn is not the softest and is a little fuzzy but it knits up nicely. Hopefully it won't be too scratchy, but it shouldn't matter with this garment because she will always wear something under it. This is going to be a nice warm vest for Autumn/Winter.

So this was my first attempt at knitting a cable and I am very happy with the result although I actually missed one row out of the giant cable repeat. Because of this and the fact that I knit tightly anyway (and especially when crossing the stitches) I think that the cable is a little tighter than it should be. I stretched it out when wet blocking it and I think that has made a big difference as you can see in the before and after shot below.
Left: Before blocking. Right: After blocking

Above: Close up of my cable

Above: A very lovely cast off edge. I used the decrease cast off method for the first time and loved it. I tend to cast off too tightly and usually find it slow going so this kills two bird with one stone. I used this Knitty article for instruction as recommended in the pattern.

I ended up with half a skein left and have decided to whip up a cute hat to match.

Bluebell Romance

I love knitting with Patons Bluebell yarn, and I love the fact that it has been around for so long. I picked up this pattern booklet at an Op shop a few months ago and was taken with the vest on the front cover. I have purchased a packet of Bluebell in red and have decided to make this for myself as my next project. Last night I even knitted a tension gauge, so I'm hoping that this one will fit me. I'm looking forward to knitting with lace stitches as a change from the stocking stitch of the past two projects.

Milo Armadillo

Nina and I recently joined the library and today I came across this lovely picture book, 'Milo Armadillo' by Jan Fearnley. I was drawn to it by the gorgeous illustrations, which combine drawings with a collage of textures, scanned fabrics and knitted panels. Particularly one where Gran is pictured in an armchair knitting furiously with her needles going "clickety-click" (very much like Nina's own Granny).

It wasn't until after we got home and I put a tired and grizzly girl to bed that I was able to read the story, which is that of a little girl named Tallulah, who wishes for a pink fluffy bunny but her Gran knits her something very different.

I was even more delighted to discover that you can download a free pattern for Milo Armadillo.

I'll have to put this one on the queue. Meanwhile, I have had a week of disappointment with my attempts to knit a pair of fingerless mittens (it really shouldn't be this hard!). Tonight I cast on for the 5th time! A tale for another time...