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.

Oops I did it again!

Once again I have run out of yarn in the final stages of a project. You may recall that this happened to me last year when I was knitting the Moss Stitch Hoodie for my nephew. In that instance Ravelry saved the day and a very lovely lady from Missouri, all the way on the other side of the world, was kind enough to send me a couple of balls of Naturally Merino 10ply (we still keep in touch on Ravelry which is nice).

This time around I should have known better. I am knitting the Never Not Knitting's Cedar Leaf Shawlette in Malabrigo Silky Merino. Having consulted other Raverly users' project notes I knew that it would be tight, if not impossible, to knit this out of just 2 skeins. So on Sunday night the inevitable happened and I ran out of yarn with just two and a half leaves left to go.

I had even asked the store where I bought the yarn to hold an additional skein for me, but that was weeks ago and I never got back to them, and of course now they and the only other Malabrigo stockists in Australia are out of stock!

The upshot of this disaster is that I placed my first order with US online store Eat.Sleep.Knit yesterday and my order has already been shipped. To make it worth my while in terms of shipping, in addition to the skein of silky merino that I need to finish the shawlette, I added 2 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Frost Gray and 2 skeins in SFO Sky (I love grey!). Now I just have to wait 10-21 days (fingers crossed that it's 10!) for it to arrive.

One skein of Malabrigo Scarf

My sister Nicole entered my knitted gift giveaway back in March hoping to win a red scarf. Even though she wasn't an official winner I wanted to make her something. She is a regular follower of my blog and one of the few who leaves comments (which is always nice!). She has also just returned to work after her second child so I decided to whip her up a one skein wonder as a mothers day gift.

Having the self imposed restriction of using only one skein made the pattern choice a little tricky but I ended up choosing to knit the Drop Stitch Scarf (ravelry link) by Christine Vogel.

It was a nice brainless knit and only took me a few days to finish. I followed the lead of other Ravelry users and wet blocked this, increasing the size from 115cm x 15cm (knitted size) to 165cm x 17cm (after blocking). The result is a good sized scarf and the stitch and slight variegation of the yarn show up beautifully.

Koolhaas Complete

It feels like an eternity since I started knitting Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat for my husband but I am happy to report that it's finished.

One thing that slowed progress considerably was losing my cable needle down the side of a seat whilst knitting on the train. It was so frustrating and it was my only cable needle so the hat had a hiatus until I got around to buying a new one.

The other thing that slowed me down was all the cable crosses. This being only my second attempt at cables I was painfully slow. If I were to knit it again I would definitely take the time to learn how to cable without a cable needle.

Apart from the above I was very happy with the pattern and my knitting but am very cranky at myself for losing count of the cable repeats and knitting 7 instead of 6 (which was the number recommended for large) so it really is a bit big. It will keep Jamie's ears warm though.

I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of piling the yarn has done in the short time since I finished. J does rub his head a lot which doesn't help. I still love this yarn and love this colourway: Azulprofundo.

Phat Knits

Image from Bauke Knotterus website

Jamie stumbled across this on the web the other day and new that it would tickle my fancy. Dutch design studio Bauke Knottnerus create crazy cool interior products made from giant threads. I love the concept and this knitted hangout mat in particular. I wish I knew how they actually made it...giant needles??

A Big Day Out

I am pleased to report that our day out in the city on Saturday was an all around success. The Beginners Crochet workshop was a good introduction into crochet. Over the space of four hours we learned the 4 main stitches and finished with a granny square.

I have to admit that I was surprised that I got the hang of it at all. I tried to get my mum to teach me late last year and it was a disaster. I think the problem was that I went to her with a pattern in mind and tried to launch straight into it before even learning the foundation stitches. At the time I also struggled with holding the yarn in my left hand and keeping my tension.

This time around I didn't even think about it and it wasn't an issue. I liked the fact that workshop teacher, Jeanette, didn't care how you held your hook or yarn as long as you got the end result.


Stitch sampler - chain stitch, double crochet, treble and half treble. I lost a few stitches along the way but I was getting the hang of it.


My first ever Granny Square - my precious!

Morris & Sons were kind enough to give class participants a student discount of 10% off all purchases after the workshop. Maja and I didn't take much convincing to take up the offer, but I did have trouble deciding on colours for my granny square. I couldn't resist buying some of Morris & Sons' own Empire yarn. It looks so delicious and comes in a beautiful range of colours. Pity in is made in China (from 100% Australian merino at least) and so pricey ($10.90/50g). I have Maja to thank for helping me select these beautiful, grown-up colours.


Morris Empire superwash merino 8ply in Bluestone, Smoke and Pumpkin

After the workshop we reunited with our husbands and my little angel and enjoyed the world's best dumplings at Din Tai Fung at World Square, before catching a bus to Newtown to check out a designer kidswear sale. We must have got there a little late in the day for the clothes but I did snap up these 3 gorgeous Lark knitted cupcakes for just $5 each.


Lark Cupcakes - cute enough to eat!

It was a great day out and now I am itching to start a big granny square cushion for my sofa but I am banned from picking up the hook until I at least finish the now very belated birthday shawl for my mother in law.

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!