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Fiona's
Nordic Cardigan
[Started 8th March]
I'm making this from the POM Nordic
Style Cardigan, for a friend who can no longer knit.
The yarn is Sirdar Country Classic DK [50% wool / 50% Acrylic;
50g=125m/137yds] purchased from Wool
Warehouse in colours: Navy 852, Red 871, and White 850.
[Note if you following the POM and are replacing Patons
Fiona with this yarn, you need to alter the required amounts
in proportion to the yardage - Patons Fiona had a very
long yardage - 50g=176 yards]
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Tatted
Christmas Decorations
[Started 21st October: :Completed
3rd November]
I gave a class on tatting to my Guild comrades. I thought
we might have "festive fun" and make some decorations,
but they were not impressed!
However, it did remind me that it's quite fun (up to a point)
so I made a few items from "Christmas Angels and
other Tatting Patterns" by Monica Hahn. [I purchased
the booklet from eBay where you can often see it on offer].
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Ski
Socks?
[Started 12th October]
I have found another sock victim in the shape of my chiropractor.
He admitted that he skis and that's good enough for me - and
it's only fair, as he has put me through enough pain over the
past month.
The yarn is Regia from the Gargia range by Arne and Carlos,
colour
3861 Masi [75% Wool / 25% Nylon : 100g=420m]. |
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Green
Woodpecker and Jay Socks
[Started 17th September: :Completed
12th October]
West Yorkshire Spinners have brought out 4 new colourways in
their birds series, and I was pleased to (at last) be able to
support Handmade
Studios in Petersfield, and purchase all four which were
newly available in their shop. George chose the first one I
am knitting - rather surprising as it's very bright indeed -
1170
Green Woodpecker [75% Wool / 23% Nylon / 2% Polyester: 100g=400m].
After one dose of bright green I tried to calm down a bit by
knitting 1167
Jay - then I went back to the Woodpecker and finished off.
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Simone
Cardigan
[Started 28th April: :Completed
25th August]
This time, an adult cardigan from Martin
Storey - once again from Rowan
Magazine 73. It's intended for Rowan Handknit Cotton [100%
Cotton; 50g=85m/93yds], but I am using Drops
Cotton Light [50% Cotton/50% Polyester; 50g=100m/109yds],
in colour 11 (Apple Green) which I chose mainly for the colour,
but turns out to be astonishingly inexpensive. It does feel
a little bit like plastic, and has a tendency to split, but
the the knitted fabric has an excellent drape.
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Coronation
Baby Blanket
[Started 15th April: :Completed
10th June]
Our Guild decided to make a Coronation themed blanket for
a premature baby charity. The result is pretty satisfactory
if a little wobbly due to the variety of contributors and
knitting styles. The yarn is Stylecraft
Special DK [100% acrylic : 100g=295m/322yds], purchased
from Wool Warehouse.
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Tiny
Clanger
[Started 14th April: :Completed
7th June]
Under duress from other grandparents I made this toy - which
in fact turned out to be very cute. The pattern is for Tiny
Clanger, available on the BBC
website. I used Stylecraft
4 ply,
[100% acrylic : 100g=422m/466yds] in colour 1080, Rose
Pink, plus some oddments. Sally from my weaving class
donated the felt.
[It was a great hit].
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Flower
Pillow
[Started 5th April: :Completed
22nd April]
A spring-like cushion cover, with which I shall be covering
a herbal lavender pad - or that's the plan.
This is an Arne and Carlos design which was offered free -
but has now seemingly disappeared altogether on line.
The yarn is Stylecraft
Special DK [100% acrylic : 100g=295m/322yds], colours
Cream, Sage, Bluebell, Saffron, and Red.
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Sea
Stars Cardigan
[Started 14th March: :Completed 7th June]
A Martin
Storey design from Rowan
Magazine 73 for a child's cardigan (there's a separate
adult version too), in soft summer colours. It's intended
for Rowan Summerlite DK [100% Cotton; 50g=130m/142yds], but
I am using the rather more economic Drops
Safran [100% Cotton; 50g=160m/175yds], and as it's not
a DK I knitted a swatch (I know!); although it claims to work
up to 24sts on 3mm needles, I'm getting more like 27 sts even
on 3½mm - which is OK as that appears to be what the
pattern calls for - so we'll see...
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Shell
[Started
8th March]
Another Lisa
Richardson design that caught my eye, from Rowan
Magazine 72. The yarn is Moordale [70% wool / 30% Alpaca;
100g=230m/251yds] in colours: Bronzed 006, Feather 001, Turmeric
003, Nutmeg 011, Pepper 002- and in a break with tradition
I purchased the correct yarn. However the pattern is far more
complex than I imagined being a mixture of fair isle and intarsia,
plus they are not really "my" colours, so all in
all, my enthusiasm is somewhat tempered.
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Macrame:
Beach Bag
[Started 27th February: :Completed
4th April]
I was inspired to try my hand at this by a commercial high
end design - which was described as a crochet bag (and cost
an arm and a leg) but was clearly macrame. Long ago, I bought
the thread, economically as possible, from China on eBay (it
can be very expensive) - and that in itself was a nightmare
as they seemed unable to ship their offer of multibuys and
when I finally gave up and ordered 3 units they were each
slightly different colours and thicknesses.
Finally, I decided it was time to kick off in earnest and
despite this being my first real foray in this art form, (as
usual), I tried to wade right in with my own design. Many
knots and unknotting later I realise (again as usual) there
should have been more planning at the outset...
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Toby's
Argyle Cardigan
[Started 18th January: :Completed
1st February]
Another vintage design from a Bouch D'Or yarn booklet: Les
Petites Anges. The original yarn is a 5ply but I used
Stylecraft
4 ply [100% acrylic : 100g=422m/466yds] in colours, Denim,
and Cream - purchased at the Fluffatorium.
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"Surrey
Thrift" Cardigan
[Started 21st October 2022]
This is a "thrift" cardigan because I've had a pack of 10
balls of Patons Moorland (a brown tweed fleck) in my possession
for about 40 years, waiting for the right project. Over that
time there have been at least 2 attempts to make something
from it, but it's a dense pure wool DK and fundamentally it's
not enough for a sweater. However: enter Bellmans 1542
(an "unusual" vintage pattern) which seems to be perfect.
I'm adding 2 contrasts in Rowan Felted Tweed DK, which is
finer and lighter, but the tension works OK as the pattern
uses slip stitches, and only comes into play on the sleeves.
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Cornish
Thrift Shawl
[Started 13th October 2022: :Completed
21st January]
My sister saw this shawl in her LYS
in Petersfield and bought some pink sock wool there -
I supplemented it with 2 skeins of a semi-solid hand dyed
wool from
Posh Yarn. The pattern is Cornish
Thrift by Nicola Diggins, and the yarn is Fruitful
Fusion 4 ply colour Dusk [75% Merino / 25% Nylon
: 100g=425m], and Alyssa
Sock, colour Blueberry Kisses [80% Merino / 20%
silk.: 100g=366m/400yds].
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Weaving:
Blue and White Cushion I
[Started 27th September 2022:
:Completed 14th March]
This is another design from Janet Phillips' book Designing
Woven Fabrics.
The original scarf design has been doubled in width with a
view to making a cushion cover, and I am using Venne
BIO Cottoline [70% Cotton / 30% Linen : 250g=1600m], for
both warp and weft, in colours 4003 Steel Blue, and
7100 Cream, from George Weil (Fibrecrafts) in Guildford.
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Weaving:
"Two Crabs" scarf
[Started 28th August 2022]
This is another design from Janet Phillips' book Designing
Woven Fabrics. I've always wanted to make this - mostly
attracted by the pretentious title as it's based on a Picasso
painting - but I am using laceweight wools rather than silk
and my colour and texture variations are much simpler than
Janet designed.
The warp is mainly Fyberspates
Scrumptious Lace colour 520 Azure [55% Wool / 45% Silk:
100g=1000m]; the weft is mainly Fyberspates
Gleem Lace colour 706 Sea Green [55% Wool / 45% Silk:
100g=800m] - both from Wool
Warehouse. There are also highly coloured narrow stripes
of other colours in both warp and weft, which are from an
800m skein of Laughing
Hens Undyed 2 Ply Merino/Silk Lace which I hand-dyed.
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Rock
[Started 26th May 2022:
:Completed 10th March]
A Lisa
Richardson design from Rowan
Magazine 71 for a crochet blanket/throw in soft summer
colours. It's intended for Rowan Cotton Cashmere [15% Cashmere
/ 85% Cotton; 50g=125m], and I am using the leftover pink
(wrong pink) from Sofia,
plus some budget cotton yarn purchased from Poundland - Natura
Cotton [15% Polyester / 85% Cotton; 100g=150m], supplemented
by vintage Rico Essentials Cotton DK [100% Cotton : 50g=130m]
in a dusty gold shade (26), and Patons Knit 'n' Save Cotton
DK in a rose beige (2552) [100% Cotton : 100g] both purchased
on eBay. Needless to say it won't be as lovely as one made
from the intended yarn - but I hope it will be lovely enough....
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Flamingo
[Started 8th August 2021]
I was seduced by an email from Laughing Hens exhorting me
to buy the booklet Rico
Ricorumi It Must Be Love. It's full of cute crochet
sweet nothings based on the theme of "luuurve".
However the one that I love is the flamingo.
She's knitted in Rico
Ricorumi cotton yarn supplied in small reasonably priced
balls, making it practical to make these small items using
a number of different colours, [100% cotton; 25g=57m (62yds)].
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Oddments
Blanket (for good causes)
[Started 2nd November 2021: :Completed
14th September]
I have started a background project to make another blanket
from acrylic oddments (I have many) using the Domino construction
technique. You'd think a dynamic random design would be easy
enough, but as usual, after the first few squares, making
a truly random whilst also pleasing combination gets more
and more difficult!
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Hooked
Sheep
[Started 2nd January 2021]
This is a kit I bought from Hooked
By Design at Woolfest in 2017. I also bought a frame
kit to work the picture on - the latter I made up very quickly
- but I did not start hooking the picture! Since then I loaned
the frame to Alison who purchased and immediately started and
completed her choice of picture (herring
gulls) from Woolfest in 2018. Finally, now, I am getting
round to actually using the frame myself... My choice is "natural"
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Fleetwith
sweater and cowl
[Started 6th January 2020] With
some regrets - Frogged
I thought of Lyn when I saw this pattern in Rowan's British
Made by Lisa Richardson as it is the "sort of thing
she really likes", and I considered buying
Valley Tweed even though it would be pretty costly, despite
the excellent yardage. However I have an ever-expanding collection
of some very good vintage fingering yarns, so I felt bound
to consider them. In the end, I chose a lovely cherry red
Hermit pure wool crepe 4ply (yardage unknown - also a problem)
which I think will suit the pattern.
Having completed back and front, it becomes clear that even
with adaptations, I will run out of yarn. Thus there has been
a long hiatus and a great dilemma. I have bought some Valley
Tweed now in order to have another go - so - to frog or not
to frog?
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Weaving:
Cotton Towels
[Started 23rd March 2019]
I was inspired to try this project by the newsletters from
Gist Yarn
and Fiber. I would have bought their cotton but the shipping
cost from the US meant I needed to be more cost-conscious
for a simple
rigid heddle project to do in the evenings. I settled
on a real budget option which was impossibly low cost and
astonishingly fast delivery despite shipping from Hobii
in Copenhagen.
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Little
Bottles Quilt
[Restarted 9th February 2019]
This is a patchwork quilt I started to make in about 2003
and in truth had done most of the hard work in appliqué.
I was undecided as to what technique to use for the striped
"curtains" - but have set off now with renewed vigour
and decisiveness.
The design is Little Bottles by Kaffe Fassett from
the fourth Westminster Quilting book (usually available from
eBay).
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Bella
Blouse
[Started 9th June 2011]
This is the Bella Blouse by Norah Gaughan from the Knitting
Daily Pattern Library. I am using a few balls of Rowan Damask
- a yarn I love but now discontinued - for the contrast and
I found an ecru cotton blend (Patons Washed Haze) which tones
with it quite well for the main shade. As my supply of Damask
is limited I am omitting the contrast band at the bottom of
the sweater.
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Two
[Started
22nd August 2010]
This is Two
- not another cardigan! But it is, like Puzzle, from
Queen
of Hearts - in fact, the cover design. The yarn is Patons
Misty
[25g; 150m], 70% mohair, 30% polyamide. It knits to a
double knitting tension of about 22sts to 4 inches, but I
am knitting it much looser on 6mm needles. I chose this yarn
also at Ally Pally in 2009; being a dress I thought it would
take for ever but it seems to be knitting up very quickly
so I have every expectation of finishing it soon...
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