A Year in Stitches

A Year in Stitches - Part 1

This year was really about using up left over yarn - it's amazing what can be found when you go looking!

Above: a miscellany of hats, cowls, corsages and pot holders...
Below: tactile cushion cover fronts...awaiting the addition of some colourful backs before being put to use...

Above: from a fair isle hat kit from Jamieson and Smith ... there was enough left over yarn to complete another hat to my own design and an iPad cover (also my own original design)
Below: beautiful handspun Shetland wool ... knitting mitred squares to create art ... a wall hanging!

Below: new yarn was purchased for gift knitting ... Rowan Fine Art sock yarn knitted into lovely soft shawls

There's still more leftovers to knit, so I will have plenty of creative scope in the new year too!

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My Mathilde blouse

For a while now I have been thinking about taking up sewing again. I say again as I loved GCSE Textiles which I chose over Home Economics. I think over the years our home economy has benefited more from what I knew about fabric than what I might have known about food, but that's for another day. I had a fantastic teacher. Mrs Plummer was a designer and an artist and motivated us all to do our best and to develop an understanding and love for fabric, for cutting it up and sewing it all back together. As a result, there were several years when at least one item of clothing I wore every day was handmade. Believe it or not we still exchange Christmas cards and she sends me photos of her latest artwork. I love hearing about what she has been doing - it's 24 years since I was in her class! In the years since, I have sewn less and less clothing and more and more curtains and then, when there are only so many curtains you can hang, my trusty machine was retired for a while. Recentl...

Shade Card Ripple - Ta Dah!

This is the blanket I made - it is based on the ripple pattern made famous by Lucy from Attic 24 . It fits a double bed perfectly. I used a 3.5mm crochet hook and one of each of the colours from Jamieson's double knitting (25g) shade card. I used around 409 ch to start with and around 220 rows. This is the blanket Mum made. She used the second half of each ball once I had completed the rows on my blanket. Again a 3.5mm hook was used, but this time she used a chevron crochet pattern from The Gebtle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket . She started with 360 ch and the same number of rows. It fits a sofa or a single bed beautifully. What do you think? We loved sharing this project - it gave us a lot of pleasure and many happy hooky hours! There's about 1200g of leftovers - all wound into magic balls and waiting for the next project...

Is there such a thing as 'Investment Knitting'?

Following my knitting revival came a succession of plans and lists of items that were to be produced - some sooner than others. One of the first Rowan patterns I completed was 'Lisette' by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan 36. Boy, was I a proud girl when this was finished! It was my first experience of knitting with a Rowan yarn, and nothing has yet shifted 4-ply Soft from the top of my list of the best yarns for drape and finish. It has virtually no 'bloom', washes brilliantly and wears as new. The colour is aptly called 'Beetroot' and is a bit darker than the picture below. The pattern was straightforward to knit, and as a result I think I will forever be partial to a Kim Hargreaves pattern. The edging was knitted separately and sewn on, which was a challenge for me as I am not too confident of my hand sewing skills when it comes to knitted fabric! I have learnt many things since I knitted this a couple of years ago. One of them is never to carry 'live' stitc...

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