Baby Cardigan & Trousers

I made this little outfit for a friend of mine who recently had a bubba (well, obviously, would be weird if she didn't have one or wasn't even expecting!).  She'd seen some pics on FB of some other knitting and crochet items and asked if I could make an outfit for her little boy.

I set about researching outfits on the best site ever, Ravelry!  I tried out a few search terms before realising it was better looking for a cardigan and bottoms separately and picking ones that matched.  By coincidence, the two I settled on were both by Drops!  I picked the cardigan as I wanted to practice my colourwork - I've only ever done swatches of fairisle before so thought I'd try my hand at an actual item.  As for the trousers, they were the simplest looking ones that I liked, and I especially adored the ribbing detail on the side of the legs.

The yarn I decided on Rico Design Baby Cotton Soft DK, a cotton/acrylic mix.  I chose this for two reasons: 1. the material mix and 2. because it had the colours that I wanted to use!  It is a gorgeously soft yarn, however it probably wasn't the best choice for this project.  Hard to describe, but it didn't leave a nice fluffy texture like I wanted it to.  But still, it had a lovely sheen and was wonderful to work with.  It would be perfect for any summer clothing as it's quite light, would definitely use it again for a better suited project.

It started of pretty well...

The first mistake was not keeping track of the button holes!! These were worked in at the same time as going up the body - if you look closely the gap between the second and third button is huge!  It took me AGES to figure out this was a bottom up pattern as I'm such an idiot!  Then the panic set in, how on EARTH was I going to do the sleeves.  I decided to read the pattern more carefully - knit them separately and then attach them.  Knit, separately, attach.  Oh.

The sleeves themselves went pretty well.  I used the wrong increase though, but after consulting my lovely Instagram followers, they all loved the symmetry and extra detail so I decided to stick to using the K1fb increase :)

It took about 3-4 attempts to get the sleeves onto the body.  I googled it and asked for advice from one of my Instagram ladies who was also doing a bottom up - but all of the advice was for attaching to knit row, I had to attach to a purl row :/  The first couple times, no matter how much I tried to plan, I always attached them upside down!  I eventually got it right however, phew!

Then came the fairisle! I have to say, it was a lot easier than attaching the sleeves to the body, in fact it was pretty fun!

Then the bottoms - I was looking forward to making these, only because I never thought I'd ever make knitted bottoms.  These were pretty straightforward and actually uneventful!

I had a great time with this project and I loved making these!  I got to practice fairisle knitting and make little knitted trousers! :)  I'd definitely put these patterns in the 'to make again' pile!

Pattern links:
Cardigan - http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=4564&lang=us
Trousers/Pants - http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=4906&lang=us

Yarn Details:  Rico Design Baby Cotton Soft DK
Cardigan - Light Blue (Main Colour), Jeans, Beige, Silver.
Trousers/Pants - Jeans.

Knitted Headband

It was a work colleague's birthday last week and I didn't have any time the weekend before to go shopping to get her anything, I felt so awful!  But then I had a complete lightbulb moment - make something!  It's no secret that I love yarn and hoard great amounts of it.  I like to think that one day I'll have so much stash yarn that I could store it all in a big disused water tank and swim around in it all.  Like Scrooge McDuck from Duck Tales swimming around in his money.  Well, back to the story, I knew exactly which yarn I wanted to use, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, it's definitely one of my favourite yarns!  I didn't have to look too hard to find a ball of aran weight and in a gorgeous red colour!

Anyway, my lovely work colleague loves knitted headbands, so making one for her would be perfect!  For inspiration, I went to my usual source, Ravelry.  I stumbled upon a pattern called Hot Mess Headband which was a really simple but gorgeous pattern; 1x1 rib with a cable in the centre.  Took me all of two evenings to complete, so super quick!  

Knitting skills save the day! And thankfully, my work colleague loved it :D

Not Your Boyfriend's Sweater

I'm so excited about this...it's my first jumper that I can wear in public!  My first jumper was appalling, embarrassing even - the style of jumper I made was separate front and back panels and sleeves to be sewn together.  Some how I managed to knit the back panel SO loosely, but the tension for the other 3 pieces was fine.  When it came to sewing it all together it was so uneven that I gave up!

Undeterred, I set about knitting a second jumper.  This time I decided to do the raglan style, so completely seamless and no sewing together, hence less room for error!  I also found the straight stockinette in one colour of the first jumper soooo boring.  Instead of incorporating colour to jazz it up I decided to add detail in.

Now, I already had in mind what I wanted to do.  I'd seen a pattern yonks ago on Ravelry that has been saved in my favourites forever.  The pattern was called "Not Your Boyfriend's Sweater" and can also be found on the Cascade Yarns site.  It has the usual ribbed neckline and cuffs, but it has gorgeous lace details on the front and the back.  I had never tried knitting a lace pattern before so I thought I'd give it a go - it couldn't have turned out any worse than my first jumper attempt!

The yarn I decided to use was Calmer by Rowan.  It's a sumptuous cotton and acrylic mix yarn which I had bought from John Lewis as it was on sale (can someone say 'yarn addict'?!).  Then I found out it was on sale because it had been discontinued, such a shame as it's such a lovely yarn to work with.  It was also the same weight as the required yarn in the pattern which was extremely handy :)

The incorporation of the lace pattern made knitting this so fun, so much better than the monotony of a plain stockinette.  I did a practice swatch of the lace repeats before I got to that part in the pattern and I have to say it was definitely not as scary as I thought; in fact it made me happy making something quite pretty :)

Overall the jumper took a little over two months to make.  "But that's AGES!" you're probably thinking, and yes, you'd be correct.  However, this was done in the little spare time that in between working, flat hunting. packing, moving, extreme knitting a rug and my boy coming to visit for 2 weeks...I think if I didn't have that much on it wouldn't have taken that long at all.  Using worsted weight with 5mm needles meant that it knitted up fairly quickly.

 

I did also make an annoying mistake which I've left in there to remind me to be extra careful knitting whilst under the influence!  Fruity flavoured Swedish cider is so deceiving :(

I am so pleased with how this jumper came out!  I highly recommend this pattern to anyone new to knitting jumpers and wants something a bit fancier.  I would say you do need to have practiced or have experience with circular needles and DPN's (double pointed needles) - and if you do, great, you'll love making this!

WIP Update

Just realised it's been over a month since I last posted!!  It's been such a mad few months that I've not had that much time to knit or crochet.  Since August, I've moved into an unfurnished flat that I'm still buying furniture for, had my 30th birthday, my boy came over for a 2 week visit and now we're planning for his big move back to the UK!

I've been working on this sweater since the end of August...progress has been slow but I'm almost there, just a sleeve and the neckline ribbing to go!

I am planning to make some cute little Christmas decorations once the jumper is finished.  Things have calmed down a bit now so hopefully I'll have more time for crafting and blogging! :)

Extreme Knitting: Rug Edition

I've just moved into a new and unfurnished place. Although it was a NIGHTMARE getting the furniture for it, I did have a bit of fun with decorating :)

Whenever I'd browse online yarn shops, I had occasionally come across huge and gigantic knitting needles and always thought "those would be so cool to try out one day" but I never had a project in mind to warrant using them. So when I realised my flat needed a rug I had a lightbulb moment - knit a rug!

I put a lot of thought into planning this - it would be nice to have a durable material that was easy to maintain and wash if needed so I settled on using tshirt yarn. I was originally going to make my own yarn from buying tshirts in bulk from eBay. But I couldn't find the colour I wanted and dying it myself was looking like a necessity. I ended up googling 'orange tshirt yarn' and found this amazing site called Hooplayarn that sold cotton jersey tshirt yarn on bobbins in millions of colours (okay not millions but definitely over 30).  I didn't want the orange to be too garish so I ended up going for a colour called Sunset, which made sound a but romantic too:) They seemed a little pricey, £8.50 for a 100m bobbin, but when I calculated how many tshirts I needed to buy to get 100m it turned out to be more expensive, plus I wouldn't have to dye it myself! I wasn't sure how many bobbins I needed so I just ordered 10 and figured I could order more if I needed to.

Next step, the huge needles! The tshirt yarn was designed to be used with 10mm needles or hooks. I came across a few, but the ones by Rachel John seemed to be what I was looking for. The extreme knitting needles came in either 19mm or 24mm. I decided on the 19mm, that way I could easily double up on the bobbins and the stitches would still look tight. I kinda wanted to do a cable knit too so I bought the straight 19mmx700mm needles and the 19mmx400mm cable needles!

As you can see from the picture, there isn't a cable. This is because I was silly and didn't think it through, what was the point of a cable if there's going to be a coffee table on top of the rug?! Doh!

Next came the actual knitting! Me being on the petite side found using these ridiculously large needles a challenge, but I love challenges! I cast on 65 stitches and just worked a stockinette until I got the length I wanted. It was easy to begin with, but as it got longer turning the work over got harder. I even had to sit on the floor as the work was too heavy to try and hold up doing it sitting on a chair or sofa! But turning heavy work meant a good arm work out, I should start selling tickets to my gun show now!

      

Et voila, here is my work in all orangey and extreme knitting wonder. It ended up being 100cmx150cm (101x152 to be exact!). I'm pretty darned pleased with how it came out.  I might even use the left over yarn to make coordinating coasters!

...Said no knitter, ever.

I just saw this amazing post on Facebook shared by Vogue Knitting.

My favourite line: "I love weaving in ends, the more the merrier."  Hahahahaha (weaving in ends is the WORST!)

Pink Baby Cardigan!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine commissioned me to make her BFF a baby cardigan who is expecting her little bundle of joy in October.  The only pre-requisite is that it had to be some shade of pink!

I've never been given such artistic freedom for a commissioned project and so I emailed my friend like a fiend of cardigan pics and yarn types.  We soon decided on the 'Baby Sophisticate' pattern that I found on Ravelry for free, and to use Rowan's All Seasons Cotton in Cosmos.

The actual knitting went along quite nicely, because the yarn is aran weight, I managed to do the body in one weekend!  I've been using 4 ply a lot recently so I forgot how big a piece gets so quickly with aran!  Plus it was nice to hold some chunky needles and yarn.

The one bit I had trouble with was picking up on the right side, I kept getting this weird flat bit and frogged it about 2 times but with no improvement, other than that I'm pretty pleased with the result - so was the yummy mummy that I made this for :)

Frogging Advice

You may know that I currently working on a jumper...annoyingly the pattern was unclear for the front shoulders and I messed up a little and ended up a few rows short.  Having realised my error, I didn't have the heart to rip (or frog) my work as there were about 10 rows to undo and so I've left it as it is :(

A few days later I came across THE most helpful article ever!  How to undo multiple rows without laboriously doing it stitch by stitch, I wish I'd known about this article earlier!

Anyway, I'm sharing it with you all as it's pretty darned useful stuff...enjoy!

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/FEATwin03TT.html 

A Rosy Intarsia Foray

I took a break from my current wip (a baby pink jumper) to practice some colour work for the first time.

I recently posted about a jumper that I'm currently obsessed with making called "Santorini" by Rowan.  It's so amazing, but does require some pretty detailed intarsia work, which frankly, was way out of my knitting capabilities.  But I really want to make it so I've decided to do some practicing.

I found a really cute (free) pattern on Ravelry for a 5 colour intarsia chart which I thought would be perfect.  Luckily, being the yarn hoarder that I am, I already had 3 different pinks and 2 different greens.

I did a little bit of research and everywhere said that I had to use little bobbins which had a little bit of yarn from each colour of the pattern.  I didn't have any so I went all A-Team like and made my own from a bit of stiff card.

At the time, I had posted a pic of the bobbins and chart to instagram.  I was already 10 rows into it and finding the tangled mess of yarns a bit tedious.  A lovely lady (who is also going to be my knitting partner when I knit Santorini) told me she'd watch a tutorial once and they recommended just using short bits of yarn rather than bobbins.  I tried this and wow, it was sooo much easier!  I definitely would have struggled later on if I'd stuck with the bobbins!

After a few hours, I'd completed the little 30x40 chart.  Lots of lessons learnt and techniques discovered about intarsia knitting.  I got told once that you can carry the main yarn every couple of stitches so you don't have a huge bit at the back once you get to the other side.  Of course in the beginning I either 1. forgot or 2. didn't leave it slack enough.  By the end I'd got the hang of it pretty well.  It didn't stop the back looking like a hot mess though.

I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out, it's looks so pretty!  By no means perfect, but I think it's a pretty good first try at intarsia knitting :)

Cabled Scarf

I made this scarf for a good friend of mine who had requested it for her birthday.  Unfortunately I was a little bit late as her birthday was in the first week of April and I only finished it yesterday :/

All she said she wanted was a knitted scarf in a neutral colour - she's got a few winter coats in different colours and so we thought that cream would be best.  Other than that I had complete artistic freedom (which is a lot harder than having a straight pattern to follow!).  I suggested a few designs and settled on a cabled scarf broken up with bits of stockinette and a seed stitch border.  Pretty simple.

I used Debbie Bliss's Casmerino Aran, I absolutely adore this yarn, it's a dream to work with and is so soft against the skin.  

I haven't seen her to give it to her yet, but hopefully she'll love it :)

Santorini

No, not the idyllic holiday destination in Greece. Instead, this amazingly gorgeous drool-worthy jumper pattern in Rowan's latest knitting and crochet magazine (Number 53). I saw the picture on their website and completely fell in love with it. So much so, I went out and bought the magazine with no real intention of making it - but to perve over the pictures like a teenage boy reading Playboy. The more I looked, the more I had to have it. And when a particular online yarn store had a 15% discount on all Rowan yarns, I took this as a sign to make it. 

Only a couple of minor problems though:

1. I've never knitted an adult jumper before. 

2. I've only ever done basic intarsia with two colours. 

As you can see this particular jumper has about 20 bazillion colours, so one may say I need more experience. 

Experience, schmexperience. 

When I took up running I went straight in for a full marathon and totally disregarded any 5k, 10k or half marathons. No really, that's what I really did. 

So, I'm gonna do it. But seeing as the yarn was pretty darned expensive, I'm going to at least do a practice adult jumper. Just a basic, plain stockinette stitch but just so I know I can at least do that. Then maybe practice a swatch or two of intarsia charts involving more than two colours. Then I'll be ready. 

Santorini, here I come. 

Braided Necklace

It was my sister-in-laws sister's birthday back in February.  I was really rubbish and abroad for her birthday...I managed to send a card but then completely forgot to get her a gift when I got back, now she's having a belated party, uh oh!!

I racked my brains for something to get her.  She literally just started a jewellery making course this weekend gone and so I thought I'd buy her a book.  Seemed good but had this niggling feeling that it wasn't quite enough.  So I did what I usually do when I need some inspiration - browse the patterns on Ravelry!  After a couple of minutes I came across this pattern (click here) for this gorgeous yet simple necklace design, and seeing as I only had a week to make this, it would be perfect!

I started it late last night and managed to finish it today, button and weaving ends in included!  It's so pretty and perfect for the summer.  Also, hopefully something quirky enough to tie in with her jewellery making course :)

PS I used the 'projects' bit on my Ravelry page for the first time ever for this necklace! If you're interested you can read it here.

It's official, Ryan Gosling loves knitting.

So, in a recent interview (click here), Mr Gosling admitted that "If I had to design my perfect day, that [knitting] would be it."   *SWOON*

Purple Snood

©TheYarningDarling 2012

Another knitted Christmas gift!

My sister-in-law loves scarves.  She also loves purple.  So, it made sense to combine the two to make her a scarf!  I decided to make her a snood, or infinity scarf, with cables.  I wanted to break them up with a rib, but wanted to do something a bit different, so I flicked through my book of stitiches and found the brioche rib.  Seemed easy enough and I liked that it added a bit of thickness so that the scarf would be all snug and warm.

I started it in November on the plane to see my boy and originally made the edges in a seed stitch.

©TheYarningDarling 2012

This all started out fine, but for some reason, the brioche rib unravelled on the plane, luckily I managed to save it.  Whilst in LA, it happened again, but this time it was HUGE!  Silly me didn't take any tools with me, not even a crochet hook!  I had to improvise and with a safety pin I patched the area up; it didn't look great but it did the job and looked alright from the right side.

©TheYarningDarling 2012

Three balls of yarn in and one to go, it happened again!! ARRGGGHHH! I'm a bit of a perfectionist and having three fairly big mistakes annoyed me.  Like, seriously annoyed me.  The only solution was to start all over again.  It's funny how satisfying it can be to unwind 20+ hours of work :/

©TheYarningDarling 2012

Thankfully, it all went well the second time round - albeit a few minor mistakes!  And my sister-in-law loved it :)

For those who want to know, I used the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn on 5mm needles.

Vintage-style Tea Cosy

©TheYarningDarling 2013

So this was tea cosy number two - made for my boyfriend's sister as her Christmas present.  Well, I'd actually bought her a lovely Cath Kidston teapot and made the tea cosy to match it :)

I used exactly the same pattern as the one made for my 'twin' in a previous post.  For this one, I replaced the pompom on top with a rose.  Now, I'd love to write down some kind of pattern, but I'm afraid I made it up on the spot and didn't write down a pattern :(  All I can say is that it's a stockinette stitch so that it did that curly thing!  Oh, and the leaves were crocheted.

I was pretty sad when I had to give it away, I loved it so much!  But I'm a coffee drinker so if I had a 6 cup teapot it would just sit and gather dust!

Theft of Intellectual Property

Update: I contacted the UK admin for DaWanda and they agreed with me that it was a copyright violation.  They have since deleted the listing and sent the seller and message reminding them of the T&C's for selling.  So pleased :D


Sorry to have to write a serious post, but I've discovered that someone has been selling my free Giraffe pattern on a German based website Dawanda.com.  http://de.dawanda.com/product/37617009-Amigurumi-Giraffe-Haekelanleitung

This person has never contacted me regarding selling my pattern for their own personal profit and has tried to apply a copyright to the picture they've even stolen from my blog.

Due to this, I've had to put a stern message on my pattern :(

I'd be so grateful if you could let me know if you discover this pattern anywhere else, and if you could ask the seller to delete the pattern immediately.

Thank you.

Tea Cosy

Hey guys! I know it's been a while - I've been busy like a little bee knitting away in all of my free time making various gifts for people.  I did, however, make one gift that wasn't a Christmas one and so I can blog about it!

When I first started knitting, my twin (in the ironic sense, she's tall, white and blonde; I'm short, brown and have curly hair), asked me to make her a tea cosy as her teapot was feeling cold and was feeling a bit sad about it.  I promised her I would once my knitting skills were up to scratch. About a month ago I decided now was the time to try.

I found a pattern on Ravelry by Patons for a classic pleated tea cosy with a pom pom on top which looked cute.  My friend's favourite colours were turquoise and cherry red.  I held the colours together and didn't think they quite matched so I went for a deep turquoise and mint green.  I'm pretty pleased with the result, especially as it's my first one using more than one colour :)

Well, that's about it for now!

UPDATE: My twin received the cosy and now her teapot is all warm and snug, yay!

Another Baby Cardigan!

Guess I'm at that age where mostly everyone I know is either getting married or having babies. Some friends of mine are expecting a little bundle of joy in October and had a baby shower last weekend - so I did what I do best and made the little bubba something from yarn!

I was talking to another friend (the mum of the little girl I made the last cardigan for) and she said a baby cardigan for them would be perfect especially as it'll be a winter baby.

I decided that I wanted to knit a seed (moss) stitch cardigan with ribbed edges and a hood.  So, you know, not really that specific at all.  I spent quite a few hours looking for patterns all over the place but to no avail.  But alas, whilst browsing Ravelry I came across a raglan baby cardigan in seed stitch, ribbed edges and a hood.  I couldn't believe my luck! I purchased that pattern in a heartbeat!  

There I was, all excited that I was going to make this amazing cardigan and started reading through the pattern and saw...Circular needles...what?!...knitting in the round with double pointed needles (DPN's)...whaaatttt?!  I've only ever knitted on single points :/

I saw this as a challenge and I couldn't avoid these things forever, especially if I am to become the knitting extraordinaire that I want to be.  I went out a bought me some bamboo circulars and DPN's and got to work. Again, I used Rowan All-Seasons Cotton as it's easier to take care of especially where babies are concerned.  I cast on, then got into my head that I was knitting the body in the round with the circulars and got into a major panic.  How could I join 30 stitches across a 80cm circular?!  I decided to email the lovely lady who designed the pattern and she cleared things up for me instantly.  Eventually it would be 108 stitches long; the circular is used just to hold all the stitches and not to knit in the round.  Phew!

Then came the sleeves, DPN's and knitting in the round.  Whenever I've seen pictures of socks being knitted and seen all those DPN's, I'd get scared.  Plain scared.  It looked so complicated! Thank goodness for YouTube.  Is it bad that that it taught me how to knit in the round?!  Well, I am glad to say it was no where nearly as scary as it looks, and actually pretty enjoyed it!

Anyways, two weeks later, ta da! I finished the cardigan on the morning of the baby shower so I cut that one really fine!  The parents-to-be loved it.  I can't wait to see the little one wearing it when he/she is born :)

Baby Cardigan

So a while ago, my friend had asked me to make her gorgeous little daughter a little cardigan.  Other than a scarf and a snood, I'd never made a real item of clothing.  But seeing as my eventual aim is to make a penguin jumper, I accepted this new challenege!

One afternoon, me and my friend searched Ravelry for knitted baby cardigans.  Her only requirements were:
1. A very simple design (i.e. no fancy cable work or moss/seed stitch patterns)
2. Buttons that do up all the way down the front, not just at the top.
3. Greyish/Lilac colour.

I set to work on finding a pattern first as thought there was no point in finding the perfect yarn until I knew what yarn weight I needed!  Eventually I found a pattern through Ravelry on the Lion Brand Yarn site.   Now, their pattern requires their 'Pound of Yarn'.  It was a bit of a problem as a) LBY has no distribution in the UK and b) it's crazy expensive to get it shipped over.  Good thing is after some investigation I discovered it was of worsted/aran weight!

I wanted the yarn to be supersoft, but also breathable and hard-wearing, so ideally a cotton/acrylic mix.  I went to the first place I thought...John Lewis!  After a bit of a faff - I found my perfect yarn! It was the All Seasons Cotton by Rowan in Shade 253 (Fez).  Unsure of how many balls I'd need, I bought 8, just in case so they'd all be in the same dye lot too.  Now I say faff as the label on the yarn doesn't overtly say what weight it is and one lady in JL was convinced it wasn't as the needle requirements were 4.5-5.5mm which was what I needed anyway.  To be on the safe side, I came home to investigate and if you search yarns by weight on the Rowan site, All Seasons Cotton appears on the Aran weight.  In case anyone wants to know, I only needed 4 of the 50g balls for the 12 month pattern, which included the tails for the start/ends of a piece and sewing the seams.

I had so much fun making this, especially the pockets (cos I'm totally sad).  I need to get started on more baby clothes now...this has given me a bug for it!

Can't wait to see little J in this cardigan, she's going to look totally adorable :)

People actually like my things!

Having just crocheted and knitted for my personal fun, I've been formally asked to make something by someone to give as a gift!  As this person is a very close friend, I offered to make it for free.  They weren't having any of it, and so we agreed on cost price.  It's a pretty weird feeling, I only ever set out to learn how to knit and crochet so I could annoy people with handmade gifts!

Ages ago, I had made my friend's daughter a lion (from a pattern) and a giraffe (completely made up as I went along). She's asked me to make the same for her friend who is due to have a baby in the next few weeks and a little cardigan for her own daughter.  The animals will be fine, the cardigan will be a bit more difficult as I can't knit on circular needles yet!  More learning for me :)

I'll keep you all updated on my progress and put up the refined pattern for the giraffe once he's done :)