Monthly Archives: September 2013

Friday Favourites

Leave a reply

This weeks pattern favourites go to…

1) Seven Sisters Pullover by Mari Chiba

Photo courtesy Interweave Knits

A copy of Interweave Knits fell upon my desk this week and I noticed this sweater straight away.   I love that faux rib pattern that spirals around the back, and the way it fits around the shoulders.  I’ve been a follower of Mari’s blog for a while, too, which is always full of lovely photographs and patterns.

2) The Shephard Hoodie by Kate Davies

Photo Courtesy Kate Davies Designs

This looks super squishy, cosy and slouchy, and I should love to hide in that hood! I like how the cables twist around eachother too, it looks like a really fun knit.

3) Tyrolean by Ellen Gill

Photo Courtesy The Knitter/Jesse Wild

Yes I’m biased as Ellen is my friend, but there’s no denying that this is a gorgeous cardigan! Plus I got to try it on for size before Ellen handed it in to the mag and it fitted me perfectly, so this is definately in my queue!  Ellen provided 3 different chart patterns for the front, and I haven’t decided on my favourite yet, they all look lush.

Gwythian

1 Reply

Do you have your copy of The Knitter yet? Issue 63 sees my pattern debut, a sunny yellow lace hat in Fyberspates Vivacious DK, featured in the free “Hats!” supplement.

Lace Fyberspates DK This pattern is a fun lace repeat worked in the round, which is decreased (in my usual stylee) to a flower at the top.  This yarn was absolutely gorgeous to work with, it feels great in your hands and the stitch definition is amazing, which is why I chose to use it for this design.

Fyberspates Vivacious DK

The hat pattern is written for three sizes, from 51-61cm (21-24″) head circumference.  Due to the width of the lace repeat, each size is made with different needles, so make sure you check which size you’ll need.  There is talk of a KAL next month in the Fyberspates group on Ravelry, so make sure you join the group to stay informed!

Fyberspates Vivacious DK

To compliment the pattern I also wrote a big masterclass on designing your own hats.  This covers everything from choosing yarn, finding a stitch pattern that works nicely, adding repeats, whether you want to work it flat or in the round and how much length and ease you want.   If you’ve not quite ventured into design territory yet, this is a great start!

This pattern and masterclass is now available through our free Apple Newsstand app for £2.99.  Just visit http://bit.ly/1g4kXkE on you iPhone or iPad to download.

The Knitter Issue 63 is available as a digital download from Zinio for £4.99.

This is also an exciting issue for my friend Ellen Gill, who is also a featured designer.  Her gorgeous cardigan pattern Tyrolean has had us excited in the office, and our technical assistant Jen has already cast it on.  Celebratory gin and tonics all round!

Friday Favourites…

2 Replies

I thought I’d try and make a regular thing of some of the patterns out there I’m loving at the moment, so here goes..

Trigonometric Socks by Maria Naslund for Twist Collective. The pattern on the socks is gorgeous, and I love the bright yellow!

Peabody by Leila Raabe for Brooklyn Tweed – This sweater design has been around for a while, but I love the pattern detail in it and I’m really drawn to this autumnal burnt orange.

Kotiya by Alex Tinsley, a mix between an earflap hat, a slouch and a bonnet.  I really have no need for more hats but this is cute!

Headphone cosies!

Leave a reply

After losing my second pair of earphones this year, I decided it was about time I did something to make me look after them a bit better. I’d seen a couple of peeps working on crocheting and knitting around the cord, but i felt like it would take an age, and I wanted to go for more of a retro feel.

I went with macramé in the end, working square knots for the long cord that attaches to the jack, and then spiral knots for each side going up to the ears.  I also decided to make an extra cord joining the two earphones up, as I have a habit of hanging them around my neck if I go into a shop, or need to speak to someone, and before I know it they’ve fallen down and are dragging along the floor.  As I said, I’m not very good at looking after headphones, which is why I don’t allow myself to use any that cost too much money!

This took about 5-6 hours to complete, it’s a bit of fun, and it gave me nostalgia to making friendship bracelets back at school! I love how they’ve turned out, plus, the thin cables are now quite protected in their snug cosies.  I should add this yarn is super posh – Wollmeise 80% merino, 20% nylon blend, and feels like it’s worthy of it’s £22 price tag.   I was gifted a small leftover ball by Ellen Gill, and it proved the best thing in my stash for showing up stitch definition and looking awesome macraméd over the earphones.  I have yet to knit anything with it, I think I have enough left for a swatch!

 

The socks that almost never were..

1 Reply

I’m finished, at last! These socks were nearly a gonner last week, when I managed to drop my knitting bag in Victoria Park and lose them halfway through sock number two.  Luckily, through the powers of Twitter, I was able to get them back! Someone had saved them from being eaten by playful puppies and handed them in to Mrs Brown’s Cafe in the middle of the park.

Although sadly at some point the lovely bag they were in was snapped up by someone less honest.  It was just a tote bag, from Windmill Hill city farm, but  I was given it when I worked in the Windmill pub, and it made me feel part of a nice community.  It saddens me to think that the person that took must also be part of that community that I felt was so friendly.  I’m consoling myself with the fact that I got my knitting back, and that I could always go and buy another bag, but it’s not quite the same.

The yarn is Regia Mix-it, and the pattern just a toe up formula I was trying out. I’m making a bunch of stocking stitch socks as my “bus knitting”, which hopefully my feet will appreciate come winter!