Felted Flock

November 2010

Seems like just about everything I make at the moment become my new favourite thing... but these guys really are something special.

One skein of Cascade 220 was just enough for two sheep, which is great yarn economy, and all three shades felted beautifully (each sheep got roughly two 15 minute sessions at 90 degrees). The pattern warns you that white yarns can be difficult to felt, but that wasn't my experience.

The only anomaly was the black sheep, appropriately enough. Her face is made from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, which didn't really seem to felt much at all. I should have known, as it's machine washable, but I was sure I had managed to accidentally felt it in the past!

The eyes came from Duttons for Buttons in York, and the sheep are stuffed with high-loft polyester stuffing from Craft Basics in York. One of the white sheep has embroidered eyes, because they plastic ones are unsuitable for children under 3 years old.

I can't recommend this pattern highly enough. It's a very quick knit, and the finishing isn't too arduous. The felting part itself is great fun, and something I'd definitely like to do more of. And the finished object is just awesome! The only trouble is, you can't just make one.

Pattern: Felted Flock by Bev Galeskas

Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool / Cascade 220 Quattro / Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Amount: One skein of each

Colourway: 8555 Black / 8505 White / 9402 Grey Mix / 009 Grey

Needles: 5.5mm

Size: about 8" x 8"

On ravelry: here

Liam

November 2010

This is a great design for a little boy - it's very cute but at the same time not in the least bit girly. It's also good to be reminded how handsome simple garter stitch and stocking stitch can look in a reasonable yarn.

King Cole Merino blend 4-ply is great value for money. Being washable it's perfect for baby clothes, but it has lovely subtle heathering which makes it more interesting to look at than a lot of baby yarns.

I modified this by replacing the sheep motif which came with the pattern with a sheep motif based on the ones in this cardigan (because I thought they were cuter) and repositioning them so that they sat in the middle of the yoked section.

I also used press-studs to close up the shoulders rather than buttons. I can see that a neckline which opens all the way across the shoulders is a very handy design detail, though.

This was my first dabbling with intarsia, so I made quite a few practice sheep first. It really wasn't too difficult, though - it just takes a bit of patience and a lot of untangling of bobbins. I'm glad I finally gave it a go, because I've been dragging my heels over colourwork for far too long.

Pattern: Liam by Justine Turner

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend 4-ply / Cygnet Truly Wool Rich 4-ply

Amount: 3 skeins

Colourway: Clerical 49

Needles: 3.25mm

Size: Custom

On ravelry: here

Baby Sheep Hat

November 2010

I really didn't choose this pattern, it chose me. It was made for a 10 month old called Reuben. Reuben's Mummy picked out this jumper for him and so the sheepy goodness began.

Then I noticed that I had a section of blue-into-green yarn leftover from this shawl and it became obvious that the thing to do would be to make a 4-ply version of Melissa Burt's Baby Sheep Hat.

That was fairly easily done, but there's a technical breakdown on my ravelry page. The trickiest bit was working out how big to make it, since Reuben is big for his size, and I wanted it to be custom fit.

I found it difficult to work out how much ease I would need. I just couldn't seem to track down much in the way of sizing information along the lines of the Craft Yarn Council's Standard Body Measurements as far as heads are concerned, and so my first attempt had no ease at all, and was big enough to fit me...

The second attempt came out at about 16" around, which seems to fit Reuben (whose head is 19") very well. The earflaps and ties were an attempt to overcome the perennial problem of babies and their love of escapology, but I'm not sure how effective it will be...

Pattern: Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt

Yarn: Aade Lông Artistic 8/2 / Cygnet Truly Wool Rich 4-ply

Amount: Less than 1 skein of each

Colourway: Rainbow / 2080 White / 2066 Black

Needles: 3.25mm

Size: About 16"

On ravelry: here

Roosevelt

October 2010

My first foray into the exciting world of test-knitting is this gorgeous little bear. I thought he was cute before I discovered he was called Roosevelt, and now he's irresistible.

I've had problems in the past with stuffing showing through and even though I was knitting at the right gauge this time (test knitting makes you fastidious about these things, even where teddies are concerned) it was a worry because the yarn I used was such a dark shade of brown.

In the end I managed to buy some black stuffing via ebay, which is brilliant stuff. and the whole kaboodle is machine washable too, just as bears should be.

Pattern: Roosevelt by Studio Marlowe (test knit)

Yarn: Schachenmayr Nomotta Regia Uni (MC) / Debbie Bliss Rialto 4-ply (CC)

Amount: Less than 1 skein of each

Colourway: 1225 Brown and 213 Cream

Needles: 2.75mm

Size: About 12"

On ravelry: here

Bird's Eye Mittens

October 2010

I'm still a bit of a novice when it comes to colourwork, and jump at any chance I get to practise it. So when my husband asked for a pair of fingerless mittens to keep his hands warm at work, these were the obvious choice.

I love the slightly vintage look of them, and the felted tweed is lovely and soft after blocking. We figured that as these are stranded colourwork, they'd be even warmer than single-thickness mitts.

I did find this pattern itself a bit bizarre though for several reasons. Firstly, it was written so that the mittens were knitted flat and then sewn up along a side seam. I couldn't for the life of me work out why they shouldn't be worked in the round on DPNs seamlessly, so that's what I did (subtracting 2 stitches from the total number cast on, as there would be no selvedge).

And I still can't work it out. The stripes do jog at the start of each round but that's the nature of seamless knits, and you don't notice it if you wear them the right way around.

Secondly the thumb was much too long - the pattern would have it the same length as the body of the mitten from the thumb gusset to the top, which just didn't look right to me. I worked it as 6 rounds of stocking stitch followed by four rounds of rib instead.

Pattern: Bird's Eye Mittens by Martin Storey from Rowan Classic Knits for Men

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed

Amount: Less than 1 skein of each

Colourway: 170 Seafarer (MC) and 165 Scree (CC)

Needles: 2.75mm and 3.25mm

Size: One size

On ravelry: here

Woodland shawl

October 2010

This gorgeous yarn was brought back from a trip to Estonia by my Mum.

I'm not sure what she had in mind when she bought it, but with a yardage of just over 1,000 per skein, I didn't think one skein was going to stretch to a sweater. Looking through ravelry to see what other people had used it for, I came across a gorgeous freebie shawl pattern.

I blitzed through this in a fortnight, because I got so hooked on watching the colours run into each other. It's a reasonably simple pattern, as lace goes.

There were no modifications to speak of with this one. The pattern suggested 12 panel repeats, but I didn't keep track - I just carried on until it felt like a reasonable length.

(The leaves look a bit uneven in the last picture, because it was taken before blocking - they smoothed out beautifully in the end...)

Pattern: Woodland Shawl by Nikol Lohr from thriftyknitter.com

Yarn: Aade Lông Artistic 8/2

Amount: Less than 1 skein

Colourway: Rainbow

Needles: 3.50mm

Size: One size

On ravelry: here

Textured Tunic Mk II

October 2010

Around this time last year I made this christmas present as a trial run for the Textured Tunic I was thinking of making for myself. I loved the design, as with so much of Stefanie Japel's work, but I was a bit worried that it might not suit me too well. High necklines can be a bit hit and miss if you're shaped like I am.

Quite why it's taken me nearly a year to make version 2 is unclear to me - all I can put it down to is that there's so many delicious patterns out there that to make the same one twice over seems a bit of a pity. Still, when you end up with something as wearable as this, it's definitely worthwhile.

In making this version I did modify the pattern quite a bit. My version is shorter than it ought to be, and has neither the button-up seed stitch panels at each side of the hem nor the keyhole button-up detail at the neckline. They are pretty details, but there's only so much of my bra I can show off before I start to feel a bit self-conscious.

I expanded the box-stitch band so that it reached the bottom of my chest, and then went straight into some fairly pronounced waist shaping (4 decreases per round every 5th round 4 times over, 5 rounds even and then increased back up again).

This yarn is recycled from Francis Revisited which I frogged purely because it was getting much too big around the hips, and the cowl made it so warm that it didn't get worn very much. Because Francis seemed to grow a bit over time, I've made this a fairly snug fit to begin with. There's something very satisfying about turning one jumper into another.

Pattern: Textured Tunic by Stefanie Japel from Fitted Knits

Yarn: Sirdar Peru Naturals

Amount: Approx 7 skeins

Colourway: Machu Picchu

Needles: 6.00mm

Size: Smallest

On ravelry: here