“On the Road“ Reversible headwear now for sale

The first version of the On The Road reversible headwear is now for sale here in my Folksy shop.
It’s made from Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect yarn, the colours giving it a nice winter feel.
Happy wearing! 🙂

“On the Road” Reversible Headwear

Update: 
The “On the Road” pattern is now for sale on Ravelry!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/on-the-road-reversible-head-wear


My husband and I are planning a long cycle tour through Europe before Brexit kicks in.
What knitting project to take? I figured that 4-ply yarn will be the easiest and lightest to take. I am trying to design some easy and versatile patterns.

My first is an open hat, which doubles as a head band and a cowl. I have road tested it this week and it is warm, fits under a cycling helmet and has not lost its shape.

Hoping to write up the pattern for Ravelry soon.

The importance of grading alpaca fibres

Having spun my first skeins of alpaca, I have learned the hard way that there is a huge variation of soft and coarse fibre across the fleece, and that just a small amount of coarse fibres carded and spun in, can make the whole skein coarse and prickly. 😨

YouTube confirms that alpaca should be sorted and graded.
Check out this video  by the Butterfield Alpaca Ranch.
I’ll be looking for a local shearing and grading course in the spring.

Back to basics - Spinning alpaca

My lovely Ashford spinning wheel has been gathering dust behind the bedroom door for years, but not any more! I dusted it down last week and gave it a go, spinning an alpaca fleece which my mother-in-law gave me a couple of years ago.
Turns out spinning is like riding a bike - you never lose the knack!

What a joy to get carding, spinning, plying and washing the alpaca fibre.

Question is, what shall I turn it into now?

Cotton and washable items

I have been working increasingly with cotton yarns - partly because it is lovely material to work with and partly for environmental reasons.

At the moment I am making washable and reusable items, such as washable make-up remover pads and face cloths. Being able to reuse these items saves so much waste.

Here are a few recent items I have made,

Please check out my new Folksy shop too!

Stash reduction 2018 - the bits and bobs blanket

Almost exactly five years after starting the bits and bobs blanket, I have finally finished it! The mitred squares were added by picking up the stitches from the edged of previous squares, so there was virtually no sewing involved. I added two crocheted rows as edging. It measures 1x1.4m and fits our sofa almost perfectly.

My stash is HUGE! *

I'm shocked to see that I have not blogged for over a year! I promise that I have been knitting, just not writing about it.

Have you ever decided "not to buy any more yarn until you have used up your stash"? Well, I did, but that was before I sorted it all out and realised just how much yarn I had stashed away. Even after sorting out and giving away two large bag full, I am left with this:

Something definitely has to be done!

I guess I know that promising not to buy any more yarn until this lot is gone, is unrealistic, but perhaps I should resolve to not let it grow, and to give some away if I get more?
How do you control your stash?

My firat stash reducing effort is to continue (and hopefully finish) the mitred square blanket which I started on December 29th 2012 and which I add to every year when my Christmas knitting is done.

I will try to update here how much stash reduction is going... 

HAPPY KNITTING! 

FREE EU beanie pattern

Introducing the EU beanie!

This beanie was designed as a political statement following the Brexit vote in the EU Referendum. But you can knit it and wear it for any reason at all.

The pattern is written for DK/8 ply yarn and fits the average adolescent to medium adult head.
The pattern is written to knit in the round on double-pointed needles, but it can also be used knitting in the flat. (Just add two extra stitches for edge stitches to allow for the seam.
You need to be able to use the colour stranding technique (using two colours at the same time, running the second along the back). If you are not familiar with this technique, there are different tutorials on the Internet. It may take a little practice to get the tension right.
I am very happy to receive questions, comments or suggestion.

The FREE pattern is available as a download on my Ravelry page. I would really appreciate it is you could share the pattern far and wide. KNIT IT, WEAR IT, SHARE IT!

Happy knitting and KEEP THE EU FLAG FLYING!

"I love NHS" beanies

I have done no Easter knitting whatsoever this year.
The main reason is that I have been inundated with orders for my "I love NHS" beanies.I must have knitted a dozen or so, including one extra large one and one with earflaps.

I designed the beanie because I am passionate about our National Health System which provides free health care at the point of delivery to whoever you are!
The thought of it being gradually dismantled and sold of to private companies for their personal gain is abhorrent and flies in the face of what the welfare state is about. But I won't bore you with details. You can read more about my passion for the NHS here is you want.

My ethos for the NHS beanie has always been that I want to make no personal profit from it. I try to cover the cost of material and posting, and any remaining profit goes towards the fight against the privatisation of the NHS.

Similarly the Ravelry pattern for the beanie is FREE and available here.
It is knitted flat and is designed for a head circumference of 22-24” or 56-61cm, but you could easily add/reduce some stitches/rows if needed.
You need to be able to use the colour stranding technique (using two colours at the same time, running the second yarn along the back). If you are not familiar with this technique, there are different tutorials on the Internet. Remember to cross the colours over at the back to avoid holes appearing.

Please share the pattern far and wide. I am not precious about it. 
What matters is that we save our NHS!

Bits and bobs and magic knot

I haven't blogged here for ages. 
At the moment I am working on my bits and bobs blanket - something I've worked on for three years or so, intermittently, when I have a bit of leftover yarn hanging around. 

So I happened to mention this on Ravelry...and was introduced to the magic knot. A new way of joining to bits of yarn. Apparently totally secure. Have you tried it? I can't wait to give it a go! 

#ToriesMustGo beanie

I cannot believe that I haven't blogged for nearly a year. I can assure you that I have done plenty of knitting though!

More importantly, I have become political!
I won't bore you with details here, but if you are interested, you can read a bit about my exploits in "madhat's musings" - my 'other' blog.

I have also become an avid Twitter user. 18,000 tweets in less than a year. Should I be worried??



Twitter got me thinking about knitting politically when a Twitter acquaintance suggested that I should knit a #ToriesMustGo beanie for him.



So I did ...
And wrote down the pattern ...
And put it up on Ravelry as a FREE pattern.

You can find the information and download the pattern as a PDF here.

As we enter this election year, I am quite excited at the thought of people walking around, wearing beanies with political slogans.

And of course, you could change the slogan
to whichever you choose.

STAY POLITICAL! x

Peace scarf

Wool against Weapons is a UK initative which aims to produce a 7-mile-long pink(ish) knitted Peace Scarf to run between the Women’s Peace Camp at Aldermaston and Burghfield (the other Nuclear Weapons Establishment site) in Berkshire in protest against the UK's involvement in nuclear weapons.

The target date is Saturday 9th August 2014 to come in line with Nagasaki Day.

The pattern asks for blankets 60 x 100 cm, which will be joined into a SUPER SCARF ... and which will be turned back into blankets and given to various charities at the end.(I like that bit especially. No waste!)

Here are my two blankets:

 

It's not too late to join us!  

Think pink!

Dora's prayer shawl

Yesterday I finished the prayer shawl I had made for Dora - the Ugandan lady my friend's son stayed with in Uganda for three months.

In the end I made up a different pattern and used the garter drop stitch to create a lighter fabric.
I cast on 90 sts in DK and used needles size 4.
The overall dimensions are 55cm x 110cm (not counting the fringes)

I added stripes in different colours and made a multi-coloured fringe as my friend had wanted it colourful.
It is not visible on the picture, but in the four corners I knitted a small cross - purl stitches on knit background over a 12x12 square.
The cross may not be easily spotted and you may have to look to find it ... but it are there nonetheless - ALWAYS! :)

So my prayers go out to Dora. May she enjoy the shawl and may it give her joy, warmth and comfort.

Prayer shawl

The son of a good church friend of mine spent three months in Uganda recently. Having returned, he asked me whether I could knit a prayer shawl for his host mother there.
He found this pattern from the Prayer Shawl Ministry for me.

The free pattern can also be found on Ravelry.

Unless I hear otherwise from my friend and her son, here is the yarn I have put aside for this project. It is DK rather than Chunky - but I figure that in Uganda a thick shawl might be a little misplaced ...

Nativity (Christmas project)

This year for Christmas I decided to make one figure for the nativity scene every day.

I used Crafty Cattery's patterns for Mary, Joseph and the baby as a base pattern. Apart from adding facial features and using DK yarn I made little changes to the original patterns.
I then added a variety of other objects - wings, a staff, cloaks, a lamb, gifts and head coverings. I made a manger for the baby and designed the sheep from scratch. I made the legs by covering pipe cleaners with lengths of i-chord.

Really pleased with the outcome. It was great fun and a wonderful way to retell the Christmas story over the 12 days of Christmas.

Fingerless mittens - NEW Ravelry pattern!

My latest pattern is out on Ravelry.

It's a simple pattern for fingerless mittens. They are knitted in the round on a set of double-pointed needles.
For the mittens shown in the pictures I used Regia World College sock yarn in DK. Very cleverly a 150g ball creates 3 almost perfectly matching pairs of gloves.
But any other DK yarn should be fine.

The size fits a medium-sized adult hand.
Adjustments can easily be made. For example you can make the cuffs longer or shorter, or widen the gloves my adding 4sts to the width. (Be aware that this may affect the amount of yarn needed)

Check out the pattern here.
Thank you!

Liv's teddy (again) - FREE RAVELRY PATTERN

Liv's teddy is now available as a FREE PATTERN in my RAVELRY store.

It is written to be knitted on a set of double-pointed needles, so it essentially makes a tube (that’s because I am lazy and try to avoid as much sewing as possible!).
The legs are stitched through.
All that is required is knowing how to cast and and off and how to increase and decrease.
It get s a tiny bit more tricky at the top, when the middle 4 stitches are cast off and the ears are completed separately.

Being a simple pattern it is ideal for charity knitting - so please feel free to copy and share in your groups.

Yarn bombing

Our little town square got yarn bombed. How beautiful! (Why wasn't I told??)

Liv's teddy

I received a request via etsy to replicate a very simple little teddy for a girl called Liv in Australia. She is in the habit of losing her teddy and he mum wanted a replacement - in the event that old teddy disappears for good.


So, equipped with a picture and the basic measurements I set out to give it a go.

Here is the final result. My ball of wool was enough to make three, so Liv should be quite safe for a while!

Will send teddies and knitting instructions later this week.

More Easter eggs ...

You know that feeling when you start making something and then you end up making more than you ever planned?

Here are my little chocolate egg cosies - 30 of them - ready to be taken to work next week to raise money for my daughter's trip with the Voluntary Services Overseas.

And I got an order to make another 40 for the children's group at our church. Just how many days until Easter??
Luckily I persuaded my daughter to help me with stitching on the eyes. That will make a huge difference!