Knitting 2 – My First Jumper

Having completed the socks I had my knitting mojo and thought it was time to tackle a full sized item.

I chose this James C Brett pattern from ‘Pendle Stitches’ as they also had the wool available in the same colour.

Woodlander, Double Knitting in shade L11.

80% Acrylic and 20% Wool, 3.5 and 4mm needles.

As it was my first item I wanted it to be washable and hard wearing so deliberately chose a mostly Acrylic yarn.  I did not want to ruin it on its first wash.

It took approximately 3 months to make.  I liked knitting it as it was easy to pick up and put down, once I got an angle on the pattern.  I also had to wind on the second sleeve ball to make them match.

I wrote down every line of the pattern which had 12 rows of knitting within a 34 row pattern.

I did have to pull back a few rows as I found it hard to read the pattern around the knitted rows.

I have to thank Annette, Liz and Lisa and Liz at Pendle Stitches for their help and patience.

For non-knitters, the internet has video clips on every element of knitting if you get stuck.

I used flexible circular needles for the whole project and was able to knit the neck in one piece, joining the front, back and sleeves in the process.  Then stitched it up with a running ladder stitch.  Its like wrestling an octopus at the end stitching it up.

Bit chunkier looking than pattern picture but I am chuffed to little mint-balls with it.

Patchwork Cushions

My name is Ann-Marie and I am a fabric addict.

Over the last few years, each time I went into a fabric shop I picked up Nautical Fat Quarters, without necessarily thinking how they would fit together, but they were too nice to leave behind.

With the thought that if they had the same theme, they may go together, I decided to cut them all up into 10cm squares and then spent several hours trying to make something of them.

The criteria was that none of the same squares should touch each other and only diagonal connections were permitted.

Ta Dah!  Phew.

 

I then pieced them together with a 1cm seam allowance as they need to be quite robust.

Sadly I did not take pictures of the rear of the cushions.  They were backed with bag/curtain lining, which has a thin foam backing and holds its shape.  I also added zips to the back using the letter box method of slitting the fabric and folding it inwards to then add the zip on the inside.

Lastly I piped the edges with dark blue bias binding and they look great. 

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that they are slightly different as I was 4 dark blue squares short.  Hey-ho.

Beadwork Card

Having never tried any beadwork and having admired it for many years, I bought a beadwork card kit at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate.

There was a graph like pattern to follow which showed all the appropriate colours.  After much counting I started in the middle of the Ada fabric supplied.  It is simply a matter of passing the needle to the front of the work hooking on a bead and then securing it by passing the needle through to the back.

The rose design is subtle and the colours are gentle. 

I really enjoyed this process and the result was very pretty.

Bags 5 – Birthday Bags

Annette’s Tote

I wanted to make a useful bag that was hard wearing.  I managed to find a piece of furnishing fabric which was of the appropriate colours.

The size of the pattern determined the size of the bag.  I managed to match the pattern at the bottom when I squared off the corners..

I then made a bag lining and added an inside pocket

Next I joined the lining to the outer, turning both in and top sewing around the top twice.

Due to the material being quite thick the straps turned out well and I attached them to the outside, top sewing a cross design.

The bag at this point seemed quite large, so to enable it to be folded and used in a smaller mode I added bag magnets to the inner folds.

The finished item looked good. Annette kindly said it was great for taking things like hairdryers and bulkier items on holiday etc.

It will also fold away quite well as I inserted a covered cardboard base inside too.

Auntie Dorothy’s Tote

This is a slightly small version of Sally’s bag made previously shown in Bags 4.

I added a pocket and a covered insert.

The final bag looks in proportion and should be very useful for all the plastic bags we have to carry these days.