Other Bits and Bobs 2017 Part 3

Other Bits and Bobs 2017 Part 3

With the warm weather gone for another year I have turned my mind to winter projects

King Cole Patten Selection

As you can tell from the condition this is one of my favourite patterns bought many years ago from Knit Nottingham.

King Cole Patten Set No 2

The Green Scarf I posted about the other week was made from this pattern. I have a set in the purple colour shown above.

This time I wanted something a little brighter. I selected a Coral Pink.

Merino DK Blend

I bought 2 balls of 50g Merino DK Blend Pink Dye no 52152. It wouldn’t be enough to the whole set but it would be enough to start with.

Pink Beret Too Many Rows

It started off all right with me casting on 120 stitches on 3.25mm needles. Whether due to tiredness or being distracted I don’t know but I managed to knit an extra row and therefore had to undo it before adding the increase row.

Pink Beret Not Enough Stitches

Another mistake! I am not sure if I merely miscounted or it was something to do with undoing the row and twisting the stitches but somehow I have little holes in the knitting. In addition to that I am also 7 stitches short.

I have two options. I can either undo the knitting again or I can add extra stitches. I chose the latter option. The next part requires changing needles from 3.25m to 4mm needles.

I accordingly started transferring the stitches across to the new size whilst at the same time making new stitches. I was supposed to have 172 stitches but only had 165.

I decided to add 3 stitches towards the beginning of the row and 4 towards the end. That means once the Beret is sewn up the mistakes should be hidden around the back.

New Ball

One ball of this goes as far as the decreasing on row 10. That is useful to know if I make another one in a different colour.

13 Stitches

Yet another problem has arisen. Firstly I must have missed a slip stitch because I was supposed to have 39 but instead I had 40. I fixed that by knitting two together at the end of the row before the next decrease.

After the decrease I should have 20 Stitches but instead I had 26. These stitches had to be purled together to finish. I therefore still purled two together and ended up with 13 Stitches.

7 Stitches

I was unsure what to do at this point. I was supposed to pull through the 10 remaining stitches. However I was a little concerned that with the extra stitches it might make a big hole at the top of the Beret.

In the end I decided to knit two together 6 times and knit the last stitch. Thus I was left with 7 stitches on the needle. I could then pull the wool through and sew together

Pink Beret Finished

I sewed the Beret together and though it is a little untidy at the back I don’t think it is a bad job considering.

Handy Tip

If you are going to knit something when you have to count don’t do it whilst other people are chatting to you!

Other Bits and Bobs 2017 Part 2

Welcome to my 100th Blog

Other Bits and Bobs 2017 Part 2

I decided to make a present for a friend of mine who was due to have a baby. I have done other baby items in the past so I looked for my pattern. Where this pattern had disappeared to I have no idea so I ended up buy a new one.

Baby Set King Cole Pattern

Once I found a pattern I liked from Knit Nottingham I discussed the yarn. I have difficult using acrylic yarn as I have a reaction to it. I normally use wool but since this is for a baby I was hesitant to use wool because of the mittens going in its mouth.

The mother wanted the items in white so after putting our heads together we decided to use the Bamboo Cotton. This was a win-win situation as since the baby is due in December and the size knitted is from 0-3 months it will be excellent for the spring.

White Baby Ribbed hat

The selection was a bit of a mixture. Even though she is expecting a girl we both preferred the boy’s patterns. The Ribbed Hat was chosen from the top right

White Baby Mittens

Since the Hat was ribbed we decided to match it using the pattern from the bottom left for the Mittens.

White Bootees Mistake Side View

I have absolutely no idea what happened here. I am using the pattern from the bottom left corner. However if you look at the photograph in the pattern it clearly shows a cord through it. So where are the holes for it?

White Bootees Mistake Front View

Unsure of what to do I part sewed one up the seam and took to show the mother. I explained that I could try and squeeze a cord or either a ribbon through the bootees. Alternatively I could fold over the top of the bootee and thread through that.

White Bootee Top Folded

It was decided that we would go with the folded over version with a ribbon.

Ribbon Added

As you recall the yarn I am using is white. However I think there had been a problem with the dye. For some reason the items have a lemony tinge. Therefore we have chosen to add a splash of colour by using a Yellow Ribbon.

Normally when I sew I hem the item then thread the cord through with a safety pin. Here I wanted to make sure the ribbon didn’t get twisted so I put the ribbon underneath and sewed along below it.

Ribbons Finished

I had folded over and hemmed the ribbon to stop fraying. Once done I simply then tied the ribbon off with a bow.

Full Knitted Set Finished

Here is the full set finished. I am quite pleased with them. I hope the mother feels the same.

Other Bits and Bobs 2017

Other Bits and Bobs 2017

You might wonder why my long term project is taking as long as it is. Sometimes it is because I am waiting for supplies to arrive but generally it is due to having to put down to do Other Bits and Bobs.

Often when I do these Bits and Bobs I write them up into a blog. However there are occasions where due to time commitments I do not have time to record the process. So here are a few of the things I have done this year.

Green Beret and Gloves

I made the above Beret and Gloves a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I ran out of wool before I could add a scarf.

Green Scarf too Short

I bought a couple of balls of wool from my favourite shop Knit Nottingham and found out the pattern I had used (also bought from Knit Nottingham). However I found when I had knitted the scarf I ran out of wool. So to avoid another trip to the city I had to improvise.

The pattern called for 60 stitches to do the rib. I have quite a small neck and this scarf seemed a little wide. Therefore I unravelled the whole thing and started again

Green Scarf Second Attempt

I used the same pattern and size needles which I believe were 4mm. This time I cast on fewer stitches. I cannot remember exactly off hand how many. The rib pattern was Knit 4 Purl 4 continuing and ending in a Knit.

I made sure that it would still end with 4 Knit so I think I cast on 44 stitches. As you can see in the above photo that greatly extended the scarf. So there is a handy tip if you ever come across the same problem.

Handy Cutter and Cord

If you are like me you are forever losing your scissors. So when my friend spotted in Knit Nottingham a handy little cutter in the form of a pendant I couldn’t resist. She bought a silver one whilst I opted for the bronze colour.

I set to work making a cord for the pendant cutter so I could wear it. I thought brown would work well with it. Fortunately I had some brown wool to hand so could start straight away.

I toyed with various ways of making the cord. I could use my Lucet or Braid Wheel. In the end I decided to knit an I-cord.

Birthday Cords

As I said previously my friend had bought a Pendant Cutter at the same time as I did – she always costs me money when I go shopping with her ahem!

One day she happened to mention about having to get a cord for her Pendant Cutter. Oh-ho I thought. I know what I will do for her birthday.

I had quite a stock pile of ribbons at home. I spent a couple of hours going through the lot. I needed ribbons that were not only of sufficient length but also quite thin. This is because once plied together they would need to be small enough to go through the hole of the Pendent.

In the end I selected about 15 ribbons that I thought would work. Each cord would need 3 ribbons each as I was going to hand plait them into a workable cord.

I tried to put the ribbons together so they looked nice and could be interchanged depending on what my friend was wearing. As we are both pagans a little idea regarding ritual colours crept in whist I was designing.

So I ended up with a yellow one which could be Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Lammas. The blue and white were Imbolc. The red and white were able to be used for both Beltane and Yule.

However my absolute favourite was definitely the Black and Orange. This was for Samhain or as it is more commonly known as Halloween.

Medieval Bracelet

This bracelet was made from embroidery silks. It was for a neighbour’s daughter. It was made on my Braid Wheel which takes 7 threads. This was ideal for making a Chakra Bracelet.

The neighbour’s daughter chose the colours she wanted from my selection and after several measuring sessions we ended up with the item in the picture above.

You may notice it has quite a long tail as well as being tied with an adjustable knot. This is because she has only just turned 12 so it can be lengthened accordingly as she grows.

Peg Doll

Another item I made was something I was taught to do as a child long before such things as CD’s, I-Phones and On-line gaming was thought of.

The doll as it name suggests is made primarily of a peg. I rustled up some fabric, thread, wool, and glue and felt tips and made a start teaching her.

The above doll was a bit of a rush job but I think it isn’t a bad item since I haven’t made one for about 20- 30 years. I gave it to her dad to take to her when she went into hospital.

I do still have other projects on the go but I will leave that for another blog.

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 4

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 4

Autumn Cape Hood Extension Start

This is how the Extension looks at present. It might seem a bit peculiar as it is sideways on.

  

Pick up Stitches For Middle Extension

I have decided rather than knit separately and sew on I shall pick up stitches. I start with picking up 4 stitches. I am using the same size circular needle 5 mm only this one is made of bamboo.

There is no particular reason for using this type of needle it is the only 5mm one I had left. One problem with it is that it has a very short length on it so hopefully it will hold all the stitches.

30 Rows Middle Extension Written Chart

Naturally I am keeping track of my rows as before. I am only noting down the knit rows as the purl will be the same. To clarify what I am doing I started with 4 stitches which I knitted and purled.

On the Second Row before I knitted I picked up a stitch from the Daytime side then knitted the 4 stitches I had on the needle. I then picked up a stitch from the side of the Night Time side. I then purled back all Six stitches.

I proceeded to pick up a stitch either end so each knit row added two stitches each time.

30 Rows Middle Extension Pictorial Chart

On the above Pictorial Chart you can see a reversed triangular pattern developing. I didn’t bother numbering the chart I mere put a nought at the starting point. I then put the 2 stitches on the chart either side of the 0. I then added one square each end as I went along.

30 Rows Middle Extension

You can see how the middle part is building up. However as I said picking up stitches is not one of my strong points. I therefore found for some reason that as I was knitting one side seemed further along the side than the other.

This I had to rectify by trying to make one pick up side smaller and the other side larger to compensate and get back on track. It took me until nearly the end to get it level.

60 Rows Middle Extension Charts 

You might not be able to tell from the photograph but I made a couple of mistakes whilst filling in the Pictorial Chart. I think my eyes got tired and I miscounted some of the stitches. The good thing was this was only a clerical error and my stitches on the needle were still correct.

60 Rows All Across Hood Extension

I now have both the sides and the middle part of the extension at 60 Rows and I think it is looking pretty good.

Hood Extension Cast Off

I did a few rows of rib then I cast off. The Hood is not entirely finished but I need to check how the other parts will work in conjunction with the Hood. I will come back to the Hood later.