Bargain Knitting - A Tam and a Scarflette for £1.65!!!!!

The first challenge! A lovely 100gm ball of pea green Hayfield Bonus DK. 100% acrylic, but surprisingly soft. Cost - £1.65. This yarn screamed Tam at me, so I had a look online for free patterns and came up with a wonderful wonderful site http://www.woollywormhead.com/, where I found a lovely pattern for a hat called the "meret".



This is the finished article. I made the medium size hat with smaller needles than called for in the pattern, (I used 4mms). I didn't knit in the round as suggested because it was a little too tight ...probably because of the needle downsize ;-)


I stitched some vintage buttons onto the front ...I'm in LOVE with them!

...then - and this is the best bit - I had enough yarn over to knit a scarflette. It's what I call an "organic" design, i.e. I made it up as I went along, and I'm really happy with the finished effect.

Another vintage button to secure the scarflette round my neck.

Pea green isn't to everyone's taste admitedly, but I adore my little duo and I recieved plenty of compliments when I took them for their first outing.

A hat and a scarflette for £1.65. I'm starting to like my little challenge :-)

The Promise - I Will Not Buy Any More Yarn

...until I've used up the yarn I already have. In the spirit of make-do in the current financial climate etc etc, I'm trying to save money.

I love our bedroom and so does my fella, but my yarn stash is starting to take over. It's over-spilling it's designated basket and is getting in the way.

That said, it's not exactly the biggest stash ever and so it's not that daunting. I can do it. I can resist.



It's a bit of a mixed bag. I've got some nasty nylons ...but I've also got some vintage delights, leftover cashmerino and two skeins of rowan kidsilk haze...

Why did I buy these!!! I don't machine knit!!!

Baby Boom - Free Pattern - Mittens

My lovely fella's lovely mother gave me some lovely yarn, so I designed some baby mittens with my brand new stash of pastel Wendy Peter Pan yarns.

As it was free I thought I'd give my pattern away for free :-)

EQUIPMENT
One pair 3.25mm needles; one pair 2.75mm needles. Scraps of wool. 2x buttons.

INSTRUCTIONS
RIGHT MITTEN – REVISED FOR 3.25MM
With 2.75mm needles and white cast on 34 [36 : 40] stitches
1st row: K1, P1, to end
Repeat 1st row once more
Next row: (K1, P1) to last 3 stitches, Sl1, K1, PSSO, P1
Next row: K1, M1, (K1, P1) to end
Repeat 1st row once more
Next row: Cast off 7 stitches in rib, P1, (K1, P1) to end – 27 [29 : 33] stitches
The remainder of the mitten is knit in a blue and white stripe every two alternate rows
Next row: With 3.25mm needles and blue beg with a K row work 6 [6 : 8] rows in stocking stitch
Thumb
1st row: K19 [21 : 23], Turn
2nd row: Cast on 5 [6: 6] stitches, P11 [12: 12] , turn - 11 [12 : 12] stitches
Work 6 [8: 10] rows in stocking stitch
Next row: (K2tog)5 [6: 6] times, K1 [0: 0] - 6 [6: 6] stitches
Leaving a length of yarn long enough to join seam, break yarn and thread end through stitches, draw up tightly and fasten off. Join seam.
Next row: Right side. Pick up and K6 [6: 6] stitches from base of thumb, K to end
Work 11 [13: 15] rows in stocking stitch


Shape top of mitten
1st row: *K1, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K8 [9 : 11], K2tog, rep from * once more, K1
2nd and 4th rows: P to end
3rd row: *K1, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K6 [7 : 9], K2tog, rep from * once more, K1
Leaving a length of yarn long enough to join seam, break yarn and thread end through stitches, draw up tightly and fasten off. Join seam.

LEFT MITTEN
With 2.75mm needles and white cast on 34 [36 : 40] stitches
1st row: P1, K1, to end
Repeat 1st row once more
Next row: P1, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K1, (P1, K1) to end
Next row: P1 (K1, P1) to last two stitches, M1, P1, K1
Repeat 1st row once more
Next row: P1, (K1, P1) to last seven stitches, cast off remaining stitches – 27 [29 : 33] stitches
The remainder of the mitten is knit in a blue and white stripe every alternative two rows
Next row: With 3.25mm needles and blue beg with a K row work 6 [6 : 8] rows in stocking stitch
Thumb
1st row: K14 [15 : 17], Turn
2nd row: Cast on 5 [6 : 6] stitches, P11 [12 : 12], turn – 11 [12 : 12] stitches
Work 6 [8 : 10]rows in stocking stitch
Next row: (K2tog)5 [6 : 6] times, K1 [0 : 0] – 6 [6: 6] stitches
Leaving a length of yarn long enough to join seam, break yarn and thread end through stitches, draw up tightly and fasten off. Join seam.
Next row: Right side. Pick up and K6 [6 : 6] stitches from base of thumb, K to end
Work 11 [13 : 15] rows in stocking stitch
Shape top of mitten
1st row: *K1, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K8 [9 : 11], K2tog, rep from * once more, K1
2nd and 4th rows: P to end
3rd row: *K1, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K6 [7 : 9], K2tog, rep from * once more, K1
Leaving a length of yarn long enough to join seam, break yarn and thread end through stitches, draw up tightly and fasten off. Join seam.

Baby Boom - Duck Cardigan

Next up was this little sweetie, a vintage Sirdar pattern I found on e-bay. ...I've no idea who Doris is.


I chose a pale blue Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerinio yarn and designed little ducks to embroider on the front to make it a bit more girly.

Baby Boom - Peppermint Cabled Mittens

I'd never made mittens before, so gave it a go with the leftover peppermint Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino yarn from the vintage jumper.

I chose a vintage Teddy pattern. They turned out a little long ...I guess they'll stay put on baby's hands.

Baby Boom - Merino Coat

A change of yarn for my next knit. I chose a chocolate brown Rowan Merino for this vintage knit.

...but I wasn't too keen on the coller

So I designed a hood in the same broken rib as the rest of the coat.

I completed the coat with some mis-matched vintage buttons

I LOVE this blue button!!!

Baby Boom - Peppermint Jumper

I found a beautiful vintage pattern for a broken rib baby jumper in an old patterns booklet. Here's the original:


...and here is the version I knitted up in a gorgeous peppermint yarn from the Debbie Bliss Baby cashmerino range. I'm a little obsessed with this yarn at the moment.


The Front

The Back


It was so simple to knit and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Baby Boom - Matinee Jacket

I couldn't resist it. I knit another garment from the first Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book. I knit the matinee jacked in cream baby cashmerino yarn.



My first go at knitting a decorative border

I love moss stitch...

...and the original pics from Debbie Bliss' baby cashmerino book.

Baby Boom - Fair Isle Cardigan

Clo announced that she was having a girl! She loved the cabled jacked and decided that she wanted the fair isle cardigan as well.

I selected more Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn in a variety of pinks and greens, and this is what I came up with.



I had to restart the yoke a couple of times, but that was down to me misreading the pattern rather than complicated instructions. I think it'll look really sweet with a little white dress :-)



The original photos from Debbie Bliss' first Baby Cashmerino book:

Baby Boom - Cabled Jacked

The return to knitting

When my lil' sis Clo announced she was expecting, I naturally decided to knit something for the baby.

As a newbie to the world of baby knitting I googled "baby knitting" and was swamped with "Debbie Bliss this", "Debbie Bliss that". Who is this Debbie Bliss? I bought her first baby cashmerino book to find out.

I showed Clo the book and asked her to choose something for me to knit. Big mistake. She couldn't decide. She claimed to love everything.

I promised I'd give it a go.

I started with the cabled jacked, using the yarn suggested in the book.

Debbie's baby cashmerino yarn is lovely to work with, see below the finished garment and a closeup of the material.




...and below, images from Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino book.

Enough! - No More Knitting

I was so wounded by my bad jumper design that I switched allegiances from knitting to sewing. After all, I've always loved sewing and I've got a whole heap of hand stitched patchwork quilts in my back catalogue.

My darling boyfriend had looked at me in disbelief when I voiced my change of direction, however several weeks down the line when I was nearing completion on a new patchwork quilt he had come to accept that sewing was the new knitting. I even managed to convince him to sew a block for me, no mean feat believe me.

Then my sister announced that she was pregnant ...and knitting became the new sewing ...again.

My poor patchwork quilt hasn't had my attention for a good seven months now and is unceremoniously bundled in a wicker basket in a corner of our spare room. Sorry quilty, I'll finish you one day.

The Bad Project - Where It All Went Wrong

I loved my needle tidy, and so I decided to design a jumper using the same aran yarn and some vintage buttons that I had picked up at a market in Hamburg.

Picture the scene ...me and a pal, riding around Hamburg on very old rented bicycles, we stumble across a market and I find these buttons. I even managed to haggle in German, and the only German I know is how to count from one to twenty! It was fate, I was going to make a jumper with these buttons and I would cherish it forever.

But I hate hate hate the jumper that I ended up with. The resulting material was too scratchy and it was too rigid to wear. It has been in my knitting basket in it's current almost-but-not-quite complete state for a year now.

Looking at the photos below, it doesn't look that bad, it's just not suitable for a jumper. I might turn it into a cushion or something.