Welcome to my blog. I live, knit and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my knitting!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
Another crop of makes from our Knit and Natterers were on show on Friday,.
T is crocheting colourful wraps (shown above) for the yarn bombing installation we are taking part in this summer. We hope to identify a site within Alnwick Garden that we’ll be able to decorate with our handiwork. One suggestion was the Chatty Bench – a designated place to sit and chat, which would fit in with what our group is all about. We found out that this was right next to the toilets though, which put us off somewhat! We are now looking for somewhere else but wherever we end up it will certainly stand out with Tracey’s crocheting!.
A has crocheted a baby blanket.
She knitted this baby top (which has a matching hat too).
We’ve seen a lot of R’s gorgeous hexagon patchwork as it has grown over recent weeks. She’s not the only quilter in the group though. This week L showed us a quilt she’s been working on. The fabric prints, in lilac shades, have a butterfly theme.
The reverse is deep pink with polka dots.
Y has had a busy week but has not neglected her knitting. She’s been working on this cabled cardigan.
I’m still spinning alpaca and have tried dying some of it.
We had another lively session on Friday. Y has completed this amazing sweater for husband, C, made from his handspun yarn. isn’t it amazing. Y joined us from her car as she was out of the house – even the car has some of her handiwork in the form of this crocheted rainbow.
A borrowed my knitting loom set to have a go and made this baby hat. We agreed that loom knitting can be a real yarn guzzler, with several strands needed to get a decent finish.
L has been loom knitting for ages and uses chunky yarn when she can – here are some of her adult hats.
She’s also working on this pretty pink striped blanket.
S has made this barn owl motif, which will be added to a banner depicting endangered wildlife. The banner will be on show at the forthcoming Climate Change Summit.
She’s also finished a pretty baby cardigan and found the perfect buttons.
R’s patchwork is getting huge!
I’m still spinning alpaca for a jumper for myself.
We had a small but select gathering online for our Knit and Natter Group on Friday. As you can see, we are all keeping busy!
R’s hexagon patchwork (pictured above) is growing rapidly.
A is also working with hexagons – in crochet, being pieced together to make a pretty blanket in shades of pink.
L is making this knitting T shirt top.
We recently heard about an opportunity to take part in a yarn bombing event at Alnwick Garden. We are all rather excited about this and T has started already. This colourful scarf will look amazing wrapped round a tree!
I’m still spinning alpaca fleece. I’m working towards a sweater for myself.
It’s always great to see what everyone is working on.Knitting,crochet
Do you have a go to pattern when knitting for a new baby? This is one of mine. I’ve done it at least five times now. I even made it twice for my great nephew. He grew out of the first one and his mum asked if I could make it again in a larger size as they all liked it so much! I’ve just knitted it again for a friend’s new baby boy and I’m looking forward to meeting him when I deliver it in person tomorrow.
It’s a Stylecraft Lullaby pattern and I think both pattern and yarn are discontinued so I needed to pick out an alternative DK yarn.
When I bought it and the matching buttons, all but essential shops were closed as part of the COVID Lockdown (though many of us might consider yarn/craft shops as pretty essential! ) I was still able to choose yarn and buttons from The Amble Pin Cushion via a series of messages. Proprietor Norma picked out a selection of suitable yarns and sent a photo. I picked the shade I liked best in a washable yarn (hand wash only baby clothes are not a very practical gift!). We repeated the process with the buttons, then I paid by phone and went to collect my order the next day – Norma even brought it out to my car!
The hoodie uses a DK yarn and it’s knitted in a broken rib pattern with K2P2 rib edges.
The cute teddy bear ears are what make it special.
Although there are a lot of components to sew together it is fun to knit. I hope its new owner likes it!
It’s been a strange few weeks. The weather is all over the place (four seasons in one day) and as we gradually come out of Lockdown and readjust to yet another “new normal ” it is reassuring to find a few constants in life. Friday Knit and Natter Zoom meetings have become that, though of lately knitting seems to have ground to a halt. Fortunately the other group members have been very productive, whether they fit knitting in between work and family commitments or knit around the clock. I’m always curious (and Inspired) to see what everyone is up to because they produce such range of items. We all have such diverse knitting interests, whether that is participating in a community or charity project or knitting for ourselves and family members. Some prefer to knit smaller items such as hats or baby clothes and others prefer longer term projects like blankets or adult sweaters. There are always so many techniques being used too, whether that is colour work or cable…..and not just knitting but crochet too…and in this selection, embroidery and patchwork! Here are some of the many items they have been completing via screenshots from our weekly Zoom meetings.
LC was inspired by a pattern in a magazine and quickly completed this Fair Isle Cushion cover in bright primary colours.
Y completed her sock knitting challenge and raised money for charity. She also made a boy’s hoodie with a diamond cable panel, a red jacket with a contrasting white design on the yoke and a reverse stocking stitch jumper in pretty pastels with a lacy panel (from her “Knit in a Box” subscription). She even made some mittens at the request of someone with a Bearded Collie – they already had some yarn spun from their dog’s coat and wanted an item made from it. They look super-warm! Both Y and her husband spin yarn – he’s been prepping several different sheep fibres on the drum carder and now Y is knitting him a jumper with the yarn he’s spun. Teamwork!
R finished her aqua ombre scarf and is now working on something completely different. She’s returned to a project she began with her mother some 50 years ago! She’s hand sewing a patchwork of hexagons. It’s been lovely to see all the fabric colours and designs and watch it growing with each week as more sections are added.
Also getting bigger is T’s blanket. We’ve all fallen in love with the raspberry pink/red shades.
LG’s crochet blanket in black and grey with a hint of pink is now finished. It’s a great colour combination….sort of girly goth! She then moved on to a colourful rainbow scarf and is now making a much paler baby pink blanket
The group have made a lot of baby clothes since we began, and these have been sent to good causes at home and abroad. Gill has been busy continuing this and producing some lovely items, including a very pretty multicolour cable jumper.
S has been making baby items too.. These her most recent completions.
She also told us about a project she’s been involved with to create a banner for the Climate Change Summit being held later this year. This will be comprised of many small panels made by participating crafters, each with their own environmental themed designs. S has used some examples of endangered wildlife on her contributions. The finished banner is going to give an amazing depiction of biodiversity under threat from climate change.
Our newest member A has also been making charity baby clothes including, bootees and hats as well as a cuddly bunny. She recently acquired a new book full a patterns for different hats and scarves and made a flowery one – perfect for using up oddments of yarn!. She also made a cabled headband with a Celtic weave design
After some information was circulated round the group about a plan to create a display of knitted poppies for Remembrance Day later in the year , we were all a bit puzzled by the pattern supplied. It included a twist to give the shape but it wasn’t very clear about how to do this. We put our heads together one Friday and Y worked it out, then A found a You Tube video that showed a similar technique. What a collaboration!
No doubt I’ve missed some items out for which I apologise….I really need to keep up to date with my blog!
STOP PRESS
The group met again today and I just had to post about LC’s Fair Isle cushion, now completed with a stylish ribbed edge and button closure as it looks amazing. I didn’t take any other photos as we were enthusiastically discussing potential plans to take part in a yarn bombing project. !
Have you ever done yarn bombing? I’d love to hear about what you did.
We had a lively online get together on Friday and as usual there were some beautiful projects in progress and recently completed.
Pictured above are some silk/mohair socks that Y is making as part of her charity challenge for Versus Arthritis – she’s being sponsored for the number of socks she can make in a given time. The socks are promised to the person who supplied the yarn (I think it is handspun – it looks very warm and cosy). She also just completed this children’s cardigan from materials that arrived as part of her Knit In A Box subscription.
R finished her pink cardigan.
Her next project planned is this lovely Fair Isle design cushion.
L has mastered cable as part of her jacket – the cables run up the front edges.
G just cast on with this pretty variegated yarn she bought recently – It’s going to be a baby top.
Last week T acquired a long, narrow hot water bottle – such a practical shape. It’s going to be so much nicer to use now that she’s crocheted a cover for it.
I just started another alpaca hat with a twisted rib edge.
We are a busy lot!
Are you managing to keep in touch with your knitting friends?
Some friends of ours have a new baby boy so I knitted this hat from my handspun alpaca. The pattern is the Maine Baby Hat – available free on Ravelry. I’ve made it before, but not this version, which has a central knotted pigtail
After the decreases, when there are just a few stitches left, these are knitted into an i-cord. It’s the first time I’ve used this technique and it’s quite easy to do. The i-cord is cast off when it reaches 4 inches long, then you tie a knot in it.
The alpaca yarn makes it lovely and soft and warm.
Do you have a go to pattern that you knit when there’s a new baby among family or friends?
The group met again on Friday . Here are a couple of screenshots of group members’ recent projects.
The beautiful lacy baby blanket is now finished, Last week we were talking about how the maker was going to do the edge and she’s chosen this pretty scalloped crochet design. It works beautifully.
She’s also about to start a knitting challenge to raise funds for the Versus Arthritis charity – this will involve knitting as many socks as possible within a set time period – she’s planning on using a silk yarn, so they are going to be very luxurious socks. She’s got her teeshirt to wear during the challenge!
With her pink cardigan almost done except for the sewing up, this member has returned to the sparkly ombre scarf – up to the pale stripe now.
I’ve been working on a project in handspun undyed alpaca. Can you guess what it is?
I met my friend Vera when she joined our ukelele group, but before long I realised that she’s a serious knitter. She gave me a copy of a sweater pattern after I admired what she was wearing and the margins were full of her very detailed notes: that gave it away! Over a year ago (because it’s that long since the group played together at one of our regular weekly sessions in person) Vera gave me a shawl pattern that she thought I might find interesting to knit and I’ve just completed it.
The pattern (Clapo–Ktus) is available to download free from Ravelry here
It’s a triangular shawl that’s perfect for using up an odd skein – you weigh the yarn, start knitting from one end, increasing every other row and when half the weight is used up you have reached the central point of the shawl – time to start the decreases down to the other end. I had some dark blue lace weight yarn left over from another project which was perfect for it.
Simple to knit in basically a 3/1 rib, the quirky part of the pattern starts when you begin the second (decrease) half of the shawl. At every decrease you drop a stitch and let it run right down to the edge. this gives it a lovely lacy ladder design.
When it came to blocking it out, I tried something different as I can never find a suitable space for blocking a large item like a shawl. I have a homemade skirting table frame that K made for me to prepare raw fleece. I dampened the shawl and blocked it out on this, attaching it to the mesh with clothes pegs – I had to fold it in half, but it worked reasonably well and dried quite quickly – the air could circulate more easily than if it had been pinned to a solid surface.
I think I’ll wear this a lot, either as a shawl of looped round as a scarf – it’s quite versatile
Our online Knit and Natter Group continue to meet every Friday lunchtime. The Social Prescribing Team who run the group have been busy working on COVID vaccination sessions in the area so we’ve arranged for group members to host the meetings if they can’t make it. We were thinking of them on Friday when it was bitterly cold outside – if anyone was in the car park directing patients where to go it can’t have been a pleasant job!
The last time I posted we’d been asked to made some Twiddle Muffs for dementia patients. You can see the post about the ones I knitted here. Here are some of the muffs the group members have been making. As always I can’t include them all – sometimes the screenshots are too blurred to use.
They all look great, with such a variety of colours, textures and embellishment and either knitted or crocheted. Those of us able to get to the Alnwick GP surgery on a day when Jane was working there had been asked to drop off our finished items. We arranged to phone her and meet outside at a safe distance. It was pouring with rain so I hardly recognised Jane – she was all wrapped up with her hood pulled up and we were both wearing masks. Then I remembered that this was the first time we’d actually met face-to-face. Normally I see her in our Zoom meetings like this!
Lots of other knitting and crochet has been going on too. One of our members gets a monthly subscription box of knitting and other treats. She’s made some lovely stuff. including this colourful top…
…and this blanket – it’s a real heirloom piece that would make a beautiful Christening shawl.
Her new knitting box had arrived and she showed us what was in it.
Since then she has made good progress with this – a jumper for her grandson
The rest of the group have been working away on an assortment of projects. I think this is going to be a jacket
This is a waterfall front cardigan that is nearing completion
T
One of the things I miss about the group meeting face-to-face is being able to feel the texture of the yarn and projects that the group are working with. This scarf is growing rapidly -the yarn looks so soft and luxurious – shades of turquoise with a hint of sparkle
.There were hearts for Valentines weekend too!
This crochet blanket is growing . A young relative of this group member had asked for it in black and grey, but she’s added a touch of pink, which works really well.
