Stripy Baby Beanie

Well firstly, I must apologise for the length of time between this and my last post, I haven't been very well and also my hubby has been using the laptop a lot for college, meaning that I haven't been able to post stuff (I think it's an excellent reason for me to get a macbook but he's not convinced). Anyhoo, if anyone's been suffering from any ill-effects due to a lack of knitting related news, I'm very sorry.

So on to the matter at hand (or head. Ha!) the lovely colourful hat above. I knitted this on 4mm circular needles, using 100% cotton double knitting wool. It was actually wool I had left over from another project I did so this hat would be a good way of using up numerous 'scrap' balls. 

Obviously, the advantage of using cotton is that it can be easily washed, which is pretty much essential if you're making anything for kids or babies. Also it's hard wearing and not too heavy, so while it's nice and warm, it'll also do for those days when it's not quite cold enough for a massive furry hat, but too cold to go out hatless.

As I said above, I used circular needles for this one. The advantage to using them is that, even though they take a little longer than using a loom, you've got more flexibility when it comes to sizing of the hat (with the round looms if your head doesn't fit the loom size you're pretty much out of luck). I also much prefer the finish you get at the top of the hat when you use circular needles - you can taper it in gradually as opposed to having to make a long tube and then gather it all at the top.

This hat took me about 2 to 3 hours overall to knit, but I did it at periods over a number of days.

Wool from: Go Woolly

Needles from: Go Woolly

Log Cabin Blanket Patch #2

So this is the second patch in the blanket, and I'm pleased with how it's coming along! My son picked out most of the colours in this patch, I think he has good taste. 

One of the things I'm enjoying most about knitting the blanket is that it's made up of individual patches, so you feel like you've accomplished more as each patch is completed, as opposed to when you're knitting one huge piece and it's only towards the end that you start to be able to 'see the finish line' so to speak. 

I've just started patch number three, so hopefully I'll be posting that up here shortly!

Long Loom Scarves

These two scarves were Christmas presents for my sister and my dad, both were knit using super chunky wool and a long loom. For my sister's (the black one) I used a fine shimmery purple wool, along with the main black wool, to give it a bit of sparkle. 

They're quick to knit and I love the pattern the long loom gives in the stitches. These looms are a good idea for anyone who's not great at maintaining the same tension all the way through their knitting, because they keep the knitting and the stitches nice and even.

Similar to the circular looms, the long looms also come in four different sizes. I've seen them online in sets with all four sizes, however in any of my local knitting supply shops, they all seem to be sold individually. Each loom also comes with a pick/hook and a wool needle. 

If you're going to buy an individual one, I'd recommend buying the longest one, simply because there's a greater variety of projects you can use it for - you don't have to use every peg on the loom, so if you wanted to knit a narrow scarf you could use the first 8 pegs, and for wide scarves or wraps you could use the whole length of the loom.

Wool from: Springwools

Loom from: Home Focus at Hickeys

For that special someone....... Cute Knitted Hearts!

What with the day that's in it, I thought I'd do a Valentine's post. I used some bamboo cotton that I had left over from a Christmas project to knit this little heart, but you could use pretty much any wool you want. I didn't have a pattern to work from, so I made one up myself. Here's how I made it:

What you'll need:

• Wool of your choice (I used bamboo cotton, similar to this, it's Double Knitting weight)
• 3 x double pointed needles (I used 2.5mm metal needles)
• Scissors
• Point Protectors (optional)

Stitches used:

• k = knit stitch
• k1f&b = knit one stitch in the front and back
• k2tog = knit two stitches together

Let's get started!

Cast on three stitches.

First row:   k1, k1f&b, k1

Second row:    k1, k1f&b, k2

Third tow:    k1, k1f&b, k3

Continue on until you have the desired width for the heart (I did 24 stitches on this one) there needs to be an even number of stitches. Divide the stitches in the middle so that half are on one needle and the other half are on the second needle. You are now only going to be working on half of the heart at a time. Leave 12 of the stitches on one needle and work on the other 12 with the third double pointed needle.

Next row: k1, k2tog, k to end of row

Next row: k1, k2tog, k to end of row

Continue until you have 3 stitches left

Cast off

Repeat on other side.

These cute little hearts are really easy and quick to make, and you could use them for lots of different things - patches for hats or scarves, you could make a giant one with big needles and very chunky wool and use it as a table mat, you could attach lots together to make crochet type clothes etc.

I decided to use this one to make a Valentine's card for my husband. I didn't do anything really fancy with it, I just used a hot glue gun to stick it to a plain ivory card - simple and sweet!

Snuggly Baby Blanket

This is a really simple baby blanket I knitted while I was pregnant with my son. At the time I started knitting it, I didn't yet know if he was going to be a boy or a girl, so I went with a multicoloured wool in soft baby colours. 

The pattern was a free one that I found online, but I can't for the life of me remember the site where I got it. It starts out with casting on 5 knit stitches and then you use a yarn over increase every row so you gain one stitch each row. You keep going until the blanket is as wide as you want, and then start to decrease. The yarn-overs on each row make a border around  the blanket, and when you decrease each row, you actually decrease two stitches and still do a yarn over, so your row ends up being one stitch shorter.

The pattern showed a blanket that was blue and white, knitted using two balls of wool at the same time. The wool weight was Double Knitting. As I said, I ended up using two balls of multicoloured wool, which I think gave a nice graduated stripe effect, and the colours would be suitable for either a boy or a girl.

I made this blanket to be moses basket/pram size, which was about 160 stitches by 160 rows or thereabouts. In total I used four balls of wool to make it. Basically, I knitted increasing until I got to the end of the first two balls, then I started the decreasing. The number of wool balls you need will vary depending on the meterage of the wool. The link at the bottom shows the wool I used. I also used 4mm x 150cm circular needles. 

I think overall it took me about a three weeks to knit this, however I was working full time so could only knit for an hour or so in the evenings and then longer on weekends. It's definitely a nice straightforward project, and the best part about it is that the size of the piece is completely up to you. The pattern can be used for anything from a dish scrubbie to a king size bedspread!

The pattern goes like this:

(k = knit, yo = yarn over, k2tog = knit two together)

Cast on 5 stitches

1st row: k3, yo, k2

2nd row: k3, yo, k3

3rd row: k3, yo, k4..... 

4th row: k3, yo, k to end of row. Continue until desired width is achieved.

To decrease: k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k to end of row. Continue until there are 5 stitches left on your needle.

Cast off

Wool from: Go Woolly - Cygnet Kiddies Couture Prints DK

Needles from: Amazon 

Loopy Scarf

I knitted this one for my Mum last Mother's day (I also did one in a different colour for my mum in law, but I haven't got a picture of it). I had been browsing around YouTube looking at various knitting videos and I saw a video tutorial for this scarf. I love the look of the scarf, and figured it would be something both my mum and my husband's mum would get a lot of use out of. Most importantly (given that it was about ten days til Mother's Day) it looked like a project that would knit up quickly!

Once you get the hang of which loop to knit into, the scarf is nice and easy to make. The yarn is called Rico Loopy and each ball makes one scarf, so there was no need to do up gauge swatches to work out how much wool would be needed. When you look at the wool when it's in the ball, it's hard to imagine what the finished product will look like. (Obviously aside from the picture on the label.) Here's the wool:

One thing I'd recommend you get, especially if you need to set your knitting down at any stage (like to answer the phone, get tea or answer a call of nature) is a stitch holder. The loops make quite large stitches and it's very easy for the stitches to slip off either end of the needle. This happened to me a couple of times and it's a nightmare trying to pick them back up again. If you can't get your hands on a stitch holder, thread a piece of chunky yarn through all your stitches and tie the ends in a loose bow - it'll do the same job as the stitch holder but it'll take slightly longer to put in and take out.

I think the scarves took me two to three hours each to knit. I'd had dinner, watched tv, etc while I was making them so I reckon if you actually sat down and just focused on it, you'd have a scarf knitted in under 90 minutes. I was very pleased with how they turned out, and I'd definitely make one again. 

Wool and needles from: Springwools

Video tutorial from: Black Sheep Wools

Loom Knit Wrap

I knitted this for my Mum for Christmas. I mentioned in a previous post that I bought a set of circular looms on eBay, and I used the biggest one to knit this. Not wanting to toot my own horn but it looks way nicer in real life than it does in the picture.

The looms are kind of funny sizes, the smallest one would knit a hat to suit a small newborn, or a preemie. The second smallest would do for a toddler or small child. The second largest one would do for an adult, but as for the biggest one, I don't know what sort of hat you'd be knitting on it. Maybe one for an elephant or something - it's massive. 

This scarf/wrap is about the same dimensions as a pashmina. There are three different types of wool in the scarf, the main wool is a plain black chunky wool, and then I also used Firefly wool at the same time to incorporate some interesting colour and texture. Every ten rows, I would weave in a row of furry wool, and I also had a row of furry wool at the start and at the end.

All in all this took me about 2 weeks to knit, it would probably have been quicker but I had several other Christmas present projects on the go at the same time. I'm seriously considering knitting one for myself also, because it's lovely and warm and the furry wool is really soft!

Wool from: Springwools

Loom from: eBay