Pages

Thursday, 29 August 2013

Intarsia and me!

This is so nice. Over at Miss Marple's Knitting Club, they have written a good explanation of what intarsia knitting is, and at the same time they have featured one of my cowls. Now other people is writing about my knitting, too.

In other news I am looking for input on colors for a dragon over at my facebook page, and I am contemplating what to do with the skein below.





























Any suggestions?

As you may have already seen here on the blog, there is a plan to have an evening of slow TV about knitting this winter. I talked to one of the local yarn stores here in Bergen today, and there may be a plan to make a happening out of this day at the store, or rather nearby the store. Bring your knitting and watch along, kind of thing. But it is quite uncertain yet. Really hope this happens, it would be so much fun.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting

Monday, 26 August 2013

Tiny






































I have now tried my hand at miniature knitting. My first attempt is this knitting project for a doll living in a dollhouse with what I think is an Edwardian style (but I might be totally wrong about that). The dollhouse is 1:12 scale (compared to our regular sized houses), and very impressive.

The knitting was made with a 1 ply cotton yarn and 1 mm needles. I used two pins with round metal heads as knitting needles for the doll, and I made an additional skein of yarn to put next to it in the basket. And yes, it was very fiddly and time consuming to make.

The masks became a little loose with the cotton yarn, it was a little stiff, so maybe I should try with softer woolen yarn to get a tighter finished fabric.

And here is a picture of the knitting in the room where it will live.






































Until next time,

Happy Knitting

Sunday, 25 August 2013

Another free bow pattern






































I've made a new bow pattern, and this time I made it in purple. Like the previous bow pattern, this one also has beads on it, but this time there is a hole-pattern as well. It isn't easy to see in the pictures, but maybe you can spot it in the one below.


I've used Rowans Alpaca cotton on 4.5 mm needles, 34 seed beads and a hair barette back. For more details about the materials and hole-pattern, take a look at the pattern.

The bow can obviously be used as decoration on other knitting projects or as a brooch on it's own. I really liked the texture and look of the finished bow, so I might use this hole-pattern with beads on other projects. Maybe it would be nice as a cowl or scarf, or maybe a pair of gloves?






































Download the free pattern in english or norwegian.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Coffee cozy pattern

I continue to be inspired by Doctor Who and his cool bow tie, and this time it has lead me to make coffee cozies that are somewhat formal, and yet, cool.

The pattern is modular and the cozy itself can be knit plain, as in the picture above, or double as in the picture below.

The cross band can be knit with the rows in the opposite direction of the rows in cozy, as in the two pictures above, or in the same direction as the cozy, as in the picture below.

Finally there is an optional pocket, and the cozy can be made in one color, or have a contrasting color on the cross band and pocket, as in my red and green cozy.

The cozy can comfortably be worn on your wrist when it isn't being used on a coffee cup.

Almost any type of yarn can be used, but I have used yarns that fit well with 3 mm needles. The two without pockets were made with Silja yarn in the color they call 309, while the one with pocket is made with the yarn Muskat in the colors 41 bordeaux and 03 mint green.   

Otherwise I recommend making the pocket, if you take up this project. It is very handy for a packet of sugar or a teabag. And it is quite decorative.

Download the free pattern in English or Norwegian.

If you make one of these, please let me know how it went.


So now my red bow collection has two patterns. Yay!

Until next time,

Happy Knitting

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Cotton yarn


I tried to make one of the beaded bows with a lovely cotton yarn, but the whole thing came out all flopsy and droopy. It kind of looked like a sad clown bow.

So, instead I had to find a pattern that fit a cotton yarn, and Drops provided again. This lovely set of socks and bonnet for a baby was made in a jiffy and came out quite well, I think. The yarn would be soothing and cool on a summer day, and provide warmth on cold days.

The free patterns from Drops is now making it on to my useful links for knitting, as a fledgeling pattern designer, I've found it very helpful to have a large resource for looking up solutions that others have had.

And I'm learning from my red experiment, now I know that a cotton yarn is not very firm and can not provide a shape on its own. If I want to make something that isn't clothing and should stay in a particular shape on it's own, choose something else. Although, cotton yarn is definitely nice for clothing.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting

Monday, 29 July 2013

More adventures in red



































So, I've knitted my red bow in several red yarns now, but needed a break so I tried a new pattern for baby booties. I found the pattern at Drops and knitted it in a cotton yarn using 3 mm needles. It was a very simple pattern and definitely suitable for beginners, and they turned out quite cute.

I didn't add the crochet edges, and now they kind of look like doll booties, but they are in baby size.

So, back to testing out yarns and trying to come up with another pattern.
































Until next time,

Happy Knitting

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Mishap monster

I wanted to crochet a turtle and found a nice free pattern for a small striped turtle. The pattern is clear and makes for a nice turtle, however, mine looks like it was made by someone who's never seen a turtle.

So, what happened was, I made the body and feet, just as the pattern says, and it looked fine. Then came time for me to make the tail, but I ended up making the head.


The placing of the feet, made this the back of the turtle and I couldn't simply turn it and put the tail on the other end. So I ended up making a kind of teddybear head with suitable ears and a few stitches on the front for a face.

Now this mishap turtle is my monster and tends to show up cuddling in my knitting projects.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting