More Christmas presents, Knitting DVDs

I have been collecting the Knitting Daily DVDs and this Christmas as well as getting lots of books I was also lucky enough to get series 4 and 5 of Knitting Daily from my brother and sister-in-law. They live in the States so can get me knitting related presents from places in the States that either don't ship outside the USA or cost a fortune to get shipped.

Having done a bit of demonstrating on film for Knit1.tv I am always interested to see how other people approach demonstrating on film. Knitting Daily is a bit different from demonstrating for Knit1.tv as it is a Public Broadcast program in America. Each programme runs for about 20 to 25 minutes and covers a number of topics so each topic is only about 5 minutes long. They do lots of interesting things and invite different designers and yarn companies to talk about their work/products but they don't have time to show anything in great detail.

I still enjoy watching the programmes. I haven't quite finished watching all of both series as there are 4 DVDs in each series but at least I can knit while watching.

I've now got series 1 to 5 but Knitting Daily are on series 8 now so I'm hoping for another one for my birthday if I'm lucky!!

Knitting Christmas Presents

Time is flying past already this year but I thought I would still share some of my knitting Christmas presents - books as usual. I did receive lots of books on knitting and crochet this Christmas but I still haven';t had time to do more than have a quick look through each book.

I already have a number of Alice Starmore books (her Fair Isle and Aran books to name just 2) and I like the way she puts stranded colour patterns together so it was great to get this book to add to my collection.

I'm currently working on a couple of sock designs so both these sock books are interesting. The Ann Budd book covers a variety of ways of designing and knitting socks as well as having patterns from well known sock designers. The 'Knitted Socks East and West' book has some very interesting stitch patterns which are unusual constructions rather than the socks themselves being unusual. I need to find time to try out some of these stitch patterns!

Lots more interesting stranded stitch patterns and information about constructing Norwegian style sweaters; I've only had a very quick look at this book so far.

When I first saw this book on Amazon I thought it would be an OK techniques book. I was in my local Waterstones before Christmas and the book happened to be in there so i had a look through it. I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of information and different/more advanced techniques and stitches as well as the basics so I added it to my Christmas list and DH got it for me.

I also saw this book in Waterstones at the same time and was very impressed. It does cover knitting from all parts of the world so if you are interested in different knitting traditions this would be a great book to get. I've only had time to have a quick look so far, I just need a few years of nothing else to do to read all these books.

I didn't get any yarn at Christmas but we were in Devon with friends at New Year and visited Totnes (the home of the hippies and flairs!!). At the top of the main shopping street was a shop called Greenfibre (I think). It sold organic cotton fabrics and cloths, lotions, soaps etc but as I pasted the window I noticed some skeins of yarn - alpaca yarn at half price. Those of you who know me will know I don't need any more yarn but it was too good a bargain to pass so in I went and bought several skeins. I don't know what I will do with them yet, I may mix them with the chunky baby alpaca I got from Bev Beattie at Knitting4fun, I'm sure I'll think of something!

At the beginning of January DH and I went up to London as our kids gave us tickets to see Jersey Boys on the first Saturday in January.We met Frances up in London in the afternoon and after getting another ticket for her we were walking around and saw Foyles book shop. I like books shops almost as much as yarn shops so we went in and I found this book which covers the Unravel exhibition in Belgium last year. The book is in English and again looks very interesting hence why I bought it. It wasn't cheap as it has been imported from the States but has lots of intere3sting information about current knitting artists etc.

Well i think I did OK... just need a few years of time to devote to reading.



Rosie's Slippers Pattern

At the end of last year I posted pictures of some slippers I made but I never got around to posting the pattern although it has been available as a free pattern from me. Anyway for those of you who may be interested here is the pattern.

Size Foot Length
Child 16.5cm

Small 18cm
Medium 20.5cm
Large 23cm

Materials
1x100gm skein Colinette Skye and 1x 100gm skein Colinette Graffiti (large size may need a 2nd skein)
Or approx 100gms each of a combination of 2 Chunky Yarns or an Aran and a Super Chunky (at least 90 meters per 100gms per yarn)
8mm needles

Tension
11sts and 11 ridges to 10 cm in garter stitch using 8mm needles
(1 ridge = 2 knit rows)

Knitting Notes
The slippers are knitted in a garter slip stitch pattern; the slip stitch is used to define the edges of the slipper sole.

Chain selvedge A chain selvedge is used throughout as follows;
Beginning of every row: k1 through back of loop (k1tbl)
End of every row: knit to last stitch, yarn forward, slip stitch purlwise.

Knit pick-up Put the tip of the right needle through the knitting just below the outside loop of the chain selvedge stitch and make a loop around the needle as if to knit. Pull the loop through to make a new stitch.

Cast off very loosely. If you have a problem casting off loosely use a needle 2 sizes larger to knit the cast off row.

Abbreviations
k2tog - knit 2 together; s1 k1 psso - slip 1 knit 1 pass slip stitch over; s1 - slip 1 purlwise; k1tbl - knit 1 through back of loop; yfwd - yarn forward to the front of the knitting; yb – yarn back

Slipper
Using one strand of each yarn and 8mm needles cast on 15[19, 21, 23]sts
Increase for heel: k1tbl, k6[8, 9, 10], -
Child & Small k1, p1, k1, p1 into next stitch
Medium k1, p1, k1, p1, k1 into next stitch
Large k1, yo, p1, k1,yo, k1 into next stitch
- K6[8, 9, 10], yfwd, s1 - 18[22, 25, 28]sts.

Row 1: (WS) k1tbl, k4[6, 7, 8], yfwd, s1, yb, k6[6, 7, 8], yfwd, s1, yb, k4[6, 7, 8], yfwd, s1.
Row 2: (RS) k1tbl, k to last stitch, yfwd, s1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until 16[18, 20, 23] ridges are complete finishing after a WS row.

Shape Toe
Row 1: k1tbl, k2[4, 5, 6], k2tog, k1, k6[6, 7, 8], k1, k2tog, k2[4, 5, 6], yfwd, s1. – 16[20, 23 26]sts.

Row 2: k1tbl, k1[3, 4, 5], k2tog, yfwd, s1, yb, s1 k1 psso, k2[2, 3, 4], k2tog, yfwd, s1, yb, s1 k1 psso, k1[3, 4, 5], yfwd, s1. – 12[16, 19, 22]sts.

Row 3: Child k1tbl, k2tog, k1, s1 k1 psso, k2tog, k1, s1 k1 psso, k1, pull yarn end through these last 8sts, pull up toe and fasten off tightly.
Small, Medium & Large: k1tbl, k[3, 3, 4], k2tog, k1, k[4, 5, 6], k1, s1 k1 psso, k[2, 3, 4], yfwd, s1. – [14, 17, 20]sts.
Row 4: k1tbl, k[1, 2, 3], k2tog, yfdw, s1, yb, s1 k1 psso, k[0, 1, 2], k2tog, yfwd, s1, yb, s1 k1 psso, k[1, 2, 3], yfwd, s1. – [10, 13, 16]sts.
Small pull yarn end through these last 10sts, pull up toe and fasten off tightly.
Row 5: Medium k1tbl, k1, k2tog, k1, k3, k1, s1 k1 psso, k2, pull yarn end through these last 11sts, pull up toe and fasten off tightly.
Large k1tbl, k2, k2tog, k1, s1 k1 psso, k2tog, k1, s1 k1 psso, k3, pull yarn end through these last 12sts, pull up toe and fasten off tightly.
To join the centre seam
With RS together and starting at the toe, sew the centre seam by over sewing the selvedge edge half chains together (the other half of the selvedge chain should be left as a raised detail on the RS). Sew the centre seam for approx. half the length of the slipper.
Trim
Using main yarn (or 3 strands of fur yarn e.g. Silky Chic) and 8mm needles, knit pick up 1 stitch for every selvedge chain, knitting through the outside half of the chain only, and pick up 1 stitch at the centre seam. Knit 2 rows. Cast off very loosely.

Alternative trim – using main yarn (or 3 strands fur yarn) and large size crochet hook (size 7mm or 8mm) work a double crochet for every selvedge chain. Work 1 more row of double crochet or a row of crab stitch if you prefer.
To sew up heel
With RS together, over sew the cast on edge from heel increase to the top of the slipper.

Knitted Christmas Decorations

A couple of weeks ago I taught a workshop on making knitted Christmas decorations using up left over yarns. One of the items was a 'gift bag' which could be used as a way of 'wrapping' a small gift or it could be used as a purse/bag although it would need a fabric lining.

The original pattern was designed to be knitted in the round. During the day a couple of ladies decided to knit the bag but found it quite challenging working in the round from the centre of the base outwards so I decided to re-design the bag so it could be knitted flat. I had a ball of King Cole Galaxy with me so started to knit the new bag shown in the photo above. The pattern worked quite well and the yarn gives a Chrismassy feel.

I previously designed and knitted some Christmas baubles using up left over sock yarn.

The baubles are knitted flat and sewn around a foam ball or ping pong ball (depending on the size). You could also use polyester stuffing but the bauble doesn't keep its shape as well if it is just stuffed. As I still had quite a bit of the Galaxy yarn left I also knitted a Christmas bauble. As I knitted it I made sure the sequins were pushed to the knit side of the fabric. As Galaxy is a DK yarn rather than 4ply as used for the other baubles I did have to adjust the pattern.

The Galaxy yarn does work very well and you could probably get several baubles out of one ball.

Previously I also knitted a little angel again using up left over yarn. The angel is based on a simple finger puppet pattern so it could be used as a finger puppet or as a decoration for the Christmas tree

The angel in the picture was knitted using 4ply yarns. If knitted in DK yarns it will come out bigger but still works well as a decoration. It was fun to design these items for the workshop. I now need to knit some to add to my Christmas tree when we put it up. We don't usually put our decorations up until about a week before Christmas so I've still got time..!!



More design development

There were some interesting cloisters at the Abbey which I used to inspire a couple of stitch patterns. I was teaching cables as one of my workshops on the knitting week in France and used the cloisters pictures to inspire some cable designs.

I used a filter in Photoshop to turn the photo into an outline image (at the top of the page above) and then traced over this image. This helped me to understand how the arches work with each other and interlink.

I traced off a section of arches and then payed around with the tracing to see how they could be linked. I liked the images on the double page image above but felt this was quite complicated so decided to use the simpler image above to translate into a cable pattern. I like Bavarian Twisted Stitch patterns so decided to try to produce this type of cable.

This was the first graph I tried drawing but was not happy with the way the cables were linking.

This was the next chart I drew but was still not very happy with the way the cables linked together. The chart wasn't giving me the type of pattern I wanted.

This 3rd chart did seem to give the the arch shapes I was trying to produce so I knitted this graph.

I did quite like the pattern this produced and I think it would work as an all over pattern on a larger scale as I think the repeats would link in quite well.

As well as developing the stitch pattern above I also had a look through the stitch pattern books to see if I could find any cable patterns that resemble arches. These 2 samples both worked quite well.

Having knitted these 2 samples from charts I though I could develop my own version combining elements from both samples. The resulting chart and sample are shown below.

I like the way the cables work into a point with moss (seed) stitch and reverse stocking stitch filling in the other areas. I haven't thought how I would use this sample yet beyond making the basic sample for the workshop.

Designs for French Treats Holiday based on tree bark

This next knitted sample was developed from a picture of tree bark taken on a visit to an Abbey. I used a filter in Photoshop to generate the image on the left and then traced it onto tracing paper (the image on the right).

I found a pattern in one of my stitch library books that looked a bit like the tree bark.

This gave me the idea that I could develop a knit and purl pattern to look like the bark. I copied the tracing onto stitch related graph paper and in fact generated 2 graphs as shown below.

One graph had more variation between the knit and purl stitches than the other but I ended up knitting the lower graph. When I knitted the sample I decided that I would use the side that was mostly stocking stitch (the knit stitch showing) as the right side.

This was the resulting sample which has been knitted with a cable edging. However after knitting it I think the reverse side would have worked better, so here is the sample with the reverse side showing.

Knit and purl patterns can be viewed from either side but often the purl or reverse stocking stitch side can look more interesting as the purl stitches visually push forward and vertical runs of knit stitches. Putting the cable edging onto the sample stops it from being completely reversible.

Developing ideas for the French Treats holiday, Part 4

Back in May I wrote 3 posts about developing design ideas for the French Treats Holiday in June based on photographs I took on the holiday last year. The posts showed some of the drawings I did but that was all. I did develop these drawings into knitted pieces before the holiday but did not have time to post more details until now.

These are some developments I made based on the poppies pictures. I had several poppies pictures but I particularly like the one that focused on the stalks and seed heads.

The seed head drawing looked OK so I traced the drawing onto tracing paper.

I traced both images but I didn't draw the seed heads in detail as I wasn't sure at this point how I was going to interpret them in knitting. The stalks where easier to interpret as I could see them knitted as a twisted knit stitch on a purl background.

I was looking through my Japanese stitch pattern books and came across a chart to knit this pattern below (with some adjustments as i was knitted the sample).

I particularly liked the way the popcorn/bobbles where made and thought this would be a good way to knit the seed heads in my picture.

The next step was to transfer the traced image onto stitch related graph paper. I prefer to use stitch related graph paper even if it is not the exact rows and stitches combination rather than squared paper as stitches are a rectangular shape not square.

This was the chart I made from the tracing. I have drawn in the twisted knit stitch showing how it travels across the purl background but I have not added any symbols for the purl stitches as this would make the chart very busy. I did indicate on the chart whether to increase 3 stitches or 5 stitches for the seed heads but it isn't very clear on the chart. At this point the chart is for my own use rather than to be published so it doesn't matter too much how the chart is drawn as long as I understand it. If I every publish the chart I will have to redraw it using suitable symbols.

And here is the finished knitted piece. It has been knitted in the 'Knitting by Numbers' yarn from John Arbon and I worked a cable at each edge as I was thinking of joining different pieces together by lacing through the cables.

I haven't done much development with the original image but I was quite pleased with the finished piece of knitting.

I hope to post about one of the other pieces of work in the next few days.