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Rowan Yarns Martin Storey Mystery Knit-a-long Afghan 2014
Yippeeeeee I have at long last finished the project I started way back in May 2014! Life and other projects got in the way during the last 5 years. My husband being diagnosed with bowel cancer, moving, and retirement.
I am happy to say that my husband had a successful bowel re-section in October 2014 and has just had his 5 years all clear, so we are planning major life changes.
My youngest daughter moved house two weeks ago to a lovely brand new home, so that spurred me on to finish this at long last. It was my gift to her for her new home.
I think it turned out as I planned it, as I did not follow Martin’s colourway or pattern lay out. This it my original plan –
This is my finished project.
The border was the worst part for me, it has taken me nearly 3 years to knit and attach the border!
This is where I was with the project in 2016 –
I am really pleased with the final finished afghan though.
Now on to finishing the Martin Storey knit-a-long started in 2016!
For George
Another new baby boy, a first granchild for close friends, was born last week. This is a cardi and hat set just finished for little George. With the weather turning colder the hat will be useful.
Pattern – Sirdar Snuggly baby Crofter dk
Yarn – Sirdar Snuggly Crofter baby fair isle effect dk
The hat and bottom of the cardi are knitted in a reverse column which looks effective and gives the items texture.
Eleanor’s v-necked bolero
My daughter sources her business cars from Kevin in Seaton Carew, and Kevin and his wife have a little girl, Eleanor, who is 1 today. I have made this lovely little v-necked bolero in a delightful candy striped yarn for her birthday present.
The pattern is King Cole DK 3547 and I used Rico Baby Dream DK yarn in colour way 002.
The yarn, pattern and pretty rabbit button were all bought at the super Ripping Yarns of Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
Finley’s cardigan and hat
2017 is well and truly here and I have 3 finished projects and a vast number of wip.
My first finished items this year are a cardigan and hat for newborn Finley, the latest grandson of my very good friend Rosie. Finley was born on the 5 April and I hope to give the gifts this coming weekend, the 22nd April.
Pattern, Snuggly Baby Crofter DK. Yarn, Sirdar Snuggly Rascals DK, colour way 454. The hat was finished off with some left over King Cole Bamboo DK in a green that coordinated with the Rascals.
The yarns, pattern and buttons were bought from the lovely Ripping Yarns, Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
These were a quick knit with a lovely ribbed section detail.
Baby Gifts
After nearly 6 months I have now finished two knitted gifts for a beautiful baby girl. The little girl is now 6 months old, which is just perfect, as I knitted the gifts in size 6 – 12 months.
The jumper is kitted in King Cole Merino 4 ply (50g balls), which is just lovley to hold and knit with. 2 balls in the Aran colour, 1 ball in the Amethyst, and 1 ball in the Raspberry.
The pattern was from Zoe Mellor, Nursery Knits, the kitten sweater. I had previously knitted the puppy pattern for my grandson some years ago (he is now 5 years old).
I also knitted a little tunic dress, using King Cole Bamboo cotton (100g balls) in Wisteria (2 balls).
This was from a pattern in a Love Knitting For Baby magazine from March 2016. The pattern was for the pinafore dress, which started on page 72. The recommended yarn was Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK, but my local yarn store, Ripping Yarns in Saltburn, had recently stopped stocking it and they recommended the King Cole Bamboo Cotton. I did find the yarn a bit splitty and fibourous but it was still lovely and soft on the fingers and handled being rippied out and re-knitted a few times really well.
The pattern in the magazine had both shoulders joined, and the pick up and knit arm and neck borders were to be done in a 3.25mm needle rather than a 4mm needle as the bulk of the pinafore dress was done in.
I suppose I knitted this because I liked the colour, finding the King Cole Bamboo cotton Wisteria to be a near match for the suggested colour of the pattern in the magazine, and thought it would be quick and easy to knit as a little gift. Well, how wrong could I be? Very wrong – this took ages to knit as I firstly undid the neck and arm edges, which unravelled more than I bargained for, so ended up knitting the top of the front and back again just so I could pick up and knit the neck and arm borders in 4mm needles as I felt the openings were too tight in the 3.25mm.
After doing this, I still was not keen on the size of the openings and felt that having one side opening would be better for getting on and off a small child. So I started to unravel and unpick joins again, unfortunately this all got tangled and I found that I had then unravelled the whole of the back and front, so I re-knitted the whole of the back and front again, this time leaving one side open, putting on a button band and putting in button holes, and still picking up and knitting the neck and arm hole bands using teh 4mm needles. I was more than happy with the end result this time.
So, here are the pictures of the heart edged pinafore dress from page 72 onwards of the Love Knitting for Baby (March 2016) with my adjustments (an opening, including button band and button holes, and neck/arm bands in 4mm needles rather than 3.25mm needles).
Rowan Martin Storey Knit Along 1
I have nearly finished the first Rowan Martin Storey afghan knit along, only about 3 years late!! Better late than never. Just the edging to sew on, which is already knitted, and the remainder of the ends to sew in.
I have shown my original plan below, which did not follow Martin’s plan or colours, and my nearly completed afghan this evening, photo taken with and without flash.
Completed Christmas gifts 2015
Toddle (Wee Sophisticate) by Molly Bell, in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
T
Hoodie, Debbie Bliss Essential Kids (20 knits for children from two to five), in a synthetic aran yarn (sorry, cannot remember where I got it from, but it was via the internet).
See details above for this jumper.
I have also been knitting for this Christmas just gone, with some success! I do still have some wip though, which I will share later.
My completed items included hats, scarves and jumpers.
The sparkly mitts, with a picot edge, and the green chunky knit hat were for dear friends who we know from France. I do not know if they like them or not yet, I hope they do.
The simple red jumper, the cable knit green hoody jumper and the red entrelac knitted scarf with a hole to keep the scarf in place were all for my lovely grandson. Red is his favourite colour but he loves the green jumper because of the pocket on the front, which keeps his hands warm! I will update the post later with the yarns used and patterns (to give credit where is it due).
Presents for the in-laws in 2015
Other presents made and given during the year were flannels, both knitted and crocheted. I made these for both birthdays and as early Christmas 2015 presents for my mother-in-law and father-in-law. My mother-in-law particularly loves her flannels.
Finished Christmas presents 2014
Well, reading my blog I realised that I left you with some wip late 2014 Christmas projects, so it is only fair that I show you the finished items, gloves for my staff and a children’s jumper that I had been knitting for my grandson since he was born (he is nearly 5 now!). I gave the jumper to a member of my staff who had just adopted a little boy – perfect for him. So this proves, I can finish my projects, if I try – even if it is late. I should add that I was ill from October to March, so I actually did not see my staff to give them their late finished Christmas presents until March – unless they read my blog they will never realise the presents were not finished in time for Christmas 2014. The diligent among you will notice that there is an extra pair of fingerless mittens included below that were not shown in the wip for Christmas 2014 – there were so wip when I posted at the time they were still a ball of wool!
Gifts completed in 2015
Hi, I know, I am terrible at blogging my craft projects! So here we are, a promise to blog more as I go along in 2016 and also an update on my completed projects in 2015.
These are wearable gifts during the year.
A wavy scarf knitted in short row shaping using the lovely Sirdar Divine in the lovely Esther with gorgeous golden tones and the purples. This was a two ball project, and very quick and easy to knit up. I gave this to an old work colleague for her birthday – a golden scarf for a golden girl celebrating her 50th birthday.
The smaller scarf is a necklet scarf in the Grundl flower yarn, a single ball project, which is very quick to knit up. I gave this to my cousin, visiting from Australia. The Grundl flower yarn comes in a variety of varied colours and looks lovely when knitted up. It can be used to knit long college scarfs and hats as well.
The mittens are my normal patterns, a simple rib fingerless mitt and a cable backed fingerless mitt. The grey simple rib fingerless mitts were requested by my father-in-law as the first set I made him were a bit tight, so I made him another pair of the same mitts in a different yarn and a slightly larger size, which he much preferred. The cable mitts, a pattern I use loads, were commissioned by both my sister-in-law’s. My husbands sister plays violin in a group, usually in cold places like churches. These were ideal for her as she could wear them whilst playing her violin and keep her hands warm at the same time. My brothers wife also loves fingerless mitts and requested the same pattern in a different shade of purple.
I also made a pair of the cable fingerless mitts in a soft grey for a good friend in Canada but cannot find the photo at present to post. My friend in Canada is wearing them now as the weather is very wintery and they are just perfect for her.
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