Pink Lap Blanket

In shades of pink and grey with a splash of yellow, I have made a second twiddle blanket!

To help tone down the pink and blend the colours together I used this fine knitting cotton to create a flecked effect.

It went particularly well with the pale lemon yellow...

... and thickened the pink and yellow yarns to the same weight as the chunky cream and beige, which can be seen on the left of this picture.  The whole thing is finished off with buttons and knitted flowers, and is now ready for someone who needs a bit of extra warmth and comfort this winter.

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Knitting Coconut Palms

Entertainment this week has revolved around knitted palm trees.

The tiny buttons may not look like coconuts to anyone else, but they do to me!

It's A Twiddle Blanket!

Unplanned, random, just plain fun.  After a gap of about thirteen years, I have picked up my knitting needles again and made something.  Joining a church knitting group introduced me to twiddle blankets, and I was away.  The stash of wool that has been rammed into an upstairs cupboard for years is gradually reducing.

This first blanket is in effect a giant sized tension square, giving me the method for future projects.  I have used chunky yarn, or a double strand of thinner yarn, so that it grew quickly.  To keep it flat and warm, I used a basket weave stitch which gives snug texture.  For the twiddle factor, I sewed on buttons and knitted flowers.

The flowers are easy to make and have the habit of furling themselves up, just like real flowers.

Using double strands of yarn gave me the opportunity to do a bit of colour blending.  This dark and light green blend definitely looks like a 1950s gardener's jumper.

The chunky picot edge down one side wasn't in the plan at the start.  I had to disguise a rather loosely worked edge somehow.  

There is still plenty more wool upstairs.  I think I shall end up making a few of these blankets. 

Linking up to Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Amanda Jean's blog Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday

How To Knit A Flower

Suddenly my life has been filled with flowers.  Knitted ones.  They are the perfect addition to the twiddle blankets I have been making, and a great way to use up small left over balls of wool.

This flower measures three and three quarter inches across.  Because I wanted a sturdy and firm finish, I used a double strand of double knitting yarn on 4mm needles (no. 8 in the old sizes).  Knit stitch is used throughout.

To give the petals neat edges, I use the cable method of casting on (shown on an excellent video here), and at the beginning of each row I slip a stitch knitwise with the yarn at the back of the work (shown here)

)

Cast on 9 stitches, and leave a tail of yarn hanging which will be used later for sewing the flower onto the finished item. 

Knit 8 stitches, leaving the last stitch on the left hand needle.  This is the only row where the first stitch is not slipped.

Turn, ready for the next row.

Slip the first stitch...

...and knit to the end of the row.

Turn, slip the first stitch...

...and knit 6 stitches, leaving 2 on the left hand needle.

Turn, slip one stitch, and knit to the end of the row.

Turn, slip one, knit 5 stitches, and leave 3 on the left hand needle.

This is the idea - the centre of the flower is on the left, where the tail is hanging from the casting on.  The outer edge of the flower is on the right.  Each time you knit towards the centre you leave one more stitch on the left hand needle.

Keep on going, until you only need to slip one, knit one, and leave 7 stitches on the left hand needle.

Turn, and knit your shortest most irritating row ever.  Slip one, knit one.

Turn again, and you a natty little triangle.

Now cast off 8 stitches in the normal way, just making sure you slip the first stitch.

The first petal is finished!  Five more to go.

Leave the last stitch on the right hand needle...

... do not turn, and insert the left hand needle...

...and cast on 8 stitches.  So now there are 9 stitches again, and the whole sequence is repeated...

...to make another petal.

When you have six petals, cast off completely.

Use the tails from the beginning and end of the work to link the first with the last petal and gather in the centre...

...and also to stitch the flower securely to the main item.  All it needs now is a button in the middle.

Job done, and guaranteed addictive.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.

Knitted Flowers

These flowers have kept me busy with my latest knitting project.  They are totally addictive and easy, and I have been making them to add as decoration to a twiddle blanket.

So far I have been using up red and yellow wool, and have made them all the same size.  However I can see how they can be varied, and what a pretty decoration they would be for a little girl's winter hat.

I shall be making some more flowers next week and shall post instructions for anybody who fancies a little bit of creative knitting...

Knitting, My First Love

There is a frighteningly large stash of wool in my cupboards that I haven't touched for at least thirteen years.  Somehow having lively children around the house and knitting didn't mix.  Now the children are gone and it is time to clear the house out.  It's a gradual process, partly because knitting my way through a mountain of wool will be a lot slower than just passing it on.  Also, until now, I didn't have any clear idea of what to make.  The solution was to join the knitting group at a local church and see what projects they had.  The choice was between baby blankets or twiddle blankets.  I opted for the latter.

Rather than knit squares to be made into blankets, I am making a small lap blanket with added interest.  The basket weave stitch is quick and easy, has a lovely warm texture, and lies nice and flat.  Here is the method.  You need an even number of stitches.  Instructions are given for a number of stitches divisible by four, with instructions for stitches divisible by two but not four in brackets.

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit 2, purl 2 to the end of the row
Row 4: Knit 2, purl 2 (purl 2, knit 2) to end of row
Row 5: Knit
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: Purl 2, knit 2 to end of row
Row 8: Purl 2, knit 2 (knit 2, purl 2) to end of row
Repeat 

Now I have finished the knitting and am adding the twiddle factor.

It has been a great thrill getting the knitting needles out again after so many years.  My mum taught me to knit when I was six.  She wasn't a knitter herself, but she was able to teach me how to knit, purl, cast on and off, and increase and decrease a stitch.  After that I was on my own and became a regular at the local wool shop and a tea cosy specialist.  Now my knitting ambition is to be a twiddle blanket specialist and avoid the wool shop.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday.

Vintage Book Review 3 - Complete Home Knitting Illustrated

Reprinted in 1946, Complete Home Knitting Illustrated, by Margaret Murray and Jane Koster, gives a fascinating glimpse of wartime Britain.

The summary on the title page states the book will show how to combine knitting with fabric, and to make new clothes from old, two very useful skills in times of shortage.

The trim lines of wartime fashion are shown to best advantage in this bouclé ribbed frock and neatly waisted moss stitch cardigan, which quite frankly would have taken me the entire duration to knit.

Quicker to knit are these short sleeved jerseys, knitted on size 8 and 10 needles in 3 ply wool, and teamed up here with tweed suits and lace up boots.

The illustrations are extremely clear, with plenty of drawings showing different methods of casting on and off, increasing and decreasing, making buttons and buttonholes, and everything a knitter needs to know to make the most of the patterns in the book.

These illustrations, showing how to carry the wool at the back of the work for Fair Isle knitting, are quite exceptional. 

Also of interest is the section about continental knitting, which concedes that "it is much quicker than the English way."  This was a method I hadn't even heard of when I encountered a German girl doing her knitting at a bus stop in Ireland in 1982.  When I expressed amazement at the fact that she had the wool in her left hand and hardly moved her needles, she unhesitatingly informed me that the German way was much more efficient.  Perhaps it is, but anyone who learnt to knit the English way at the age of six isn't going to change.  Old habits die hard.

The book shows numerous different stitches, from lacy and delicate patterns for babies' and children's clothes, to stitches specifically recommended for men's garments.  Feather rib is evidently the ideal stitch for the man who has the casual approach to digging.

This waistcoat is very smart and practical...

... with a pocket each for a packet of 10 Woodbines and a box of Swan Vestas.

The children's section includes all the itchy vests and knickers in 2 ply wool, babies' shawls, pilches and matinée jackets that are to be expected (and possibly dreaded) in old knitting books.  This little jacket, however, could be made reasonably quickly, as it is knitted across the body and the ribbed effect is achieved with knit rows alternating with bands of stocking stitch.

Equally ingenious are these gloves, also knitted across the usual direction of work.  Gloves figure large in the book, with patterns for gauntlets, open work gloves in cotton or wool, fingerless gloves and mittens.  Keeping warm in the years of fuel shortages was a priority, and this photograph shows that staying warm in layers of wool could be achieved with some elegance.  

Another preoccupation was making clothes last.  This little girl is wearing a dress made from fabric from an old dress, and which has been enlarged with knitted inserts in the sides and a new knitted yoke and sleeves.  Somehow she doesn't look too enamoured with the result.  Perhaps it is a bit too hot and itchy around the shoulders to let her go tearing around after a tennis ball.

Possibly the most fascinating picture is this one, taken on a gloriously traffic-free corner in London.  The outfit isn't much different from those worn by girls when I was a child.  In fact, I could swear she has nicked my ankle socks and brown leather Start Rites.  The truly fascinating feature of this picture is the white painted kerb, no doubt to prevent people from breaking their necks in the blackout.

By far the barmiest pattern in the book is this one, described as a helmet with ear flaps.  Just an ordinary balaclava, (passé enough in itself unless you are knitting for a hearty outdoors type or a bank robber) but with the added feature of ear holes through which the wearer can pull his ears.  It really doesn't bear thinking about.  This man deserved a beer bonus for modelling this creation.  He would have been ribbed something rotten next time he went down the pub.

Complete Home Knitting Illustrated is a truly marvellous book, but perhaps not for the faint hearted who baulk at the prospect of casting on 183 stitches in 3 ply wool on size 10 needles.  It is packed with plenty of technical information, and patterns that can be adapted and updated, and it deserves a place on the bookshelf of every experienced and truly intrepid knitter.

Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday 

Rock Chick from the Land of the Tea Cosy

Must knit myself some of these.  I might need some woolly drawers for next winter.

But first, perhaps I should study the instructions and get some practice with elastic.  One dud stitch could spell disaster.

Three Keen Boys in Mustard

I had to give these three names, so from left to right, let me introduce Derek, Barry and Jeff, circa 1972.

Derek is being terribly ostentatious, holding open his AA Handbook and dangling his car keys.

Two things trouble me about this pattern.  Why does it say "Double Knittings" instead of "Double Knitting"?  It looks like a bad translation...

... but Lotus Wools were in Leicester.

Also, one of the trio is sporting a glaring knitting error in his mustard creation.  Can anybody else see it?