Bonny baby bonnet

No I haven't made one, but the pictures of this angry little newborn made me laugh. Himself says it's a dreadful hat on an ugly baby, but myself I think it's interesting to see in real life something you'd be more likely to see in a museum. 

Green garden dress

This is my yet-to-be-completed latest project. I'm doing the top right view illustrated in pink with a red cummerbund, but mine is a limey yellow green cotton with a batik flower in it. Trust me, it's much nicer than it sounds. 

I would have done the central one with the long tie that wraps across the front, but I didn't have enough fabric, and didn't fancy a contrasting tie, so cummerbund it is. On the positive side, it's an opportunity to try out boning, and if it fails I can just wear the dress without any waist detail. 

The other nice thing about this pattern is that the skirt is 4 squares gathered into the waist, so hemming it should be a piece of cake compared to the previous dresses I've made, which have had curved hems. No bias to drop, so no need to hang for 3 days and measure and mark the hem. 

... although I didn't do that before either, I just hoped for the best. 

Oh, and no underarm gusset! Result!  

The deadline for this is Friday as I'm flying away to South Africa on Saturday, which is when I'm going to wear it (for a garden wedding, hence the name). So since it's only 55% finished, technically I shouldn't be blogging about it at all, but sewing it. 

Broadbean scarf instructions

I was wearing the broadbean scarf again yesterday and it still gets commented on a lot. Mostly it's knitters who spot it, ask me if I made it and then ask me how to do it.

It's preposterously easy, and since lots of people have asked, here are some instructions for keen beginners. Experienced knitters will know what to do. 

The things you'll need to know how to do are cast on, knit, and cast off. That is all. If you don't know how to do any of these things, I suggest you start with Google.

Oh, you'll also need a pair of knitting needles and a ball of wool. I used a ball of DK wool (*ahem* not literally wool - it was acrylic) that was 100g and 290m long, and 4mm needles. DK is a way of describing how thick the yarn is - fatter than 4-ply but thinner than Aran weight, which is a bit thinner than Chunky.  You can use whatever you like, but use the needle size suggested on the label, and remember that a chunkier yarn won't go as far so your scarf will be shorter. 

If you're googling cast on methods, look for a method called 'knitting on'. 

OK, so here's more or less what I did. 

Row 1. Cast on about 25 stitches. This will be the length of your broadbean. 

Row 2. Knit. 

Row 3. Knit.

Row 4. Knit. 

Row 5. Knit. 

Row 6. Knit. 

Row 7. Knit.

Row 8. Cast off 20 stitches, leaving 5 on the needle. This is the end of your first broadbean. 

Row 9. Cast on 20 stitches until you have 25 stitches on the needle, including the 5 you didn't cast off. This is the beginning of your second broadbean. 

Repeat rows 2 - 9 until you run out of wool. 

Final row. Cast off all stitches. Leave a 5 or 6 inch tail of yarn at the end. 

Finishing: Use a darning needle to weave the beginning and end of the yarn into the scarf. This means basically sew it in and out along the knitting so you can't see it. 

Now to really make this scarf your own, you can change the stitch count and row count to make something completely different. If you start with 25 stitches and cast off 5, and then cast on 5, you'll make something that's got more of a wavy edge than beans. If you double the number of knit rows between cast ons and cast offs, you'll get something that probably looks a bit more like a row of flags. Maybe. 

If you try it, let me know - I'd love to see what this same basic instruction would look like with different yarns and different numbers of stitches and rows! 

Broadbeans mk II

Home-made Christmas presents? Only one, and that was this: 

Recognise it? It's the broadbean scarf, mk II. Actually I've been calling this version the neighbour scarf. Because it's in devil-red, and the numbers to remember while knitting it were 667 (6 stitches join the beans together, the beans are 26 stitches long and 7 rows wide). 

You wouldn't believe how many comments I've had on the broadbeans - and a few requests, but it is quite boring to make, in all honesty, so I can't see myself making another one unless someone really reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wants one.  

I would have made more Christmas presents (despite what I've said about gifting hand-made things), but it turns out that I would have needed to think about it in about September, and I wasn't that organised. 

Adventures in 4-ply

For my next project, I'm using these:

The book is Vintage Knitwear for Modern Knitters, and the yarn is Angora 4-ply from Orkney. 

4 ply angora turns out to be easily broken and not so easily unravelled. Here is the beginning of my tension swatch: 

As the yarn had already broken twice by this point (and also it's a scarf, so tension isn't a massive issue) I decided to ditch the tension swatch and get stuck right in. 

Although it's actually a simple garter-stitch scarf with just a bit of shaping, it has been difficult! Partly self-inflicted, admittedly, as the pattern wanted me to use 3 needles and I didn't want to spend the £2.50 on a second pair of needles the same size, so I tried to do it using a stitch holder. 

Big mistake. 

Anyway, I invested the extra £2.50 and a lot of time (no really, a lot) unravelling, swearing and fixing and now the project is moving along nicely in the way it would have done if only I'd have done it properly in the first place. 

Knitted shoes!

OMG I just have to upload a picture of my amazing tiger shoes - they're knitted! And they've got whiskers and ears and everything! I love them so much it almost overrides the pain of walking in them... 

Polka dot dress success

Although all I've done for ages has been knitting, I have completed a few sewing projects too, and finally I can prove it! I made a polka dot dress in the summer but recently not only did I have the opportunity to wear it, I also remembered to take photos of me wearing it - well done me. 

Yes, I am a bit short in the legs so low-cut red court shoes would have looked better, but I haven't got any. And yes, I am desperately in need of a haircut. The skirt is two full circles, so it's very full (the hem of the skirt is 400 inches around, and the dress takes 7 yards of fabric). Looking at the photo now though I think it would look great with a petticoat, so I might make one.

Back view:

And the pattern it came from is this (copyright date 1957): 

If I made it again (and I'm tempted, because I have loved wearing it) I would consider putting pockets in the side seams of the skirt. Just for, y'know, lipstick. You can't not wear lipstick with a dress like this. It would be amazing in chiffon, though I know I won't be able to manage chiffon, but it's very wearable in cotton so I might do another version one day in a different print. 

Oh and these vintage patterns with gussets under the arms... they're an absolute bitch.