On the Needles

Bubble Stitch Baby Blanket [Started 12th December]

This is Lovecraft's Bobo Bubble Stitch Blanket & Beanie intended to be knitted in Paintbox yarns but I am trying to diminish my vast stocks of Stylecraft Double Knitting. The pattern is quite satisfying, although I now notice I'm not actually following the striped sequence as given in the pattern (by accident); however it's looking very pretty so far...

Fisherman's Rib Hat [Started 29th November: :Completed 23rd December]

This is a design featured in my Pattern of the Month many years ago. It's intended for a chunky yarn but I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran [55% Merino / 33% Acrylic / 12% Cashmere : 50g = 90m / 98yds], in colour 612 Royal, repurposed from my woven blanket project.
This type of rib has a very flexible fit - I went down a needle size to 4½mm, and cast on 4 extra stitches; I think it would have been fine without, extra stitches; however it does make the decreasing at the end easier to position.

Bobbi Bonnet and Scarf [Started 22nd November: :Completed 26th November]

A design from Debbie Bliss for a quick Christmas gift.
The intended yarn is Cashmerino Aran, but I am using leftovers from Martin Storey's Colour Blocks Blanket that I made in 2022 - the ever-practical Stylecraft Special Aran ([100% acrylic : 100g=196m] - colours Pistachio (1822), and Teal (1062).

Tunisian Crochet Baby Blanket [Started 22nd October: :Completed 28th November]

I have hitherto spurned Tunisian crochet, making the assumption that it offered little difference in design effect from knitting or crochet. However, Kate gave me "Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet" by Emma Guess, and I was very taken with the entrelac baby blanket. In truth I mainly liked the colours and planned to use a Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn - but to my dismay they no longer offer the lovely Eau de Nil green colour in any of the yarn weights. So based on colour alone, I am using West Yorkshire Spinners Morris [100% British Wool : 50g = 112m], in colours 1281 Sage, 1275 Daisy, and 1276 Blackthorn, purchased at John Lewis.

Weaving: Summer and Winter blanket [Started 7th October]

My class project for the new term is a summer and winter pair from the Anne Dixon's "Handweaver's Pattern Directory". This is the second time I have woven this pattern - it was my first project as a multicoloured table runner in cotton - but this one has fewer colours and will hopefully show off more of the weave design.
I am using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran [55% Merino / 33% Acrylic / 12% Cashmere : 50g = 90m / 98yds], in colours 56 Mallard, 613 Teal, 612 Royal, and 25 White, and I'll be using the 4 shaft floor loom for the project.

Lisa Richardson's Edith Wrap [Started 14th September: :Completed 12th October]

This is not a new design from Lisa but I have wanted to make it for some time and decided to buy the kit from her website. Thus in a break with tradition I am using the recommended Rowan Island Blend [15% Silk / 70% Wool / 15% Alpaca : 50g = 125m/137yds] - designated as double knitting yarn - in colours 901 Ash, 902 Jet, and 908 Lemon.
Hopefully I've made a start in good time for a Christmas gift.
[I must have knitted this too loosely as I ran out of "Jet" and had to adapt the picot edging to use less yarn at the end].

Chloe Thurlow's Rhythmic Knitalong [Started 4th July]

Rowan have started a new knitalong blanket (or cushion) in Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted [100% wool : 100g = 200m/219yds] in colours 101 Ivory, 111 Granite, 112 Moonstone, 193 Fern, 190 Raisin, 191 Mauve Mist, and 199 Sage. Again they have a choice of projects but I am doing the blanket. Needless to say the yarn I am using is not Rowan but Stylecraft DK (I'm hoping it will be ok for a baby blanket).

Wiklina Socks [Started 25th March: :Completed 30th March]

And Moonbeams slippers [Started 28th February: :Completed 5th March]

Starling Socks for Nick [Started 17th February: :Completed 28th February]

Swallow Socks [Started 17th February: :Completed 6th April and 12th April]

This is one of the newer Country Birds colourways from West Yorkshire Spinners: 1168 Swallow [75% Wool / 25% Nylon: 100g=400m].
I quite like the colour mix here and thought I'd make a couple of pairs of womens' socks (for a change) from the one ball - combining it with Blueberry Bonbon 365 for the heels and toes.

Catstyle [Started 11th January: :Completed 19th February]

A cowl design by Lisa Richardson from Rowan British Made which uses yarns made or sourced within the British Isles. In a break from tradition, I actually used the Rowan yarns listed in the pattern: Moordale, [70% wool / 30% alpaca; 100g=230m/251yds] , in colours Gooseberry (004), Nutmeg (011), Feather (001), and Pepper (002).

Tweed Blanket [Started 3rd November 2024]

I wanted to make this Marie Wallin throw design from Rowan Purelife Home (2011) a long time ago - but using my own handspun. It has taken me a very long time to complete the spinning so I'm not saying when I really started this project - just that I've recently begun to knit it.
The prepared fibre is from John Arbon - a heady melange of their Devonia and Harvest Hues, chosen on the basis of their colours.

Benyons [Started 26th October 2024]

A Martin Storey design from the latest Rowan Magazine 76. The yarn is Rowan Alpaca Soft DK [70% wool / 30% alpaca; 50g=125m/137yds] and it's lovely - but again the colours are not the most flattering for me - however I've now bought some trousers to match so I'm committed!
It's proving to be very satisfying to knit and very effective for such a simple combination of stitches.

Weaving: "Waffle and Twill Towels" [Started 14th September 2024: :Completed 7th October 2025]

My new class project for the new term is "Waffle and Twill Towels" - a pattern design by Sue Anne Sultan purchased from Gist Yarns. The weaving width will be about 18 inches, and I plan to make 4 towels - 2 to be more or less as the design colour, and 2 using the same warp with a different weft - which will go totally off piste but might be very pretty. I am using Rainbow Cotton 8/4 from Hobii, [100% cotton; 50g=160m/175yds], in colours Dark Purple (037), Malachite Green (099), and Dusty Light Green (075), - which closely resemble the 3 original colours - and Pastel Purple (041), and Dusty Purple (068), for additional weft variations.

Birdie [Started 22nd August 2024]

Another (more recent) Martin Storey design, which can be purchased separately or as part of the booklet Woodland. The Rowan Pebble Island yarn was on sale [100% wool; 50g=108m] and I love the pattern but in reality the colours are a bit too mellow and on the Autumn side for me. Unfortunately - although it's fair isle - it's a lofty worsted weight which is too thick for my trusty old machine to tension it for me so it will be hand knitting all the way.

Skipness [Started 30th June 2024]

At last decided on how to use a sale impulse buy with another Martin Storey design.- now available free from various sources. My Rowan Cashmere Tweed [80% wool / 20% cashmere; 25g=88m/95yds] is in colour Cinder Rose, some purchased in John Aloes sale, and topped up for the project by Wool Warehouse.

Recycled Boots [Started 30th November 2023: :Completed 4th July]

These are very comfy leather boots originally from Next - I love them - but I never liked the quality of the (now somewhat dated) fashion-knit tops. The moths, however, did like them - and as I love them so much, I am replacing the tops - which is much more difficult than it appears; the knitting is fairly trivial, but the attachment involved stitching the leather and (a lot of) glue.
I'm using Jamieson's Spindrift [100% Shetland wool; 25g=105m] in colours: Admiral, Madder, Natural White, and Amber.

Shell [Started 8th March 2023]

Another Lisa Richardson design that caught my eye, from Rowan Magazine 72. The yarn is Moordale [70% wool / 30% Alpaca; 100g=230m/251yds] in colours: Bronzed 006, Feather 001, Turmeric 003, Nutmeg 011, Pepper 002- and in a break with tradition I purchased the correct yarn. However the pattern is far more complex than I imagined being a mixture of fair isle and intarsia, plus they are not really "my" colours, so all in all, my enthusiasm is somewhat tempered.

"Surrey Thrift" Cardigan [Started 21st October 2022]

This is a "thrift" cardigan because I've had a pack of 10 balls of Patons Moorland (a brown tweed fleck) in my possession for about 40 years, waiting for the right project. Over that time there have been at least 2 attempts to make something from it, but it's a dense pure wool DK and fundamentally it's not enough for a sweater. However: enter Bellmans 1542 (an "unusual" vintage pattern) which seems to be perfect. I'm adding 2 contrasts in Rowan Felted Tweed DK, which is finer and lighter, but the tension works OK as the pattern uses slip stitches, and only comes into play on the sleeves.

Weaving: "Two Crabs" scarf [Started 28th August 2022]

This is another design from Janet Phillips' book Designing Woven Fabrics. I've always wanted to make this - mostly attracted by the pretentious title as it's based on a Picasso painting - but I am using laceweight wools rather than silk and my colour and texture variations are much simpler than Janet designed.
The warp is mainly Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace colour 520 Azure [55% Wool / 45% Silk: 100g=1000m]; the weft is mainly Fyberspates Gleem Lace colour 706 Sea Green [55% Wool / 45% Silk: 100g=800m] - both from Wool Warehouse. There are also highly coloured narrow stripes of other colours in both warp and weft, which are from an 800m skein of Laughing Hens Undyed 2 Ply Merino/Silk Lace which I hand-dyed.

Flamingo [Started 8th August 2021: :Completed 23rd May]

I was seduced by an email from Laughing Hens exhorting me to buy the booklet Rico Ricorumi It Must Be Love. It's full of cute crochet sweet nothings based on the theme of "luuurve".
However the one that I love is the flamingo. She's knitted in Rico Ricorumi cotton yarn supplied in small reasonably priced balls, making it practical to make these small items using a number of different colours, [100% cotton; 25g=57m (62yds)].

Hooked Sheep [Started 2nd January 2021]

Weaving: Cotton Towels [Started 23rd March 2019]

I was inspired to try this project by the newsletters from Gist Yarn and Fiber. I would have bought their cotton but the shipping cost from the US meant I needed to be more cost-conscious for a simple rigid heddle project to do in the evenings. I settled on a real budget option which was impossibly low cost and astonishingly fast delivery despite shipping from Hobii in Copenhagen.

Little Bottles Quilt [Restarted 9th February 2019]

This is a patchwork quilt I started to make in about 2003 and in truth had done most of the hard work in appliqué. I was undecided as to what technique to use for the striped "curtains" - but have set off now with renewed vigour and decisiveness.
The design is Little Bottles by Kaffe Fassett from the fourth Westminster Quilting book (usually available from eBay).

Bella Blouse [Started 9th June 2011]

This is the Bella Blouse by Norah Gaughan from the Knitting Daily Pattern Library. I am using a few balls of Rowan Damask - a yarn I love but now discontinued - for the contrast and I found an ecru cotton blend (Patons Washed Haze) which tones with it quite well for the main shade. As my supply of Damask is limited I am omitting the contrast band at the bottom of the sweater.

Two [Started 22nd August 2010]

This is Two - not another cardigan! But it is, like Puzzle, from Queen of Hearts - in fact, the cover design. The yarn is Patons Misty [25g; 150m], 70% mohair, 30% polyamide. It knits to a double knitting tension of about 22sts to 4 inches, but I am knitting it much looser on 6mm needles. I chose this yarn also at Ally Pally in 2009; being a dress I thought it would take for ever but it seems to be knitting up very quickly so I have every expectation of finishing it soon...