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Multistripe Stole Time

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What happens when a new Kaffe Fassett book arrives in your house? If you are anything like me everything stops while you look through the new book.

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Inspiration Strikes

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the beautiful photographs and vibrant colour choices. By page 15 of “Knitting with the Colour Guys” by Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably, I was ensnared when I looked at the Multistripe Stole. These guys are masters at styling their knitwear. The knitting becomes a piece of art elegantly draped across a chair.[Read More]

Circle Socks

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Circle Socks pattern designed by Anne Campbell is a really cute free sock pattern. Love the finished socks. Although, it took me a long time to actually finish the pair.

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I am embarrassed to admit that I started these beautiful socks at least a year ago. I knit the first sock. I admired the lovely texture and tried it on. Then it went into a box labelled, Circle Socks, WIP (Work in Progress), where it languished unfinished on top of the bookcase in my Studio, as I got swept away on a different wave of motivation, inspired by a new pattern or yarn.[Read More]

Lightwaves Shawl

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I cast on Lightwaves Shawl designed by Susan Ashcroft, on the eve of St Patrick’s Day, after spending a wonderful day at the garden centre with my friend. I think my choice of colour was influenced by the shades of green and shamrock I was seeing everywhere.

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After downloading the pattern, I joined the Stitchnerds group on Ravelry, and found reading the posts and looking at the colours and yarn choices used by other people who have knit this lovely shawl very helpful.[Read More]

Revisiting my Araucania Gloves

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In the Autumn of 2010, I needed a new pair of knitted gloves, as the weather was becoming chilly and at the time I was walking with Gillie and Shane twice a day.

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It can be frustrating buying gloves as they seldom fit well. Often, the pinky finger will be too long, while other fingers are too short. I wanted a comfortable basic glove pattern that could be knit reasonably quickly, using 4-ply or sock yarn. At the time most of my yarn stash consisted of lace weight, sock yarn and 4-ply yarns as I did a lot of knitting for Sasha Dolls. My yarn stash has really only expanded to include a selection of DK yarns.[Read More]

Moss Stitch Cowl

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In my yarn stash I had a fabulous skein of Halycon Hand Dyed Yarn that I bought from Flamboyance Yarns last year. Halycon is a luxurious 4 ply blend of 50% silk and 50% merino wool. This skein was in my favourite colour combination of deep purple/plum colour with a contrasting turquoise/teal. I wanted a project that would really do justice to the gorgeous colour and sheen of the yarn.

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In Spring 2010 Simply Knitting had an attractive infinity moss stitch scarf designed by Emma King and knit using DK Cotton yarn in two different colours. I liked the draped style of this scarf when I saw it in the magazine.[Read More]

The Sky Scarf

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I came across a wonderful idea for a scarf while browsing Pinterest that really appealed to me. Sky Scarf involves watching the weather. A cool idea as discussing the weather is a national pastime in the British Isles. Each day you knit a stripe in colours that match that day’s sky/weather.

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The sky can change from moment to moment let alone hour to hour here in Northern Ireland. So, I decided that I’d note how the Sky looks above the Cavehill, every morning, when I open my bedroom curtains.[Read More]

Moss Stitch Fingerless Mittens

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When I was planning these fingerless mittens, I remembered the astrakhan mittens that my mum wore when I was a small girl in the late 60s. I remember loving the soft textural top of the mittens contrasted with the plainer suede of the palm. This was the effect I wanted to capture for these fingerless gloves with the textural moss stitch on the cuffs and the top.

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Moss Stitch is one of the simplest and most attractive textural stitches that I know. I love the way the stitches look as though they slightly skew as the pattern develops.[Read More]

Keeping a Knitting Notebook

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Broken Rib Socks Notes

I love, love, love, the notebook I am using for writing down all my in process notes about the Broken Rib Socks (or any of the other works in progress that I am knitting at the moment). The notebook was created in January when I treated myself to joining the New Beginnings Journal online workshop by Juliana Coles.

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The Knitting Squirrel Ideas 2013 notebook started life as an RSPB spiral bound diary. Making it involved lots of taping with masking tape and painting over the tape. I should have used more decoration on the pages but I wanted to retain plenty of writing space. The wonderful thing about this notebook is what a pleasure it is to write in. I quickly started using it for my works in progress. I’ve even found myself using the images to influence colour choices for new projects.[Read More]

Heather Socks featuring Strong Heel

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I first read about the Strong Heel in a discussion a few years ago on the Socknitters Group on Yahoo. As I love to try different ways of knitting heels, I thought it would be fun to try this one. The Strong Heel is named after the lady who designed the heel Gerdine Crawford-Strong. The heel technique was first published in Knitter’s Magazine, Fall 2003, Issue 72. This issue seems impossible to find.

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Later I read the pattern Uzu by Mary the Hobbit published in the online magazine Knitty. On reading this I was a little disappointed to find it was a toe up pattern and I wanted cuff down instructions for this heel. Continuing my search, I found the clearly written instructions Easier Socks with the Strong Heel by Aaron Clark. These instructions were written for Fibre Camp Boston where he taught a class.[Read More]