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Retro Hat Using Stranded Knitting

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Retro Hat using Stranded Knitting came from The Handknitter’s Design Book by Alison Ellen, published in 1992 by David & Charles although she simply calls the pattern “Hats”.

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The hat pattern suggests using wool, cotton, rough silk or any DK yarn, so the combination of the Noro Silk Garden Lite which knits to a DK weight and the Rialto DK merino was perfect. The pattern started by casting on 6 stitches in the centre of the crown and then worked the increases for shaping the crown first, then the stranded knit chequerboard, and finally casting off at the edge.[Read More]

Moss Stitch Sewing Needle Case

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When I asked mum what she would like for her birthday, she requested a sewing needle case so I started planning the design for the Moss Stitch Sewing Needle Case.

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After thinking about it for a while, I decided to make one with a moss stitch knitted cover. I based the size and style for the design on my grandmother’s old leather-covered one that I use all the time.[Read More]

Cabled Cowl

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A beautiful cabled cowl designed to be worn with the Cabled Treat Hat.

Inspired by the Cabled Treat Hat pattern I decided to design a cowl to wear with it.  This is a very comfortable cowl to wear that fits well and flares prettily at the neckline.

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I chose to use the purple and blue Wisterious colourway. It is a very definite tone and I hadn’t been able to find a yarn colour that matched the hat well. Luckily there was enough yarn left in the skein to knit a cowl.[Read More]

Hub of Fashion Sideways Knit Sock

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When my new sock pattern book ‘Around the World in Knitted Socks’ by Stephanie Van Der Linden arrived in the post, I sat down with a cup of earl grey tea and browsed through its pages. This book contains so many gorgeous sock patterns that it is difficult to choose which to knit first. When I saw Hub of Fashion (a sideways knit sock pattern) I set aside other projects and cast on immediately.

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I had wanted to try knitting a sideways sock for a long time as I had wondered about how comfortably a sideways sock heel would fit. This yarn is designed by Kaffe Fassett for the Regia Design Line. I used colourway 4352 Landscape Canyon.[Read More]

Cabled Treat Hat

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Why did Cabled Treat Hat appeal to me?

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When I read this cute hat pattern, Cabled Treat, designed by Kirstie McLeod, I just knew that it was the perfect choice for my gorgeous skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in the deep purple and blue Wisterious Colourway. Cabled Treat was published in the January 2011 issue of Simply Knitting.[Read More]

Fair Isle Beanie Moodboard

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There is something incredibly moreish about the gorgeous soft Shetland wool.  I have a large stash of shetland wool in both jumper weight and lace weight because it comes in such a glorious collection of colours –  just like a knitter’s paintbox. But when you collect lots of single balls of different shades of shetland wool what do you then do with them?

How about a fair isle beanie?

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Moodboard

If you are anything like me, you always find it interesting to see where other knitters get their ideas for a colour scheme. I love creating the mood board for a project. It is a wonderful way of seeing if I like how the colours are working together. My mood board tends to grow along with the project.[Read More]

Noro Striped Hat

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I couldn’t resist knitting a hat to wear with the long narrow Noro Scarf. This ribbed hat is an easy pattern to knit.

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I had plenty of the gorgeous yarn left over from knitting the long Noro Scarf.  Although, I used Noro sock yarn to knit this hat, you could substitute any contrasting sock yarns in your stash making this hat pattern a great stash buster. It would also be fun using up contrasting left over sock yarns from other projects.[Read More]

Easy Lace Scarf using Mini Mochi

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I was delighted when I came across the Easy Lace Scarf using Mini Mochi pattern designed by Melanie Lewis on The Crystal Palace website, as it was exactly what I was looking for.

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I used Mini Mochi and the specified 4.5mm needles (US 7) to knit the Easy Lace Scarf. The instructions were clearly written.[Read More]

Explorations in Brioche – Craftsy

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Explorations in Brioche is an interesting Craftsy class. Have you discovered Craftsy yet? It’s an interactive learning platform, that I first came across in June. With an excellent choice of classes and knowledgeable teachers, many of them have also written books, like Nancy Marchant who teaches the Explorations in Brioche Knitting class.[Read More]