Aprons

I thought I'd try my hand at making a few cute aprons for Etsy and Christmas markets. Here's the first one :-)

Chris's Shirt

I've been wanting to write about this one for a while but I've had to wait until I gave it to a certain someone for his birthday before I could make it public!

I loved making this shirt, the fabric is beautiful and it felt like a proper challenge to get all the checks to match up. I changed a few of the design features - omitted the pocket flaps after deciding the fabric was too heavy for them, changed the shape of the front yokes and added small darts from the pocket down for extra shaping.

Making this has made me seriously think about going into menswear as it was so nice to put together. I've taken an order for one more in plain fabric, which should be a lot quicker, so watch this space :-)

It fitted it's recipient perfectly (phew!) though I still need to get a photo of him in it to prove this (when he'll let me..)

"Childhood" cardigan by Natalie Wilson

I just realised I never wrote anything about this when I made it, and it's so lovely it deserves a mention!

I made this for baby Charlie (who is now 2) out of Rowan Soft Baby Yarn. It served him well for about a year and will hopefully be passed down to the next one! :-)

The pattern is from knitty and can be found here and sizes go up to age 6.

Etsy

So I've started setting up shops on Etsy, Misi and Folksy! I don't have any stock yet as so far I've just been making things for myself, but watch this space :-)

I'd really like to make some one-off's for people, so the idea of the shops I suppose is so people could make orders through them, so if you want anything give me a shout and we'll work out a price.

4ply Beanie Hat

As the weather started to warm up a bit I went decided that what I really needed on Brighton beach one evening was a new hat, not of the huge chunky variety I made over the winter, but something I could scrunch up in my bag and have handy in case it got chilly. Being one that feels the cold easily (and how boring my knitting habit would be if I didn't) a warm but thin hat was calling my needles to get twitching.

And so this was born - a 4 ply hat made with Regia sock wool and a few random remnants, it took a few attempts to get the size right but now it's just right. It's unfortunately a tad too warm to wear it now though!

Que sera sera..

I know I've got tons of other things to finish - a hat, (sorry matt!) another cardigan, some gloves and a dinosaur to name a few, but this is what I want to make next! It is a free pattern on knitty.com by Kirsten Kapur who blogs here. I think I'll have to force myself to wait a bit though. At least until it gets warm enough to wear something with holes in...

Rowan "Lichen" Aran

There's nothing like a few long train journeys down to Devon to get on with a lot of knitting! Finally, after what must be about 8 or 9 months (on and off) I've finished my new cardigan. This one was a chore so I'll admit there were a few breaks, but once I got stuck in again I found I couldn't motivate myself to do much else!
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Rowan Big Wool Cardigan

This pattern is from one of the Rowan Studio books. I wanted to make a cardigan thick enough to be worn as a jacket, and this is definately warm enough. It was supposed to be the other way round (seams on the inside) but the way the pattern was meant that the collar wanted to turn in. After trying it on inside out I much prefer it with the seams showing, so that's how it is now. I can't decide on where the buttons are going though, I keep moving them around, I'm sure they'll find a home sooner or later!

Owl Jumper (Kate Davies)

I came across this gorgeous pattern for a jumper knitted in the round with a cabled yoke by Kate Davies. The pattern is for sale on her blog http://needled.wordpress.com/designs/
The cables are knitted to look like owls and I'm sooo loving it!
The wool is Rowan Cocoon and is very very soft, very fluffy and very warm :-)

I think it might just be the best thing I've made yet!

All night knit in the Argus!

justgiving.com/deborah-smith0

LESS YAWNS MORE YARNS

ALL NIGHT KNIT FOR BLISS BABY CHARITY

Purl wool shop, near Seven Dials, Brighton, will be hosting an ‘All Night Knit’ on Saturday 6th February in support of Bliss – the national charity for babies born too soon, too small, too sick.

Casting on at 11pm and casting off at 7am on Sunday morning, up to 15 knitters of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, from Brighton and Hove will be purling round the clock, to make a blanket which will then be entered as a prize in a raffle.

Knitters are hoping to raise up to £1,000 in sponsorship from family, friends, work colleagues and work matching schemes. Anyone wishing to support the event can make a donation HERE

The ‘All Night Knit’ looks set to become a community event; a local choir has offered to serenade the knitters in the early hours and they have been inundated with offers of hot food and drinks from local residents in Upper Hamilton Road.

Debbie Smith, owner of Purl, who has organised the event said: “One of the mums at our Thursday evening knitting group came up with the initial idea. We wanted to find a fun way to raise money for Bliss which does such great work.

“We might need to be counting balls of wool, rather than sheep, to keep us awake through the early hours. Knitting is a very relaxing process, so the key to staying awake all night will be to knit a pattern that requires a certain amount of concentration but isn’t overly complicated” said Debbie.

Purl hosts regular knitting and felting classes, craft days and ‘make do and mend’ workshops for adults and after school art and craft classes for children. For more information about activities at Purl visit www.purl-brighton.co.uk or call Debbie on 01273 248642.

For more information please contact:

Debbie Smith
16 Upper Hamilton Road
Brighton
BN1 5DF
Tel: 01273 248642
E mail: purl.brighton@gmail.com
Website:www.purl-brighton.co.uk

You can sponsor Debbie on the knit by clicking here

Cocoon...

I just bought this wool for a third jumper I feel the urge to make. Its so soft and lovely I can't wait to get started on it, I'm sure it'll knit up pretty quickly as well as its quite chunky...

Hat Update

So the hat seems to be going well.. However I've not designed any intarsia before so I'm hoping the pattern is going to fit on the hat! I might have to fiddle with it slightly as I think its going to be too tall. It's really good fun to see it coming together though!

Birthday Frock

I decided on Fri (22nd) that as I was going out that night I had better make myself a new dress! I found this lovely Paul Smith fabric and some yellow silk and spent the whole day up in my room throwing around pieces of fabric and paper.



By 6.15pm on Friday I finally gave up and realised it wasn't going to happen that night. So Saturday, complete with monster hangover, I put the rest of the dress together. This is the result, a classic style dress (that looks lovely on, but unfortunately no professional photographer was around today to take a picture of me in it!) with a silk lining and big bow at the front.

I think I actually love it.

Rowan "Lichen" Aran

I love this cardigan. Its fun to knit and looks really impressive, but its really time consuming and I just want it now!



I've discovered that knitting on circulars is definately the way forward for big stuff like this. It makes it 10 times easier to carry around and it means the weight is in the middle and not on each arm when it starts getting big. Also, my tip for cable - use a hairgrip rather than a cable needle - it stays there easier without slipping out and you're much less likely to drop a stitch :-)

This pattern is from Rowan Knitting and Crochet Magazine Issue 40