About Me

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Been knitting on and off for about 50 years, sporadically trying to crochet, just bought a lucet. More details about my knitting, crochet and tunisian crochet can be seen at https://www.ravelry.com/people/Rosebark for which you need to be a member, but this is free.

Sunday 16 March 2014

Mitred squares

I  mentioned in the Entrelac Blanket post that I still had a bit of the multi-coloured yarn left. This is what became of it. I made one mitred square the usual way - cast on 63 stitches (or whatever number gives approximately twice the length you want your square sides to be) and knit three together in the middle of every other row. Then I had a thought (it happens once in a while). If you started with one stitch then knitted into the front, the back and the front again of that stitch, then did this with the middle stitch of every other row, wouldn't that also make a mitred square, but in the reverse direction? It seems logical, but just to make sure, I tried it and yes, it does.

These two (with their dangle yarn ends tucked in) have been incorporated into a blanket for Refuge (more about that later)

Winter is Coming Cushion Cover

sewn side

knitted side
I was going to do a post about all three cushion covers I have made, but unfortunately realised I have no photos of the ones I made for DD in their completed state, just the progress photos. I have asked her more than once to take photos of them but I am still waiting...

This one was done for a Ravelry swap entitled Winter is Coming. For people who are not Game of Thrones fans, this is the motto of House Stark and was also apt as it was an autumn swap. The lady I got to send to likes autumn colours.

The sewn side (yes, I know this is a knitting blog, but sometimes things have to involve more than one craft!) is made from the cut-off bottoms of some friends' curtains, which I acquired in a craft swap meet. The border (down the left and right side in the picture) is the very bottom of the curtain. I cut two pieces the same and inverted one, so that the two halves (there is a seam down the middle) are (more or less) mirror image.

The knitted side is made entirely from stash, except for the burgundy, which I bought quite cheaply (so still sticking to yarn diet, more or less). I asked the recipient to imagine looking at a picture an autumn garden at the edge of a forest, then the picture is smeared (whether by hand or Photoshop) diagonally. The brown represents tree trunks; the two shades of beige (not easy to discern in a small photo, but there really are two) represent dead leaves; the burgundy represents copper beech leaves; the multi-coloured yarn represents a mish-mash of leaf litter etc; the yellow is the odd ray of sunshine through the trees; the pink is the odd faded rose in the garden; and the tiny bit of blue, which really should be at the top, not the bottom, is a little patch of blue sky. Yes, maybe I did get a bit fanciful and carried away with this, but it was that sort of swap and it was very well received, I am glad to say.

Minty Baby Cardigan

Can't believe I haven't put this on my blog yet! I made this for a work colleague, who went on maternity leave well before I left that job over 6 months ago.

This is not one of my blended efforts. It's almost as the pattern (the one I used for the stitch pattern for my blended cardigan) says, which means it is second size, which I sometimes do for new mums, as they probably get plenty of first size stuff, then their baby grows a bit and they have to start buying franticly.

I have modified the pattern a little (do I ever just do a pattern?) in that I didn't fancy doing the cable effect on the tiny needles that the ribbing is done on, so that is just k2 p2 ribbing (round the bottom, the bottom of the sleeves and the button/button hole/neck band)

Another colleague said she thought the pregnant lady would be pleased to get a hand-made gift, but I was not prepared for the mum-to-be's reaction. I was hugged and she cried, she was so pleased to receive it!