A New Idea for a New Year …

I don’t usually do New Year Resolutions but I’ve decided to have a go this year with reference to my blog. I will attempt to post at least 3 times per week, once about painting, once about food & cooking and once about knitting and/or crochet.

So, here goes. I have spent the past couple of evenings knitting a small blanket/throw. I was tempted by the beautiful colours in this wool. It is a wool that is normally used for knitting wavy scarves but I wanted to see if it could work as something flat :

The stitch was as follows:

cast on a multiple of 2 plus 1

first row: p1 *k1, p1*, repeat from * to *

second row: k1 *p1, k1*, repeat from * to *

row 3: purl

row 4: knit

keep knitting till you have something the size that you want it, or until you’ve run out of wool, as I did!

I used size 20mm needles which are fab at enabling me to create something very quickly.

Blanket Coverage …

It feels like I’ve been knitting this blanket for months but in fact it’s not quite been 1 month. Click here to see the knitting pattern. I’ve tried to knit most days, sometimes I’ve only managed a few rows, others, I’ve been able to knit much more.

Today I finished it and chose to edge it in a turquoise wool:

It is quite literally a bit rough around the edges (sewing is far from being a strong point of mine), however, the colours are beautiful and I’m pleased with how the pattern has turned out.

 

The Colour Purple ..

Despite the fact that it’s very nearly July and the sun should be shining and we should be all outside enjoying ourselves it isn’t, in fact it’s rained pretty much all day long. On a recent trip to Hobbycraft, I bought some beautiful, purple wool and today in front of the tennis at Wimbledon, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to knit a lovely warm blanket.

This is my first attempt at using circular needles – I’m not sure why I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to knit with them, they are really easy to use.

I’m knitting a double moss stitch :

cast on 79 stitches

row 1: k1 pl k1 repeat to end of row

row 2: p1 k1 p1 repeat to end of row

row 3 : repeat row 2

row 4 : repeat row 1

I’ve got a long way to go but here’s how it’s looking so far:

I think this is a lovely pattern for a blanket – when it is finished, I hope to use a stunning turquoise wool to edge it with blanket stitch

Get knitted!

As part of my return to teaching I attended a local course. It was during this course that we all had to learn how to knit. I hadn’t done any knitting since I was at primary school so it was a bit of a shock. I bought the fattest needles I could find and I gave it a go. My mum donated many of her and my grandmother’s needles and eighteen months later I had managed to knit this blanket:

blanket

This is by no means a perfectly knitted blanket. My original intention had been to knit one square per day – how naive was I?! Sometimes a square would take me a whole week, never mind a day. There are some horrendous mistakes in this blanket but I have a real sense of achievement knowing that despite my errors, it is a lovely warm blanket, perfect for curling up under with my boys in front of a roaring fire and a good film.