Monday 26 December 2022

 

Brigid Coat:



Notions:

Boucle or sport yarn.

100 g

Needles: US 4 /3.5 mm. (or those you need to obtain gauge)

Darning needle.

Stitch markers or waste yarn.

buttons . I used wood buttons made by my husband. You can buy some similar online or use ordinary ones instead. . I used loops of yarn to create the closure. 

Difficulty: Advanced beginner.

Gauge: 6   sts x 8rows = 1 inch. In stockinette stitch

Abbreviations:

Co: cast on.

Bo: bind off.

K: knit

P: purl

St-stitch: Sts- stitches

K2 tog: Knit two stitches together as one stitch.

Ssk: Slip, slip, knit, slip 2 stitches and knit them together.

Yo: yarn over

kfb: Knit into front and then back of stitch.

S2,k,psso: Slip 2 sts together knitwise, k1 and then pass slipped sts over. (Gives a central double decrease)

S1, k2tog, psso: Slip 1, knit 2sts together and pass slipped stitch over. (Double decrease)


M1l: Insert the left-hand needle from front to back under the strand of yarn which runs between the stitch just worked and the next stitch on the left-hand needle. Knit this stitch through the back loop.


M1r: Insert the left-hand needle from the back to front under the strand of yarn which runs between the stitch just worked


Cast on 70 sts.

Knit 44 rows. Divide work.


K17, bo 2sts, k32, bo 2sts, k17.


Front:

K15, k2tog.

2: K16. 3-20 Knit.

Bind off.


Back:

1: Ssk, k28, k2tog.

2: K30.

3-20: Knit.

Bind off.


Front:

1: Ssk, K15.

2: K16.

3- 20: Knit.Bind off.


Sleeves:

Cast on 28sts.

1-4: Knit.

5: Kfb, k26, kfb.

6-8: K30.

9: Kfb, k28, kfb.

10-12: K32.

13: Kfb, k30, kfb.

14-16: K34.

17: Kfb, k32, kfb.

18-20: K36.

21: Kfb, k34, kfb.

22-32: K38.

Bind off.

Sew sleeve seams. Sew shoulder seams and sew sleeves to body.


Pick up 32 sts around sleeve.

With 2.5 needles and contrast yarn work 10 rows in garter stitch.

Bind off.


Collar:

With 2.5 needles and contrast yarn pick up 11sts on lapel, 52sts along neck, 11sts other lapel.


1: Knit.

2: K10, kfb, kfb, k50, kfb, kfb, k10.

3: Knit.

4: K11, kfb, kfb, k52, kfb, kfb, k11.

5: Knit.

6: K12, kfb, kfb, k54, kfb, kfb, k12.

7: K86.

8: K13, kfb, kfb, k56, kfb, kfb, k13.

9: K 90.

10: K14, kfb, kfb, k58, kfb, kfb, k14.

Bo: 94 sts.

Sew buttons and create closure. 

Enjoy! 


Tuesday 22 February 2022

Auntie Sigrid's socks for doll.

Auntie Sigrid's doll socks for 18" doll.





 A little bit of their story. 

A dear Swedish friend of mine asked me to help decipher the pattern on a pair of socks that had been knit by her Aunt Sigrid. It was the last remaining pair made by her aunt. We managed to do the design and then just for fun I decided to make a doll size pair using that old traditional design. This is the pattern that I came up with! 


A small amount of fine black and white yarn. (Lace weight)

Needles: US 0 - 2.0 mm  Dpns or magic loop.

A yarn needle for grafting. 


Cast on 36 sts

Work 6 rounds in knit 1, purl1, rib.

Knit one round in black. 

Start working in pattern following the chart. 






After leg design knit 2 rounds in black then 1 decrease row to 32 sts. (K2to, k7 around).


 Arrange sts on 3 needles so that 16 sts, centered on the back of the heel, are on a single needle, and that this needle is the one you have just finished knitting. The remaining 16 sts are divided on two needles, held for the instep.

Heel flap:
Turn work and, slipping the first stitch as if to purl, purl across heel needle. Turn.
Work the following 2 rows 3 times:
Row 1: Slip first st as if to knit, knit across needle, turn.
Row 2: Slip first st as if to purl, purl across needle, turn.

Start heel shaping in black:

Turn heel:
Sl 1 st, k8, k2tog, k1, turn.
Sl 1 st, p3, p2tog, p1, turn.
Continue in this manner, slipping the first stitch and working to one st before the gap, working this together with the next st, and working one and turning, until all the heel sts have been worked. 10 sts remain on heel needle, and you have ended with a purl row.

Gusset:
Turn and knit across heel needle, and then pick up and knit 4 sts along edge of heel flap.
Knit across the instep stitches, putting all 16 on a single needle.
On an empty needle, pick up and knit 4 sts along other side of heel flap, then continue knitting 5 sts from the heel needle onto that needle.
Your rounds will now begin at the center of the sole of the foot.

Repeat the following two rounds 3 times:
Rnd 1: knit around plain.
Rnd 2: k to last 2 sts of needle 1 and k2tog; k needle 2; SSK (slip, slip, knit together), k to end of needle 3.

You now have 28 sts in total. Slide one st from each end of the instep needle onto the neighboring needle so that you have 14 instep sts and 14 sole sts.

Foot: Knit in stockinette in chart pattern until foot length from the beginning of the heel turning measures 2 inches. Continue in black.

Toe shaping:
Work one toe decrease round as follows:
Knit to the last 2 sts of ndl 1, SSK; k2tog, knit to last 2 sts of ndl 2, SSK; k2tog, knit to end of ndl 3.

Knit one round.
Work two more toe decrease rounds.
Knit the 4 sts from ndl 1 onto ndl 3.
You have 8 sts remaining on each of two needles. Graft them together (=Kitchener stitch), and fasten off yarn.





I hope you enjoy this pattern. It was fun to create! 

Saturday 16 January 2021

AGD Kirsten's Winter Woolies.



"Oh where and oh where has my Kirsten doll gone,

Oh where and of where can she be?

With her eyes so blue and her hair so blonde,

Oh where and oh where is she?"

 In 2014 I had started to try and make a cardi for my Kirsten doll similar to the retired wool set American Girl dolls had made years before. I had read that the original ones they sold were actually hand knit! (makes me wonder how much the knitters were paid to produce those!)

A Ravelry friend Beth sent me some detailed photos of the original set she had. I set to work counting sts and rows and tried to produce a similar effect. I made the body of the cardi but then the whole thing was set aside when my first Grandchild was born. 



Fast forward a few years and I had totally forgotten about the whole thing until I looked through some unfinished projects for a Ravelry Kal! 

The day after I was putting some things away in my craft room and there was the cardi! No yarn with it but from my project page I found what the black yarn was and then managed to find some white. 

So back to the knitting! Sleeves and button band were easy to make and a morning spent sewing together the pieces and weaving in yarn ends finished it.



I picked up sts from fronts and neck and worked a simple rib button band.


I didn't have pewter buttons so used some little wood ones.


Then I started on the hat. I found it easier to make a simple chart. 


Co 84 sts.

 3 rows 1x1 rib. 

1 row purl.
3x3 white/black blocks. 4 blocks high.
Knit 7 rows stockinette.

Then I followed my chart decreasing the sections on the right side after I finished the boy and girl patterns. (7)

I knitted this flat but would knit in the round if I made another one.

A simple pompom completed the effect.


Mittens: 21sts. Five rows 1x1 rows. Purl one row. As diagram.



I knit these in two flat pieces and sewed them. The cord is a simple crochet chain 15 inches long. 





Kirsten is very happy to have her new Winter Woolies!





Saturday 22 August 2020

Tea towels galore!

So what have I been doing? Yes you guessed it! Machine embroidery!


ricamo a macchina


I have been busy embroidering a whole load of tea towels I had. Fun just putting simple lettering on them. 

Here are a few photos:


Strofinacci


Ricamo

I have done over 40 teatowels! A lot have already left the house.


embroidery


Between doing those and masks I have been very busy. Now I need to catch up with some sewing that is all piled up here! 


Embroidery


Have a nice day!




Thursday 13 August 2020

Machine Embroidery.

I am continuing my machine embroidery experiments. 

Machine set up

 An Eagle:

embroidered eagle




Yesterday I decided to try some appliquè. Just very simple.

I took some blue fabric and then some white on top. I stabilized the blue with tear away stabilizer. I basted the white at the corners floating on the frame. I didn't use any glue. I don't have any yet and to be honest I am scared of getting my frames and machine sticky. I keep seeing FB posts asking how to remove the glue! 

appliquè

I chose a simple circle design on my machine and stitched it out. 



Then I took the frame off the machine and carefully cut the excess white fabric from the outside of the stitching. I replaced the frame and then did another programmed circle with a satin stitch in the exact same place. 



appliquè

Then I added a simple E in the center. All without altering the position of the hoop design. 

appliquè


It was quite fun and simple enough for me to not worry about spoiling a project. 
I have no idea what if anything I will use it for but another practice piece is done. Lol! 

cross stitch



It is lovely to be trying out "new to me" things. Even cross stitch!


Butterflies

Bye for now! Happy sewing.

Saturday 8 August 2020

Machine Embroidery.

Well I have a new love in my life....machine embroidery! 

Embroidery machine
I bought a Brother Innovis F440e embroidery only machine. I already have a good sewing machine. 

An embroidery machine is something I have wanted for a long time. 

I was very scared in case I didn't manage to learn to use it. There are no local lessons available. Fortunately there are many videos online and I managed to find some with the machine I had ordered.
I also found the instruction book online and read and reread that many times before my machine arrived. 

I found that machine embroidery is a whole new world. 
Ordinary sewing thread is not used but special 40 weight embroidery thread. There are many brands and different sorts of thread. I ordered some New Brothread. A pack of different colours so I had a starting selection. 

40 weight thread

Then there is the bobbin thread. My machine takes 90 weight bobbin thread which is very thin and resistent. I ordered pre-wound bobbins which work beautifully so far!

Other machines which are combined sewing and embroidery machines use 60 weight bobbin thread. It is important to check the instruction book with the machine. 

After learning that I had to find out all about different stabilizers! The fabric in the hoop needs stabilizing to embroider well. I bought some online and also bought a starter pack with various types to try and a super help it had an instruction booklet for newbies like me! 

machine embroidery


Everything bought online as there are no local shops who have these things. 

As soon as my machine arrived I tried it. I was lucky as it threaded and worked fine first time! I was shaking as I tried it! Lol! 

The first thing I wrote was my name! 

Brother F440e
Then I started slowly working through a mountain of teatowels I have to embroider! 

Tea towels


Obviously with Covid-19 still around masks were another must to make:

face masks



Now the latest thing I have embroidered were some towels. I found a letter E which fit into the oval on the big towel. For the smaller one I remembered that I can reduce the design size slightly so I thought to try that. It worked! The machine actually automatically recalculated the stitch density as well and number of stitches. It took over 1000 sts less and a minute less to embroider! I was fascinated! Magic! Lol!


Towels


So much more to add! But now I am going to go and do some embroidery!

Thursday 23 July 2020

Banana Jam






Lol! I just found this post draft from December! With my DH ill at the time I obviously totally forgot to publish it! Anyway a belated recipe and crochet cover!

Ripe bananas.
Half weight of bananas in cane sugar.
Cinamon.

Mash bananas in a pan. Add the cane sugar. Slowly cook stiring frequently for about 10 mins.
Add the cinamon stick.
Spoon into jars and close lids. Cover with clean dry cloths. Leave to cool.
It should seal lid. I do not bother reheating the jars as I use it quickly!



Mini Jam jar covers.



A small amount of sport weight cotton yarn.
Size 3mm crochet hook.

Start using magic loop:
1: 12 sc in loop.
2: 12x 1 dc, 1 ch.
3: 24 sc.
4: 24x 1 dc, 1 ch.
5: 48 sc.
6: 48 dc.
7: 1sc, 1ch, skip one dc, repeat around.
8: 48 sc.
9: 4sc, picot of 3ch; repeat around.
Bind off. Weave in yarn end.