Monthly Archives: November 2014

Knitted Snood/Infinity Scarf in Mustard

Knitting

I am not quite sure what went wrong but pictures seem to have disappeared from the blog. I will look into that but meantime I am pleased to report that I have finished knitting the first of the Snood/Infinity Scarves in Blackberry Stitch. This stitch is also called Trinity or Raspberry stitch. I made up my own pattern and knitted the Mustard Double Knitting yarn on 5.5mm needles.

Cast on 68 stitches and work as follows:- 1st row all purl. 2nd row, *k1,p1,k1 into 1 stitch then,  p3 together*  repeat to end. 3rd row, all purl. 4th row,  *p3 together, k1,p1,k1 into next stitch* repeat to end.

Continue these 4 rows of pattern until scarf measures 60 inches. Bring the first row up to match current row with right sides of work together. Cast off by knitting from needle and loops of cast on edge.

If you make a scarf to these instructions, please photograph and send to me – I would love to see your makes.

A New Knitting Bag

Bags & Pouches, Knitting

 It is only during the colder months of the year that my thoughts turn to knitting. I  have a hankering for some lovely, cosy hand-knitted scarves and snoods. I am currently working on two projects. The first is an Advocado Green Alpaca yarn  worked in double Moss stitch and the second a Bright Mustard yarn worked in Blackberry stitch. I will post pictures once they are completed. But, I digress, the point of this post is that I have been carrying my knitting around the house in a brown paper bag which has been deteriorating rapidly. I thought to myself – a bag specifically for my knitting is what I need. I had already stitched out an embroidery design in Redwork (bought from www.emblibrary.com) that was simply perfect for the project. Today I gathered together some remnants of fabric from my stash and below is the finished result. The bag measures approximately 15 ins wide x 16.5 ins deep. It has carrying handles and I have incorporate a special long narrow pocket into which I can slip my knitting needles. The brown paper carrier bag is no more!

knitting bag

Reindeer Portrait Silhouette Cushion Cover

Christmas, Cushions

I don’t know from where the original design came but I fell in love with this applique design several years ago when the Reindeer motif was just becoming popular. I made a cushion cover and it was immediately snapped up by a regular customer of my website trading company. Since then, each year I think about making another cushion just for me. Finally, I have got around to making a new cover using 100% cotton fabric for the applique on a 100% a natural-coloured linen background. The applique is applied using Heat & Bond Lite and then stitched with a narrow zig-zag in Dark Forest Green thread. The reverse has some more of the cotton print as a border on the button closure which I think just finishes off the cover nicely. The cover is rectangular in shape and approximate measurements are 13.5″ wide x 15.5″ high.  The pad is slightly larger than this to ensure a plump, well-filled cushion.

portrait reindeer silhouette front   portrait reindeer silhouette reverse

Catherine Wheel Christmas Decoration

Christmas

This week at the Monday morning Sewing Workshop held in Franklins, Salisbury we made a Christmas decoration. I am not sure of its “offical” name but I call it a Catherine Wheel. You start with two  3.5 ” circles  which are stitched right sides together all the way around taking a 1/4″ seam. Make a small slit in one side and turn through right sides out. Press. Mark the centre point on both sides of the circle.  Stuff lightly with polyester toy filling, not too much stuffing at the centre. Close the slit and prepare the “wings”. You need 16 x 3.5″ squares  of Christmas-theme prints. Fold in half diagonally  and in half again so that you end up with a triangle that is 4 thicknesses. Press well. With double thread start by anchoring at the centre point of the padded circle. Catch the corner of one of your triangles and pull into the centre, take the thread through to the other side and catch the opposite point of the “wing”. Work your way around the pad until all 16 triangles have been stitched. Attach a loop of ribbon to both centres as the hanger and finish with a button each side. Both the ribbon loop and the button can be attached using a hot glue gun asby this time you may find it very difficult to stitch through all the thicknesses of the wings and the centre pad.

 catherine wheel step by step            catherine wheel christmas decoration 1

Little Angel Applique Cushion

Christmas, Cushions

I am not quite sure of the source for the Little Angel Applique that I used for this cushion cover but I  think it makes an effective centrepiece for the project. The centre panel is bordered with a “flange border” with mitred corners and the reverse has a button closure for which I used some delightful Reindeer printed buttons. You will be seeing more of these buttons as I bought a bag of 100!  The cover measures 14″ square and the polyester-filled pad is 15″ square.

applique angelapplique angel reverse

Redwork Cushion Cover

Christmas, Cushions

Dressmaking has been temporarily postponed whilst I endeavour to get some Christmas-themed projects completed. I set up the embroidery mode on my Brother 4000D sewing machine and spent a day stitching several embroideries. The first was a Redwork countryside scene from www.emblibrary.com which I have inset into the front of a calico cushion cover. The embroidered panel is outlined with narrow Red ric-rac and the reverse has a button closure also in red. The cover measures 14″ square and thepolyester-filled cushion pad is 15″.

redwork calico cushion   redwork calico cushion reverse