Colour!

Pattern by Lisa McFetridge can be found here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/naniboujou-lodge-hat

Fishy Wishies?

Complete nonsense. But fun nonsense, don't you think? :)

Bear-y Mittens

I'm still fascinated by wool embroidery. There's so little info available that I've been blazing my own trail, and that has been frustrating by times. And sometimes, really fun. Here are the newest mittens:

I embroidered the right hand mitten first, and I think it's clear that I learned a lot. The left hand mitten is already much better. Especially the lettering, don't you think?

So, if you're planning on trying this yourself, here's the scoop (according to me)...... Unlike appliqué, start with the foreground first. Start in the middle and work OUT. Don't work in from both sides. The dryer sheet stitching guide is too apt to slip and slide, and you'll find you don't have as much space as you need. I think that's what happened to the 'C' in 'MUCH'.

Oh, and these aren't twined or double knit. They're just regular worsted weight stocking stitch mittens, with a cardboard blocker inserted to keep the embroidery needle from poking in the palm of the mitten, and to give the mitten stability.

Most importantly.....don't take it all too seriously. It's just for fun.....and warmth.

More embroidered mittens

Just realized I'm on a sorta once-a-month schedule with these posts. Not really intentional. I've been working on lots of projects. These embroidered mittens are next up for the blog. I thought I'd try some crewel-type motifs. Not that I even know what I'm doing. Just sorta stumblin' around in the dark.

Blank canvases everywhere

Wool embroidery on wool mittens (twined stitch). I embroidered the one on the right first. The left mitten shows a lot of improvement, I think. These will fit child/teenaged hands. Very, very warm.

Adventures in wool embroidery

The first ones are double knit with worsted weight wool. 

The second pair was knit in twined knitting with worsted weight wool. 

Twined knitting makes a nice, dense surface for embroidery.

Very warm mittens! Just in time for spring!! :)

Chipman's Block Mittens

These will fit a child. I'm sending them off to Afghanistan. 

Afghans for Afghans will see they get delivered to children in need.... 

this time, probably in a displaced person's camp.

I must say, as a Canadian,

it irks me that they insist on branding the group as "American".

I did write to the lady in charge, because there are lots of Canadians taking part, too.

In the end, I decided the important thing was that children who are cold, are getting warm woollies. 

If anyone knows of any other worthy charities, I'd love to hear about them.

Amy's Marathon of Books

Have you heard about Amy's Marathon of Books? What a great idea. And what a lovely young woman. She's reading her way across Canada, concentrating on young adult books written by Canadian authors. I saw her interviewed this morning on Canada AM. If you like books and you like to support Canadian authors, you'll want to read about Amy Mathers.

More colour

Still on my quest to understand stranded knitting (aka double knitting). Here are mittens in 4 colours. As usual, I've gone way over the top. Went from 2 colours (which is manageable) to 4 (which I found hard). I like them though.

They'll be going to Afghans for Afghans. They fit my hands.....small hands....so they're probably better classified as teen-sized.

They passed the mandatory inspection.

Adventures in colour

This winter's been a long one. Grey skies. Grey mood. Grey everything. Recently, I looked up from the grey shawl I was knitting, and wondered ... "Why grey? This interminable winter needs some colour!"

I've long wanted to explore stranded knitting, otherwise known as Fair Isle or what my friend Karen calls 'double knitting'. She's a Maritimer and ought to know. One of the things that has always put me off double knitting is 'floats' ... those annoying stretches of yarn on the back side of a project. They always seemed to me to be great places to catch a finger or a toe. Most patterns say a float of up to 7 stitches is OK, but to me, it's just trouble with a capital T. Karen told me her mother had taught her to 'knit in' the carried yarn so you have no floats at all. If we'd been in the same room, she would have shown me easily the way women have taught other women for generations ... side-by-side. Unfortunately, we've never actually met, let alone sat 'knee to knee'. She found me a YouTube video though, and after watching it MANY times, and practicing for several days, I think I've finally got it. It's a pleasure to hold those yarns and manage them fluidly. A great skill to have finally learned. And as the song says, all "with a little help from my friend(s)."

So, for my first project I chose a pair of mittens. I had clipped the pattern from a Canadian Living magazine in 1987. (Yes, my 'must try' list is that long.) It's supposed to be a houndstooth pattern, but it pre-dates charts, and the line by line instructions are obviously wrong. One of the lines of the pattern stitch is incomplete. I charted what I could, and ended up with this:

Not exactly houndstooth. Not even close. However, I like it. Kind of a zig-zag vertical stripe which has no name (as far as I know). You can see how dense the fabric is, and that there are no floats on the inside of the mitten.

I used worsted weight yarn, 40 stitches. 3.25mm needles for the k1,p1 ribbing. 2 1/4inch ribbed cuff. Changed to 4.5mm needles for the body of the mitten. These mittens fit a small lady's hand (mine, coincidently).

Brotherly love socks

Only a few people really appreciate my knitting. The time. The skill. Dare I say, the artistry. A couple of them are therefore rewarded with handknit socks. Usually one-of-a-kind original design socks. My brother is one of those people. Here's a pair I made for him recently . . .

Brotherly Love Socks © Cheryl Coville 2014

4 stitches wide x 5 rows 

2 balls of Steinbach Wolle Strapaz , 80% wool, 20% polyamid,
150m each ball
3.25 mm double points
56 stitches

Whatcha lookin' at?

February dreamin' ...

... on such a winter's day.

A new year, a new month, a new me

Tranquiltity
by Karen Neary © 2014

Welcome to my new home.

Grandma Coco has decided to take some time off. She's in dire need of a rest. The trials and tribulations of the world outside the Kingdom have taken their toll.

Last week, my friend Karen of Sew Karen-ly Created released a new pattern. Like all her designs, this one's beautiful. It's called Tranquility and it uses some gorgeous Hoffmann Bali tiles.

When I first saw the photo of the wall hanging, something called to me. I love fussy cuts and panels, and I thought what a lovely setting for any kind of artwork ..... appliqué, cross-stitch, paint on fabric ... pretty much anything.

See that circle?  Fear not! That's the best part. She's included a technique that makes the circle appliqué really easy ..... and totally do-able all by machine! No fussing. No freezer paper. No starch. That circle technique alone is worth the price of the pattern.




Coincidentally, I had some blocks that I made a long time ago now, that were offered by Bronwyn Hayes on her blog, Red Brolly. One of them was the perfect size for Karen's block. You can still find the blocks on Bronwyn's blog. They're from the Catalicious series.

Another friend of mine, Kate from Arts and Socks fame, often says a girl can never have too many bags, and I whole-heartedly agree with her. I like to have a bag for every knitting project I have on the go. Right now, that's about 3.

The up-shot of all this is that I used Karen's pattern and Bronwyn's embroidery design and Kate's inspiration to make this: