katie knits

FO: Ishbel

2009-10-15T19:15:00.000Z

I'm on an FO roll! It's another navy blue snuggly neckwear item - Ishbel by Ysolda.

I used lovely Blue Skies 100% baby alpaca with slightly bigger than recommended needles (4.5mm) to make the knit a bit looser and airier.

I actually messed up the pattern - you're supposed to knit sections A, B, A, C but I totally forgot to do the second 'A' and went straight to 'C'. A bit of fudging with stitch counts was required and luckily it doesn't look too noticeable.

Ravelry project link

To-knit: fair-isle cardigan

2009-10-15T11:17:00.000Z

I bought some blue and cream wool/alpaca mix recently which I imagined would become a striped Breton sweater, but now I'm thinking it might want to be a lovely Christmassy fair-isle cardigan like this one instead.. decisions, decisions.

Sweater clock

2009-10-15T09:50:00.002Z

Aww, look at this adorable knitted clock from Anthropologie!

Fez Cowl

2009-10-12T18:32:00.000Z

I finished knitting this little cowl in 2 days - an evening in and a train ride up to the north. It only took 2 balls of lovely Debbie Bliss Fez, a snuggly merino/baby camel(!) blend.

Here's a rough pattern.. with the yarn held double (a strand from each ball), cast on enough stitches to fill a 16" 8mm circular needle, making sure your number is a multiple of 4 + 3. k2, p2 around (you'll reach the end of the round with a purl left over, just carry right on over the end of the round). Keep k2, p2 around until you have a few yards left, then bind off loosely.

My cowl is about 32" around and hangs pretty loose, for a snugger one cast on fewer stitches or make a pompom-trimmed drawstring pull (I might add this to mine).

Ravelry link

Skull Breton by Sibling

2009-09-21T08:55:00.004Z

Loving this skull op-art Breton sweater by Sibling London, a cool men's knitwear label. A Breton sweater is on my to-knit list for autumn, this is a nice twist on the classic.

Their other stuff is pretty cool too.

Intarsia camo

A take on the catwalk shoulder-pad trend with super-chunky yarn

A big twisty bow.. this could be pretty wearable.

Buttercup progress

2009-09-12T14:28:00.002Z

I've been slowly making progress on Buttercup at knitting group every Tuesday.. it's such slow going though, and stocking stitch in the round is so boring! It's looking nice though, and a good fit - apart from being a bit low at the neckline but I think a firm border should sort that out.

The bamboo yarn is snuggly soft - Yoni approves too.

New WIPS...

2009-07-19T10:45:00.002Z

Here are my current WIPs!

Ysolda's Ishbel shawl, knitted in Colinette Jitterbug - Ravelry link

Buttercup, a very popular pattern at the moment - Ravelry link

Here's why my knitting has been rather slow of late! - can't knit at home any more due to this little monster, so I have to rely on my Tuesday night knit group to make progress.

Knit the City

2009-07-16T10:22:00.002Z

Knit the City are the latest group of guerilla crafters to take knitting to the streets, this time in my home city of London. I love their latest project, a cosied-up phonebox in the heart of Parliament Square.

Casting on Ishbel

2009-06-20T17:03:00.003Z

My Tuesday night knitting group has inspired me to pick up sticks again lately - more specifically, to knit a shawl since they all tote such gorgeous examples. To this end, I picked up the above yarn from Loop earlier today (the store is a dangerous 5 minute walk from my house). I picked up some Blue Sky Alpaca in a lovely smoky navy blue, and some baby pink Colinette Jitterbug, which will become my Ishbel shawl.

Crochet and Knit Jewelry Frames

2009-06-17T12:40:00.002Z

Crochet and Knit Jewelry Frames , originally uploaded by stitchdiva.

These lace-knitting frames for holding jewellery are SUCH a good idea! Check out the Ravelry page for more information.

Mario socks

2009-06-04T11:38:00.002Z

Mario socks 2 , originally uploaded by mithwen.

More radness c/o Ravelry! Sweet duplicate-stitched Mario socks by Nimwen.

Tuppy Von Monster

2009-06-03T13:21:00.003Z

Tuppy Von Monster , originally uploaded by elliphantom.

Oh gosh, isn't this guy the cutest little thing you've ever seen? You can buy the pattern from Ravelry.

Kitty squid

2009-04-20T14:55:00.002Z

After the success of the mice, I had the idea to make Yoni a toy squid with lots of dangly tentacles. I made up the pattern as i went along - it's basically a 24-stitch wide garter stitch rectangle, with eight 3-stitch i-cords at the bottom. Then I just gathered the top and bottom and sewed shut (stuffing with polyfill and catnip) and sewed a plaited string to the top. It's knitted in DB Cashmerino Aran with 3 3/4mm needles for a tight guage.

As you can see, Yoni goes mad for it!

Knitty kitty toys

2009-04-19T10:13:00.002Z

We just got a darling pet kitten called Yoni so I finally have a reason to pick up my needles again. I used this pattern to knit him a few little mouseys. They're very quick and easy to make (even though Yoni keeps playing with the needle-ends as I knit), and stuffed with catnip so he really goes crazy for them!

There's more info on my Ravelry page - and you can see more photos of Yoni on my flickr!

Downtime

2009-01-08T21:23:00.002Z

My craft site seems to have been taken offline - don't know why, am chasing it up with my hosting company. Patterns should be back up soon!

Edit: All back now!

Last minute gifts

2008-12-21T19:09:00.003Z

After a horrid trek round the too-crowded shops yesterday, I suddenly decided to knit a few Christmas presents. Here's the output:

Fetching by Cheryl Naimath, knitted up in Rowan Soft Lux from my stash. I used Magic Loop as I can't stand dpns, and it worked out quite well.

Thorpe hat by Kirsten Kapur. This was a lovely fast knit (especially as I used Magic Loop again) using one of my favourite yarns, Cashmerino.

Not strictly knitting, but I made this cute little sock monkey for my sister, using instructions from last Saturday's Guardian. Isn't he sweet?

More details and photos on my Ravelry!

Knitty doll

2008-11-30T20:05:00.003Z

I thought you'd like to see this knit-inspired drawing I did recently - wouldn't that be a cute fair-isle Christmas sweater? It's for sale as Christmas cards on my etsy shop.

Owly

2008-11-22T21:52:00.005Z

Rest assured I am making progress on my EZ bottom-up sweater, but 2 arms-worth of plain stocking stitch isn't exactly fascinating enough to blog.

For now, enjoy this eye candy: fabulous owl yoke sweater by Needled. I'm smitten; enough so that i'm wondering whether to put these onto the yoke of my sweater instead of a fair-isle pattern. For more knitspiration, see my Tumblr.

Twist Collective

2008-11-14T14:16:00.002Z

Twist Collective is a group of brilliantly innovative and talented knitwear designers who publish their patterns quarterly. The styling and photography is drop-dead gorgeous too. I especially love this elegant textured snowflake-white sweater and snuggly-looking slouchy coat.

London knitters..

2008-11-12T18:03:00.002Z

Like cakes go to along with your knitting? Of course you do. Pop down to Socktopus on Sunday for knitting fun and delicious (trust me) cakes from my friend Arianna's new bake shop Bittersweet. Don't even try and resist.

Knitted video

2008-11-10T09:45:00.001Z

Check out this sweet music video made entirely of knitted frames! Very clever. The band is even called Trichot Machine (Knitting Machine in French).

Via drawn

Thanks, EZ

2008-11-09T21:14:00.002Z

I needed a little kick in the right direction to really get knitting again, and it came in the form of freezing weather + a trip back to my parents' house, where I found my copy of Knitting Without Tears. I love Elizabeth Zimmermann's way of writing and her philosophy that you don't need to follow the rules, or be particularly precise, in order to create successful knits.

The above is the start of a bottom-up sweater which i'm going to knit in the round with sharp rounds of decreasing in the yoke. I'm then going to try my first ever steeked cardigan by - yikes! - cutting down the front and picking up a rib border. I'm already terrified of the idea of cutting my knitting; it might well remain a pullover.

Here's the fair-isle chart I designed for in-between the yoke decreases. I'm going to knit the pattern in some sparkly snowy white Rowan Soft Lux from my stash. (The body yarn is Sirdar Click, frogged from the start of my Gentle Fawn cardi which I decided would be a failure.)

Scarf inspiration

2008-10-25T10:44:00.002Z

It's getting very chilly and wintery so I need a scarf. Rather than buy one I'm going to destash and make one. Here's some inspiration (images from asos and karmaloop).

I particularly like the grey fair-isle number with pockets. Practical and adorable (and easy to knit).

Crafty Superstar

2008-10-24T12:47:00.001Z

I'm quite proud to say I was chosen as a Crafty Superstar on the wonderful website Cut Out & Keep. Thanks Cat! I wish I had the space and time to do some new crafting and get some more projects up there. I also need to create erratas for my patterns; like I've said before, I'm not a natural pattern maker as I never follow them myself, but people seem to be tying themselves up in knots trying to follow them...

Organised Ravelry

2008-07-10T10:08:00.001Z

I finally got around to adding a lot of my old projects to Ravelry - check them out here.