Great Weekend Mittens

I’ve finally got my knitting mojo back. I don’t know where its been but it obviously decided to go for a trip somewhere. Fortunately at the weekend it reappeared.

Having accidentally purchased five balls of Louisa Harding Amitola in Fairy (122) I thought I should probably find something to do with it. The five balls below are the same dye lot and colourway, just one of them seems to have been balled in a different way!

I decided that first I would make myself some new mittens as my other pairs are looking a little tired and well worn, after some perusal on Ravelry I decided on Great Weekend Mittens by Thea Eschliman.  They’ve been in my queue for a while and I still liked them so I decided to give them a go.

I’m really pleased with the first one and have cast on and started the second – I might even get it finished this evening.  It’s a great pattern if you’ve happy with picking up stitches – but I don’t see why you couldn’t knit the button band separately and sew it on if you’d rather.  If you’d like to follow my progress my project page is here: Great Weekend Mitts

As for the other 4 (and a bit that will be left over) balls, I was thinking of maybe making this: Speculation. It’s a shawl pattern by Mary R White and is knitted in the round.  The yarn is so amazingly soft and lightweight I’m going to use it for things for me!

Crochet Bedspread

I posted a couple of weekends ago about my “powered by red bull” dk weight cable blanket – i am pleased to announce that i have seen sense and decided to crochet one instead!

I don’t know how many squares I’m going to need yet, but I’m hoping it will be a) quicker and b) not quite so fiddly.

Why did i think 6 foot strips of cables would be a good idea??

Any way…. These are the first four squares:

I found the pattern on pinterest, but it is available as a free Ravelry download here

Happy hooking!!

Nancy blanket

So, I have been doing a lot of sorting and tidying today, trying to get ready to (hopefully) move house. Whilst i was tidying my unhealthily large yarn collection i came across my first ever crochet project.

I only learnt to crochet last summer and was told by my good friend Lyndsey (from Wibbling Wools) that a good project to do would be the so called “Nancy Blanket”.

Now, Nancy is another friend of mine and she makes these amazing blankets, AND she has very kindly said I can share it here. 🙂

So, this is my blanket so far:

Looks weird, right? Well. Goodness inly knows what is going on in the bottom bit – that is where i started – but the top bit is the bit you need to look at!

This is the bestest, easiest blanket pattern EVER!

How to do it;

Using British crochet terminology.
TC – treble crochet
Ch – chain
Sl st – slip stitch
Base chain: multiples of 4 plus 6 – my base chain for my blanket is 166 stitches (40×4 +6) and I worked 163 stitches with aran weight yarn (10 ply/worsted weight) on a 7.5mm hook.

set up row: TC into 3rd ch from the hook, TC into next 2 chains, ch1 missing the next base chain stitch, [TC into next 3 chains, ch 1 missing the next base chain stitch] until only 3 chains remain, TC3. Turn work.

Pattern rows:

1) [chain 3, sl st into ch space on row below] repeat to last 3 stitches, ch 3, sl st in to top of last stitch. Turn work.

2) ch 3 (counts as first TC), 2 TC around the chain stitches on the row below, ch 1, [TC 3 around the chain stitches on the row below, ch 1] until last chain section, TC 2 around chain stitches, TC1 into the last ch stitch.

Keep repeating rows 1 and 2 until you reach the desired blanket length!

A better example might be this beautiful blanket being crocheted by Lyndz (of Wibbling Wools World)

Free Pattern! Filet Crochet Bunny Blanket

Another great free pattern for you! I found this on pinterest and have been beavering away at it!

You can find the pattern here: free filet crochet bunny afghan

If you’ve not done filet crochet before take the time to read the instructions properly!! (I didn’t to start with!) remember that every square on the chart is worth 2 actual stitches 🙂

Easy Peasy Fingerless Mitt Pattern!

Here is a FREE pattern for you all. These are my Lyndsey Mitts, designed especially for my friend Lyndsey (of Wibbling Wools) birthday!  The pattern is for a really simple pair of mitts which are knitted flat.  Ideal for people who don’t like knitting in the round!

In the picture you can see one mitt as it is finished flat, and the other sewn up!

Lyndsey Mitts

For this pattern you’ll need about 100m of aran weight yarn and some 5mm needles.

You can download it here: Lyndsey Mitts

Crochet Hook Case & Bam Pow! Mitts

Another Christmas present I made was for my lovely friend Mia.

I made her this crochet hook case:

Crochet Hook Case

The outside uses star stitch which was a new stitch to me.  It took some time to get the hang of it, but once I did I was able to make quick progress.  The inside looks like this:

Inside of Crochet Hook Case

By using “through the front loop only” and “through the back loop only” stitches in the middle of the internal panel it makes the spaces for the crochet hooks to slide in to.  It is very clever!!

The pattern can be found here on the Crochet World Magazine website.

The modifications I made were not to do the crocheted bobbles, but to make a flower to use as a button instead, that way I only had to make one loop to close it with.

Now, there is another pattern I would like to share with you, it is not a free pattern, but it is worth every penny!! And that pattern is for these wonder fingerless mitts:

Bam! Pow! Mitts

I don’t normally pay for patterns, I find something I like and then make it up, or I search for a free version.  But this pattern has been worth its weight in gold!  You can download it from Ravelry here.  The pattern is called Fightin’ Words and was designed by Annie Watts who has a whole range of wonderful patterns available!

Happy knitting and crocheting!

Hello Kitty – Great Free Pattern

So, it has been a while since I last posted, so I thought I would share with you a free pattern I found before Christmas.  I used it to create this:

Hello Kitty Hat

You can see that in this picture I have not plaited the ends up yet, but unfortunately it is the only picture I have of it 😦

Anyway, link to the free pattern!  You can find it here on Crochet in Colour’s blog.  It is a great blog! Check out some of the other amazing things on there 🙂

Crocodile Stitch

I am putting the finishing touches to my pattern for this crocodile stitch cowl:

So, I thought I’d do a tutorial to go along with it.  You can either follow the instructions here (with the photos that are at a funny angle… it’s late here and I will fix them tomorrow!) or you can download them as a PDF.  They are both identical.  This is the PDF version: crocodile stitch tutorial

The instructions are for a swatch on how to make Crocodile Stitch, but the swatch is designed in such a way that you can carry on and make a cowl or a scarf if you like!

The instructions are using English crochet terms not American ones… so don’t get caught out!

Let’s get started…

Abbreviations

Ch – chain

tc – treble crochet stitch

sl st – slip stitch

Chain 19 stitches – the stitch is worked over a multiple of 3 stitches plus 1 stitch at the end, so you can go wider or narrower if you wish, but these instructions are for 19 stitches.

1)      tc in 3^rd stitch from hook, *ch2, skip 2 chain and 2 tc in the next stitch* repeat 5 times.

You should now have a ladder that looks a bit like this:

2)      Ch 1 and turn the work 90 degrees anti clockwise (if you’re right handed).

*5 tc around the first tc.  Ch1 and turn the work 90 degrees.

 5 tc around the second tc.

Sl st between the next 2 tc.*

Repeat between the stars twice more.  You now have 3 scales.

Ch 3 and turn work.

3)      tc in to the sl st.

*Ch 2, 2 tc in to middle of scale, ch2, tc in to space between scales* repeat this twice.

Ch 2, 2 tc in to middle of the next scale.

4)      tc 6 into the 3^rd tc:

Ch 1, 6 tc into the next tc.  Sl st between the next 2 tc.

*6 tc into first tc, ch 1, 6 tc into second tc* repeat this twice so that you have 3 scales.

 

Sl st into center of the last scale and chain 3.

 

5)      tc into the centre of the first scale.

*ch 2, 2 tc between scales, ch 2, 2 tc in middle of next scale* repeat this twice

Ch 2, 2 tc into last stitch on the row.

Repeat from 2 to 5 until you have reached your desired length.

Finish with either a row 2 or 4.

Fasten off and sew in ends as you would with any other projects.

I hope this has been helpful and I hope it makes sense.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me

Granny Square Security Blankets

I keep seeing things like this on Pinterest:

Lion Security Blanket – available for sale on Etsy (click picture for link)

and I really like them.  I think they’re super cute and the sort of thing most children would love.  Add to this that I seem to know a lot of people having babies at the moment, and I really want to make one.

The problem has been that I have been searching for them online (mainly on Pinterest) and I can only find them for sale as finished items.  I don’t want to buy one! I want to make one!!

So, I’ve been on a bit of a mission tonight, it’s not completely finished yet, but it’s definitely had a good start, and I’ve written the pattern as I’ve gone along too.  So I thought I might share that with you as a kind of early Christmas present.  I can’t guarantee this version is error free, but it’s a good start!!

Mine so far looks a little like this:

Granny Snuggler

I’ve decided to call it the Granny Snuggler – it’s quite late here and I couldn’t think of anything better!!  But the idea behind the pattern was to create a fairly generic head shape that could them be used to create a variety of animals by changing ear shape and facial features.

For this project you will need:

– DK / 8 Ply yarn (in as many or few colours as you wish)

– 2.50 mm crochet hook

– 3.50 mm crochet hook

– black embroidery thread/waste yarn

– fiberfill

– tapestry needle

I have written the pattern using ENGLISH CROCHET TERMS – don’t ask me why, I normally write my crochet patterns up in US terminology because it makes more sense to me, but for this pattern I have chosen to be awkward and not do that.

If you would like to download it, please click: Granny Snuggler

I would really love to see pictures if people make this! (And also to know that the pattern makes some form of sense) so please, please, please email me pictures of your finished / started / work in progress piece!! annahandknits@gmail.com

17th December… Already??

I’m starting this post with two apologies.  The first for being so crap at posting (new job, making birthday presents, making baby shower presents, making Christmas presents – those are my excuses).  The second is for the barrage of posts you’re going to get this evening.  I have a lot of catching up to do!!

I thought I would give you a quick run down of projects I’ve been doing and some of the fantastic free patterns I’ve been using.

So, to start…

It was my lovely friend Nancy’s birthday the other week, and I wanted to make her something, so having perused my Knitting, Crochet and Yarn board on Pinterest (if you’re on Pinterest you can follow me here if you like) I found this wonder cabled bag:

Viking Bag by Karen S. Lauger, available for download from Ravelry (click picture for link)

I absolutely loved it, and was pretty sure that Nancy would too.  The best bit was that Karen had kindly done the pattern for free!!  Winner.  You can download the pattern from Ravelry by clicking here.

Then there is this really adorable, really quick little crochet project – they almost look like owl nuggets!

Baby Owl Ornaments by Josephine Wu, free download from Ravelry

You can find the pattern for them on Ravelry by clicking here.

Another crochet pattern I’ve been having a lot of fun with is Crochet in Colour’s Ombre Basket.  It’s another free pattern and it’s a great stash buster.

Crochet in Color’s Ombre Basket – Free Pattern

I have a selection of other free patterns to share with you soon, but they’re Christmas presents so you’ll just have to wait a little while for those ones.

Proudly sponsored by Wibbling Wools