Baby Hats Off!! POTD

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday, its horrible again and rainy so I think that sunny spell was a bit of a weird spell. Hope we are all doing well out there. Today I am going to do a bit of a POTD because we have been sharing a lot of different patterns in our group on Ravelry and it has been making me grab my needles and cast on.

This little hat was recommended to me because it is so simple, and so easy and has made up the staple of many of my friends project lists. This is Little Boy Blue Ribbed Baby hat, which is actually in my case Little Baby Cream, but is a cute ribbed hat which is great for a new knitter, learning to purl

Here is mine:

It is knit with some of the leftover from my ripple cotton blanket- Stylecraft Special Aran in Cream on 4.5mm needles. This was the last of my non-pink knits so pretty much everything you will see this month will be pink- different shades mind you, but pink.

Have a great day all, I will be spending the rest of my evening here making sure my hair does not resemble Sideshow Bob now it has been cut short again and watching Great British Menu! Oh and finishing off knitting with Sirdar Snowflake- that could be a bigger task than taming the aforementioned hair!!!

Finally!!!!

Happy Sunday everyone!! Hope you are all well.

If you have been following my Facebook recently, you will already know the battle I have had with my latest pattern. I am knitting a cot size blanket in Aran on 5.5mm needles and I have been so determined to make it. I started it on Tuesday evening when I bought the yarn from my LYS, Pats in Lordswood, and I finished it this morning!! Hooray!! It hurt yesterday so much I had to stop knitting completely, but after the rest, the final 4 rows were done. So here is the big reveal of this pattern, and the finished blanket.

Here it is!!! And I must admit I love it. It was such hard work, but I do love it. I have been knitting a lot recently so I am going to do a few posts on whats going on in our lives too along with the knitting because that is always what I wanted this blog to be about. I have got a bit apart from that, and I do love the YOTD and POTD, and I am going to continue this but I want to add a little bit more about whats going on knit wise, and family wise, so I can get a balance going. I knit a lot of things that are not online, or are in magazines and I want to share these too.

Ok a little more detail about this pattern above, this is a pattern by Tina Barrett and I got it from a Woman's Weekly Knitting and Crochet special February 2012, but it is also available in her book Natural Knits for Toddlers and Babies and Knitting Magazine Jan 2009. It is the Cotton Blanket and Dog pattern, and it is linked to its Ravelry page. I don't think I will knit the dog to go with it but you never know!! It is knit in Stylecraft Special Aran in Aspen (which is the mint green) and Cream on 5.5.mm needles.

Happy Sunday and Happy Jubilee Weekend. I'm off to watch the Flotilla and the Queen and it is very much raining, so I'm hoping she has one of those old lady plastic hair covers on- now that would be brilliant!!!!

Techniques: Yarn Weights

Happy Saturday Everyone!!! Techniques Saturday has arrived and today I am going to be chatting about different yarn weights and how you tell the difference, as well as a few tips about each weight. There can also be confusion about different names depending on where you are in the world so hopefully I can sort out a few issues, and sort it out. I'll also talk about recommended needle sizes for the yarn too.

• Lace/1ply/2ply: This is the smallest weight of yarn, and is normally used for lacy shawls and other lacy projects. It is normally knit on needles smaller than 2.75mm. The picture above shows my one ball of laceweight yarn, it is a pure silk and is so so beautiful I've had it over a year and still cannot use it. I just look at it. Some of you may think I'm nuts but I know most of you do the same thing!!!
• Fingering/4ply/ Sockweight: This is normally the yarn you would use for socks and some of the lighter weight baby clothes. It is normally knit on 2.75-3.25mm needles 
• DK(Double Knitting)/8ply: This is probably the most widely produced size for yarn in the UK but not so much in the US. We have probably the most choice in DK here. Below you can see the picture of Patons Trentino and the thickness of the yarn and where on the ball band you can find the recommended needle size. DK is normally around the 4mm needle size. 

• Aran/Worsted: This is normally knit on 4.5-5.5mm needles and is slightly thicker than DK. Worsted is more common in the US and is normally used for toys like we use DK. The picture below shows Patons Fusion (which I bought on tuesday). This is as popular for all items the same as DK.

•  Chunky/Bulky: This is a thick yarn normally used for thick jumpers and other big items. I've made big hats and scarves with chunky and it knit up so very quickly!!! Chunky normally knits up on 5.5mm/8mm needles depending on the thickness of the yarn and the project that you are knitting. Below is Rowan Romance, and as you can see, is recommended for 7mm needles. 

• Super Chunky/Super Bulky: This is very very thick yarn, and knits up so quick you will hardly notice!!! Knit normally on 8mm or larger needles. I have used a variety in the past including Stylecraft Life Super Chunky and I tend to use it for big scarves. The Blattman has a big thick scarf knit in super chunky that always gets stolen first whenever we go out with anyone who needs a scarf!!!

So how can I tell the difference if it is not written on the label? Some lovely yarns don't tell you what weight they are. I can imagine most of you don't have a handy person you can text when you have no clue what it is.  (I do- if she answers her phone!!!) In the shop, you can use the needle size on the ball band. Rowan Romance for example does not tell you on it, just that little clue of the needles. 

If you have a random ball in your stash (we all do) which has in fact lost its ball band to that place where odd socks live, then how do you do it then? Well you use a wraps per inch tool, and count those wraps. I know you are all looking at me like I am nuts!! 

This is a wraps per inch tool care of Purlesence and it is in the shape of a Llama- what more could you want!!! Well what you do is you take your yarn, wrap it around the body of the llama, or stick if you have that version, count the amount of wraps and then see how many you have. Simple as that. You can also use a big needle or a ruler to check this out too. Beneath is a general rule about how many wraps it takes.

4ply- 14 Wraps

DK- 11 wraps

Aran- 8 wraps

Bulky- 7 wraps

Well, I hope this has been useful to you, comment with your ideas or things you want to know too!! Have a great day!

YOTD: Stylecraft Life Aran

Happy Thursday Everyone!! I had another successful trip to Bluewater and the good old Odd Ball Bin in Johtsn Lewis and found some fabulous Aran weights so I decided to start this Aran-Fest with a good basic reasonable one. 

Today's YOTD is Stylecraft Life Aran. Stylecraft is a great brand and does some really reasonable yarn at a great price and lots of yardage on the balls. I love the brand, and use the DK a lot for toys. I had a 100g ball for a pair of slippers for my mum, and it wasn't enough so I had to buy another. With the leftovers I made this hat below. 

This yarn comes in 100g balls and is a blend of 75% Acrylic and 25% Wool, so it is very durable. You get 198m on a ball, which is great for aran, and it comes in lots of colours. It knits on 5mm needles and the tension over 10 cm is 18sts over 24 rows. It is a really soft yarn and very pretty. This is normally about £3.00 a ball. The link goes to Deramores and they have all Stylecraft on offer this week, so you get 10% off. 

The colourway I have here is Parchment and is a very light tan brown. It is great to work with, and easy to care for. I loved knitting with it, because it was not in any way problematic. Not splitty, no knots or fluffs, just a good yarn. It is a basic yarn that is useful for all types of projects. It also comes in pinks, reds, blues and the parchment I have. This hat pattern will be coming up in a POTD soon. The other great thing is that all the colours available in aran are also available in chunky, DK, 4 ply and super chunky.

Now this yarn is machine washable, tumble driable and you can iron it too so great for clothing for anyone, as is so easy to take care of. A great yarn and I will most definitely buy it again, a great stash staple.

YOTD: Robin Picasso DK

Happy Sunday everyone!! This is not so much a happy Sunday as a dark, damp, windy Sunday- Yuck!! I hope you are all warm and dry. I am too, and knitting. Lots. But finally I have finished that blanket so I can share with you this amazing soft fluffy yarn with a lovely colourway.

This yarn is Robin Picasso DK. It is a DK yarn knit on 4mm needles (I didn't- I'll get to that in a minute) and it has a tension of 22 sts over 31 rows over 10cm. The yarn is 100% acrylic and you get a great big 100g for about £2.50 from Wool4less. Bargain. On that ball, you are going to get about 270 metres, so this really is good quality yarn but on a budget. There are some really cute colours too!!!

For this particular colourway, I chose to do a feather and fan blanket. You already know this because I have been moaning about said blanket for days. The swatch above is in that pattern and on 4.5mm needles. It is a thick DK, so knitting it using 4.5mm needles is perfect tension for all those light worsted/aran patterns, and looks brilliant. I would use it as a light aran/worsted weight and on 4.5mm needles for clothes and blankets because the effect is much softer than on 4mm needles.

These pictures are not the best, I know. But because it is miserable outside, my colours are just not right. This particular colourway has a very gentle stripe through purple, orange, yellow and green, but is very light and looks almost white in sunlight. I have also knit this up as a shawl too because I love this colourway so much. But it really does not photograph well!! Here is the shawl below, and you can just about see the gentle stripe in this.

There is only one issue with this yarn. It is great value, it is warm and so so soft and cuddly, and it is all round lovely to knit with. Except the slubs. As you get to the middle of the ball you get slubby bits that really really show up. They aren't small and you can get away with them, they are big and fluffy. I really had to cut them out and reattach the yarn for the lace. There are a few when I was purling, and they have knitted in, but that is my only issue. I have used three of these balls now and each one had the same slubs in the yarn. I do have this in another colour that I haven't used yet so I will update again when I know if there are slubs in this too. I hope not.

Granted, its a bit slubby but I would most definitely buy it again. It is the softest thing, has blocked great, and is of course machine washable so perfect for any knit, and it is a great price for a great yarn. Perfect if you are starting out too, its cheap to play with, but you get a great knitted fabric.

The one above is Marshmallow (I think, although on my ball band I have 2848- and in all the shops the same colour seems to be 2849). I also own Sky (2846) is a mix of white and blues and I presume all of these will stripe like the one above. I have yet to find the perfect pattern for this, but I will recap later once I have knitted it up. There are lots of other colours available and all different stripes, including a very bright orange/purple/yellow number called Refresher and a variety of soft colours too.

I love this, I love the blanket I have knit with it, and I just love the way it has finished. Apart from the slubs. But I can get over them. Knit with this yarn, its yummy, and its a bargain- why not?!
Have a great day all, and stay warm and snuggly, and keep knitting!!!!
(oh and for an exclusive- I've got a great giveaway coming, watch out on Tuesday!)

In Stash we Bust

I can safely say...Yes! Lots of it for that matter!! This week has most definately been a productive one, especially where my stash is coming from because I had an organising week. I sorted it all out into its new homes (a laundry bin for the DK and a box covered in airplanes for the rest of it) and now I have a great list of all of it, weights and amounts. Fabulous.

Now what I am going to do with it? Well I was originally knitting a lot of baby bits and pieces, being inspired by my baby nephew (who is over the 8 pound mark now-yay) and our first cuddle two weeks ago. But this has been put on hold for stash busting, and later this week, shawl and veil knitting. 

I used this pattern yesterday to knit a hat for the Blattman, and he wore it all night so Im guessing he likes it. This is a ravelry pattern so you have to sign up to see it, and frankly you need to. If you are a knitter and not on ravelry, you have problems!! The picture below is from the pattern itself and not mine, mine is knit in Life Aran in Parchment.

Hats are great for stash busting, you can get one or two from a skein and normally three from 2 skeins and they are quick knits and you feel really productive which is always a winner.

This week for our Lent Prayer shawl KAL/CAL I am intending on knitting the half lace chapel veil in black for our trip to Rome hopefully this year, so I can cover in the presence of the Pope. Its going to be a nightmare I think but Im going full Lace, and hopefully the prayers in it won't just be for me to finish the row without a mistake!

Also on my mind this week... The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir and new Revlon Scented Nail Varnish in Watermelon Fizz