YOTD: Patons Smoothie DK

Happy Sunday Everyone!! Hope you are all well today, its gone back to blooming miserable here, its horrible and cold and rainy. Yesterday was not a good knitting day. I began the cutest little pattern for a pair of booties, but then when I had finished one, it was the worst looking thing I have ever seen in all my life. I actually used the word Horrendous. Twice. Still I might try another new pattern today, maybe.

Today is YOTD again!! Yay!! I actually really enjoy Yarn of the Day, I love planning knits and knitting up little cardigans and hats and testing out yarn. Well that is normally anyway, because this yarn truly tested this love.Patons Smoothie DK is a 100% Acrylic yarn and is incredibly soft and smooth. It comes in 100g balls and you get a whole 200 metres on a ball and for around £3.29 it is pretty good value. It is also available in so many different colours. It is surprising to get such a soft and smooth acrylic yarn, acrylic is normally known as the cheap fuzzy rubbish, but this truly shows acrylic isn't all bad. It is machine washable and knits up as DK on 4mm needles. The tension over 10cm is 22sts over 30 rows.

I was totally taken in by its softness, the fact that it is easy to care for, and the cute colours available. I love the variegated styles, and I love the finished fabric. It is soft, thick and warm. But I completely hate this yarn with a vengeance. It is terrible to knit with, it is so splitty even on wooden needles, and despite its soft exterior it is so very fluffy. It felt like 20% was fluffing on the surface and ending up in the bin. Whilst I was knitting, I was cursing and hating on this yarn so much but now it is done I love the finished product.

I have a few different colours in my stash, having been donated to me by my granny who thought it would be nice for crochet blankets but it is not good for crochet for her. So I've got it. But there is no way in a million years I will buy it again. I do not want to waste the stash and I totally love the finished fabric and the Paxton I've knit in it, so I am sure I will use it and curse and throw and moan my way through it. Plus it is easy to care for. I am totally in a love/hate relationship with this yarn- I love the finish- hate the yarn. Lucky I only knit one-ball-knits right?!?!

There are so many colours available in this yarn, 12 solid colours and 6 varigated. They are all available on Deramores, and above I have the Red Mix (2018), which as you can see isn't that red, more of a mix through red, purple, orange, pink and grey. I also own Multi Mix (2020) and Blue Mix (2102).

Have a lovely relaxing Sunday, and I hope you are all having a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend, despite the horrible weather!!

POTD: Super Simple Baby Tunic

Hi everyone!! Still very rainy, grey and miserable here, I think Spring might have missed this corner of the country this week. Never mind, I am lucky and don't have to go out today so now there is just much more time for knitting!!! And for those of you that may have been worried about the anorak toting scallywags- Bike is still there, so pleased I put the lock on!!

Today's POTD is a cute little dress that I knit a few months ago, and am now considering a cotton version of it too, so hopefully I can share that later. It is knit flat, but there is a version in the round too so whatever you prefer to do you can. Don't be afraid when I say there is a version in the round, this is such a simple little dress, so however new you are to knitting you will definitely be able to knit this one. In fact it would be brilliant for starting out in clothing, 2 pieces, and a few more challenging sections to learn.

So here is the link to the flat version from Rebecca Gunn from her blog and here is the in the round instructions. And here is the picture of my little dress made from the pattern flat.

This little dress is knit on 4mm needles with DK, and I chose Patons Trentino for mine. The other little bonus of this is you get to pick a couple of the cutest buttons you own/forage/buy for this little one. I chose some mother of pearl heart buttons that I got free with Simply Knitting and just suited this one so much. There are so many different ideas for the pattern on the Ravelry Page for it, click on projects, and you can see lots of others for ideas.

The pattern is made up of simple stocking stitch, garter at the bottom, an eyelet row (that I read wrong so I have more eyelets than the pattern says but never mind) and moss stitch at the top. It is very simple and easy to do, minimal sewing up for my version, just the sides of the dress, and it is probably the cutest thing!!!

There won't be a YOTD today because I am working on a new pattern in the final colour of a yarn I want to share with you all so you will have to make do with the POTD, but lets be fair, that is a cute little one. For the next POTD, I think we might start with a new technique to work with. Don't worry, its still so easy, and trust me, when you go Raglan, you really don't want to go back!!!!

POTD: Pattern of the Day! Baby Wrap Cardigan

Hello everyone, now for all of you tuning in for YOTD, its coming I promise! I am at work today, and I only finished the last of the review last night late, so I have yet to take all the pictures. It is coming later today when I get home. Its one of my favourite yarns too so I'm excited to share that one. I know you are all on the edge of your seats!!!!

I am introducing another little OTD sideline today, as I have so enjoyed doing the YOTD, but have discovered that I cannot knit to demand on that one!!!! So I am adding POTD too so I can keep up updating you all daily, but with different things. I have also discovered that in reviewing all these yarns, I am knitting an awful lot of new patterns and experimenting, and I am lacking on giving you the information on the patterns I'm using. I know, rubbish! So I am addressing this balance and adding Pattern of the Day.

Today's pattern of the day is going to be one of my new little favourites. As you can see, I am pretty much loving knitting the baby clothes and have learnt so much about garment construction and raglan seams, and enjoying every minute of it. This first pattern is the first garment I knit and is a little wrap cardigan.

This cardy is knit using DK and 3mm needles for the ribbing at the bottom and 3.75mm needles for the body itself. The original of the pattern was knit in Sirdar Snuggly, hang on for the review, but mine is knit in Patons Trentino in Orion. You are going to need about 250yrds for this one, which is about 230 meters. You are probably going to have no problem getting one of these cardigans from a 100g ball of DK.  

To knit this little cardy, you start at the bottom of each of the sides of the front of the cardy, knitting them each on two needles, then knitting across all the stitches of both sides of the cardy underneath the sleeves. Then you cast on for sleeves and away you go. I apologise if that description has scared you off but please read the pattern, it makes so much more sense than my ramblings!! Now, I am totally allergic to picking up stitches, I hate doing it, and would go via lands end to avoid them. The bonus of this cute little pattern is that all the bands and edging are knit in as you go. Hooray!!

This is a great little starter pattern for garments. The pattern is very easy to read, and comes in PDF form so is really good to work from. There are also lots of pictures to refer to, which is always a winner in my book. It is also completely and utterly free for your own devices.

I really enjoyed knitting this, it uses basic knitting and purling, easy techniques and no buttonholes either for all you beginners. It is a great pattern, and although there are not many other patterns knit in the same way, so you aren't really learning construction, you are going to get a fabulous little cardy in the end. Win!

So haven't knit clothing before? What are you waiting for? Give it a go. As my mum always says, its only knitting and purling!

YOTD: Patons Mirage DK

So yesterday's post went down well, so I am going to continue YOTD and hopefully you will find it useful!!

Today's yarn is Patons Mirage DK. (No, I'm not sponsored by Patons either, just remembered that yesterdays was a Patons yarn too- tomorrows will be different I promise!) Mirage is a 50% Cotton 50% Bamboo Viscose yarn, and knits to DK. You get 120m/131yrds on your 50g ball, and a 50g ball is around £3.90 a ball. I bought this ball in John Lewis at Bluewater, and fortunately found it in the odd ball bin, and found 4 at the end of a dye lot. I paid £1.75 a ball.

Patons Mirage DK comes in 10 different colourways, and each one is a mix of colours. The colourway I have is called Bright Blue Mix (shade 00082) and in the colourway is red, dark blue, light sky blue, white and green. As you knit through the ball more and more colours arise. This is great if you are knitting a one piece item, but for me, I just cannot have sleeves that don't match so I had to roll some off a ball to get the right pattern on the sleeves. Luckily I had spares. You can see the colours best in the cardigan I knit below. It is the Puerperium Cardigan which can be found on Ravelry. 

The yarn could be described as splitty, as it is quite a soft yarn, but it is nice and knits up well, the stitch definition is good. It is machine washable and again dry flat. I still recommend this for all knits, dry them flat, and lay them out, they will thank you and always keep in good shape. I was happy with this yarn, and I was surprised with the number of colours as you go through the ball, and if you have a one ball knit, then this is a great yarn. Due to my inability to have unmatching fronts or sleeves on a cardy or item, the striping was too irregular for my liking. Love the yarn, not sure I'd buy it again.

There are 9 other colours available in this particular yarn, some are very light and delicate colours and some are much more bright. Alongside my blue mix above, there are three other bright mixes. Jamaica (86) is purple, black and yellow and Exotic (80) is blue, pink, yellow and orange. Sea Mix (89) is another of the brighter shades and features many shades of blue, from a navy to a light sky blue. The rest are lighter mixes, much more muted colours. Soft Blue Mix (85) is pretty much as it says on the tin, various shades of light blues and yellows. Soft Pink Mix (83) is light shades of pink, yellow and grey. Purple Mix (84) is light shades of purple, green and blue. Lemon Mix (90) is pink and yellow and again a very light shade. Natural Mix (91) is made up of shades of light browns and greys, and lastly Violet Mix (88) is a mix of light purple, blues and greens. (Again Deramores is a great place to see the swatches for these colours, maybe if I mention them enough they might send me yarn- is that wishful thinking?!?!?!!)

I was very lucky to get to go to John Lewis yesterday too and found more bargains in their odd ball bin. As you probably know, I tend to only knit one or two ball knits, because I get a bit bored!!! This makes an odd ball bin a wonder to me. I will be sharing lots more as I knit them up.

I hope to get a YOTD every day, but because I want to knit them up first to give you all the best idea of how they knit up, the stitch definition and all the colours I own in that particular yarn it might take me more than a day.

Please please let me know if they are useful, or if there are any other things you want me to add to my reviews that would be useful to you

YOTD: Patons Trentino

So I am totally a beauty blog stalker. I love nail polishes and lip colour and everything that goes with it. I rarely buy any beauty product without checking out swatches and reviews before hand. So I figured why can't a knitter do the same thing with yarn. We do not all have the wonder that is our local Yarn store (LYS) that we can visit and feel all those beautiful yarns, so it is much better if we can see those yarns before we buy.

So this is my first Yarn Of The Day. I was so lucky to buy three of the colours of this yarn in the sales this January, so I have plenty of swatches to share.

Patons Trentino DK is a 90% Acrylic/10% Wool Blend yarn and comes in massive 200g balls, which is 660m/722yrds. It is enough to make a sleeveless top, and the pattern for that top comes on the ball band. Personally, I have been using it for baby knits, and from each ball I have made 2 garments so far and have nearly half the ball of each left so it is going really far. Each ball costs around £8.50, which is pretty good because of the amount of yarn you are getting, that would make it around £2.13 per 50g.

The yarn comes in 6 different colours. These are Mexico (a blue, pink, red mix), Brasil (brown, blue, grey), Ocean (green and blues), Melody (pinks and red), Orion (greens and blue) and Passion (purples). I have three here to swatch, Melody, Brasil and Orion. I have knit them on 4mm needles in each of the swatches. You can see and of course buy the yarn at Deramores (they dont sponser me btw, although if they feel like it they can!!!! I just know you can see it best here and of course buy.) Before you buy at deramores however, look for the discount codes, there are lots for knitters.

First up is Melody. It is a pink mix with all sorts of other colours and really does knit up in a very pretty pattern. It is primarily pink in colour. There is no pooling (which means in some varigated yarns you can get big pools of one particular colour which can look funny on a pattern or a garment) and you get a nice all round colour. It is pretty soft and creates a nice knitted fabric.

Orion is a blue, yellow and green yarn, this doesnt really have a primary colour- it is definately a mix of them all. This pools a little, but because of the varigated part of this yarn it doesn't really show too badly. Again such a soft yarn and a lovely knitted fabric.Its quite a boy colour, but it could be used as a great accessory yarn for anyone.

Brasil is a sky blue, brown and grey mix, and creates a lovely colour. It again is a boy colour, but it is not dark at all. It has created some great little baby jackets and I am pleased with the colour.

Trentino is washable on gentle or delicate in the washing machine and then dry flat. I pretty much always dry my knits flat anyway, it helps them to keep in shape.

So let me know if there are any yarns you would like to see swatched in future or what you think of the swatches, are they useful?