My First Quilt

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A little while ago, I thought I would try my hand at quilting. As usual things like college got in the way, but I made the front of a quilt. I made the front out of a fat quarter pack that I got from Hobbycraft, and I created this pattern. Being the engineer I am I did a technical drawing to see how the pattern would look, and to use as a guide as I was making it.

I finished the front fairly quickly, and it got folded up and put in a draw for quite a while. Part of the reason was that I didn't have anything for the back - to be honest I hadn't actually thought that far ahead!

BUT! I did find a little while later another fat quarter pack (they were packs of six), that I figured would go with the front. Then I struggled with what to do on the back. Did I want another busy pattern like the front? Did I want it to be obvious that it was the back? Does the back need to be boring? I really didn't know. So that fabric sat in the draw with the front of the quilt waiting to be put together!

Back

I finally got around to making the back, I decided that as long as I liked the design on the front and on the back, who cared which side was which! The pattern was much more simple, but I think it looks nice, and was nice to sew together.

The next thing to figure out is how to quilt it all together. First of all I need to get the wadding to go in the middle. Which I'm still yet to do, and after that is done I can put a border around it and I will have finally finished it.

Then after this one, I may make another one!

Get Ahead, Get a Hat

This is the first of a couple of hats that I made over the Christmas break. I was given a kit for a hat and arm warmers quite a while ago by my friend Nicky (who I made a blanket for which you can see here) and I finally got around to making them.

The kit came with its own pattern, and both parts are knitted flat then seamed together, and I started the hat as a travelling project to take out to Germany. The journey started fine, but by the time I had made it out the airport in Germany, I had snapped both of the old (and brittle) needles that I had, and one was in three pieces... It was a small disaster, but I soon found out that German supermarkets sell knitting needles (hurray!) and the disaster was a very short lived one and I got back to keeping my hands happy.

By the time we made it back to England the hat was done and I had finished the first arm warmer on the plane home, the second one was finished shortly afterwards and the set made its way to my best friend Emma, where they are currently being loved and warn. (a lot more than they would have been if they stayed with their maker!) - not that I don't like them, I do, I just have a lot of hats...

The pattern itself alternates rows of stocking stitch, from one right side to the other in rows of four. Which creates the ripple effect, and I was a little dubious of it to start with, but did slowly fall in love with it as I knitted along.

Safe to say this was the first hat that I knitted, and I don't think it was perfect (far from it) and some of the decreasing is slightly dodgy, but it shapes well, and suits Emma's head - yay!

Mr M's Christmas Socks

After the success of my first pair of socks, the next thing was to try and make a pair for Mr M. I used the same pattern as before from Love Knitting, and used the bigger size, which worked well for his bigger feet! The only problem was measuring his foot to get the right size without giving it away... But I managed that, he didn't seem like he knew he was getting a pair of socks for christmas when he unwrapped them, so either I was successful, or he just didn't want to hurt my feelings... I'll just pretend it was the first one...

The wool I used for this lovely pair was a Drops Delight wool, in their Red/Orange/Grey print from Wool Warehouse. (A lovely place to get wool and some attic 24 patterns) This pair knitted up a lot quicker then my first pair (naturally), and I did continue to use five double pointed needles (DPNs). For my next pair however I am going to be trying a circular needle, and may just learn how to knit two socks at once! But that is a little way into the future and just an ever-so-slightly scary idea. But I'll get there.

Now Mr M is proudly pottering about in his new socks. You never know, next year he might get a jumper (or another scarf...).

Two-Tone Scarf

It's been a while since I last posted, with going away for the christmas holidays and the getting back to normal life afterwards. But! I did manage to get a few projects done!

This twin tone scarf has been something I have wanted to make for a little while. The scarf is knitted on a circular needle, and involved a tubular cast on, and an odd little way of knitting it, to get the effect of one colour one side and a different colour the other.

The pattern was another one that I had in my "Bumper Book Of Knitting" the book gave instructions on how to tubular cast on, as well as cast off. But I will admit I found the book instructions for casting off very hard. I did find a handy tutorial on Purl Soho, which explained that really it is Kitchener stitch, which I have used for sock toes, so all was well.

I did mess up the cast off a little bit, and will have to finally try blocking to get the scarf looking its best, but overall I'm pleased with it. It did keep me nice and warm on our family holiday to Germany!