Birthday Scarf

Recently it was a good friend's birthday, and I had nothing on the needles and was feeling the itch to get knitting again.

So I made this chunky ripple-y rib scarf, it's a pattern that I have used for three other scarfs so far, and it is great!

The pattern itself is from the blog The Wool Nest and the very first scarf I made with it, I followed the pattern using similar yarn to the one used on the blog and created a very similar scarf for Mr M (one of the first things I knitted for him).

For this scarf I took a trip to the small wool and fabric shop on the high street and just went searching for some nice chunky wool. What I ended up with was the Hayfield Chunky Tweed, one in a light blue and another in dark blue. The tweed style of them gives little hints of colour here and there and I love it.

The scarf is a rib with a twist and it makes a lovely scarf that I would recommend for anyone. It has now been posted off to it's new home, where I hope it will have a happy and loved life!

Fat Quarter Bunting

As a little project for when the best friend came to stay - she had just got a sewing machine and she wanted to come and use mine to build up her confidence (it worked!) - We decided to make some very simple bunting out of fat Quarters.

This weekend the bunting I had made finally went up!

I do apologize in advance for the poor pictures in this post, it is really difficult to take good looking photos in a small attic room with bad lighting!

For the bunting we used six fat quarters, around about the size of a fat quarter pack, although some do only come with five. There are twelve triangles on my set of bunting, and from the same fat quarters we made another set of bunting.

To make the triangles we cut out a triangle template. The template would have fit on an A5 piece of paper, but you can make the template either larger or smaller depending on what size of triangle you want. Just make sure that your two long sides are the same length and then join them up at the top.

For the bunting triangle we cut out two sides which are then sewn together. We drew around the template eight times on each fat quarter to make four bunting triangles (one triangle for each side). This was done on each fat quarter. We then shared the triangles between two sets of bunting with twelve triangles on each.

The two triangles are placed right side together and pinned in place. Using a seam allowance of half an inch, sew along the two long sides of the triangle before turning it the right way out.

It is worth trimming the excess fabric along the bottom of the triangle before it is turned the right way out, this allows a much cleaner and sharper point. It can also be useful to use a knitting needle or a pencil to push the final bit of the point out.

Once all of the triangles have been sewn and turned the right way out, they would benefit from being ironed, which allows them to lie flat and look pretty! :)

To attach all the triangles together we used bias binding, as it can be folded over and sewn down so the raw edges at the top of the triangles are inside and hidden. The bias binding that we used was 25 mm thick and 2.5 meters long. The binding was from Hobbycraft and they come on a little roll, and one roll is 2.5 meters long, so to make two sets, we did use two rolls!

I rolled out the complete length of the binding, and started to place where the triangles would go. I marked the centre of the binding and put a triangle at half an inch from the centre, and another at half an inch the other side. Working out from the centre I was then able to fit all of the triangles on with a gap of an inch between them all. I then pinned them in place and ran a line of stitching along one crease in the bias binding. After that row of stitching I trimmed the edges of the triangles that stick up into the binding, making sure that they had flat tops, so I was able to fold the other side of the binding over and run a line of top stitching along it all to finish it off.

And there we go, fairly simple way of creating bunting! I was really quite pleased with the outcome, and you could make the bunting a lot more special by using scraps of fabric, perhaps some personalised birthday bunting with old baby clothes? Or you could create plain bunting and put letters on them to spell out a greeting or a name? The possibilities are plenty, and with a little bit of creativity you can create something very special, and personal!

Cozied Up

And just in time for winter it's finished!

I had started this scarf a while ago when I made one for Mr M, which you can have a look at here, along with the pattern.

I made this one with the yarn that I had leftover from making Mr M's football scarf, and thought I would make one for me, being a WRU supporter I took advantage of the colours being the same!

Now it is finished just in time to snuggle up for the winter, although we do look a little like tweedledee and tweedledum when we are both wearing them, but oh well...

In other news, my friend Slade has a blog called All About That Space, which, as the name suggests, is, all about Space! So if you want to catch up with the goings on in the sky, or just want to have a little read, go check it out.

Nicky's Blanket

Everything has been go, but I have managed to get at least one project done this summer! This is Nicky's knee blanket, it may be slightly larger than a knee blanket, but it will certainly keep him warm.

This blanket I've had to keep quiet about when I was making it, as Nicky didn't want to see it before it was made. I've loved making it, and luckily Nicky loves it too.

The blanket was made from a pattern in a book for a baby blanket. It is a simple granny square blanket and was made by just adding more and more rounds. Instead of using the suggested three balls of yarn, I think I did actually use seven... My plan was to make it bigger then a baby blanket, but didn't really think it would be this big.

I used two balls of dark green, two balls of petrol blue and three balls of the pale green colour. I started the centre of the granny square with the pale green colour.

The colour is swapped every two rounds. The centre was the pale green, I then used the dark green, then another two rounds of the pale green, and then two rounds of the petrol blue. Doing it this way gave it a lovely striped pattern and the pale green made sure that the colours of the other two colours didn't drown each other out. But it does mean you use another balls worth of wool.

So in all I made a blanket big enough for a grown man, out of seven 100g balls of DK wool.

Safe to say I think he really likes it. (And yes I did give it to him in a pub.)

Notebook Cover

It's been a long time since I last posted, and I really can only blame Module 11, it has taken so much work, time and effort, but I am pleased to say I actually passed it! :D

Anyway, I decided to make this little cover for a notebook or a book. I am always one for taking a book away with me, but it is always a little sad when you carefully put you book in your bag, only to take it out and it's managed to worm its way under everything, and bent the pages and now your water bottle has leaked all over it...
Admittedly this cover isn't waterproof but it can protect against most things!

The material I used I got in a fat quarter pack, and I used most of two of those fat quarters.

You need four pieces of material for the case, the width approximately 11 inches and 13 inches in length. I found folding a fat quarter in half along its long edge gave me the 11 inches before trimming the top down to 13 inches.

Two of these pieces will be the outside of the case and the other two will be the inside. Using a material in between the two materials can give the case more protection, but is entirely optional. I used some childs craft felt between my layers. It used two A4 size pieces, with a strip from another piece of felt to make up the width. If you are using felt, place the felt in the portrait position, with the fabric also in that position. There will be a gap between the felt and the top of the fabric, this is okay.

So we have four pieces of fabric and two pieces of padding. I started by laying two of the pieces of fabric right side together, then on top of that, laying one piece of padding. Making sure that the edges of all three pieces are lined up, I then made a seem with a straight stitch down one side, along the bottom and along the other long side, making sure to leave the top open. Then turn it the right way around. That is one side of the case.

I repeated that with the other three pieces of material, and I had two sides done. This is the point when I couldn't decide what fabric I wanted as my lining and what I wanted as the outside. Seeing as I had two halves with one side of each I decided to sew them together so each side was different.

I've got the two sides, and still the top is unsewn. I placed the two pieces right sides together (it doesn't really matter the way I did it, but if you want the inner and outer to be different then do!) and pinned them in place before sewing the two pieces together. Now this step can be done with a sewing machine, but my sides were very thick, and I didn't want to take much away from the space inside the case with seams. So I hand stitched around the outside. Admittedly this did take longer, but I think it was worth it.

Finally with the case mostly done, I just had to finish the top on both sides. I did this by folding the two rough edges inwards, and sewing a straight stitch along the top. Not forgetting to add a ribbon half way along one edge to be able to close the case.

There are a few different ways to secure the case shut, you could add buttons, button holes or loops to hold it shut, but I felt that a ribbon would be able to accommodate different sized books and notebooks that I wanted to put in there.

Also this case isn't just limited to books, it can be used for anything that would fit inside it that you wanted to cover!

I am sorry that I didn't take any step by step photos of how I did it. I can imagine that it could become difficult to follow. I am also aware that there might be an easier way to make this, so feel free to experiment and take away from this any ideas that you might have!!

Happy Making!

Legwarmers!!

They are here at last! The lovely leg warmers I promised.
They were made with double pointed needles and worked in the round, the two I've made are the inverse of each other and where I have started with one colour on one of the leg warmers, I started with the other colour on the other legwarmer. But this pattern is written for a lovely matching pair!

Each leg warmer is 15 inches long. My tension square was 3 3/4 (three and three quarter) inches by 3 3/4 inches, with 20 stitches and 17 rows, kitted in single rib, with DK wool and 3.75mm needles.

The pattern can always be adjusted to suit different sizes, by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches can adjust the size of the legwarmer, and by adding more or less rows can change the length.

The legwarmers themselves are kitted in single rib with DK yarn.
The pattern alternates different coloured yarns, but you can ignore the change of colour and knit a set of legwarmers in one colour, or use a variegated yarn.

Repeat the pattern twice to make two legwarmers.

Needles: 
A = 4 x 3.75mm double pointed needles.
B = 4 x 4mm double pointed needles.
Yarn A - this is the colour you start with.
Yarn B - the second colour you have chosen.

Pattern:
Cast on 60sts on 3 needles (20sts on each needle) with needles A and yarn A.

Place a stitch marker between the first and second stitches, this will indicate when to change colour later on.

Row 1: With the fourth needle and yarn A: (k1, p1) to end of round.

** To begin with you will have three needles in a line, to begin the first row, with the fourth needle, knit with the first needle in your left hand, make sure you pull this stitch tight, and then the three needles will have formed a circle. Having the stitch marker between the first stitch you knit and the second one will help when changing colour.

Row 2: (k1, p1) to the end of the round.

Row 3: k1, change to yarn B, (p1,k1) to the end of the round.

Row 4: (k1,p1) to end of round.

Repeat rows 3 and 4, changing the yarn colour every two rows. (The coloured stripes should be two rows thick, but the very first stripe will be thicker as you have cast on.)

Continue until the work measures 2 inches long, then change to needles B.

Continue with needles B until the work measures 13 inches and change back to needles A for another 2 inches.

Cast off.

Go Vote

Today I voted, did you?

The May local elections are small, but they are important.
When someone has fought for my right to vote, I feel like I should use it.
It's the same for everyone, today is the day for going out and deciding who is worth your vote. There are a huge number of people who don't think their vote will count. Collectively all those people will make a huge amount of difference. If we want a country that is run in a way that represents the people in it, EVERYONE needs to vote.

But today wasn't the big election. The big one is on the 8th on June, so make sure you get registered, get the info, and get down to that polling station and have your say.

No one else is going to do it for you.
Make sure you register by the 22nd of May to vote in the 8th June elections!
Register to vote

In other news, I've been playing around with my Bullet Journal and found a daily spread that I really like! There isn't much doodling and drawing like on some I've seen, (Which are pretty amazing).
This one is fairly simple, with a space for events happening in the day, tasks I need to complete, the weather and what I ate. There is also a large amount of space for notes during the day!

Apart from my journalling I have been working away on some of my makery projects, so hopefully soon there will be some stuff arriving!