Success!

At last I've knitted something I not only like but can actually wear.  Something with practical use!  Isn't the colour just glorious?  It's Sirdar Escape Chunky (Shade 0197 - I can't remember the proper name for it!) which I got on sale.  It was a spontaneous purchase, completely unplanned.  I then glanced through my knitting magazines and discovered a simple cardigan pattern for a chunky wool.  It's supposed to have a fur collar, which was the main feature, not really my thing, but the plain garter stitch collar I thought worked out really well.  It's warm without being too thick, just right for the wildly random London spring weather.

It looks particularly fantastic closed with a shawl pin I got free from a copy of Simply Knitting.  At the time, I didn't like the colour much as it isn't a colour I wear, nor did it match anything, but by chance, it looks fantastic with this cardigan!  

Details:  Pattern is from Simply Knitting Issue 89.

Things I would have done differently:  the hem.  You're supposed to cast on with the thumb method but I have no idea what that is.  I presume it gives a neater edge?  Whatever, without a rib, it naturally curled up several inches.  I blocked it carefully with damp cloths and about ten thousand pins but it began to curl up again.  Realising this was going to be a problem (AFTER I'd finished the back and front sections), I decided to do a proper sew-up hem for the sleeves which was also a mistake.  Too chunky!  What I should have done was just knit the first row into the back of the stitch.  I'd forgotten about this!  It produces a neat edge and might even have prevented all the rolling up it does.  

No matter.  The delicious colours and practicality make up for any errors!

I've got a letter and pic in Simply Knitting!

My coffee and Kindle covers have been published in Simply Knitting magazine!
Always a thrill!!!

Tangerine Dream

Isn't it lovely when you find success after total failure?!!  After trying on my new cardi and discovering it was, well, bloody awful, I went off and did what I was supposed to do:  I sewed on the buttons and I laid it out flat on a towel, pinned it into shape (though there wasn't much shape to it) and covered it with a damp cloth.  I've never done any blocking before....too much bother in my book.  Golly, WHAT a difference.  I mean, the cardi looks exactly the same but somehow it just seems to hang better.  The hem is flatter and even the set-in armhole looks smoother.
Sigh....WHAT a relief.  So I'm not a total knitting write-off after all.

Isn't the colour lovely?!

That strange white fleck you see was in the yarn itself.  I thought it looked rather interesting!  The beautiful crochet blanket you see is on my bed and is a work of art created by my mother when I was in my late teens, so I've had it a while!  Many years later when I asked her how to crochet granny squares she said she'd forgotten!  What a shame - I would so love to be able to crochet a granny square blanket for my daughter.
And yes, the third button is different.  I didn't have a third one but since it's in a different position, I hoped the Button Police wouldn't mind!!

Tangerine Big Softie

As projects go, this one went quite easily, despite the fact that I decided to knit a bigger size AFTER I'd finished the back.  Studying the pattern picture closely, I realised it wasn't going to have enough swing and I didn't want yet another knitted item that felt too tight under the armpits (despite knitting the right size!)  So I had to pull out the back and start again.  I also made the ribs a little deeper which meant, of course, that I ran out of wool just before the end!

Fortunately, when I ordered two more balls from The Black Sheep, I could actually specify which dye lot I wanted, an unexpected service!  So I didn't have to worry about the shades not matching.  I actually finished it this weekend.  Spent hours and hours sewing it up, probably longer than I spent actually knitting the thing.  I then cried after I tried it on because it doesn't look very nice.  The sleeve seams kind of fall down my upper arm a bit (you think it might be too big?) and somehow it just looks like, well, something someone knitted, and not very well, with rather cheap wool.

I'm not entirely sure why I bother.  Do you think if I called myself "The Good Knitter" I'd be better at it?

Coffee and Cosy

Which one shall I send to Simply Knitting?!

Cafetiere Cosy

My Cafetiere cost is all done - wonderfully easy!  I used DK from my stash (hidden in the big wooden box).  Cast on 30 stitches and it fit my mini cafetiere perfectly.  I hemmed the ends and used Swiss darning down the sides to keep the piece flat.  More roses and leaves to decorate the middle plus another heart button and it matches the Kindle cover nicely!

Keeps my coffee warm and cosy!

The completed item!

Back

I sewed a lining to the back to keep the knitting firm and prevent it from stretching out of shape.  

Remind me to take a picture of both the cosy and Kindle cover together!!

Kindle Cover

I've finished the Kindle cover which was relatively easy, except for one hassle:  I grafted the bottom end with Kitchener stitch to make it look smooth and professional (I liked the way it looked on the hottie bottie cover I made) EXCEPT I misread the instructions and sewed it up with the RIGHT sides together, just as if one was sewing.  Oops.  It has to be done with the WRONG sides together!!  Much unpicking and swearing.  And unpicking Kitchener stitch is not the easiest in the world.  I ended up reknitting one row but in the end, it was worth it.  There's no real "pattern":  I used DK oddments, about 30 stitches.  I did a proper hem at the top which is simplicity itself:

HEM:  Cast on.  Knit 5 rows stocking stitch starting with a knit row.  Sixth row:  knit.  Then k/p/k/p/k the next five rows (i.e. stocking stitch).  That extra knit row is where you fold over the piece and forms the edge.  On the inside of the work, sew in the hem.  Nice, neat edge!

The flower pattern I found on a knitting calendar (!) and suit the cover as they are very small.  The roses I've knitted before (and other flowers) are all MUCH bigger and might have overwhelmed so small an item.  The leaf should have been bigger but I ran out of wool so had to finish it off rather quickly!  The heart button was free in a pack of six with the last issue of "Simply Knitting" (Feb).

Kindle Cover with roses

Back

Lined with pretty, matching cotton fabric to protect screen from woolly cover!