St Bees Shawl

Sometimes you just come across the perfect yarn for a pattern - and for me this one ticked all the boxes. I love a half-pi shawl but let's be honest here, those long rows towards the end can be a real motivation killer. 

Nearly 600 stitches per row is a lot of stitches, whichever way you look at it. But it's made much more fun by having a long change colour gradient to entertain you.

I'd seen cakes of this Scheepjes Whirl before but something about this colourway - Green Tea Tipple - really spoke to me. I couldn't put my finger on why until I was looking back through some old holiday photos in Cumbria and I came across a montage I had done of St Bees - a wonderful stretch of coastline where the sea colour can change daily, even hourly, depending on the weather.

I knew it would be perfect in this half-pi shawl and I love the way the colour changes work with the transition of the pattern - from deep grey garter stitch, to light and frothy lace, through to deep teal at the end.

The half-pi shape gives you a really wearable shawl. It sits nicely on the shoulders if you just want a little bit of warmth - I love mine when I’m sat at my desk in the mornings. Or for a bit more drama and drape you can fling one end over your shoulder - a broach pin would help to secure it on windy days.

Either way, it’s a great adaptable shape and if you haven’t tried a half-pi shawl before I urge you to give it a try. There’s minimal counting and only 7 increase rows in the whole thing. For the rest you are either working garter stitch or an easy-to-memorise lace pattern. What’s not to love.

As with all my patterns, clicking the link below takes you to my Payhip store. if you’d like a copy for your Ravelry library please email me at the address at the bottom of your pattern PDF and I will gift you a copy.

A log cabin blanket with a difference

I do love a good traditional log cabin blanket but sometimes it's nice to switch things up a little and I found myself wondering whether I could combine my twin loves of log cabin and mitered squares. 

And it turns out that you can.

The Log Cabin-ish blanket uses a series of blocks constructed in the traditional log cabin style but rather than each round of blocks overlapping at the corners, this leaves the corners free to be joined with little mitered squares.

Using a yarn with colour contrast adds visual interest and makes for something a little bit different.

This blanket is sized to create a small lap-sized or baby blanket (approx 37" square) but it could be easily sized up if you have sufficient yarn. The beauty of log cabin blankets is that you can just keep going until your yarn supply - or patience - is exhausted.

As ever, the pattern is available to buy through my Payhip store at the link below. If you would like a copy for your Ravelry library please just email me at the address in the footer of the pattern and I can sort that out for you.

The joys of seaming (and a sale)

Well, not quite. But at least I got your attention, if only because you thought I might be being held hostage and signalling my plight to you. I know I have certainly waxed lyrical before about the joys of seamless knits, and how, if I had wanted to spend time with a needle I would have taken up sewing.

But, every so often there is a good case for seaming a knit and I hope you’ll bear with me while I elaborate.

It’s quite common for cowls to be knit in the round for many reasons not least because you are creating a tube or loop which will be worn as a tube or loop. It makes sense therefore to avoid the need for a seam and cast on in the round.

Now, this is partly personal preference but I sometimes feel that cowls in the round can feel a little bit like I’m wearing a surgical collar, particularly if the fabric isn’t as drapey as I would like.

I almost always prefer a cowl knit flat and then seamed. Partly because I feel that it tends to give better drape and partly because it makes it really easy to judge how long the cowl is and whether you can get one loop or two loops from your yarn. I’m all about reducing leftovers at the minute and anything that I can stretch to get the most out of a skein of yarn is all to the good.

SELF CARE SALE

As I regard shawl and cowl knitting as a valuable form of self care, and I’m in the mood to spread a little love this week I thought I would have a week-long sale on my shawls and cowl patterns. Just tap the button below and use the code SELFCARE to get 25% off any of my shawl and cowl designs - you may choose as many as you like.

And if you know a friend who is looking for a new project please do feel free to forward the link to them as well, and spread the love a little further.



3 good reasons to upsize your Mitered Square blanket

Traditional, sock yarn mitered square blankets look amazing but they use a distressingly small amount of yarn. As I found to my cost when I made mine. I love it to pieces but it took the best part of two years (off and on) and my sock yarn leftover bag doubled in size while I was knitting it.

At some point I hit on the idea of holding yarn doubled for mitered squares though and I was gratified to see it eat through my stash with some rapidity

  1. Make inroads into your stash. Each square of my monster mitered square blanket uses 50g sock yarn (2 x 25g balls). Enough to make the most robust stash quail.

  2. You get to play with colour. Holding yarns double allows you to play with marled effects much more than you can with conventional squares.

  3. It’s wonderfully squishy. Traditional sock yarn blankets are all well and good but at the end of the day they are just lightweight covers. A blanket made with yarn held double has a lot more weight behind it and is just the thing to have over your knees.

The basics of mitered square knitting have been convered on my blog before - here - but if you would like more detail in a easy to read, more condensed manner I have an ebook available at the link below.


Women hold up half the sky

“Women hold up half the sky” is a quote famously attributed to Mao Zedong. I came across it recently online and it has really resonated with me in the aftermath of my dad’s sudden death.

This pattern is dedicated to all of the strong women in my family.

It's been a difficult time, to say the least but together with the women around me we've got through it with tears, with laughter and with a gentle but indomitable strength.

We’ve looked back through old photos, we’ve remembered happy times together and we have supported each other, unfailingly in our darker moments.

Women everywhere, do indeed hold us up.

This cowl is knit in some glorious yarn from Black Stag Yarn & Fibre in a colourway called ‘Hat full of sky’ - a wonderful Terry Pratchett reference.

As soon as I saw it I knew it had to be something sky/star related and I hit upon this star stitch pattern, which I think looks fantastic spaced out across the stocking stitch background - like stars in the night sky.

The cowl is knit flat from a provisional cast on and grafted closed at the end. As I like my cowls quite snug there was a generous 40g yarn leftover from this one - probably enough for a short pair of fingerless mitts - but if you prefer something with more drape simply keep knitting until you’ve achieved the circumference you are looking for.

If you subscribe to my newsletter, please check your inbox as there should be a little discount code waiting for you there.

Sometimes it's good to go back

“Never say never” was one of my Nana’s well-used sayings and, as so often, she has proven to be right. When I closed the doors to the Everyday Knitter Facebook group, almost 2 years ago, the phrase “never again” may have crossed my lips. It was an action largely borne of frustration and pandemic-induced overwhelm. Everything felt too big, too loud, just too much.

The much smaller Mighty Network group in comparison felt a whole lot more achievable, calmer. In short I felt more in control of it. And back then, control over external things was very much in short supply.

Obviously a lot has changed in 2 years - for all of us - and that’s definitely a blog post for another day. But one things that has changed is the set-up of Facebook groups - specifically the moderating tools that are now available and a number of automated systems designed to reduce the need for admin interventions.

I used to be a member of an official Facebook Admin group, and it looks as though a lot of the things we were crying out for back then have actually been implemented - which makes a refreshing change.

In addition to this I think it would be fair to say that I have experienced a few issues with the Mighty Network group in terms of it’s set-up and relative inflexibility in some areas. For a small group it works well, and for a larger group with integral courses and multiple teams it probably also works well, I’ve certainly seen it working well for others. But for me, for the size of my group and my team (ie me - solo) it doesn’t seem to work as well. And I’m not convinced that spending time, and money, in trying to make it so would necessarily be the best use of my time.

That’s not to say that the Mighty Network group is going away. There is a definite place for those amongst use who prefer a Facebook-free environment, and the group will continue in it’s present form, but I just won’t be developing any new things there for the foreseeable future

So, here we are. It seems as though I’ve gone full circle. I’ve now opened up the doors of the Everyday Knitter Facebook group and am once again standing on the doorstep, ready to welcome you with coffee, cake and a bit of knitting chat.

I hope you’ll decide to pop back in - we have a lot of catching up to do.