Cowl

Super cosy

I decided it was time to get my needles together for some extra warmth for my Latvia trip.

I have tons of the rusty coloured chunky wool I bought from a charity shop last year.

It's knitted on circular needles too so once you've finished knitting, it's basically ready to wear straight away. 

You can get the pattern for free from Ravelry here

caged crochet

I want one

 [Natural History Museum]

 Each one is 9 metres long

Look at those eyes...

 

All the info here

Making PomPoms

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How To:

1:
Cut out two cardboard circles the same size as you want your pompoms to be and cut a circle out of the middle of them too

2:
Place them back to back and thread your yarn through the centre and begin to wrap it around the circles (I thread my wool onto a darning needle as I find it easier - especially if you are making smaller pompoms like I was - these ones are 1.5")

3:
Keep going until you can't see anymore cardboard - the more yarn you wrap around, the fuller the pompoms will be

4:
Carefully slip some scissors along the edge of the flat pompom and cut the yarn all the way around

5:
Taking a seperate length of yarn, slip it in between the two cardboard discs and tie it really securely around the centre of the pompom (this is what will hold all the threads in place)

6:
 Carefully cut the cardboard discs off the pompom, fluff it up and trim any excess lengths of yarn.

Then make more!

Super Cosy Aran

Made from the mega-size ball of aran yarn I bought at the Creative Stitch & Craft Show last month.

 

Cables + chunky bobbles + soft acrylic yarn = super cosy

Photos of the knitting of:

 Beginning with a K1 P1 rib, stitch markers are then placed to keep track of where the cable pattern is placed and where the bobbles lie.

 After the first pattern repeat, the rest of the legwarmer is knitted in needles one size up.

 Knitted using flat needles, then a reverse mattress stitch to sew up once they are completed.

 I wore them out and about today and they are sooo good.  Been wanting to knit these for ages now, just been waiting to find the right yarn.

The pattern is called Luscious Legwarmers; another from Knitted Sock Sensations.

On Ravelry here!

... And the ball of wool is still huge!

(James C. Brett Aran Tweed)

 Matching gloves & hat, perhaps???

This yarn is sooo ace, it's 100% acrylic but really doesn't feel like it, it's so soft! A great discovery and definitely one I reccommend to vegan and other knitters alike.

The Big Ball of Wool...

... Has been unleashed!

I couldn't wait to start on it... It was like the Hulk busting out of his Bruce Banner attire - ripping the ball band off! Well, sorta...

 It's almost a foot long (11") and it's circumference is 22"!

 Those are the measurements after I'd knitted this rib;

which is the beginnings of the Luscious Legwarmers - another from Knitted Sock Sensations I've been eager to get started on.  Yes, I did buy this wool yesterday and yes, I did start knitting this last night...

This aran tweed is perfect! The 400g ball will be plenty, so there's room for some matching mittens too, perhaps.  This is James C. Brett Rustic Aran Tweed, by the way!

Stitch & Craft London

Today was a day well spent. 

I was at the Stitch & Craft Show in London Olympia with the Craft Club. 

Although I didn't get to teach the joy of knitting to any newcomers; I did teach a lot of current knitters how to knit in the round, make socks and knitted chains!

I took one of my WIP (works in progress) along with me, which today happened to be a string of wooly links I have had on the go since December.  It got a lot of attention from the punters; I'll get some proper photos of it once the ends are tied in and it ceases to resemble an ill-looking sea creature...

For me one of the highlights from the show was the impressive quilt exhibition; covering half of the upstairs level. 

I took a fair few photos in this maze of quilted wonder.  It's never been an area of craft that has grabbed my attention; however some were just so wonderful it really was worth checking out! I'll post them up in a later blog, as there are quite a few...

On top of all the wonderful yarn, craft, bead & stationary stands there was also Mr X Stitch who I have spoken to at a previous knitting show and is a lovely guy - you HAVE to check out his GRAFFITI CROSS STITCHING! It is immense.

Not to mention the cute knitted village, the best in show knitted dogs stand & the astounding knits mega size knitting genius!

Ah yes - and then I couldn't resist a few bargains...

 Check out how big this ball of wool is! It's almost twice the size of my (modest - honest!) head...

I also grabbed a 100g ball of King Cole nylon blend sock yarn.  The purple/green/blue variation called out to me - plus it will be more durable so no more darning worn-through sock heels hopefully :)

Oh and then I couldn't say no to two 100g balls of Marble DK - it's 100% acrylic but I was really surprised to find that out when I felt it - such good quality! All of the above came to under £20 - total bargains!

That includes my massive ball of wool...

I was also rather delighted to make some new knitty friends, catch up with some old knitty friends and receive lots of kind compliments on my Cloud sweater!

Roll on the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally!

Clouds... My First Knitted Sweater

I have finally gotten round to knitting my first ever jumper:

It was great fun; really quick to knit as the stitch pattern is quite loose.

I used Debbie Bliss angel yarn which is a blend of kid mohair and silk and it feels so wonderful!

For the cuffs I knitted with an organic 100% wool dk yarn; all of which I treated myself to from Loop Knitting in Islington. 

The pattern is from this fantastic book I got given second hand.  Seriously worth checking out!

(If you click on the pic it'll take you to it's Amazon page).

There's some great patterns in there and I've already got my yarn lined up for the next one from it...

A Little Knitting Treasure

A charming little box a dear friend of mine spied in a charity shop recently and was so kind as to purchase it for your's truely...

 It's 17" long and the lid is a tad on the snug side, but does slide out...

 You can forgive this slight quirk though, as it does display a lovely wool and needles print

 and then opens up to a handful of odds and sods of knitting sticks

 My favourite of which are these 'Poppy', 'Queen Bee' and anodized blue ones.

 Although not all of the needles are in pairs, I think they look perfect in this box.

What a brilliant find!

The Big Knit 2011

As some of you may be aware, those lovely people at Innocent Smoothies hold a little known event every year called The Big Knit.  Knitters from all over the country get their needles going to make little wooly hats for Innocent's smoothie bottles.  These are sold throughout shops and 25p from each be-hatted bottle sold is donated to Age UK.  Brilliant!

So I've been putting my stash and wooly oddments to use and knitted up a few myself...

I think they could do with some bobbles though...

These little guys are around 1.5 inches high; guess I'd better brush up on my minature-pom-pom-making skills!

Charity Shop 'Cat' Wool

I popped over to my local Salvation Army charity shop today and managed to bag myself 5 (100g) balls of this beautiful, chunky, rusty brown wool for only £4 - that's 80p a ball!

For some reason I only took half of what the shop had... I will return tomorrow and right this wrong of mine as I know I need it all. Seriously.

The wool is called 'Lana Gatto' and it has THE BEST BALLBAND EVER! Check out the crazed cat (I wondered for a minute what type of yarn it was when I saw that). It's obviously an Italian brand, however the lambswool content is English,(well, 'Old English' to quote the label) and is combined with acrylic, 50/50, so the best of both worlds (warmth + washable woolies). I would love to know what this label/name is all about!

Unfortunately my photographs are not doing the colour of this wool justice, but when some new knits are made of it I will of course post them up for all to see. I'm extremely happy with my new stash, I'm thinking up a nice knitted rusty jumper. I hope the cat approves...

Winding-Up For The Weekend

I've had this lovely little 'Empisal Knitmaster' winder for a few months now and have been itching for an excuse to give it a go. The ideal opportunity presented itself just last night as that skein which has been sitting scrambled in a bag just needed to be knitted up for my next project (I'm sure there's one in everyone's yarn stash, right?)

This is such a cute and nifty little gadget; if it wasn't for the fact that my yarn had turned into the spaghetti monster then it makes transferring skeins/balls of wool into nice cones of yarns to use on your knitting machine (or just so you can used them in my case here!)

Commencing the winding mission:

It just clamps onto your table, the yarn is thread through the feeder and onto a conical bobbin, then you turn the handle and wind away! It wasn't quite so speedy for me as I had a huge tangle to unpick as I went along...

Pausing to take photographic evidence of my battle as I was getting wound up with the monster winding:

...About an hour later and....

Wound!

Lovely! Yarn perfection.

Anything with 'knitmaster' in it's name is always going to be a winner!

This lovely little wonder was very kindly given to me by a lady I met at a Knitting & Stitching show a while ago, along with her amazing Brother KH 881 knitting machine, a fantastic collection of knitting books and lots of other accessories! So again, I'd like to just say many thanks to Pam!

Circular Knitting: Attempt no. 1

So, Easter bank holiday, four sunny days ahead of me, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and have a bash at knitting a top in the round.

I found a dead easy (and free!) pattern on Ravelry, for a minimalist mohair top (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mohair-minimalist-top) thanks very much to Anna Kuduja for sharing!

Being in the current state of working through my yarn stash, I dived in, grabbed yarn at random as each ball got knitted up and this was the end result:

Remind you of something a little girl would wear? Yes. Me too. Never mind though, at least it fits a grown one! I even increased stitches as the top reached my hips, so it stays with my shape perfectly. It's just a bit of a shame about the colour choice, still, that's what you get for being too eager sometimes and I have since unraveled the top and am currently re-knitting into something a little more 'my age'.... well, maybe....

A few words on new knits and bits

It has been a small while now since my last blog; not to mention any major website update. I have been busy with many things; include a change of residence and set up of a new creative studio space.

Most importantly, however, is that I have been busy working on many new creations; knitting has taken the reigns on my work and the variety of textile surfaces are beginning to form a satisfying mix. Obviously I am still working with recycled materials and have revisted past techniques to include wire, linens, hemp, bamboo, acyrlic and natural wool and even a flast of recycled French lace.

A sneak of a these will be posted shortly, then during the next few months will begin to appear on my website.

Keep peaking back!

Hand Knitted Bags For Your Treasures

Bags to stash your mobiles, cameras, MP3s & any other treasures you choose, hand knitted by myself, giving a use to all my odds & ends of yarn from knitting projects of yonder!

Now available on my website

www.laurbaxendale.co.uk

Knitted Treasure Bags

Further additions to the gift bag range; here are my first three knitted bags, intened for phones, cameras, MP3 players, treasures, playing cards, mula, gifts, trinkets and all that jazz!

Knitted from all those little bits of yarn still hanging around from the winter's hats & socks projects. These will be available for purchase from my market stall, with more designs and sizes soon to follow!

Only £6.00 each!

Multicoloured hand dyed purpley merino wool from wales, with recycled lilac and wooden bead drawstring fastening.

Green and black striped bag, ribbed merino wool pattern with elasticated top.

Green & purple alpaca, with plastic diamonte button and loop fastening.