Rowan Mystery Afghan Knit-along 2

Started yesterday when the first pattern was posted.  I've completed the first three squares in the first colour. This is the first one that I completed

It was only roughly blocked so it is not quite square yet.  It is knitting roughly to size, but others are having quite a few problems with this, so I think I am quite lucky that my tension seems to be working quite well.   I am finding it is just over 20cm square and slightly wider than it is long, but this can be sorted when it is properly blocked.  So far, so good.

Rowan Mystery Afghan KAL

The colour inspiration for the Rowan Mystery Afghan Knitalong came from a chocolate fish my friend gave me for Christmas.   I ordered the yarn two days ago and it arrived today from Loveknitting.com; it was beautifully packaged in net bags.

The first pattern for the kal will be issued on 21 April.  Have to be patient until then!
Correction:

First pattern will be published on 17th April!

Good Old Granny

A friend was requesting small items to donate to the premature baby unit, so I made this small, granny squares blanket with yarn from my stash.  It was very quick to make and an ideal size for a small baby crib or baby carrier. 

The construction is fairly obvious from the photo showing detailed stitches.  Each square was about 10cm2. The final row of each square was attached to the next square with a single crochet between the shells.  The blanket was finished by crocheting four rows of trebles, one row in each of the colours and finishing with picot edging evenly around the whole blanket.

Brioche Knitting Experiments

I've been learning a new technique - brioche knitting, it's quite exciting giving myself this challenge.  It seems that this technique is particularly suitable for warm garments as it, effectively, produces a double layered fabric, trapping an insulating layer of air between the layers.  I have bought myself a book on the subject so that I can learn even more variations: Knitting Brioche: The Essential Guide to the Brioche Stitch technique by Nancy Marchant.  The photographs in this are excellent and will be helpful to follow how the stitches are made. 
The actual stitches are straightforward and any reasonable knitter would be able to make a simple garment in a single colour; however, it is the introduction of other colours that makes this fascinating.  It seems that colours can move across the surface, change from one surface to the other, cables and interesting increases and decreases for shaping garments can also be made, there even seems to be a way of knitting brioche lace. 

So far I've only attempted the simplest of the stitches which is brioche ribbing with which I've made a neck warmer in a single colour. 

Brioche Colarette

Also, I have now finished a two colour, syncopated brioche scarf. Syncopation entails changing the colour that appears on one side to the other. Different patterns can be achieved by this means and is explained very clearly in Nancy Marchant's book. Having said that it is clear, the notation is slightly different from a normal knitting pattern but relatively easily understandable.

 


Two Colour, Syncopated Brioche Scarf




Syncopation




My Model Husband!


There are quite good websites to go to learn how to do brioche knitting or a site where you can see brioche being knitted, Verdigris knits.

I've enjoyed this excersize and will try to knit some swatches of other stitches to see how they work out.  Watch this space!

Bits and pieces

I've made a few things recently using bits and pieces of wool left over from other projects.  Some of these experiments grew into a finished article as seen in this group.

 This headband was knitted in Cashmerino and the flower was crocheted and placed over the seam.

Headband in Cashmerino

Crochet flower detail

The colarette is in superwash DK and was knitted in a fillet lace pattern with moss stitch ends with a button hole made in one end.  The button was crocheted and applied to the other end.



Fillet lace stitch detail









This Shawlette was knitted in Snuggly DK and is very soft.  I improvised the stitches as I went along and finally decided on (what I think of as ) tortoise stitch going left and right from the central two stocking stitches.  The triangle is made by increasing at each end of every knit row. The first and last two stitches of every row are knit.  every alternate row is a purl row.  The pattern is on every other knit row.  The pattern wasn't established at the beginning but I quite liked the lacy pattern at so I didn't rip it back, even though it went a little askew.

Lacy Shawlette



 

Lacy Shawlette, tortoise stitch detail

I've knitted a couple more collars as these were very useful in this very cold weather.  I'll post the others soon.  Unfortunately there are no patterns for these knits as I made them up as I went along,  However, they would be quite easy to reproduce if needed. 

Lacy Cowl

When I subscribed to Rowan wools Magazine for one year it proved to be a great bargain as the joining fee cost less than the four magazines and the 6 balls of Rowan pure wool 4ply and the free patterns for two scarves that I received.  It took me a long tome to get around to knitting the free wool but eventually this was the result.  I didn't finish the scarf off as required by the pattern but I grafted the two ends together to form a circular scarf with no seam.

Isla's Blanket

We've had a new addition to our family:  Isla Belle born three weeks ago.  As has now become a tradition in the family, I knit each new baby its own little blanket.  (in fairness it hasn't always been knitted).  This was a pattern I gleaned from the internet published by Kraemer Yarns.  The pattern is called Lots of Love - Grandma's Afghan by Nancy Harper.  It was very easy and quick to knit using some of my stash: Sirdar Snuggly DK