Work in progress

This will be the last post on this blog. As I want to explore new ventures, I'm taking a break from blogging. Of course I keep knitting and designing and my shops on Etsy and Ravelry stay open.

This scarf to be for example will soon be in my Etsy shop, just like the pattern will be on Ravelry. I hope you keep enjoying my free patterns and posts and if you like to comment, you still can. Enjoy and keep crafting!

Hello, goodbye

Last week we said goodbye to our three chicks. It didn't work out, regrettably, after all the work we spent on the coop. With sadness and relief we handed the birds over to a lady not far from here with more chickens, rabbits and a good grass court.

To console my daugther I made a little picture book for her filled with photos of our chickens. And I knitted this little chick in remembrance. The pattern is available in Dutch on Blij-dat-ik-brei. It was some experience.

Gratis breipatroon voor een snood - adventkalender dag 13

I'm participating in a Dutch blog hop. Please find the English version of this post below.

Samenspinsels, een groep Nederlandse bloggers, houdt deze maand tot kerst een 'blog hop'. Via de adventkalender hier rechts hop je van blog naar blog waar je iedere dag gratis een creatieve verrassing vindt. Vandaag is het mijn beurt en ik geef het volgende breipatroon weg voor een lekkere warme snood die je door de bijzondere knoopsluiting op diverse manieren kunt dragen.

Have fun!

Breipatroon voor een col / sjaal / snood met knopen

Afkortingen:
nld. = naald(en)
kst. = kantsteek
r. = recht
av. = averecht

Materiaal: 250 g. (300 m.) breigaren, nld. 7, vier knopen, naaigaren
Stekenproef in dubbele gerstekorrel: circa 15 st. op 10 cm.
Afmetingen: 147 bij 24 cm.

Kantsteek: Neem de eerste steek van iedere naald op zonder deze te breien. Neem hem r. op als de laatste st. van de voorgaande nld. av. was (insteken en af laten gaan). Neem hem av. op als de laatste st. van de voorgaande nld. r. was (nld. onder de draad door av. insteken, af laten gaan en dan de draad achter het werk brengen).

Patroon

Let op: lees voordat je begint het patroon eerst helemaal door.

Zet 38 st. op en brei als volgt in dubbele gerstekorrel.
Nld. 1: kst., * 1 r., 1 av., herhaal vanaf *
Nld. 2: kst., * 1 av., 1 r., herhaal vanaf *
Nld. 3: kst., * 1 av., 1 r., herhaal vanaf *
Nld. 4: kst., * 1 r., 1 av., herhaal vanaf *
Deze vier naalden telkens herhalen.

Maak knoopsgaten als volgt:
Nld. 5: 3 st. breien, 2 st. afkanten, * 8 st. breien en 2 st. afkanten, herhaal vanaf * en eindig met 3 st. breien.
Nld. 6: 3 st. breien, 2 st. opzetten, * 8 st. breien en 2 st. opzetten, herhaal vanaf * en eindig met 3 st. breien.
Nld. 17: 3 st. breien, 2 st. afkanten en de rest breien.
Nld. 18: boven de afgekante steken weer 2 st. opzetten.
Nld. 29: 3 st. breien, 2 st. afkanten en de rest breien.
Nld. 30: boven de afgekante steken weer 2 st. opzetten.
Nld. 41: 3 st. breien, 2 st. afkanten en de rest breien.
Nld. 42: boven de afgekante steken weer 2 st. opzetten.

Kant af bij een totale lengte van 147 cm.

Afwerken: Hecht draden af, doordrenk de sjaal met water en leg plat en in vorm neer om te drogen. Zet de knopen aan met naaigaren langs de korte kant zonder knoopsgaten.

Wil je de kalender trouwens verder delen? Neem dan de code over die achter de link 'Get the code here' onder de kalender staat. Vinden wij leuk.

And now in English:

Samenspinsels is a group of Dutch bloggers that's having a blog hop this month until Christmas. Via the advent calender on the right you hop from blog to blog, finding a creative freebie every day. Today is my turn and I'm giving away a knitting pattern for a buttoned snood that you can wear in different ways. For the English version see my section with free patterns on the right. Enjoy!

Free pattern and several new listings

For a long time I had a stack of finished work that I wanted add to my shops and blog. Yesterday and today I finally came round to do it.

One of the things I added to this blog is a new free knitting pattern. It's for a pair of wrist warmers, which I made of pure angora. It only requires knitting, purling and being able to knit in the round.

I updated my Ravelry store and in my Etsy shop I added knitwear and also four sewn items. This lavender filled butterfly pillow is one of them. And these three faux fur pouches below.

Listing summer scarfs in August is a bit late, but I'm happy I finally found the time. Or did I create time? Anyway, it's back to some serious work now.

Knit and purl treasures in Vogue stitchionary

I love what you can do by just knitting and purling, as you can see from some of my patterns. To find out more I bought Volume one of the Vogue knitting stitchionary and I'm amazed.

It contains over 250 stitch patterns. My first project based on this stitchionary involves the heringbone linen stitch. I made this pencil pouch with less than one skein of vintage yarn.

The flower I got from freubelweb.nl. It's a free crochet pattern by Ellebel. I made it with five different bits of leftovers and I love how the multicolored yarns bring life to the flower.

 

A number of stitch patterns from this stitchionary are on vogueknitting.com. Some really pretty ones too. Me, I'm looking out for a new edition of Vogue knitting stitchionary 5: lace knitting.

Happy Easter egg cozies

A while ago I purchased ten leftover skeins of a mix of cotton and linen. The other day I noticed some very cute egg cozies. I imagined it would be a perfect use for this yarn.

I figured out a pattern and with Easter coming up next week and the extremely cold weather we're having at the moment, this is what I made this weekend.

Every egg cozy is from another skein. With a small household I don't need this many myself, but they'll be great to give away as a present too.

Happy Easter!

Free pattern for infinity scarf

What to do with a single skein of pink mohair? Its length is limited. Luckily I had a stash of similar red yarn. Adding 1 + 3 together turned out great into this partly striped and partly solid loop scarf. The colors show differently every time, depending on how you put it on.

It's designed in double moss stitch on needles that are half a size too large. This gives the scarf a rather bulky look, which makes a nice contrast with the fuzzyness of the mohair yarn. If you want to make one similar, the pattern is available here for free.

You'll find it under 'infinity scarf' / 'eindeloze sjaal' under free patterns at the top of this page. Will you add a photo of your finished scarf to this blog? I'd love to see how it works out in different colors and other materials. Have fun.

Knitting two scarfs in one

I had been trying and testing to make a scarf with beautifully handspun yarn of Colorcrazefiber on Etsy. Then I found the solution at the Purl bee with a mix of woven stitch and linen stitch.

I love the striped pattern: delicate and horizontal on one side of the scarf and deeper vertical ridges on the other. It's outspoken in pewter and ivory. Mine is more subtle and because the handspun yarn is not sufficient, I chose to add two colors to it. (I'll start using blue later on.)

I'm also giving it my own signature with some extra patches along the way, like a twist in sides as you see below and another eye catching stripe. I'm designing it as I go and it's fun to knit - knitting every other stitch with seperate yarns it's like knitting two scarfs into one another.

Keep an eye on my Etsy shop to see the final result :)

Try the linnen stitch

The internet is a great source of info. In the past few years I have learned so much more about knitting. At the moment I'm trying some new stitches I discovered.

Take the linen stitch. I'd never heard of it and wonder if this stitch even exists in Dutch. I tried it and find it very suitable for the kind of pouch I made earlier. It makes a sturdy and strong patch.

I added the pattern for another pouch to the section with free patterns above. Hope some Dutchies will try it and share my joy.

Another easy and free pattern

My daughter's cowl had gotten baggy, but the yarn is still beautiful. Why not take the knitting apart and make something new? I lost my pencil case some time ago, so that's what it is. Completely made by hand, even the attachment of the zipper.

Would you like to make this easy little pencil pouch too? Take a look at my section with free pattern above on the right. It's in English and in Dutch. Have fun!

Keeping cozy

"Can I have a box to protect my apple? There is soil and sand in my schoolbag that I can't get rid of and every day I have to wash my apple before I can eat it." I found a better solution.

Fleurtje Eliza shares a free pattern for this cute apple cozy on Ravelry: 'you better beleaf it'.

With some scraps of cotton in apple-ish colors I made one. We call it 'appelsokje'.

Geometry knitting in the kitchen

I just published a new knitting pattern. Three in fact, for pure cotton kitchen towels. One has the traditional squares, the other has mirrored triangles and the last one has a circle pattern.

They're easy to make: just knitting and purling and no shaping at all. I designed them to have some knitting to carry along with me when I went on vacation.

They're available in my Etsy store and on Ravelry.

Terry towels and a tennis-ball

A new pair of handknitted and machine felted slippers for my nephew's eigth birthday.

He had outgrown his first pair. But it had been so long since I made them that I didn't remember the exact how to. Felting went wrong: they first ended up too large and then way too small.

Then I remembered I used to machine wash them once, on a regular program together with some large terry towels and a tennis ball. This rubs the slippers and the heat and the soap do the rest.

Inspiration for lace lovers

Lace knitting is a beautiful book by Lynne Watterson. It's got wonderful projects and is very detailed and clear on techniques and instructions. It was published last year and so was its Dutch translation Kantbreien.

It's a pity the translator seems unfamiliar with knitting and it's even funny when pompons are called 'pompoenen' (pumpkins). All the same I recommend this book. It is pretty, well structured, and worked out very clearly. It's an inspiration for anyone who loves lace.

New section with free patterns

Have I pointed out my new section with free knitting patterns? They're in English and in Dutch. Keep an eye on the top right of this weblog.

   

Last Sunday I added a pattern for two cell phone sleeves, one with a flap and one with a bright colored edge. They are stretchy and will fit most phones. The length is easily adjustable.

   

Earlier on I listed the patterns for four different potholders. This is really a beginners project, ranging from super easy to a little challenge.

Enjoy!

Just a knit and a purl - tutorial for easy knitting

Easy knitting: just a knit and a purl and not too big a project. That’s what I aimed at designing these four different patterns for potholders. It's a project for beginners. By using double yarn however it looks quite advanced.

The four patterns vary from super easy to a challenge for beginning knitters. What you need is three skeins of cotton in different colors, knitting needles 4.5 (US 7) and a crochet needle 4 (US G/6, UK 8). The pattern is available in English and in Dutch - see Free patterns on the right.

You can choose to make all four different potholders or stick to one and the same pattern. Also you can mix the colors according to the given pattern or give it your own personal signature.

The knitting is easy, the result quite impressive and you can give it your own twist. Have fun and show me some pictures when you’re done :)

Ultrafine needlework from Hungary

One striking stall at craft fair Hip and Handgemaakt in Deventer last week was Hungarian based Ribisli. With ultrafine yarn and needles they knit, crochet and embroider the most delicate items.

These crochet pebbles caught my attention and I asked the size of the needle. "Eighty", the lady said. It takes a day to make one and each one is adapted to the size of the pebble.

Then I saw these knitted towels with crochet borders. They're made of hemp and dry quickly after use. They're thin but very sustainable - according to the lady they last decades.

Also very pretty were these starched stars. You can hang them against a window to see the light fall through or you can sew them on a dress, purse or pillow as decoration.

Photos on the website show how delicate this work is. Ribisli's aim is to help female needlework regain its old-time social recognition and a fresh place in our modern living. I'm impressed.

Think big, knit XXL

Scarves, mittens, socks and jumpers. A cozy for your teapot and another one for your eggs. A bag and a toy and perhaps a bookmark. Who thinks knitting is limited to that however should think again. Here are some designers who knit and think big.

There's a beautiful portrait on Etsy of Lynn Garrett of Bisquit Scout. Starting with a cover for her washing machine Lynn developed a fancy for contemporary knitting in a chunky Aran way. This cream armchair cover is one of her designs. It's knitted by her two hands completely.

Other examples of chunky designs are: the Urchin Pouf by Christien Meindertsma, the Granny Pendant Lamp by Casamania, and the Dune Carpet was designed last year by Chloé Pouzoulet.

Do you want to give XXL knitting a go? Wernkinck Wolvilt sells the yarn and knitting needles number 20 (US 35) are available at Jan de grote Kleinvakman.