Little Cotton Rabbits

Lurgies and Fair Isle

Just as we were starting to settle gradually back into term time routines Toby has come down with a mystery virus. He's not in a bad way (just his usual high temperature and lethargy) but having him at home for a couple of extra days has scuppered my plans to get organised and start working on the next animal pattern. So instead of pattern knitting (which requires stitch by stitch concentration and lots of note scribbling) I have been indulging my current Fair-Isle obsession (born from working on those bunny jumpers a few weeks back).

 

 

A sampler-style pair of simple tube wrist-warmers seemed like a good idea and I've cast on 66 stitches with 2.5mm needles and just gone with the flow. Over the years I've collected loads of traditional Fair Isle border patterns and have just randomly combined some of these in layers. I'm quite pleased with how the colours are working together (though I have frogged back a couple of times when colours didn't work out).

 

 

The ten yarns I'm using are a mix of Spindrift from Jamieson's and 2ply jumper weight from Jamieson & Smith - both 2ply Shetland wool yarns in a wonderful selection of colours (later on I'll try and find the ball bands and post the colours I used on Ravelry for anyone who is interested)

 

 

It seems like a good time to be working on wrist-warmers (which I wear constantly throughout winter) as the days are now feeling Autumny. There's a cooler, later start to the mornings and with dusk creeping in a little earlier each day there's the feeling that daylight is being nibbled away at each end. The trees don't yet have their full autumn colour but their greens now look tired and ready to turn and I'm looking forward to lots of lovely walks in the woods as Autumn is the season when they look their most splendid.

The beginning of September holds a little anniversary for me as it's when I first started blogging (on Sept 3rd 2006) and I'm now entering my 9th year of blogging. I usually have a little giveaway to celebrate this anniversary but I'm a little off-schedule so it will be coming up later in the month.

Right, I'm off to see if Toby has his appetite back yet, he's currently sprawled on the sofa behind me watching Cbeebies. I think I'll try the Custard Cream test to see if he's feeling better - if he grabs a handful of them then I know he'll be OK to go to school tomorrow!

 

an at home holiday (part 1)

As you might have noticed if you visit with me often, I do rather a lot of knitting but sewing is never part of my days and in truth is something that I find slightly scary. I've never felt that I was much good at it - probably thanks to the disparaging comments of my teacher about the skirt that I made in needlework class (though they were not undeserved - it was an awful skirt and was never worn). I do envy those of you who can effortlessly whip up new outfits from beautiful and unusual fabrics but the intricacies of insetting a zip or hemming on the bias bring me out in a cold sweat. Sewing by hand though is something I can just about  handle (though not something I've done for years and years) and when I saw the achingly sweet little animal kits that Alicia (Posie gets Cozy) created a few years ago I had to buy one. It has sat on a shelf ever since waiting for the perfect moment, and that moment arrived earlier this week.

Cutting into the first piece of pristine felt made me rather nervous - the kit is so beautifully presented and I really didn't want to mess up, but happily I got all of the pieces snipped out safely and I settled down in the intermittent sunshine with my radio and a cup of tea for some quiet and therapeutic stitching.

 

 

On the first day I sewed miss Maggie herself and yesterday I worked on her clothes. The fabrics that came with the kit are lovely but I wanted to use some from my stash and so I substituted a dotty blue for her inner ears and used a different fabric for her dress (which is probably a little too heavyweight but I am in love with the pattern). I added a scalloped crochet edging to her cape and also made a little pair of woolly socks (which were not part of the pattern) as it gets a little chilly round here in the winter and warm socks are definitely needed, though they have made her boots a bit of a snug fit.

 

 

Working quietly on this little bunny over my two recent Toby free days has been so enjoyable and I feel a bit sad to have finished her. I've kept the pattern pages intact though (tracing the pieces onto baking parchment paper) so I may well make another one in the future. I am really thrilled that she has turned out so well and rather surprised (given my lack of sewing skills) though I shouldn't really be as the pattern is exactly what I would expect from Alicia, well thought out, perfectly explained and very sweet.

 

 

Having a finished bunny on my shelf instead of just a kit is making me happy and I'm rather in love with her.

That's item number 2 ticked off my 'holiday at home' list and I've found my two Toby-free sewing days very relaxing - it's definitely been nice to do something that I'd not normally do. As a result I'm all topped up on positive energy and ready to tackle the upcoming Toby-full days :)

 

summery snippets

Some moments from the first two weeks of our school break...

Amy's summer hair, dip-dyed blue (which will hopefully wash out before she goes back to school or it will be time to get the scissors out!)

 

Days of absolutely torrential rain fall (with some local flooding) and others full of sun and red skies at dusk

 

 

all of which make for a lovely lush garden

 

 

we're having a good harvest of peas, lettuce and broccoli but the french beans have been rubbish thanks to the slugs back in spring. I'm rather excited about my kuri squash plant which is growing like stink and the squash themselves are like little balloons which get bigger each time I look at them.

 

 

I'm looking forward to making squash soup if we get enough of them.

 

 

Toby is enjoying the garden too, kicking back in his swing with his lego and occassionally having a burst of energy on the trampoline. We've also been swimming a few times and had lots of walks in the cool woods which have been lovely on the hottest of days (no pictures yet as Toby doesn't like me to stop - he likes to keep moving when we're out walking.)

 

There's even been a little knitting. This was taken at 10.15pm this evening when I was cowl knitting by candlelight in support of the #LightsOut campaign commemorating the start of the first world war 100 years ago.

#LightsOut’s inspiration stems from the then foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey’s famous remark on the eve of the outbreak of the war. He said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”. Britain declared war on Germany at 11pm on 4 August 1914.

So with that sobering thought, I'm off to bed feeling grateful that those dark days of 1914-18 are long distant and hoping that we don't see the like of them again.

 

sunny day stuff

The last couple of days have been so lovely weather-wise. We've spent almost every waking moment outside and it's been hard to get Toby to come in from the trampoline even after darkness has descended. He's also discovered how fun it is to go hunting for frogs after dark and we've left an old tray filled with water out for them which they seem to really enjoy and it makes them gather in one place so Toby can try to touch them (gently with supervision) and laugh with glee when they hop off. There was also some hedgehog poo in the frogs bath this morning so the night-time visitors to our garden are enjoying a little paddle too!

After the children had gone to school this morning I settled down in the garden for some breakfast (I never seem to have time for mine until they've left the house). As I was sitting there munching my granola and yoghurt I was looking over the veg beds and admiring my new watering can which I treated myself to this week and I pondered that it could benefit from a little yarn-bombing. Which is why it now has a crochet handle, why I am even more pleased with it and why H thinks I have way too much time on my hands.

 

 

 

This afternoon, inbetween a bit of weeding and lots of pegging out washing, I've been knitting up a pair of mittens in lovely wood and water tones.

 

 

 

Unusually for me I'm using double points and am actually liking them for a change. Perhaps it just took finding the right needles to cure me of my aversion to knitting in the round (these are Karbonz from Knitpro and they're lovely to work with). The pattern is a free one from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas and I'm making it in Hazel Knits Artisan sock and Madeline Tosh sock (both from Meadow Yarn). It seems to have become a habit for me to make mittens on the hottest days of the year, perhaps they'll have a bit of extra warmth in them come winter-time.

Well, I'm off to peg out a bit more washing and sit for a few quiet minutes before the children bring chaos back to my little corner of the world. Have a good weekend x

PS: happy Independence Day to all my friends in the USA x

duplicate stitch

Duplicate stitch (also known as Swiss darning) is a useful technique for adding a surface design onto an already knitted piece. It's a stitch I use a lot especially on the front of bunny jumpers and some of the more complex dress designs.

 

It works well for any design that would normally use intarsia and there are some advantages that duplicate stitch has over intarsia:

• Using lots of colours: When you knit intarsia using any more than 3 colours it becomes very complicated (and tangled) but working a design in duplicate stitch means that you can incorporate many more colours. I've used up to 6 together on one design

• Unpicking: With duplicate stitch it's easy to unpick the design completely if you don't like it any more and your knitted piece is still intact once you remove the design. You can also unpick to any point if you realise you've made a mistake – just gently undo half a stitch at a time without pulling too hard so as not to pucker the earlier stitches. If you've knitted in intarsia the whole thing would have to be unpicked.

• Using different yarn types: When using duplicate stitch you can mix different yarn types which might cause problems with tension if used during intarsia knitting. For instance you could use a fluffy yarn to work an animal design. It is not recommended to use a yarn that is thinner (or substantially thicker) than the yarn used for the knitting.

• Using duplicate stitch allows you to cheat a little by duplicate stitching just half a stitch. For instance in this little heart below I've added half a stitch at either end of the top row in order to smooth the curve of the top of the heart.

 

 

 

Before you start:

To block or not to block: It's entirely up to you. You will find it easier to work duplicate stitch neatly if your piece of knitting that lies flat so if you're unsure then best block first.

It is better to use a slightly blunt-nosed needle as a sharp needle can split stitches in the knitted fabric and make the whole process a bit more difficult.

Thread the needle with a long length of your chosen yarn. It's good to choose a colour that contrasts well with the background colour of your knitted piece and the weight of the yarn needs to be at least equal to the weight used in the background knitting.

tip: if you are using a yarn that snaps easily (like a single ply yarn) then you may want to work with shorter lengths and join in new lengths regularly at the back of the work - I've found that the repeated sewing through the stitches can wear a weak yarn and cause it to snap.

 

Where to start:

Start from a bottom corner of your chosen design. I've found it much harder to get a neat finish if I am working downwards and threading the yarn behind an already duplicated stitch above - it never sits as neatly so I recommend always starting at the bottom of the design and working upwards.

I prefer to start from the bottom right corner but doesn't matter if you start from the left or right of a design, so you choose what you're most comfortable with.

Find the centre point of your chart and mark the centre point of your knitting - this will make it easier to count out stitches so that you begin your design in the right place (here I've used a piece of blue thread to mark the centre stitch).

 

 

Here's how:

Thread your needle loaded with the length of yarn you've chosen for the design through your knitted piece from the back to the front by coming through the 'V' point of the first knit stitch that you want to duplicate...

 

Now from the front of the work slide the needle through both 'arms' of the stitch above, in the same direction as you are working in across the row (I always work the first row from right to left)...

 

And lastly take the needle back through the 'V' point of the stitch that you are duplicating from the front of the work to the back...

 

At this point check the tension of the duplicate yarn. Don't pull it too tightly or the work will begin to pucker but don't leave the duplicate yarn too baggy either - it needs to rest gently on top of the stitch being duplicated, hiding as much of it as possible.

That's one stitch duplicated...

 

Work across the length of the the row in the design that you are duplicating, repeating each step above for each stitch worked...

As you gain confidence with the technique you'll find that you can work entirely from the front side of the work and just slide your needle tip across from the end of one duplicate stitch to the bottom 'V' start point of the next stitch...

 

Finish the row with your needle on the wrong side of the work.

To start the next row bring your needle from the back of the work to the front through the centre of the next stitch to be worked in the design. If this is more than 2 stitches away from the last worked stitch then you can weave in the yarn at the back of the work to avoid a long yarn float. I find it easier to turn the work on it's side when I'm working from left to right back across a row...

 

Join in extra lengths of yarn where needed, either where you've run out of a colour, where a new colour is added or where there is a large gap between the areas in a design. You can knot ends together once you've finished and weave them in on the back of the design...

 

Finished duplicate stitched initial from the front...

 

I hope this helps a little. It's the way that I work with this technique but if you'd like some other explanations you'll find there are loads of tutorials and videos on the internet if you search 'duplicate stitch'

And if you'd like to use the alphabet charts to add an initial to your bunny sweater you can Download Alphabet chart.

Here's a chart for the rose that I have used before on some of the dresses for my animals (as pictured at the top of this post):

 

There are 4 colours used for the rose in order to create light and shadow within the petals. It can get very tangled on the back of the work so I tend to work one colour at a time. Tip: thread your tapestry needle with at least 1m/1yd of yarn and make your first stitch in the middle of the bottom row of a colour section, leaving half of the length of the yarn as a tail - then you can work upwards for the right-hand side of the design with that particular colour and then go back and pick up the long tail end to work the left-hand side. This allows you to use much longer strands of yarn and so creates less ends to sew in later on. Follow the tips for neat duplicate stitching as detailed above.

Happy stitching x

 

Seasonal sweaters pattern

Just a quick post today to say that I've finished my little collection of seasonal sweaters which is now available if you fancy making any extra clothes for your little cotton rabbits.

The pattern has 20 pages (with each design in it's own section so you can print out one rather than the whole thing if you prefer) and contains a range of sweater designs from easy to more challenging knits. There is a Fair-Isle design sweater, a cabled sweater and a reversible top-down cardigan/button back sweater. There are also 3 different styles of simple sweater which can be customised by choosing from eight seasonal designs worked in duplicate stitch. I'll be writing a proper post with tips for duplicate stitch very soon (it sounds a daunting technique but is really very simple)

The pattern is available on Etsy and on Ravelry if you were interested in giving it a go.

Right I'm off to make some duplicate stitch samples for a photo shoot and will pop back next week with those tips. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy what's left of your week x