Category Archives: Knitting

March 9, 2014 · 12:12 pm

Update

Busy doing lots of knitting, carding and spinning this week, and here are the results!#

Here’s some new sets of batts that have just been put up in my Etsy shop.

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They’re a blend of black Finnish wool (it’s a lot like bfl) and merino. I’ve also got some secret batts on the go for a knitting project that should be done in a week or two.

There’s lots on the needles too. I’ve got a lacy version of my Mosely Cardigan on the go which should be finished pretty soon. I hope to have the pattern out for testing in April and released sometime in the Summer. Here’s a sneak peek! It’s in Madelintosh Merino Light which is just a joy to knit. The colour is a lot more vivid in real life, a beautiful deep pine colour. Can’t wait until it’s done!

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The neckline’s at the bottom of the picture and the two holes are armholes. Here’s a closeup of the stitch pattern:

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I’ve also got a fairisle yoked jumper on the needles. We’ve been watching the Killing and I was feeling inspired! The yarn is BC Garn dk. I’ve never used BC Garn before but they have a lovely range of colours for fairisle. It’s just the right weight for me too. A pretty light dk so you can get lots of detail into the colourwork, but not so lightweight that it would take years to knit a sweater.

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And finally finished spinning my birthday fibre! Think I’m going to use it for stripes in  a sweater, or maybe a giant smooshy scarf!

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This week I’ve also started a test knit for my latest sweater pattern, Buchanan Street Sweater for my knitting pattern line, Littletheorem Knits. If you would like to volunteer to be a tester, please head over to the Ravelry Free Pattern Testers group! Here’s some pictures of it…

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February 2, 2014 · 6:44 pm

Chunky Fairisle Cushion

Published a new knitting pattern on my Littletheorem website today.

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The imaginatively named “Chunky Fairisle Cushion” pattern is available for free on the Littletheorem Knits website and on Ravelry.

I cheated a little to avoid a jog in the round, so this is perhaps a pattern that fairisle purists should avoid. Rather than steeking, I didn’t knot new colours to old as I knitted, but knotted them all up pretty firmly at the end to cinch it all together. I also (and this was very naughty) didn’t weave in the fifty odd loose ends, but just trimmed the knots and left them inside the cushion. Please feel free to back away from this pattern in horror, but I think it all looks ok, and for time-poor knitters it’ll certainly do the job!

Here’s some more pictures!

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January 26, 2014 · 6:07 pm

Cashmere Sweater

Finished off a sweater this weekend. It’s a pretty simple design but I’m very fond of it. It’s a longer length and nipped in a bit at the waist so it’s very flattering. There’s a textured almost lacy panel at the shoulders to add a bit of interest. The yarn is undyed cashmere from Devon Fine Fibres, and is probably the softest yarn I’ve ever worked with, like wearing a a soft, fuzzy cloud. Anyway, here’s some photos:

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Now I just need to write up the pattern!

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January 19, 2014 · 5:51 pm

Back to blogging

It’s been a long time since I lasted posted. Work got the better of me for a few months there. I also took some time off from working on my online stuff over Christmas and focussed on just knitting, which is a bit odd, never really felt the need to have a break from it all before. But I’m back now!

Been doing a bit of spinning this weekend. Got a beautiful braid for my birthday all the way back in September:

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I wound it into a ball and I’ve been pulling it apart at colour changes to try to keep them as separate as possible:spinning fibre spinning keeping colour changes separate

Impossible to keep the colours totally separate (for me at least!) but it’s looking pretty good so far:

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Here’s a close up:

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My plan at the moment is to Navajo ply it and use it for stripes in a jumper. I’m thinking maybe in a dark royal blue yarn with stripes of the handpun through it. I’ve been thinking a lot about using my handspun and just regular machine spun yarn in a project, think this would look pretty cute!

 

 

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November 10, 2013 · 4:15 pm

Christmas Knitting

It’s all systems go round here now in terms of Christmas knitting! Have a list of 8 things I want to knit as gifts and have managed to finish one (yes one) so far. Oh well.

Here’s some progress pics so far! Starting with the project that’s actually done, this Felted Lace Wrap will be going to one of my oldest and dearest friends:

felted lace wrap by littletheorem

And here’s a few feet of scarf:

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Edges are a bit scrappy because a lot of the knitting was done overnight on a bus to Alton Towers on a school trip! Going to crochet round it. Everything will be fine.

Not much else to show in terms of gift knitting, but I do have a couple of pictures from my latest obsession: Fair Isle knitting. Here’s a cushion cover I started that is currently on hold. I’m knitting my mum a Fair Isle cowl though. More pictures of that to come soon!

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Only downside is the loose ends!

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aaaarrgghhh!

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October 14, 2013 · 4:45 pm

New Patterns

What a week! It was the last week of term here so been busy with school  award ceremonies, plays and day-to-day mayhem, as well as getting two job applications in. For months, it seems like there’ve been no teaching jobs advertised anywhere that we could move to with D’s job (and his job’s quite incredibly flexible about where he could live!) and then three come up at once. So with a bit of luck we could be moving to Perth, Stirling or back home to Fife. Fingers crossed!

Haven’t managed to get any spinning done in what seems like weeks now, but I do have a bit of knitting to show you. I’ve just released Asphodel Shawl on Ravelry.

Asphodel Shawl Pattern by Littletheorem. lace shawl, geometric design.

I really love this shawl, it’s a pretty geometric design that goes from big diamonds to small diamonds with a pretty lace border. And it’s giant! You can totally wrap yourself up in it. I love it for reading in bed to keep my shoulders warm.

Asphodel Shawl lace knitting pattern by Littletheorem. Geometric lace design.

It’s also available on Craftsy and Etsy, in case you’re interested!

Here’s another FO to show you. This is knitted up from the Gotland yarn I bought from Croft Wools up on Applecross in the summer.

Lace scarf handknitted from Gotland yarn.

I’m hopefully going to get the pattern written up this week…. It’s lightly felted which really softened up the yarn and gives it a really pretty finish. Haven’t thought of a name for it yet either, thinking of pattern names is so hard!

er FO to show you. This is knitted up from the Gotland yarn I bought from Croft Wools up on Applecross in the summer.

Lace scarf handknitted from Gotland yarn.

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October 6, 2013 · 5:12 pm

Birthday Goodies!!

Ok, so it’s been a couple of weeks since my birthday, but I thought I’d show off the yarn and fibre I’ve got now. (The last couple of weeks I’ve had nice beach and walking pictures to share but this week’s been a bit boring!)

So, here they all are:

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The spinning fibre is from Three Waters Farm, it’s a polwarth silk blend.

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That’s from my parents, as is:

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This skein of laceweight merino from Welthase. It’s going to be a scarf with a lacy leafy kind of pattern.

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D’s parents gave me 7 (!!) balls of Jamiesons of Shetland aran weight. I’m going to knit up a fair isle cushion for the flat with that I think…

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And my little brother got me a skein of Abstract Cat yarn. It’s handdyed, sockweight bfl, not sure what I’ll knit with this but the yarn is gorgeous!

Sorry to be such a show off!

Knitting wise this week, I have finally made a start on a second project with my gradient batt yarn. I started knitting up a shawl, but was wildly overoptimistic when planning how far the yarn would go, so it’s been ripped back and is being knitted into a hat.

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You can’t see very clearly, but it’s twisted 1×1 rib split into 6 sections which will spiral round. Hopefully lots of progress will be made by next week and you’ll be able to see what I mean!

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September 23, 2013 · 5:08 pm

St Andrews Visit

We went back to stay with my parents in St Andrews this weekend. It’s my birthday on Tuesday so we had a family weekend at home to celebrate. Checked out the new wool shop in St Andrews (I forget the name but it’s on Bell St if anyone’s visiting and wants to seek it out). They had a lovely selection of undyed alpaca and handknitted scarves. Really cute soft toy alpacas too, would make a lovely present for a knitter’s kid! Bit on the pricey side, but it is St Andrews so I’m sure they can find plenty of people who can afford it. And I think the rates there are horrific so fair play to them…

Didn’t spend long in town,  but I’ve got lots of lovely pictures of windswept beaches for you! On Saturday we walked along the West Sands in St A’s. The tide was right in, and it was overcast but the sea was amazingly calm. There was a huge flock of sanderlings flying in unison which was very pretty. Here’s a couple of pics anyway….

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Sunday was much sunnier, and we headed out to Tentsmuir forest for a walk. It’s a pine forest just north of St Andrews by a huge beach. You see lots of seals there in Summer, but at the start of Autumn, it’s just amazing for finding mushrooms!

Here’s a small sample of the mushroom pics!

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Here’s a nice foresty pic:

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And some of the beach:

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Knitting-wise, things have been a bit up and down! I knitted up as much shawl as possible with my gradient yarn from the last post, but there just wasn’t enough for an anywhere near decent shawl. Back to the drawing board and I think I’ll knit up a hat with it instead. Got an interesting idea for a twisted rib hat that I think will look nice with the colour change…. More on that hopefully next week!

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September 8, 2013 · 3:35 pm

Islay Hat

Added a new free hat pattern to my Littletheorem site today. Islay Hat is a simple, unisex hat available in two sizes. The stitch pattern is Twisted Moss Stitch, it’s become a firm favourite with me!

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The pattern’s available for free on my Littletheorem website and you can download it from Ravelry too.

I know I said last week that I was planning on making a hat from my handspun gradient yarn:

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But I think it’s going to become a shawl. Here’s the (very limited!) progress so far. You can see bits of pinky red just turning up at the edge:

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Couldn’t get a better shot of the whole thing, knitting it up on old needles and they’re very twisty!

A wee treat turned up for me in the post this week too. It’s my first year as a fully qualified teacher so I’ve had a pretty big payrise. When my first month’s pay turned up, I of course had to look into purchasing a sweater quantity of cashmere. I found a website selling the only uk grown cashmere, from a gorgeous farm in Devon. And the cashmere is amazing!! Really soft and smooshy with a beautiful halo. It’s going to be a bottom-up, raglan sweater in double moss stitch if all goes to plan.

Here’s a pic of the yarn

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And a close-up of the swatch:

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Mmmmm, fuzzy…..

 

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September 1, 2013 · 4:37 pm

Spinning Gradient Batts

Last week a carded a pretty gradient batt:

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And this week I’ve been spinning it up. I spun it all into laceweight singles (somewhere between 2 and 3 ply weight), then navajo plied it to make about a dk weight yarn.

Here’s a pic of the singles:

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And the plied yarn:

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Really pleased with how it turned out! I’ve got about 180m of it, think I’m going to make a cabled hat. Was planning on making a lacy hat, but I’ve got a bit too much yarn for that if I want to show off all the colours in the gradient…

Two FO’s this week too:

A hat for my aunt in twisted moss stitch. The yarn is Shilasdair luxury dk. It’s dyed with woad and it’s dyed a blue line on the index finger of my right hand where the yarn runs over it. Going to write up the pattern and stick it up on Littletheorem hopefully sometime this week.

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Also finished off a little external hard drive cover for Dunc. This is leftover Rowan Felted Tweed from knitting my brother a sweater for his 30th. It’s pretty cute I think!

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