Top Tip Tuesday – The Magic Loop

This week’s top tip is probably well known amongst seasoned knitters, however I only used it for the first time last week!

I used to buy specific sizes of circular knitting needles for every new project, until I discovered my interchangeable knitting needles.  I now (hopefully) have every length of cable and size of needle I’ll ever need!

Avid readers will know that I’ve just started knitting hats, however my circular needle set only comes with long cables.  This isn’t really an issue if you adopt the magic loop method which allows you to knit a small circumference on much larger cable needles.

It’s simple really:

1. Using a 40″ cable, cast on the required number of stitches
2. Fold your cable and point both needles to the right – lay it out in front of you.
3. Count along half of your cast on stitches, and at the half way point start to pull the cable through these stitches.  This is what creates the ‘magic loop’! You have now created a much smaller circumference to work with.
4. Join in the round in your usual way.  You’re now ready to carry on knitting in the round!

This photo shows my hat project in the more advanced stages, and you can see the magic loop on the left hand side.  Each time you finish half a round, simply count out the next half of your stitches, pull the cable through and carry on knitting.  You can use a stitch marker if you like, but I always use the tail of my cast on row as a guide.  Seeing as you’re counting out half the stitches each time you make a loop, it’s easy to tell when you have finished a round, or are only half way through one.

Happy knitting!

The Week Ahead – Hats!

I’ve been putting my KnitPro interchangeable circular needles to good use this past week by trying to knit my first slouchy hat!  In the past I’ve just bought specific circular needles for whatever project I was about to begin, but these interchangeable needles definitely make much better economic sense!  I really wanted to get the colourful wooden range (because they look so pretty to knit with!), but wooden needles tend to make me want to cut my fingers off after a few hours of knitting – they’re so painful!  These metal ones however are a dream to knit with and I love that hats are so much faster to knit than my usual scarves!

Slouchy hats seem to be very in at the moment so I’m going to have a play around and create my own pattern once I get the size right.  I’ll hopefully have a new hat section in my shop soon!

This week I’m also planning to fill up my Folksy shop which has been a bit neglected.  I spent a lot of time adding new listings when I first opened a few months ago, but haven’t been very good at adding more.  I think I just need to put a few hours aside and get to it – Christmas is coming after all!  Because I spend all day on the computer at work I prefer to spend my evenings knitting in front of the telly instead of spending more time staring at a computer screen… but my shop isn’t going to be successful if it’s empty!

This week is also Wool Week!  I’m going to try very hard to avoid all of the amazing wool sales that normally take place this week – I still have a massive pile of unused balls of wool so I don’t think I’d be too popular if I filled the cupboard even more without using my existing stash first!

Top Tip Tuesday – How to Prevent Laddering when Knitting with DPNs

If you’ve read yesterday’s post then you will know that I recently finished knitting this adorable little baby hat after three attempts at getting the sizing right.  Lesson learned – I will definitely be making swatches from now on!!

However, today’s top tip has nothing to do with gauge or swatches.  Today’s tip hopes to solve another issue I had when knitting this cute hat on double pointed needles – laddering!

No matter how tightly I knitted my first stitch on each needle, I would get a larger gap compared to the other stitches – as I progressed with the hat, this created a ladder effect.

So how did I finally solve this issue?  It’s quite simple really, and I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before!  Before knitting the next round, simply move a couple of stitches between needles.  This prevents that first larger stitch from being in the same place each time, and once the hat is finished, you can’t tell which stitches are from the start of a new needle – the tension seems to even itself out.

I’m now feeling much more confident about knitting hats on DPNs and I’m now planning to create a new range for my shop – watch this space!

Don’t forget that you can share your own top tips right here and I will link to your own website – just get in touch!

The Week Ahead – I’m Back!

Ok so in actuality, I was back from my holiday a couple of weeks ago, but I felt like I needed a little time to catch up with things before I got back into my blog!

Sooo what have I been doing, I hear you ask!  Well I’ve been knitting this adorable little baby hat which is hopefully the right size this time!  This is my third attempt, with the first try being far too small and the second being too big to fit me (why don’t I just do a swatch first?!?!), so hopefully the third attempt is just right!  All of these attempts has allowed me to perfect knitting in the round using double pointed needles and I even have a top tip to share with you tomorrow!

I have also been cross stitching these branded coasters for my brother.  I’d made him one a few months back as a silly gift for the office and he liked it so much he has commissioned me to make some more!

Once I’ve finished these I’m planning on trying to knit a slouchy beanie hat.  Depending on how it turns out, I might even introduce a range to my shop.  I always seem to get these great ideas right before the relevant season, so I may have one or two hats in my shop in time for Christmas, but a more substantial range probably won’t be available until well into the new year.

I’ve started my Christmas shopping, so I’m assuming that means that most people will be starting soon if they haven’t already.  I’m hoping to keep my Etsy shop fully stocked with goodies for the next few months – I’m still aiming to reach my goal of 100 Etsy sales before Christmas (only 15 more to go!!)

The Week Ahead – Knitting Heirlooms

I’ve been a busy bee lately – doing some overtime and earning extra pennies for my house fund. Which is great, but it just means that I don’t have much crafty news to give you.

I finally finished my twisted rib scarf and I’ll get around to blocking and listing it in my shop shortly. I’ve since moved on to a lacy number. I haven’t knitted a lace scarf before so I’m starting off with a simple stitch which should show off the lovely variegated pinky purple yarn I’m using.

However, the last week hasn’t been all work and no play. My Grandad has been having a clearout and discovered a whole load of my Gran’s old knitting things which he has kindly passed on to me.  They include a lovely knitting bag, a selection of knitting needles, wool, a tobacco tin full of cute buttons and a vast selection of knitting patterns.  I also discovered a copy of Woman’s Weekly dating back to 1979!

I’m pretty sure my mum used to have this hairstyle…

I’m looking forward to putting these things to good use.  There’s a great selection of wool and I just love the retro style knitting bag.  It’s not only practical but I’ll treasure it for years to come.

In browsing through the patterns I also discovered this hand annotated pattern for an “Easy and Quick Summer Top”.  Feel free to make use of it.  There aren’t any photos included so I have no idea what it looks like!  If you do decide to give it a go, please share your results!

I’m not expecting to do much knitting this week – I’ve got more overtime lined up at work and still trying to be good and go to the gym now and again.  (I’m not complaining at all – this extra money is getting me a step closer to buying my own house!)

I’ll hopefully have more work in progress to show you next week…until then, happy retro knitting!

Ruffle Scarf Sale!

Autumn will be upon us next month – I just love going out for evening strolls and kicking up the leaves.  The sunsets are always more beautiful at that time of year and the colours of the leaves are amazing.

In order to celebrate the changing of the season and cooler nights approaching, I’ve decided to have a Ruffle Scarf Sale!  For the rest of August my ruffle scarves will be marked down by 20%!

These ruffle scarves are 100% acrylic which makes them soft and slightly stretchy.  They come in a range of vibrant colours and the ruffles create a lovely texture.  In addition to full length scarves, I also have a number of shorter scarflettes which come with their own coordinating scarf pin.

All of my ruffle scarves have been automatically reduced by 20% until midnight on 31st August (GMT), so there’s no need to worry about entering coupon codes – the hard work has already been done for you.

These ruffle scarves also make wonderful gifts for Christmas, so head on over to my Ruffle Scarf collection in my Etsy shop!

The Week Ahead

I posted off my custom Tartan Cross Stitch Earrings this morning.  I’m so pleased with how they turned out and love the detail in them – I just hope my giveaway winner feels that same way!

They are based on the Cameron of Erracht tartan, and considering the tiny scale I’m working to, I think they’re a fair representation.

I am planning to expand my range of tartan cross stitch earrings, but in the meantime I have also created a listing for Custom Tartan Earrings, which will make such a unique gift for friends or family (or just a cheeky treat for yourself!)

This week I am also getting back into some knitting – I’m currently working on a twisted rib pattern which is taking me quite a while… which means I’ll probably keep jumping between projects until its finally finished.  I can be quite impatient with slow patterns!

Don’t forget, there’s still a couple of days left of the Christmas in July Sale.  Head on over to my Etsy Shop and use coupon code CIJUK10 for 10% off EVERYTHING!  It may seem early, but Christmas in only a few months away, so why not get organised with some handmade gifts…

And the Winner is….

My Tartan Cross Stitch Earring giveaway has ended!

Photo by Chuck Rogers on Flickr

Congratulations go to Isobel L. who has been randomly selected as the winner!  Isobel will shortly be receiving her own pair of custom handmade cross stitch earrings featuring the Erracht Cameron tartan.

Would you like to receive a pair of custom tartan cross stitch earrings for yourself or as a unique gift for a friend?  Then get in touch – I just love custom work!

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Giveaway! Tartan Cross Stitch Earrings

Avid followers of my blog and/or shop will know that I have started creating tartan cross stitch earrings.  These miniature pieces of art are created by cross stitching the tartan pattern and mounting it onto antique silver frames and matching earwires.

I want to expand my collection (I only have three tartans at the moment!) but I’m not sure what the most popular tartans would be.

This is where you come in!

I am offering a free pair of custom tartan cross stitch earrings, stitched in your own family’s tartan.  What a unique prize (if I do say so myself!)

Here is what you need to do:

• Click on the giveaway button below to be taken to the giveaway entry page.

• Tell me what your family’s tartan is.  This may require a little research on your part and obviously not everyone will have a Scottish name.  However even if your own name isn’t Scottish, you may have Scottish ancestors so I am happy for you to enter a substitute name.  The point being I just want to find out what the most common tartans will be!

• You can also submit additional entries by following the steps on the Rafflecopter website (e.g. follow my blog, like my Facebook page etc)

This giveaway will be open for entries for one week – ending at midnight (BST) on 21 July.  The winner will be announced on Monday 22 July and it will take me one week to create the custom tartan earrings.

In the meantime you can find my current offering of Tartan Cross Stitch Earrings right here.  Remember you can use Coupon Code CIJUK10 for 10% off everything in my Etsy shop until the end of July.

Thanks in advance and good luck!

The Week Ahead – Cross Stitch Madness!

I’ve finally prepared my series of cross stitched Christmas cards and I’ve been listing them in my Etsy shop.  Yep, I know it’s June but these cards are hand stitched to order so I might as well have them ready for the super organised amongst you!

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Some feature single toned threads whilst others use hand dyed variegated threads which add another element to these designs.

I looked at Fair Isle for my inspiration and these patterns have been adapted from photos of traditional knitted sweaters I found online.  I think there is something sweet about the simplicity of these designs and they are perfect for giving to friends or family.

If you would like to order a pattern in a specific colour which isn’t listed, just give me a shout – I absolutely love custom stitching 🙂

This week I will be sticking with my cross stitch, but working on more tartan earring designs.  Keep you eyes peeled for these little works of art coming soon!