Owl Jumper

Hi Guys!!

I know its been a while since i've posted.

Here is my latest creation :) It is a pattern from Ravellry called Owl Jumper.

Hope  you like!

XxX

OWLS !

Over the past year the Knottingham Knitting Society at NTU have made loads of weird and wonderful creations - easy and more difficult, and it has been great fun knitting with them.

One of my favourite projects was little owls that have buttons for eyes. The pattern is very easy and is just increasing.

This is my cute little owl with buttons for eyes!

The pattern is available on Ravelry.

I'm going to make a group of them.

Off to revise again!

Night x

Stitch and Sew...

Evening!

I apologise for yesturday's short post. Revision is stressful, especially for law.

So today I thought I would look at something a bit different.

Cross stitch!

Now I know this is primarily a knitting blog, but as I know from experience knitters are crafty people in more than one way - most of us enjoy a cross stitch better now and then.

My most recent cross stitch pattern is one Sponsored By the Breast cancer charity, the Pink Ribbon Foundation. I found it in my local arts & crafts shop - and it was £2.25. BARGAIN!

Its a great patter of two shoes with a bow, and I have repeated the pattern in blue and I am currently stitching a yellow one for my room in my house next year.

This is a great website if you are a keen cross stitcher and wants to get into the cross stitching community.

http://www.cross-stitching.com/

Happy Crafting!

Xx

Short but Sweet

Evening knitters :)

My mum is just finishing a owl jumper from Ravelry.
 It's pink and my Nanna has gave me buttons her grandma had. So that's my great great grandmas buttons will be on my owl jumper.

I will post pictures when it is finished and links to where you can find it. Buy it is a pattern you have to pay for. Also it is in US sizes so for my mum, it was something to get her teeth into.

Sorry for the short blog post today. I have been revising for my Law exam - fingers crossed it goes well.

Till tomorrow
Good Night Xx

From Heart Bookmarks to Heart Coasters...

Evening all,

As I have left all my knitting needles at university I haven't been able to make the fingerless gloves I've been wanting to make.

  BUT I did find a really cute heart coaster pattern on Ravelry. It's fairly easy to make and knits up very fast.

  You will need 2.75mm needles.

  Here is my coaster, I didn't use the proper wool, but I think it looks just as nice with normal double knit.

The pattern is free and is provided by Megan Delorme 

It is available at 

https://www.ravelry.com/account/login

On another note, I have noticed recently how expensive wool has got.

At most independent wool stores a normal  ball of double knit can cost over £3.00, knitting is no longer a cheap hobby. - But then again has it ever?

Wool is available at a cheaper price at discount stores however I personally find the quality to be far from that of wool brought from solely wool selling shops.

Clothes handmade using wool brought from wool shops are still far cheaper than buying them from clothes shops. But it is safe to say the wool brought to make a jumper can be anything up to £20 in itself, but you get a damn good jumper for £20 wool.

Whatever the reason for the price rise, I urge people to support your local wool shop and not go to discount chain stores just because the wools cheap. Wool shops sell very good quality wool at a price that is going to ensure their presence on the high street - a difficult task in the double dip recession we are currently in.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WOOL SHOP!

Xx

Casting away on a new adventure...

Lunchbreak!

Hi everyone, so yesturday I explained how you decrease and increased on your work. Today, the last of my run through of the basic knitting essentials is casting off. It is relatively simple, and means you can neatly take your work off the needle.

Casting off tutorial: 

So there you go, all the skills you need to complete basic knitting patterns. You can find a wide range of patterns on Ravelry at 

https://www.ravelry.com/account/login

Last night I attempted my first cable knit. I found the instructions on:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/knitting-cables.html

It was a great start into the world of cable knitting, that I have been so keen to avoid for a while now.

But over the summer I am going to widen my knitting knowledge and attempt larger and more complex patterns so that I can make more.

  

This is how my attempt went:

So now that I have gave it ago, and it worked, I'm going to give it a go on some larger projects - so watch this space.

If you would like to put my cable attempt to shame then send your pictures of your cabled patterns to:

lauramariebennett@hotmail.co.uk

Have a great afternoon! X x

Bombs Away!

I'm going against the rules today and I'm going to post again...
I wanted to share with you a picture of the Nottingham Trent University Knitting Society girls Yarn Bombing the Robin Hood Statue. Love the scarf!
We meet up every Monday 6pm-8pm at various locations around Nottingham. It's great fun and good for socialising.

Love this picture!

Yarn bombing is covering every day objects or public places in knitting - its quickly becoming a popular craze :)

Send pictures to lauramariebennett@hotmail.co.uk of your Yarn Bombs!

X x

Give and Take.

Evening!

Just done today's Media Power and Politics exam and as a reward I'm going to show you how to increase and decrease stitches.

Again, as a example, if you look at the little stockings I made in my very first post, you have to increase the stitch at the bottom, and decrease up to the neck of the stocking.

Increasing

There are a couple of different ways to make stitches. Here is a tutorial on how to increase by wrapping the wool around.

You can also increase by knitting into the front and the back of the stitch:

(K1f&b)

These methods are two of many different techniques you can use when increasing, or making a stitch.

Decreasing

Normally when decreasing the most common method is knitting or purling two stitches together.

Here is a YouTube tutorial explaining how to decrease a stitch:

(K2tog)

There is also a increasing and decreasing video tutorial from the Dummies series which also clearly shows how do do the two techniques, as a alternative tutorial to the ones above:

I would highly recommend this video, as it is very simple to use.

So now you have all the basic stills to attempt a knitting pattern! You could try making a stocking from the my first post, use your own patterns or find a new project on:

https://www.ravelry.com/account/login

Tomorrow I will explain how to Cast off your work.!

Purling practice.

Afternoon all,

Yesterday I showed you garter stitch, the just knit stitch. Today we will be looking at the purl stitch, the other basic stitch.
These two stitches together create the basis for most knitting patterns and can be knitted in a variety of orders resulting in a pattern!
Purl stitch looks like this:

Purl Stitch

The most common use of the purl stitch is mixed in with the knit stitch in either a rib pattern - Knit 1, Purl 1, or stocking stitch Knit a row, Purl a row. For the stockings I made the body of the stocking was made using stocking stitch- ironic eh?

Here is a tutorial to show you how to do a purl stitch:

This video can be found on YouTube and its on the Knitwitch channel - a great resource for all you basic stitch needs!

So give purling a go! 

Combining all the techniques I have showed you after the past 3 days should enable you to do some of the basic patterns... 

Tomorrow I show you how to increase and decrease stitches, so that you add and take away neatly on your project!

The Knitters Essentials - Garter Stitch

Hey there!

So if you saw yesterdays post you'll know now how to cast on using three different techniques -handy eh?

If your new to knitting, once you've mastered casting on, which is usually the trickiest part, you can get cracking on knitting.

What I find is easiest to learn is garter stitch, which is just knitting all the rows. And it gives you this effect:

Garter Stitch (Just knit)

For those stockings in the picture on my May 9th Post- the white ruffle effect at the top was achieved using this stitch - its my favourite stitch because it is so easy!

Here is a really useful tutorial on how to knit garter stitch:

KnitTV- is a really good source on YouTube, it takes you through a whole load of different techniques ranging from basics to advanced- my recommendation for today. You can watch their tutorials on The Crafts channel on YouTube, as well as tutorials on how to do various other crafty things - its a really good channel!

So have a go at garter stitch, its really simple once you get the hang of it, and its really fast to knit up.

If you would like to send me any pictures of your knitting attempts or finished patterns send them my way on

lauramariebennett@hotmail.co.uk

and I will upload them on future posts!

Knit away! x

Casting a spell on you...

Evening all,

Today I thought I would cover the basics on how to begin/ cast on a section of knitting. My three favourite methods of casting on are- the thumb method (using one needle), long tail cast on (using one needle) or knitting cast on (which is with two needles).

  I am left handed, and initially found it difficult to learn the knitting cast on as my mum didn't know how to teach left handed knitting. So I went and visited my local wool shop every Thursday for about three weeks, where the kind lady spent about 2 hours teaching me casting on, casting off, knit (garter stitch) Knit row Purl Row (stocking stitch) and Knit 1 Purl 1 (Rib stitch) right handed for a leftie.
I found for most simple items, casting on using the thumb method is a lot easier for beginners, and for lefties like me, a lot less confusing!

Here is a great tutorial on how to cast on using the thumb method and long tail cast one (my personal favourite) as I know it-

Knitting cast on (2 needles) -

These three methods are are in my opinion a selection of the fastest and easiest methods with good results!

You can use these methods on most patterns unless stated otherwise.

My mum has just brought a new crocheting book that I will review later in the week. I'm going to give a couple of the patterns a go over the weekend.

So have fun casting on! - If you have any pictures of any projects you've made or attempts at casting on or any of the techniques in my blog posts email me at:

lauramariebennett@hotmail.co.uk

And I will put them up on future posts!

Have fun casting on!

I heart my new Love Bookmark

Afternoon knitters,

Yesterday I showed you the stockings that I have started to make ready for the uni house Christmas tree - in May I know, but they are a great alternative to revision. They are a excellent decoration and gift, ideal for putting treats in!

Today I've been working on a heart decoration or bookmark. It is a combination of knitting for the main body of the heart and picot crochet edging. I found this quite a challenge. I used YouTube to find out how to wrap and turn, Slip Slip Stitch and how to Picot an edge. I had a go at wet blocking but I don't really have the facilities to do that here so it doesn't quite work.

This is what I ended up with...

This great pattern is called Love Bookmark and it is by Ike Keidi Ang.

It can be found on

https://www.ravelry.com/account/login

You can use this heart for anything! Over the summer I plan to make a chain of these to hang up as a room decoration as a alternative to fairy lights.

This is an excellent video to show you how to wrap and turn - a technique I had not come across before.

This is also a great video to learn how to picot an edge, which is useful for a range of patterns not just this one!

Hope you find this useful! x x

Heading into deeper woolly waters...

Greetings all!

For a while now I have been dipping into the field of knitting, crocheting and sewing and felt it was finally time to start a blog. My aim is to record my woolly creations and upload posts on useful sites and Youtube videos to use to help you get to grips with beginners wool craft or sewing, and towards more advanced work, as I learn too!

This is my latest piece of work

Christmas stockings for my University house next year, either with or without the initials of your house mates. They are a great little decoration. Very easy to knit if you can increase and decrease and knit both stocking stitch and garter stitch. I will post my recommended videos to learn these skills in a later post.

The pattern is available on a great site called Ravelry, which is a knitters pattern bible. It has tons of free and pay to download patterns that you can download to PDF and you can create online library to keep them safe. You must make a user account but I really recommend any budding knitter or crocheter to join, its free and the possibilities are endless - you can even post your own patterns!

Here is the URL for you: 

https://www.ravelry.com/account/login

Enjoy ! x x