It’s been cold and frosty, so obviously wonderful knitting weather! I’m bored to tears with the Lift and Separate, so have been doing a miriad of side projects  such as the Stolen Moments wrap. This looks deceptively simple – a drop stitch / increase openwork pattern. However, I had to rip it back a marathon 7 times as my mind wandered and drops and increases were put in the wrong spot – one wrong stitch and the whole pattern is messed up. The yarn choice for the Stolen Moments was ‘Mousse’ by Moda Vera – a soy / wool blend. Mousse is lovely – the only drawback is that it’s quite felty – not exactly what I wanted for this project – but incredibly warm. Surprise surprise the chosen colour was a lovely warm beige

To show off the lace pattern, the finished article was blocked (on a foam pilates mat using dressmakers’ pins!) and left to dry. It opened up a little, but it may need to be blocked again as it’s quickly closed up again.

So, this means I’d get straight back to the Lift and Separate, right…. sadly no

Tikki’s Oriental Lily pattern is absolutely gorgeous – but not having smellyannoying stinky whingy adorable children myself, chose to knit it for a friend’s daughter – 4 year old Ruby. Ruby is much taller than most 4 year olds, and the pattern only goes up to 2 year old sizing, so the following alterations were made to the pattenr;

• The chosen yarn was a 10 ply yarn – Panda Zoomy. The pattern was sized using 8 ply and when I swatched the 10 ply knitted almost double the 10 ply. That worked out well because the newborn pattern size when doubled is exactly the measurements for a large four year old!
• The arms in the Oriental Lily pattern have increases to flare the sleeves. After chatting with Ruby’s Mum, we both decided that flared sleeves on a boisterous four year old were a bad idea, so I did tapered ones instead
• I used the contrast yarn to do a cuff on both the sleeves and the hem of the skirt, which itself was much longer than the pattern, and the cuff helped it to drop
• With the leftover yarn I whipped up a simple stockingette scarf (a very useful accessory for a four year old who is interested in fairy princesses)!

w00t! Another knitting project is finally complete. This time it’s a long, warm scarf in Paton’s Inca (colourway 7005 lavender/grey) for Jen, to match the recently-finished Jen’s Open Star Stitch Beanie. Like the beanie, this was a great way to use up leftover wool.

However, rather than just a normal rib scarf, I wanted to experiment with texture a little – and wondered whether Paton’s Inca would take well to openwork. I’m a beginner with knitted lace, but open star stitch is not too hard to do.

Really, the only hurdle I found was getting an appropriate gauge for open star stitch – this knits to a tighter gauge that stocking stitch or garter stitch, so I had to go up to 8.0mm needles from the regular 7.00mm ones that normally yield correct gauge for Inca.

The pattern is dead simple – open star stitch – and is worked over four rows:

Using 8.00mm and Patons Inca (7 x 50g balls required for scarf, 1 x 50g ball required for optional fringe), cast on a multiple of 3 stitches. For the garment shown, 42 stitches were used.

R1: K4, cast off second stitch that was knitted by slipping it over R needle. K3, *cast off the first of the three, yfwd*. Repeat from * to * until one stitch remains, K1.

R2: purl

R3: K2, yfwd, *K3, cast off the first of the three, yfwd*. Repeat from * to * until two stitches remain, K2.

R4: purl

Repeat until scarf reaches desired length, cast off on either R2 or R4 in purl, sew in ends.

Add a fringe if desired by looping 2-3 strands of inca through one of the eyelets made by open star stitch and tying into a knot.

I wasn’t sure what to do with the wool left over from Tricia’s Canada Jumper. 8 skeins is not enough to do a whole other garment, and given that the shade of Paton’s Inca that I’m using (7005) is not being produced this season I felt it better to use up the yarn rather than purchase more.

The result is an Open Star Stitch Beanie for Jen, and an Open Star Stitch Scarf to match (still a WIP).

The basis of open star stitch is;

Cast on a multiple of 3 stitches

1. On R1, knit 4. Cast off the second stitch that was knitted. Yfwd (to increase), knit 3. Cast off the first of the three knitted stitches by passing the stitch over the needle. Repeat until 1 stitch remains, knit 1
2. On R2, purl
3. On R3, knit 2, yfwd. Knit 3, cat off the first of the three knitted stitches by passing the stitch over the needle. Repeat until 2 stitches remain, knit 2
4. On R4, purl

Using Paton’s Inca with standard gauge, the pattern goes like this;

• Cast on 50 stitches on 7mm straight needles (I tried knitting this on circulars, but my 7mm circs are too long. Could be adjusted for circs)
• Knit 1, purl 1 rib until fabric measures 8cm deep
• On the next row, knit 3, inc 1 by knitting stitch and passing it back on to left needle
• Should have 63 stitches.
• Continue in Open Star Stitch as above for a further 15 cm.
• On the next row, knit.
• On the next row, k2tog, repeat until end. Continue rows of k2tog until single stitch remains.
• Sew edges together with wrong sides facing, then sew in ends and turn inside out.

Tricia is off to Canada in a week or so – and I wanted to knit her something that was warm, but versatile for the trip. Having recently finished the One Piece Jumper using Paton’s Inca, and being very happy with the outcome, Inca was again my tool of choice. Tricia chose the 2 x 2 rib jacket – a collared pattern with a jacket zipper in the front so that it can be worn either closed or open. The jacket is more versatile than a jumper – and would be better for travelling.All the individual pieces of the pattern knitted up OK. The sewing up was also straightforward until the collar. The tension for the collar was difficult to determine, and I had to unpick and resew it twice – I’m still not happy with it! If I had to do the pattern again I would probably pick up stitches after sewing together the front, sleeves and back – and knit the collar from picked up stitches.

The length of the pattern was also puzzling – Tricia is 5′ 0″ so shorter than most people – and the length given in the pattern was the perfect length for her. Therefore if I were knitting this for someone 5′ 9″ or so, I’d add another foot to the length!

So Jen wanted a beanie because it’s starting to get cold. I sent her upon a mission and she came back with two balls of Patons Jet and a pair of 5.0mm straights (she thought that because knitting needles were round, they were ‘circular’… still LMAO over that one!). And the result is Jen’s skanky beanie (skeenie). Skanky because that’s my pet name for her!

Wow, it’s taken me since October last year, but my Paton’s One Piece Jacket (from Paton’s Inca #1231) is finally finished!

Lovely and warm. I double crocheted the edging at the bottom, but I think it might make it too chunky, so might have to unpick it. We’ll see how it goes. The neckline has a better shape than I anticipated.

I’m very happy with how the One Piece Jacket is coming along. It’s taken a lot of wool (20 skeins so far), so will end up being a fairly expensive knit (especially with Lincraft putting the price of Inca up to a whopping $6, while their home branded yarns are much cheaper – did anyone say Australian Competition and Consumer Commission?). I’m a bit worried that the length in the jacket won’t be enough to cover my ample backside, but if that happens I should have a few skeins left and will pick up the stitches and add a few more inches in length.

Found a yarn store that utilises possum fur in the production of wool;

http://www.theknittery.com.au/c/24759/1/10ply-posmerino-aran.html 

Now if only cat fur could be utilised in the same way… Mwah ha ha