Sewing practice or you can't have too many pincushions ...

This summer, I started to sew a few t-shirts for myself (see e.g. this Instagram post). I am far from being a confident sewer - not very neat or exact. Even though you might get away with a few inaccuracies in Jersey, I decided I would use some of the leftover fabric to practice sewing exactly.  

The finished piece looks from above a bit like a paper fortune-teller (the childrens' game) or to be a bit more technical like an origami Blintz base.

If you want to do something similar yourself, here's how to do it:

1. Cut out four pieces of this pattern from leftover fabric. The outer (dotted) line is the cutting line - it already has a seam allowance of 1 cm.

2. Mark the sewing line (along the grey line in the pattern). 

3. Decide how to place the pieces. In the picture the parts are numbered for reference in the next steps.

4. Pin pieces 1 and 2 right sides together and sew along the highlighted (black dotted) line on the right hand side.

5. Now pin part 3 to part 2 (also right sides together) and again sew along the highlighted (black dotted) line. Make sure to not sew part 1.

6. Now pin part 4 to part 3 and again sew only the right hand seam. Now all four pieces are sewn together and there is an open seam between parts 4 and 1.

7. Now pin parts 4 and 1 together and sew the sides according to the picture below, i.e. leaving an opening through which you can turn the piece.

8. Now your piece looks as shown below - with only a small opening (where the arrow is).

9. Turn the piece right sides out and fill with stuffing through the opening (I always use the cuttings from my overlock machine for stuffing). Make sure that the stuffing gets into the corners, too.

10. Close the opening by hand sewing. And the pincushion is finished.

Unfortunately, my piece is not as neat as I would have liked - the bit in the middle (where all parts meet) . The reverse side is even worse :) I guess I need some more practice - i.e. I need to think of another scrappy project that requires a certain precision :)

Shiki-Miki

I like tops with interesting constructions (see for example the Garter Stitch Bias Top). So when Angela from bestrickendes.de showed and offered me her Shiki-Miki pattern - in the summer of last year, I was really excited. It seemed a really good idea to use a lovely Lace weight yarn, I had seen at shop in town. It turns out, I was right and I am really happy with the result - however it took me some time to get there.

The pattern is available via Ravelry here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shiki-miki-shirt

Once I had ordered and received the yarn (Creative Melange Lace by Rico Design, colorway 011 - here's the yarn's Ravelry page), the actual knitting wasn't the problem. I started in July and I had finished everything except the lower edges by August 2021. I don't know, why I didn't continue it, but this June I started again and finished knitting the final bits. 

Because I don't like sewing up seams, I try to avoid creating seams at the knitting stage. Here, e.g. I knitted the shoulder bits at once for the front and back - see picture on the right. I had originally planned to do the same at the sides, but decided against it, because I think a knitted piece doesn't warp as much if it has side seams. 

So after finishing I only had to seam the sides and to weave in all ends. Unsurprisingly, this task took me quite a few weeks, but I have finally done it. 

I really (really, really) like the summery colors and the light lacy texture - and I am looking forward to wearing it on a hot day.

June 2022 - Discount

During the month off June 2022 all my knitting patterns on Ravelry and Payhip are 20% off with coupon code "JUNE".

For example the ones shown below:

• Top left: Rainbow Mitts
• Top right: Negative Spaces Scarf
• Bottom left: Herzchen
• Bottom Right: Jasmin Potholders

• Top left: Mermaid's Garden Scarf
• Top right: Skew Symmtery Cowl
• Botton left: Daisy Potholders
• Botten right: Ripple Fingerless Gloves

• Top left: Bubblewrap Cowl
• Top right: Seven Petals Potholder
• Bottom left: L'esprit de l'escalier scarf
• Bottom right: Blümchen Fingerless Gloves

• Top left: Bärentatzen Scarf
• Top right: Crossbeams Cowl
• Bottom left: Luftbläschen Brioche and Lace Scarf
• Bottom right: Diamond Lattice Cowl

• Top left: Traverse Brioche Scarf
• Top right: Windrose
• Bottom left: Candy Corners Scarf
• Bottom right: Mauerblümchen Fingerless Gloves

• Top left: Escalera Scarf
• Top right: Perpendicularity Mitts
• Bottom left: Zaunkönig
• Bottom right: Wedges Wrap

• Top left: Slightly Slanted
• Top right: Ice Maiden Cowl
• Bottom left: Stella Potholders
• Bottom left: Tulpenzwiebeln Scarf

Traverse Brioche Scarf

Two-colour brioche is a marvellous technique. It creates a lovely, squishy texture that is comforable to wear and it can be used to create quite intricate geometric patterns. 

This rectangular scarf is knitted with a criss-cross pattern, i.e. a stitch that combines increases and decreases, combined with a zigzag effect that is created by switching the dominant colour within the row. Since it is done in two-colour brioche, both sides look great.

This scarf is made with Lace weight yarn, which provides a light summery touch. The one I knitted (half alpace, half merino) only weighs 170 grams; it measures 150 cm in length and 45 cm in width.

The pattern PDF is available via

• Ravelry 
• Loveknitting
• Payhip

The pattern PDF is 9 pages long and contains

• row-by-row pattern instructions
• photo tutorials for the techniques you need for this piece:
• brk4inc
• brk4dec 
• brk4dec4inc
• a schematic / cheat-sheet that explains the increases and decreases for this pattern

In order to knit this pattern you should be familiar with basic two-colour brioche knitting.

To knit a scarf like this you need the following materials

• a total of about 1100 metres of lace weight yarn – in two colours,
  I used two (semi-)solid yarns: 
• as LY I used light green Holst Garn, Titicaca (colorway “Wasabi”) 
• as DY I used royal blue Wollmeise Lace (colorway “Kornblume”) 
• 3 mm knitting needles – circulars or other needles with two points
• 2 stitch markers 
• a cable needle or a clippy stitch marker – for some of the brk4dec4inc and brk4dec stitches
• tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Pieces of Eight Mitts in Dutch - Gratis Breipatroon

Carolien (or mijikke on Ravelry) has provided a Dutch translation of the Pieces of Eight Mitts. Hartelijk bedankt!

The Dutch translation can be found here.

The original English version is available here - as well as links to German and Danish translations.

A list of all translations of my patterns can be found in this blogpost.

Mauerblümchen

Here's another pattern for fingerless gloves - again knitted flat and in garter stitch. 

These fingerless gloves are knitted flat and in garter stitch. They are shaped with short rows around a point at the outer wrist, the thumb is created one half at a time (with a short knitted CO and a BO). The flower pattern is done in intarsia technique. The project starts with a provisional cast on and finishes with grafting in garter stitch. In the end the side seams are sewn up.

Since this is an intarsia project with three colours that also uses short rows, it can be quite fiddly.  It is NOT a beginner pattern.

As to the name, "Mauerblümchen" is the German word for wall flower - it ties in with my Blümchen Fingerless Gloves that have a flower motive around the thumb.

The knitting pattern in available via

• Ravelry
• Loveknitting
• Payhip

The pattern PDF is 13 pages long and contains 

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting a mitt in one size (slight adjustments can be made by using a different needle size) – including nine in-process photos  
• a pattern chart
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques
• provisional CO with a crochet hook and how to undo it
• grafting in garter stitch
• short rows with wrap and turn and picking up the wraps 
• intarsia knitting and weaving in yarn while carrying it (backwards and forwards)
• knitted CO 

Gauge and Size

I knitted two pairs – one with 2.5 mm needles and one with 3 mm needles – see photo below.

With 2.5 mm needles 28 ridges (56 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 25 sts gave 10 cm in width (with an unblocked swatch, since I didn't block the mitts). The finished piece knitted with 2.5 mm needles is about 17 - 18 cm high (at it's highest point) and about 17 cm in diameter (without just below the thumb). 

With 3 mm needles 26 ridges (53 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 23 sts gave 10 cm in width (also with  unblocked swatch). The finished piece measures about 19 - 20 cm in height and about 19 cm in diameter (just below the thumb).

However, the pieces are all in garter stitch, so they are quite stretchy.

To knit a pair of these fingerless gloves you need the following materials:

• a total of 30 to 35 grams of fingering weight yarn in two colors:
• about 12 grams per mitt for C1 (background color)
• about 4 grams per mitt for C2 (flower color)
• 2.5 mm or 3 mm knitting needles (or another needle that gives you the gauge) – straight or circulars
• scrap yarn and a crochet hook (about 3mm) for the provisional CO
• a tapestry needles for grafting, sewing and to weave in ends

Ripple Fingerless Gloves

Fingerless gloves are my favorite accessory – there are so many varieties and ways to construct them.

The ones here are knitted flat and in garter stitch with a wave pattern. One edge of the flat row is the thumb around which the mitt shaped in short rows. It starts with a provisional cast on and ends with a row of grafting in garter stitch. The wavy patternis created with increases and decreases.

This is NOT a beginner pattern.

The knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry
• Lovecrafts
• Payhip 

The pattern PDF is 12 pages long contains 

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting a mitt in one size (slight adjustments can be made by using a different needle size)– including six photos of the different stages  
• a full pattern chart
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques:
• provisional CO with a crochet hook and how to undo it
• grafting in garter stitch
• short rows with wrap and turn and picking up the wraps 

Gauge and Size

I knitted pairs in two needle sizes – with 2.5 mm needles and with 3 mm needles – see photo below:

• With 2.5 mm needles 28 ridges (56 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 25 sts gave 10 cm in width (with an unblocked swatch, since I didn't block the mitts). The finished piece knitted with 2.5 mm needles is about 19 cm high (at it's highest point) and about 17 cm in diameter (without just below the thumb). 
• With 3 mm needles 26 ridges (53 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 23 sts gave 10 cm in width (also with  unblocked swatch). The finished piece measures about 20 cm in height and about 19 cm in diameter (just below the thumb).

To knit a pair of these fingerless gloves you need:

• a total of about 35 to 40 grams of fingering weight yarn - I used 
• Zwerger Opal Fairytale (colorway 9794 Knusperhaus) for nearly rainbow colored mitts in the title photo (link to the yarn's Ravelry page)
• Vendita sock yarn (colorway 12) for the blue green pair  (link to the yarn's Ravelry page)
• Zwerger Opal 4-ply (colourway  9692, "Ice Cream / Sahnequark") for the grey pair (link to the yarn's Ravelry page)
• 2.5 mm or 3 mm knitting needles (or another needle that gives you the gauge) – straight or circulars
• scrap yarn and a crochet hook (about 3mm) for the provisional CO
• 10 stitch markers – 4 of which removable  
• a tapestry needles for grafting and to weave in ends

One mitt finished - one mitt needs to be sewn up