Therese Pullover Pattern available

I have a new pullover pattern available. It's called the Therese Pullover.

A fitted, mosaic stitch pullover with stocking/stockinette stitch sleeves and mosaic stitch cuffs and a large collar, in a Wool yarn.  The single colour yarn I've used is Cleckheaton Country 8ply which is a machine washable wool, and has great colours to choose from.  The multi colour is Shepherd Colour 4 Me Prints 8ply, not just for kids! This is another fantastic Australian Country Spinners yarn. 

Therese Pullover
Knitting Pattern

Yarn suggested: 

• Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply, 50g balls, each approx 97m (106 yds) (100% wool) or any other DK / 8 ply yarn
•  Shepherd Colour 4 Me Prints 8 Ply, 50g balls, each approx 90m (98 yds) (100% wool) or any other DK / 8 ply yarn

Gauge: 28 stitches and 42 rows = 10 cm
in Mosaic Stitch

Needle Size: 4mm needles or size to obtain gauge.

Meterage:  1044 - 1611 m (1142 - 1762 yards)

Sizes Available: 74 (84, 94, 104, 114) cm 29 (33, 37, 41, 45) in

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 6.25

Second Nature Cowl Pattern available

I have a new cowl pattern available. It's called the Second Nature Cowl.

A bulky, warm, woollen Basketweave cowl, this is a very quick and easy cowl to make.  It's worked in the timeless favourite, basketweave stitch, in 100% wool.

The yarn I've used is Cleckheaton Country Wide which is a bulky, machine washable wool.  Their red is just the tone I love, but maybe you could go with something more subtle.  It really is Second Nature.

Second Nature Cowl
Knitting Pattern

Yarn suggested: Cleckheaton Country Wide, 50g balls, each approx 49m(54 yds) (100% wool) or any other Bulky / 12 ply yarn

Gauge: 13.5 sts and 20 rows to 10cm(4 ins) in Basket Stitch using 7mm needles.

Needle Size: 7mm needles or size to obtain gauge. (Gauge is not terribly important for this piece.)

Meterage:  245 m, 270 yds

Sizes Available: Circumference 84cm (33 in), Width 31.5cm (12 1/2 in)

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 4.25

Slip Stitch Pullover Front

The sample for my new knitting pattern, a slip stitch pullover, is coming along nicely.  Here are a couple of pictures of the front, almost completed.  There's just a few more rows to do, then I'll be casting off for the shoulders.  The multi coloured yarn I'm using, Shepherd Colour 4 Me Prints, continually fascinates me in the way that it arranges itself in this piece.  I keep seeing pixels when I look at this big-picture view.  Knitting it up close, I don't see that at all.  Step back and you see a whole different picture.  I'm so happy to see on Shepherd page, that the colour way I've chosen is called Bramble.  I didn't know it had a name up until now, and what a cute one! 
I'll be starting the sleeves soon.  Very exciting!!  I'll be using the same stitch pattern as this for the cuffs, then plain purple stocking stitch for the rest, so it should go much quicker.

Slip Stitch Pullover Front

Slip Stitch Pullover Front

Lovely Mitts from Ambah

Lots of activity is continuing in the Indie Designers Giftalong.  I've discovered lots of lovely patterns which have been offered for sale.  One of them is this design, mirri mitts by Ambah O'Brien, a fellow Victorian Australian.  They are a fun design, very easy to knit in a simple stocking/stockinette stitch with eyelet holes.  You would never need to have worked any lace before to manage these.  A bit of experience in increases and decreases would be useful, but an adventurous beginner would definitely be able to manage them.

Lots of people have made these mitts and added their projects to the design page and they look great in all different colours, and a great variety of yarns have been used, including Knit Picks Stroll Tonal.

I think any fingering / 4 ply wool yarn would work well with this design, but the ones with strong colour contrasts aren't my favourites.  Single colours or subtle multi colours look fabulous.  While you're over there check out more of Ambah's designs.  They fit into the category of timeless classics for me.

Gift-A-Long 2015 is off and racing!

The Indie Design 2015 Gift-A-Long is now underway!  Yippee!

Here's a quote from the Gift-A-Long group on Ravelry which explains the event:

What is Gift-A-Long? It’s a multi-designer promotion to help you kick your holiday gift-making into high gear!The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by a rather extensive list of independent designers. From Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST - Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST tons of indie designers will be discounting between 5 - 20 of their patterns 25% for this event. Use coupon code: giftalong2015.

The sale runs until the end of November 27th (US EST)  -  That will be 12 noon November 28th here in Melbourne, Aus.  The sale might end there, but KAL's (Knit A Longs) and CAL's (Crochet A Longs) run for 6 weeks.  There are chat threads for each type of item being created, to keep each other's motivation up and lot's of competitions and prizes will run be happening for the duration.

Click here to see all my patterns which are eligible for the discount.

Click here to see patterns from all designers which are eligible for the discount.

Just use the coupon code giftalong2015 to get the sale price.

Gluten Free Impossible Pie

I made a Gluten Free Impossible Pie a couple of days ago.  I haven't had success in making pastry with Gluten Free Flour of any kind.  It's a bit tricky to manipulate due to the minimal flexibility. Gluten does have its uses.  I used a standard Impossible Pie recipe, which included tinned corn and fried, diced bacon.  To add to the excitement, one quarter of this pie is for the vegetarian among us.  I mixed all the ingredients except the bacon, replacing the flour with Buckwheat Flour.  I put the mixture into a greased pie dish.  I sprinkled the fried bacon over three quarters of the mixture, and some tinned Kidney Beans over the other quarter.  I sprinkled cheese over the whole thing.  Oops, the photos are around the wrong way.  I cooked it as directed by the recipe.  And there we have a pie with a definite crust at the bottom.  Here's one vegetarian piece, and one bacon piece.  Being Buckwheat Flour made the crust a little dense, but it was easy and delicious!

Gluten Free Impossible Pie

Although it's three and a half years since I've posted in this blog, it seems that this is still the place where quite a few people are finding my patterns.  It's time to revive this blog!  I've renamed it to Wakeful Knits and I've changed the look a little bit.  I've added a tab at the top where you can find all of my scarf and cowl patterns. I'll gradually be adding tabs for other types of patterns too.
The latest project I'm working on is this slip stitch pullover.  Here's the completed back.  I'm partway through the front and hope to get a bit more done soon.
Welcome to my reactivated blog!

Slip Stitch Pullover Back

Determinism means never having to say "I hate myself".

I'm moving

Hi all,  just a quick word to let you know I'm moving.
My new blog is knits the journey
Hope to see you there!

Cushion Cover - Ready to Assemble

The knitting for my cushion cover is complete. All that's left now is to assemble it and sew on buttons. I haven't thought about what buttons to use yet.

I'll post again with pictures of the completed cover (with cushion enclosed).

I'm about to start work on an item for a magazine subscription. I won't be able to post about this, so blogging may be a bit sparse over the next month or so. No change there. :)

Cushion Cover progressing

The cushion cover is nearly finished. There's only one more repeat of each colour to go. My daughter asked me, "What is that? It's so long!". It does look very long, so I dragged out the intended cushion for a quick measure up. It still seems ok. It just looks odd on it's own. Keeping the faith.

Gauge (Tension) for knitting cotton: My 2 cents worth

Hello gentle reader. Yet again I'm knitting with cotton. Obtaining the correct tension/gauge seems to be a work in progress for me. My latest theory, which seems to be holding, is the following:

1. Wash and dry your swatch.


2. Out of curiosity, measure your tension/gauge in rows and stitches.


3. Hang the swatch for 24 hours, clipped to a coat hanger, a double pointed needle threaded through the bottom of the swatch, with a 50g ball of yarn hanging from the needle.


4. Measure your tension/guage whilst the swatch is still hanging.


5. Unhang (you know what I mean) the swatch. You'll find it springs back from it's weighted length.


6. Measure your tension/guage yet again.


7. Calculate the midway point of the tension/guage, between the hanging measurement and the post-hanging measurement.

For a garment such as a cardigan, this seems to be an accurate way to calculate tension/guage.

I'm currently working on a cotton cushion cover. As I'm knitting on smaller needles for a firmer fabric, and the fabric will be wrapped around a cushion, rather than hanging, I'm using the standard tension/gauge measuring technique. Time will tell whether this is the correct approach. Here's the tension square for my cushion cover.

The colour choice may seem strange. My original idea was for an intarsia cushion cover of a swamp hen on a green background. Either I'm very bad at intarsia, or one-stitch-wide legs are impossible to make look good. I wasn't going to waste this yarn, and if this colour combination is good enough for a swamp hen standing on grass, then it's good enough for a striped cushion cover.

Easterner Cardigan Pattern Available

My latest pattern is now available. The Easterner Cardigan....
A cardigan in wide stripes of colour worked in diagonal stitch, knitted on larger needles for an open texture, in cotton.
The yarn I've used is Rowan Cotton Glace which is a great summer yarn with beautiful stitch definition. The colour range is gorgeous. I've gone with earthy tones, but why not try blues, greens or your own favourite mix.

Easterner Cardigan

Knitting Pattern

Yarn Suggested: Rowan Cotton Glace or any other 5ply/Sport Weight cotton yarn. 50gm balls, 115m (126 yds)

Gauge: 22 sts and 32 rows to 10cm(4 ins) in Relief Diagonal Stitch

Needle Size: 4.5mm straight needles and 4mm 40cm(16 in) circular needles

Meterage: 1157 - 1682 m (1265 - 1840 yards)

- 2(2,3,3,3) balls Colour A
- 2(3,3,3,3) balls Colour B
- 3(3,3,4,4) balls Colour C
- 2(2,2,3,3) balls Colour D
- 2(2,2,2,3) balls Colour E
5 14mm (1/2 in) buttons required.

Sizes Available: 75 (85, 95, 105, 115)cm, 29½ (33½, 37½, 41¼, 45¼) in

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 6.50

Easterner Cardigan nearing completion

I'm working on a cotton cardigan; the Easterner Cardigan. It's in Rowan Cotton Glace 5 ply, using earthy tones and a diagonal stitch pattern. I'm using larger needles to create a more open, summery knit. I'm having my usual plant-based-fibre tension/gauge issues. The back had to be knitted twice to get the expected length. I'm waiting to have the whole garment knitted and put together before I expound my theory on gauge for cotton. Bet you're waiting with bated breath!


Naturally I've run out of black yarn when there are only three more rows of it needed. I hope I can get more of the same dye lot, or that black doesn't vary much with dye lots.

So far, we haven't had too many hot, sweaty handed days where I don't manage to knit. I've been ploughing on. I've been doing a little sewing as well, and have a night dress completed, but for the hem. It's hard to see the point of buying such simple things, but it's hard to manage time for everything that needs to be done. The pattern also includes winter pyjamas, so maybe I'll make some of those when I need more! Thankfully no collar is involved. I find it a bit tricky to make sewn collars look good.

Garden City Scarf

I've been participating in a Knit-A-Long with the Budding Designers Downunder group on Ravelry. This month's KAL is the Garden City Scarf by Sheryl Greenfield.

And here is my finished scarf!



It was a fun, quick and elegant knit. Now, who's going to be the lucky recipient? I'll keep you posted.

I was lucky enough to have a design published in the June issue of Yarn Magazine. It's the Lace Front Cowl.



Now I'm working on some fingerless mitts for an upcoming issue. It's so exciting to see one of my designs in a magazine! That professional photography makes me swoon. (The photo above is mine, not from the magazine, as you can probably tell).

A while ago I mentioned a mosaic stitch scarf. Well, in between all these other things, it is slowly progressing. It's a great project to work on while chatting etc, because the pattern is so easy to memorise, and you just keep going and going until it's the right length! When/if things quiet down a bit, I'll show a picture of it.

Pattern Available - Bea Fair Isle Pullover

The pattern for the "Bea Fair Isle Pullover" is now available.

It's a lovely warm stranded pullover. The colour work is very easy, as there's only one contrast colour and one background colour for each motif. The yarn I've used is a Heirloom Merino Magic 8 ply, which has a fantastic range of colours, even though the one's I've used are fairly subtle. It's knitted flat, from the bottom up. A colour chart is included. This is my first foray into collars, and I love how this collar has worked out.

Bea Fair Isle Pullover
Knitting Pattern

Yarn Suggested: Heirloom Merino Magic 8ply or any other 8ply/DK yarn. 50 gram balls, 98m (107 yds)

Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches in Stocking/Stockinette Stitch

Needle Size: 4mm

Meterage: 1470 - 1666 m (1608 - 1822 yards)
7(8,9) balls of main colour
2 balls of contrasts A, B and C
1 ball of contrasts D and E

Sizes Available: 84 (100, 117)cm, 33 (39¼, 46) in

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 5.75

Ill Knit by Moonlight

Further to last weeks post, the pattern for these fingerless gloves, "Ill Knit by Moonlight", is now available. When I misheard the title of the movie “Ill met by moonlight” on late night TV, then a couple of weeks later read the obituary of one of the real life players in this WWII event, I knew this had to be the name of my next design. Perfect for your next undercover assignment.

They are nice warm fingerless gloves with an all over, small textured twist stitch pattern. The yarn used is a beautiful soft and warm Merino, Alpaca, Silk blend, Heirloom Silk Touch. The gloves are knitted in the round and have a thumb gusset. A stitch chart is included.

Ill Met by Moonlight Fingerless Gloves

Knitting Pattern

Yarn Suggested: Heirloom Silk Touch 8ply or any other DK/8 ply yarn

Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches in Twist Squares Stitch

Needle Size: 4mm

Meterage: 199 m (218 yards )


This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 5.50

Fingerless Gloves completed and gorgeous.

Here are the completed Fingerless Gloves, looking gorgeous on their gorgeous new owner.  I'm in the process of typing up the instructions at the moment.  I learnt a few new skills with these -  Knitting into the back of the second stitch, and knitting fingers.  There's always something new to learn in this game. :)



I hope to have the pattern out in the next few days.  I'm glad there's some winter left for them to be worn in!

My next venture is a scarf knitted in a Mosaic stitch.  This is a pattern where two colours are used, but only one on each row.  By slipping stitches, or some other method, it looks like two colours are used on the one row, when only one has been used.  The particular stitch I'm using doesn't used slipped stitches, but knit into the stitch below.  This effectively drops a stitch to mix the colours.  It's easier than I thought it would be.  It's lots of fun having so many stitch types to try.  This is producing a fantastically light, soft fabric that will be great for a scarf.

I think I can... I think I can...

I'm limping along, step by step, to the end of these gloves.  There's nothing particularly difficult about them.  Once I'd worked out how to do fingers, the second glove should have been a cinch.  Maybe I've got second glove syndrome.  Or it could have been the school holidays.  I can't think of a really good excuse, so what the hell, I'll get there in the end.

The gloves are currently blocking, and hopefully will be dry enough to weave in the ends in the next couple of days.

I can hear True Grit (the old one) in the background which is slightly distracting.  It's hard to ignore John Wayne.

While I'm waiting, I'll be preparing a test swatch for another magazine submission.  My previous success has emboldened me to have another go.  This time I thought I'd try some fingerless mitts.  Might as well push my luck on the whole mitts/gloves thing.

Edward Scissorhands?

Am I making my very own Edward Scissorhands?  No, but this is very much what it looks like, I have discovered, when one knits gloves.  Even more so, when you have a half completed finger with three double pointed needles in it.  It's a fascinating process.  This glove is now complete, though not yet photographed as such.  It's taken quite a lot of glove pattern study, and quiet thinking and calculating time to work out how to do the fingers.  But it all makes sense when it's broken down.

These gloves may seem quite long, but that's how they should be, according to the teenagers in my life.

Legs are now warm!

The leg warmers are now complete.  I've decided not to publish this design, as it bears a remarkable similarity to a pattern my daughter found, to use as inspiration for these.  Even the colours used are similar.

She's finding that they slip down a little, so I'll probably put some hat elastic through the top of them.  I don't think they slip too much, but it won't hurt to do this anyway.

My next project is a pair of fingerless gloves for the other daughter.  She wants quite long gloves, and why not?  A nice smooth yarn was requested, and so I'd decided to go for Heirloom Celone, only to find that it seems to have dropped of the face of the earth.  I've found another Heirloom yarn, which seems even softer.
It's Heirloom Silk Touch which is exactly the same blend of fibres - 85% Merino, 10% Alpaca and 5% Silk - but not a crepe yarn as the Celone was.  I bought this at Mooroolbark Wool. 

Having already done a pair of fingerless mitts, I thought I had the whold Thumb Gusset thing down, but after three attempts at all the calculations, and still ending up with an unexpected number of stitches, I'm beginning to wonder.  Hopefully, all will be fine by my next posting.