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.