Raglan rib jumper, in Crofter Chunky

A friend of mine wanted to knit her teenage daughter a jumper in Crofter Chunky, having made a few scarves from this lovely soft yarn.
My go-to scarf pattern for Crofter is a 2x2 rib, on generous 7.0mm needles, to give a loose and drapey, snuggly scarf.
Naturally a jumper needs a firmer tension, so it won't fall apart with wear, so we went looking for a pattern.
There were none in the Crofter pattern books in 2x 2 rib.
There were a few on Ravelry in 2x2 rib, but none in smaller sizes that we could discover, and none were quite right - with raglan sleeves and a loose polo neck, as requested, so I made one up.

Sorry, you can't see much jumper here, so I will show you again.

I knit this for my own teenage daughter (size 6-8 in Australian women's sizes), using a much tried technique known as winging it.

I knit from the bottom up, in seperate pieces, to take advantage of the self patterning effect of the Crofter yarn. The repeats are not particularly long in this yarn, and if there are two many stitches to a row/round, the self patterning effect turns into an all-over colourful, non patterned look, which is quite appealing in its own way, but not what I had in mind. I wanted stripes.

Unfortunately, I mislaid the last 3 balls of this colourway (Misty Moor 61) and so did not have enough yarn to keep breaking the ball and winding on during the sleeves in order to make the stripes continuous across the front and back yoke. ( I later found the balls in a scarf kit, with rather annoying timing!)

My daughter did not even notice this stripe mismatch.

I will be trying out this pattern again in a different yarn, I think it has real possiblites. This is just as well, as my friend went home and looked through some magazines, and found just the pattern she was looking for - only about 3 sizes too big. I guess we will be sitting down with a calculator some day soon in order to convert it.

Crofter Scarf

I am very fond of the wearability of the Sirdar Crofter range. I have just finished making 3 rib scarves for my children from the Chunky weight, and no one has even mentioned the dreaded "itchy" that lurks menacingly behind any project knitted for direct application to the skin.



Here is the first version, in colour 59, Rambler Rose. I actually made this scarf to co-ordinate with the Hat for Camp that Rocks.

This started a chain of family requests.
The next one is much shorter, and in the manly shade of number 61, Misty Moor.



Naturally, I then needed to make a third scarf, this time in the lovely greens and purples of colour number 50, Bracken.



These were really quick scarves that I was able to knit as a handbag project-a portable size, and the sort of knitting you can pick up or put down at any stage.
Now I am almost ready for something more complicated.

Cross cultral knitting for boys - a pitfall

I am sure that most knitters have run up against the boy-clothing dilemma of intense conservatism combined with extreme pickiness.
Sharon wisely had the designated recipient look at the pattern books, and select his own yarn.
Having the common non-knitter difficulty in imagining a particular pattern made up in a different yarn, the boy chose Sirdar Crofter Chunky 0053, Hound Dog, to make the cabled hoodie, Design B, from Sirdar Book 362, Crofter Chunky. There is a very nice photograph of a boy wearing this hoodie, in this yarn in the pattern book.





Sharon is a very experienced knitter, and likes to knit in the round, so she started off this pattern from the bottom, knitting the back and the front at once. Unfortunately, she had not remembered that the pattern repeat for the fair isle effect has been worked out for the pattern as written - when knit across the front and the back at once, the fair isle effect was lost, so she had to rip it. Annoying.

Fortunately, making a size 61/66 chest jumper, using Chunky yarn, is quick. This did not take Sharon long to knit, even with the hood.

Unfortunately, the boy took one look at the finished hoodie, and said "There's pink in it!" (you will have to imagine the tone of deep disgust). He must have missed the very small amount of pinkish red visible in both the photograph, and the yarn in its ball. He insisted that the jumper be given to his (female) cousin instead.

However, after he reluctantly agreed to model it to check the fit, he asked for one just the same - in a different colour.





The next one had better be plain navy blue.
Maybe he should knit it himself.

Moorland Lass Pam

I was all set to show you Sharon's baby bamboo blanket today, but Pam visited me this morning to show me her Moorland cardigan. She is feeling shy and asked for a headless shot, which is a real pity, as she is very happy with this project, and her lovely smile shows it! .




Pam bought this pattern and yarn a little while ago, planning to use it whilst she was travelling to West Australia. However, she knitted it up so quickly that she was able to wear the cardigan through almost the entire 3 week trip, but unfortunately had left herself nothing to knit. She told me that she and her friend had to knit one end each of her friend's project. (I think she was joking). Personally, I am always quite worried that I will run out of knitting whilst I am travelling, and take several balls of yarn "just in case". I think it is a bit like packing food for a picnic - far better to come home with left overs than to not have enough whilst you are out enjoying yourself. :)



The pattern is Moorland Lass, design F from Crofter 349. It is clever of Pam to have spotted this gem of a pattern in the book, as it is practically hidden - no big photo in the book, and not even pictured in the small photos on the back of the cover.
Pam chose colourway 60 - Loganberry, of the Sirdar DK Crofter for her cardigan.

Hat for camp that rocks

My daughter suffered a hat crisis on Monday night. No warm hat for school camp, except a “boring” beanie. She begged, she pleaded, and I gave in. Free pattern Snowboarder hat that rocks (blog link)to the rescue. Very, very cool pattern according to my daughter. Very, very fun and quick pattern according to me.






I used Sirdar Crofter Chunky yarn (#59, Rambler Rose), which is probably less bulky than the yarn called for in the pattern, but the hat looks fine anyway. Using this yarn, it might not fit a large man, which is the size given in the pattern , but it fits my daughter nicely. I love stretchy, forgiving cables.

I used DP needles, as I prefer them to circular needles, and used more strands of yarn for the plaits, but otherwise knitted this up exactly as written.
I got lots of Mum points for this one.

Fibre arts

I love knitting, so I tend to think of yarn as knitting material. However, I also love to see the other uses for the yummy materials from the shop.
This is what clever weaver Barb made as a "test" from one ball of Sirdar Crofter DK, shade 54, Fairisle. She was impressed by the yardage.



I am intrigued by the different effects Barb has achieved by using this self patterning yarn in weaving.
Barb is making a blanket, as her test worked out so well. I am keen to see how the other squares turn out. So far they are all different, but blend together nicely.
Self patterning yarn is extremely cool.

Ballet Leg Warmers

Making a ballet wrap meant that a request for the matching leg warmers was almost inevitable, as the wrap is really for dance class, not just fashion (although it has been worn with jeans and a t shirt down the street already).



I was not unhappy about this request as there was about 90% left of my fourth ball of #58 Sirdar Crofter DK from making the wrap.
I started out making the legwarmers from Sirdar book 349, but used double pointed needles and knit in the round, to avoid the sewing up at the end that I like to leave out when I can.
Once I had finished the rib cuff, I decided not to change to stocking stitch, as I felt this would make the legwarmers too floppy for my daughter. The high cotton and acrylic content of Crofter is terrific for wash and wear, but means the yarn has less elasticity and recovery than those with a higher percentage of wool content.
The legwarmers are quite successful made entirely in rib, showing the fair isle effect pattern well, and used not quite all of the two balls called for in the original pattern.
I finished these legwarmers with a stretchy cast off - picking up one stitch from the row below every 15th stitch or so, before slipping a stitch over to bind off in my usual manner.

Ballerina Wrap in Sirdar Crofter DK

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break. The weather was so gorgeous here that I spent much more time cycling than knitting (what a terrible admission for a yarn addict, just forget I said that), but I do have some finished objects to show you.
This is the Ballerina Wrap , Design D, from Sirdar Crofter DK pattern book 349. I have knit it in shade #58, Moorland, and it was very quick to make.



I made a few minor changes to the pattern. My daughter wants this wrap top primarily to wear to dance class, and felt that the pattern was a little too long to wear over a leotard, so I have made it 5cm shorter in the body. I also knit i-cord, rather than making a garter stitch tie, just because I really like i-cord. I crocheted 2 rows as a neck finish rather than picking up stitches and knitting an edge, as I really need more crochet practice, and am taking every opportunity to get some!
I found the yarn delightful to knit, soft and cosy, and am very pleased that this is a machine washable yarn (great for active wear knits). However, I did have a small yarn problem. There was one knot in 4 balls, not the end of the world, but unfortunately, the knot made a pattern break that was rather strange. I kept knitting, expecting the pattern repeat to come around so that I could (curses)reverse knit and match the two fronts, but it didn't seem to match the other knitting, even after 10cm. I eventually worked out that the post knot yarn was wound in the opposite direction, so the pattern repeat was upside down! Probably most other knitters will not be as slow as me to work this out. All I can say in my defence was that at this point I was knitting late in the evening after a glass of wine....