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This year I’m doing Debbie Abrahams’ Mystery Blanket . There’s lots of intarsia. I’m taking some advice from a friend and sorting out my materials for each square when I get the patterns. This means I can just grab a bag and start knitting when I’m in the mood. One thing that’s very useful to know is how much yarn to measure off for your intarsia bobbins. You may be of the persuasion to wind a bit off and hope for the best; if you’d rather be more accurate then hopefully the following will be helpful. It would be useful if you are short on yarn, or like me want to prepare in advance, or if you travel about with your knitting and want to take less yarn with you. First, count the number of stitches in each section you’ll be knitting. Here’s a sample chart - You can just count each square and make a note of it. Or here’s a few tips to make the counting quicker. If the chart is numbered or has boxes of 5 or 10 then it makes life easier. For easy square shapes like the blue square then jus...

This one didn’t take long to knit at all. It’s a fabulous knit. Quick because of all the garter stitch but lots of interesting construction too, making it fun. The pattern is Ravi Junior by Carol Feller . The yarn is Millamia Naturally Soft Merino in Forget-Me-Not. Ravelry Project Page. The yoke is worked from edge to edge with short rows to give the shape. I used German Short Rows which made the whole process quite mindless – no picking wraps up when working back. It’s a great technique if you haven’t tried it. There are short rows at the bottom edge too, which makes it a lovely shape for a baby. The yarn is just perfect for this (and most things really). I’m a big fan of Millamia. The stitch definition in this yarn is beautiful and so lovely and soft too. It blocks really well and I think this soft blue is just gorgeous. The buttons are from Textile Garden . I thought a contrast worked nicely here and it zings it up a bit. There’s something very satisfying about applied i-cord agai...

The Torine scarf that I mentioned last week is finished. The yarn was Rowan Truesilk in the sleep colourway. Ravelry project page. I love the colour of the yarn. The sheen of the yarn really brings out the colour beautifully – there’s almost a metallic tint to it. It is lovely to knit with as well. The only little hiccup is it’s very easy to catch and it is a chain construction so difficult to pull the snags back in. It blocked very well. Though I think I spent half an hour threading the blocking wires down the garter stitch ridges but it was worth it. It makes a beautiful and fluid fabric - perfect for a scarf. The central panel is knitting separately to the borders and then the borders are sewn on. Luckily, I like sewing. The borders could have been worked at the same time as the body of the scarf but having the sewn seams gives the scarf some stability and helps with any rolling of the borders. Plus the borders are worked on a smaller needle and this does make for neater garter st...

I’ve got quite a few WIPs at the moment. This is partly due to several mystery knitalongs. My birthday/Christmas present (and maybe next year’s too!) was a membership to Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket 2015. I want to share pictures of this but I don’t want to ruin any surprises for people. I’ve put photos of the finished squares on my Ravelry project page . I’ll show you a few sneak peek photos though. Here is the first batch of materials. The 2nd lot of patterns have just come through and I spent Sunday morning being super organised. The materials for each square are wound off and in their own zip lock bags. The other mystery knitalong is Ysolda’s Follow Your Arrow KAL 2. I did it last year and really loved the finished shawl . Can’t really show you but here’s the project page with pictures. This is the yarn I’m using. It’s Solo by sparkleduck . The other project on the needles is a Torine scarf from the Rowan Truesilk book and I’m working it in Rowan Truesilk (colourway sleep). The...