Merry Christmas - and here's a quick free mitts pattern to celebrate!

Lots of us who knit love making handmade Christmas presents but sometimes as a designer it's the worse time of year to do so! I've been lucky enough to get a few commissions which have to be knit over the Christmas period, and had been thinking everyone would have to wear what they got last year again... but my sister-in-law put in a special request for sparkly fingerless mitts to match the cowl I made her last year.

Luckily for her, the perfect opportunity arose as we'd decided to take a quick trip to Heidelberg in Germany this week, and fingerless mitts are one of the things I am very confident of being able to knit on the plane, thanks to my very un-threatening bamboo Brittany DPNs. So the commissions stayed at home, and what turned out to be a very small scrap of leftover sparkly acrylic, plus a bit of Blacker Classic DK, came along instead.

We actually hadn't gone for the Christmas markets (which seems to be what most people come for), but just to spend a bit of time somewhere different. Heidelberg is a pretty little town, with plenty of history, on the river Neckar, a tributary of the Rhine, complete with ruined castle and ancient bridge. Obviously we did visit the markets, but mainly for sausages and Gluhwein. However I did do a bit of shopping, for shoes - and, you won't be surprised to hear, for yarn, from the lovely Wollke 7 in the university district of Neuenheim, where I bought some Isager and some Zitron. But how do you go shoe and yarn shopping and still get it in your hand luggage...

Anyway, my plain fingerless mitts turned out pretty well, and I only had a couple of short flights and a train journey to make them on. So here's my early Christmas present to you; the pattern for the mitts and if you're behind with your shopping, you can still have them done in time for Christmas. You can knit them from leftovers and the size goes up to mansize.


The pattern!


Size: S (M, L). Actual circumference around knuckles 14.5 (16, 18) cm / 6 (6 ½ , 7)” to fit with up to 5cm/2” negative ease

Materials: About 20-25g DK yarn in each colour A & B (or about 40-50g if working only one colour!)
3.25mm / US 3 & 4mm / US 6 DPNs; 2 st markers; st holder or waste yarn.

Tension: 22 sts x 30 rows to 10cm/4” in stocking stitch using larger needles.

Abbreviations:
2x2 rib – k2, p2
cdd – centred double decrease – slip 2 sts knitwise together, k1, pass slipped sts over.
DPN – double-pointed needle
K – knit
K2tog – knit 2 together
M1 – make one st by picking up the strand between the sts from the front onto lefthand needle and knitting it through back loop
P – purl
Pm – place marker
Rep – repeat
Rm – remove marker
Rnd - round
Sl – slip
Sm – slip marker
Ssk – sl 1, sl 1, knit 2 slipped sts together
St – stitch

Pattern Notes
To make a single coloured mitt, just omit colour changes.
I like a garter stitch effect at the top of my mitts. You’re welcome to change to smaller needles & work 2x2 rib for a few rounds if you prefer.
If you want the mitt to go further up your fingers, just keep working in 3 rnd stripes until you’re happy!

When I made mine, I used this method to knit jogless stripes: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/08/knitting-jogless-stripes-in-the-round/

Backwards loop cast on: http://blog.tincanknits.com/2013/12/24/backwards-loop-cast-on/


Pattern (make 2)


Using smaller DPNs & colour A, cast on 32 (36, 40) sts. PM & join to work in the rnd, being careful not to twist.

Work 6 rnds in 2x2 rib.

Change to larger DPNs.

Knit 2 rnds.
Change to colour B & work 3 rnds.

Change to colour A, work 1 rnd.
Next rnd: K1, m1, k1, pm, k to end of rnd.
Knit 1 rnd.

*Change to other colour. Knit 1 rnd.
Next rnd: k1, m1, k to 1 st before marker, m1, k1, sm, k to end of rnd.
Knit 1 rnd.

Rep last 3 rnds (changing colours every 3 rnds) until you have 11 (13, 15) sts between markers.

Change to the other colour & knit 2 rnds.

Next rnd: k1, transfer next 9 (11, 13) sts to holder for thumb. Cast on 5 sts using backwards loop method, k1, sm, k to end of rnd.

Change colours & knit 1 rnd.
Next rnd: k1, ssk, k1, k2tog, k1, sm, knit to end of rnd.
Knit 1 rnd.

Change colours & knit 1 rnd.
Next rnd: k1, cdd, k1, rm, knit to end of rnd.
Knit 1 rnd.

Change colours and knit 3 rnds. Purl one rnd, knit one rnd, then cast off purlwise. Break both colours.

To make thumb – take up the same colour as you have on hold for the thumb, and with larger needles, knit across sts on hold, then pick up & k 7 sts across base of thumb. 16 (18, 20) sts

Change colours & knit 1 rnd. Knit 8 (10, 12), ssk, k5, k2tog (last st of current rnd with first st of next rnd), knit to end of rnd.

Purl one rnd, knit one rnd, then cast off purlwise. Break both colours.
Weave in ends and block to measurements.

Vienna calling...

From one beautiful city viewed mostly in torrential rain to another... I spent last weekend in Vienna, the capital of Austria and former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today it's mostly about sitting in elegant surroundings and eating cake, as far as I can tell. I was there because my husband was at a precious metal conference, and although I was on holiday, I did attend various functions involving metals types (they do mostly know how to have a good time, if you can keep conversation off the platinum price, and on another occasion we got not only Edelweiss and the Blue Danube, but also a Falco tribute act - he had 3 songs, who knew?). And by doing to had a stroke of enormous luck, for upon arrival at the restaurant where my husband was hosting a dinner on Saturday night, what did I spot but a very Viennese-ly exquisite looking yarn shop right next door?

Next day was Sunday (which I spent very happily watching these chaps), but on returning on Monday morning (husband safely stowed at the conference, listening to metals chat) I discovered I was luckier than I thought, for Wollewien (Vienna wool) had in fact opened just a week before.

 

 

It's located on what's effectively the ground floor of the Greek orthodox church next door (the other side from the restaurant), hence the Romanesque arches & decorative flourishes.

 

The shop sells what seemed to me to be the full range of Lang yarns plus pattern books (not hugely widely available in the UK, so a real treat) plus a good number of Rowan yarns (less exciting for me, but probably more exotic if you're Viennnese). They also had a really wide range of pretty yarns in the shop's own brand, which provided me with a great opportunity to test out my understanding of German words for different fibres ("Baumwolle" - tree wool - i.e. cotton - was a favourite of mine at school).

 

The shop is simply but stylishy laid out, with wavy shelving echoing the herringbone floor.

 

 

The shop lettering also had a nice Viennese Secessionist/Jugendstil flavour to it, though printing it on wine bottles does not help my habit of spelling Wien (Vienna) as Wein (wine).

 



 

As well as looking beautiful, the shop had lots of nice practical touches, For instance, as well as having sample garments, each yarn had a knitted swatch hanging from the shelf next to it.

 

 

The only gaps in the display... the three colours of Lang Asia I selected as my souvenir of Vienna, hopefully enough for a Jugendstil inspired cowl and mitts design, along the lines of the Seville set in the not so distant future.

 

 



Had a lovely chat with the proprietor, who came onto my facebook page later that morning to say Gruss Gott, and off I went into the rain with my 3 balls of Asia, plus some of their own Zakynthos yarn, made from recycled jeans cotton. It was tricky to make a selection from their own wide range, all named after Greek islands (presumably in a nod to the Greeks next door - the restaurant is also the Griechenbeisl, though the food is traditionally Austrian. And where, I must add, we were treated extremely well on Saturday), but BA's luggage restrictions helped to keep my souvenir shopping in check!

 

 

Now of course I could hardly complete a post about Vienna without a picture of some cake in elegant surroundings, so here's the genuine Sachertorte being consumed (by my husband), along with some Sacher Cuvee, in the Blue Bar at the Sacher Hotel.

 

 



A walk around Edinburgh, and a new jumper pattern

Around this time last year, I took a very short trip to one of the best cities in the world, Edinburgh. The fact I put it in that category is all the more remarkable given every time I go there it rains, and when it rains in Scotland, it doesn't muck about. Visiting Edinburgh, even for a short break, I have to take in 3 things - a great meal (Tom Kitchin's restaurant, this time & last), a pint in one of Rebus's favourite pubs (only managed the Cafe Royal, this time, didn't make it to the Ox) and a dram or two at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. All of which can fortunately be done indoors!

Anyway, the morning after our dinner at Kitchin, the rain lifted for long enough for a little pilgrimage over to Marchmont. Marchmont had 2 attractions - firstly, it is the (fictional) home of the aforementioned Inspector Rebus, and secondly, it's the home of Be Inspired Fibres which I had been assured by no less a knitting authority than Karie Westermann was very much worth the trip out of the city centre.

So we proceeded first along the Royal Mile, where even the road names make us feel at home - and it's actually spelled correctly:

My Talboys Wrap is doing a good warming job in the photo...

Turning off in the direction of Marchmont, we were then pleased to stumble across this:

Then this chap (and no, David isn't touching the nose).

 

 

The next stop, rather appropriately, was to buy some excellent sparkly Scottie dog Christmas cards in the Shelter stop, then on past the university (where Pollock Halls of Residence reminded me of long ago, when I ran a Pet Shop Boys fanzine & had readers there), across a green sward and into the austere tenements of Marchmont, where I found my way to Rebus's flat.

So, tourism over, I attended to the serious business of shopping for yarn. Be Inspired Fibres is an absolute gem, brimming with stuff I had actually never seen before, and knowledgeably and friendlily run by Mei. And oh, the fibres! Yak! Mink!! Copper!!! The shop received the ultimate accolade from David: "a knitting shop even I enjoyed" (he was especially taken with the Habu metal yarns)

Having indulged myself with the minky-coppery end of things, I had to buy some proper Scottish yarn, and so I found my way to Shilasdair. Their yarns are dyed in colours inspired by the Scottish landscape and, being a devotee of green, I couldn't resist a jumper-sized amount in a colour called Uig Sea Green.

And so, in the nearly a year since, I designed a sweater to suit the yarn, with a simple, wavy lace pattern like the green sea breaking on the shores of the Isle of Skye. Completely seamless, it comes in standard and curvy fit, to give a flattering silhouette to all kinds of figures. I've called it Marchmont Sweater

And the windswept beach it's photographed on... sorry, it's not Skye, or even Edinburgh, but the other end of the country in Whitstable, Kent (though it was doing its best to emulate Edinburgh's weather...).

Photography by David, & tech edited by Michelle Hazell.

Yarn, birthdays, books and food - and a free pattern!

Anyone who's read this blog will have gathered that supporting British wool is very important to me. Our heritage as a great wool-producing nation is ingrained in our landscape, architecture and language. British wool has been in something of an intermittent crisis since the Industrial Revolution ( half sentence summary of substantial chunk of history - try Counting Sheep by Philip Walling for the full story), but in the last few years some dedicated people, with the help of the Campaign for Wool, have been working really hard, and really enthusiastically, to put Britain back on the map as a woolly nation.

Preserving rare breeds - paying a fair price for fleece - spinning British wool in Britain - all of these have for the last 10 years been key aims of Sue Blacker of Blacker Yarns and their milling arm, the Natural Fibre Company. As well as producing their own range of super gorgeous yarns, often from their own sheep, their mill in Cornwall has also been spinning for other producers. This year they're celebrating their 10th birthday and have produced a wonderful yarn, Cornish Tin, in both DK and 4-ply, to mark the occasion.

It's spun from a positive smorgasbord of interesting fibres, each one has some meaning for the company (it's all on Sue's blog about the yarn). There's a natural grey shade and some lovely dyed colourways, each named after a Cornish tin mine. What I love about the combination, which range from the soft and easily-dyeable to more textured and naturally coloured fleece, is the depth and interest it gives to the colour - the little flecks of cussed Jacob's or tough Welsh Mountain give the yarn a distinctive, and very British, character.

I was lucky enough to get sent some - photographed above, in Botallack Blue - to have a play with before the launch, and naturally my thoughts drifted along Cornish lines. Being a Northerner, it's not a county I know too well, but it exists for me in books - not Poldark as far as I'm concerned, but Susan Howatch's splendid historical potboiler Penmarric - and in food. Cornwall makes great cheese, delicious beer, and, of course, the famous Cornish pasty, which is inextricably linked with the tin mines as it was the traditional snack of the Cornish tinminer. The literally mine-proof pastry case protected the wholesome filling, to make sure the miners had enough sustenance to cope with an arduous day at work, and essential to this was the special crimped edge which sealed the sides of the pasty and which is still a sign of a genuine Cornish product today.

You can find out more about the history of this versatile and tasty product from the Cornish Pasty Association, which is also where I learned that the Cornish tinminer's lunchtime snack was called a crib or croust (which I guess must come from the crimped crust of the pasty). Being a knitter, these crimped edges then took my thoughts to cables and the obvious answer to what to do with my Cornish Tin yarn - knit my own pasty!

So what I came up with isn't quite a pasty - it's a fingerless mitt, which in warm, hardwearing Cornish Tin should have the same insulating effect on my hands as the pastry case on the pasty - with a cabled i-cord cast off on both the hands and the thumbs.

You can knit a pair of Croust Fingerless Mitts from one skein of Cornish Tin DK. And, to help get the yarn and the birthday party started, you can get the pattern FREE for the first two weeks! The offer will end at midnight UK time on October 3rd. Just enter the coupon code Penzance when you buy the pattern from my Ravelry shop.

Please feel free to tell people about this offer - but please share this blog post rather than the coupon code, as I really would like people to understand the story behind the yarn and the pattern! I will change the coupon code from time to time during the offer.

And in the meantime if you like a pattern bargain, don't forget my Scarf Season special offer is still on - ten scarf patterns for a fiver - take a look at the previous post for all the details.

Scarf Season

As Leonard Cohen said, summer's gone, and winter's tuning up...

The nights are drawing in and the heating has started coming on again in the morning. On the plus side, what better time of year to start knitting lots of lovely scarves for you and yours?

To help you, I've put together a promotion whereby you get ten scarf patterns - including my new Joni Scarf (the scarf that works from "both sides now") - for just five pounds!

I've included some of my most popular patterns - like the Cricket Sweater Cabled Scarf - so at just 50p per pattern including VAT this really is great value!.

To see all the patterns included in the offer, I've put them in a Ravelry bundle. Just add all 10 patterns to your cart on Ravelry and use the coupon code Scarf2015, or just follow this link which will automatically add all 10 patterns to your cart and add the coupon code.

WHAT'S MORE.... 50p from every Scarf Season set bought will go to Cardiac Risk in the Young in memory of a smashing bloke called James Pettifer - see this page for more information.

The promotion lasts until midnight GMT on October 4th, so get knitting!

"He's defied the odds"

Posted a while ago to tell you about my Cat Walk Shawl pattern which I designed to raise funds for the PDSA charity when our cat, Bluey, was diagnosed with an illness (liver cancer as it happens). Anyway, just a quick update, as that was over 14 months ago now, so we took him into the vet today (much to his disgust) just to make sure all was as well as can be expected. "He's really defying the odds!"  was the verdict. He's now back at home, ordeal over, sat on my lap.

Please take a look at the pattern & make a donation if you want to help other people's pets defy the odds!

The sound of summer

So, for once, here I am introducing a summer pattern on a hot summer day with blue skies outside and Wimbledon on the TV! Endless Summer is a summer infinity scarf, made from Eden Cottage Yarns Theseus Lace in a gorgeous sunsetty colour called Red Kite. It's designed to be light and warm, to carry in your handbag or beachbag and wrap closer around your neck as the evening draws in. It's out in the current issue of Knit Now magazine, and the lace patterns are inspired by sand dunes, seagulls and lapping waves.

(c) Practical Publishing

You may recognise the model, Jade, who won Britain's Next Top Model in 2011.

Rather unusually, this is a pattern with a soundtrack - the name comes from my Beach Boys compilation album - so if you want to listen as you knit, here you go...

Groove Armada - At The River

Jan & Dean - Surf City

Beach Boys - California Girls

Lovin' Spoonful - Summer in the City

Bill Pritchard - A Trip to the Coast


Got another suggestion? Leave a comment!

While I'm at it, here's a couple of recent Knit Now patterns I haven't blogged about, from issue 47, another seasidey one - Sailors Knot Cowl.

(c) Practical Publishing

And from issue 48, Helena Scarf.

(c) Practical Publishing

You can buy the magazine at the Knit Now website