Such a Pretty Pair

Good morning from a very sunny Suffolk!  It’s just beautiful out there this morning; spring has definitely sprung.  I hope those of you who celebrated had a wonderful Easter.  Ours was spent at home with family where everyone (bar the vegetarians!) stuffed themselves silly on roast lamb with all the trimmings, followed by lemon cheesecake and then Easter eggs; perfick!  

Although it is still school holidays, the Mr has gone in for today to do extra work with some of the students, so my girls and I have a busy day of gardening planned, and then a trip to the cinema to see Cinderella this evening, I’ve heard great things about the costumes so can’t wait to see it!  Before I get planting, I’ve managed to grab half an hour to myself, while the girls are digging for worms, to share with you two rather pretty woollies that have found a new home overseas.

The pretty pair was commissioned by a thoroughly charming lady in New Zealand.  She chose gorgeous patterns and opted for two seriously scrumptious shades of wool and I truly enjoyed working with her to create her vintage inspired pieces.

First up is a pattern that you may have seen before on my blog as I knitted it back in 2014.  It’s a Bestway pattern from the very early 1940’s and is for a close fitting jumper with a neat little collar in a mock smock design; try saying that after you've had a tipple or two!

It was knitted in King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply in a shade called fern.  I’ve used King Cole in the past and haven’t been overly impressed with the quality, especially their big value range, but I was pleasantly surprised with the Merino Blend and it was beautiful to work with.  The colour range is great, the wool doesn’t split, and it is so super soft to the touch, and not at all itchy.

When this one is knitted, the pattern doesn’t really show.  The pieces come out really rather small and it isn’t until you block and press it that the design can be seen in all its glory. 

Wool - King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply
Weight used - 240g
Time taken - 79 days
Size - 32" bust

The second was knitted from a pattern from the Wearing History range, which I bought on Etsy.  Called Wood Violet, the pattern has been reformatted from the original and all the instructions have been retyped into 1 neat A4 page.

This one was knitted in the King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply as well, but this time in a gorgeous shade called damson.  I’m a little bit in love with this shade.  It is so divine, a real rich purple with a beautiful depth of colour.  For some reason, King Cole has apparently done away with this shade, so if you like it and see it anywhere, snap it up quickly, because you may not get another chance.  I have added a few balls to my stash for future use!!

The main body of this jumper was worked in stocking stitch, so knitted up super quickly, but the yoke was an entirely different affair!  I like to be honest when I’ve had problems with patterns, and I have to admit that this one reduced me to tears of sheer frustration! 

A fellow blogger said, when I asked for her help in working out the pattern, that the instructions were like an algebra equation!  I got in a pickle when the pattern said “p1, 0, p1…….p two 0’s together” because nowhere in the pattern did it tell me what “0” actually was!  By a process of trial and error, I got there in the end and my finished yoke looked like the picture on the pattern, so I was happy with the end result.

Unable to find vintage buttons in the exact shade of purple, I opted for original 1940’s buttons in black.

Wool - King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply
Weight used - 220g
Time taken -
Size - 32" bust

I posted the jumpers off just 11 days ago, and by the powers of tracked and signed for delivery (it’s always worth paying the extra postage), the woollies have been safely received by their new owner who, thankfully, is over the moon with them. 

If you fancy giving either of the patterns a go yourself, they are both for sale on Etsy.  The Bestway pattern can be found in my Etsy shop here, and the Wearing History pattern can be found here.

xx

Farewell to February

The month of March has dawned bright and sunny in my little part of Suffolk this morning.  Happy 1st of the month to you lovely lot; hope it’s a good one for you! x

February seemed to go by in a flash.  It was a busy one, two birthdays and a much longed for half term week off.  

I know we aren’t alone in our love of school holidays.  It seems that as soon as one is finished, we are already counting down to the next one.  Four weeks and counting until Easter break.  Does that sound bad?  It’s not meant to.  The Mr is happy in his new job, but teaching is a hard, and time away from routine is very precious, so we make the absolute most of every day of it.

C had a birthday last week, my beautiful girl turned 9.

A birthday isn’t a birthday without a cake; a chocolate mud cake, to be precise.  Gone are the days where the topping for the cake is my choosing.  My decisive little Miss picked a polar themed cake to feature her beloved toy polar bear, Racey, who was once cream, but is nowgrey; a rather threadbare bear!

My dad also celebrated his birthday.  Peter Pan at heart, he’s not too keen on this getting old lark.  He’s my handyman, decorator and fixer of things that I break in my house.  A very dapper chap much loved and adoredby my girls and the rest of us.  

A great lover of cake, he picked a carrot cake for his celebration.  My first time making the Hummingbird Bakery version and it seemed to be a hit.  I don’t eat the stuff, can’t stand to eat cake, or biscuits for that matter, with bits in them, so I didn’t taste test it.  But it disappeared at a rate of knots; the last piece polished off yesterday, so it must have tasted good.  

A few rather special patterns found their way into my collection last month.  

My favourite is the Service Woollies for Women.  It’s somewhat battered and tatty, the pages are all loose and without their original staples, but I love it.  

I also picked up a Knitted Comforts for the Royal Navy badge from WW2, and a white Beehive wool holder, which was a Valentine’s gift from the Mr.

Despite my best laid plans, I didn’t get half as much making time as I thought I would, but that’s so often the case in the holidays.  I made progress on the commissions I’m working on.  One is a real go slow project, taking an hour a pattern repeat!  

I also managed to make a couple of anemone corsages which I will be listing in my Etsy shop later on today.

I’m off to make the most of this fine day.  I hope you enjoy whatever you are up.  I aim to be back to post some free pattern downloads this month.  Anything in particular you fancy seeing posted?

Sirdar 1140 - 1940s Striped Jumper

Mr Y has been a star this morning, and has taken the girls off for an early morning swim.  We walked them through the streets of Cambridge for hours yesterday, and they were weary little lovelies when we got home, but a restorative sleep meant they were raring to go this morning, ready and out of the door by 7am!  It's another chilly day out there, and snuggled up indoors with the heating on, I think I'm in the better place!  

It’s another woolly post today, a quick knit that took just 12 days to complete.  I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise that the pattern is from the 1940’s, this time a Sirdar pattern, from the middle or era.

I always have an easy knit on the go to stop my hands being idle when we’re travelling, or while the girls are working.  It’s surprising how quickly a jumper can come together when you do a few rows here, a few rows there.  I didn’t time how many hours this one took, but I started it on the 21^st January, and put it on the dummy on the 2^nd February, so not bad going.

The pattern is feather and fan, a popular pattern throughout the 1940’s, and still popular now.  The design is worked on a 4 row pattern repeat.  Three rows are stocking stitch, the fourth is the pattern row and it’s this easy pattern row that gives the design the wavy effect.  

I've knitted it before; I've actually knitted it a couple of times but changed the sleeve design and stripe order.  It’s a great pattern for using up those oddments of wool, and if you’re a fan of Goodnight Sweetheart, you may have noticed that Phoebe wore a similar jumper in a real rainbow of colours, which she teamed with a green skirt. Although the pattern shows a very definite stripe pattern, you could, if you wanted to, work in more colours or varying stripe thickness, to create a different look.  

The wool I used was Adriafil Azzurra, which is fast becoming a favourite of mine.  The main body of the jumper has been worked in brick red, with emerald green, dark brown and yellow stripes.  

Worked as per the pattern, the jumper was meant to come out at a 35” bust, but although my tension was spot on for the sleeves, the finished woolly ended up being for a 40”/42” bust.  It would be easy enough make it smaller by going down a needle size, it would also be possible to recalculate the actual number of stitches, but as there is a 12 stitch pattern repeat, it would take some very careful calculations.  

For the first time ever, I used a circular needle.  I thought it might speed up the knitting, but it actually slowed me down.  I'm a tight knitter, so struggled with the stitches getting caught where the wire met the needle.  Making the jumper up was quicker; fewer fiddly colours to run in and no joins, but I’m happier working on the traditional 2 needles.

I really love how this jumper knits up, and the colour possibilities really are endless.  It has already found a new home with a vintage loving lady, and I’ve just dug out the version I started back in 2013, worked in heather, grey, cream and mint, so will be completing that before moving onto the next pattern, well, maybe ;-) x

There were no quirks in the pattern, it knitted up exactly as it should have done, and came together well.  There is no neck opening on this one, but you could easily leave the left shoulder part open and add a couple of buttons and crocheted button loops.  The pattern is for sale in my Etsy shop, which you can find here.

Wool - Adriafil Azzurra
Weight used - 130g brick red, 64g emerald green, 24g dark brown, 17g yellow
Time taken - 12 days
Size - 40”-42” bust

Bestway 1066 - 1940s Blackberry Stitch Bolero

Hasn’t it turned decidedly cold?  I’m sitting here, looking out of the window, ignoring the ironing, willing for the white stuff to start falling.  I’ve seen plenty of picture postcard views from other parts of the country, but Suffolk has avoided a covering, much to my girls’ annoyance.

They are off on a jolly with their grandma today, the first time this year.  Lunch and a spot of beach combing are on the cards; so I’ve got a small window of me time, in which to share with you my recently finished bolero.

I rather like a natty little bolero.  They were quite popular in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and could be found in both the fabric and woolly variety.  I have quite a few patterns for the knitted sort; some lacey, some simple, others hideously complicated.  After much deliberation, (choosing a pattern is a complicated job, don’t you know), I opted for the blackberry-stitch bolero, a Bestway pattern from the early 1940’s.

Quite a while ago, many months, maybe even years, us wool hoarders loose track of our stash, I picked up 4 balls of Jarol Heritage 4 ply. 

Jarol wasn’t a brand I’d heard of before, but on a mission for mustard shades, the Heritage range popped up in the search results.  The shade I used was No.140, which is a warm mustard/ochre.  It’s not the cheapest of wools, working out at about £5.00 per 100g, but it is worth the money, because the quality is there.  It’s a 55% wool, 25% acrylic and 20% nylon mix which is, apparently, washable at 30 degrees, although I always advocate hand washing the woollies I knit.  Although there is some acrylic in it, it doesn’t shine in the sunlight like some of the cheaper brands do.  It’s a dull, matt colour which, I know I’m not describing very favourably, is perfect for an authentic reproduction piece. 

About 7 years ago, when I first started knitting, and progressed beyond 6” squares, the first thing I knitted up was a blackberry stitch turban, worked on huge needles.  The joy of blackberry stitch is that when worked on larger needles, it knits up quite quickly.  This bolero was knitted on 8’s, so I could really see it growing, which is always a plus in my book.

I actually made a sleeve for the bolero back in the autumn last year, but with commissions and Christmas prep, everything got bagged up until it was rediscovered in a cupboard on New Years.  Sunday evening knitting was made all the more palatable by being able to watch Foyle's War.

I often wonder how long it actually takes me to knit a garment.  Because I knit as the girls work, or in the car, or while I watch television, I don’t notice time ticking by.  So, New Year, new start, and all that, I thought it was about time I actually found out.  So I timed myself!  Yep, armed with my trusty stopwatch and a piece of paper, I recorded how long it took me to knit every single piece.  I even timed how long it took me to pin, press and finish it.  The grand total was 46 ½ hours, which I don’t think is too bad.  

I would have finished it sooner, but I foolishly tried to knit the second sleeve while full of snuffles, and so my cotton wool brain fluffed it up, and I had to start the sleeve over again!  Note the curly wool from ripping back the sleeve!

Sometimes patterns turn out as per the original, but sometimes they don’t, and this was one of those.  Although the pattern was nice and simple to follow, with a really easy pattern repeat, the sleeve tops didn’t go together as they should, so rather than putting in the pleats as suggested in the original, I gathered them instead.  The finished bolero also ended up being 4” bigger in the bust, coming out as a 38” rather than a 34”, but that’s not the end of the world.  Sorry about my photographs, they aren’t the best but it’s been so dull here.  I think the sun has gone on strike!

If you fancy giving this one a go, maybe in a cornflower blue or pistachio green ready for Spring, I have put the PDF pattern in my Etsy shop, which you can find here. 

Wool - Jarol Heritage 4 ply

Weight used - 256g

Time taken - 46.5 hours

Size - 38”