Eastwood Bag, The Knitter issue 26

I’ve been really lax about posting over the last couple of weeks but I honestly haven’t been idle, though I must admit to watching a few too many episodes of ‘Law & Order’ whilst I work. My latest design for The Knitter is now available and the photos look brilliant. It’s always difficult to imagine exactly how a project will look when photographed especially when you’re not the one holding the camera. (In my case I should say it’s sometimes my husband who does my photographs – well it IS his job and he’s far better at it than I www.samsloan.co.uk).

Eastwood is a curved bottomed bag worked in a combination of techniques. The front & back sections are knitted in an argyle inspired intarsia pattern using the wonderfully richly coloured Noro Kureyon on 6.50 mm needles. Of course when working intarsia it’s normal to work with a new ball / colour for each different motif but in order to accentuate the diamond pattern you need to prepare the yarn before casting on. This means using each major change in the colourway as a ‘new’ colour and  seperating the 100g ball into lots of mini balls. You can then pick out the neutral or hot tones within the yarn ( I chose to focus on the hotter orange, pink, yellow ) and plan out where you want the colours to occur on the chart .

The gusset and pocket are worked on smaller needles in fairisle using a doubled end of Jamieson & Smith’s 2ply Jumperweight in colours that echo the tones of the Kureyon. There’s a nice textural contrast between the chunky reverse stocking stitch of the front/back and the finer weight stocking stitch gusset. Felting ( or should I say fulling ) after it’s knitted blurs the colours and shrinks the bag for a more sturdy fabric and although I don’t usually line my bags I really felt ( oops – no pun intended ) that  in this case it was necessary to help with the bulbous shape. The gorgeous leather handle in delicious chocolate brown comes from U-Handbag, mmm I could spend some serious money there.

I hope you enjoy this design, stay warm

J

new apps

Ooh just downloaded the WordPress app to my Blackberry so I thought I’d try it out

Late night

It’s late and my eyes are square and VERY dry having spent the day working on the website, tweeting and formatting patterns for downloads. Anyway, the Tait2 Cowl is now up on the site here as are my new ‘Pattern Bundles‘ here which should help to solve any Christmas shopping dilemmas

Night Night

Foul weather but a new design!

It’s HORRIBLE today! I don’t have a problem with Monday’s like a lot of people but today the weather is foul, so foul in fact that I’m about to decamp to the front room and work in front of the stove – solid fuel, not cooker, mmm. Hopefully this new design will help keep the chills at bay.

Tait2 is a cowl, knitted in my Chunky Baby Alpaca and SO warm you’ll soon forget the weather. 

 

It’s knitted in the round on an 80 cm long circular needle with  a cable and rib pattern travelling across it’s width. The pattern is only 6 rounds long so there isn’t a lot of pattern to remember meaning you can concentrate instead on enjoying the softness of this luxurious yarn. PLUS it’s very quick to knit so there’s still plenty of time to get a few knitted as Christmas presents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can buy the pattern from my Ravelry Pattern Store here or keep an eye on the website here for how to buy both pattern and yarn at a very special price

Officially Winter

Here in the UK it’s officially winter as the clocks went back this weekend. There’s been a lot of talk about whether we should still be changing the clocks for the end of British Summer Time but we didn’t get much of a summer here in Edinburgh so the change at least means that we can officially stop looking to the skies first thing in the morning in the vain hope that the sun will make an appearance impressive enough for us to only need one layer instead of three. As a January born baby I like this time of year for lots of knitting, wrapping up warm in long boots with skirts ( plus a top of course ) and  storing edible goodies, hence Mrs Sloan’s Homemade pickles.  ( By the way, just one of Mr Sloan’s pickled chillis nearly took our heads off on Saturday ). So to celebrate November  and the official start of British Winter Time I’ve got 2 more patterns for you which are available for download from the website.

Firstly there’s Gladstone Bag which was first published in The Knitter issue 10 so if you missed that issue of the magazine this is your chance to get a copy of the pattern.

Knitted in Jamieson & Smiths 2ply Jumperweight the bag is beaded in 2 colours with intarsia motifs on the sides with a brightly contrasting base worked in slip stitch stripes. Felting helps to give the bag it’s structure and embroidery stitches such as backstitch, bullion knots & Pekinese stitch create a riot of texture reminiscent of the Marrakesh souk that inspired the design. If you haven’t tried felting or colourwork before I probably wouldn’t recommend this as your first project but if you have tackled basic intarsia & beading and fancy a bit of a challenge then this is a satisfying project to knit. The stunningly classy Lucite bag handle is the final finishing touch and available from Pavi Yarns here

The bright bullion knots and buttons are applied after felting

The chainstitch & Pekinese stitch edges are applied before felting and the tassels are attached afterwards at the centres

Next there’s Clem’s Lace which is a beautifully soft scarf named after my grandmother Clementine.

Worked in an undulating lace pattern the double decreases and yarn overs give the scarf soft bumping side edges. It’s knitted flat in two pieces which are grafted together at the centre using Kitchener stitch so that the pattern is mirrored towards the centre. I’ve used my Worsted spun 100% cashmere and the yarn takes on another level of softness when you block and pin out the scarf. Just give it a gentle blast of steam with an iron and it becomes  much more full and rounded which makes the finished scarf even more dreamily soft. The pattern includes both charted and written instructions and is suitable for knitters of advanced beginner level and upwards.

Enjoy the new patterns and  pinch and a punch for the first of the month. (No returns )

J