ColourSpun In Stitches - Mock Cable

This is a great way to add a cable effect to your knitting without using a cable needle, which makes it quick and easy too.

You will need:
ColourSpun – Yarn of your choice available from www.colourspun.com
Knitting needles to suit your yarn

Abbreviations
C/on cast on
C/off cast off
K knit
K2tog knit the following 2 stitches together
P purl
Sts stitches

Instructions
C/on a number of stitches divisible by 8
Row1: (K3; P2; K3) – to end
Row 2: (P3; K2; P3) – to end
Row 3: Repeat row 1
Row 4: *P3; (K2tog; leave stitches on the left-hand needle; K into the 1st stitch again and slide both off needle); P3* - repeat from * to * to end of row.
These 4 rows make the pattern, knit until your work reaches the desired length.
C/off

ColourSpun In Stitches - Knit Intarsia

It's Valentines month and so I thought you may like a quick little heart to knit into a gift for someone you love. This one uses intarsia, which is easier than it sounds, just make sure you keep your tension even when changing colour.

Also Known as picture knitting, intarsia knitting involves working sections of colour with separate balls or bobbins of yarn to produce a fabric that is only one layer thick as the non working yarn is not carried across the back. Instead, at each colour change the old colour is dropped and the next colour is picked up to work the next section. This means that you will have lots of bits of yarn hanging off your work. To prevent tangles, avoid working with whole balls of yarn; rather wind your yarn off onto bobbins which can hold the yarn not in use close to the work to prevent tangles. When changing colours, to prevent holes forming, drop the old colour and pick the new colour up from underneath the old yarn, wrapping it over the old yarn to hold it in place before continuing to knit. At each colour change, give the yarn a little tug to keep the stitch size uniform.

Intarsia is usually worked flat in stocking stitch from a charted pattern. I photo copy the pattern and place it in a plastic sleeve; then use a permanent marker to draw a line through the rows as they are completed, making it easy to see where I need to pick up the pattern.

You will need:
2 balls of ColourSpun yarn in different colours –colour A (background) and colour B (heart) available from www.colourspun.com
5 knitting bobbins (wooden pegs also work well)
1 pair knitting needles to suit your yarn

Instructions:
Wind 3 bobbins of colour A - 2 quite full and one with only a little on which will be used in the centre at the top of the heart.
Wind 2 bobbins of colour B – 1 full and one with only a little on for one side of the top of the heart.

Cast on 35 stitches
Rows 1 – 4: knit
Row 5: (Wrong side) K3; P29; K3
Row 6: knit
Repeat rows 5 and 6 twenty more times working in colour pattern from graph
Row 47- 49: knit
Cast off purl wise.

Note: The heart pattern starts on row 7.

Darn in ends – keeping colour A in colour A stitches and colour B in colour B stitches to prevent the ends showing on the front of your work.

ColourSpun Sale

Sale

20 November –  3 December 2012

All yarn 20% discount

Shop Online – www.colourspun.com

Don't forget to visit my pattern stores on Craftsy, StitchedStuff on Etsy.com and Ravelry

Have fun! :)

TAFA TOUR - Meet Constance Rose

Today a few TAFA members are doing a guided tour of TAFA and we will each be taking our readers to visit a different TAFA member.

I'm very pleased to introduce you to Constance Rose of Constance Rose Designs

Connie lives and works in Fortuna, CA, and has been working in textiles for over 30 years. Starting out as a custom clothing designer, her fiber career has included knitting, crochet, embroidery, papermaking, spinning, dyeing, weaving and now, surface design and studio quilting. 
The Studio Quilts Connie creates are non-traditional small quilts of varying sizes -- utilizing hand dyed, painted, printed and shiboried fabrics, and digital images printed on fabric and she is available by request to present workshops on dyeing and surface design techniques.

Pop over to visit her on TAFA and don't forget to go on to visit her website, blog and Textile shop.

Stitch Saturday

For a while now I've been doing a "Block of the Month" for Stitches magazine and I thought it would be nice to share some of them here.

Slip Stitch / Mosaic Knitting

This method of knitting allows you to have more than one colour in a row but work with each colour separately. This means that one colour at a time is used by working the stitches in that colour and slipping the other stitches purl wise. Each row is only completed once all the colours in that row have been worked. Using contrasting colours works best.

The patterns for this type of knitting are usually charted with the black squares representing your darker yarn and the white squares your lighter yarn. A column of squares, usually on the right hand side of the chart indicates the colour yarn to be used in each row.  The rows are numbered on both sides, odd numbers on the right and even numbers on the left. You will notice that each row is numbered twice, this is because each is worked twice, first from the right, following the stitch pattern on the chart and then from the left working the same stitches again.

You will need

Yarn of your choice – one light colour and one dark colour

Knitting needles to suit your yarn

Instructions

The pattern worked here repeats over 10 stitches and 24 rows.

Using your light colour; cast on a multiple of 10 stitches and work in stocking stitch. Work 2 rows then continue repeating the charted pattern as many times as is necessary until you have knit a square. Cast off with your light colour.

If you prefer, cast on 2 extra stitches which will be worked as edge stitches on each row in your light colour.

24											23
22											21
20											19
18											17
16											15
14											13
12											11
10											9
8											7
6											5
4											3
2											1

Enjoy!

Craftsy

Hi Everyone,

I've recently discovered Craftsy, a wonderful website for crafters! I've already loaded a number of projects onto my store there and will be adding more regularly, so keep checking to see whats new. All the patterns there are printer friendly so that solves the problems that have been encountered by people trying to print from here :)

To reach my store, just click on my Craftsy label in the right hand column of my blog.

Here are some of the paterns I've already loaded

Bags of Fun

The last couple of weeks have gone by in a blur. I got some new dyes and have been dyeing almost 24/7!
What fun, I love mixing up different colours and then watching the yarn transform in the pots. The weather has been a lot cooler, misty, overcast and fairly wet but the dye pots keep my studio lovely and warm and colourful. I'll be posting some photos of the new colours here soon and will list them on my website and on etsy too.

Having so much fun reminded me of a pattern I did a while ago - a tote bag that I called

"Bags of Fun"

These bags are great fun to make and very versatile. Use them to carry your latest craft project, for shopping, or knit them up in cotton yarns to take your goodies to the beach.

You will need:
1m x 1.5m denim or similar fabric (makes 2 bags)
Sewing thread
Sewing machine
300g yarn (for each bag) in assorted colours and textures – mainly double knitting weight
1 pair knitting needles size 5,5mm or Nina S9 knitting machine, tension set at 9

The pattern for this bag is available  from my Craftsy Pattern Store or my Ravelry Pattern Store

:)