Pineapple lace sampler

Well, back as promised with some pineapple crochet for you. Although not as modern looking as the vessels, I wanted to go back to grassroots, so to speak, to get a feel of what crochet is all about and what aspects of it I can take forward into my work, especially stitches, structures, building up a form - drawing freehand with the thread. So I started with some simple pineapple doilies, working from the centre out using clusters and the pineapple stitch.

The pattern used for this sample is Vintage Crochet Pineapple Doily from the archives of Coats and Clark (- sadly this link has disappeared. I will post another if I can find one! If anyone has a new link, I'd love to know, ty) I've done some crochet pattern following a long time ago so it's not totally new to me but I needed to re-familiarise myself with crochet speak:) I began to realise that there is a bit of presumption in these older patterns - they expect you to know a certain amount already and there are small omissions in the pattern that must have been obvious to the designer - but not immediately to me!! So, I waded in, winging it a bit and I learned a lot just from making this little sample.

On the good side, I learned my tension is even and I managed an ok balance between yarn thickness and needle size so it shows up all the details of the lace when blocked, but I also learned that sometimes the pattern is right, even if you don't think it makes sense:))) Hence, this has no edged border as I dumped, as I thought, the unnecessary 3chain loop at the beginning of each new row along the side edges of the pineapple. My logic was good as far as it went - just not far seeing enough to predict what was needed for the next section!! Those extra 3 chains were designed to hold the lovely edging detail, which I now can't add - unless I fancy ripping it all back and starting again  - which I do not! So, lesson learned:)

Still, it's lovely anyway, and although it's not maybe fashionable to like traditional doilies these days, there is something fascinating about their structure - how they morph from one form into another using clever increases and decreases, changes of stitch pattern and the all important use of negative space with those lacy holes -  and there is a certain feeling of technical achievement as your work progresses and the pattern emerges. Very addictive! The real sense of achievement came for me when I was stretching out the lace to block - a real TA DA moment! All of a sudden, the pattern pulls out and you see, for the first time, how the pattern fits together and forms the intricate design that was intended - well, if you have done it right. I may also say, this is the time when you notice any mistakes - blocking lace isn't very forgiving of mistakes! But in this little sample, I was okay  - whew!

So now I have the lace crochet bug big time and I have been crocheting away on ever more complex patterns to see what else I can learn. It is interesting how the lace looks on different coloured backgrounds - the deep pink is a high contrast to the white but the soft pink of the blocking mat gives a much softer, delicate feel. I used some of my undyed sock yarn for this sample and it's a little bit woolly for showing up the crispness of the lacy detail so I've been using crochet cotton for the next few experiments - but more on that tomorrow;))

Happy making! elaine x

Baby Jasmine lace cardigan

Today I can show you the little jasmine lace cardi all finished and I'm really thinking this might be nice adult size:-) But then I always think that of children's clothes! But I may tinker with the idea and see how it translates on a larger scale. But back to the photos!

Jasmine cardi on a little flowery spring dress. Even though it is a newborn size and a bit smaller than the lily bolero, it still fits with this 0-3mths dress. I must say I think I like this even better than Lily (Shhh, don't tell anyone:-))

And from the back, it looks like a little jumper/sweater - another idea! In fact, this would be a simple way to knit a jumper in the round and much quicker without all those seams. Although I managed to graft the shoulders, sew all the seams properly and sew on all the lace edgings, I still think they are a bit ugly and if I can make things seamless, it looks more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I do understand that seams are meant to give more stability to a garment and I might well change my mind on an adult sized top but really there isn't that much here to stabilise:-) Maybe that's why the seams seem more bulky - they're out of proportion with the tiny sizing.

I kept to the given picot edging for the neckline and buttonhole band although it does have too much of a garter stitch feel for me. Well, it does at least tie in with the garter lace edging so it balances texturally but I think I should have thought out a smoother alternative to balance better with the wavy edging. (grumble, grumble....;-) You live and learn!

It does look better on the front though and I like the little pearly white flower-shaped buttons. For some reason, purple buttons just didn't work. Maybe purple overkill and it needed a bit of contrast to make it zing? Or maybe I don't have enough buttons to play around with:-)) Does that sound like a valid justification to get some more buttons? You know me and buttons -  I never have enough!

So, baby jasmine lace cardi all done. Now maybe it needs some little matching booties?!  - with some ribbon detailing running through a small lace edging? :-))

Baby Jasmine

Gosh, this last week has flown by! The sun came out and the gardening started and that was it! Woosh! Week gone! But, I have been squeezing in some knitting in the evenings so I do have a little progress to show you.

This is the baby Jasmine cardigan designed by Louisa Harding. The yarn is the lavendar Sirdar Snuggly DK so its very soft to the touch. So far I've knitted the stocking stitch parts and added the lace border to the main section. I'm still knitting the lace border for the sleeves and then I can attach them and finish with a decorative edging around the front edge and neckline with buttons as a fastening. It is so small though - very dinky:-) Even smaller than the lacy lily bolero.

I have made a few alterations with this pattern. I changed the lacy edging pattern as it just had too much garter stitch for my tastes. ( I think it has something to do with too much texture next to all that smooth stocking stitch;-) I substituted a lovely wavy lace design instead and although it doesn't look as if it has as much length as the original as you are knitting, it does stretch out when you block it.  I really wanted to get a little flare to the edging to mimic a little dress shape so I deliberately knitted the border longer to compensate. I sewed it up using a 1:1 stitch ratio - a straight edge would probably need more like a 1:2 - 1 stitch from the lace edge to 2 sts from the body (roughly!)

So far, I've finished one sleeve and should finish the other tonight. If I'm on the ball, I may even get the sleeves sewn onto the body too, ready for the neckline edging tomorrow. Then buttons and finished! Then I think I'll move away from lace and think about colour and stripes! A stripey dress? or a little jumper/sweater? I found a lovely pattern for some stripey dungarees too! I don't think it gave a newborn size though so maybe keep that one in reserve for a few months!

Thinking about using this self striping sock yarn - nice and bright isn't it? This is a bamboo mix so it's lovely and soft to the touch, perfect for that baby softness. It may not be quite so stripey on bigger items like a baby dress though but I'll test it out to see. Still no news on the baby front so I still have a little time left, although it can't be that much longer now, eh sis?:-)

Back soon with some lovely stripey goodness - if I don't get hijacked by the garden again!

Red Ripley...or 32 days till christmas!

So, we're back to monday again - did you have a nice weekend? The weather here has been pretty awful - lashing rain and gales howling outside with very dark days:-) - so just perfect for snuggling inside with your knitting!

I had a bit of a mini crisis when I read a blog this weekend that blatantly stated 34 days to christmas -34??? Well, today's count will be 32 if you include christmas day. And then I started thinking about all the things I am intending to make as presents and then I started thinking how long each of these would realistically take to make and then I had a mini panic!!!

So, the result of this was, my new red ripley hat - tada!

Quick, easy and looks good when finished = christmas solution:-) This is knitted in chunky/bulky yarn - Paton's solo mohair mix, which I think I can safely say is discontinued as this came from my stash and I remember having a very warm batwing top knitted out of this in the late 80's:-))

Anyway! Moving swiftly on:-) The pattern is another lovely one by Ysolda called 'Ripley' which is part of her new 'Whimsical Little Knits 2' collection. (Both the green veyla mitts and the snapdragon beret patterns that I've knitted are from that collection too). Its meant to be knitted in heavy worsted or aran weight but I had this chunky yarn to hand and loved the colour so I just made a size bigger than stated. In hindsight I maybe should have knitted the large instead of the medium as it is a bit neat on me but it will fit someone else with a smaller head  I'm sure;-)

The pattern itself is very cleverly constructed but simple to make. The initial band can be plain or lace. I chose the lace which is knitted sideways with the slipped stitches picked up along one side to knit the rest of the hat in the round. This construction idea is the same as in the velya mitts so I found it familiar and easy.

The next lovely detail is the extra pleats. In the picture above, I have just finished one pleat just above the lace border - a large tuck created by picking up some stitches from further down and I still had two pleats to go at that stage. This really helps shape the slouchiness of the hat so it doesn't pool messily at the back of your head! A clever way to gather the extra fabric and make it a design feature.

I knitted the less slouchy version and I think it still gives a nicely fitted hat without having that stretched-over-the-head look:-) But the extra slouchy version looks good too and some people have added a pompom!! So, all in all it's a very festive hat indeed;-))

So, 32 days to go and one present down..........