New Designs

Yesterday I got very excited when I came home to a parcel slip on the door mat. I thought it might be the yarn  for a new design I'm waiting for, but when I got to the sorting office it was the new issue of Let's Knit. I can't believe it's time for Let's Knit again.  I've not finished reading last month's issue yet.

Anyway, I've got 2 designs in this issue. First up is the beautiful lacy cardigan, Lucy, knitted in Debbie Bliss Prima which is a merino/bamboo blend.

The bamboo gives the yarn a lovely sheen and a silky feel with great drape. This makes this cardigan the perfect smooth, silky cardigan to wear with your Christmas outfits and will take you into the new year and through several seasons.

The lace pattern is easy to follow with simple garter stitch edges, making it the perfect quick knit for Christmas. Start one now and you can be wearing it on Christmas Day. I wish I had time to make myself one but i have too many other deadlines. Craftie Pixie knitted this cardigan for me and did a great job as always.

My second design in this month's Let's Knit is a set of three Christmas baubles called Comfort, Joy & Tidings. This is also my first ever Christmas decorations. I don't normally do Christmas decorations but last Christmas when my Mum bought me the book, 55 Christmas Balls To Knit by Arne & Carlos (she bought me the Norwegian version - the English/American version is now out), I knew i had to design some.

I chose to make one featuring a traditional Norwegian snowflake motif:

I added some bling with this gorgeous beaded one:

And for those not keen on beads or fair isle, there is a stripey one:

All three baubles follow the same basic pattern and are knitted in the round on double pointed needles using King Cole Merino Blend 4ply. You can use any 4ply or sock yarn, so why not use up some of your stash. If you don't want to do any patterning, choose a self-striping sock yarn and let the yarn do the work for you.

I'd almost forgotten about the next 2 designs. I did these 2 designs in the early summer. They are part of Artesano's Nordic Collection and uses Artesano Superwash Merino which is a gorgeous, smooth, soft and bouncy pure merino yarn.

Craftie Pixie knitted this mini dress, Kara, with short sleeves, which was inspired by Icelandic lopi sweaters.

Wear it on it's own if you're brave or over leggings for jeans if you're slightly more shy about your legs. Whichever way you wear it, it's right on trend for this winter and will keep you toasty warm.

I think I knitted Pixie knitted Thea (or did you do it, Pixie? I can't remember). This one was inspired by traditional Norwegian ski sweaters. They are normally knitted in the round with steeked armholes which is a bit intimidating for most knitters (including me. My Mum used to do the steeking/cutting for me). So I knitted this one in the round with a ciruclar yoke instead.

Both sweaters have corrugated 1x1 ribs which is a look I love on fair isle sweaters but they are a bit slow to knit so I've kept the ribs short, which I prefer anyway. Both sweaters are worked in the round. Body & sleeves are worked separately to the armhole and are then joined and the yoke is shaped with short rows to shape the back of the neck. This means that when you've finished the knitting you only have 2 underarm seams to graft and the ends to weave in. If you're new to fair isle, these two sweaters aren't too intimidating as they only include a small amount of fair isle with most of the body and sleeves in lovely, relaxing stocking stitch and remember when you work in the round every stitch is a knit stitch. No purling (apart from when you do the back neck short rows). A lot of people forget there is no purling when they work in the round. In my sock classes, it's quite often a pleasant surprise to a lot of people. Both patterns are available as Ravelry downloads (click on the sweater names for direct links - Kara & Thea) and I assume they're also available from good yarn shops.