Month: December 2019

Knitting

Need To Make A Last Minute Gift?

Iris Rose

Are you panicked yet? No? Good for you, that means that you are organized and well self managed. Yes? Welcome to the real world of crafting!

If you desperately need a hand knit gift and only have an evening to pull it off, here are a couple of my free patterns that can be made in that time.

 

First off is my Simple Shawl. Knit on big needles with bulky yarn, you can whip this one up in four hours or less. It only uses 150m of a fancy yarn to create a shawl that highlights the yarn and is soft and squishy. It is an ideal way to use up a special, I only have two skeins, of something pretty.  Block it aggressively when you are done.

 

My next suggestion, if you have even less time, is my Quick and Easy Garter Stitch Cowl. Again, relying on big needles and big or fancy yarn, this is an easy two hour project. I have doubled or tripled contrasting colours and textures to create my own bulky yarn for this one many times making a special, one of a kind, piece to keep your neck warm.

 

 

Okay, I have given you a couple of ideas, now dig through that stash and get busy, time is a wasting!

I wish you all the best for the holiday season no matter who and how you celebrate. Kindness is the greatest gift of all so please give freely

Knitting

Custom Knitting

Iris Rose

I have been machine knitting again. I really enjoy the creative process of designing and making custom garments for kids and had someone ask for a pair of Christmas dresses for her grandchildren. One of the girls is harder to fit and I also really like a challenge.

I have a dressmaking background, so I have a very good understanding of how garments are constructed and how to make them fit properly. I sat down with the measurements provided to me along with my calculator and knit swatches and went to town.

I normally just wing it when I am creating something new, relying on that experience in sewing to see me through to generic sizing. It was a bit of a challenge and a great deal of fun to produce something that is a custom fit.

This is what I came up with. The flower bit is meant to look like a sash. It done in fairisle with a lining to hide the floats and to prevent any catches when dressing.  There are also buttons on the right shoulder to open the neck up for ease in dressing.

I am pretty proud of these two little dresses and plan to use the design to create a multisized pattern to publish.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely week ahead. Remember that the cranky person that you run across may have a huge heap of problems weighting them down so be kind.