May 2022 - Iris Rose Knits and Crochets

Patterns

May 26, 2022 Iris Rose

Do you like to knit and sew? Made in cotton, this pretty little dress is the perfect summer project. The skirt is full and fun and the bodice is a cool or cozy knit depending on the fibre that you use.

I love to crochet and sew as well as knit so have combined all of these crafts in this little dress. I used a really soft cotton and acrylic blend worsted weight yarn in my stash and a cotton remnant for the skirt. You can find the pattern in my Ravelry store here and my Etsy store here.

Are you looking for an easy pattern for charity knitting? Summer is a great time for small projects! Every year I try to knit at least thirty hats for donation. Last year I made over one hundred as well as several hat and scarf sets for school kids. This easy but great looking hat is available in my Ravelry store here and my Etsy store here.

Thanks for looking and I hope that you enjoy my patterns! Have a great weekend and happy crafting.

Knitting

Sweetie Pie Dress and Bubble Sleeve Sweater

May 17, 2022 Iris Rose

Two new machine knitting patterns from my personal notebook are now available. Pattern writing is always a challenge; creating the design, testing, and writing up the instructions are not a quick process. I have favoured girly patterns for this post but, rest assured, there are some great patterns for boys on the way.

The first pattern is a fun sweater with fancy sleeves that is written for midgauge knitting machines. There are ribbed bands, but these can easily be made in mock rib or by reworking knit stitches. I knit the sleeves in a fun self striping yarn for a colour pop and matched a solid colour for the body and bands. It is written in five sizes from 20” to 32” finished chest measurements. You can link to the pattern in my Ravelry store here or my Etsy store here.

The second pattern is a pretty dress that is written for sizes 2, 3, and 4 for standard gauge machines with or without a ribber. Instructions are included for plain knit bands if you don’t have a ribber bed. I would like to make this one in larger sizes but was limited by the number of needles. I could have made the skirt in more pieces but did not like the look of the extra seams. I do have an Aline version that I will be publishing in larger sizes that has a similar Fair Isle band. You can link to the pattern in my Ravelry store here or my Etsy store here.

Thanks for looking and I will be back soon with more on all of my favourite crafts. Have a happy week filled with kindness.

Baking, Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Bagels

May 12, 2022 Iris Rose

At the end of April, I had a hankering for bagels. Not the chain store bakery ones that are really just buns with a hole in the middle but real bagels. Slightly sticky on the crust with a real chewy middle. Perfect for toasting and delicious for breakfast bagels, you know the kind. Even though I bake all of our bread products, I haven’t made bagels for a very long time.

I keep a sourdough starter in my fridge that was originally given to me a few years ago by a fellow vendor at a craft sale. It just keeps getting better and better the older that it gets. I used this starter for my bagel’s and made the dough nice and soft so that it would stay chewy. I can share my recipe, but you can find the same basic sourdough in most good bread books.

Here is my adventure in photos; when I reached the finish, I was really, really happy with the flavour and texture. I will definitely make these again.