Quick Knitting

I don't know why but in spite of all the things I have on my "to-do" list, I suddenly felt the urge to make this chunky jacket.  It's made on 8mm needles so I thought it'd be really quick and keep me warm and cosy as the weather is getting miserable and cold (lots of rain and wind here!).  I started it on Thursday and finished it last night.

The wool is Drops Andes, a wonderfully soft and comfy blend of wool and alpaca.  The colour is a bit brighter than I was expecting but I do like turquoise and wear it often.  It's just a bit bolder than my usual turquoise.

What I really wanted to write about in particular and share with other interested knitters is that I made this in the round first of all (I always work in the round with circular needles wherever possible) BUT the best part is THE SLEEVES!  I tried a new method for the first time:  top down with short row shaping.  It's wonderful. What a revelation.  No sewing, easy and perfect fit.  I'm a total convert and will definitely be knitting more sleeves with that method.  I highly recommend anybody to look this up. Especially with chunky yarn like this where a seam would be bulky, picking up stitches and knitting down from the armhole looks much better.

(Apologies, not great photo from my phone above)

Pattern is Berroco "Nimbus"

(A free pattern)

Sleeve work in progress

Finished sleeve and how perfectly it fits the armhole.

You can't even see where I did the wraps.

It just looks smooth and fits so well.

If anyone's interested, this blogpost by Knittyprofessors

explains how to convert the whole pattern to knit it in the round

and to use the top-down method for the sleeves.

So that's it.  I just felt I had to share my discovery and possibly inspire knitters to try something new.  It's well worth it!  I'm wearing it now and it is wonderfully warm and cosy.  Happy.  :-)

Right, back to shuttles and gift crochet and knitting and tatting!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Tiny Snowflakes

As I mentioned before I wanted a tiny snowflake and here is what I have come up with.  They are a bit fiddly to make due to their small size but I like their shape.  Can you see how I managed to get an hexagon in the centre again?  Just like a real snowflake.  These really benefit from being blocked to stretch the picots at the end and give them their pointy shape (a few pins and a quick puff of steam from your iron - quickly done!).  I placed the shuttle in the photo for size reference.  They are made in size 20 thread.  Two of them have an added metallic filament and two don't.

I won't be making an "official" pattern for those… it's hardly a pattern really… when you want something that tiny, there's not that many stitches you can put in there!  But if you'd like to make some, here is how:

Wind half a metre or so of thread onto a shuttle, do not cut from the ball:

SCMR2-1---1-2 (the first and third picots should be quite small and the middle one longer)

C2

Repeat 5 times.  That's it.  Simple, n'est-ce pas?  You must make sure to pull everything really tight so there is no floppiness and no gaps anywhere. Join the last chain back under the first SCMR.  It helps if you put a paperclip before starting the first chain so you can find a little space to join to.  I've just tied these with a tiny reef knot at the back, I didn't sew ends in.

Using SCMRs instead of rings is what helps make an hexagonal shape in the centre.

After writing this up, I thought about it again and wondered what would it look like with just normal rings and chains… and guess what?  It's nice too!  In fact, using regular rings and chains produces a little star in the centre instead of an hexagon which is also life-like and pretty.  So there.  Incredibly simple if you want to make tiny snowflakes:

R2-1---1-2, rw

C2 (BUT, make it like this:  2nd half, 1 full stitch, 1st half as when tatting FS/BS, this fills the gap under the ring and makes for a neater finish).

This is what it looks like blocked above,

and unblocked below.

You can see how stretching the centre picot

really helps give it a more "snowflaky" appearance.

Don't pull them too much though

or you'll stretch the centre

and the "star" will be less obvious.

I even tried it with a crystal in the middle (centre row right in the photo below).  To conclude, both versions are pretty but I think most people will find the simple rings and chains version easier to make than the SCMR version… though I'm personally partial to the latter because I like the hexagon, and I think perhaps the SCMR version is just a little bit "sturdier".

I hope you'll enjoy making these tiny snowflakes, really quick and easy.

Best wishes,

Frivole

And the Winners are...

Beth, Maria, Happy Dogma, Moopsee and Julie!  I have emails for Julie and Happy Dogma but Beth, Maria and Moopsee, can you please contact me with your emails so I can send you the pattern!

I have also received another Kreinik thread which I can highly recommend:  it's Blending Filament 032 (Pearl).  It looks a bit "golden" on the reel but has a very similar effect when tatted up.

It's Kreinik 032 on the left, Kreinik 5760 in the middle, and DMC 4300 on the right in the photo below.  They all work well to add a lovely subtle sparkle to your snowflakes.

And with all this pattern testing (two snowflakes in quick succession), I've been tatting up a storm!  Which is good because I now have enough snowflakes for my Christmas cards.  I have even more than when I took the photo.  I've also been working on a mini snowflake design - that's the tiny snowflakes you can see in the photo below.  It's not quite there yet but I thought it'd be nice to have a really quick little pattern for when you have just a bit of thread left on your shuttles.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Crystals and Sparkle

Internet is down. Someone dug through a cable and we've been without internet for two days. That's when you realise how much you rely on it!  I really hope they fix it soon. I've been unable to list new items in my shop and even regular correspondence is very slow going having to type on my phone!

Still, grateful for my phone as I am making this blogpost from it - only for the second time ever.  Ah! Technology!

I received the new crystals I wanted to try for the star centre in Bentley. These are transparent but with AB coating. I love them.  Just the right look for an icy lacy snowflake. 

And I have an update on sparkly threads. I was so delighted to find DMC 4300... but when I tried to order some more, I was told that this thread has been discontinued!  Drats!  I managed to nab the last five reels that the shop had but that's it.  All is not lost though; with that order I also got a reel of Kreinik Metallics Blending Filament in shade 5760 (called "Marshmallow)... and found to my delight that this is incredibly similar to DMC 4300! Not quite the same texture - Kreinik is actually smoother and maybe a tiny bit finer - but it does give the same subtle iridescent effect when tatted up.  Kreinik was a bit less expensive for me to buy than DMC Metallic but it comes in a 50m spool whereas DMC is a 100m spool.  I'm waiting for another colour to arrive in the post (9032 - Easter Grass) and I will report on that when I have received and tested it.

Again, sparkle is really hard to capture on camera but I hope you can see it a bit in the photo above.

I don't know how easily available Kreinik is but they have a wide selection of colours in their "blending filament" range. I also have their silver which looks nice too but has that slightly "greying" effect which I don't like as much. Kreinik is made in the USA so should at least be easily available to my American friends. Please let me know!

I now have the pattern for Bentley written up but currently unable to send it to my testers... due to having no internet!  Really really hope they fix it soon.  Keep your fingers crossed for me please!

When I have it ready, I will make a draw for free Bentley patterns from comments in this blogpost.  So please leave a comment if you'd like to be entered!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Bentley

A very kind lady sent me Wilson Bentley's book called "Snowflakes in photographs" - thank you!  I was thrilled!  I no longer need to search through internet for snowflake photos, I have all I need right there in that book.

Wilson Bentley is one of the first known photographers of snowflakes.  I am inspired by many of the samples in his book… this is the first one that came off my shuttles.  I was thinking of him and I was looking to create a bit of a bolder design because I wished to name my new snowflake design after him.  I also wanted it to be special in his honour and that's when I came up with the idea of giving it a crystal centre, in a star shape.  There is often a little star at the heart of real snowflakes so this seemed perfect.  I can't quite catch it in my photos unfortunately but the Swarovski crystals look wonderful and sparkly at the heart of this snowflake.  I've just ordered different ones with an AB coating and I think they'll look even better.

Of course, I know that not everyone likes to tat with beads (or even have any to hand) so Bentley can also be made without beads and I will provide both versions.

I wanted really straight "arms" to my snowflake so I used lock chains and also in the centre where, like in Snowdrop, I wanted to emphasise the hexagonal shape which is a feature of real snowflakes.

I added a silver filament to my cotton thread

and when I pressed it, it made the picots at the tip go a bit funny…

I need to sort that out but was too impatient!

Below is the snowflake photograph

that inspired Bentley

Trying to show you the sparkly centre star;

This will look lovely hanging on a tree when the

light catches the crystals…

Very icy.

                                     Without crystals:                                    With crystals:

Again this is not a difficult design to tat.  I've even done away with the SCMR which I used at first to be able to throw the decorative rings at the tips of the snowflake.  Instead, I used a chain joined back which I have decided I actually prefer.  I think the resulting join is better and lays flatter than when using a SCMR.  I think SCMRs can sound daunting to new tatters but if you just think of it as a chain joined back at its beginning, then anybody can do that.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Gifts and Remembrance

A friend from afar very kindly sent me some thread to try, thank you so much, it was a lovely surprise.

It is made by Alenalea Design on Etsy.  A nice thread to work with and I particularly liked this lovely mix of colours called Guinevere.  I thought my little flower would be great to show off the colours… I made one earring and then thought of a friend who doesn't wear earrings so I came up with this necklace idea.

See how pretty the thread colours are?

I paired it with leafy greens by Lizbeth.

I think I will make one for my shop but may change the angle of the leaves on the next one.  I also tried something new and made a macrame knot closure which is adjustable.  It's great and there's no need for findings.

It's Remembrance this Sunday and although I showed this to you last year, I just took it out of the drawer today to pin it to my coat and thought how much I like this poppy, design by Jennifer Williams, so I thought I'd show it to you again.

I think I should probably change the plastic stem eventually but I really like the way this poppy looks and always get compliments when I wear it.

Best wishes,

Frivole