Temperature Shawl

Having seen a lot of Temperature scarfs and blankets during 2020, I decided to work on a blanket for 2021. However, it turned into a shawl when the ‘baby blanket’ grew far too long!

Each day I knitted two rows, the colour was based on the highest temperature that day and I added some sparkle for sun, rain and overcast days and some fluffy yarn for snow.

I used Paintbox Cotton Aran, 4.5mm needles and a garter stitch chevron pattern to make the shawl. The shawl is 66cm/26in wide and ended up being 328cm/128in long. See below for pattern notes.

Temperature Shawl

What I did:

Using Aran weight cotton yarn and 4.5mm needles, cast on 142 stitches in the colour for the 1st January.

Row 1: k1, *k9, k2tog, k8, kfb; repeat from * 6 more times to last st, k1.

Row 2: with yarn forward slip 1 purlwise, *k9, k2tog, k8, kfb; repeat from * 6 more times to last st, with yarn forward, slip 1 purlwise.

These two rows form the pattern, repeat each day to the year end!

Abbreviations: k – knit; k2tog – knit two stitches together; kfb – knit into the front and back of the next stitch; st – stitch.

2020 and 2021 Knitting

Having not written a post for a while I’m looking back over the last couple of years. With 2020 came the Covid19 lockdown which found me knitting chunky/bulky baby blankets and cushion covers initially, followed by worsted weight textured hats. The year ended with a DK weight woodland themed scarf, which took a while to knit, photograph and write up the pattern.

The patterns can be found in my Etsy shop.

Alpacas on a Baby Blanket and Cushion Cover

Shropshire Sheep Baby Blanket and Cushion Cover

Dot Stitch Baby Blanket

Moss Stitch Heart Cushion Cover

All the beanie hat patterns shown come in baby to adult sizes

Dot Stitch Beanie

Box Stitch Beanie

Fleck Stitch Beanie

And finally for 2020 my Wee Woodlanders Scarf.

Wee Woodlanders Scarf

Not so much knitting went on in 2021 due to the arrival of my FrenchieLab puppy (mum was a French Bulldog and dad a Labrador)!

Lottie

Firstly, after several requests, I wrote a pattern for an adult version of my Oliver Owl toddler jumper pattern.

Oliver Owl for Adults

And a Sweethearts Baby Blanket, which seemed to take forever!

Sweethearts Baby Blanket

I also spent the year knitting a Temperature Shawl, two rows a day throughout the year, the temperature denoting the colour used on each day. Pictures and pattern notes in a separate post.

The Alphabet

At the request of my daughter, I designed and made a baby blanket for her friend who wanted the baby’s initials incorporated in the pattern.  This then lead to me writing up and publishing the Hearts Baby Blanket pattern which included my design for the upper case alphabet.  I then decided to come up with a design for the lower case alphabet and I am pleased to offer the charts for both alphabets here: Alphabet – Upper and Lower Case

The pattern for this Hearts Baby Blanket can be found in my Etsy and Ravelry on line shops, see side bar to the right of this post.

Looking back at 2017

On checking my Ravelry patterns – http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sylvia-leake –  I realised I’d managed to design, knit, test knit, photograph, write up and publish 15 new knitting patterns last year!  Starting with ‘A Badger Blanket’ at the beginning of the year, which was actually designed and made at the end of 2016.  So here’s the round up:

A Badger Blanket

 

 

Woolly Snowflakes Hat

Woolly Snowflakes Cowl

Woolly Snowflakes Hat and Woolly Snowflakes Cowl patterns (both Toddler to Adult sizes)

 

Love Cats on a Hat

Prowling Cats Cowl

Floral Flutters Cowl

 

Laurel Baby Booties

Laurel Baby Hat

Laurel Baby Booties and Laurel Baby Hat

 

Snugly Sheep Baby Blanket and Snugly Sheep Cushion Cover

 

 

Woolly Sheep Mittens

Woolly Sheep Cowl and Woolly Sheep Mittens

 

Reindeer Baby Hat (to match my Reindeer Booties pattern designed in 2012!)

Winter Robin Hat (Baby to Adult sizes)

 

 

Textured Diamonds Cowl

Basil’s thoughts

We haven’t heard much from Basil recently, so here are some photos with his thoughts!

I was sleeping ……..

when asked my opinion on this cat cowl – my reply!

I was peacefully sleeping, when rudely awakened for an opinion on this cat cowl thing. You can see my reply!

Being offered a tasty morsel

I deserve it as i’ve lost weight recently!

Accepting a tasty morsel, as I’m pleased to say I’m finally losing weight.  The knitter has been starving me, she doesn’t refill my bowl when it’s empty even when I ask in the cutest way possible!

Trying to ignore a rival for the knitter’s attention, it’s certainly not as cute as me!

More Double Knitting

I knitted this ‘Prowling Cats’ Cowl using the double knitting technique in the round on a circular needle.  I found following the chart for the cat motifs a lot easier in the round than when using this technique for my ‘Cosy Sheep’ Cowl, which was knitted flat on two needles.

When knitting in the round you read every row of the chart from right to left.  The first stitch of each pair is knit in the colour shown on the chart whilst the second stitch of the pair is purled in the opposite colour, this applies to every row!  So a lot less confusing than knitting flat, when odd rows are worked the same as in the round, but for even rows you read the chart from left to right and have to remember to knit the first stitch of the pair in the opposite colour to that shown and purl the second stitch in the colour shown.

I have now published the pattern which you can find in my online shops:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/516418527/knitting-pattern-in-pdf-prowling-cats?ref=shop_home_active_3

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/prowling-cats-cowl

Fair Isle Chicks on an Egg Cosy

On a whim yesterday I decided to use an old Fair Isle pattern from my machine knitting days to make a hand knit egg cosy!  I wrote up the pattern today and would like to share it with you here Fair Isle Chicks Egg Cosy

These cute Fair Isle Chicks look gorgeous decorating an egg cosy for your Easter breakfast table, however they could also be used on any number of projects – hats, mittens, scarves and so on.

You could also use the cosy to cover chocolate eggs for the children as an Easter surprise!

The cosy is an easy and quick knit, an ideal first Fair Isle project, why not make more than one using different colour combinations.

Knitted Hearts

I’ve been knitting lots of hearts today and wanted to share the pattern with you: Knitted Hearts

The hearts are a quick make, knit in garter stitch with increases and decreases used to shape them.

They could be used as appliques to embellish garments and accessories or as decorations, photo props, confetti, etc.

Use different yarn weights to make larger or smaller hearts.

 

 

The Chicks – a new photo shoot

Been taking some up to date photos of The Chicks amongst flowers, which I can’t resist buying or picking.  Seem to be spending too much time behind the camera and not enough knitting at the moment!

 

the pink one

  

the blue one

  

the yellow one and the black one

  

the white one

 

Raindrops and a knitted chick

The rain stopped for a while, which provided a photo opportunity and some fun for one of the little chicks!

  
      

  

Now if I was a duck, I could also swim

 
Knitted chick from ‘The Chicks’ knitting pattern, find it in my Ravelry or Etsy stores.