by boknits design

This airy spring dress is perfect for transitioning into summer. The easy top-down construction, with the yarnovers for extra coolness is quickly knitted up. The dress skims rather than clings to the body for ease of movement. The contrasting collar is very now. You could even go for neon if you wanted….:-)

The striping allows you to finish up some yarn that isn’t enough for a cardigan.

The happy red pockets add  spring freshness and fun to this versatile dress.

Buy here or on Ravelry.

I’ve been obsessed with fair-isle lately, and this cardigan is one of the results!

I’ve used four colors, three grays and one warm off-white, and combined them in six different ways.The name of this cardigan is pretty self-explanatory, right? I love polka dots, and I’ve been wanting to knit a sweater with them for a long time, but I couldn’t find the right combination of yarn and pattern. But now with the delicious Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, with its soft, variegated colors, I hit the jackpot.

It’s knit in the round, bottom-up, with steeks for front, armholes, neck and sleeve caps.

The fronts have picked-up stitches to create a double buttonband for snaps.

Buy here or at Ravelry.

Ding! Dong! is an utterly fabulous entirely celebratory pattern with which to make yourself a glorious wrap or stole, scarf or even a small baby blanket or throw for your comfy couch. The pattern is perfect for lace beginners, fully explained and ideal for those who want to try chart knitting for the first time. If you are an accomplished lace knitter Ding! Dong! is a suitably relaxing project, perfectly soothing and gently joyous.

What an ideal way to enjoy this beautiful spring day! Switch off all televisions, wind the clocks, put on the kettle and your favourite soaring music. The brass band music of England’s glorious northern coalfields is particularly recommended.

The Pattern is FREE to download on Wednesday April 17th 2013 and for the rest of the month.

Enter Coupon code: frabjousjoy at the checkout.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! We chortle in our Joy!

PAY HERE  (Ravelry Page)

by boknits design

I love all these classic patterns. Norwegian sweaters, big chunky fishermen’s sweaters…but I wouldn’t be a designer if I could leave them alone. So I enlarged some of these classic motifs, and used them in combinations never seen before.

The stitches are classic, the way they are used is not! I juxtaposed houndstooth with argyle, gingham and plain stripes.

I wanted a big, warm winter sweater I could hunker down into on a chilly winter’s morning when you’d rather not get out of bed. Or a winter evening when the journey home from work or picking up the kids has left you chilled. You could even use it to walk the dog or rake the leaves or shovel snow…It’s big, it has extra long sleeves, it’s oversized, a coat to live in.

It’s worked in the round, bottom-up, with steeks for the front, armholes and neck. The fronts have picked-up stitches to create a sturdy double button band.

The sleeves are picked up from the steeked sleeve openings, so there’s no sewing here whatsoever!

And the bonus feature is: you could wear it inside out! The loops of yarn on the inside of the garment are, to my mind, as pretty as the outside…

Sweet little humble domestic peg bag, a useful and directly eco-friendly addition to your gadren. If you haven’t got a washing line, it’s never too late to start saving on your energy bills. Dump the dryer! Release the radiator! Liberate your linens to the fresh winter’s breeze!

You’ll need less than half a ball of washcloth cotton or linen, and you can make stripes or colour-blocks to use up scraps. Feel virtuous, make a couple for yourself, make several as gifts for friends or neighbours.

Available for only £1.50 via Ravelry now!

The same, but different. If you’ve made the Million Stripes Loop, you’ll probably be able to see how.

This one’s for all the lovely men who’ve seen our Million and crave their own. Or make one for your sister, your mum, your work friend, the bairn’s teacher.

Do take a look at all the magnificent colour combinations used by our clever test knitters here.

Pattern available NOW for a mere £2

The pattern is for an amazingly flexible and creative template with which you can make a scarf, a wrap, a baby blanket, a throw, even a spa cloth or towel. The simple instructions give you the tools to make it entirely customisable using yarns you already own.

The prototype uses several shades of grey and a zingy contrasty orange. The one below is in a monotone neon yellow cotton cashmere yarn, and makes a wonderful blanket for couch or at bedtime.

The pattern is charted and also written out in full, with a short Quick-Start section to cut out and carry around, plus two very simple charts at the back. It’s an ideal beginner pattern, perfect if you’ve never knit lace before. The lace design is created using simple yarnovers and decreases. If you’ve never followed a chart to knit lace, this is a great pattern to start you off.

Stripes will give you a Missoni feel. Monotone, an all over lace design.

Simple, elegant. You want one. Or two. Or three.

Pattern £2.50 via Paypal or available on Ravelry HERE.

Top picture and lovely inspiration by my dear friend Sarah Galasko, for whom the pattern is names. Thank you. x

Matrix fan? Love their ‘decayed’ knits? This sweater with a difference is easy to wear in all kinds of different ways. The easy top-down construction, made with Suzie M.’s contiguous method, is quickly knit up. The drop-stitch darts form the shaping, in a unique new way. Come find out how it works! You’ll love it in something woolly as much as in a summery yarn.
It’s knit with a very loose tension with aran yarn, so you’ll be done in no time.
Someone even said it was very “District 12″, so if you’re too young for the Matrix, you can still fit in with your favorite movie…:-)

Design notes
- Knit top-down, contiguous
- Shaping is done by making drop-stitch darts
- V-neck
- no sewing
-

Sizes: XS (S, M, L, XL) or 86(91, 96, 101, 106)cm/34(36, 38,40, 42″)

Finished Measurements: 82(85, 90, 95,104, 109)cm/32 (34, 36,38 , 40 “) bust, with some negative ease.

Sample Garment Measurements:
Length from neck to hem: 60cm (35/”).
Armpit to armpit (laid flat and closed): 45cm (19″).
Model is 1.8m/5’11″ and wearing size M

This Seaham Sheer Poncho is a light, extremely airy, all seasons addition to your already stylish wardrobe. Born on the breathtaking coast beloved of the poet Byron:

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar.”

The Poncho is part cowl, part body hugging sheer warmer, ideal for strolling on the lonely shore under or over an overcoat, or on its own over a light summer dress in the warmer months. The gently shaped upper cowl has the option to convert into a comforting hood. Then there’s a change of knitting direction and the body is worked as a shaped piece constructed using the first part of Susie Myers’ ingenious Contiguous Method.

The construction is custom-fit, and has been tested on sizes from XS to XXL so it will fit you too. You try on and decide on length of cowl or hood, width of shoulders, length from shoulders to hem, according to how you want it to fit. You can extend in five areas specified in the pattern to give you exactly the shape, style and fit you want.

You  need:

100g  of a fine laceweight or 100- 250g of light fingering yarn with a long colour change. The size M sample uses under 100g of Aade Long 8/1 but you could also use something like a laceweight Zauberball, or any laceweight yarn in space dyed colours. One of those beautiful hanks of artisan hand-dyed would work really well. Or if you prefer solid colour, Colourmart’s Extra Fine Merino in a laceweight would be magnificent.

3mm, 3.75mm and 4mm circular needles. They will need to be long enough to go around your body so that you can try on for size without having to put your work-in-progress onto scrap yarn. 150cm would be ideal.  You could also use the kind of long double pointed needles that are used for gansey-making. Five, at least, or however many you need to get all the stitches on the needles.

A large-eyed needle for sewing in ends, an optional piece of ribbon or cord for the cowl tie, and a large safety pin.

Pattern Difficulty

There is a slightly spicy beginning and ending, with a lot of very relaxing simple stocking stitch in the middle. But there are options for avoiding the most spicy, so this pattern will be suitable for an adventurous beginner or intermediate knitter.

£2.50 – available NOW from the Ravelry Pattern Store.

Garden birds in our bigger cities are getting rarer and rarer. Little sparrows used to flock in huge numbers but are now scarcely seen. Anything we can do to help, we do of course. Bird feeders, seed, fat balls, peanuts all help them survive though the harsher winters.

This simple little bag contains a handful of snippings from  your gorgeous hand made finishing  pile, and will provide little layers of finest cashmere, alpaca and merino to even the coldest concrete jungle.

You will need:

Several lengths of unwanted yarn for making the little bag

a pebble from the beach

your saved snippings from the finishing of all those garments.

dpns in 4 sizes  – 4mm, 5mm, 6mm & 7mm are ideal but use whatever you have.
scissors
crochet hook
blunt ended needle

Here’s How:

c/o 3 sts on your smallest needle, push the stitches to other end of the needle, K 1 around
put one st on each of 3 dpns, join to work in round
kfb in each st = 6 sts
k1 round
kfb in each st = 12 sts
k one round
kfb in each st = 24 sts
k 1 round
kfb in each st = 48 sts
K1 round.
Adjust to put on 4 dpns, 12 sts on each.

Next round:
K1, YO and repeat finishing with a K1.
Repeat 4 times (on each dpn).
K1 round.
Go up a needle size
K1, YO repeat finishing with a K1.
K1 round.
45 sts on each needle
Go up a needle size
K1 YO K3tog repeat ending each section with a K2tog
K1 around
Go up to your biggest needle
K1, YO, K3tog around ending with a K3tog
Go down 2 needles sizes (ish)
K1 around
K1, K2tog around
K around (approx 14sts on each needle)
K2 tog around
K2tog around
K two more rounds
Cast off.

Sew in each end (your cast on, and your cast off) tightly. Snip, and keep the snippings!

Slot a loop of aran or chunky yarn in running stitch just under the cast off, and leaving a length of about 8-12” on either side, knot together, making two loops for hanging.

Make an excuse to go to the beach and find a nice pebble. Or borrow a big marble from your favorite child’s toy box. Drop that into the bottom of the bag to help weight it down.

Stuff your bag loosely with short snippings of yarn, pulling the ends through the holes with a crochet hook, and snipping any loops that appear. You do want the yarn to be easy to get out, but do remember, these are tough little birds, so not too easy or the next gale will sweep it all away.

Hang up securely in your garden right next to the bird feeders.

Give to your mum or grandma as an extra mother’s day pressie.

Improvisations including crochet versions, and ones using all those swatches you have lying around would work too. Here’s a little lace swatch which is going to make the next one:

I’m going to seam the short edges together, run a simple in-out running stitch along each of the long sides, gather one of the sides tight and the other loosely. It’ll hang up in the same way with a handful of snippings inside. A very practical way of using up swatches.

Remember this?

Robert Sherman died at the good old age of 86 on March 5th. Thanks for all the pretty songs, Robert.

The pattern isn’t tuppence, it’s free. Please make a donation to any wild bird charity or nature reserve in your part of the world. This one‘s my nearest.