Talking of Ravelry, Sunday was the meet-up of the Surrey and Hampshire Ravelry group in Guildford. There were 6 of us altogether and we had a lovely time. There was much knitting, chatting, and admiring of projects, and a moderate amount of drinking, although I am still not convinced by the carrot and apple juice I had. It was an interesting idea but tasted rather of soil and vegetation, a little too organic for me It was a fantastic shade of bright orange though so that nearly made up for the taste.

Apologies that the photo is a bit blurry, I think it was a little dark for my camera.

One near-catastrophe of the meeting though was that I ran out of knitting after only 2 hours. Usually I am the person who has at least 2 back-up projects where-ever I go just in case of such eventualities, but on Sunday I looked at my sleeve and thought there was no way I would ever finish the other half of the sleeve cap. What I had failed to realise was that due to the inherent shape of a set-in sleeve, if you knit from the elbow up to the shoulder then the rows will get shorter, so the second half of the sleeve cap (this is half the number of rows, not half the area ) will be considerably quicker than the first half. If I had a brain, I could possibly be dangerous. Luckily I was saved from my own stupidity by Melanie. She had spent the previous couple of days sorting her stash, and had catalogued it beautifully in a notebook. So I spent a very happy hour examining it all, and drooling over her new Jordana Paige bag (very nice, lots of good pockets, I may have to drop some birthday hints to the other half).

It was great to see other people’s knitting – I am so nosy, and I think it was the first time I have been recognised by the jumper I was wearing Good fun all round, we will have to have another one soon.

A result of all this gadding about to knitting groups at the weekend is that I have finished the knitting part of both sleeves of the Teal Top. I have sewn in one of the sleeves, and had a quick try-on. It fits well, which is a relief! I still have the neckline to pick up and knit, but I think I will do a bit more of the sewing up first.

Skills needed

· Cast on

· Cast off (bind off)

· Knit

· Place a bead between knit stitches (instructions included in pattern)

Materials

· 1 x 10g (82m / 91 yds) ball Anchor Pearl Cotton No. 8 (also called Coton Perlé) in colour 100 (purple) (One 10g ball will make several bracelets)

· 1314 (approx. 15g) x size 11 seed beads in colour silver lined emerald rainbow

· Two 1.25mm (US Size 0000) knitting needles

· 9mm (3/8 in) press-stud (snap fastener)

· 1 beading needle and length of sewing thread to aid threading of beads

· Tapestry needle

Yarn substitutions

Any other crochet cotton of a similar thickness would be appropriate. A non-stretchy yarn works best for this design since otherwise the weight of the beads would distort the bracelet.

Finished size

The finished bracelet measures 17cm (6.75 in) long, and is 3cm (1.25 in) wide at the widest point.

Tension (gauge)

Approximately 60 stitches and 120 rows to 10cm (4 in) in garter stitch (knit every row) without beads using 1.25mm needles.

The tension (gauge) for this pattern is not critical since plain knit rows can easily be added in. Add more rows immediately after the cast on before the pattern begins, and add a similar number of rows immediately before the cast off. If the bracelet is coming out too long, simply omit 2 rows (or 4 if it is going to be really long) from each section of the pattern.

This pattern is available free as an electronic file in PDF format. File size is 754 KB. The pattern has 5 pages.

Download pattern now (This is a link to Ravelry but you don’t need to be a member to download the pattern)

Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. This pattern is for personal use only. This pattern, items made from this pattern or any portion of pattern or item may not be resold, or otherwise used for profit without express permission from the designer. This pattern may also not be distributed for free by any individual or shop without permission.

Proper post soon

This opulent beaded bracelet, based on garter stitch (knit every row), is quick and easy to work up, and an excellent introduction to knitting with beads. The beads added on every row give a three-dimensional quality to the piece, and the weight of the beads give the bracelet a great drape. The shape of the bracelet is created by varying the number of beads on each row. The beads themselves lie between the stitches so the number of knitted stitches remains constant on each row, eliminating the need for shaping within the knitted fabric.

Skills needed

• Cast on
• Cast off (bind off)
• Knit
• Place a bead between knit stitches (instructions included in pattern)

Materials

• 1 x 10g (82m / 91 yds) ball Anchor Pearl Cotton No. 8 (also called Coton Perlé) in green (One 10g ball will make several bracelets)
• 1740 (approx. 18g) x size 11 seed beads in green
• Two 1.25mm (US Size 0000) knitting needles
• 1 x 9mm (0.4 inch) press-stud (snap fastener)
• Sewing needle and thread of a similar colour to your knitting cotton
• Beading needle and length of sewing thread to aid threading of beads

Yarn substitutions

Any other crochet cotton of a similar thickness would be appropriate. A non-stretchy yarn works best for this design since otherwise the weight of the beads would distort the bracelet.

Finished size

The finished bracelet measures 17cm (6.75 inches) long, is 3.75cm (1.5 inches) wide at the widest point, and 2cm (0.75 inches) wide at the narrowest point.

Tension (gauge)

Approximately 7 stitches and 10 rows to 1cm in garter stitch (knit every row) using 1.25mm needles. The tension (gauge) for this pattern is not critical since plain knit rows can easily be added in. Add more rows immediately after the cast on before the pattern begins, and add a similar number of rows immediately before the cast off. If the bracelet is coming out too long, simply omit 2 rows (or 4 if it is going to be really long) from each section of the pattern.

This pattern is sold as an electronic file in PDF format. File size is 264 KB. The pattern has 5 pages. Once payment is received a link to a personalised website will be emailed to you for you to download your copy of the pattern. Please note this link will expire.

Price: £2.00 (This button will take you to a Ravelry page but you don’t need to be a Ravelry member for it to work)

Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. This pattern is for personal use only. This pattern, items made from this pattern or any portion of pattern or item may not be resold, or otherwise used for profit without express permission from the designer. This pattern may also not be distributed for free by any individual or shop without permission.

This simple beaded bracelet, based on garter stitch (knit every row), is quick and easy to work up, and an excellent introduction to knitting with beads. The beads added on every row give a three-dimensional quality to the piece.

Skills needed

• Cast on
• Cast off (bind off)
• Knit
• Place a bead between knit stitches (instructions included in pattern)

Materials

• 1 x 10g (82m / 91 yds) ball Anchor Pearl Cotton No. 8 (also called Coton Perlé) in brown (One 10g ball will make several bracelets)
• 660 (approx. 8g) x size 11 seed beads in gold
• Two 1.25mm (US Size 0000) knitting needles
• A 1.25mm crochet hook (the size of crochet hook isn’t critical, although it is handy if it is a similar size to your knitting needles)
• One small button
• 1 beading needle and length of sewing thread to aid threading of beads

Yarn substitutions

Any other crochet cotton of a similar thickness would be appropriate. A non-stretchy yarn works best for this design since otherwise the weight of the beads would distort the bracelet.

Finished size

The finished bracelet measures 18cm long, not including the button or loop, and is 2cm wide at the widest point.

Tension (gauge)

Approximately 7 stitches and 10 rows to 1cm in garter stitch (knit every row) using 1.25mm needles.

The tension (gauge) for this pattern is not critical since plain knit rows can easily be added in. Add more rows immediately after the cast on before the pattern begins, and add a similar number of rows immediately before the cast off. If the bracelet is coming out too long, simply omit 2 rows (or 4 if it is going to be really long) from each section of the pattern.

This pattern is sold as an electronic file in PDF format. File size is 232 KB. The pattern has 4 pages. Once payment is received a link to a personalised website will be emailed to you for you to download your copy of the pattern. Please note this link will expire.

Price: £2.00 (This button will take you to a Ravelry page but you don’t need to be a Ravelry member for it to work)

Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. This pattern is for personal use only. This pattern, items made from this pattern or any portion of pattern or item may not be resold, or otherwise used for profit without express permission from the designer. This pattern may also not be distributed for free by any individual or shop without permission.

I am terribly proud, and have already texted my Mum, and bored everyone at work silly. Welcome to anyone who has found the blog through Magknits, and if you do knit up the bracelet I’d love to see a picture.

This week has been a week of washing, yet another load is in the machine as I type. We spent last weekend in Glastonbury for Majma (a weekend of Middle Eastern and North African dance), great fun but exhausting. I am now frantically packing for Skip North (a knitting weekend in Bradford), for which I will be setting off obscenely early in the morning in an effort to miss some of the worst of the traffic on the M25 (London orbital ring road for anyone lucky enough not to have encountered it).

The difficult decision of the packing is of course what knitting to bring and what knitted garments to wear My knitting for this weekend will be socks since then I can still chat and don’t have to keep consulting a pattern. Also they are nice and small and easy to take on our coach trips. The Socks that Rock yarn is just delicious to knit with and I love the colours.

Comments

Kat, Posh Yarn don’t do an exact DK equivalent of the merino and cashmere 4ply yarn I used. They do have several other DK weights though, you can see their yarns at their yarn info page, and they can dye any of the yarns up in any of their colours (I can’t seem to find the colours page at the moment). They also have a sale of one off special dyed yarn every sunday.

Fiona, I am going with your idea of a fairly plain sock for the multicoloured Socks that Rock yarn, a ribbed leg and stocking stitch foot. The yarn is knitting up very nicely.

Thanks Dawn for the info on the Forest Path Stole, yours is looking great so far and nice to hear that the lace weight from Colour Mart is as nice as the fingering weight. I love your Persian Poppies too.

Mokihana your Fire on the Mountain socks look great! They are making different patterns to mine since I am doing a 3 x 1 rib on the legs, I haven’t got to the stocking stitch foot yet. I’ll hopefully get some pictures up next week.

Hope I haven’t forgotten anyone in the comments, better go and check on the washing now. See you again next week.