Thursday 24 April 2014

Sock slippers

I found this great little pattern on Pintrest: Free quick slipper pattern

I made a pair for myself, in this gorgeous bright coral colour:

I decided to add the pom pom to make them a little more girly (here is a GREAT guide for making pom poms that literally take less than a minute: DIY Pom Pom)


Another quick simple knitting project which makes a great gift and so easy to personalise!

Monday 21 April 2014

Cute fingerless gloves

A lot of glove patterns I found seemed quite complicated, or where crochet (which I just can't seem to get the hang of), but then I stumbled across these on Pintrest:  Fable Mitts - Free Knitting Pattern




I decided to make a pair for my sister, so chose a multi-coloured purple yarn which I thought she'd like. 

I found the pattern really easy to follow and because you are making it for your hand (or a similar sized hand) you can keep measuring it up as you go so you don't make it too big/small. Once you've made the main glove, there is a cute band to make and then simply chose a button you like and you are done; they didn't take that long to make, and make great gifts:

 





Friday 11 April 2014

A Teddy Called Doodles

When buying the materials for my beginner project, I spotted this little kit in the sale for $6 and just could not resist; this project is labelled as intermediate, but I actually didn't find it that difficult, just time consuming.


So what makes this harder is that it requires you to know knit stitch, purl stitch, knit two stitches together and increase stitch. This project also allowed me to practice following written patterns. Reading a pattern can look quite confusing, but I find that once I have the work in front of me, it makes sense.

The kit came with two balls of yarn and said that you would need both balls to make either the bear or the hat and boots. I made the bear using just one of the balls; so I may well make another teddy in the future... but according to the instructions, you will need 2 x 50g ball of yarn, 4mm needles, 5mm knitting needles, a yarn needle, polyester filling and scraps of black yarn (for the face).

It's a simple method of making each part of the body, then sewing them together:


 


I named my finished Teddy Doodles:




[Kit produced by Saleutions Pty Ltd | Purchased from Spotlight | Pattern free with kit]


Thursday 3 April 2014

My first hat

When I decided I would like to try knitting, I first chose the project and then went to buy the needles and yarn needed. The best places to find free beginners patterns are Pintrest, YouTube or of course just Google! To start with I preferred YouTube tutorial as I liked being able to watch and copy rather than just follow a written pattern.

I found this great hat tutorial: Knit a Beginner Touque Hat


Before I started the project I searched YouTube for knitting tutorials and just practised casting on and basic stitching. You should know that I did not 'get it' straight away. There were many times I dropped a stitch, gained a stitch, had uneven sized stitches, and got so frustrated I just threw the needles down and gave up... But, once I got it, I loved it! So keep going!

The thing I love about this pattern is that it's large needles, so it's quick to make. Secondly, it's very simple, you only need to know the basic knit stitch. Also the technique for a hat is so simple; knit a large rectangle, join the edges to make a tube shape, then draw in the ends!





I chose not to add the buttons that are in the tutorial, because I personally preferred my colours without, but that's the great thing about free patterns, is you can adapt them to your own taste.

Enjoy :-)