A Little Knit

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Knitting Songs

I hope you're feeling musical.... after stumbling across this post sharing a song about knitting, I decided to do some research and see what other knitting related music there was out there... I was pretty surprised/ amused by some of these. Here's what I found, enjoy:

Sunday, 9 November 2014

KnitPro Review

Sorry I didn't post last week, I've been on a really great family holiday.

So last month I posted about my new KnitPro Needles & Hooks I've now had a chance to try them out, and I have to say, I am very impressed!!

KnitPro Nova Cubics Interchangeable Needle Deluxe Set, Shiny Brass

I love these needles; they are square (or 'cubic') rather than round which I thought may be a little odd, but it actually feels really comfortable to hold and gives good grip. The brass feels really strong but also very lightweight in your hand. The smooth surface means that the yarn glides on the needles, and the join of the needle to the cable is seamless, so the yarn doesn't catch at all, which is a problem I have had with other cable needles.

I like the neat packaging and the smart look of the set, and I know it isn't exclusive to KnitPro, but the whole idea of interchangeable cables is great. The different length cables and needle sizes make these suitable for such a wide range of projects, and I can replace a whole bunch of odd needles I've collected over time with this one set.

I particularly love the stoppers you can put on the end of the cables, which was particularly useful for me while I was on holiday; I could just throw my work back in my bag without worrying about losing stitches. The needles are easy to take on and off, and the little pin ensures they are screwed on tightly so they don't come loose.

KnitPro Waves Aluminium Crochet Hook, Set of 9, Pink

I do way more knitting than crocheting at the moment, so it was never my intention to buy a full set of hooks at this stage, but this set was so pretty I could not resist. I love the casing because pink is my favourite colour, but I also love all the fun bright coloured hooks.

Aside from the appearance of this set, the hooks all feel really strong and durable. The rubber handle is new to me as I have not used hooks like this before, I was really impressed with how comfortable it was in my hand and the extra grip it gave me.

Overall I would highly recommend both of these sets to either beginners who want a ready-to-go kit, or to more experienced knitters/crocheters who want to update their needle/hook collection to these uniform sets.

KnitPro has loads of other sets available, varying in material, styles and budget, so go check them out. The cheapest place I found the above sets available was Amazon UK, the NZ supplier is Trendy Trims and they have suppliers for all available countries on their webpage: http://www.knitpro.eu/.

Monday, 27 October 2014

Mug Cosies

A mug cosy is usually one of the more basic knitting patterns, but I have never made one before. For my parents wedding anniversary I thought it would be cute to make his and hers cosies with their initials on.

I found this free Valentine Mug Hug pattern and decided to give it a go. The pattern states "Use any size needles to obtain the gauge" but I just chose needles suitable for my yarn and decided I'd just go for it... the pattern was easy to follow and turned out correctly, but was too small to fit around a mug and has now become my button jar cosy... although it's actually more like a jar cape.

But the good thing about the first attempt going wrong was that I was able to adjust what I didn't like about the pattern. I decided I would make the button loop in the middle rather than the top to avoid the cape effect. I also learned that I would have to cast on more stitches to make it fit a mug.

I know that my Mum likes drinking from really large Disney mugs, so for her cosy I cast on 60, then did the increases in row 7 (75 stitches). In row 17 I continued the K2, P3 ribbing but cast on 14 more stitches to make the loop. I continued with the ribbed pattern until I was happy with the height of the cosy.

For my Dad's cosy I decided to still cast on 60, and knit ribbed, but I did not make the increases.

Once I had finished both cosies I knitted two little white panels with my parents initials on. I used my Knitters Bible which has an alphabet graph to knit the letters.

I am happy with the finished cosies, they both look very cute and easily fit around a large mug. You can really see the shape difference between the pink one where I increased and the Blue one where I didn't. It's worth keeping in mind the shape of your mug before starting the pattern.