OneChurchillsGreen

And great big pom poms .....

Following on from my great balls of yarn post, I have been knitting away at my scarf and yesterday evening I indulged myself by making two huge pom poms to attach to it - each one weighing in at 68grams! And here is the finished scarf ....

Just in time for our sub zero temperatures too - it really is super warm. And if you're tempted, I used two 250g hanks of Magnum 'Cascade', 10mm needles, 15 stitches per row, 240 rows in garter stitch (knit every row). The remaining 136 grams of yarn I then divided into two equal balls for my pom poms, each one measuring 15cm in diameter.

With chunky done, I've got my sights set on trying something new - I was admiring Jill's beautiful scarf (one of the girls at our Wednesday 'Wool Group') and was completely smitten by the Habu copper yarn that she was using. The Sicilian and I hit the big smoke yesterday - he needed a new passport for our upcoming trip to Canada and I needed some more yarn!!! So two hours in the Italian Consulate (only the Italians can manage such extraordinary lengths of administrative mayhem!), followed by a trolly dash to 'I knit London', before catching the train back to Dorset. 'I knit London' is tucked away on Lower Marsh Street, just behind Waterloo station and it is packed to the rafters with the lushest of yarns. I kept my focus though, one eye on the clock, the other fixed firmly on the Habu yarn. And here's my newest, most treasured find, two cones of Habu 'wool stainless steel' ....

 

Violet, curious as ever, perched on the window sill to get in on the action and check out my new yarn! x

Little mitts for tiny hands ........

A simple project inspired by the beautiful pages of January's Martha Stewart 'Living' magazine, a pair of mittens for a little babe. My babes are too big to try these on, but I would estimate they would be ideal for newborn through to nine months(ish). If you want them bigger, just add two or three chains to your foundation chain and insert 2 rows for each additional cm of length required.

Baby Mittens

Materials: 23grams of left over yarn (I've used Rowan 'Handknit cotton' in 'ice water' 239, with a row of Debbie Bliss 'Fairtrade Eco' in 'gold' 32603;3.5mm crochet hook; 1.5m of 5mm ribbon; tapestry needle for threading ribbon and sewing in ends.

Tension: 22 stitches and 20 rows of dc over 10cm

Foundation chain: start with a slip knot and 10 ch.

Round 1: (work around the foundation chain, across the top and then back along the bottom, look at the image on the previous post to see how it should look) 1 dc into each st, working 3 dc into the end st of the foundation row before working back along the bottom and finishing with 3dc into the 1st ch.

Round 2: 1 dc into each st along top and bottom, 1 dc, 1 htr, 1 dc into end st at both ends.

Rounds 3 to 10: 1 dc into each st (including end stitches - not increasing at this point will give your mittens straight sides).

Round 11: cut yarn from round 10 and sew in. Using the contrast colour yarn, join to a st from the previous round and work 1 dc into each st finishing with a ss into 1 dc, cut yarn and sew in.

Round 12: re-attach the main colour and work 1 dc into each st.

Round 13: 1 dc into each stitch across the sides of the mitten, decrease at the end of both sides by working 2 dc together twice.

Round 14: to make the spaces to thread your ribbon, ch 2 (counts as 1 dc, 1 ch), *1 dc into next st, 1 ch*, continue round repeating *to*, finishing with a ss into original 1 ch. Cut yarn and sew in.

Thread the ribbon through the spaces created by the 1 chain, starting in the middle of one side of a mitten and finishing 1 stitch away from the start point (i.e. don't thread the ribbon through the last chain space, this will give enough room to tie the bow). With the long end of the ribbon, thread through the other mitten. You can either use the length of ribbon to keep the mittens attached and dangling out of the arms of your little coat, once you have established the right length, pull the ribbon through each mitten and trim accordingly before doing your bow. You can stitch the ribbon in the middle at the back of the coat if you don't need to move them from one coat to another. Similarly if you are concerned about the combination of a length of ribbon and a small baby, you can simply stitch a short length of the ribbon to each sleeve attaching the mittens.