A Child's Cabled Hooded Jacket - My Next Project

Deciding what to knit next is very exciting and can never be rushed. There are so many patterns and wonderful yarns available that a choice is never easy. However, despite always searching online for new patterns and yarn to add to my collection, I am showing restraint for the rest of the year (smile) and will choose from the pile of patterns I all ready have and yarn from my stash.

This is my next project: a lovely cabled jacket in double knitting (8 ply). The pattern is from the UK Hand Knitting Association and I will be using King Cole Pricewise Double Knitting in a lovely shade of blue (#143 Surf).

Picot-edged Child's Bolero

I love how this little girl's bolero turned out, especially the picot edging which was so simple to do. The yarn used was King Cole's Pricewise Double Knitting in shade #378 Fallow, 100 gm balls of 290 metres each and 100% acrylic. Not as soft as I would have liked, but still soft enough for baby garments.

The pattern used was also from King Cole: pattern #2980. Stocking stitch with decorative holes, it was simple and quick to knit. Being a loose knitter, to get the correct tension I changed the needle sizes to 3.75 mm (9) and 3.00 mm (11).

Sewing up the garment was difficult as it tended to curl. So I decided to block, something I very rarely do. It solved the problem and allowed me to neatly sew the sleeve and side seams without a struggle. For those of you not familiar with blocking: you wet the garment or pieces, remove the excess water and pin flat. I blocked the bolero pieces on a thick towel using long glass-headed dressmakers' pins and left it to dry overnight.

Sorry, not a great image, but I think good enough for you to get the idea of blocking. Blocking is a great technique and is gaining in popularity. Read about it here.

Adding to My Yarn Stash

A recent order added these lovely yarn colours to my stash: all double knitting, as that is my favourite ply, and acrylics from Sirdar and King Cole. The colours are a variety of blues, pinks, lilacs and pale green.

Dollymix - Aptly Named Yarn for Knitting Dolls

I love the colours in the Dollymix range of double knitting yarn from King Cole. If you need small amounts of yarn and, like me,  don't have any left over from completed projects or in colours you don't usually knit with, these 25 gm balls are ideal. Each ball is 73 metres, 100% acrylic and knits at the standard tension for double knitting yarn on 4 mm needles. The colour choice is excellent with over 30 available.

I purchased a selection of colours for two projects, Emily and Buttons the Clown, found in Jean Greenhowe's Traditional Favourites knitted doll book.

This will be my second attempt at Emily. The wool I used previously was of poor quality and half way through knitting the dress the result was so stiff and wouldn't drape nicely that I abandoned the project. Jean Greenhowe's designs are delightful and to knit them in an inferior yarn would not do them justice. Now, with all these lovely colours, I'm excited at the prospect of knitting Emily again and, of course, Buttons.