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.

Little Boy Blue Baby Matinee Coat

Along with my groceries I picked up a couple of balls of this lovely blue yarn at my local supermarket for the bargain price of $3.83 per ball. It is Koala Myrtle 8 ply 100% acrylic yarn 100 gm (297 metres) in Little Boy Blue (#540/TY8601.06). This is a soft yarn and knitted up very well.

The supermarket had four colours only of the nine available: White, Little Boy Blue, Flame Red and Mid Grey. Jet Black, Vanilla, Nautical Blue, Orchid Pink and Pansy Purple are the other colours.

The baby matinee coat is an "easy knit design" from the UK Hand Knitting Association's range for Baby Double Knitting (pattern UKHKA 2). The simple lace pattern was easy to follow and the garment was quick to knit: a great weekend project.

The UK Hand Knitting Association have some lovely pattens on their site. You can check them out here. I have a few in my pattern stash and am looking forward to knitting them.

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.