Too hot to knit ..

with wool?
 So why not use cotton yarn instead! My hands have been too hot to knit with wool so I've been busy making wash cloths out of cotton yarn. My plan is to use them as gifts with a lovely bar of soap for an event in December. (I'm trying not to use the C word yet!) They are so easy to knit and there are some amazing patterns on the internet and Ravlery, just google wash cloth patterns.
Here is the easy peasy pattern I've been using

knitted wash cloth gift

A ball of double knit cotton yarn - not smooth and silky (mercerised) but 'fluffier' if that makes sense!!
4 mm needles
Use garter stitch throughout.
Cast on 4 stitches and knit a row.
At the beginning of each row knit 2 stitches then yarn over the needle and knit to end of  the row, until you reach the size cloth you would like. Knit the yarn over as a stitch in its own right, so each row will grow by one stitch.
I used 40 stitches for a cloth that measures 22cm.
Then
Knit 1 stitch, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of the row.
Repeat this row until there are 4 stitches left.
Each row will then decrease by one stitch.
Cast off.

knitted wash cloth

This is also a brilliant little project to have in your bag if you ever have five minutes to spare.

Flower Power pattern

It's been a long time since I've posted a knitting pattern, so I thought this would be a good one with the end of summer term coming up (I'm being hopeful here!!) and people on the lookout for teacher presents. I know that there are many teachers with mugs of tea and coffee sitting on their desks/ tables/ window sills out there waiting to be drunk and getting cold!! I do have an insulated mug to use, but tea just doesn't taste right in one of those and never look closely at the lid!!! So my pattern is for a knitted mug hug or cosy.
I am also saying that it could be for you, your mum, a gardener or anyone else who likes a warm mug of something to drink - not just teachers!
So here is my so easy Pickle-Lily herself could knit it pattern!

Flower Power cosy

You need
Aran wool - I am a self confessed yarn snob and only use pure wool! It takes less than a ball to make a hug, so you can make for the lovely hard working teaching assistant as well. In fact I think I'd better! If you are interested I used Tivoli Celtic Aran to make mine which is a superwash wool that you can machine wash without it felting.
4.5mm knitting needles

Cast on 46 stitches using the thumb method so you get a nice stretchy cast on edge.
Knit 2 rows of knit one purl one rib.
Knit 20 rows of moss stitch - that is purl one, knit one on row one row and then purl one, knit one on the next row, so the knit stitch is on top of the purl and the purl on top of the knit in each row.
Then one row of rib to match the last moss stitch row and cast off.

sew the rib row ends only

To make up - sew the rows of ribbing together only leaving a gap for the handle.

blanket stitch

The cast on edge - it feel stretchier - is the bottom of the mug hug, it will need to stretch over the handle. The cast off edge is the top and you can sew blanket stitch on it to decorate.
Then add the flowers! I used a thick double knit yarn in bright colours, you could use whatever you fancy or favourite colours.

first petal

To make your lazy daisy stitch, bring the needle in and out of the same hole to make a loop, then, without pulling the loop out, make a small stitch catching the end of the loop the length you want your petal to be.

sewing the petals

Sew another four stitches or petals out of the same central hole, radiating round to make a flower. Sew a pretty button over the centre of the flower  to decorate.

finished flower

You can always buy a mug, pop the cosy on and put some biscuits or sweeties in the mug and gift wrap to complete the gift.

I'm posting this as part of Laura at Bugs and Fishes link-up, I am a week early - I got the date wrong!!!

Halloween's coming

Amazingly enough despite my post title, it seems the supermarkets have skipped Halloween and gone straight to Christmas! I went to look for Cadbury's screme eggs and couldn't find any yet, but could find Christmas chocolates! So I settled for a Kinder egg.
Anyway, in preparation for Halloween, and after the success of the glow in the dark ghost, I have made him some friends to keep him company.

Happy Halloweeeeeeen!

We have a pumpkin with twirly tendrils and a bat - all ready for some screme eggs (or Kinder eggs).
The basic body is the same for both the bat and pumpkin.
You need double knit yarn and 4mm needles.
With the yarn double - knitting two strands at the same time - cast on 25 stitches.
Keeping the two strands garter stitch 15 rows and then cast off.
For the tendrils I used 3mm needles and one strand of yarn (as normal).
Now, there are two versions of the tendrils as I experimented for the best twirl. One is very simple, the other more complicated. I actually tried about five different versions, including knitting two stitches together and purling, but these two were the best.

easy tendrils

For the easy tendrils cast on between 10 to 20 stitches - I knitted mine in various lengths to add to the effect. Then cast off, leaving the last stitch on the needle. Use this stitch to cast on some more stitches and then cast off again, leaving the last stitch to cast on some more. You can do this as many times as you like, depending on how 'hairy' you want your pumpkin to be!
For the trickier version, this is the one on my pumpkin and is far curlier.
Again cast on some stitches as with the easy version. Then, knit into the front and back of the first stitch, so that there are now two stitches on your needle, cast off one of these, leaving you with one stitch on your needle.
Knit into the front and back of the next stitch, three stitches on your needle. Cast off two of these, leaving one stitch on your needle ( take the middle stitch over the stitch closest to the tip, then the end stitch over, as in a normal cast off). Continue to the end, keeping the last stitch as your new casting on stitch. This gives a lovely curl!
To make up - fold the body in half and sew down either side. Sew on two googly eyes and the curls on the top.
For the bat, I did the same but in black yarn. No tricky knitting here at all, for the wings I cut a piece of black felt into a bat wing shape and sewed it onto the back of the body.
Pickle-Lily is making rude comments about how weedy the ghost looks as I type, but I only bought one egg!

 

Deck the Albert Hall

On Wednesday I recieved this email

"Hi Pickle Lily,

I thought you might like to know that I picked up your pattern for a paper chain on the internet...
I’m hoping to use if for a large event at the WI AGM at the Albert Hall in May...

Best regards,
Katy
Crafts Council"

How exciting is this! I'm waiting to hear some more from Katy, but I had to share!
Have a good week-end.
 
Jo x

Merry Christmas to all!

Well - it is now Monday afternoon, and I have finished the last Christmas Fair for Pickle-Lily, dropped off a load of goodies at Seabreeze and sat down to relax.... but I haven't finished my cakes off, bought presents let alone wrapped them or written Christmas cards yet! So I think this week is going to be just as busy! But I have still made time for Handmade Monday - and am looking forward to everyone's blogs this week.

Ice skating at Hestercombe Gardens

I spent last week-end at Hestercombe Gardens as part of the Christmas shopping market. A long day Saturday, left the house at 8 am back home at 9 pm! P visited Saturday afternoon to go ice skating - and loved it, so when she spent the day with me on Sunday she had two more sessions as 'wages'. £4 an hour for a child I thought was very good value for ice skating.
Whilst I was there I had a lovely chat with a lady about the mini Christmas stockings and I said I would publish the pattern.

Mini Christmas Stockings

I once knitted 30 of these as individual presents for the children in my class. On Saturday one of them visited me and told me he still hung it up every Christmas!
Using double knit and no 11 or 3 mm needles, cast on 24 stitches.
Purl 1 row.
Knit 1, increase into next stitch until the end of the row - 36 stitches.
Stocking stitch 7 rows.
Knit 14 stitches, knit 2 together four times, knit 14 stitches
Purl
Knit 12 stitches, knit 2 together four times, knit 12 stitches
Purl
Knit 10 stitches, knit 2 together four times, knit 10 stitches - 24 stitches
Starting with a purl row stocking stitch 13 rows. Finish with main colour.
Garter stitch 5 rows in Sirdar snowflake for the fluffy top.
Cast off
Fold in half and stitch the row ends and cast on edge together to make up.

Merry Christmas to all!
Jo and Pickle-Lily
xx