Yay for knitting! And yay for HobbyCraft putting their knitting range online. There are some great deals to be found on the site plus you don’t pay shipping on orders over £30.

This lovely wooly Patons Fairytale Colour 4 Me Mixed plus loads of other colours in the range are on sale for under £3 per ball.

You can also stock up on adorable patterns like this Sirdar Snuggly Snowflake Chunky.

I’m starting a new knitting project! E is after a chunky warm scarf and hat so I’m ambitiously embarking on both. However, given that I’m writing this blog instead of knitting, I fear the snow will all be long gone before I finish.

Oh well! I thought I’d let you all know I’ve started so you can keep me accountable!

I finally finished knitting the jumper dress I’ve been working on for ages. I started it round the same time as I started this blog, so I’m sure you can understand why it has taken me so long!

It has also taken forever because it was initially just a top, which was then turned into a dress. I don’t really know how to make my own patterns so it took several tries before I got it right.

Here is the full view of the dress:

I got this pattern for free from the knitting social network site Ravelry from Soulful Hues Knits. I previously mentioned the site in my post Knitting on a Budget.

Here it is if you’d like to try:

Girls’ cap-sleeved spring top

Size is roughly 3-5 years

tools:
size 6, 8 and 10 circs
250ish yards of recycled light worsted or dk weight cotton yarn

gauge on 6’s in st stitch 5.5 st/in
gauge on 8’s in st stitch 4.5 st/in

approximate finished measurements:
chest: 19 in
underarm to waist: 9in

We’ll be working top down, never breaking the yarn, when you bind off, this item will be ready to wear!

neck/yoke:

CO 80 st on size 6 circs using the long tail co method
place marker, join and work 1×1 rib for 18 rounds
k one round
k1 yo, repeat til end of round (160 sts)
k stockinette st for 15 rounds

arm holes:
starting at your marker, bind off 4o sts (loosely on size 8 circs), k 40, bo 40 (again on size 8’s), k to end

joining under arms:
co 3 sts (using backward loop co method), join, knit to next join, co 3 sts, k to end

body:
k stockinette for 6ish rounds, switch to size 8 circs, knit to length, remember you can try the garment on the kid to make sure it’s long enough.

Bind off very loosely on size 10 circs, weave in co and bo tails.

**If you’d like to try turning it into a dress, the method I used was when it gets to just about under the ribcage start slowly adding directly down the sides using the Make 1 (M1) technique.

I first added one stitch and then every five rows after that I added two–M1 K1 M1. Any proper knitters that disagree with this method or my description, I apologise!

The dress looks like this on the sides, which I think looks nice and neat.

Quite excited about the progress of the jumper that I’ve been knitting for ages. Despite getting a bit confused joining under the arms, I’m back on track. Now I just have to pop it on and see how long it should be!

I came across Old School, a brilliant website devoted to teaching “old” skills and household arts. According to the blog’s author, The Damsel, by reading Old School “you’ll learn how to do things that Grandma used to do all the time, but people have forgotten.”

A few great posts include:

Pickled Onions

Making Self-Raising Flour

Tea-Dyeing

Freezing Herbs (see picture)

Folding a Fitted Sheet

Making Butter

And of course, now that it’s too late to include it in my Knitting on a Budget post, I’ve found The Damsel’s post on Unraveling a Sweater!

I am slowly but surely learning how to knit. If you’re not careful, knitting, like many hobbies, can be expensive. At the moment I’m working on a jumper, and even though the yarn I bought was on sale at John Lewis, it still cost about £20 which isn’t really all that frugal for a little girl’s top.

So I scoured the web for a few tips on knitting on the cheap and am sharing them with you, in no particular order:

• Join local knitting circles—when you have friends who knit you can borrow needles and books or swap yarns. In London, try Stitch and Bitch London or the knitting group and Sunday knit roast with iKnit.
• Use Google video search to find free online demonstrations when you’re trying to learn a new stitch.
• Sign up with Ravelry, the online social network for knitters, for free (and not free) patterns, advice and tips.
• Recycle yarn, either by taking apart your old clothes or shopping thrift stores for items that can be easily deconstructed. Look for pieces with seams that are woven rather than sewn, so the yarn can be pulled apart in one long piece.
• Check your council’s libraries for knitting books rather than buying them.
• Make friends with your local knitting store (or local John Lewis) so you’ll find out ahead of any sales or discounts.
• Consider substitutions. For example silk can be expensive and a silk blend or even an acrylic yarn could be just fine.
• Don’t throw anything away. Bits and bobs of extra yarn can be used to make doll clothes or in quilts, or small projects like oven mitts.
• Skip the fancy accessories. We’d all love to have a Cath Kidston knitting bag but that free tote you got in last month’s Marie Claire will do the trick and you know it!

Happy knitting!