Sixties Spirit

Monday, 22 July 2013

Pirate backpack

Well, summer has finally made an appearance - we haven't had weather like this since 2006! It's far too hot for knitting, so I've been sewing instead - I have a ceiling fan in my sewing room!
The inspiration for this backpack came from the pirate applique motif which I bought ages ago - my granddaughter was into pirates at the time (and thankfully still is as the bag's for her). I didn't want to use it on clothing as she grows out of things so fast, so I hit upon the idea of a bag. Having scoured the Internet, I came across this pattern on the Heart of Mary page here - the original name was the City Backpack. Perfect - a nice neat size that, with adjustable straps, will grow with her.
I followed the pattern fairly closely, starting by cutting a paper pattern - I didn't fancy trying to draw outlines on black denim. I changed the construction method in some places but basically it's as per the pattern given. Both the fabrics came from my favourite online fabric store, Chawla's ; the motif, the red cord for the drawstring and the toggle and strap sliders from my local fabric store, Oakmount Mill in Burnley. The giant red button, which I was struggling to find a use for, was a freebie from an online order. I made a loop to fasten it by inserting a piece of elastic into the seam attaching the top flap lining and the flap itself.
Here's the finished backpack.


The finished Pirate Backpack

Skull and crossbones lining!

Back view showing adjustable straps

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Dolly Mixture baby set on Ravelry

I've decided to see if anyone's willing to pay for my patterns - I'll still be posting freebies too, but this baby set took a lot of working out to get right, so here goes! It's available as a Ravelry download for £2.50. It comes in one size only, hence the relatively low price - 18" chest, or approximate age 3 to 6 months, commonly known (at least in the UK) as "second size".

I made an alternative version suitable for a boy, minus the flower on the hat. The yarn I used is what inspired the name - the lavender colourway reminded me of those sweets we used to get as kids! The variegated yarns are Jarol New Arrival, which is available in lots of colour mixes, brights as well as pastels. The plain yarns are Woolcraft New Fashion, but any 100% DK yarn that knits to the required tension is fine - the most important thing is to match the plain yarn to one of the colours in the print yarn.

There are a couple of techniques used in this pattern that may be unfamiliar, but don't be put off - they are easy to learn.
The first is the I-cord, used for the hat ties - most US knitters will know this already, but UK knitters are more likely to know it as French Knitting or "corkwork". We used to make our own "Knitting Nancy" from a wooden cotton reel and four nails. The lucky ones among us had a manufactured version with staples, which was much easier to use. The I-cord is simply the same thing knitted on two double-pointed needles - see Knitting Daily blog here for instructions. You can use 3, 4 or 5 stitches depending on the thickness of cord required.
The second technique is the Cable cast on used in the hat - a good explanation of this technique can be found on the Knitting Daily blog here. This is a 2-needle cast-on which is more elastic than the normal method.
Happy knitting!

Monday, 17 June 2013

Classic 60s polo neck sweater

Steve Winwood in the original sweater

As usual I've been too busy knitting to write up my patterns - I really must make more effort! This sweater was made for a friend who's very much into the 60s Mod look, even though he's about 25 years too young to remember it! He'd asked me if I could make him a sweater like one he'd seen Steve Winwood wearing in a photo taken in about 1965, when Steve was with the Spencer Davis Group. (Who else remembers them? Come on, own up!).
I've made a couple of minor changes - it looks as though the original was in Aran/worsted weight, which was a little heavy for Paul if he wanted to wear it on stage (he's the guitarist in a 60s tribute band, The Beat Rooms), so I used Jarol Heritage DK, which has a high wool content and is therefore more authentic than synthetic fibres. I also changed the shoulder line slightly as the dropped shoulder of the original would be uncomfortable under a jacket. Here's the pattern - it's very simple, with a cable repeat every 14 rows on both front and back.

Please note error in sleeve pattern now corrected 6 March 2014

Classic 1960s polo neck sweater

My version of Steve's sweater

Materials:

700g Jarol Heritage DK – I used shade 100 Cream.

Pair size UK 10/3.25 mm needles

Pair size UK 8/4 mm needles

Set of size UK 9/3.75 mm double point needles for polo collar

Cable needle

2 stitch holders or spare needles

Measurements:

To fit chest 40” to 42” (actual measurement 44”)

Length 28”

Sleeve seam 19” plus turnback cuff

Back width across shoulders (between sleeve set-in seams) 16”

Tension:

22 sts and 30 rows to 4” measured over stocking stitch on 4 mm needles.

Abbreviations:

K	knit	K2in	Inc 1 st by knitting into back and front of same st
P	purl		Inc 1 st by knitting into back and front of same st
st st	stocking stitch	rem	remaining
patt	pattern	RS	right side
tog	together	WS	wrong side
st(s)	stitch(es)	C8F	slip next 4 sts onto cable needle, place at front of work, K next 4 sts, then K 4 sts from cable needle
inc	increase
dec	decrease
alt	alternate

Back:

Using 3.25 mm needles, cast on 119 sts and work 3” (22 rows) rib as follows:

1st rib row: (K1, P1) to last st, K1.

2nd rib row: K1, (K1, P1) to last 2 sts, K2.

Inc row: Rib 4, (K2in, rib 11) 9 times. K2in, rib 6 (129 sts).

Change to 4 mm needles and work 14 row cable pattern as follows:

Marker added on cable row

1st, 3rd and 5th (RS) rows: (K35, P2, K8, P2) twice, K35

2nd and alt (WS) rows: (P35, K2, P8, P2) twice, P35

7th row: (K35, P2, C8F, P2) twice, K35 – place a marker on this row (a length of contrasting yarn will be fine).

9th, 11th and 13th rows – as 1st.

Repeat these 14 rows until work measures 18” or desired length to start of armhole decreasing. Move the marker to each new cable patt row as you work it.

Armhole shaping: Keeping continuity of cable pattern, cast off 4 sts at start of next 2 rows. Dec 1 st at each end of next 7 rows, then each alt 6 (RS) rows (95 sts rem).

Work straight until work measures 9½” from start of armhole decreasing, i.e. 27½” in total.

Shoulder shaping: Cast off 9 sts at start of next 4 rows, then 10 at start of nest 2 rows. Place rem 39 sts on stitch holder for neck.

Front:

Work as for back to end of armhole shaping. Work straight until work is 18 rows shorter than the back to start of shoulder shaping, thus ending with a WS row.

Divide for neck: Work 35 sts, turn, P2 tog and work to end. Working on these 34 sts only, dec 1 st at neck edge on next 3 rows, then on next 3 alt (RS) rows (28 sts).

Work 7 rows straight. With RS facing, cast off 9 sts at start of next and foll alt rows. Work 1 row. Cast off rem 10 sts.

Place centre 25 sts on stitch holder. Rejoin yarn to rem sts and complete other side of neck to match.

Sleeves (make 2 alike):

Using 3.25 mm needles, cast on 59 sts and work 5” (40 rows) rib as for back. If you prefer to omit the turnback, work 3” (22 rows).

Inc row: Rib 5, (K2 in, rib 7) 6 times, K2 in, rib 5 (66 sts).

Change to 4 mm needles and. working in st st throughout, inc 1 st (K2 in) at each end of 7th row and each following 8th row until there are 92 sts.

Work straight until work measures 21” (or 19” if you are omitting the turnback).

Shape top: cast off 4 sts at start of next 2 rows. Dec 1 st at each end of next and foll alt (RS) rows until there are 40 sts left. Dec each end of every row until 28 sts are left.

Cast off 3 sts at start of next 2 rows. Cast off rem 22 sts.

Back of sweater also has cable pattern

Polo collar:

Join shoulder seams.

Using 3.75 mm dpns or circular needle, and starting at left shoulder seam, pick up and knit 22 sts down left front neck, K across 25 sts from centre front, pick up and K 22 sts up right front neck, and finally K across 39 sts from back neck (108 sts). Work 6½” K1, P1 rib. Cast off loosely – use a needle 1 or 2 sizes larger.

Finishing:

Press pieces according to ball band instrucions. Set in sleeves, then join side and sleeve seams. Don't forget to stitch the lower 3” of the sleeve ribbing from the other side, as the cuffs will be turned back in wear. Press seams.

Thursday, 4 April 2013

Fair Isle – the fourth time around (at least)

Paul in his Magical Mystery Tour sweater

My Fair Isle waistcoat

It's true what they say – if you keep something long enough it will come back into fashion. This is certainly true of Fair Isle sweaters – they were popular in the 1940s, probably because wool (and it was wool!) was in short supply, so odd bits left over from other projects could be used up. I remember knitting my first Fair Isle in the late 60s, from a pattern based on a pullover worn by Paul McCartney, and when I saw The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, in which Paul sports another of his Fair Isle pullovers, again last year it got me thinking about knitting Fair Isle. Alas, the pattern and the pullover are long gone, but I found an old glove which I know I knitted in the same pattern, charted it and produced this long waistcoat. The basic waistcoat pattern was from a 1970s Falcon booklet. I'm including the chart, you can use it for any plain stocking stitch (stockinette) pattern but remember to centre the Fair Isle design on the pieces and bear in mind that you will probably need to use a size larger needles (or knit a size bigger) as stranded knitting tends to come up narrower than plain, and stretches less.

There are plenty of vintage patterns around for the good old Fair Isle sleeveless pullover, like this one reproduced on the Free Vintage Knitting site, but they are almost always designed to use 3-ply. OK, you could use modern 4-ply, such as Jarol Heritage, which is 50% wool and knits up pretty much like old 3-ply, but most people these days prefer something a bit thicker (and quicker!).

There was another brief Fair Isle revival in the 80s, when I made a lot of stranded designs on the knitting machine - long since consigned to the garage as being too much trouble – you can't watch TV when you're using it, and the noise makes it pretty antisocial, not to mention the space it takes up.

In the last couple of years Fair Isle has made a big comeback, so if like me you have boxes full of leftover bits of DK in every colour under the sun, this is for you! You do need to make sure that the yarns you use all have similar fibre content, so I tend to stick to 100% acrylic – it's cheap, the colours don't run and it's easy to wash.

This is my basic V-neck sleeveless sweater, using a stitch pattern I used in the 80s in another long-lost sweater (I still have the matching hat!), but you could use any Fair Isle stitch pattern. Sheila McGregor's Traditional Fair Isle Knitting is a great source for patterns, or you could have a go at designing your own. I use MS Excel for charting, there's an excellent tutorial on Marnie Maclean's blog here.

V neck Fair Isle sweater instructions

Oops! forgot to include the centre front decrease instuctions when I posted this - error now corrected!