Purple Velvet Wrist Warmer

Kolibri Purple Velvet Wrist Warmer

If ever there was an excuse to show off your knitting skills, it’s autumn and winter. Everyone’s wrapped up warm but few people can resist checking out what other people have chosen to keep off the chill and how stylish their resulting attire looks.

Handmade garments invariably look better than shop-bought ones anyway and the fancy patterns and colours of wintry knitwear make a fashion statement all of their own. 

Purple Velvet Wrist Warmer in Purple-Berry Kolibri Wool Yarn

 

Our latest pattern offers both colour and fancy knitwork in abundance. knitshop.co.uk’s Kolibri Purple Velvet Wrist Warmers feature both lacework and cables and are knitted in knitshop.co.uk’s incredibly popular Kolibri Wool Yarn. This variegated yarn knits up densely on 5mm needles but the subtle colour changes don’t detract from the pattern.

We really love the luxurious length of the gloves – they come halfway up your forearm. They even have a proper knitted thumb, which not all wristwarmers include.

The Purple Velvet Wrist Warmer is a great project if you’ve already got some experience of lacework and can work yarnovers and knit two stitches together. You do need to know how to knit in the round, but once you’re underway you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to follow this gorgeous pattern.

The cabling featured here isn’t complicated and the results are really stunning. For some cable knitting projects you need a cable needle, but you’ll find it just as easy to use a short double-pointed needle.

You’ll need one 100g hank of knitshop.co.uk Kolibri Wool Yarn and a pair of 5mm needles. The pattern knits to a tension of XX stitches by XX rows over a 10cm square. You’ll probably also find it useful to use a stitch marker to indicate the beginning of each pattern repeat. 

 

We used Kolibri in the Purple-Berry shade for our version. For a more muted effect that really shows off the stitches choose either Kolibri in Pink-Aquamarine or in the rich Brown-Mix shade. 

 

Kolibri Wool Yarn usually costs £8.89 per 100g hank but there’s a 15 percent discount voucher included with the Purple Velvet Wrist Warmer pattern. Just download the PDF pattern once you’ve checked out at knitshop.co.uk’s online store, then scan the QR code voucher.

Links to this blog:

Purple Velvet Wrist Warmer pattern: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/knitshop-pattern/2896-purple-velvet.html

Kolibri yarn: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/176-kolibri-yarn

Kolibri Brown-Mix yarn: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/kolibri-yarn/338-brown-mix-kolibri.html

Kolibri Pink-Aquamarine: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/kolibri-yarn/441-pink-aquamarine-kolibri.html

Kolibri Purple-Berry yarn: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/kolibri-yarn/873-purple-berry-kolibri.html

5mm bamboo needles: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/knitting-accessories/1699-bamboo-knitting-needles-5mm.html

5mm double-pointed needles: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/knitting-accessories/1486-bamboo-knitting-needles-5mm.html

November Workshops

November workshops

knitshop.co.uk has a bumper crop of workshops this month to help you build up your knitting and crochet skills and make festive items for Christmas. All our workshops take place at our Boutique Outlet at 326 Lee High Road in Lee Green from 11am to 1pm and are led by fully qualified knitwear designers and teachers.

On Friday 8 November we’ll be showing you how to master different types of knitted colourwork. Taking stocking stitch as a basis, the Colour Knitting workshop looks at how to incorporate two or more different colours of yarn into a design and when you use each technique. We’ll show you how to alternate colour yarns at the end of a row and carry the unused colour up the side of the work so you can use it later in the design. We’ll also look at how to change colours partway through a row.

Christmas Tree Tea Cosy - Pattern from knitshop.co.uk
One of the project you could make in our Colour and Fair Isle knitting workshops.

If you’ve got some experience of knitting projects containing several colour yarns, why not try a more advanced colourwork technique? Our Fairisle Knitting workshop on Friday 15 November also introduces you to knitting in the round. Using the techniques shown in the class, you’ll be able to knit seam-free designs such as a wristwarmer or a small bag.

On Saturday 9 November we’ll be holding the first of our festive workshops, showing you how to Crochet A Christmas Snowflake. This workshop is aimed at fairly confident crocheters, however, if you know how to crochet doubles, trebles and turn a chain, you should be fine.

Snowflakes crochet in fine Crochet Cotton

We’ll help you add half trebles and double trebles to your crochet repertoire and explain how to follow a chart so you can easily finish making your snowflake at home. You can also download the snowflake pattern for free.

We’ll also be making Christmas decorations at our crochet workshops on Saturday 16 November and Friday 29 November. It’s traditional to include handmade items on your Christmas tree, so why not find out how to make your own baubles? You’ll need some knowledge of crochet in order to tackle our Crochet Christmas Decorations workshop, but anyone who knows how to turn a chain and create doubles and trebles will soon be able to make their own crochet decorations.

Mini Christmas Stockings knitted in Coquette Vintage Cotton

Knitters will have plenty of chances to make Christmas items too. On Friday 22 and Saturday 23 November we’ll be Knitting A Christmas Stocking. In this workshop you’ll learn how to knit in the round using stocking stitch and how to turn a heel and shape the toe of your festive stocking. This workshop is therefore also a perfect introduction to sock knitting on a miniature scale!

If you enjoy our Fairisle Knitting workshop earlier in the month, you could even use your new skills to create a Fairisle version of a Christmas stocking. Find out how in our final November workshop where we’ll be knitting a Fairsle Christmas Stocking.

Links to this blog:

November workshops: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/251-november

Colour Knitting workshop: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/workshops/2884-colour-knitting.html

Fairisle Knitting workshop: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/workshops/2835-fair-isle-knittig.html

Knit Your Own Christmas Stocking workshop: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/workshops/2888-christmas-stocking-knitting.html

Crochet a Snowflake: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/workshops/2881-crochet-snowflake.html

Free Snowflake Crochet pattern: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/knitshop-pattern/1972-free-pattern-let-it-snow-snowflake.html

Crochet Christmas Decorations workshop: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/workshops/2887-crochet-ornament.html

Fairisle Christmas Stocking workshop: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/workshops/2889-christmas-stocking-knitting.html