Giant Christmas Mitten re-knitted

Today we are pleased to present to you our new version of the Christmas Mitten. The pattern was originally designed by Julieta Brandao in the super chunky Merino Wool Yarn Roving. However, we now have an updated version for you, using the brand new Thick & Easy Wool Yarn.

Giant Christmas Mitten, knitted in Merino Wool Yarn Roving
and Thick & Easy Wool Yarn.

Basically you knit the Christmas Mitten from the same pattern, using the Thick & Easy colours: Chilli Red and Olive Drab Green or Cherry Red and Papaya Whip.

The Christmas Mitten is knitted in the round and grafting is used to finish off the mitten. The knitting is done in a basic 1x1 rib to start with, and the rest is simple stocking stitch in the round.

Giant Christmas Mitten
knitted in Cherry Red and Papaya Whip

Using a 6-8mm needle, depending on your tension. For loose knitters we recommend a 6mm, or for tighter knitters we would recommend you use an 8mm circular needle, alternative you can use the longer version of the double pointed needles.

Thick & Easy Wool Yarn
colours from left to right: Seal Brown, Eggshell Beige,
Olive Drab Green, Papaya Whip, Blue Teal and Blue Black.

You will need two hanks, 1 per colour and you will easily get 3 mittens out of two hanks of Thick & Easy Yarn.The yarn is currently on offer for £5.92 / 100g hank. The pattern you can download for free this month from our website @knitshop.co.uk.If you are interested to read more about the original Giant Mitten, visit our previous blog post here: http://knitshopcouk.blogspot.bg/2013/12/giant-christmas-mittens-to-stash.html#uds-search-results

Christmas Mitten, perfect as stocking for your little ones.

For any questions, pattern help or instructions you can contact the shop on (UK +44) 020 7099 8864 or email us through the website, click here to open the contact us form.


Links to this blog:

Thick & Easy Wool Yarn: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/106-thick-easy-yarn

Giant Christmas Mitten Pattern: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/knitshop-pattern/2919-giant-mitten.html

Knitting Needles: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/274-knitting-crochet-accessories

Jigsaw Puzzle - Intarsia Knitting

Take-on Intarsia - Think of intarsia as a jigsaw puzzle, several pieces are fitted together. These pieces can be of varying colour and materials, and in fact this makes intarsia more interesting. The knitted pieces can be of different knitting techniques, even different weight yarns the mix and match possibilities are endless.

Intarsia is different to multi-coloured knitting techniques such as Fair isle and Double Knitting as there can only be one 'active' colour when working and the different yarns are not carried across the back of the knit they are left 'hanging'.

The best example of intarsia is argyle socks usually with a diamond knit pattern of varying colours. Intarsia is also common for jumpers with knitted patterns and designs.

Hand Knitting with intarsia - what you will need:
Standard needles
Various coloured yarns
experienced in basic stitches including knit and purl
Bobbins

The bobbins are used to keep the 'inactive' yarn to one side, they resemble sewing machine bobbins but are much larger, however these intarsia bobbins can snap tight to keep the yarn from unwinding, especially useful when you drop one and you have to go chasing after it!

Knitting
The knitter will begin knitting their pattern, when a colour change is required the new colour is brought in from underneath the old colour strand and continues to knit. Just like with regular knitting, when you turn your knitting around, just continue as normal and change the colour when desired remembering to bring the new colour up from underneath the old. This should prevent holes.

Intarsia patterns can be as simple as vertical stripes, changing the colour in the exact same place every row. A great example is this Vest pattern published by knitshop.co.uk

They can become more complicated with geometrical shapes and even more complicated with designs of various shapes. However these can be calculated a little like a 'paint by number' project, except you knit by number. Intarsia patterns are given as charts which have little squares where a pattern or design are displayed. Remember to read the pattern from the lower right upwards.

For more information about intarsia knitting why not join us for our Colour Knitting workshops. Saturday 24th September Julieta will be teaching intarsia as well as fair isle knitting. This workshop will be repeated on October 1st. The two hour workshop will provide students with all materials and the class of 8 students maximum will mean a one-to-one teaching can be provided.

Machine Knitting with Intarsia
For all you machine knitters we've included a small segment on knitting by machine with intarsia - what you will need:
knitting machine
Intarsia carriage
Various coloured yarns

Knitting
The intarsia carriage resembles a normal machine knitting carriage, however this helps the knitter 'hold' the needles that do not require the colour you are using as well as change the colour and not create a hole.

The knitter will bring forward the needles that will be 'held' and will knit across the needles that are not 'held'. The knitter will adjust the needles when they need to change colour. However it is important to pull back the needles you have been knitting on before knitting across with the new colour. It is also advised to put plenty of weight on the segments being knitted.

The intarsia helps the segments merge creating one knitted fabric unlike if you were to use the holding technique which is restrictive for this type of knitting.

With machine knitting intarsia you have the added benefits of using punch cards to create interesting patterns.



Links to this post: 
Pattern from knitshop.co.uk
Needles and other knitting accessories
Knitting and crochet yarns
Workshops and courses

 

Lewisham People's Day

If you didn't join us earlier in July at the Lewisham People's Day, you missed out on a spectacular treat put on by local activity groups around Lewisham and surrounding areas, including our very own knitshop.co.uk team.

We were located in a big yellow and red striped tent which came in useful with all the rain that day! The knitshop team set-up a knitting lounge within the tent. Centre stage was a huge dance-floor where in the afternoon dance sessions were held. It was wonderful to be able to watch these sessions as we knitted. The music was a great aid to keep knitters in rhythm too, as well as draw in more crowds to come and join us.

The knitting lounge was host to children and adults of any age, and they could participate in a variety of knitting and crochet activities or simply work on their own projects. knitshop.co.uk supplied some basic materials to get knitters and crocheters started. At any one time we had about 20 people knitting around the table.

It was a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together and as the day progressed we had as many knitters and non-knitters joining us. Julieta from the knitshop was on-hand to teach any new knitters how to knit or crochet. This was very much welcome by participants that were a little shy to get involved or learn a new skill. Julieta was teaching many children as well as adults and as the lounge became more popular and busier, friends were teaching one another and were also teaching people who they'd never met before.

There was a lovely community spirit in this lounge and participants were leaving with small projects either to finish at home or completed within the lounge. One child learnt to crochet with Julieta and then completed an entire project, they took home a complete crocheted ipod holder.

It was inspiring to see everyone with a project in mind, whether it was something traditional such as babies cardigans to scarves, to more contemporary design ideas such as the ipod holder. This demonstrates how knitting and crochet have developed into 21^st century crafts that are still useful skills and relaxing at the same time.

The surgery was also a welcome segment to the event. Julieta and the knitshop team were answering any problems knitters had with their projects within the lounge. Many projects were injected with new inspiration and dilemmas were solved.

The knitters were certainly not put off by the wet weather and overall it was a wonderful day, not just for the knitshop.co.uk team but for the entire Lewisham People's Day.

Julieta and the knitshop team would like to thank the organisers of Lewisham People's Day for inviting the knitshop a second year round, its a fantastic festival to take part in and we really hope we can feature there again next year, hopefully with a little bit of sunshine!

knitshop.co.uk is hosting regular community events and takes part in festivals and other social activities. If you want to take part or visit the knitshop when organising such brilliant events, go to our Events Page http://fairs.knitshop.co.uk for more information and dates.

Links to this blog: 

July Lewisham People's Day

knitshop.co.uk

Events & activities by knitshop.co.uk

Decorating

Hi,

The new office/shop is coming along pretty well now.
We sanded the floor, which was a bit of a nightmare and took much longer than expected. We stained the floor twice already, just one more coat required and decorated the walls. The upstairs shop/showroom should be ready by tonight!!

The stock is everywhere at the moment, part of the stock has been moved already and part of the stock is still at the old studio. However I hope everything will be moved very soon now..... All boxes are labeled and numbered so we can still operate the online shop: www.knitshop.co.uk - pack and post all orders.

Everything should be moved and starting to be back to normal from the 4th August.
Our moving sale is still on, I will add some more items later today.

With the move I have not had much time for knitting, but I will post some pictures of knitted items as soon as possible. Meanwhile you can find them on the Knitshop Facebook page.

I hope to see you all soon at the new shop.
Bye for now!
Julie