I just thought I’d share with you – some pics of Mimi wearing her new Asterisk Hat by Dorothy Jane. This free Ravelry hat pattern was knitted with 50g of our Cestari DK wool – 8 plyin Forest Green. The pattern is actually a slouchy style hat but I made it more like a beanie at her request. It is to wear ice-skating when we go on our cruise in November! can’t wait!

I wanted to share with you my first-ever knitted cardigan. It was made for my daughter who is 6 and a half and a size 7.

(Note the Audrey pose! LOL!). The pattern I used was one downloaded from ravelry.com called “In Threes Baby Cardigan”. It was knitted in the round – no joins or seams – on a 5.5mm circular needle – 24 inches long. The pattern only went up to a size 5, so I cast on 6 extra stitches and made adjustments along the way so that it would fit her. It’s a perfect fit for this year with more room under the arms and length-wise to allow for growth so she can wear it next year. The yarn I used is one I sell in the shop called Araucania ‘Aysen’ – a lovely 10 ply blend of alpaca, merino and silk. I knitted with two skeins simultaneously to ensure even variegation in the yarn. the cardigan only took two x 100g skeins with some left over. Knitting a few rows every night, it took me about a month to finish but that’s because I was working on other projects at the same time and didn’t work on it every day. If you were a fast knitter and did about 10 rows very day you’d have it done in about 2 weeks, I think.

Anyway, here’s some more pics…

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We have a couple of projects to share with you.

The first one is a super-quick, soft crocheted ‘Spectrum’ scarf in Red Heart Boutique Magical – a wool-blend, magic ball-style yarn.

One ball makes a scarf which can be crocheted in just a few hours! Grows quickly and the pattern is very easy to memorise.

The second project is my hand-dyed, handspun “Boneyard Shawl“.

I used 100g of a 5 ply merino-silk blend which I spun on my Schacht Matchless spinning wheel.

It is more of a shawlette than a shawl though! LOL!

Noro Silk Garden Moss Stitch Baby Sweater

Noro Iro Bag – knitted in ‘Iro’ but could substitute Taiyo or Kochoran

Debbie Bliss has released some free patterns from her Noro Collection, 2002 book. These are for Noro Kureyon and are available on the Knitting Fever website.

Noro Kureyon Entrelac Sweater

Noro Kureyon Rabbit – knitted toy

Child’s Striped Noro Kureyon Sweater

Here is a summary of our KAL program for this year:

This year we have an exciting selection of KALs (Knit-a-longs) including:

• Cable-Ready Bag • Easy Zigzag Noro Scarf • Paintbox Noro Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket • Lacy Silk Garden Socks • Noro Kimono Cardigan • Lacy Shawlette

4th February 2012: Practice your knitted cable skills with this quick-knit bag featuring Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick’n Quick yarn. Materials: three skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick ‘n Quick wool/acrylic blend COST: $33.

3rd March 2012: Easy Zig Zag Scarf – Noro Silk Garden Worsted Materials: 4 x balls of Noro Silk Garden COST: $56.00

7th April 2012: Paintbox Kureyon Log Cabin Knitted Blanket – Noro Kureyon yarn Materials: 19 balls of Noro Kureyon in assorted colours, 2 balls of contrasting solid colour of worsted-weight pure wool. COST: $258

7th July 2012: Noro Silk Garden Kimono Cardigan Materials: 8-14 balls of Noro Silk Garden

1st September 2012: Lacy Silk Garden Socks – for intermediate to advanced knitters Materials: one ball of Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn COST: $24.00

6th October, 2012: “198 Yards of Heaven” – lacy knitted shawlette COST: approximately $22.00 to $40, depending on yarn chosen

I hope you can join us!

Gabrielle and Beth

We have some new stock of Noro Kochoran in-store. Whilst Noro is lovely in garments, we tried to come up with a pattern which only used one skein of this luscious angora-blend yarn.

We call it “Simple Luxury Scarf”.

To download the Word version of this pattern, please click here.

At Last! We now have our new classes for 2012 up and listed on our website.

This year, along with our usual knitting and crochet classes, we are also offering classes in :

Felting Beading Kumihimo (Japanese Braiding) Machine-knitting (depending on demand) Spinning (TBC) Weaving (TBC)

Classes start officially in the first week of February.

We’d love to see you there!

Gabrielle and Beth

This adorable fresh summer top is knitted in Noro Aya – a summer-weight cotton, wool and silk yarn in the signature Noro self-striping colours.

Ladies Top in Noro 'Aya' - Colourway #9, Pattern # YS-528 - World of Nature #29

The Pattern is from Noro World of Nature – Volume 29 and takes 6 balls of Aya. I am a Size 16 and it fits me with room to spare.

We have lots of colours available in the Noro Aya – see post below

Here are a couple of great summer knitting ideas for women – a feminine ruffled cotton cardi and a Noro short-sleeved jacket. Both projects are on display at the shop with the yarn in-stock:

1. Noro Furin Ladies’ Short-Sleeved Jacket

Pretty Ladies' short-sleeved jacket knitted in Noro 'Furin' - cotton, silk etc.. yarn

It was knitted using 5 x 50g balls of Noro ‘Furin’ and the pattern is YS-523 – from Noro World of Nature Vol. 29.

2. Mirasol ‘Alhambra’ – short-sleeved ladies’ cardigan knitted in Mirasol ‘Tika’ yarn

Alhambra - Ladies' short-sleeved cardigan knitted in Mirasol 'Tika' cotton yarn.

The pattern is called ‘Alhambra’ and can be found in the Mirasol Collection, Book 2, by Jane Ellison. It was knitted with 12 x 50g skeins of Tika – a pima cotton yarn in an 8 ply thickness.

BTW – the taupe pinafore apron on the model is available from Pinnies from Heaven – Frankie has some gorgeous aprons available in a range of fab modern colours, fabrics and designs!