Howdy! It’s been a while. I have been knitting and charting and calculating forever. I love every moment of it, but it means that I am not blogging so much.
I want to share some of the beautiful images I collected over some time for my design inspirations. I am at the very beginning stage of my Spring & Summer designs.
My new work, Wilma for Artesano Vintage Handknits patterns is now available on Ravelry! The above 2 images by courtesy of Artesano. They just released the first edition of their newsletter. Check this page because you can get a free knitting pattern from the collection.
I am just so excited about it and am so happy about the design. This project is to celebrate the release of their new colours. The above picture is made in Guyana (2133) for main colour and Wholemeal (C969) for the trim and the waist band.
This one above is made with Columbia (8440) for the main colour and Bolivia (0785) for the trimming and the waist band.
I do enjoy knitting with Artesano yarns. For this Vintage Handknits collection, I wanted the design to be something feminine that you can wear indoor when you go out somewhere. I also wanted the structure of the top to be something that keeps you warm but without becoming too hot.
Basically the cardigan has ruffles around the waist and the cuffs. These creates feminine look but also the garment “catches” the air so that wearing this top is always fresh. It has a low V-neck shaping and the waist is shaped with dainty but simple cable stitch over 3 sts.
I made the samples myself and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I have time, I want to make one for myself 
Happy weekend!
Being a part of knitting community is wonderful because everyone is always kind and we help each other. It is very similar to my own personal experience living in the UK because without the help of so many friends and even people that I didn’t even know, I wouldn’t be here today.
I do spend majority of my time designing and patterning my own stuff, but I think being a part of society, it is important to do something for others. So today I want to talk about a project I have been working with The Knitter mag since last year. The project is about bringing Japanese designers to the West!
There are many beautiful designs created by Japanese designers but not many are published in English. There is an obvious language barrier and it’s a real shame. I think it would be really nice that more Japanese patterns, and not just my own, are accessible in English for everyone to enjoy!
So this is where I come in. I am an English and Japanese “knitting” bilingual (LOL). I do write and speak both languages pretty well. So why not use this skill for others? The Knitter team made this possible. I have been the go between person to organise the Japanese designers and have their Japanese patterns translated and graded to English. So together, we were able to publish Japanese high profile designers’ work in English.
Mitsuharu Hirose and Hitomi Shida were our very first choice. They are the Japan’s most well-known and loved professional designers. They are true knitting artist. Working with them is just amazing. Now that this project is coming to fruition, with Mitsuharu’s beautiful design called Sanmyaku being published this month, I want to talk about a little bit about the work I did for Mitsuharu, The Prince of Knitting.
Mitsuharu is a pioneer in every aspect of Japanese knitting. On top of all the beautiful designs that he creates, he has published countless books, he teaches all over Japan and appears regularly on TV. This meant that he also became a pioneer to work with me and my clumsy communications (I was so nervous!). But you know what? He was just so superbly professional throughout. He was so nice and was spot-on with the designs, never late to reply, always to the point. I admire and respect him so much!!!
So his design for issue 43 is called Sanmyaku which means mountain range in Japanese. His love of beautiful Japanese mountain views and nature is so well presented in the design. It has a decorative zig-zag motifs with delicate lace collar pattern which is shaped by differing needle sizes.When I first saw the design, I loved it and it gave me goosebumps (LOL).
When I received the pattern files from him for me to translate and grade sizes, I was even more impressed by his precise description. The gauges and measurements were bang-on and it was just a thrill and honour to work on his work.
I was eager to see how the pattern will be published. The Knitter team has really done an amazing work on the photography, technical editing (thank you Melanie!) and putting them together. I felt so happy to be a part of a great teamwork. And I think it is a real success! Thank you so much Mitsuharu for your amazing work.
It’s a great and fun pattern to knit. Do please check it out 
Happy weekend!
I spent a day with The Knitter team at The Knitter & Simply Knitting stand last Sunday at Stitch & Craft Show 2012 in Olympia!
My job was to work along with The Knitter team (Rosee Woodland, Jen Storey and Miriam McDonald) as a part of expert knitter team (!) and to help visitors with any knitting queries. I have been to several shows in London but this one was the first so I was really looking forward to seeing what it would be like!
The show was bigger than expected. It wasn’t all knitting. There were areas for sewing, embroidery, quilting. One amazing thing there was the quilt display. There were hundreds of them and they were all about London Olympics!
The Knitter stand was nice. There was a large wooden table and chairs as well as sofa to chill out and knit. We all had our own knitting project. People came in and out chatting with us or asking about some techniques etc. It was pure knitting and I loved every moment!
There were many companies who had their stand. I kept going to say hi to Joanna Osborne, one of the authors of Best in Show Knit Your Own Cat – an AMAZING Book! I got the book finally as well as a kit to knit a ginger cat. The book was also signed by her .
Also there was Hooplayarn, who specialises in chunky fabric yarn (500g cone). They are so cool. I will blog about the company again in detail.
I was also in a mood of a yarn on the day and I got a gorgeous yarn from Artisan Yarn. Anne uses natural dyes to create lovely colourways for her luxury fibre. They were so beautiful and I had a difficulty choosing which one to get – But I chose the baby camel and silk blend
Martin Storey and Sarah Hatton were also doing the book signing. I was too shy to walk to them tell them how much I love them! BUT towards the end of the show, Martin walked towards us and got us some gift from Rowan. I was SO NERVOUS and SHY but had to tell him how amazing his designs are and I am a big fan (LOL!). He is such a lovely person and I am so glad that I did! Next time I will say hello to Sarah too!
So I had a wonderful time. It was so nice to spend a day and got to know The Knitter & Simply Knitting team. They are extremely knowlegeable and passionate about their work. I hope those who visited the stand was able to learn more about knitting. I also hope that I will be able to do more of the show for The Knitter. If you want to see more pictures, there are more on my facebook page.
So now what’s my plan for the week? Well, I am working of several accessory designs this week – all for Autumn and Winter collection!
Have a fab week!
If you love custom knitwear like me, you will love this site. Basically it is an online knitting pattern creator for Icelandic Lopi sweaters. I was so amazed and impressed about this site so I contacted the owner of the site if it was OK for me to blog about it, and I got a reply!
So the story goes like this, he is a software developer and a husband of a keen knitter. Originally he developed this site for her (how amazing!) so that sh can design her own Lopi sweater. It is now a free site for everyone. He says that he is constantly improving the functionality, so if you see something that you want or would like to be improved on, please let him know! He has a great blog and also a ravelry group page.
Gosh I have so many I want to knit now! Yesterday I was bragging on about how much I wanted to knit a pair of socks on CC facebook page. Now I want to knit Lopi sweater too. No time for the wicked in deed.
Now, a quick news for everyone in the UK. There will be a Stitch and Craft Show from today to Sunday at Olympia. On Sunday only, I will be there as an expert knitter working with The Knitter magazine. I will be around helping out with patterns or any knitting inquiries among other expert knitters!! So if you are there on Sunday come and say hi! I will also take lots of pictures and blog about it later
Happy knitting!
For me, Spring is a great time to knit accessories. It’s small and portable so that I can knit alfresco which is one of my favourite things to do.
Today, I wanted to let you know that Forest Glove knitting pattern, which was featured in Knit Now issue 1, is now available as a single pattern from my shop and from Ravelry.
Many years back, I was hooked on knitting gloves. I just loved working the fingers for some reason (strange I know!). Knit Now is a great magazine for accessories for all levels of knitters so I took an opportunity to create an original glove knitting patterns so that everyone will also get hooked like I was 
The pattern is made for a DK yarn (4mm (UK 8/US 6). The sample glove above is made with Olympus Premio (100% wool (of which 40% Tasmanian Polwarth; 114m / 124 yds per 40g ball). It’s available in the US but not so within Europe, so we decided to stock them here in Cotton & Cloud for those who live in European countries. Instead of a single pattern, you can get a pattern and yarn set which works out better value than buying a pattern and the yarn. Do please check out because you can see the gloves in different colours!
So for a fashionable weekend to come, below is the style idea for the glove which I created using Polyvore (if you haven’t tried it, it’s so fun).
Below is some styling set done by others. They are great!
What could I have done with my life if these two sticks weren’t around? Nowadays I tend to use circular needles most of the time, but I should not forget the beauty of straight needles.
While I am still knitting like mad, working on some magazine work and therefore won’t be able to post you the current project images, I thought I will dig around to find pretty knitting needles and share with you. I found many gorgeous looking decorative straight needles and here are some of them.
Laurel Hill knitting needles. They produce innovative and environmentally friendly knitting needles. I love the little "hat-like" ends.
My personal favourite. A Very Hungry Catterpillar knitting needles by DotDotSmile. I am seriously considering of getting those...
Aren't they so unusual and pretty? Chunky knitting needles with thread spools by TheSpinnersEmporium.
Sophisticated reclaimed purple heart wood knitting needles by Wallingandsons. I love the bands of wood pattern on the needles.
Super gorgeous hexagonal knitting needles with brass decorative top by Indian Lake Artisans.
This is my favourite - Owl hexagonal knitting needles.
Didn’t see anything you fancy? Then you can make one! Below is the video for how to make wooden knitting needles and this link is for resin knitting needles.
Happy knitting
The new Cotton & Cloud knitting pattern is out in the special centenary issue of Knitting Magazine! It’s called Draped Front Vest using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend.
It is a simple structure but there is a twist. The lace pattern is shaped like a triangle and each motif repeat is altered as you knit to the centre back where the top of the triangle reaches. One should look nice from both front and back!
Using Manos Silk Blend was a real treat. I love the semi-solid shades and it is so gentle to your hands. it’s just so fun to knit with and the garment just grows fast!
I do love structured garment where there is a “movement” involved. This garment is shaped by a gradual increase in stitches at the front opening edges. This allows the garment to fold like an origami when worn without having to knit so many stitches.
What is good about draped tops is that you can accessorize it anyway you want. Below is an example of how you can use a simple brown belt to have a completely different look:
I have taken a couple of photos behind the scene for making the garment. It is so important that it fits the body nicely so using a mannequin is essential.
I am weighing the garment to calculate the yarn quantity for different sizes.
Finally here is the styling I have done from Polyvore – It’s inspired by sunny holiday with ferns and happy flowers like bougainvillea.
When my blog posts become scarce, it means that I am patterning and knitting like mad. Eventually you will see loads of new stuff here, there and everywhere! so all will come to a good outcome (the photo below is skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas I worked on The Knitter Issue 39 – Red Willow)
Having London Olympics few months to come, I just wondered how fast I knit so I made a video about it. I must admit, for the purpose of quick video I measured over 30 sec and not 1 min. What is amazing to know is that the world fastest knitters such as Hazel Tindall and Miriam Tegels knitted 262 and 243 sts per 3 min respectively. How amazing is that!?
So just for fun, this is what I did. The video contains a friendly and non-threatening music during the interval of 30 sec so if you don’t like any music in the video, please turn off the speaker before you watch it.
Happy knitting everyone!
When you knit a single / odd numbered-row stripe pattern in flat knitting, you keep having to cut the yarn and re-join the new colours. I don’t really like having lots of strands to tidy at the end.
This meant that I never really designed any flat-knitting-style pattern with single / odd numbered stripes. BUT things are now changing!!!!!
I have discovered the way to knit a single / odd numbered stripe patterns without cutting the yarn and rejoining the new colours using circular needles and today I will show you how this can be done.
Following is the basic rule to this technique:
Here is how to do it.
Step 1: Knit 1 row with colour 1 (in this case, pink) (pic below).
Step 2: The next colour I want to knit is green. But this green yarn is not at the beginning of the next row (i.e. still at the beginning of the previous row (on the right). So I pull the needle to the left. Hold the fabric and move all the way to the other end of the needle facing the right (pic below).
Pic below shows where all the stitches have moved to the other end of the needle, which is facing the right.
You can now knit with the green yarn without having to cut and re-joining (pic below).
Notice that when you work the green yarn, you have knitted the RS row again (pic below).
Step 3: The next row I want to knit is pink. This time, the pink yarn is already at the beginning of the next row, which means that you can work the next row straight away without pulling the needle (pic below).
Step 4: After working one row (or an odd number of the row) with pink, I now want to knit the next colour with green. But the green yarn is not at the beginning of the next row (i.e.still at the beginning of the previous row). So I pull the needle all the way to the other end.
Work the WS row again but without cutting the yarn (pic below).
That’s it.
Using this technique, you can do various combinations of rows in stripe patterns as well as colours. I experimented with single garter pattern using this technique and I really like how the pattern looks – it’s retro!
Below is the video tutorial on this technique Happy stripe knitting!
site by Aeolidia 
