This must be a record for me - usually it takes me weeks to get a single post up and look at me now, 3 posts in 24 hours!

I have a few photos of the finished knitting I did over the last week.

First up are my cozy Monkey socks.

I am so happy with the green cabled jumper.  I thought it was going to be too heavy and unwearable with the Kilcarra but I have worn it all day and I just love it.  I made a few modifications:

1. I added a small bit of waist shaping, I just didn’t see any reason not too!

2. I just continued the ribbing up for a collar rather than a hood.  I just felt I would get more wear out of it that way.

3. On the sleeves when I started I missed that the ribbing should be continued before you began the cable so I started the cable right at the wrist.  When I had gone one repeat in I realised what I had done but I decided to keep it as a modification rather than change it - I liked the way it looked.

Anyone looking closely will see that my crochet buttonholes leave a lot to be desired.  I may rip them out and try again when I get a few moments.  Crochet is not my strong point!!

Even though it is still a little early (as it isn’t quite released yet!) I am very excited to say that the first book with my patterns in it is up on Amazon!!  Knitting in the Sun is a book with knitting for warmer weather.   I will have three patterns in the book - a fitted shell/tank top with lace panels, a matching bolero with lace panels on the sleeves and also a beach bag that doubles as a blanket (for those times you have forgotten to bring a blanket to use on the beach!).  I am so in love with the top and I just loved knitting in bamboo, so silky and smooth.

Kirsti Porter who put the book together was such a pleasure to work with, and I see she has a photo of the cover up on her website that I’m going to borrow!

For anyone out there who hasn’t seen the latest issue of Twist Collective go take a look now.  There are so many patterns that I just adore I’m not really sure how I’ll ever find enough knitting time!  I especially love Gytha, the colour combinations are just so beautiful.  Heroine is such an unusual but very functional jacket.  It looks like it could withstand a cold winter!

I have actually managed to finish some knitting over the last few weeks.  I got the second of my Monkey socks finished (I have serious sock syndrome!!) and my green cabled jumper is finished.  I didn’t add in the hood as it just seemed like too much weight with Kilcarra (it weighs several pounds as it is!)…  I hope to take a few photos over the weekend and will get them up to show off the finished pieces.

For anyone looking for some top down hat patterns I will be publishing a pattern with several variations in the next few weeks.  Watch this spot..

Last Year I got a copy of Elisabeth Zimmerman’s Knitters’ Almanac and have been waiting until now to knit this up.  I had some lovely soft cotton from my aunt that was great for it - super soft.  Now I need to block, weave and darn ends in and we’ll be set.  It will have to sit and wait for the baby for a few months yet thought!
I hadn’t used the M1 method that she suggested in the book before (basically just twisting a loop around the needle) so i thought I’d give it a go. Not too happy with the effect it creates, it seems like too noticeable an increase. On the wrong side of the fabric it looks like a series of loops.  I don’t think I’ll be using it again.
Other that that I love the cardigan pattern- so simple and effective. If I were to do it again I think that I’d use a different increase method and perhaps decrease the sleeves a little (not sure about this in terms of the lace).

Difficulty: Intermediate

SIZE
XS [S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X] (shown in size S)
Bust size: 30[34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54] inches

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Chest: 32[36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56] inches
Length: 20[20, 20.5, 21, 21.5, 22, 22.5] inches

There is more about the pattern on my Pattern For Sale page.

I had so much fun knitting this cardigan during the summer.  With tech editing, test knitting and of course writing the pattern it has taken me until now to publish it!  Butterflysparkle on ravelry has made a version in Garnstudio Paris which I think looks wonderful. Now that is is published I can finally get to wear it without worrying about the need to photograph it again.

On a similar note, I have knitting a scarf in Noro Silk garden Chunky using the same stitch pattern.If you want a wool version of Lime with a Twist this yarn knits at the correct gauge and produces a lovely fabric.  Here is a small section of the scarf:

In a few weeks time I should have my ‘Lime with a Twist’ cardigan up for sale. This cardigan is fairly straightforward to knit but it does involve both a provisional cast on and quite a few picked up stitches.

Hopefully (if I can get someone to take photos!) I will put a tutorial on my favorite way to do both of these.
There are many different ways to create a provisional (or invisible) cast on. The method I find the easiest and use the most is the crochet cast on directly onto the needle. Bear in mind that you don’t need to know how to crochet to do this (I am not able to crochet) and it is easy to control.

Picking up stitches is very useful to feel comfortable if you want to avoid sewing knitted pieces together. To make your picked up stitches look as tidy and professional as possible you need to always ensure that you pick your stitches up in the same row - it sounds simple but it can be remarkably easy to slide across a row and it really ruins the edge.
Also with picked up stitches you want to avoid holes, two things to keep in mind are to avoid picking up where there is a big gap - if you work into more tightly knit stitches there is no give to create a hole when the piece is being worn.
Usually when you pick up stitches you are asked to ‘pick up and knit’ the stitch, when you do this you should keep the yarn as tight as you can. If you find the stitches loose you can cheat a little by knitting into the back of the next row to tighten them up a little.
The only time I have really seem only ‘pick up’ called for is with applied I-cord’. In this case just picking up the loop that the stitch will be worked through is all you do.
More (with photos) of these tutorials in the near future.

I can’t believe that we are already 5 days into October. The last few days have been getting really cold in the evening and I’m feeling the strong need for some more warm weather clothing. My Cabled Hoodie is still moving along slowly in the background but even though I really love the pattern I find myself working much more slowly on other pieces patterns. I think when you are writing the pattern yourself you knit at super speed as you are waiting to discover what it it going to look like. You have the idea in your head - you may even have made up a swatch and written some of the pattern but until you get the yarn and needles out you just really don’t know what it is going to look like.
I think that when you start flying though the knitting you can think more creatively along the way - all sorts of different ways of solving the design problems start appearing. Can you tell I love designing!!

I know a lot of you have probably already come across this already but it can’t hurt to see it again!

We thought you might like to know that we are just about to launch The Big Knit to help keep older people in Ireland warm this winter.

For every innocent smoothie sold in Topaz from 5th November, innocent and Topaz will donate €1 to the charity Age Action.

We’re aiming to knit a huge 20,000 little woolly hats and would love your help. If you’d like to get involved, email bigknitireland@innocentdrinks.ie and we’ll send you some bits and pieces to help you get started.

Hats off to you,
innocent x

Now that I have finished the pattern for ‘Eleanor’ I can start the finishing process for ‘Lime with a Twist’.

I finished this pattern earlier this summer and am finding it a very wearable cardigan. It is in a chunky weight cotton so it doesn’t take too long to knit.
I got one hank of Araucania Patagonia Nature cotton at the start of the summer and even though I loved the soft plush feel of the cotton and how it knitted I didn’t like it knitted in plain stocking stitch. I felt that the mottled color variations would work much better with a diagonal stitch pattern running though it. I played around with different patterns for a few days and ended up creating a variation from a Barbara Walker book that I felt showed up the mottled color variation of the yarn well.
The end result is an amazingly easy knit that I think looks much more complex then it was to knit.
I’m working with some test knitters at the moment and I’ll have this up for sale in the middle of November.

For anyone who is waiting for the ‘Eleanor’ pattern, I am putting the finishing touches to the pdf and it should be ready for sale tomorrow.

It is amazing how much more longer all of these finishing touches take than you think.

I will have it for sale through ravelry and there will be a link to the pattern page from the side bar ‘Patterns for sale’.

Just put it up!