Let's get knitting

Hi again from Di. Well as I move into spring and summer guess most of you are moving to Autumn and Winter, so its time to start getting ready for those long winter nights.

And I have another easy peasy project for you this week. All you have to know about kntting is how to: cast on knit plain knit purl and cast off.

Today it's a really cosy blanket for you to curl under whilst watching TV or sleeping! I used only one colour of wool but you could use 9 or 16 different colours depending on how big you want the blanket to be. The blanket is made of knitted squares each measuring 14 inches by 14 inches.

OK what you will need is a pair of 4.5mm knitting needles and 1 and a quarter balls of wool (50 gm) per square. (I made 16 squares). The wool I used is South African made and it's thicker than double knitting so a sort of chunky wool. It is machine washable and 100% acrylic.

So we start by casting on 60 stitches. Row 1 knit Row 2 knit 30 stiches and purl 30 stitches. Repeat these two rows 20 times ( so you have 42 rows)

Row 43 knit Row 44 purl 30 stitches then knit 30 stitches Repeat the last two rows 20 times ( now we have 84 rows) cast off

Finished square:

Ok now knit another 15 squares (depending on how big you want the blanket you can knit more!) Sew them together Crochet round the edge and you are done!

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I would love to see your blankets so please send us a photograph and we will share it on IACW.

Thanks for visiting and love from Di XXX

Knitting is the new black.....

don't you know!! Well it is and here at it's a creative world we are going on a new adventure and let me warn you now, it's addictive so take care ;) I first started knitting as a child, taught by my mom, aunt and darling gram. It seemed they were always making something, from jumpers, to blankets, hats and scarfs. My aunt even knitted us tank tops (aarrgghh the 80's, lol) using the most scrumptious cotton in beautiful candy colours! My gram was most inspired my Kaffe Fassett and I have to say his use of colours is just awesome! My project today is this gorgeous little coco bag from the Felted Handbag Workshop blog, and is so easy to make. The best bit is, it's a felted bag so if you are still learning this little gem will hide any mistakes and uneven tension!

Now to get you started, here are a few great sites that give you the knitting basics, how to hold the needles, cast on, knit, purl, pick up stitches and bind off.....

Learn to knit, is the one of the best sites I found to 'teach' me when I picked up my knitting needles after far too many years. Once you have got the knack take a look at Learn 2 Knit for instructions on picking up stitches as you will need to do this for the little coco bag! And in case you are left handed visit Learn-to-Knit for left handed knitting instructions. I love that all these sites have the same name, only written differently!

I used big fat 8mm circular needles and cascade 220 yarn that I bought from Get Knitted, their service is superb, they have a good range of colours and are extremely helpful if you call up!

Now the only 'issue' with the cascade yarn is that it comes in hanks, which is NOT a ball and therefore not exactly easy to knit with. Here you have two options, you can either roll it into a ball, and please get someone to help you or else you'll get into a right muddle and big knot! Or you can knit with it as is, which is what I do, again this isn't easy but possible. I hang my hanks (heehee) over the back of the couch, unwinding just enough to use for a few rows at a time, this way you won't get knots :)

FYI- for the body of my bag I used cascade 220 tweed shade 7634 and for the handles and edges I used cascade 220 shade 8910.

If you have any problems reading the pattern, selecting yarn or finding needles please email me at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk with HELP PLEASE CAZ, lol, as your subject or leave me a message in the comments and i'll do my best to help!

Thanks for looking!!