I say cast on you say ….

Being a bit of a cheapskate I often trawl the internet for free knitting patterns, this can mean that I often use patterns from different countries. This may not sound like much until you consider the fact that even a simple things like cast on and needle size are different from the UK. I was going to title this blog post “you say tomato, and I say tomato” but the song doesn’t work when you write the lyrics.

 One which caught me for a moment the first time I read it was BO, no it isn’t a comment about your hygiene habits it means Bind off. The UK equivalent is Cast off, but as American patterns use CO to mean cast on you can see why the difference is needed.

You may (or may not)  also be glad to hear that KFB isn’t a typo for KFC it means knit into the front and back of the stitch or Inc. for those who like to increase the stitches we are knitting.

Even the name or description of the wool requires a British/American dictionary. The most popular wool in the patterns I use is Double knit (DK for short) is referred to as Light Worsted or 8 ply. Many of the American patterns I use prefer Worsted which we would call Arran.

As if it wasn’t bad enough the UK patterns may use metric or number sizes for their needles, the US patterns have their own numbers which do differ from those of the UK. A US size 10 needle is 6mm, while the UK size 10 needle is 3.25mm, this could catch a few people out if they have downloaded a pattern without a picture or any tension guide. An easy (ish) way to convert the US/UK needle numbers is to remember that both have the same size for number 7 (4.5mm), where the UK numbers get smaller for larger needles (I never understood why) the US numbers get higher for wider needles. This is not a fool proof process as for some reason the UK needles don’t have a number for 3.5mm and the US sizes seem to skip both 7 and 7.5mm. Needle conversion charts are easy to find through Google search so I haven’t put one on the blog.

My Little Dragon

This project was going to be a Big Brother gift for my nephew, that was before I discovered he was more into Angry Birds (hat collection will be completed for a forthcoming blog post). So this means that my son gets to have yet another knitted toy.

The pattern came from Kate Kuckro .She has designed a very easy to follow pattern using Short rows to give extra shape. For those who are scratching their heads you will have seen short rows in knitted sock patterns to create the heel. They are achieved by not knitting all the way to the end of the row then turning the knitting to knit back over the stitches you have knitted. My friend likes to describe it as “pretending you have finished the row, but leaving some stitches behind.”

The Dragon is knitted in Stocking stitch, but the wrong side becomes the right side so it looks like scales (does that make sense?) I have found in the past that when I make toys for children in the past they always tend to use the narrowest part of the toy to drag it about, with this in mind I decided to strengthen the neck of the Dragon. Using 2 strands of wool and larger needles makes for a sturdier, chunky toy, and means that it is knitted quicker.

Before I fully sewed up the neck area I cut a piece of plastic drinks bottle (2l cola) trimmed and smoothed all the edges and inserted it between the knitting and the stuffing. The picture shows it on the outside of the dragon. I made the plastic wider than needed so that it would overlap inside the toy, and then when sewing up put some stitches through the centre of the neck and body to prevent the plastic falling out of place. As the plastic is very pliable it has not taken away from the cuddliness of the Dragon, I know as I have had a few cuddles from him myself when I told my son I wasn’t feeling well.

Charity knits

One thing that almost every knitter I know has in common is knitting for charity; be it a local raffle, national or international charity.  When I first decided to knit something for charity I was surprised by what came up when I did a Google search, I was so overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start so just gave up.  Now that I have a few more contacts in the local knitting community I have more of an idea where to look and which projects I like to give to.

An easy place to start if looking for a charity to knit for is your local maternity hospital. I remember on my first visit to our maternity unit I got talking to the person manning the desk because they were knitting a hat for the premature babies. It is best to ask what the unit needs; they may have an abundance of hats but not many cardigans or blankets.  Some units accept “angel pockets” for babies born sleeping and also smaller sized items for burial but others will direct your donations of these to a local charity.

A common pattern for the knitted blanket requires 200g of double knit wool and size 8 needles and is knitted in garter stitch (all rows K) The blanket is knitted as a diamond shape giving a nice diagonal stripe effect.

 Cast on one stitch.

Row 1: increase (2)

Row 2: k1, increase 1 (3)

Continue increasing the 2^nd stitch only on each row until you have used the first 100g ball.

Next row: k1, k2 tog, k to end.

Repeat this row until you have 2 stitches then k2 tog, break off the wool and pull through the last stitch.

Depending on you tension you could have between 160 – 190 stitches at the end of the first ball if you are as varied as those of my knitting group. The blankets are used to cover the incubators providing some shade, as well as keeping the babies warm when being held, and the blankets are theirs to keep and take home.

A project brought to my attention by our local library knitting group is Teddies for Tragedies. This is more of an international project than a charity as you could even start up your own local project collecting bears for any group or charity which would like to receive them. Most people imagine them going abroad but there are plenty of children in the UK who would love a little hug from one of these, you may want to ask your local childrens hospital ward or womans refuge. Please only knit these if you know someone who is collecting them or needs them, you can use the contact section of the website to find out if there is a project in your area.

The bears are knitted in one long piece then folded at the top of the head before picking up stitches to knit the arms. You can see why I like this one as there isn’t much sewing up to do at the end. There are few special instructions with these bears:

Do not use white for the face as in some cultures this is associated with death in many cultures.

Use black for the facial features, secure the neck with a running stitch , only secure the scarf at the back of the neck so it can be tied by the child.

Operation Christmas Child is another project which helps children both in the UK and internationally, you can even pay a donation to find out where your box goes. A local toddler group introduced me to this on last Christmas, everyone knitted or donated one or more items and we used them all to make up boxes. This is good as it means even those who can’t knit can still put items in the box so non craft groups such as schools and youth projects can get involved. The site lists a number of patterns, I knitted a few purses due to short notice as they were quick and easy to produce using scraps of wool. Even my beginner friend did great as it is just garter stitch knitted first with a single the double strand, she was so impressed when she made her first button hole.

Sometimes a chance to knit for charity comes from the most unusual place, like twitter. Blogger @chaoskay tweeted about her blog project  Penguin amnesty, so I just HAD to knit a penguin for her. The problem was that my son decided it would get lonely in the post and I had to make another one to accompany him on the journey. The project has snowballed and you can check out her blog for an update on all the donations she has had so far.

Premature baby knits

My mum and I have spent the last week knitting some cardigans for my cousins premature baby. We have used a mix of methods but each of them turned out great, even if some of them were a bit big.

The first one I made was using Lisa McFetridges free Pattern from Ravelry.com for a wrap cardigan. The back and sides are knitted in one piece, which is great if like me you love knitting but hate having to sew everything up.  As the baby I am knitting for is only 28 weeks this was a bit big but it will fit him in a couple of months.

 

back and sides knitted in one piece

 For the 2^nd attempt I used this link http://www.newbornsinneed.org/html/size_chart.html which gives a guide to the sizes of premature babies so you can adjust the number of stitches and rows to fit.As usual I was in such a rush to give this one to my cousin that I forgot to take a picture of the finished cardigan.

Most of the baby patterns that my friends and I have between us all start at a 16 inch chest size, so we are going to use dolls patterns. 

Dolls patterns knitted by my mum

There are quite a few patterns for dolls between 14 and 18 inches in length which seem to be perfect for up to 35 weeks. The doll patterns are also a good project for someone who has never knitted a cardigan before as they are smaller and quicker to make, also if it is for a doll you may not panic as much if you mess it up a little.