Linen stitch tank top

I was asked by my daughter to make her a tank top for Christmas. I had one of her own knitted tops to use as a size guide and she chose the yarn. The rest of it was instinct, experience and a bit of Christmas magic!

The yarn is Jamieson’s Shetland Heather in ‘Cardinal’ (shade 323) which is 100% pure Shetland wool in Aran weight. I used 6mm hook and the body of the top is made in linen stitch. I started with a tension swatch, and calculated how many stitches wide the top needed to be. Then I made a 9 stitch wide rib in (UK) half treble crochet back loop only. I picked up the stitches from the rib in a row of (UK) double crochet, then did an extra row of double crochet increasing to the number of stitches I had calculated. I then changed to linen stitch and shaped by following the top I had been given. The arm holes and neck are finished off in two rows of (UK) double crochet – the first using a 5.5mm hook and the second using a 5mm hook.

The finished item weighs 215g and other than a bit of blocking to make the side seams lie flat that was it!

Sophie’s brother Seumas

I have been asked to make a couple of Sophie La Giraffe baby blankets since my original post, but this is one has a little twist in the colour combination which I am really quite pleased with:

I have decided to give it a boy’s name, and as I live in a Gaelic speaking part of the world I have chosen Seumas – pronounced Shay-mus if you are interested!

It is made in Rico essentials soft merino aran, the colours are Petrol (25) , Natural (60) and Silver Grey (90). It is 100 stitches wide and made on a 6mm hook.

Sophie La Giraffe baby blanket

This was a request from a family friend, for a baby blanket with mustard in it, and I was sent the picture here as an inspiration

The stitch has quite a few names – I have seen it called moss stitch, linen stitch and woven stitch in various places, and an Internet search tells me it is also called seed stitch and granite stitch too! Despite the complexities of naming it, it is very simple to do, and there is a good tutorial, and chart, on the ‘Look at What I Made’ blog here. It is stitch number 18 In Sarah Hazell’s book 200 crochet stitches, for those of you who have it.

Made in Rico essentials soft merino Aran, colours silver grey (096), saffron (066) and cream (061) on a 6mm hook. Mine is 70 x 55cm, it weighs 310g. It is 100 stitches wide and 16 stripes long, each stripe is 8 rows. it used 3 balls each of grey and cream, and one ball of mustard, with a bit of each left over… I would happily make another one. Commissions anyone?

Warmer than summer

It is often the case that summer in the Highlands requires more in the way of warm and waterproof clothing than it does sun glasses or sunscreen.
Even so I am being a little premature in starting my hot water bottle production line just now:

Made in Scheepjeswol XL in linen stitch on a 6mm hook. The colours are: Blue apatite and Amazonite, Garnet and Corundum ruby, Deep amethyst and Lilac quartz, all with Pink quartzite.

Gilding the lily

Apparently this phrase means “To improve or decorate something that is already perfect and therefore spoil it” So what’s the story? Well you might remember this cushion cover….

I had originally hidden a long end of yarn so that I could undo it and re-crochet if I wanted to wash the cover, but this did not seem to be a suitable method for general use, and I felt an alternative method was needed, without remaking the entire cover to produce a flap. A short trip to the local button shop, and an evening’s sewing has solved the problem:

Seventeen tiny buttons, small enough to fit through a single stitch, and the job is done. I think it is both decorative and useful. So not gilding the lily at all.