Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

FO: Christmas place settings

If you follow me on Twitter (@JenACKnitwear) then you may already be aware that I did a marathon session of sewing at the end of last week. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on! It was much appreciated.

We had a Christmas Fair at church on Saturday, and I had been asked to run the crafts stall. I realised on Tuesday that I hadn't made anything that I could sell, and went into panic mode! After chatting with a couple of other crafty types, I decided to put together some patchwork Christmassy place settings.

I started with a couple of central table runners - simply made from 2.5" strips of Chrismas fabrics. Then I added some placemats...

And topped the set off with coasters to match.

I had to call in reinforcements to help with sewing on the binding on Friday morning, after I calculated that there were 19m to attach. Yes, that's nineteen metres! Nearly two swimming pool widths! Maz and Ros bravely came to my rescue and by Saturday morning there were only a couple of corners to finish off.

I was really pleased with how they turned out. But if I decide to sew things for a craft fair next year, could someone please remind me not to use any binding?!

New Designs in Simply Knitting 88

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather yesterday afternoon, when the postman delivered my subscriber copy of Simply Knitting...

© Simply Knitting

Not only is that my evening cardigan design as the main cover image, but my hat has also made it onto the cover (it's the turquoise one at the top left)! There were happy dances around the office, I can tell you!

The evening cardigan is called Cocktail Cherry, and it uses Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran (4-7 hanks depending on your size). It's sized from 27 to 55 inch bust, so covers a really good range! It has folded hems and a beaded lace edging, so hopefully will be something really smart to wear over the party season.

Here's a pic from inside the magazine:

© Simply Knitting

I was also really pleased with how the photos of my hat pattern turned out. It is a really simple design - you just knit a rectangle and seam it up both sides. So it would be great for beginner knitters, or folks who haven't tried cabling yet.

© Simply Knitting

The hat is called Have a Ball! and uses one hank of Fledgling Sock from Laughing Yaffle. The yarn was absolutely delicious to knit with, and I was sad that I had to ask Kim to knit up the sample for me, as it was really lovely. I can't wait to have the sample hat back from the mag, as I think it will be great for winter!

Many thanks as always to Kim for her invaluable help with sample knitting for both designs. You are wonderful! It is much appreciated.

FO: Woolly Wormhead Mystery Hat KAL

Now that the full patterns have been released into the wild, I can finally blog the finished pictures of my Woolly Wormhead Mystery Hat KAL! I made Pattern A, which is now called Corella, and you can find it by clicking through that link to its Ravelry page.

I really enjoyed the Mystery aspect of the knitalong. Woolly released the pattern in three segments - brim, main body and crown, but there was lots and lots of information available before the KAL started. So you knew roughly what you were getting into, and what type of yarn would work etc...

I used 2 x 50g balls of Artesano Alpaca DK in a hot red colour, and I am absolutely delighted with how it has turned out. The yarn is a bit fuzzy, but it doesn't obscure the cable and lace pattern at all. It's the perfect combination as far as I'm concerned.

As ever, Woolly has paid careful attention to the details of the crown shaping, so the pattern flows seamlessly to the end.

I think that the KAL was particularly useful at this point in the year, when knitting for Christmas presents can start to be a bit overwhelming. Something about only having a section of the pattern at a time made it feel super-manageable, and I really wish that I had got myself sorted to do both patterns at the same time. I would have kept up with no problem, and then I'd have another present to give... There's still time I suppose! I could make my own knitalong over the next 3 weeks.

You can see more details of my project on my Ravelry page here: Jen's Corella.

I can't resist sharing another picture of that lovely crown...

And I highly recommend the KAL for next year - I shall try to remember to blog about it in advance...

Winner! Knit Real Shetland

There were 71 comments on the giveaway post, and the random number generator has decreed that the winner is number 70.

That's you, Rachel Atkinson! Congratulations!! I'll be in touch to sort out sending the book to you. I hope you'll enjoy knitting from it.

This was Rachel's comment: "The colourwork in the Wool Brokers socks is just stunning and the Madeira Shawl looks traditional yet modern. It's a beautiful collection of patterns and must have been a great project to work on. Congratulations Jen :)"

If you are disappointed not to have won, then don't forget that you can purchase the print book from Jamieson & Smith, and there is also an e-book option available as well. Many thanks J&S for offering the book for a giveaway.

I'll be back with a new post once I've finished sewing 19m of binding onto placemats and coasters for a craft fair tomorrow. Eek!

Curiouser QAL: Second Block

I hope you all got on well with the first block that Mélanie posted last week. If you missed it, then the post is here: Curiouser & Curiouser QAL Block 1 I will get my first block posted up shortly - I got a bit carried away designing my blocks this week!

This is my first block design for you - it's a simple patch with double border. Detailed instructions are included in the following pdf download file: Download Bordered patch tutorial. You will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to open the file.

Tools needed:

• Cutting mat, rotary cutter and cutting ruler
• Sewing machine (or patient hand-sewing)
• Iron & ironing board
• Pins

Materials needed:

• 1 x square (4" x 4")
• 2 x rectangles (3.5" x 15") - I used 2 rectangles of different fabrics (these are deliberately longer than needed)
• 2 x rectangles (2.5" x 10") and 2 x rectangles (2.5" x 13") for the outer border - I used a spotty fabric, but if you want to keep your borders plain, then do!

Cutting instructions:

Follow Mélanie's instructions for squaring off your fabric. Then use your rotary cutter to prepare the list of fabrics above. If you need any hints and tips in cutting, then please do stop by the Flickr group and ask a question in one of the discussion threads. We'll be delighted to help you out.

This is my central 4" square (the butterflies), and my two 3.5" strips for the inner border.

Brief piecing instructions:

Please download the pdf file above for more detailed instructions.

Using a 0.25" seam, join the square to the long side of one of the rectangle strips, leaving at least 1" open at the end.

If you left your rectangles in a strip, then trim the long rectangle so that there is 3.5" hanging over the end of the square.

Sew two more rectangle pieces to the sides of the central square.

Sew the final strip to the edge of the square and along the end of the adjacent rectangle, lining it up with the unsewn edgesof the central square.

Then pin the free, overhanging end of the first rectangle, to the square and the end of the final rectangle.

Sew this seam in place and press open.

Then add the shorter border rectangles to opposite sides of the block.

Before adding the longer rectangle border pieces to the remaining sides. And voilà! You have a finished block, which you can trim to 12.5" square.

Once you have made your block, do share add a link to this post, using the widget below! And don't forget to add your pics to the Flickr group as well.

FO: Noro Sweater Dress

Last time we met my Noro Sweater Dress (Ravelry link), it was the WIP that I was in love with and it looked something like this:

I finally finished sewing the sleeves into the armholes last Saturday morning, and I am absolutely delighted with how it has turned out. I was more than a little disappointed that it was too warm in our workroom for me to wear the dress straight away! What followed was a week without anyone at home in daylight hours to take photos for me, so I had to wait until Saturday to finally get some proper finished photographs.

I knitted the sweater in 4 pieces - front, back and sleeves. I didn't work in the round as I wanted the extra stability offered by sleeves, and I was also avoiding having too much weight on my needles at any one time. I'm still suffering a little with sore arms, so I've been taking it easy and choosing projects carefully.

I used a steek at the neckline as I wanted the stripes to match precisely at each side of the neck. Everything else was done in a straight-forward manner. The stripes are 2 rows each from two balls of the same shade of Noro Silk Garden. Starting at a different point in the colour gradation causes the contrast between the stripes. At some point I plan to sew some grosgrain ribbon over the turned back edges of the steek. They show no sign of doing anything alarming, but adding the ribbon will keep my peace of mind.

I think that I need to find some purple leggings to wear underneath!

FO: Quilts Galore!

You may have noticed that there has been lots of sewing taking place at A-C Towers of late. I've been really enjoying spending time at my sewing machine, but if you're here for the knitting, don't worry, there are knitted FOs this week as well! I think that my strength of willpower on staying faithful to knitting projects has resulted in lack of will power with quilt projects. At one point last week I had 5 quilts on the go! Luckily I have now finished a few of them.

First up are two small cot quilts. I made the quilt tops some weeks ago, but hadn't got round to the quilting or binding. The tops were pieced with the leftovers of a Moda Dilly Dally Jelly Roll. I simply joined the strips to form a rectangle, sliced the rectangle into two pieces and then added borders.

I finished these off by a doodling style of free-motion quilting. I'm still very much practising this technique, and in places it's really not that neat, but the stitching is doing its job, so I decided not to worry about it too much. By the time this post goes live these will be on their ways to their new homes, where I hope they will come in useful.

I have also finished the quilt I started on my weekend at The Sunday House. I learned so much from Anne over the weekend, and this quilt hopefully marks the start of improved piecing and quilting techniques.

Once finished, the quilt has gone straight into use in the sitting room. Jim wasn't too keen to be snapped using it! It is warm and snuggly, and I'm really pleased with it.

The central panel uses the disappearing 9-patch technique and I made it from 2 Charm Packs from the Moda Sophie range. The colours are right up my street, with aqua, teal, red, brown and pink. The centre has very simple shadow quilting around the central blocks, and I'm really pleased with how that portion looks.

Around the border, I quilted in parallel lines. I'm not sure what the best way would have been to work this section. I started off by just keeping the walking foot lined up with the ditch and then with the previous line of quilting. After a couple of rounds I realised that I was drifting in some areas, and it was getting further and further from the true line that I was aiming for. Rather than picking it out, I swapped to using my metre ruler to draw on the lines, and then just sewed along the lines. This was much easier to sew, and I would probably use this method again, but am I missing some easier technique?

I had originally thought that I would give this quilt to someone for Christmas, but I don't think I can bear to part with it. I'll just have to sew a few more!

Giveaway! Knit Real Shetland

Have you seen a copy of Knit Real Shetland yet? It is the first ever book from the yarn company, Jamieson & Smith and they have kindly given me a print copy to give away to one of you lovely blog readers. I worked as the book's Technical Editor earlier in the year, and was particularly excited to have the opportunity to edit patterns for some of my favourite designers.

The book contains 15 patterns (Ravelry link), broken down into 6 garments and 9 accessories. There are beautiful traditional shawl designs from Mary Kay and Joyce Ward (detail of Madeira Lace Shawl shown below).

As you would expect, there are some fabulous Fair Isle designs, including a gloves and hat set from Mary Jane Mucklestone, and a pretty tea cosy featuring little tea pots, from Masami Yokoyama (shown below).

One of the stand-out pieces in the collection is a fabulously colourful wave motif cardigan designed by Toshiyuki Shimada and Grace Williamson. And as if that weren't enough, there are the twisted stitch mittens by Jared Flood, and a fantastic twisted stitch hat by Woolly Wormhead (see below). I plan to knit this hat to match my Feathercrest Mittens - I think that the two designs will complement each other nicely.

So, if you would like to get your hands on a copy of the book, simply leave a comment on this blog post, telling me which is your favourite design, and why (you can see all of the designs on Ravelry here). One winner will be drawn at random from all of the comments on this post, and comments will close one week today. Only one entry per person please.

If you can't wait to see whether you have won, then you can order your own copy of the book (in print or in digital forms), directly from Jamieson and Smith, where it costs £20.00 plus P&P in print or £14.99 in pdf format.

Curiouser QAL: My fabric choices

So, today's the day for the first block design. It's time to get this show on the road - yee hah! You will find the first (very easy block) over on Mélanie's blog. In the meantime, here are the fabrics that I've chosen, following on from Mélanie's hints and tips last week.

After looking long and hard at my stash, I pulled out this selection of prints that all have an off-white background. I have a really bad habit of just buying pretty fat quarters every time that I go to Millie Moon (my local fabric & haberdashery shop), so most of the fabrics for my quilt come from their lovely selection. I then really struggled with collecting other things to go with them. Mélanie gave me a helping hand, and suggested that I pick out 2 or 3 colours from the selection, and choose contrasting fabrics from that palette.

Looking at the selection, red seemed like an obvious choice:

I had these in my stash (thanks Sarah!), and I supplemented them with a few new fat quarters from The Little Fabric Store (don't forget that Mélanie has given QAL members a discount code if you need some extras).

Then, I discovered I had a good selection of very pretty fabrics with a brown background that worked really well with the cream prints.

And then it became obvious that the final piece of the jigsaw was to be greens...

These are from my stash, and I picked up a few extras from Mélanie's shop, the Little Fabric Store as well.

So over all the selection looks something like this:

And I am chomping at the bit to get going with the sewing now! Please come over and see us in the Flickr group: Curiouser QAL on Flickr. There are discussion threads there, so if you would like help with anything, that's a great place to go to. And Mélanie has a clever gizmo on her post, where you can upload a link to share the block that you sew from her design. So please do use that as well. Then we can all enjoy and support everyone in their progress!

Right, I think it's time to get sewing, isn't it?!

A Quilting Weekend at The Sunday House

What a thoroughly inspirational, and waist-expanding weekend I've had! We spent the weekend away on a quilting workshop run by Anne Baxter and Corinna Knowles. Anne runs the quilting workshops and Corinna cooks the most amazing meals. It was a treat from start to finish. Rather than chattering on about it, I'm going to let the photos tell the story...

We started with 9-patches - Marian's used Fair Trade fabrics bought in a charm pack at Ally Pally.

We learnt lots of clever tricks for speedy pieceing.

Julie pondered what to use for the borders of her quilt (and we told her there wasn't too much green).

We were shown a plethora of gorgeous quilts - I need to learn how to make the beautiful blue and white one on the left...

Pat turned a batik Jelly Roll into a beautiful blocks.

We ate delicious tomato and bacon soup...

...And beautifully presented cheeses and breads (did I mention that the food was fabulous?).

All the textures of Cornwall, particularly these herringbone stones, stuck in our minds.

The sea was out...

We added borders to the quilts - Anne had the perfect advice for everyone. Each quilt had a slightly different treatment.

See? Julie's quilt didn't have too much green, did it?

I want to do a pieced back in the future - this one is fabulous.

Marian got all layered up, with just binding and buttons to be added.

We didn't all get our quilts completely finished - but it won't take us long. Aren't the gold cornerstones in Morag's border gorgeous?

I don't seem to have taken any pictures of my quilt, so you'll have to wait for me to finish stitching the binding on (and a leetle bit of quilting round the border). Later this week it should be done.

Thank you so much to Anne and Corinna for a wonderful weekend. And many thanks too to: Pepita, Claire, Rosemary, Pat, Marian, Morag, Julie, Helen and Trish for being such a brilliant group to spend the weekend with!