Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

New designs in Simply Knitting 90

The last batch of my little straight-forward designs for Simply Knitting has just been published. I enjoyed creating these simple patterns, but I'm focussing on editing work this year. I find that doing designs means that I spend a lot more of my "non-working time" thinking about, and doing work, and I'm not very nice to be around when I have too much work on. So, for now at least, I'm going to concentrate on the technical end of patterns.

So in Issue 90 (March 2012) which has gone on sale already, you can find this snowflake scarf, worked in Wendy Merino Chunky.

It's a straight-forward design, with a plain striped back and the motif on the front. Kim did a fab job of knitting as always (thanks so much Kim!).

And if you are a subscriber, then you get a double dose of me, as my cabled cushion design is the subscriber exclusive pattern this month (this pattern is NOT available in the magazine that you buy in the shops).

As ever there is loads to read in this issue, including a piece on London Transport and wartime knitting from Ingrid Murnane, and the ever-extraordinary Alan Dart pattern is the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Alan's eye for detail in his designs is astonishing. Here's the cover that you're looking for in the newsagent's if you'd like to pick up Simply Knitting Issue 90.

You can find all the technical information about my designs over on their Ravelry pages: Double the fun (Fair Isle scarf) and For your eyes only (cable cushion)

FO: Lacy hat Christmas present

Just a few small pictures of a hat that I designed earlier in the year. It was published in Simply Knitting, so the pattern should be available on The Making Spot early in the new year.

I knitted this up for my lovely sister-in-law as a Christmas present.

It's knitted flat, with a seam at the back, so not too complex for new knitters or people new to lace.

I love how decreases at the crown spiral in to each other - there are twelve spokes to this particular wheel.

It is a sweet little lace pattern from one of the Barbara Walker treasuries.

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays!

Jen x

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: 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!

New designs in Simply Knitting 87

It's that time of the month... The new issue of Simply Knitting has landed on my doormat, and contains two of my designs, which I'm really pleased to be able to share with you.

First up are some simple mittens (Sweet & simple). They're knitted in Twilley's Freedom Spirit Chunky, and won't take more than a couple of evenings to whip up the pair!

They feature a long cuff, so that you don't get that annoying gap between your coat sleeve and mittens. You could easily turn the cuff back if you didn't want them as long.

Next up are my men's gansey-style socks, called Hello Sailor! The name chosen by the SK team really made me giggle when I opened up my magazine. These use a pretty standard heel flap and gusset construction, with a textured leg and secret initial in the toe.

The cuff uses a garter 1x1 rib, where alternate rounds are knitted plain. I love this ribbing as it is so much less annoying to knit than standard 1x1 ribbing.

Then the leg uses some simple textured knit and purl patterns, before you work a standard heel flap, heel turn and gusset. The foot is plain until just before the toe, where you can choose to work a simple textured initial into the sock. The sample has a J for Jim.

Thanks a million times to Mélanie for knitting the Hello Sailor! socks, and to Kim for knitting the Sweet & Simple mittens.

Simply Knitting had a redesign last month, and I'm really enjoying some of the new features. The magazine feels absolutely packed with patterns and interesting stuff to read. I particularly liked the Purls of Wisdom, All about... Mittens section. I t has loads of ideas and information on how to make the most of mittens. If you'd like your own copy of the magazine, here is the cover that you're looking out for on the newsstand (mine's a subscriber copy, so the cover will be subtly different in the shops):

Amazing stitch dictionaries

I happened to be browsing the lovely Cotton and Cloud website, and came across two amazing looking Japanese Stitch Dictionaries.

 
The first is a general stitch dictionary of 500 patterns. I purchased this as I knew it would be useful for deciphering more complex patterns - if I recognise cables, bobbles, lace in here, then I can use it to work out more complicated patterns elsewhere and in some of the books I already own.

Then I purchased a book of 250 far more complex couture knitting patterns by one of my favourite Japanese designers, Hitomi Shida. And this one is a complete winner.

Although knitting from Japanese patterns might sound alarming, in actual fact if you are happy knitting from charts, it's not complicated at all. Each pattern is photographed with a good swatch and then the pattern is charted.

And when there are symbols that you might not be familiar with, they are explained with illustrations of the knitting itself. So the explanations are comprehensible as well!

Despite feeling more technical editor than designer, I'm pretty fired up for design work with these books at my side! I can highly recommend purchasing through Cotton and Cloud, even if you get taken over to their partners at YesAsia, since Kyoko at C&C is delightful and on hand to help with any order queries.

FO Jimmy's Blanket

Things are quiet here because I'm in the throes of finishing off two major book projects - A Stitch in Time 2 and a new book for Jamieson & Smith. I'm drowning in a sea of printed pages and red pen. So apologies, but normal service will resume shortly, I'm sure. I am very excited to be able to start telling you more details about both projects shortly, but in the meantime, here is my latest finished project.

It's a blanket that I've created for my lovely nephew, Jimmy. Yes, he is the recipient of lots of handmade stuff at the moment. I'm making the most of the period in time where he will wear whatever he is given. It won't last forever.

The pattern is of my own creation, and the blanket is knitted using 5 skeins of Shilasdair Luxury 4ply, which was indeed luxurious to knit with. It's a blend of lambswool, cashmere and angora, so I'm not going to earn any brownie points with Chris and Zosia, as it will need handwashing. Sorry guys! I just couldn't resist the yarn when it arrived at Marmalade Yarns in Frome. I almost got into the box in my excitement to get my mitts on a few skeins, and a blanket for Jimmy was the perfect excuse to purchase some.

It is just less than a metre square, so hopefully it will be big enough to last him a few years. The centre is worked in garter stitch and then the waves lace border is knitted on afterwards. I've logged the project on Ravelry and have written up pattern notes, but I am as yet undecided as to whether it is worth publishing. I haven't so far tried selling individual patterns online, and I'm still undecided about it.

New designs in Simply Knitting 84

It's that time of the month again - the latest issue of Simply Knitting features two of my designs.

There's a long rectangular lace wrap, that's knitted using the delicious Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply. It uses just two hanks and would make a lovely addition to all sorts of outfits. I love the dress that Simply Knitting have styled it with (they've had some super outfits recently!). Mega-thanks have to go to Mélanie for knitting the sample for me. You're a legend!

And is if that weren't enough, there were also some ankle socks. The team wanted a little pair of dainty ankle socks - the sort of thing you could pop on when the weather is just starting to turn (as it sadly is today, *shakes fist at the rain*). These are started at the cuff - you knit a strip of garter stitch based lace and then sew the ends together to make a ring. The stitches for the main part of the sock are then picked up and worked down from that point. There's some rib hiding under the lace cuff so that they don't slip down under your heel! Once again, I must express my appreciation for Kim and her super-speedy, super-ace knitting for these. Thank you!

There are loads more lovely patterns in the issue - socks from the lovely Rhian and a super handy gilet from Sarah amongst many others. Go look for a copy on the shelves now! This is what the cover looks like, so you have no excuse!

A new design... by Jim!

It has been 4 weeks since I last posted about having a design in Simply Knitting, but this month it isn't me who has a pattern in the magazine... It's Jim! Hard as he might try, he just hasn't managed to completely avoid the knitting bug.

Once upon a time when the weather was good enough to sit in the garden...

The blanket has a Fair Isle design, combined with stripes (also knitted Fair Isle style to give the same thickness of fabric). It is then finished with a corrugated rib.

Colourful corrugated ribbing finishes off the blanket.

As ever neither Jim nor I would be able to work this design lark without the awesome help of Kim - sample knitter extraordinaire! Many thanks Kim for all your hard work. And since he probably won't tell you, this isn't Jim's first design. He also did a blanket pattern for Knitting Today! which was published last year in the States (and got him a lovely comment from Debbie Stoller on Ravelry!).

You can see his designs on Ravelry here: James Arnall-Culliford designs on Ravelry

The pattern will be published over 3 issues of Simply Knitting, starting with the issue on sale at the moment. If you'd like to pick it up at your newsagent or supermarket, here is the front cover to look for (and who could resist the beautiful Alan Dart baby toys?! Nephew would be getting one of those if I had any spare knitting time!).

In Praise of Kim

Kim is the most astonishing person. She is not only a wonderful friend, but one of the most talented knitters that I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I would not have been able to design the knitwear that I have without her help. She helps out with knitting for me, and has created some of the designs I'm most proud of. They would not have been possible without Kim's amazing-mad-knitting-skillz.

However, in between being kind enough to make my ideas come to life, she even finds time to knit incredible lace. This is her latest finished project. The pattern is Hethe by Judy Furlong (one of the patterns from The Scrumptious Collection), and Kim knitted it up in Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in teal.

Kim modelling her beautiful finished Hethe cardigan (link through to Kim's project on Ravelry).

Doesn't she look wonderful?

Thank you Kim, from the bottom of my heart. I couldn't do it without you.

Jen xxx