Mattress stitch

Seaming the banana laceweight tunic - thank goodness for mattress stitch!

Short-rowing on the Bond

My eldest has been asking me to knit a poncho/cape since Christmas as she couldn't find one in the shops that she liked.

She wants a round rather than rectangular design, in brown.

After much yarn browsing we came up with the one she wanted - from my stash, woohoo! It's Sirdar Richmond Chunky - years old, but still a great yarn. I knew it would come in useful one day.. ;)

I designed a pattern using my Knitware software, which was based around short-row shaping. I've done this in hand-knitting but never on the knitting machine before.

So I got some hints from You Tube videos and made a start yesterday. I should have known - it's easy!

I finished it off today, and now just need to handknit the neck, fronts, & hem edging. Shouldn't take long!

The Bond is back!

I'm so pleased that I've finally managed to get the time and space to get my Bond knitting machine back up and running.

It's been at least 10 years since I last regularly used it! Thankfully it's all in great order and working faultlessly.

I think machine knitting must be a bit like riding a bicycle as I haven't fogotten how to do most of it.

I've already finished and listed my first completed project - the lovely half-sleeve shrug.

I used a gorgeous variegated purple mercerised pure cotton yarn, machine-knitted the main body, handknitted the ribbing, and crocheted the lower edging and flower brooch pin.

It's a great little cover-up for summer, and my eldest daughter is already requesting one for herself!