Christmas Knitted Colourwork Gift Tags To Download

Every now and agin I like to create a new set of gift tags to use with hand knits, and as Christmas is fast approaching I thought I would create a new festive set of designs with a knitting related designs. Unlike past sets I have created two versions. The first, a set with selectable elements of hand knit washing instructions, and the second is a plain set, for those other gifts such as toys and bought items, so that all of your christmas gifts can co-ordinate if you wish them to.

The free downloads contain sheets of six folded square tags which simply need to be cut and folded in half to use. On the set for knitted gifts the washing instructions are easily filled out on the back of the tag with the space inside the tag being perfect for a personal message plus and spare buttons of lengths of yarn for repairs that you may wish to include.

Click the following links to download these tags for free, for personal use:
Christmas gift tags for hand knitted items
Co-ordinating blank Christmas gift tags for any gifts.

I have a few other sets of gift tags for knitted and crocheted items. These simple tags are perfect for any occasion, whilst these tags for hand knits and crocheted items give a tongue-in-cheek nod to how much hard work and effort goes into creating a hand made gift and so should hopefully be duly treasured.

WIP: Cross Stitch Deer Motif Decoration

I have had thoughts of Christmas in my head lately. It's as much to do with a necessity of planning as anything else, as presents have been needed to be bought on a bit of a tight schedule and delivered to people way ahead of time as family and friends are scattered far and wide. 

Another fun part of the Christmas preparations is the thought of decorating the home, and alongside shop bought decorations I want to mark our year with something handmade, and so I have decided to make a decoration or two to add to the tree this year.

This is a small Cross stitched motif taken from the book A Rainbow Of Stitches, shown on the pages in a single colour but worked by me in a combination of turquoise for the wreath of leaves, and white for the reindeer head. I used a piece of waste canvas to stitch onto a piece of felt which I will turn into a bauble of sorts to hang on our white and turquoise tree.

I always underestimate how much time it will take me to complete a cross stitch project, so this seemed like a bit of a slog towards the end, though it was very rewarding to finally remove the strands of waste canvas and see the design in all its glory. The waste canvas grabbed onto the surface of the felt a little when I tried to remove it, but once a few strands were free it came apart with a little more freedom under the helping pinch of a pair of tweezers.

I have a couple more Christmas decorations to make as I am taking part in the FMSI Ornament Swap, though as I can't risk any spoilers getting spotted by my swappee, they'll have to wait until after they have been received before I post about them. Can't be too careful now!

Tutorial: Alternating Cast On For Ultimate Stretch

When casting on a new pair of socks for Mr Awesome I deliberated a while over which cast on to use. For quite a while now I have stuck to my Favourite Sock Cuff any time I have started a new sock project, but recently I have wanted to step away from that comfortable, stretchy place and just give a few others a go.

As my favourite sock cuff is basically a knitted down hem I decided to give the tubular cast on a go, because it is, in essence, a teeny tiny hem. I know that the tubular cast on has been heralded by many and is very well regarded, but I didn't find it had quite the stretch or such a return to neat finish as what my usual sock cuff allowed, so put it to the back of my mind. However, whilst reading up on the different ways to achieve the tubular cast on I also stumbled upon the alternating cast on, and I think this has finally toppled my Favourite Sock Cuff from it's protected and revered pedestal.

This cast on is designed for single rib. As you can see from the small swatch there is not a cast on 'edge' as such - the initial row of stitches form alternating knits and purls on the front and back of the fabric and blend seamlessly into the resulting fabric, and it is completely and perfectly reversible.

Every knitter has seen this cast on before. It is the foundation for just about every machine knit sweater, cardigan or pair of socks that you might buy at the shops.

And boy, is it stretchy. So stretchy, in fact, that whereas with other cast ons you may try to space cast-on stitches apart to allow more yarn, or cast on loosely or over larger needles, it may be required with this cast on that you use a needle size smaller than you require for the ribbing, or at least maintain a snug tension when casting on. In the sample above I used the same needle size for casting on as I did the ribbing, but I kept my stitches close together and snug.

Using this cast on is relatively simple, though it might take a little practice to get the rhythm remembered, simply because there are two different stages, that which forms the 'knit' stitch and that which forms the purl.

1: To cast on, use a slip knot or backwards twist to form the first stitch on the right needle, leaving a long tail to cast on with. Hold the yarn as if for a long tailed cast on, with the main strand over the left index finger and the yarn tail over the thumb, ends secured in the palm of the hand.

2: Take the needle from front to back, under the thumb strand, coming up between the two strands.

3: Take the needle over the back strand and then under both strands to the front.

4: A 'knit' cast on stitch has been created.

5: Bring the needle over both strands.

6: Take the needle behind both the thumb and finger strands and up from underneath to the front of the thumb strand. 

7: Take the needle back over the thumb strand. 

8: Bring the needle underneath and behind the index finger strand.

9: A 'purl' cast on stitch has been created.

Repeat steps 1-8 until number of desired stitches have been cast on. Remember to keep hold of both ends of the yarn when casting on as they will not be anchored if they are released. If working flat, ending on step 4 will mean that the first stitch of the next row will be a purl stitch. If ending on step 9 it will be a knit stitch.

This is a fantastic cast on and perfect for socks, gloves and anything else that can make use of single rib. It is handsome and provides a strong, extremely elastic edge. It's wonderful.

WIP: More Socks For A Giant Man

The time has come, the knitter said, to think of many things,
Of warmth, and toes and lovely gifts,
Of needles and of string,
And whether I should knit a pair of awesome socks that zing.

I decided it was about time that I addressed the epic task of knitting Mr Awesome a new pair of socks. Two things now stand in the way – they have to be boring man colours (he says they don’t – though last year he said that they should be black or grey, so maybe he has just come to accept that loving a knitter means that you can’t fight the use of colour with any success) and he has ginormous UK size 12 feet. Big old feet and many, many stitches.

A pair of stockinette socks would be the quickest way to go, but my goodness, what a boring task. I have thrown in a little added interest by the use of a simple stitch pattern. I’m also making these socks with a flap and gusset style heel, to see which he prefers between the fit of that heel in comparison to the short row heel that I used last year.

This yarn is the one ball of yarn that I picked up whilst shopping in York. I visited Ramshambles where I hoped to pick up a skein or two of souvenir yarn as a treat from my trip to that lovely city. Unfortunately, the store did not seem to carry any yarn other than the standard big brand ranges, so I settled with at least leaving with something that I knew I could put to immediate use. This ball of Wendy Mode is a standard 75% wool, 25% nylon blend, but the single ball of this yarn that sat on the shelves was a colourway that I thought would be perfect. Named Hawkshead, it is predominantly a hazelnut brown with a few teal fibres blended into the plies. It gives the appearance of almost a two-tone effect.

The combination of the easy knit and not-too-slow growth of the first sock is at least keeping my interest so far, though I will re-evaluate my feelings by the time I reach the heel of the second sock.

Sheep And Knitting In York

Last week, Mr Awesome and I spent a wonderful week in York, where we completed about 80% of our Christmas shopping, ate many pub meals and drank a selection of ales, wines and coffees. We didn't do much shopping for ourselves, but Mr Awesome bought me this wonderful sheep ornament, made from solid ceramic and cast iron. He is heavy.

Whilst there I also got a bit of knitting done, and put the final rows into my Märta embroidered bag. Though the knitting is done there are still loads of ends to weave in and the final piece needs blocking, lining and the handles attaching. After I've bought some handles. And lining fabric.

Two Christmas Stockings In Print

Last week a copy of the 10th issue of Simply Knitting arrived through my door and I finally got to see the pictures and layouts of my two designs in the accompanying Hand Knit Christmas book. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the book which has quite a few nice designs and which sits perfectly on the book shelf.

Inside, the pictures that I had been looking forward to were beautifully staged, and the patterns nicely laid out.

The other reason that I had been looking forward to receiving the issue was so that I could get the patterns uploaded to Ravelry, as I wasn't entirely certain what the magazine had changed the names of the designs to, but as soon as I had the confirmation Star Stocking and Cool Stocking were entered into the Ravelry database and I could update my projects page with the sample knits created for the magazine.

New Pattern And FO: Frosty Stocking

This unusual Christmas stocking features in the Christmas Knitting booklet included with the most recent issue of Simply Knitting, which also happens to be the 100th issue. Knit from soft and luxurious Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK this is quite a ‘grown up’ stocking, and designed to be a feature of the home decoration during the festive season. The addition of the scalloped cuff and two little pompoms makes the stocking unapologetically feminine in its details, and the subtle colour palette keeps the design modern and yet classic. I had an idea of a sort of Victorian ideal of decoration when putting the design of this stocking into place, as I wanted it to have the air of what might have been a family heirloom, something handed down from one generation to the next.

I moved quite far from the traditional green, red and gold colours of Christmas tradition with this stocking, firstly to give a greater sense of elegance to the piece but also to reflect my favourite element of the winter season – the cold frost and snow that lets us get out all of our hand knits to wrap up warm against the British Weather.

The inspiration for this came from my own Christmas decorating theme. Last year was the first I had spent with Mr Awesome, and as we moved into our new flat in December we arrived with no past decorations, and so had to start from scratch. Having to start from scratch and without wanting to spend too much money, we had to get all new decorations.

Somewhere, during our hunt for a perfect Christmas tree, I let Mr Awesome convince me that no, a traditional Christmas tree was a bit boring, and why go for green when we could have white?

I have to admit that I was hugely sceptical, but once it was bedecked with two long strings of white LED lights and strewn with ribbons and baubles all in shades of silver, blue and turquoise it was magical. A bright and frosty ice cave of magic seemed to appear in our living room and I loved it so much that I didn’t insist we get a green tree this year.

The actual patterning on this stocking takes inspiration from the patterns that frost makes on a cold window in the morning. It’s a simple repeating pattern that runs in bands of changing colours. It’s a fabulously easy piece of colourwork as there are never more than a few stitches of any one colour, never are there more than two colours used on a single row and the pattern repeat is small and easy to memorise.

I loved knitting and designing this stocking, and it’s become one of my favourite FOs to date. It has appeared in Simply Knitting under a changed name: 'Cool Stocking', but I think of it as being more Frosty, because frost and snow will always be magical to me.

Pattern: Cool Stocking by Mimi Hill
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in shades White, Cream, Silver, Soft Teal and Slate Blue