A log cabin blanket with a difference

I do love a good traditional log cabin blanket but sometimes it's nice to switch things up a little and I found myself wondering whether I could combine my twin loves of log cabin and mitered squares. 

And it turns out that you can.

The Log Cabin-ish blanket uses a series of blocks constructed in the traditional log cabin style but rather than each round of blocks overlapping at the corners, this leaves the corners free to be joined with little mitered squares.

Using a yarn with colour contrast adds visual interest and makes for something a little bit different.

This blanket is sized to create a small lap-sized or baby blanket (approx 37" square) but it could be easily sized up if you have sufficient yarn. The beauty of log cabin blankets is that you can just keep going until your yarn supply - or patience - is exhausted.

As ever, the pattern is available to buy through my Payhip store at the link below. If you would like a copy for your Ravelry library please just email me at the address in the footer of the pattern and I can sort that out for you.

The joys of seaming (and a sale)

Cowl design: Women hold up half the sky

Well, not quite. But at least I got your attention, if only because you thought I might be being held hostage and signalling my plight to you. I know I have certainly waxed lyrical before about the joys of seamless knits, and how, if I had wanted to spend time with a needle I would have taken up sewing.

But, every so often there is a good case for seaming a knit and I hope you’ll bear with me while I elaborate.

It’s quite common for cowls to be knit in the round for many reasons not least because you are creating a tube or loop which will be worn as a tube or loop. It makes sense therefore to avoid the need for a seam and cast on in the round.

Now, this is partly personal preference but I sometimes feel that cowls in the round can feel a little bit like I’m wearing a surgical collar, particularly if the fabric isn’t as drapey as I would like.

I almost always prefer a cowl knit flat and then seamed. Partly because I feel that it tends to give better drape and partly because it makes it really easy to judge how long the cowl is and whether you can get one loop or two loops from your yarn. I’m all about reducing leftovers at the minute and anything that I can stretch to get the most out of a skein of yarn is all to the good.

SELF CARE SALE

As I regard shawl and cowl knitting as a valuable form of self care, and I’m in the mood to spread a little love this week I thought I would have a week-long sale on my shawls and cowl patterns. Just tap the button below and use the code SELFCARE to get 25% off any of my shawl and cowl designs - you may choose as many as you like.

And if you know a friend who is looking for a new project please do feel free to forward the link to them as well, and spread the love a little further.

3 good reasons to upsize your Mitered Square blanket

Traditional, sock yarn mitered square blankets look amazing but they use a distressingly small amount of yarn. As I found to my cost when I made mine. I love it to pieces but it took the best part of two years (off and on) and my sock yarn leftover bag doubled in size while I was knitting it.

At some point I hit on the idea of holding yarn doubled for mitered squares though and I was gratified to see it eat through my stash with some rapidity

1. Make inroads into your stash. Each square of my monster mitered square blanket uses 50g sock yarn (2 x 25g balls). Enough to make the most robust stash quail.

2. You get to play with colour. Holding yarns double allows you to play with marled effects much more than you can with conventional squares.

3. It’s wonderfully squishy. Traditional sock yarn blankets are all well and good but at the end of the day they are just lightweight covers. A blanket made with yarn held double has a lot more weight behind it and is just the thing to have over your knees.

The basics of mitered square knitting have been convered on my blog before - here - but if you would like more detail in a easy to read, more condensed manner I have an ebook available at the link below.

Women hold up half the sky

Women hold up half the sky -Cowl pattern available on Payhip

“Women hold up half the sky” is a quote famously attributed to Mao Zedong. I came across it recently online and it has really resonated with me in the aftermath of my dad’s sudden death.

This pattern is dedicated to all of the strong women in my family.

It's been a difficult time, to say the least but together with the women around me we've got through it with tears, with laughter and with a gentle but indomitable strength.

We’ve looked back through old photos, we’ve remembered happy times together and we have supported each other, unfailingly in our darker moments.

Women everywhere, do indeed hold us up.

This cowl is knit in some glorious yarn from Black Stag Yarn & Fibre in a colourway called ‘Hat full of sky’ - a wonderful Terry Pratchett reference.

As soon as I saw it I knew it had to be something sky/star related and I hit upon this star stitch pattern, which I think looks fantastic spaced out across the stocking stitch background - like stars in the night sky.

The cowl is knit flat from a provisional cast on and grafted closed at the end. As I like my cowls quite snug there was a generous 40g yarn leftover from this one - probably enough for a short pair of fingerless mitts - but if you prefer something with more drape simply keep knitting until you’ve achieved the circumference you are looking for.

If you subscribe to my newsletter, please check your inbox as there should be a little discount code waiting for you there.

Spring socks

The title of this was going to be Spring Sock Sale - but honestly - try saying that 3 times fast.

Beltane is celebrated on May 1st - as it is the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice.

These are the Beltane socks - a design that’s a few years old now but that is always one of my favourites. As with many of my sock patterns it comes in cuff down and toe up formats and features a cable design that it is fun and by no means as complicated as it looks.

Adding the Beltane pattern into my Payhip store lead me to do a bit of rearranging - it has a handy feature where you can group your patterns into collections. So I thought it might be a good time to do a little Spring Sock Sale - hence the tongue twister.

From now until 8th May you can use code SPRINGSOCKS for 20% off any (or indeed, all) of the sock patterns in my Sock Collection.

Scrappy socks...with a little bit extra

Smackerel Socks

In our house there are snacks and there are meals. But there is also an in-between category - a fancy snack which is known as a Smackerel.

And when I started working on these scrappy socks, the word Smackerel kept coming to mind. They are a bit fancier than a plain scrappy, striped sock but don’t require the effort and preparation needed for a full blown meal.

They are the perfect happy medium. Simple to work but fancy enough to show off. And each colour band uses just a hair over 1g, meaning that you can use up the tiniest bits of sock yarn leftovers that you have hanging around.

Fancy and thrifty - does it get any better.

Actually yes it does, as the pattern is written with both toe-up and cuff down options - just pick the option you want at the pattern download stage.