Free Tutorial/Pattern: Knitting Tartan

Using my new knitting machine I thought I would try and knit up some tartan something like this ...

The idea was to use a mixture of knitting & weaving in long threads to make up the pattern in a simple manner and also use up some left over yarn that has been sitting around in my work space for far too long.

I think this can be knitted by hand or with a machine and the concept could be used with any color/size of yarn.

This is what I did.

Cast on: 130 stitches
k6 rows of dark pink
k4 rows of medium pink
k2 rows of light pink
k2 rows of white
k2 rows of light pink
(20 rows)

Repeat until you have 160 rows.
k further 6 rows of dark pink. Total 166 rows.

You should have an approximate square. (I usually work out squares by multiplying the number of stitches my 1.3 to find out the number of rows I need to knit.

While you are casting off (still in the dark pink) drop the 7th stitch and then every 13th stitch. You should have 10 dropped stitches.  (Don't panic while you are dropping those stitches it seemed everything I shouldn't be doing to me too!)

(Apologies for the light/quality of the next 3 photos - they were snapped on my iPhone.)

I weaved into my dropped stitches 8 strands of yarn - 1 dark pink, 1 white, 1 medium pink, 2 medium pink, 1 medium pink, 1 white, 1 dark pink. You can see the pattern below.  

Once you have finished filling in the dropped stitches with weaving in strands of yarn you can add strands of yarn into the knitting horizontally as well. I put a white strand in every 2nd and 5th stitch of the dark pink yarn. You can see how I wove in yarn below.

Once you have finished weaving you should have something that looks like this.

I didn't add a border to my blanket I just added a 3" fringe. To get a 3" fringe cut 6.5" strips and trim once all the tassels have been attached. 

Here is my finished blanket. Perfect for a baby/stroller blanket.

I used some Debbie Bliss yarn that I have had lying about for way too long (a mixture of Cashmerino DK, Cashmerino Aran.) Debbie Bliss yarn gets mixed reviews - but the feeling of it is delicious - perfect for little people and babies. It is so soft and I find it knits very easily.

Perfect for keeping little toes warm.

Well this little blanket is all ready to get wrapped off to keep a little person warm for this coming Winter.

Valentine Quilt

It has taken a while but I have finally finished my Valentine Quilt which is a design from a this book by Elizabeth Hartman. I really like the book - I must go back and visit its patterns and ideas again.

I'm very pleased with the quilt. The top of the quilt has been sewn together for quite sometime (pre bunny #3) but I just hadn't got around to putting all the layers together and quilting the beast.

This quilt it pretty much all made up by fabric scraps from my scrap bin - which is now mysteriously full again - how does that happen?

I used a swirly whirly pattern during the free motion quilting. The same sort of pattern I used on the Mother's Day Cushions.

I even used up the last few strips of scrap fabric left over on the back of the quilt.

You also might remember I used some of the same left over scraps to make this quilt for baby Flora. 

Getting projects finished feels good - with the three little ones constantly underfoot and demanding my attention - finishing these kind of projects feels like a monumental achievement!