Knitted Nativity Set

Would you like to see my knitted nativity set? I managed to get it finished just in time for Christmas last year. The husband made the setting for me. A stable in a cave. It even has a thatched roof, straw and tiny lights.

Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.

The shepherds with some of their sheep.

The wise men with their knitted gifts. They're looking a bit tired after their long journey.

Lots of people have made this nativity set or at least parts of it. I used Jean Greenhowe's pattern for all the figures. Most of them are made using odds and ends of yarn, including some Rowan pure wool. I'd love to make a donkey to add to the collection but it won't be this year.

Hope you are enjoying the last few days before Christmas. Of course, not everyone celebrates Christmas but I'm sure those who don't won't mind those who do just enjoying it. Must go and have a (bought!) mince pie.

Mount Usher Gardens and Finnstown Castle Hotel

Last Thursday and Friday we took ourselves down to Dublin for a wee break. We got a very good deal at the hotel using a scheme run by one of our local supermarkets. Before going to check-in to the hotel we paid a visit to Mount Usher Gardens where we had a nice walk round.

 

We had to cross this bridge over the river. You can see the warning notices that were at both ends of the bridge; no jumping allowed on the bridge! Just walking across the bridge made it bounce so I didn't spend too long on it.

I didn't photograph everything; just a few of the trees and plants that I thought looked unusual.

This cherry tree was blossoming in early December.

We came across this little pet cemetery.

There were quite a few plants flowering. This one was very striking.

After our walk we just had to visit the Avoca Garden Cafe for some refreshments. The carrot cake and coffee were delicious.

We did a bit of shopping though mainly just looking round some lovely shops such as the Avoca shop at Kilmacanogue. Then we headed to our hotel, the Finnstown Castle Hotel, just outside the picturesque village of Lucan, to the west of Dublin. We were very impressed with this place!

There were several peacocks and peahens strutting around the grounds. Sorry it's not a very good picture.

While we were there I took the opportunity to start knitting my Aran coat. The wool is from New Lanark Mill shop; actually 90% wool and 10% silk; the colour is Forest. It's the same yarn I used for my bag (see here and here). My still-hasn't-been-lined-or-got-handles-attached bag! Anyway, back to the coat. I knit the first six rows in garter stitch and then I was supposed to change from 5mm to 5.5mm needles. Arrrghhhh!! I hadn't brought any 5.5mm needles with me. Fortunately I had brought some of the King Cole tinsel yarn and owl pattern with me. So I started an owl. To be honest though, I was totally loaded with the cold and didn't feel much like knitting anything. By the way, since coming home, I accidentally pulled the needle out of what I'd managed to knit of the owl and had to rip it all out. There's no way you can pick up stitches with the tinsel yarn! On the bright side though, I've managed to knit quite a bit of my coat.

On the Friday we drove to the Dundrum Centre where we parked and took the Luas light rail/tram to St. Stephen's Green in Dublin. We wandered round the shops and really enjoyed looking in Brown Thomas especially. Gorgeous but extremely pricey! We ended up in the lovely Powerscourt Centre to have coffee. Oh look. We must have had some biscuit cake as well. You won't believe it, but we were seated right outside a yarn shop for our coffee!! They had needles too, so I bought a pair of 5.5mm wooden ones.

We then returned to Dundrum on the Luas and browsed some of the shops there. Hamleys is a favourite of the husband's. Just a very relaxed day. That evening we had a fantastic four course dinner in the hotel. Free! It was part of the deal we had. The food was really, really good.

So that was our wee pre-Christmas treat. Thoroughly enjoyable. I hope you enjoyed it too. It's great to see I have another few followers and I'm still delighted to read your comments. I've also found some our your lovely blogs to follow too! All the best for now.

The Autumn Leaves and a Song Thrush

The autumn leaves are well and truly blown off the trees now. We've had so much rain and wind recently and even some snow. I remember, as a child, when I was learning to play the piano that I had to learn to play The Autumn Leaves. You can listen to Nat King Cole singing it; doesn't take long and it's really worth listening to.

I've crocheted some autumn leaves recently. I just had to when I saw the beautiful autumn Stylecraft colours. First I made some acorn leaves which I showed you here. Then I crocheted some big maple leaves. These were great fun to make! I found the pattern somewhere on the internet but can't remember where. I gave you a sneak preview of one of the leaves in this post. Not being able to stop at just one leaf, I kept crocheting until I had five. And here they are ...

The leaves are all made using Stylecraft Special DK working two strands together with a 5mm hook. This makes quite a sturdy fabric and quite a big leaf. The colours used are Spice, Lime, Copper, Gold and Claret.

On a completely different note, here's a beautiful bird I spotted a few days ago in the garden. As far as I know (and agreed by the husband) it's a song thrush.

It's lovely to have some new followers and I've really enjoyed reading all your comments. Keep them coming! I'm finding it very hard to get time to read and comment on all your lovely blogs; I'm really sorry about that. Enjoy the last days of autumn as soon enough we'll have winter upon us. Bye for now!

The Peg Loom Scarf

This is it - the peg loom scarf. Made to be given as a gift along with a crocheted washcloth and Skye soap (see here).

The scarf is woven using a 200g ball of James C Brett Marble Chunky, a lovely soft acrylic yarn. I kept the ball band in a safe place so I could tell you the colour but it's so safe that I can't find it now! Anyway, I'm pretty sure the colour is MC27. A code for the colour doesn't really convey anything. I love it when they actually give the colours a proper name. Names like Loganberry and Ice and Orchid. Of course, the name doesn't always convey the exact colour but I think it helps.

In my opinion the scarf looks really lovely. What you can't tell from the photo is that it is very thick (not a terrible fault, if you want a warm scarf) and also very stiff. No matter how much I try to like it, I just can't.

Now I have two problems. What to do with the peg loom scarf and what to make as another gift.

The first problem shall be solved some day in the future when I think of some other use for this scarf. At the minute I'm considering how to make it into a wall hanging - after some adjusting.

The second has already been solved simply by crocheting another Queen Anne lace scarf using the Stylecraft Alpaca in the beautiful Orchid colour that I had left over from making other gifts (see the link at the start of this post).

My conclusion is that either I still don't know how to weave a scarf that I'm happy with or that a scarf is better knitted or crocheted. Does that mean I've given up on my peg loom? Definitely not. I have plans to make a small rug just as soon as I can get the time.

Have you ever made a scarf on a peg loom? What did you think of it? All comments gratefully received!

It's great to have some new followers. I'm sorry I haven't been able to do much blog reading and commenting this past week or so. Hopefully I'll get more time soon!

All the best for now.



Edited to add: If you want to see details about the peg loom I have then look at this post; near the bottom.

Washcloth Pattern

Some of you, after reading about my washcloths, were interested in having the pattern. So here it is. I hope you will enjoy making your own washcloths. Don't hesitate to ask if you're having any problems with the pattern.

Here's a picture of the washcloth again so you know what I'm talking about.

For the pattern I'm using UK terminology throughout. US readers simply replace double crochet with single crochet.

 

The yarn I used was King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK but any similar yarn would do just as well. One 100g ball was enough to make two washcloths but only just! I used a 4mm hook.

 

The neatest way to make the washcloth is what I'll give you details for first. However, if you find it too difficult to work the split stitch into the foundation chain then read on for a simpler method.

Foundation Row:  Work 43 chain.

Row 1: 
Into the 4th chain from the hook work a split stitch as follows:

yarn over hook, insert hook into chain and draw yarn through (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook, insert hook into next chain and draw yarn through (5 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 4 loops (leaves 2 loops),
yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

*Now, working into the same chain where the second leg of the last split stitch was made, make a split stitch as follows:

yarn over hook, insert hook into chain and draw yarn through (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook, insert hook into next chain and draw yarn through (5 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 4 loops (leaves 2 loops),
yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

Continue from * until the last chain is used for the second leg of the 39th split stitch (counting the beginning 3 chain you have 40 stitches in this first row).

Chain 1 and turn.

Row 2: 

Work a double crochet (dc) into the top of each split stitch and a double crochet into the top of the beginning chain-3 of the previous row (40 dc – the chain-1 doesn’t count as a stitch).

Chain 3 and turn.

Row 3:

Work first split stitch as follows:

yarn over hook, insert hook into first stitch and draw yarn through (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook, insert hook into next stitch and draw yarn through (5 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 4 loops (leaves 2 loops),
yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

*Now, working into the same stitch in which the second leg of the last split stitch was made, make a split stitch as follows:

yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch and draw yarn through (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook, insert hook into next stitch and draw yarn through (5 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 4 loops (leaves 2 loops),
yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

Continue from * until the last stitch is used for the second leg of the 39th split stitch (counting the beginning 3 chain you have 40 stitches in this row).

Chain 1 and turn.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until a total of 14 rows of split stitch have been worked.

Final Row:

Work a dc into the top of each split stitch,
work 3 dc into the top of the beginning chain-3 of the previous row,
work 2 dc into the end of each split stitch row and 1 dc into the end of each dc row of the first side,
work 2 dc into the corner,
work 1 dc into the remaining loop of each chain in the foundation row,
work 2 dc into the corner,  work 2 dc into the end of each split stitch row and 1 dc into the end of each dc row on the second side,
work 2 dc into the corner,
join with a slip stitch to the chain-1 at the start of the row and finish off.

Sew in ends and block.


For some reason my square turned out to be skewed but it was easliy pulled into shape and, after a really good blocking, it came out as a true square.

Here's a couple of close-up pictures of how split stitch looks.

If you find it too difficult to work the split stitch into the foundation chain then here’s a slightly different way to make the washcloth that is a bit simpler to do.

Foundation Row:

Work 41 chain.

Row 1:

Starting at the 2nd chain from hook, work a double crochet (dc) each chain (40 dc – don’t count initial chain-1 as a stitch)

Row 2:

Work first split stitch as follows:

yarn over hook, insert hook into first stitch and draw yarn through (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook, insert hook into next stitch and draw yarn through (5 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 4 loops (leaves 2 loops),
yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.

*Now, working into the same stitch in which the second leg of the last split stitch was made, make a split stitch as follows:

yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch and draw yarn through (3 loops on hook),
yarn over hook, insert hook into next stitch and draw yarn through (5 loops on hook),
yarn over hook and draw through 4 loops (leaves 2 loops),
yarn over hook and draw through remaining 2 loops.


Continue from * until the last stitch is used for the second leg of the 39th split stitch (counting the beginning 3 chain you have 40 stitches in this row).

Chain 1 and turn.

Row 3:

Work a double crochet (dc) into the top of each split stitch and a double crochet into the top of the beginning chain-3 of the previous row (40 dc – the chain-1 doesn’t count as a stitch).

Chain 3 and turn.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until a total of 14 rows of split stitch have been worked.

Final Row:

You will already have worked a dc into the top of each split stitch and a dc into the top of the beginning chain-3 of the previous row. Continue as follows:

work another 2 dc into the top of the beginning chain-3 of the previous row,
work 2 dc into the end of each split stitch row and 1 dc into the end of each dc row of the first side,
work 2 dc into the corner,
join with a slip stitch to the last dc of the first row and finish off.

Join yarn at the starting chain-1 of first row and work 2 dc into this corner,
work 2 dc into the end of each split stitch row and 1 dc into the end of each dc row on the second side,
work 2 dc into the corner,
join with a slip stitch to the chain-1 at the start of the row and finish off.

Sew in ends and block.


Enjoy crocheting. Don't forget to let me know if you have any problems.

More Christmas Gifts

First I'd like to say welcome to new followers and thank everyone for their lovely comments. A few have asked for the washcloth pattern so I'll get that done as soon as I can.

 

I wanted to make something a bit special for a special girl so here's what I've done; a tam, a scarf and a rose brooch. The tam is the same as my black one (see here) but is done using Stylecraft's new Alpaca DK yarn which is 80% acrylic and 20% alpaca. I've used the Orchid, a lovely soft pink, for the tam and worked it with the King Cole Cosmos yarn to give it all the sparkle.

 

Aside 1: In Northern Ireland, all females are called girls, regardless of age.

Aside 2: If you looked back at the link above you will also have seen a hat I knit for the husband. Well I wasn't happy with it so I ripped most of it back and did it again. It now looks much better. The husband didn't mention a thing about it because he says he knew I would find it so annoying that I would eventually fix it!

 

 

Ingrid showed us the Queen Anne's lace scarf on her blog a while back. I really liked it so decided to give it a go. The pattern is easy to learn and works up really quickly. With the Stylecraft Alpaca Orchid yarn, I used Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed DK, which is 20% alpaca, 77% acrylic and 3% viscose, in Emperor and Plum. Starting with the Orchid, I worked sections of ten fans in each colour and made a total of ninety fans. This made the scarf quite long so it can be wrapped round several times.

As a little finishing touch I made this rose from my 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet book by Lesley Stanfield. I crocheted a small circle to cover the back, where the rose is coiled up, and added a brooch pin.

For the gifts above I had bought two balls of the Orchid (and I still have more than half a ball left) and a ball each of the Emperor and Plum. So I made two more Queen Anne scarves; one using the Plum and the other using the Emperor. I crocheted until there wasn't enough yarn left to make another fan. Here are the results ...

I think they look really nice and the yarn feels very soft and warm. These will be given along with the washcloths I told you about in my last post. Ah! There were three washcloths in the last post and there are only two scarves. That's because I'm weaving a third scarf on my peg loom. Hopefully it will soon be finished and I can let you see it too.

It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas now. Just a bit. Even though I've been making gifts and decorations for a while now, I still didn't feel at all Christmassy. I didn't tell you about baking my cakes, did I? Every year I bake two Christmas cakes. One is a standard rich fruit cake and the other is based on the same recipe but using more exotic dried fruits such as pineapple, coconut, mango and whatever else takes my fancy. I'd better stop talking about cake!! It's making me hungry and it's too soon to tuck into Christmas cake just yet.

Hope you are all having fun making for Christmas or out shopping for Christmas. Bye for now.

Small Gifts

Before going any further I want to thank you all for your kind and very thoughtful comments about my experience with the car. I am truly thankful. Just as I am truly thankful that the situation didn't end up being much worse. Thanks, too, for the comments on my hedgehogs. They were fun to make and I can't wait to get at least one owl made. I'm being put off making an owl by the fact that I now only have green tinsel yarn and I just can't imagine a green owl. Maybe I need to pay a visit to the yarn shop and buy some more of the tinsel yarn; white or silver would be nice, methinks.

Anyway, to get back to the post in hand. This is about some little gifts I've made for Christmas. When I was on holiday recently on the Isle of Skye (you can read about it here, here, here and here) I bought some hand crafted soap from the Isle of Skye Soap Company in Portree. I thought it would be nice to make some washcloths to go with the soaps and use as Christmas gifts. The yarn I chose is King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK which is made from 100% natural fibres making it a good choice for delicate skin. For two of the cloths I used the Ice colour.

There are plenty of patterns about for washcloths but, not wanting to actually get off my seat and go to look for my pattern book, I just decided to make it up. I made a chain as wide as I thought was necessary and then worked one row split stitch and one row double crochet until it was long enough to make a square. Then I worked a row of double crochet right round the edge. The split stitch gives it a nice texture. Look, here they are again with one of the leaves I've been making.

Now I had some more of this bamboo cotton yarn in my stash; Green and Dusty Pink (at least, I think those are the colours - I've thrown out the ball bands). Not enough of either colour to do another washcloth so I used both colours and made this ...

The middle is about three quarters the width of the Ice washcloths. I worked until the piece was square and then did a row of double crochet right round. Next I did a row of split stitch and a row of double crochet in the Green, repeated that with the Dusty Pink and then did a final row of Green shells.

Don't forget I'm using UK crochet terminology so read single crochet instead of double crochet if you use US terminology.

Maybe I should write up the pattern for you in another post. What do you think?

That's enough for now, I think. I have some more gifts to show you another time. The snowflakes will have their own post and so will the other Christmas decorations. I'm really enjoying making them all! All the best for now and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Nearly forgot! Before I go, have a look at some of the roses in my garden. Some are starting to look a bit sad, what with all the rain we've been having.

Some are just perfect still!

This one was only planted in the summer.

There's just something special about a perfect rose, isn't there?