How much yarn should you take on holiday?

When I was at university, I was the student who always took *all* my course books home during the holidays, planning on intensive revision sessions that never happened (hindsight is a wonderful thing: when you consider that I studied Chemistry and all the course texts where enormous books covering the whole of organic, inorganic or physical chemistry, I realise now that I could have carried a much smaller suitcase for all those holidays!).

Fast forward a few years to when I had finished studying: I became the optimistic knitter who thought that with all their ‘time off’ during the holidays they would catch up on all their planned knitting. I would pack all my active WIPs, then maybe another project just in case the mood took me. Bear in mind that I also had children by this point, and realistically was never going to get through 4 kg of yarn in a week or two!

It turns out that a holiday with kids is not any less work than being at home with them (especially with tired children having ‘danger naps’ in the car after a busy day out – they never go to bed at a sensible time on holiday, so evenings are short). The holidays where I do more knitting than I do at home are the ones where I have long train journeys on my own! 

 

The two-project approach

At some point I changed my approach, finally realising it was futile to take all that yarn with me. Now I only take two projects with me on holiday.

The first project is a small easily portable project, almost always a sock. Something I can always have with me and add a row here and there.

The second project is a bit more complicated, maybe something with intarsia or cables, or a new project like a sweater cast on. I can work on this in the evenings when the kids are asleep.

This summer, I went away for two weeks and followed my two-project approach: one pair of socks for my husband, and one freshly cast-on project: a tee for me. 

 

How much did I add to my projects while I was away?

The socks I packed this year were a repurposed WIP. I had cast on a pair of socks for my husband, but made a poor choice for the yarn for the leg – the colour had pooled in a very strange pattern, so I chose a different yarn for the leg (a fabulous self-striping rainbow: Head Over Heels by Stylecraft* - I’m using the Be You colourway and have the Be Bold version ready for another cast on later in the year), pulled the sock back to the bottom of the cuff and joined in the new yarn. By the end of two weeks away, I had knitted… the leg of the first sock! It looks great, and will be my out and about project for the next couple of months.

How my sock started the holiday...

Late night sock knitting

 

...How my sock finished the holiday

 

The tee is Colin, You Flutter Me by The Woolly Badger**, a summer tee that I am knitting in a great value cotton yarn: James C. Brett It’s Pure Cotton DK in Navy. I had barely started the tee when we set off for our holiday, and have now completed the yoke and started on the body. Definitely worth me taking it away with me, but I’m not convinced I’ll have finished it by the end of the summer. The project is going to be my TV watching knitting for the next few weeks – I’m determined to finish it rather than putting it away as a WIP, even if I don’t get to wear it this year.

Yarn for my tee

Swatch time! Cotton stretches - always block your cotton swatch

 

Mid-holiday progress...

Holiday end progress!

What’s your approach to holiday knitting?

How much knitting do you pack for a holiday? Do you knit more when you’re at home, or when you’re away? Let me know in the comments.

*Affiliate link.

**Ravelry link. May affect people with photosensitivity, proceed with caution.

New design: Rainbow Unicorn cushion

One of the things I've been really keen to do this year is to republish some of my most popular magazine patterns, and the one I'm releasing today was absolutely at the top of my list: the Rainbow Unicorn cushion.*

Unicorns have been everywhere for the past couple of years, and this is my cheerful take on the trend. The cushion, featuring the silhouette of a unicorn's head, is knitted in a bright rainbow palette of self-striping yarn. The unicorn motif is added using a combination of intarsia and stranded colourwork in order to maintain the stripe pattern across the whole unicorn head. If you can't get hold of any rainbow striped yarn, of course you could work the unicorn head in a single colour, or devise your own stripe sequence and use several balls of yarn.

The pattern also works in a single colour

The cushion is 43 cm (17.25 in) square, designed to fit an 46 cm (18 in) square cushion pad with 3 cm negative ease. The cushion is knitted in one piece and fastened with six 18mm (0.75 in) buttons across the back on a ribbed button band. Half the back is knitted, then the front, then the second half of the back and the side seams are then stitched. 

Instructions for the intarsia section are provided both as a chart and as written instructions.

The sample was knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran, which has unfortunately been discontinued (there is still some available from Love Knitting* if you're quick, but not in the rainbow colourway). There are quite a few self-striping yarns on the market at the minute that would also work: Caron Cakes** (which is lovely to work with), Lion Brand Lanscapes** (which comes in amazing saturated colourways), Bernat Pop** (again, lots of nice bright colourways), and Knit Picks Chroma (the Pegasus colourway would be beautiful).

Fancy picking up a copy of the pattern right away? You can find it here. From now until 11.59pm BST Thursday 26th July 2018, the pattern has 25% off, no code needed.

*This pattern was first published in Issue 4 of Essential Knits.
**Affiliate links.

FO Friday: Beatrice baby blanket

Last week some of my close friends had a new baby, which means I can finally properly share the baby blanket I made for them.

As soon as I found out my friends were having a baby, I knew exactly the type of thing I wanted to make for their new arrival - a crochet baby blanket that was airy enough for the summer, but snuggly enough for the autumn too, and in rainbow colours. My friends are not knitters, so I decided to make the blanket from an easy-care yarn, going for Stylecraft Special DK as it comes in lots of bright, bold colours, there are plenty of options for rainbows, and it withstands everything a small child is likely to throw at it really well.

To decide what colours to go for, I did a lot of browsing on Ravelry to see what other people had already done. There were many, many beautiful colourways that stood out, some girly, some very masculine, and some happily in the middle. I eventually found a favourite, then tweaked a couple of the colours for ones that I preferred, and ordered my yarn.

Choosing the pattern was easy: I made a Beatrice by Little Doolally for a different friend's wedding a few years ago and loved making it, so knew that I wanted to do that again. The pattern is lovely to work from, and grows quite quickly. The only slight drawback is that its open nature means it's hard to work over the ends as you go, and you end up having to darn in lots of ends at the end.

The finished blanket is beautiful, and has been well received. Even better there are enough rainbow  leftovers to make a blanket for another friend who is currently expecting a baby - I'm thinking of a Bertie Baby Blanket (also by Little Doolally) using Silver as the neutral colour.

What's your favourite baby blanket pattern?

********

Pattern: Beatrice Baby Blanket by Little Dolally
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK* in Cream, Lipstick, Spice, Saffron, Lime, Aster, Violet and Emperor
Ravelry project page

*Affiliate link.

New design: Unicorn cushion

Unicorns have been everywhere for the past few years, and I have finally embraced the trend with my latest design, a unicorn cushion.

The cushion features a rainbow striped unicorn head on a neutral background. The rainbow stripes are created using a single ball of self-striping yarn (West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran*), which results in a striking effect for little effort. To maintain the stripes throughout the design, the yarn is stranded across the central blank areas. If you'd prefer a non-rainbow striped unicorn, simply chose one of the non-striping shades of the yarn.

The cushion cover is knitted in one piece, seamed at the edges and fastened with 6 buttons. I had a little fun with the buttons and used rainbow shades to match the rainbow stripes!

Want to knit your own? The design is included in the latest edition (issue 4) of Essential Knits, which is available now in newsagents and supermarkets, or you can order a copy online.

It even made the cover!

As ever, I would love to see your finished knits, so why not add a project on Ravelry**, tag me on Instagram (@vikkibirddesigns), or send me a message (use the contact me link)?

*Sometimes called West Yorkshire Spinners Essential Aran. Affiliate link. You'll need three balls for the background colour and one for the unicorn.

**You need to be a member of Ravelry to add a project.

Hope, not hate

I do not usually write about politics on this blog; there are plenty of other writers on the internet and elsewhere who can write about it much more eloquently. But this morning, when I woke up to the news that Donald Trump would be the next US president, my heart sank. Coming a few months after the UK voted to leave the EU, I don't like the idea of both the US and UK pulling up their drawbridges, in both cases because of campaigns that were driven by fear and hatred.

So today I am living by the motto 'Hope, not hate', and have seen that many people are doing the same, with my Facebook and Instagram feeds full of acts of kindness. I have started crocheting a rainbow ripple blanket to donate to charity (I will be sending it to Knit for Peace, who are happy to find worthy homes for any item you wish to knit or crochet, from blankets for premature babies, to hats for refugees), because there are people in need all around the world who are more than just pawns in the game of politics, and I feel that with the current course that politics is following, the number of people in need is only set to increase. So today, and for the future, share a smile, help where you can, and remember, 'hope, not hate'.