#YarnFriendsRock 2021 - Days 19-25

Last month I'm joined in the #YarnFriendsRock challenge, hosted by @unicornpuffsandrainbows, @brightbag and @sewing_the_seeds_of_love Every day in September, I posted a picture to my intarsia Instagram account (@VikkiBirdDesigns_Intarsia) around a theme. Don't worry if you missed it, here are my posts for Days 19-25.

Want to see more of my intarsia work? You can check out my intarsia patterns on Ravelry* and PayHip.

Day 19: Sunday share

Oops, missed a day! I’ve had a flurry of sales of my novelty hats recently. I would love to make an intarsia blanket or jumper for every friend that has a new baby, but there are only so many hours in the day. When I run out of time to make a big baby gift, I turn to my Apple for Teacher and Harvest’s Bounty patterns for a speedy gift. Got a little extra time and you’re knitting for a family that likes matchy matchy gifts? Both patterns come in sizes from baby to adult!

 

Day 20: On my hook

Confession: I am not much of a crocheter. I can crochet, and enjoy it when I do, but tend to save crochet for blankets. If you find me with a crochet hook, it’ll most often be to save a dropped stitch! If you haven’t tried that before, you really should - it makes fixing dropped stitches much easier!

If you head over to Instagram, you can see a video I made of me working a dropped stitch back to the needles using a crochet hook.

 

Day 21: Flash your stash

I have a huge yarn stash. Even though I spent a whole day sorting it a few weeks ago and donated several kilos to Knit For Peace… When I buy yarn, I tend to buy it with a project in mind, but apparently I think I can get through far more projects than I actually do! My solution now is to work a lot of my intarsia designs from a limited palette of colours, so I only need to add the odd ball of yarn here and there. This Daisy CHain Blanket is being made from yellow and cream from stash, with the addition of some gorgeous Stylecraft Special Aran in Proper Purple, which is my absolute favourite colour.

 

Day 22: All in the pink

I’m pretty sure there is a shade of pink for everyone. My favourite is the raspberry end - a nice strong jewel tone. The shade of pink I used in my ‘Love’ cushion is my absolute favourite - there is a lot to love in this design!

What’s your favourite shade of pink?

Day 23: Rainbow love

You might have gathered from the photos I’ve shared so far this month that I love a good rainbow! I designed my Rainbow Unicorn Cushion in my very favourite rainbow yarn @WestYorkshireSpinners Aire Valley Aran - a self-striping aran weight yarn that comes in a gorgeous bright rainbow. Unfortunately West Yorkshire Spinners have discontinued the yarn, which makes me sad. I do have a stash of the yarn, and plans to make a jumper with striped sleeves, but would love it if West Yorkshire Spinners started making this yarn again!

Day 24: Flat lay

Reality check: I love a flat lay because… I have three kids and the house is always messy! I do my flat lays on a photo board resting on a surface, which magically hides the mess! I’ve also been known to use a throw to hide the mess before taking photos. One day I’ll be tidy, and flat lays won’t become quite so essential.

Today's flat lay is a pot of stitch markers, and my makeshift photo board is a sheet of orange card. I took this photo a while ago, and am pretty certain the tin has lost its lid, and the stitch markers have been distributed across projects (and the house).

Day 25: Granny squares forever

Ok, totally going to cheat for today’s post! When I was little, I loved looking through my mum’s jar of buttons, finding ones that match, and ones that didn’t, and making patterns with them. Now my mum is a granny, and I designed this blanket thinking about my mum and those jars of buttons.

*Ravelry link. May affect people with photosensitivity. Proceed with caution.

#YarnFriendsRock 2021 - Days 8-12

Morning! Hope you're having a good week. This month I'm joining the #YarnFriendsRock challenge, hosted by @unicornpuffsandrainbows, @brightbag and @sewing_the_seeds_of_love Every day in September, I've been posting a picture to my intarsia Instagram account (@VikkiBirdDesigns_Intarsia) around a theme. Head over there to follow along. In case you missed it, here's a catch-up for Days 8-12.

Day 8: Pretty stacks

I’m a bit torn for today’s prompt… do you prefer curated stacks of pretty blankets, like in the first picture? Or a dose of realism with a pretty (hay-like) stack of yarn ends after an end weaving session?

Day 9: Inspiration  

My intarsia designs are inspired by all sorts of things: children’s toys and television programmes; the changing seasons; days out; things my kids are interested in. I love the process of going from an idea in my head to a physical knitted product. Sometimes it turns out exactly as I had originally planned, and sometimes the idea has a few tweaks along the way!

Giraffe Family pattern coming in October.

Day 10: Outdoors

One of my earliest patterns was inspired by my love of all things outdoors. The Nature’s Way Baby Blanket alternates picture squares with plain squares, and is a celebration of nature. My favourite square is the snail. He’s called Boris, and has been doodled on many of my notebooks over the years!

Day 11: Geometric

Did you know intarsia isn’t just for knitting pictures? You can also use it to make geometric patterns like on my Cuboid Blanket, which was published in @KnitNow last year. The blanket is made up of intarsia panels that are sewn together at the end, making for a portable project with a striking end result.

Image copyright Practical Publishing.

Day 12: Sunday share

For today’s Sunday share, here’s a sneak peek at some behind the scenes action! I’m currently knitting an adult-sized Rudi sweater, so that I can play matchy-matchy with at least one of my kids (not sure the big one will be on board with this plan!). I’ve gone for icy festive colours for this one, rather than my usual palette of brights, but I am loving it! If you fancy knitting your own Rudi, the children’s pattern (picture 2) is available now, and adult (and baby) versions will be following very soon...

#YarnFriendsRock 2021 - week one

 Hello! I hope you're well. September is here, and the air has turned distinctly autumnal. This month I'm joining the #YarnFriendsRock challenge, hosted by @unicornpuffsandrainbows, @brightbag and
@sewing_the_seeds_of_love Every day in September, I'll be posting a picture to my intarsia Instagram account (@VikkiBirdDesigns_Intarsia) around a theme. Head over there to follow along. In case you missed it, here's a catch-up for week one.

Day 1: This is me

Hello! 👋🏻 I’m Vikki. I’m a mum of three, and while I’m not wrangling kids, I write and design knitting patterns. Looking forward to meeting lots of yarnies this month via the #YarnFriendsRock challenge!


Day 2: How I became yarny

I’ve always lived surrounded by yarn. My mum is a prolific knitter, so there was always yarn about when I was a child. I learnt to knit when I was seven, taught by a family friend. I caught the bug immediately, and haven’t really stopped since. As a teenager I made a lot of toys designed by Jean Greenhowe. Most of them are long gone, but this ballerina doll was knitted by me many years ago, and is cherished by my daughter.



Day 3: Favourite stitch

You might have noticed that I quite like intarsia… what is intarsia? Well, it’s pretty simple - you change colour mid-way through a row to create a picture. I love that you can use the technique to make any image you like. At first you might find intarsia a bit tricky, and that you get in a tangle, but with practice it gets much easier!

Day 4: Rainbow

Do you remember in Spring 2020, when everyone’s windows were adorned with rainbows? Well, I thought I’d design my own knitted rainbow banner! There aren’t so many rainbows in windows anymore, but this banner would look lovely as a wall hanging too. Want to make your own? The pattern is available for free in my LoveCrafts store; link in profile.


Day 5: Sunday share

Want to know my favourite yarn for intarsia? It’s @PaintboxYarns Simply range, which comes in a great array of colours, three yarn weights (DK, aran and chunky) and is machine washable. I use it a lot!

Day 6: Black & white

When I knit I am all about colour, but once in a while a design works best in simple black and white. Meet my little ghost with no name, a simple white ghost on a black background. What would you call the ghost?

Day 7: Yarny home

I like to start kids early with yarn! All three of my children have had their own knitted or crocheted blankets. Now they’re getting a bit bigger, you’re more likely to find the blankets being used to make tents in the living room than tucked over their knees in a pushchair, but either way, it fills me with joy to see my house full of blankets that have been made with love!