a long overdue update…

Hello! I hope I still have a few reader out there.. I feel terrible for neglecting this blog for so long, but rest assured, while I haven’t been blogging as much, I have been as creative as ever! I’m still knitting, although not as much. The weather has been steadily getting warmer, and I don’t feel as much pull to pick up the needles. What I have been doing a lot more of, is sewing!

I’ve loved sewing all my life. With the help of my talent mum, I made each one of my formal gowns for special occasions. These days, I’m more interested in making things that I can wear every day, and I hope to show you a few items in up coming posts.

Today, I wanted to share something a little different. While shopping last week, Reagan and I stumbled on a cute little fabric shop. Inside we found some of the most gorgeous fabric I think I’ve ever seen. After browsing for a while, Reags came up to me with a beautifully patterned Italian silk, and asked me if I could make him a tie out of it. Although I’ve never made a tie before, I was sure I could nut it out. I pulled apart one of his old ties for a pattern, and got to it.

There was enough left over to make a matching pocket square. I love the colourful pattern, and I think it’s a perfect statement piece. Reags is very happy with it, and I’ve been assured he’ll get a lot of wear out of both items.

wip… knitted tie

I feel like I’m getting nowhere fast with my two current projects! Do you ever feel like that sometimes? Maybe it is because I’ve been crocheting a lot lately, which I find to be very quick, compared to knitting.

If you’ve had a look at my page “the project list” you would know that been dreaming of knitting a tie for my boyfriend. I found this wonderful pattern for a reversible stripe scarf on the PurlBee, and thought it would be just perfect! The pattern isn’t very difficult, but you will have to concentrate when you’re starting off.

Can I just say, wow! This is what I love about knitting! By doing a series of different, but simple stitches, you get an amazing and complicated looking pattern. On what I’m calling the ‘front’ side, the stripes work vertically up the tie, and on the ‘back’ side, a really cool continuous horizontal line appears. It took me a while to wrap my brain around how this works, but honestly, once you’ve done the pattern repeat a few times (and made a few mistakes) you’ll get the hang of it.

I’m using ‘Luxury’ 8 ply 100% wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills, in Navy Blue and Stone. You can’t knit this pattern on straight needles, so I’m using a 4mm circular needle. For the actual shape of the tie, I’m just going to eyeball it off another knitted tie. At the moment I have 11 stitches, and I’m working on the back end of the tie that wraps around the neck. Once I get a bit more length, I’ll increase by two stitches so the front side is slightly wider.

I feel that I’m getting nowhere with this tie because I’m working on my fluffy vest at the same time! It is also knitted, and although I’ve done over 40 rows, it is still only about 11cm long. However, I shall persevere, and I will (eventually) end up with two wonderful items, full of love, time and patience!

Footnote: After looking at the photos of this pattern on the PurlBee, I’ve noticed that my ‘back’ side looks different to the original.. It seems I am keeping the stone colour yarn to the back of my project when turning the work, instead of wrapping it around the edge. No worries though, I like the solid navy boarder on this tie! A happy mistake!

Here are a few WIP posts from other bloggers you may enjoy:

• Work in Progress Wednesdays (vernellc.typepad.com)
• WIP-Cracking Wednesday: Roundup (secretlifeofyarn.wordpress.com)
• Knit, knit, knit (hollychayes.wordpress.com)