I Knit Weekender

Last Friday Alice and I got the train into London, and the bus to Victoria, to meet my Grandma and go to the I Knit weekender. Alice's favourite part of the whole day was the bus ride (which took in Oxford Street - lots of stops, lots of people). This is how she spent almost the whole ride -

Her conversation isn't great anyway, I tell myself - and at least I got to admire her lovely cardigan (not hand knitted, I'm afraid - from Zara. Not that I usually buy her stuff in Zara, you understand. This was just too nice not to.)

The I Knit weekender itself was in a really interesting venue, The Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre, which was super Art Deco and had an unusual clock -

The Weekender was full of lovely, chatty, people, and gorgeous yarn. We were especially taken with the Illusion Knitting stall. I can't quite believe I'm considering it when I haven't finished the Blanket of Doom yet, but they have an ace pattern for a baby blanket with a teddy bear on it that I would really like to try! Who do I love enough, is the question....

This is my purchase for the day - two skeins of Araucania Toconao in a fabulous purple colour, bought from the Woolfish stall. Yummy. It is so soft and smooth! I have balled it up, and have plans already for it.

I could have bought a lot more, if I hadn't looked at my budget just the day before (boo hoo). There were so many gorgeous colours on display, it was sometimes hard to know where to look.

The only disappointment of the day was that the I Knit design competition, whose entries were supposed to be exhibited at the Weekender, was not in evidence. I wasn't expecting my pattern to win a prize, or anything, but I was looking forward to seeing it on display (as was my Grandma, who had kindly tested it for me). Not sure what happened there.

Overall we had a nice day out, but a bit more information would have been nice.

I Knit Weekender Design Competition

Oh my gosh! One month to go before the I Knit Design Competition closes.

I Knit is a great shop in Waterloo which is really much much more than a shop - it is more like a knitting community centre, really. They run the I Knit Weekender Event (10-11 September 2010) which this year includes a design competition, with an exhibition of entries at the event and prizes of £250/£100/£50 - plus yarn! Further details can be found on their website.

I have been working on my design, which uses this lovely Rowan wool, for a while now -

Not because it is especially complicated, but because I am also working on the Blanket of Doom, and that is taking me forever. But I'd better get a wriggle on if I'm going to get in completed and sent off in time!

Free Knitting Pattern - Zig and Zag Snakes

These are two dinky snakes I knitted using some yarn I had left over from socks. Zig is the plainer snake with the sewn on pattern and Zag the stripy one. They are a perfect size for little baby hands to grab, and light enough to be waved around. They also appear to be a hit with kittens!

Size: approximately 22cm long

Yarn used: Rowan 4ply Soft in 2 colours. This pattern used Cream and Linseed. It is best to use this pattern to finish up left over wool as you don’t need much of each colour – each snake uses around 10g of yarn.

3.75mm needles

Tension: 25 stitches and 30 rows of stocking stitch = 10cm²

Abbreviations:

S1 = Slip one stitch
PSO = Pass slipped stitch over knit stitch
K2tog = Knit 2 stitches together
M1 = Make 1 stitch

Pattern:

Both snakes – CO 10 stitches with Main Colour (M).

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: (and all even rows): Purl
Row 3: K1, M1, K3, M1, K2, M1, K3, M1, K1 (14 st)
Row 5: K1, M1, K4, M1, K4, M1, K4. M1, K1 (18 st)
Row 7: K1, M1, K5, M1, K6, M1, K5, M1, K1 (22 st)
Row 9: K1, M1, K6, M1, K8, M1, K6, M1, K1 (26 st)
Row 11: K1, M1, K24, M1, K1 (28 st)
Row 13: Knit
Row 15: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K7, S1, K1, PSO, K4, K2tog, K7, K2tog, K1 (24 st)
Row 17: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K6, S1, K1, PSO, K2, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K1 (20 st)
Row 19: K8, S1, K1, PSO, K2tog, K8 (18 st)
Row 21: Knit

Zig Snake – continue using M
Zag Snake – Row 23, join in Contrast Colour (CC) and then alternate colours every 2 rows.

Pattern block A:

Row 23: K4, M1, K9, K2tog, K3
Row 25, 27, 29: Repeat Row 23

Pattern block B:

Row 31: K3, S1, K1 PSO, K9, M1, K4
Row 33, 35, 37: Repeat Row 31

Rows 39-46 : Repeat pattern block B.

Rows 47-62: Repeat pattern block A twice.

Rows 63-70: Repeat pattern block B.

Row 71: Knit
Row 73: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K12, K2tog, K1 (16 st)
Row 75: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K10, K2tog, K1 (14 st)
Row 77: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K8, K2tog, K1 (12 st)
Row 79: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K6, K2tog, K1 (10 st)
Row 81: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K4, K2tog, K1 (8 st)
Row 83: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K2, K2tog, K1 (6 st)

Break off yarn with a c.40 cm tail. Thread yarn through remaining 6 stitches,and sew up snake body seam to head, and then stuff the body. I used Minicraft Supersoft Toy Filling (100% HiLoft Polyester). Sew up the head to the mouth and stuff the head, finish by sewing up the mouth.

Zig Snake: using CC sew eyes on either side of head, and also make body pattern at random points by sewing over individual stitches.

Zag Snake: using CC sew eyes on either side of head.