Webbcrafts

My first Christmas present (for this year)

Christmas present time

I’ve started to sort out my Christmas presents, and no, it isn’t too early. How many times have you said to yourself, “I would love to knit that cardigan for Christmas, but I haven’t time now that it’s November.”

Start Now

Use magazines for inspiration, make a list and sort out what materials that you can use from your stash, and what you need to buy. In this way you won’t buy too much.

Look for offers

I saw a great offer in a knitting magazine. Free pattern and yarn to complete the project. I duly purchased the magazine and set about making a pretty striped beret. With just a few rows to go the yarn ran out. I undid what was looking like a very nice project, re-wound the yarn and weighed it. Instead of the two 30gm balls promised, one weighed 27gms and the other 29gms. I was very disappointed.

Free paterrn with free yarn

The moral of the story

Don’t assume that the yarn supplied will actually complete the project, weigh it first.

No need to waste anything

The hat was completed very successfully from stash yarn, and so it was a good free pattern. But what to do with the free yarn?

Rattigan the aristocratic cat

I made a composite toy cat…we called him Rattigan, although pink, we are sure that he’s male and very aristocratic.

Rattigan

I used the free yarn for head and body using a single crochet stitch, a scrap of tapestry yarn for his nose, two tiny buttons for his eyes and some French knitting that my 4yr old granddaughter had helped me with, and was patiently waiting for a project to come along, as arms and legs. His whiskers were a tiny amount of homespun…nothing wasted.

Simply Knitting

The Really Useful Blue Cabled Bag

Free bag handles from ‘Simply Knitting’ magazine gave me the nudge to try their patterns for knitted bags.

Stash Buster

They would, I thought, make handy project bags. Easy to carry about with a piece of crochet or knitting, and small enough so that I would have enough yarn in my stash.

Never the Right Yarn

Sorted through my stash pile, and was able to come up with similar colours, but of course, different weights from the pattern. This wasn’t going to make too much difference, except the size of the bag would differ from the given dimensions.

One Small and One Useful

Using Aran weight the cabled bag was an excellent project if you are new to cabling, and came out a useful size. I used the yarn left over from when I made a cabled cardigan, and so with the free handles it didn’t cost anything in materials to knit. The pink and purple bag was knitted with left over yarn from children’s  cardigans which made it much lighter, and therefore smaller.

Off Cuts Make Good Lining

The lining was also an off cut bought from our local charity shop which had been stashed away for when it would be useful, and now it was. Cost was about 40 pence, and it lined both bags.

Keeping the Blue

I shall keep the blue one because it is just the right size to hang from my spinning wheel, the pink one I shall give to a little one to carry something precious around with her.

Pink and Purple Children's Bag

The Importance of the Swatch

I’m always unwilling to knit a swatch, it seems like a waste of time, but these bags are a real lesson in why it is important to do it. This project didn’t matter, but if I needed something to fit and I couldn’t find the correct wool for the pattern it would matter a great deal. I will remember this!

Lining secured and neatened