Jayla Blanket

I designed and made this blanket when my niece was born and I've been meaning to publish it ever since because I absolutely love how it turned out. Well, she's 16 now so better late than never. I still absolutely love it. Its a very simple lace pattern and one of the first times I'd ever really tried lace so please don't be intimidated with it.

ABBREVIATIONS:

YF - yarn forward 

SKPO - slip one stitch to the opposite needle, knit one stitch, pass slipped stitch over the stitch you knitted  

K2Tog - knit 2 stitches together as one

Size 

81cm high

79cm wide

103cm corner to corner

Yarn

I used 8ply acrylic with 4mm needles, but you could pretty much use any yarn you like. If you want to adjust it bigger or smaller just add or subtract an extra layer of blocks. 

Blocks (make 21 blocks of each colour)

Cast on 28 stitches

Work 6 rows stocking stitch beginning with a knit row.

7th row - (right side): knit 11 stitches, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 11.

8th and all even rows - purl.

9th row - knit 9, K2Tog, YF, knit 1, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 10.

11th row - knit 8, K2Tog, YF, knit 3, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 9.

13th row - knit 7, K2Tog, YF, knit 2, K2Tog, YF, knit 1, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 8.

15th row - knit 6, K2Tog, YF, knit 2, K2Tog, YF, knit 3, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 7.

17th row - knit 8, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, YF, K2Tog, YF, knit 2, K2Tog, YF, K2Tog, knit 6.

19th row - knit 9, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, slip one stitch over, K2Tog, pass slipped stitch over, YF, knit 2, K2Tog, YF, knit 8.

21st row - knit 10, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 1, K2Tog, YF, knit 9.

23rd row - knit 11, YF, SKPO, knit 2, YF, SKPO, knit 11.

Work another 6 rows in stocking stitch.

Cast off. 

Fringe

Cast on 20 stitches.

1st row - cast off 15 stitches, knit to end.

2nd row - knit 5, cast on 15 stitches.

Repeat these two rows until desired length is reached, end with a 1st row but cast off all 20 stitches.

Making up

Sew blocks together in a checkerboard pattern. 

I alternated the direction of the colours so the pink blocks are the "right side up" and the white blocks are "upside down" but you can put them all the same direction if you want to.

I made two sides of the fringe in pink and two sides in white and put them on opposite sides but again, that's personal choice.

Knit fringe to length and sew along the sides.

Weave in all the ends (and there will be a few, sorry) and you're done. Post a pic on Ravelry so I can see it if you make it!

Football wrap

I live in Australia where AFL is big and winter gets cold. There's only so many footy scarves a girl can own. I wanted something warmer and, well... girlier. I've also been wanting to try my hand at two tone cables for absolutely ages. Two birds my friends. 

The wrap patten is split into columns after the initial rib. Lattice either side of the cables, knit on the outside and a block of stocking stitch in the middle. 

I used six balls of Official AFL easy knit 12 ply premium acrylic (footy fans spill stuff, its gotta be easy to wash) in brown for the main colour, and two balls of yellow for the contrasting cables. This got it to 196cm long and 59cm wide. To make it wider just add more stitches in the middle section of stocking stitch. There is 32 cable repeats in mine but just add more or less to make it longer or shorter.

To begin... Cast on 132 stitches with 4.5mm needles and work 15 rows in K2,P2 rib.

On the last row of rib place markers as follows: work 5 stitches, PM, work 8 stitches, PM, work 32 stitches, PM, work 8 stitches, PM, work 26 stitches, PM, work 8 stitches, PM, work 32 stitches, PM, work 8 stitches, PM, work 5 stitches. 

Every row will now be worked in this order of sections: Knit, Lattice, Cable, Lattice, Stocking Stitch, Lattice, Cable, Lattice, Knit.

The first and last 5 stitches on every row are knitted.

The sections with 8 stitches are the lattice sections and are the same every row: K3, bring yarn forward under the needle, bring yarn over and back under needle to create a new stitch, P2tog, bring yarn over and back under needle to create a new stitch, P2tog, K1.

The section with 26 stitches in the middle is stocking stitch and starts with a knit row. 

Lastly the sections with 32 stitches, the cable sections. Two tone cables seem a lot more daunting than they actually are. If you've ever done fair isle or intarsia and cables before then it's really a cake walk. Key things to remember are to always keep your non working yarn hanging straight down on the wrong side of the work. Always bring the new yarn over the old one. If your team only has two colours both cables will be the same but if your team has three colours then you can do a different colour each side. The knit stitches of the cable are done as the contrast colour and the purl stitches are done in the main colour. When working on the wrong side of course that's flipped around and the main colour is knitted and the contrast is purled. For every wrong side row just knit the knits and purl the purls. 

Row 1: P6, C4B, P4, C4B, P4, C4B, P6.

Row 3: P5, CR3R, (CR4L, CR4R)x2, CR3L, P5.

Row 5: P4, CR3R, P1, (P2,C4F,P2)x2, P1, CR3L, P4.

Row 7: P4, K2, P2, (CR4R, CR4L)x2 P2, K2, P4.

Row 9: P4, (K2, P2)x2, P2, C4B, P2, (P2, K2)x2, P4.

Row 11: P4, K2, P2, (CR4L, CR4R)x2, P2, K2, P4.

Row 13: P4, CR3L, P1, (P2, C4F, P2)x2, P1, CR3R, P4.

Row 15: P5, CR3L, (CR4R, CR4L)x2, CR3R, P5.

Cable abbreviations are as follows:

C4F - Slip next 2 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at the front of work, Knit next 2 stitches, then Knit 2 stitches on cable needle.

C4B - Slip next 2 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at the back of work, Knit next 2 stitches, then Knit 2 stitches on cable needle.

CR3L - Slip next 2 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at the front of work, Purl 1 stitch, then Knit 2 stitches on cable needle.

CR3R - Slip next stitch onto a cable needle and hold at the back of work, Knit 2 stitches, then Purl the stitch on cable needle.

CR4L - Slip next 2 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at the front of work, Purl 2 stitches, then Knit 2 stitches on cable needle.

CR4R - Slip next 2 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at the back of work, Knit 2 stitches, then Purl 2 stitches on cable needle.

Finish on either a row 15 or 16 of the cable pattern and work another 15 rows in K2, P2 rib then cast off. 

I've proofread this about 20 times, but if I've missed anything please let me know so I can fix it. Any questions just ask!

Shan's ponytail beanie

The story goes, my sister wants a ponytail beanie, buys truly horrible acrylic (two balls) and hands it over expectantly with a couple of photos "something like these please".

Unfortunately there is enough that I have to do two.

With no pattern I just made one up.

And because I'm a half decent person. Here is the pattern.

8 ply acrylic and 3.5mm needles.

For size small cast on 100 stitches and for large cast on 120 stitches. Photo is size small but my tension is pretty tight.

Join in the round

K1, P1 rib for 12 rows

Knit 2 rows

Purl 5 rows

Knit 2 rows

K2, P2 rib for 3 rows

Knit 2 rows

P4, K1 for 8 rows

Knit 2 rows

Moss stitch for 8 rows

Knit 2 rows

Purl 7 rows

Knit 2 rows

K1, P1 rib for 3 rows

Knit 2 rows

K5, P5 for 5 rows

Knit 2 rows

Purl 3 rows

Knit 2 rows

K8, P2 for 7 rows

Knit 2 rows

Moss stitch for 3 rows

Knit 1 row

Next row: K8, k2tog, repeat to end

Next row: P7, p2tog, repeat to end

Next row: P6, p2tog, repeat to end

Next row: P5, p2tog, repeat to end

Next row: P4, p2tog, repeat to end

Next row: P3, p2tog, repeat to end

Cast off.

Ok... so where the pattern says 'moss stitch' it refers to the british version. Known as 'seed stitch' to all the americans.