double breasted knit coat

I have had one certain project from my first book, Easy Baby Knits, safely stored away in a drawer for ever such a long time, awaiting the longed for day when it would fit one of my own children. That day came this week, when I tried it on my littlun for size. Such an amazing feeling, it was a perfect fit! And just in time for the change in weather.

I love this project as the woven style stitch is a beautiful texture, the shape is very cute and boxy, it has just the right touch of vintage styling and the yarn - Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - drapes wonderfully while providing a cosy warmth.
As for my daughter, I think she liked it, even though she was doing some faux sulking in these pictures (hence the 'pout') as she didn't want me to take her picture, so they aren't the best shots, but they do capture my own bright moment on an otherwise dull day.

M is for...

My friend Cheryl knitted this gorgeous, bright bunting as a birthday present for my Millie and we love it! Cheryl makes knitted items to order over at her lovely shop The Purly Queen, do go take a look. We had such fun taking these pictures, and Millie of course couldn't stand the bunting being centre stage...

As I mentioned, it is Millie's birthday this weekend and we are throwing her an Alice in Wonderland party as she is obsessed with anything Alice since seeing her big cousin Taylor as a card in a school play. I am off to make bunting and aprons and things, will post more about it later in the week.

Oh dear, take a look at that fringe I stupidly tried to cut while Millie was bouncing on the bed....

Free Easter Pattern

Happy Easter to one and all! This is a little late, but I have decided to re-post an old pattern of mine that I use in special Easter classes. File it away for next year, or decorate with different face as the perfect project to teach you kids how to knit - and a very happy Easter bank holiday Monday to you all.

Claire xEgg Cosy Pattern copywrite Claire Montgomerie 2010

Materials
Any scraps of dk weight yarn, 4mm needles, darning needle, felt and buttons for decoration

Simple Cosy Pattern, ideal for beginners

With 4mm needles, cast on 30 sts and knit every row for 6 cm, knitting in stripes if you wish.
Cut off yarn, leaving enough to sew up seam. Thread through all stitches and pull up into a round. Sew up seam and fasten off yarn.

Stocking stitch pattern

With 4mm needles, cast on 30 sts and knit every row for 4 rows. Change to stocking stitch and work for four cm, ending with a p row. You can knit in stripes of four rows of each colour if you wish.

Next row: (k3, k2tog) 6 times (24 sts)

Next row: purl

Next row: (k2, k2tog) 6 times (18sts)

Next row: purl

Next row: (k1, k2tog)6 times (12 sts)

Next row: purl

Cut off yarn, leaving enough to sew up seam. Thread through all stitches and pull up into a round. Sew up seam and fasten off yarn.

Use buttons or googly eyes for eyes and felt shapes for beaks. Use oddments of yarn for hair, faces, eyelashes.

Rabbit ears

(These are worked in garter st, but you could do them in stocking st, or in a mixture of stitches.

With 4mm needles, cast on 7sts.

Work two rows garter st, inc one stitch at either end of next row, then work a further 3 rows garter st. (9sts)

Dec one stitch at either end of next row, then work further 3 rows garter st (7sts)

Dec one stitch at either end of next row, then knit one further row (5sts)

Dec one stitch at either end of next row. (3sts)

Next row, sl 1, k2tog, psso. fasten off final stitch.

Make two the same. (you could also make two more ear shapes in a contrast colour and attach them to the inside of the main shade ear shape) and attach to the top of the cosy.

NB. Please feel free to use this pattern to make your own cosies but please do not reprint or resell this pattern on. Copywrite Claire Montgomerie 2013.

pretty slippers...

More pretty pictures from the kid's knitting book today. I love the idea that you can make a simple slipper pattern then customise them to suit your own character or that of your child's. I am sure any little girl who loves to dance will enjoy sewing ribbons to her pretty in pink pair, or if you are a Wizard of Oz fan like me, the ruby slippers are a must! A boy might even like to make some football boot slippers...would love to see any variations you come up with!

Knitting For Children

I have been popping up all 35 patterns from my new book, Knitting For Children, onto Ravelry, quite a task! It has reminded me of my favourite projects and what fun the book was to write and shoot.

My personal favourite project from the book is probably these cute Mouse Mittens. All the kids I have shown them to adore them and can't stop playing with them, like puppets, while they are keeping their fingers nice and toasty! Usually the mice talk to one another, sometimes they kiss, occasionally they fight, but whatever they are doing, it keeps the child busy for hours - so take heed parents, it could be a great project to knit for them, even if they do not want to learn themselves!!!

crochet granny square blanket

My new book, Knitting for Children turned out so well that I have been asked to do the same thing for crochet. This will be my first crochet book - hard to believe as I have designed so much crochet throughout the years. I think somebody has finally twigged that crochet is being left behind in the lovely book stakes, knitting and many other crafts have many beautiful books to choose from, whereas crochet is only just beginning to bloom. Hopefully that is all about to change and we shall see a burst in crochet books in the near future. For now, here is a half finished granny square blanket I was trying to complete in between lessons at West Dean last month...

knitting for children

I've finally received the first copy of my new book, Knitting for Children, and I am so excited - I love it! We tried to keep it colourful and fun, with simple and yet interesting projects that little ones will love to make. It's out in March, so if you have children who want to learn, or if you are young at heart or want to knit projects kids will love, go check it out and let me know what you think

shooting the book

...sneak peek of the gorgeous kids and lovely yarn from the shoot of my new book which will be for teaching children how to knit!

easy kids knits projects

Before I pop these pictures into my pattern book photo gallery, I wanted to share the beautiful interpretations of the patterns from my books by the wonderful Gabrielle. She is becoming prolific at knitting from both Easy Kids Knits and Easy Baby Knits for her adorable red headed grandchildren and I love how she gives each new project its own individual twist. She loves to choose the prettiest shades of gorgeous yarn from Loop yarn shop and then lets the colours dictate the end results.

Here are two very sixties style interpretations of the smock top from Kids, which is so very pretty.

I am sure Gabrielle won't mind me mentioning that the flowers were an addition to try to hide what she considered as untidy finishing round the neck, but I love the detail and the reason for it! My one big tip for knitters is to enjoy the pattern and knitting and not be too perfectionist with it - after all you could always go and buy a machine made sweater if you want perfection, and knitting is supposed to be relaxing.

Here, the mistake has become a beautiful feature of the top and I love how she has used the differing placements in each smock.

She has also made the ballet style wrap top and bonnet from Baby into a cute little set for the newest addition to the family, and there are those sweet little flowers again - not to hide anything this time, just to add a bit of colour. Gorgeous.

Keep up the good work Gabrielle!

I love to see your finished projects, so please do feel free to send me them, or to point me in the direction of them on Ravelry.

happy easter knitting!

Just before I rush off to relax my knitting fingers over the Easter weekend, I wanted to let you know of the Easter workshops I am running for children next week at Sally Bourne in Crouch End, North London.

You have a choice from Wednesday 7th or Friday 9th in the morning from 10.00 - 11.30am. We will be aiming to make little wonky toys, a little like my mad alien friend above, with buttons, felt and the basic knitting stitches. So if your kids are driving you mad this holiday already, send them to learn a craft with us!

Have a happy Easter and don't eat too much chocolate!

alice's knitted dress and cardi set

I am a very lucky girl; not only have I got to spend a lot of time recently with a fabulous bunch of folk at Northwood Community Artreach, but one of them has gifted me the most beautiful children's clothes. Alice wore this knitted set wen she was a child, as you can see in the adorable picture below. It is the softest yellow wool with chocolate brown Fair Isle edgings and would look as fabulous on a child today as it does on Alice as a little girl.


The set was hand knitted for Alice by her grandmother, Cecilie (what a beautiful name) who was of scandinavian origins - hence the neat tension and simple yet striking colourwork detailing. Cecile is pictured below, right, next to a photo of Alice with her mother, Inger, a very smart and stylish lady if ever I saw one! These ladies knew how to dress, and how to dress their little ones.


I am determined to use this dress to make a replica in modern yarns so that others can dress their little girls in this style, as I think it is a warm, practical and beautiful way to clothe children and I wish there were more patterns and clothing available like this today.
Any ideas on the colourway I should knit it would be greatly appreciated. I love the yellow and brown, but want to make something a little more contemporary. Perhaps a pale blue with blood organge red contrast? Or olive green with pale pink? Oh, I could go on and on...

Thank you so much Alice for sharing these with me, I shall treasure them.

More pictures soon of what the talented folk of Northwood have been working on, and hopefully of my version of the Alice dress.

let's get crafting!

I am very excited as I have just received my copy of the special baby knitting issue of Let's Get Crafting in which I am interviewed. If you do not own Easy Baby Knits, the adorable little wrap cardi from the hardback version's cover is featured, so you can try before you buy!
My top five knitting tips are very useful even if I do say so myself, so I shall feature them here tomorrow. Watch this space...

l'aiguille en fete, paris

Loop yarn shop had a stand at the 'needle fair', l'Aiguille en Fete in Paris last week and I went along at the weekend to help out, or rather to hinder sales with my pigeon French. I understand quite a bit of the language but tend to dry up in fear when I have to speak it, so I stuck to such reliable terms as point mousse (garter stitch) point tricot (stocking stitch - except apparently it is not, it is 'jersey' oops! See comments below), tres doux (very soft), the numbers for prices, grams, meterage and needle sizes and the trusty old Parlez-vous anglais? when all else failed!

It was really interesting to compare and contrast the fair with British alternatives such as the Stitch and Knit show. There were very few yarn stalls and the French crafters were intrigued by many of the yarns on Loop's and Habu's stands which we knit with frequently in Britain, such as the hand dyed sock yarns and unusual fibers we are used to. Most of the fair consisted of needle point and cross stitch, although there were a few things that caught my eye. There was an incredibly cute toy kit stand, la Sardine and you know that I cannot resist a plushie textiles creature.

I also spent most of the spare time I had poring over the Japanese book stall Junkudo. I have long admired Japanese craft books, but had yet to make a decision on which of the many beautiful books to buy. However, it almost proved more difficult having the hard copies there to thumb through as I found I wanted them all! I succumbed eventually to this retro styled amigurumi book which reminded me of some pictures I have of myself as a child with my own toys. I also really wanted a sewing book, however I spent most of Sunday agonising over which one to buy - I know from my previous forays into sewing that I would not end up using them all, so I was very restrained and decided on the simple tunics and one piece book, as it seemed the simplest.

The draping book, while fabulous, may be beyond me and the one with the fantastic grey dress with pockets on the front (regular readers note; my dress/pocket obsession is getting ridiculous) had no other patterns I liked.

Aside from the Japanese book stall, my favourite part of the fair was an amazing cross stitch exhibition. This was so fabulous, it needs another post, so stay tuned for a lengthy post on vintage needlepoint and artefacts and in the meantime feast your eyes on the la Tour Eiffel at the top of the post in glorious textured cross stitch to tide yourself over 'til then.

I cannot leave you without sharing a great and very apt picture, which I promised the lovely Juju I would post. Outside of the fair, it seemed the needle fever had spread throughout the city, as across from our hotel was the amazing 'Knitting Pig' restaurant. It was actually called Au Cochon de Lait, but the sight of the milk laden pig knitting ecstatically in the sign was all we needed to change its name. So there you go dearest internet, even the livestock knit in Paris; now I feel my affinity with the country of my ancestors even more...

millamia baby and children's knitting patterns

Recently I have discovered this exciting new knitwear company MillaMia, who produce wonderful knitting patterns and yarns ideal for beginners, but which even the most experienced knitter will love. I urge you to go take a look at their website and search out the yarns in a store near you - they have started to stock in many local yarn shops in the UK including the new shop Yarn Gathering in Staffordshire.

MillaMia is run by two Swedish sisters Katarina and Helena, who live and work in the UK. The Scandinavian influence of fresh and contemporary style is easy to see in their beautiful designs. Their design ethic, especially when it comes to knitting for children, matches mine completely and was exactly what I tried to achieve with my books:

'As knitters we were not that inspired by the patterns on offer for baby and children's wear in the market today, and realising that there was a knitting renaissance underway, we saw a gap for stylish, modern baby and children's hand knitting patterns. Patterns that had a real design edge but still easy to knit and practical to use.'

I actually first came into contact with Katarina at Loop in Islington, where she asked for my opinion on the yarn she and Helena were developing. The yarn was beautiful, but I also suggested that injecting a dose of bright colour would be a good idea, as I find it so hard to obtain gloriously clean and bright shades, especially in wool yarns. While I am in no way suggesting I had anything to do with the final results, I am so glad they decided to really go for it with colour, as their designs are so joyous and I for one am going to enjoy using some of them. I will also be using the yarn for future classes, so if you want to try it out, come and join me!

The images on the website are so fresh and cute; they show so much joy, movement and laughter. One of my favourites is this Carlota dress - won't somebody make me one now?! It has all of my favourite things - stripes, colour and pockets; I think I have mentioned here before how all my favourite dresses have pockets!

I shall definitely be using MillaMia yarns in my future projects, and you will be the first to see them here!