Summer Bamboo Cardi

Bamboo Summer Cardi (rough notes)

Basically this is a top down raglan cardigan with lace panels down the front.

Size 36 to 38 inches
7 skeins of Cleckheaton Bamboo (50grams per skein)
Size 3.75mm circular needles for body.
Size 3.25 mm circular needles for sleeve bands.






Abbreviations:
K - knit
P - purl
K2 tog - knit 2 together
K2 tog tbl - knit 2 together through back of loop
Yf - yarn forward


Front panels - Worked over 20 stitches -
Row 1 P1, k1, k2 tog, yf, k1, yf, k2tog tbl, k1, p4 k1, k2 tog, yf,
k1, yf, K2 tog tbl, k1, p1
Row 2 k1, p7, k4 P7, k1
Row 3 P1, K2tog, yf, k3, yf, k2tog tbl, p4 , K2tog, yf, k3, yf, k2tog tbl, p1
Row 4 k1, p7, k4 P7, k1


Cast on 120 stitches.
Neckband
Row 1 and 2 : Rib (knit 2, purl 2)
3rd row Knit 3, yarn over, knit 2 together (for buttonhole) knit one.
Rib 5 rows.
Notes: I slip the first stitch on each row to make a neat edge for side bands. When placing markers I use a different colour for the panel markers to make me remember not to increase each side of those markers.
I increase by knitting into the front and the back of the stitch.

Start body (wrong side facing):K6 place panel marker, p20 place panel marker,p2 place marker,p10(sleeve stitches) place marker, p 44 (back stitches) place marker, p10 (sleeve stitches) place marker, p2 place panel marker,p20 place panel marker, k6

Right side facing:
Row 1 : K6 for side bands- (I slip the first stitch and k5 for a neater edge, it is up to you) now work front panel row 1 as stated for next 20 stiches, continue knitting, increasing each side of sleeve markers, back markers, sleeve markers until your reach panel marker - work front panel row 1 as before, knit 6

Row 2 - k6, work front panel row 2, purl until you reach the panel marker and work front panel row 2, knit 6

Row 3 - k6, work front panel row 3, continue knitting, increasing each side of sleeve markers, back markers and sleeve markers until you reach panel maker, work front panel row 3, k6

Row 4 - k6, work front panel row 4, purl until you reach the panel marker and work front panel row 4, k6


Continue body by repeating rows 1 to 4 - keeping panel and bands correct and making a button hole every eight rows (or whenever you like), and increasing each side of sleeve markers and back markers - until raglan is long enough (my raglan measures about 8 inches).

Separating sleeves :
Now with right side facing and continuing band and panel pattern, knit across to first sleeve stitches. Transfer sleeve stitches to holder and cast on 6 stitches and continue knitting back stitches. Transfer sleeve stitches to holder and cast on 6 stitches and continue knitting front stitches, keeping panel and band stitches correct.
Continue knitting body keeping panel and band pattern correct until just under bustline, ending with a Row 4 of panel pattern. Lace pattern is now finished.
Knit 6 rows.
Now continue in stocking stitch, keeping bands correct, until cardi is long enough.
Knit 12 rows for bottom band and cast off. (I didn't make any waist shaping for this cardi. The bamboo drapes so nicely I don't think it needs any)

Sleeves
Transfer sleeve stitches to a 3.25 circular needles, picking up 8 stitches under arms. Knit 1 row.
Work 6 rows in rib ( k2, p2) and cast off in rib.

Sew in ends. Sew on buttons and you are finished!!

Please let me know if you knit this cardi. I hope the notes aren't too hard to understand. As usual I waited until I finished knitting before I wrote much down.

Please do not copy this pattern without my permission.

Mini vegie pasties

Flowers from my garden. Winter is over (thank goodness)!!


















I found a yummy recipe for Mini Vegie pasties here:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15961/mini+vegie+pasties
They are delicious. I used reduced fat puff pastry sheets. I only added one egg and I didn't have any sesame seeds, but they still turned out well. We had a birthday lunch for one of the girls at work and it is hard to come up with different things to to take, but these were nice and easy and yummy as well.

Building in the country

We are building a house! How exciting! Not for a year or so, but we bought a block of land today and will spend the next year or so planning our new house. I want a vegie garden and some chickens (for eggs). We are right near a pretty riverbank, so I look forward to lots of picnics and walks along the river.

Bamboo and green tea

I am knitting with 100% bamboo. It is SO soft. It will be a summer cardi when I am finished. I designed a top down raglan with lace panels on each side. The panels finish just below the bust and the bottom is stocking stitch. It is progressing slowly but surely.

I am not knitting with green tea, I am drinking it. When I had the flu a couple of weeks ago I lived on lemon and honey drinks. I am now drinking green tea with freshly squeezed lemon juice and a dash of honey and my appetite and my waist are shrinking! All good!

We need some sun

We really need more than one day of sunlight in a row to kill all the nasty germs that are lurking around at the moment. Some of my nearest and dearest have been really unwell - in fact Dear Eldest Grand-daughter was in hospital for most of last week and is now slowly recovering at home.
I feel like I have been in hibernation for the winter and I am totally over it.
I cleaned out my pantry cupboard today and I won't even tell you how many out of date foods I found. Anyway, all clean and fresh now and ready for warmer weather and lighter foods.
I have a couple of kilos to lose before summer and I feel more than ready to do that.

We bought a new PC the other day. We already had a new screen, so it wasn't too much of an expense. Wow! I can't believe the speed of this new one. It is fantastic. Makes me wonder why I put up with the old one for so long. My laptop may get a rest now.

Now off to do some more spring cleaning .................... :-)

Celtic Plait Cardi

Here are some rough notes for the pattern for my Celtic Plait Cardi.

Celtic Plait Cardi
(fits 36 to 38 inch bust)

I knit this with 2 balls (400grams – 540 metres) of Bendigo Rustic 12 ply wool , using 6mm circular needles.
I cast on 29 stitches and knit the “Celtic Plait” pattern, which is a cable pattern worked over a multiple of 10 + 5 (minimum 25) stitches plus I made a border of 2 purl stitches each side of the cable.

I found the pattern on page 90 of the 1985 “The Harmony guide to knitting stitches”. You may be able to find another similar cable pattern elsewhere, just make sure it measures about 3 and a half inches.


Knit the cable pattern for 30 inches.
At this stage with this cable pattern I noticed that I wouldn’t need to make any buttonholes, as it is easy to push a button through the gap between the cables, so I cast off.
If you use a different cable pattern you may like to knit 2 rows stocking stitch, make three or four buttonholes across the third row, work one row and then cast off.

This becomes the yoke of the cardi.




Pick up 120 stitches along the side of the cable yoke.
8 stitches (band) place marker, 16 stitches (front)place marker, 19 stitches (sleeve)place marker,34 stitches (back) place marker, 19 stitches (sleeve) place marker, 16 stitches(front)place marker, 8 stitches (band) place marker. = total 120 stitches.
First row:
With right side facing –
Moss stitch 8 stitches, then knit , increasing one stitch each side of all other markers (except band markers) until 8 stitches remain. Moss stitch last 8 stitches.
2nd row
Moss stitch 8 stitches, purl until last 8 stitches, moss stitch 8 stitches.

Keeping moss stitch pattern correct for bands, continue increasing on all knit rows each side of markers (except front band markers) until raglan is 5 inches long (or length required).

Body:
With right side facing and keeping bands in moss stitch, knit across to first sleeve stitches. Transfer sleeve stitches to holder and cast on 8 stitches and continue knitting back stitches. Transfer sleeve stitches to holder and cast on 8 stitches and continue knitting front stitches.
Continue in stocking stitch for body (keeping bands correct in moss stitch) and making side shaping at waistline if you wish, until body measures 12 inches – or length desired.
Knit 10 rows moss stitch all the way across to make bottom band of cardi. Cast off in moss stitch.

Sleeves:
Now transfer sleeve stitches to circular needle– picking up eight stitches under arm .
Knit 1 row.
Then moss stitch for 5 rows in the round. Cast off in moss stitch.
Repeat for other sleeve.

Place buttons on an angle on your top cable yoke band as shown:

Sew in ends and you are finished!!!!!




Please do not copy this pattern without my permission.
If you knit this cardi I would love to see a photo. Any questions – send me a message

Very special letters

A few weeks ago I "found" a lovely letter written almost 76 years ago by my father to my mother when she was 18 and he was 23. They married when she was 21. They are both gone now, he was 80 (killed in a car accident) and she was 79 (after a series of strokes).
It is a most beautiful letter written by a young man to his dear love. It gave a wonderful insight into who he was at that age. It is 4 pages long. At the bottom of the letter he has attached (by a little safety pin) a tiny photo of himself for her. She kept that letter for the rest of her life. She was 40 when I was born and he was 45. They had already had two other children, then aged 13 and 16 and then I was born and 16 months later my younger brother was born!

Growing up I always admired the beautiful mother of pearl lid of the black box, but I never really looked closely at the contents of that box until now.

There is also a letter to my mother from her father, who died when she was 16. She always told me he went for a walk and didn't return and was found dead. It was only in her last weeks of life that she told me he drank poison from a bottle in his garage (he had the first service station in a small country town in Tasmania). Deliberately or not, she didn't like to say....

In another box there were dozens of postcards written by my grand-father (mum's father) to my grand-mother, over 100 years ago! It took days for him to visit her and they only lived 50 miles away from each other. They mainly communicated by post card.

It is a shame that letters are almost a thing of the past. Text messages and emails won't be around for our children and grand-children to find in years to come. Even our blogs will be lost in cyberspace. I wonder how people will be communicating in 100 years from now??????????!!!!!!!!!!!! We will never know...... or will we???