Our dinner from the garden

27th Jul 20094th Sep 2018 toryawintersdesigns4 Comments

We enjoyed our first meal with home-grown produce this evening! I went out and picked about a quarter of the current pea crop, and got F to help me shell them. Of course he ate a lot of them while he was “helping”, but we still had these left for tea.

My dad had helped me to lift a row of potatoes the other day, and it looks like we’ll have a good sized crop of them as well.

Put them together with a bit of fish, and we had a lovely meal.

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of the crop, and expanding the vegetable garden next year. This year I just planted strawberries, peas, potatoes and onions. However, I’ve got a raspberry bush which should be ready to fruit next autumn, and there’s rhubarb at the bottom of the garden as well. I’d like to have a try at carrots and tomatoes, and I would love an apple tree. Roll on self-sufficiency!

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My first blog award!

17th Jul 20094th Sep 2018 toryawintersdesigns2 Comments

I’ve been given a blog award by The Crystal Lady – look, here it is!

This is the first award I’ve ever had, and I’m so pleased! The rules of the award are as follows –

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you love and/or have newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

4. Use the One Lovely Blog award picture from my blog, on your blog to let everyone know that you have one lovely Blog!

I’m going to pass it on to:

Adventures of a Lady in Training

Tatting my Doilies

Anna Maria Horner

Incy Wincy Stitches

Maximum Rabbit Designs

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Cyber Sam

20th Jun 20094th Sep 2018 toryawintersdesigns5 Comments

Can you guess what this is going to be?

It’s Alan Dart’s fantastic Cyber Sam robot, published in last month’s Simply Knitting magazine! Of course, my son fell in love with him straight away, so I set about making a toddler friendly version. Alan’s patterns always look so complex, but are actually quite simple when you get going. The whole thing took me two days to make, and most of that was sewing up time.

The original version was meant to have aerials made out of cotton buds, and cardboard stiffeners in his feet, but I left those bits out so that it would be machine washable. I also adapted the face a bit to make it more friendly, and here’s the finished result!

It was a great project to use up some of my acrylic stash, and as the pattern suggests, you could make it in so many different colours. I love the design of the arms and legs, because you can move all the joints to create a properly poseable toy. Although you can’t see in this picture, there are little knitted rivets at each joint as well – such attention to detail! I’m a real Alan Dart fan now, and I’m off to make up some of his snuggly bugs from the latest edition of Simply Knitting, to use up a bit more of that stash.

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Topknot Hat Free Pattern

16th Jun 20094th Sep 2018 toryawintersdesignsLeave a comment

I loved the natural colours of these yarns, and wanted to create a hat that reflected the earthy theme in its design. This topknot hat is like a little pumpkin with a stalk, and will look cute on a boy or a girl. The yarns are soft and pure organic cottons, but also machine washable, a great bonus for new mums!

Size

3-6 months, with head circumference approx. 36-38 cm.

Materials needed

1 x Patons Eco Cotton shade 00110, 100% cotton, 130m/142yds per 50g ball (Yarn A)
1 x Freedom Sincere DK shade 603, 100% cotton, 115m/126yds per 50g ball (Yarn B)
1 pair 3.25mm needles

Tension

24sts x 32 rows – 10cm/4in in stocking stitch with yarn A.

Abbreviations

K – knit
K2tog – knit 2 stitches together
P – purl
RS – right side
St(s) – stitch(es)
St st – stocking stitch

Pattern Instructions

Cast on 90sts using A, and work 4 rows st st, beginning with a K row.

Next row (RS) – K16, K2tog, K17, K2tog, K16, K2tog, K17, K2tog, K16 (86sts).

Work 5 rows st st, beginning with a P row.

Change to B, and work 4 rows K2 P2 rib.

Change to A, and work 18 rows st st, beginning with a K row.

Decrease for top of hat

Row 1 – *K4, K2tog, rep. from * to last 2sts, K2(72sts).

2nd and every alt row – P to end.

Row 3 – *K3, K2tog, rep. from * to last 2sts, K2(58sts)

Row 5 – *K2, K2tog, rep. from * to last 2sts, K2(44sts)

Row 7 – *K1, K2tog, rep. from * to last 2sts, K2(30sts)

Row 8 – P to end.

Change to yarn B and work 2 rows st st beginning with a K row.

Next row – K2tog to end (15sts).

Next row – *K2tog, rep. from * to last st, K1 (8sts).

Work 3 rows st st, beginning with a P row.

Next row – K2tog to end (4sts).

P 1 row.

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail, pull through remaining sts and draw up tightly to secure. Sew the seam with a narrow backstitch. Work blanket stitch round the cast on edge with colour B to finish.

Designed by Torya Williams for ButterflySparkleDesigns, 2009. Please do not reproduce the pattern or the design for financial gain.

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Mitered square blanket

12th Jun 20094th Sep 2018 toryawintersdesignsLeave a comment

I’ve been working on this blanket for a wee while now, and decided to get it finished off before the baby arrives. It’s been a great project to use up stash cotton, and I’m happy with the way the colours work together. Unfortunately, I laid it out on the floor to see what my husband thought, and he pointed out that one of the mitered squares is slanted in the wrong direction! My inner perfectionist has serious problems with this, but there’s no way I’m unpicking the whole thing just to re-angle one square.

I made the squares by casting on 66 stitches and knitting one row (on the wrong side). I then did the mitered square pattern until there were 2 stitches left, and knitted the two together. They’re really easy squares to do, so great mindless telly-watching knitting. There are only two rows –
Row 1 – K to centre 4 sts, K2tog twice, K to end.
Row 2 – K to end
I used the tutorial on this blog as inspiration.

I joined the finished squares together by crocheting them, which saved my sanity by eliminating a lot of sewing up. Then I edged the whole blanket with 5 rows of double crochet. The yarns were a real mix – Avanti Cotton, Rowan Handknit DK Cotton, and some unidentified charity shop finds. However, they all appear to have knitted up to a reasonably similar tension and work well together.