May blog


Hi Fellow Knitters,

What a lovely Easter we shared with our daughters and their families at Valla Beach NSW. It began with rain and finished with glorious sunshine. Our brother-in-law George (maker of Rotating Yarn Butlers, craft and knitting needle caddies, bowls, jewellry boxes, bread boards and more) visited from Grafton  for a day, along with our nephew Allan. Allan is a talented crafter specialising in Quilling. Allan makes pictures, cards, gift tags, fridge magnet and bookmarks.

Quilling pictures by allan

 Allan and George sell their work through The Clocktower Gallery  in Grafton.

In my two previous blogs, I wrote of my departure from knitting and into crochet. I have now departed from designing blankets and into knitting blankets designed by others. Over the last few years I have collected many patterns (mainly blankets, but I do have one  lovely sock pattern) that I thought I might one day knit.

 knitting patterns for socks and blanket

That day has now come and my next project is a queen sized blanket featuring Tulips and I will knit in silvery grey. The yarn used in the pattern is a single ply and it was knitted on 10 mm needles. I don't like thick single ply yarns so I was stumped for a while. I wanted to use the 10 mm needles to keep the chunky look, so I knitted some samples on 10 mm needles using a few thick yarns (not pure wool) but did not like the results.Then Bendigo to the rescue. The Quick Knit Cosy Chunky Throw popped up on Facebook. It is knitted on 10 mm needles using two strands of 10 ply yarn.

I have completed a satisfactory sample using two strands of luxury 10 ply Bendigo yarn. I am now waiting for the Ghost Grey yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills, and a 1 metre long 10 mm circular needle from Knitting Co. It is just as well I'll be knitting this blanket over winter as it is knitted in one piece with 176 stitches. I might add a few more stitches to the borders of the blanket, just to make sure it is big enough for a queen sized bed.

What is on your needles? Please send a photo and a few sentences about any of your completed knitting/crochet creations and I will share it with The Sip Knit Yarn Family via our GALLERY page. It might be something inspired by one of my patterns, your own design, a favourite pattern you knitted for your children and now for your grandchildren, something entirely new, something practical or maybe something you chose because the pattern called you and just demanded to be knitted by YOU.

To send your contribution, use the Contact Us at the bottom of any page on this website. Attach a photo by selecting Subject where you will find Gallery image upload.

Happy knitting sign off by Daphne