• All about me
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    • An interview with Dee Hardwicke
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  • How to guides
    • 1 Making a slip knot
    • 2 Cast on – a step-by-step guide
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Picking Up Stitches

Knitting, crochet, cross stitch and more - the wonderful world of working with wool

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Mittens and gloves and socks and coats – it’s cold

March 19, 2018 by Annie Leave a Comment

Mittens time

It’s been so cold recently that I’ve been really glad that I’ve made so many pairs of mittens over the past few months. It all began before Christmas when I decided that some pretty fingerless mittens would make perfect presents for my sister and my nieces. I’d soon designed my Flora Fingerless Mittens, which feature a floral granny square as the central motif on the back.

Blue and salmon flora crocheted gloves

I’ll be writing another post about the Flora mittens as soon as I’ve put the pattern on sale (you can already buy the actual mittens from my Etsy store), but in the meantime, here are just some of the lovely colourways…

Flora crocheted gloves colourwaysThey’re either made in Stylecraft Special DK or in Deramores Studio DK. Hope you like them – I think they’re quite feminine and perfect for chilly spring days!

Bobbles and stripes

My second design is so warm. It’s not got a name yet, but I’m loving wearing them on wintry walks with Lily the dog. They’re striped and have an offset bobble effect to give texture and add warmth. I’ve already whipped up quite a few.

Striped bobble mittens

Here’s some more underway on the back – very Harry Potter colours!

Striped bobble goves back

And here’s the bobbly front – it’s alternating double crochets and treble crochets…

stripy crochet bobble mittens in progressAny ideas what I should call them?

Chunky mittens

Once I’d started designing mittens, seems I just couldn’t stop! I worked with two strands of the DK together and came up with these chunky mitts, which are sooo quick to make… I like the crossed treble effect and love the contrast embroidery as well.

chunky crocheted mittens

I decided that a pair of quick-to-hook fingerless gloves would make a perfect beginners’ project, so I came up with a chunky, yet slightly lacy pair which I’m now teaching in my classes (the timetable’s here) – they just use double crochet and trebles, and are going down really well!

beginners chunky fingerless glovesThere’ll be some pictorial how-to help up here on the website very soon.

Out with the needles

When I was a teenager, we often knitted up gloves for ourselves, and the other day, I discovered some of the patterns my sisters and I used to use… One even still had the handwritten notes about yarn amounts used!

vintage gloves patterns and knitting

Even more needles

Thinking about keeping out the chills, I decided it was time to wind up the lovely HeyJay hand-dyed yarn in Rouge Jacket I’d bought at the Wool Fair last year (read about that event here) and finally embark upon some socks.

Hank of pink tweed wool from HeyJayAnother nostalgic moment – I suddenly remembered how, as a child, I used to help my grandmother wind hanks of wool into balls.

winding wool from hank Nothing was wasted in those days, and any jumpers that we’d grown out of were unravelled and the yarn washed in hanks to remove the kinks, then wound into balls and knitted again. When there was no-one to hold the yarn on our outstretched hands, we used the back of a chair. And that’s exactly what I did.

Socks being knitted and pattern

I’ve chosen a pattern from Socks Yeah! book from Coop Knits I bought at the Knitting & Stitching show and used my KnitPro dpns in 2.5mm. It was so odd switching from chunky to 4 ply, but it’s providing welcome variation.

Socks being knitted on three needlesAnother WIP (work in progress, that is) but then again, I have finished something…

Don’t forget the dog!

It’s been so cold, that I couldn’t forget our Lily. She’s a Staffy-cross rescue dog  (do check out the lovely charity we got her from All Dogs Matter). She has really short hair, and we couldn’t have her shivering… So it was just as well as my finished project for this month was my Butterfly coat design, made from the spare Rowan Pure Wool Worsted DK (which you can get here among many other places) from the Martin Storey Windy scarf I’d made for my friend’s 60th birthday.

Lily's butterfly coat

Lily’s little coat fits snugly and has a fleecy lining, and what’s more it matches her lovely collars from Rad N Bad.

rad n bad co;;ar for dog Just like her skull coat I made the other year!

White spotty dog with knitted coat with skull on back

Hope you’re all keeping as warm as us!!!

 

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns, knitting, knitting patterns Tagged: crochet, crochet patterns, gloves, knitting, knitting patterns, mittens, socks

It’s Christmas crochet season – time to get busy

December 22, 2017 by Annie Leave a Comment
Christmas crochet stars and snowflakes

It’s Christmas crochet time

I’ve been soooo busy with Christmas crochet in the past few weeks, that I haven’t had a moment to write my blog until now.

Phew, the presents are all made and sent and Christmas merriment can finally begin… I’ve enjoyed all my Christmas crochet makes at the kitchen table, especially as I replanted the kitchen windowsill in Christmassy colours. I even managed to incorporate a little ‘Christmas tree’ with a tiny crochet star.

Christmas crochet star on tiny 'tree' on windowsill

The Christmas windowsill arrangement

I love the fact that the pink daisies from summertime are still going strong, and now with the addition of white cyclamen, silvery foliage plants, ivy and plants covered in bright red berries, the whole view over the back gardens looks so festive.
White cyclamen and pink daisies

Christmas crochet decorations

Even before I started the presents, I crocheted quite a few crochet stars and snowflakes… I’ve taught a couple of classes on stars in the run-up to Christmas, so hopefully crochet decs will be adorning a few trees in North London now. I particularly like my snowflake design, which I crocheted in sparkly yarn.

Christmas crochet stars and snowflakes

As usual, pride of place in our Christmas decorations at home goes to the wreath that I crocheted some years ago, using Attic24s wreath as a basis. There are lots of lovely floral patterns on that blog and it was a delight crocheting the various elements and positioning them with the beads and baubles.

Crochet Christmas wreath

I love the way that it incorporates buttons, bows and pompoms too…

close up of Christmas crochet wreath

Close up of holly on Christmas crochet wreath

Christmas in the open air!

Talking about wreaths, we take our dog Lily to a lovely park just minutes from our flat every morning and there are often unexpected artistic delights in wait there. Here’s a twig wreath that just appeared on a tree…

Twig wreath in park

And when we walked up to Alexandra Palace Park there was a completely unexpected tree standing alone in the middle of the grass. What a delightful surprise!

Ally Pally tree

Christmas crochet presents

But what about the presents? I hear you ask. Well, to all my relations, look away now (unless it’s after Christmas Day!).

For everyone else here’s a sneak preview of some of the items I’ve designed this year…

These coasters were made out of coloured garden twine and specifically designed to be used on the garden table (and there was a large matching mat, too)

Christmas crochet coasters

Using a few shades of Hoooked Zpagetti tee-shirt tape, I made striped baskets. I’m thinking of making a few more for myself now!

Striped crochet basket

One of my other favourites this year are my new Flora fingerless gloves/wristwarmers, which will be making their way to my Etsy shop very soon, as I think they’ll be perfect for chilly spring days. I’ll also be selling the pattern very soon as well. I’ve really enjoyed trying out lots of different colourways. They’re made from Stylecraft Special DK, which comes in loads of shades, so there’s scope for so much variety.

Flora crochet fingerless mittens

Mauve/pink Flora crochet fingerless gloves

It snowed!

And finally, I must say that it’s been lovely this year to actually have snow on the ground in London even if it was only for one day. Here was the view from the kitchen the morning it snowed.

Snow in the garden from the windowsill

It’s such a rarity, that our dog had never experienced snow before despite being two and a half. Here she is in here Rad’N’Bad collar. I think that snowy morning was definitely her Christmas treat!

White Staffy on the snow

Lily loves the snow!

Happy Christmas, everyone!

 

 

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns, inspiration Tagged: Christmas, crochet, crochet baskets, floral inspiration, snow

Teaching a granny square class

August 11, 2017 by Annie Leave a Comment

Time for teaching

I love teaching beginners to knit and to crochet. I’m always so grateful that my wonderful grandma taught me those skills back when I was just 5 or 6. She set me up for a lifelong love of working with yarn and creating all sorts of items for myself and for friends and family.

So it’s been wonderful since I started up Picking Up Stitches to share my knowledge with those new to knitting and crochet.

A few weeks ago, I was asked by Annie, the founder of the brilliant shop The Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead, if I’d teach some crocheted granny square classes there. I jumped at the chance, as the large, bright, airy shop is so homely and welcoming and a treasure trove of materials – a perfect place to teach.

Here’s Kym from the shop – she took part in the class

Inside The Village Haberdashery with lady at the counter

Just look at some of the things on offer here. I must confess that I’m always tempted to buy something whenever I visit. Even though I don’t do much sewing, the fabric display always makes me think I should be getting out my sewing machine!

Colourful fabric on shelves at The Village Haberdashery

Teaching the first class

I’ve just finished teaching the first of these classes – a two-hour evening class to teach a basic granny square, though people stayed on at the end – they just couldn’t stop crocheting!

The six crochet newbies were met by this gorgeous round table, all set up with crochet hooks scissors and yarn.

Table set up with crochet hooks, yarn and in front of a display of wool

The ages ranged from teenage upwards, with everyone eager to learn. The concentration was intense, but it was fun too.
Crochet class in progress at The Village Haberdashery

I’m glad to say that everyone completed a square by the end of the class, and some went on crocheting when they got home and posted their results on Instagram. There are more classes there in the months to come. And there are also my own Crouch End classes as well – see the timetable here. So glad to share the crochet love…

after teaching crochet squares, hooks and leaflets on a wooden table

 

 

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Posted in: classes, crochet, Crochet patterns Tagged: classes, craft, crochet, haberdashery
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