Updating patterns!

Hello everyone,
 I'm working on updating the basic patterns on here with suggestions and improvements as time has shown they are not perfect. Any suggestions are appreciated!
The shop should also be reopening early next week once I've photographed all the new stuff and sorted it out, this always takes longer than expected.
In knitting news I am tackling lace weight and I'm hoping to post about this in the next few weeks once I've had another go at the pattern for the next Ravelry pattern post.

On Strike!

After a few failed knitting projects I decided to go on strike last week, not much use when you have a) the Blythe Shopping directory to update b)Blythecon UK coming up c) charity project for the shop coming up in october.
I have been having a rather large think about Blythe and my collection and pretty much the whole financial aspect of a hobby that is now officially TOO EXPENSIVE for me. I can no longer buy a doll at random like I used to be able to and I have these expensive bits of plastic sat round the house in boxes whilst we struggle to sort our finances out. 
So....I am having a large clearout that involves selling my goldie, hollywood and a few other girls. This means that we can fit a woodburner at our house and cut our heating bills dramatically this winter. Hurray! Free warmth!
It does also mean that for the first time I am in the position of selling an expensive doll, something I've never done before. Meep!

Knitting in pink!

In october my Mum and I are planning on filling the shop with pink goodies, all in aid of Cancer Research. I got started a few days ago and I know my Mum will already have oodles of pink on the go as she is a much faster knitter than me. We've decided to do this in memory of my Mum's sister Eileen who died from breast cancer just over 8 years ago. There are so many other people out there fighting cancer and if we can make the smallest difference then it is all worth it.
So pop by the shop in october after Blythecon UK when we will have lots of pink for you.

Not all Double Knits are equal!

I have now been knitting for the princely sum of Two years! I can hardly believe it, I've knitted so few things for actual people :-P
I started off with a real thing for DK and to be honest I still can't resist it, but one thing I've noticed is that DK is all different sizes!!! And indeed I have some 4plys that are more like DK. This of course adds an extra bit of excitement when trying to see if a pattern will work and ensures that your knitted item will not turn out as planned. I've knit the lati dress in all different DK's and they have all turned out differently, not always in a good way.
Double Knit can sometimes be called 8ply (8 stitches per inch) and appears to be a UK term. I don't see why we can't have all the weights of yarns in the UK so we can do US patterns without getting confused (or is that just me?)  If anyone can give me a clear definition of DK I would be grateful!

Ravelry patterns - The Lati dress

The Lati Dress by Shelley Selwood is one of the first patterns I actually got to grips with and I learnt lots from it. I still have the occasional phase of knitting this pattern simply because it is easy & very familiar.
And yep, it's a lati top but this does fit Blythe and actually makes a really nice t-shirt or dress with minimal alteration.

Tools/Yarn needed: You are supposed to use 4ply and 2.25mm needles but I admit that I have used a variety of different wool/needle sizes as I don't have that many colours of 4ply yet. In normal double knit this pattern can turn out a little bit baggy but that's fine if you're after a baggy fit. I have knit this in King Cole Haze DK and it turned out beautifully, using size 11 needles (can't remember the metric size!)

Skills needed: Increasing and Seed stitch. I say seed stitch is a skill because I still forget how to do it midway through a row and end up with Rib. It drives me mad!

Other notes: I don't bother with markers as I don't see the point. I wrote this out without markers so if anyone would like me to write out what I do on here feel free to ask. To make a dress you can simply knit this longer and if you are feeling very adventurous you can do the skirt bit in a different stitch!

Knitting patterns on Ravelry!

I have returned from my holiday and suprisingly I did no knitting whatsoever. I didn't even venture into a yarn shop which is most unlike me.
Anyway, I am aiming to venture through some of the patterns available on ravelry for Blythe and give you a brief description of each project, such as how easy they are, if the pattern has any mistakes, how well they turn out, etc. I have so many patterns from ravelry, most of which I have yet to try. First up will be my very favourite pattern - the lati dress.

Lace knitting and other adventures

Having seen the beautiful lace dress patterns by Sara on Ravelry I decided to get learning lace knitting at last. One of the things I try to do with every knitting project is learn something new, no matter how small that new thing may be. So in a bid to learn lace I chose what I thought was a simple dress pattern with a small lace section from my Mum's pattern collection. It's a Sindy one that was printed in a newspaper sometime in the 70's or 80's from the look of it so it is seriously outdated. It is also huge as Sindy's aren't exactly Blythe sized.

Here's my first go. For a start I managed to rib instead of seed stitch, something I do quite alot for some weird reason, then I struggled on the lace pattern as it turns out that the pattern itself is wrong! I was also fairly rubbish at it but it taught me the following things about lace knitting: Pay close attention to what you are doing and keep counting your stitches. This is an 8 st repeat followed by a purl row so relatively straightforward. The sleeves section are worked with a variety of cast on and cast offs, the pattern also gave the wrong number of stitches for the sleeves so they are bigger at the back than the front. Unfortunately the neckline is also appalling - the cast off on the neck line gives it a really untidy edge. It is also far too big.
I firmly believe (maybe stupidly) that this could be a nice pattern with a total rewrite so I am currently working on a complete overhaul. Given my knitting speed this could take me a very long time!

Simple Shrug

Fancy trying your hand at a simple shrug for your blythe? Here's how to do it.
Get your trusty size 3mm needles (also called a size 11) and cast on 10 stitches using double knit.Knit approximately 35 rows in rib stitch (knit then purl) or longer if you'd like long sleeves. Cast off. Sew the very ends together, just catching the edges so that you're not making a big seam - I usually sew about 1cm at each side to make the sleeves. Weave in your ends and you're all done!
You can go for an 8 cast on instead if it's not going over sleeves but a 10 gives you more room. Have fun trying it out and let me know if you manage one! If you're really good at knitting and actually have time to follow a pattern there is a beautiful shrug pattern by Parasol Doll over on Ravelry, it looks amazing but I haven't had time to try it yet. And my printer is dead.

The Stash

This is my current stash, give or take a large bag of assorted arran hidden away somewhere. I've been into knitting for almost 2 years now and the urge to buy wool is just as strong as ever, in fact I would call it an addiction. My main weakness is brightly coloured double knit. I am certainly not a yarn snob when it comes to buying wool, if it's a lovely colour then I don't care how much plastic is in it! And to be honest my Blythes have never complained about it being itchy.
I suppose the only problem with Blythe knitting is that it makes very little headway through this stash as most of it is very small. Perhaps I should knit something for a human for once.

Here's the shrug!

At last, a pic of the shrug so I can think about getting the pattern online. Although the shop is having a minor overhaul it will be taking a back seat for a few days as I will be at the hospital tomorrow. I am really hoping for some kind of resolution to all the problems I've been having, even if it's just a diagnosis.
I will be taking my knitting needles with me as I am still squirelling my way through my old projects so I can do some new ones.

Shop overhaul!

Expect a new look to the shop very shortly! I thought it was looking a bit tired, hardly suprising since it has stayed the same for 3 years!
I am also about to get the shawl pattern online but first I need to sort some wool that I span & plied myself at the weekend. It was very exciting!

Up and knitting

It's Sunday and I have managed to get out of bed and knit! My knitting progress has been interrupted by various requests (More breakfast please mummy, can you draw me a tiger and other lovely things) so I am going rather slowly.

I promised a Shrug pattern and here's a pic of my progress so far.
The green one is one that I made ages ago and forgot to write down what I did. The purple is from a pattern my Mum gave me and is far too small. The brown is one I'm working on at the moment and if this turns out fine I will post the pattern, they are really simple.

Knitting at last!

After an eventful few months I am starting to get back on track with my knitting and I'm even aiming to get a new How to Knit for Blythe PDF done for downloading on here. It should be updated in time for Blythecon 2011. Well, I can dream anyway! I'm also working on a basic shrug pattern to pop on here as well, it will involve ribbing though so be prepared.
I am also going on a culling session of my girls as I have TOO many. I haven't sold a girl in ages so it will be a bit weird seeing them go. Oh well, fewer girls to knit for I suppose.