knitting renovations and updates

Whew…it’s been a busy couple of months…flat out with both home and web site renovations, not to mention designs for this new northern hemisphere winter season.

We hope you enjoy our new site layout and find it even more user friendly than previously.

Your comments of course are welcome, either through this blog or as usual via the contact form on the website.

Beginner knitters will find quite a few changes. We’re now including free downloadable pdf versions of our knitting help pages – saves time trying to read and remember the instructions – now they can simply be downloaded to your desktop and read (or printed off) to read while your knitting is handy. (keep an eye out for even more pdfs in the coming weeks)

We’re also including more beginner patterns and we’re including additional links within each of the patterns taking knitters directly to the relevant pages and how-to pdfs.

Knitters with more experience will enjoy the new patterns we’re loading, and will continue to load throughout the 2008-2009 winter season.

The latest 3 hat patterns we’ve added are:-

A “beginner” hat pattern with a little added color you can see it here (a new window will open)

A hat with lots of color but only one colour per row, no stranded knitting or fair isle, in this pattern, this hat falls into the “easy” category here (again a new window)

The 3rd hat includes lovely fair isle detail, 2colours per row, knitted using straight needles with a back seam. This one would suit intermediate knitters. See more about this pattern (once more a new window).

We hope you enjoy these patterns and find something to interest and inspire you..in the meantime ….happy knitting……….

Handbag patterns

More handbag patterns for you. We’ve loaded two more handbag patterns for you to enjoy.

One pattern suits knitters who prefer to knit with 2 needles only and are happy to sew side seams.

The other pattern is for circular needle (or dpn) lovers.

Both knitted bags can be used lined or unlined – we’ve included full lining instructions within each of these knitting projects.
We hope you enjoy these handbag patterns as much as we enjoyed designing and knitting them ourselves.

enjoy……

Felted Knitting Needle Case – free pattern

I saw this felted knitting needle case pattern and thought it really cute….it’s on my to-do list…let me know what you think…

Felted Knitting Needle Case 

bye for now….

Knitting for stroke victims

Knitting for stroke victims wasn’t something I’d actually thought about to be honest. But I received a question on my houghtonavenue.com website regarding gadgets enabling knitters with only one functioning arm to continue knitting.

Obviously the first product that sprang to my mind was the traditional “fair isle” knitting belt. Still available I’m happy to say through a Shetland company in the British Isles

knitting belt

A little more research and I discovered a clamp – this can be used for one handed crocheting or clamping one knitting needle securely whilst knitting with the “good” hand. Here’s the link for the knitting clamp – USA.
clamp it

Both are excellent products for handicapped knitters. If you know someone in that category who could use either of these products – please pass the info on. Unfortunately the lady who asked the question on my website made a typo in her email address and my response bounced back…….but you never know – if the knitting Gods are smiling she may read this blog and get the information anyway…….in the meantime…..happy knitting everyone……

Knittingdaily newsletter

Do you receive the knittingdaily newsletter? If not you’re missing one of the most delightful newsletters on the internet. Their funny and honest writing style makes it a much awaited, and welcome, addition to our mail box.

Admittedly knittingdaily occasionally slip in a free pattern requiring obscure or obsolete yarns – making the pattern useless to most knitters.

BUT more frequently their patterns are useful and sometimes challenging, the most recent offering to members of their newsletter being a fair isle (stranded) pair of mittens – gorgeous.

As you’re aware we design, and sell, mostly our own patterns – but these mittens are certainly on my “must make” list – probably in muted pinks and purples for my niece’s birthday.

If you haven’t signed up to receive the knitting daily newsletter – go ahead – it’s free – and you won’t regret it.

Enjoy……

What have you knitters been up to while I’ve been away?

So what have you all been doing in the past 2 weeks?  How many projects finished, how many UFO recycled as landfill or fed to the worm farm? 

Hard to believe how quickly the last two weeks have flown by – I’ve been updating the website, re-vamping the patterns to give more substitution choices and include the international symbols.  We still aren’t seeing it on Australian yarn balls/skeins and mostly judge our yarn by plys. 

I did manage to finish a lovely cotton bag and a have almost finished a scarf an beanie set in a boucle type yarn – will be a little while before those patterns are ready to publish – need to locate several yarn substitutes.  My sister finished a really nice hat and mittens set – bet she has her pattern finished before mine….she’s so good at the back room stuff….I’m lucky she’s the other half of the team..

Well that’s all for today, simply wanted to keep in touch, let you know what we’ve been upto….

enjoy………. 

lionbrand magic stripe sock yarn pattern

Lionbrand magic stripe sock yarn does make great looking durable socks – unfortunately we found the free socks pattern included with the ball made very wide baggy socks.

Yes – we double checked the needle size and the tension/gauge – both correct.

Can only imagine the pattern was written to fit both men and women – hence the extra width.

We like our socks fitted – so my sister, bless her, wrote a pattern for the Lion Brand sock yarn with a slimmer fit to suit the average lady’s foot size.

You can see by the above photo how trim they are. She also included intructions where to shorten or lengthen the sock in both the foot and leg areas.

And just for fun made this cute little rolled brim pull-on hat to match the socks, its nice and stretchy so fits quite a variety or head widths (and hair volumes).

If you’d like to try either of the above patterns yourself here are the page links.

sock knitting patterns web page. (opens in a new window, close window to return here)

patterns for knitted purses web page. (opens in a new window, close window to return here)

Lion brand can be purchased online in USA. Some Spotlight stores in Australia stock this yarn. Lincraft stores also stock a stripe sock yarn – worth taking a look at – but check your tension carefully.

enjoy……

Balaclava and ski helmet patterns to knit.

These balaclava and ski helmet patterns are quick and easy to knit using 2 needles .

Both knitted helmets can be worked in either wool for extra warmth or acrylic for comfort if you’re allergic to wool.

You can lengthen or shorten the neck section to obtain the perfect fit.

Knitted in one colour only, omitting the stripes, the man’s knitted balaclava helmet is smart enough to wear with a business suit on frosty mornings.

Or pick his favorite team colours.

The lady’s ski helmet pattern has a roomier top sections to allow for extra hair and can also be knitted with or without the stripes.

For a different look you could keep the pattern’s recommended needle size but swap the yarn suggested for Patons Zhivago yarn and you’d have a thicker and extremely soft helmet.

You won’t have any trouble finding the yarn or wool for either of these patterns on or off-line and could well have the yarn already in your stash.

If you’d like to try either of these patterns you can find them at houghtonavenue.com hat knitting patterns web page. (opens in a new window, close window to return here)

bye for now and as usual, enjoy……

Evening purse pattern for the new year.

Looking for a cute knitted felted evening purse pattern? Here’s one that’s fast and easy. It’s the first pattern we’re loading for this new year, we hope you all enjoyed your holidays and found wool and needles in your Christmas stocking……
Back to the pattern – we’ve used standard felting wool 8 ply/dk/light worstead weight making it easy to find suitable yarn where ever you live.

As usual with our patterns we’ve included metric and imperial measurements to suit Australian and international knitters.

You’ll find the pattern here felted bag patterns web page. (opens in a new window, close window to return here)

bye for now and as usual, enjoy…..

Cable knit scarf pattern

We hope you enjoy our cable knit scarf pattern – knit it short with a keyhole as you can see from the photograph below, or omit the keyhole, double the length and you have a nice long wrap around version.

We’ve used a standard 8 ply/DK/sportsweight yarn – readily available world wide.

We’ve included both metric and imperial measurements and gauges to make it easy for international knitters.

We hope you enjoy this pattern, you can download your copy for personal use only from our
knitted scarf patterns web page. (opens in a new

window, close window to return here)

bye for now and as usual, enjoy……and see you with more patterns in 2008…

Knitting visitors for pattern downloads

Knitting visitors for pattern downloads and other viewers – let me take this opportunity to wish you all a happy Holy Christmas.

Thank you for joining our blog this past year, we hope you’ve enjoyed the patterns and will visit us again during 2008. We’ll have more beanies, hats, scarves, gloves (with and without fingers,)  bags and purses – and a few other surprise patterns as we continue to expand our downloadable knitting and felting pattern range.

Again we hope you have a wonderful Christmas and are fortunate enough to share it with people who love you…..

Have fun and see you in the new year (if not before)…….

Knitting – sort your yarn stash.

If you’re knitting yarn stash is anything like mine it rapidly expands and takes over. I’ve made several “sorting” attempts. I tried attaching a 10cm (4ins) piece of yarn to an index card and filing these in their different categories i.e. wool, cotton, acrylic etc. Took days and the cards are quite usesful when I’m shopping to match colour or fitting for bags and purses – but not really the perfect solution.

My next sorting attempt was into boxes : felting wools, wool, cotton, acrylic, blends etc. That process was quite useful. I then sorted further into colour sub categories. Even more useful. But I still needed to pull boxes out when I planned a new design to see exactly what I owned that could be incorporated.

Luckily I discovered Needletrax – love it. I’ve spent my spare time the past couple of weeks loading all (well almost all) my yarn into the program, together with photos, particularly useful for the novelty type yarns. Loaded a few of my projects. I haven’t yet tackled my boxes and bags of fleece, alpacas (my favourite ) mohair and wool, or my spun skeins. These will have to wait as I need to get back to designing and testing patterns.

I now know why I didn’t seem to have a clear picture in my mind of the different yarns I have in various cupboards and other hiding places, latest count according to Needletrax was 459 ball/skeins – I would have guessed 100 or so…wow….

Anyway the point of this post – if you’re also finding it difficult to know what you have and where (yes there’s a little spot in the data base you can say where that particular yarn is stored/hidden…) take a look at NeedleTrax to see if it fits the bill. It’s geared to US knitters but is easily modified for Australian and I presume UK knitters. I emailed a query regarding importing a photo in the smaller jpg format and received a very prompt reply – excellent after sales response.

I ordered my copy from knittingzone.com and can recommend them (I’m not an affiliate – simply a satisfied customer).

All the best and as usual ….have fun…..

Knitting – acrylic scarf pattern to download

This acrylic scarf pattern has been loaded to our site in response to knitters with family members allergic to woolen scarves.

The colours shown here would probably be most appealing to a man. If you’re knitting for a female try purples and pinks, or some of the lovely pastel acrylics around at the moment.

For a little girl shorten the length of the main section and replace the white section with one of the eyelash yarns..and add a fringe …they’ll love it.

Knitted in a twisted rib you’ll find the scarf lays flat, won’t curl at the edges, and your colour changes won’t be obvious.

This is also a great ” stash busting ” scarf, use up those left over bits and pieces for the stripes.

I’ve included both metric and imperial measurements and gauges within the scarf pattern to suit Australian and international knitters.

I hope you enjoy this acrylic scarf,  you’ll find it at knitted scarf patterns web page at houghtonavenue.com (opens in a new window, close window to return here)

bye for now and as usual, enjoy……

Gloves knitting pattern – for a special man

Looking for a gloves knitting pattern for that special man in your life?  Here’s a beauty.

I included a photo a short while ago on this blog of a beautifully soft pair of black alpaca blend mens gloves.  You can now find the pdf pattern,  ( great Christmas present for someone in a cold climate).  The pattern is in a man’s (or lady with large hands) size.

You’ll find the pattern in the new gloves section of houghtonavenue.com

Knitting patterns for socks

Hi everyone,

My apologies if you’ve been trying to access the new free socks patterns section on houghtonavenue.com during the past 24 hours. 

Gremlins in the works, but all appears well now.  

I’ve loaded free patterns for personal use in pdf download formats for the new knitting sock section, you’ll also find new knitted purse patterns and knit-to-felt bag patterns.  As usual I’ve suggested yarns available in both Australia and internationally.

Here’s the link  to the sock knitting patterns page or choose your interest from the left hand navigation bar.

As always enjoy and contact me through the contact form if you have any problems. In the meantime…enjoy…..