Inverness Diamonds

So in other news over Christmas I finished filling out the whole second book of swatches and we are on the home stretch in terms of boring old knit and purl patterns we have less than 10 left! :O Next up will be slipped stitches but we'll get there when we get there. I've watched a lot of new TV over the past two weeks too, I've been getting racked off at the shows that obviously got cut before they properly ended. I was watching something called plebs, now I don't know if it was cut or if they're still producing new seasons still but I hate having a show where you only get three seasons which is just enough to get into it, and then it's over. I've also been watching something called "breaking the magicians code" it's so beautifully/painfully 90's, but it's weirdly compelling to see how even the really obvious magic tricks are done, and the masked magicians mask is pretty spooky.

Oooooh spooky

Today's pattern is the Inverness diamond, named for the beautiful fishermen's jumpers made there, this pattern often was included in panels. The tradition of fishermen's sweaters is a long one and honestly I think at some point every knitter should attempt one, they firstly introduce you to cables, which I personally think most knitters who haven't done them are unnecessarily afraid of, but this pattern is a nice "cheat" given it resembles cables strongly but it's really just a trick done with just knit and purl stitches, the effect of welts makes it appear embossed but really it's flush to the fabric.

Given this pattern is a panel so I did it without without repeats unlike previous stitch patterns, you can do repeats if you like however.
Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 21st x 48st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
Row 1 - K1,P3,K9,P3,K1
Row 2 - P2,K3,P7,K3,P2
Row 3 - K3,P3,K5,P3,K3
Row 4 - P4,K3,P3,K3,P4
Row 5 - K5,P3,K1,P3,K5
Row 6 - P6,K5,P6
Row 7 - K7,P3,K7
Row 8 - Row 6
Row 9 - Row 5
Row 10 - Row 4
Row 11 - Row 3
Row 12 - Row 2

Right anpther one finished I think I'll go make myself a cuppa and then get back at it, I might also take a knitting break too so we'll see if I write any more because I'm running out of rubbish to say at the start of the post and that's the most fun part to write! good luck and Happy Knitting!

English Diamond Block Pattern

So I've been busy. And by busy I mean insane exam period happened and I temporarily became fully nocturnal thanks to two back to back exams. Seriously wtf is the organiser doing? Every semester my exams have been well spaced and not stressful at all but oh it's the third years fuck those guys it's not like these exams are LITERALLY the most important, and stressful exams of their degree! Despite the HORRIBLE organisation (and one of the exams being a total awful curve-ball) It's gone OK. Well enough that I'm still on track (OK mum! Don't freak out!)

And I also ended up totally wasting the two weeks I had off (because my exams were so smashed together I got an extra free week I guess) on Final Fantasy XV, great game, the combat system is brilliant... or at least it is when there isn't a tree or hedge screwing with the camera! And for once the story wasn't pants-on head ridiculous, it does have a very weak middle act given one of the characters is criminally under developed, but I would honestly say there hasn't really been as brilliant a villain since Kefka in final fantasy VI, without spoilers - the villains motivations are pure brilliance.

Tobus has been busy driving me insane, over Christmas she escaped once and chewed a massive hole in her bin cage lid this wouldn't be so bad here because I don't own a cat unlike my parents. Since she's gotten back to aber she's chewed all the runners off  her wheel (that I made for her), figured out how to climb on the wheel to climb on the lid so the second box has to be permanently shut, but of course once she figured out how to get on the lid she immediately ran around the room she's in. I though this wouldn't be a big deal because she's not in our bedroom anymore we keep her in the empty room in the house, (it isn't being rented out right now) so the only stuff in there is a wardrobe and a desk. Now I blocked the bottom of the wardrobe up with books because it's a small enough gap for a hamster but not small enough for an arm so I didn't want her getting under there because I wouldn't be able to get her out. Obviously the first thing she did when she got out? She chewed up the corner of a book to get under the wardrobe -_- RIP rogues anthology. Luckily she's easily lured with food and no harm was done, but now if I let her free roam all she wants is to get under the wardrobe so I'm considering breaking up the old damaged bed frame for the wood slats.

Anyway on with today's stitch English Diamond Block pattern, whew that's a mouthful. Another one Barbra doesn't really say much about we can at least learn from the name it's from England but that's really the extent of the knowledge I can find which is pretty unsurprising given how generic it is, it's just another variation on purl welts really and a pretty meh appearance one at that.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 33st x 40st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 14st + 5
Row 1 - P5*K4,P1,K4,P5*
Row 2 - K5*P3,K3,P3,K5*
Row 3 - K7*P5,K9* end last repeat K7
Row 4 - P6*K7,P7* end last repeat P6
Row 5 - K5*P9,K5*
Row 6 - Row 4
Row 7 - Row 3
Row 8 - Row 2

And that's all for this post I'll be posting this in the future *oooh spook past blogging* but I'll be continuing to write several posts and queue them up for the next few days so hopefully this will make up for the several month hiatus I've had. (seriously third year university is HARD work I have 2 less modules this term so hopefully I can write more) Good luck and Happy Knitting! :)

King Charles Brocade

You know what I just realized. I haven't told you all about my hamster! This is outrageous since I've had her since my birthday, and I practically won't shut up about her to everyone else. So everyone meet Tobus:

Awe isn't she cute when she's not keeping me up at 3am 😾😾😾

She's being a bit of a devil right now by making a ton of noise when I'm tired. The combination of her LOUD drinking (seriously just lick the ball stop chewing the metal 😡😡😡) and assignment stress is keeping me up so I've decided to write part of a post to chill me out. So let's talk about hamsters! 🐹 Most owners say every hamster has a personality, if that's the case than little Tobus is a schizophrenic. One day she will be happy to climb all up my arm and sit on my head and just chill out; other days she won't let anyone near her. Sometimes she'll try and get out constantly (those are the days I let her free roam in the empty bedroom) other times she'll sit in her tube for hours just hanging out.

She's pretty much the ideal pet though, she took a while to tame because she gets antsy occasionally and likes to test things via nibble, but she's probably the only hamster in the world who actually uses the hut provided with the cage as a bed. I'm a bit worried about taking her home on the train but knowing her she'll probably just sleep through it!

Enough about the floof though you came here for knitting patterns! The king's Charles Brocade is a stitch for for royalty. Literally. If you aren't British you might not know about old Charlie 1 so I'll explain. Charles the first is probably the worst monarch in our history, now a lot of people will disagree with that and point to John or Henry VIII, (who in my opinion gets a bad rap as king) but neither of them managed to cock it up so royally (pardon the pun) as to actually end it. (albeit temporarily) The English civil war was between a bunch of guys in silly hats Vs a bunch of guys in silly helmets.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the guys with helmets won. Now the leader of the helmet dudes (Roundheads) was a bloke called Oliver Cromwell. He was a miserable bum, he literally banned Christmas (because puritans are boring) but in order to fully establish the monarchy was over he tried the king and cut his head off (he assumedly would have gone whole french Revolution on the royals but Charles son, confusingly also called Charles, fled the country) now how does this relate to knitting you ask? Well Charles I wore a vest in the tower of London, where he stayed during his trial, and that vest was knitted in this very nice brocade. That vest is kept in the museum that is in the tower. I don't think he was wearing it when he got his head got chopped off though.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 37st x 54st - Longtail CON - Chain COFF

Pattern for working flat
CON multiple of 12st + 1
Row 1 - K1*P1,K9,P1,K1*
Row 2 - K1*P1,K1,P7,K1,,P1,K1*
Row 3 - K1*P1,P1,K5,(P1,K1)x2*
Row 4 - P1*(P1,K1)x2,P3,K1,P1,K1,P2*
Row 5 - K1*K2,(P1,K1)x3, P1,K3*
Row 6 - P1*P3,(K1,P1)x2,K1,P4*
Row 7 - K1*K4,P1,K1,P1,K5*
Row 8 - Row 6
Row 9 - Row 5
Row 10 - Row 4
Row 11 - Row 3
Row 12 - Row 2

Sooo it took A LOT longer to post this than I expected.... I'm literally going to write the next blog post with an update about the even longer gap. :)

Diamond Brocade

Omg I'm back two days in a row! It's like I'm on top of things or something. Actually that's a lie I'm just using up some time at knitsoc (the knitting society at university) on with today's stitch or rather stitches because it's a two for one!

Diamond Brocade is a very old, very cool pattern. Super easy and very pretty (for once I agree with Barbra) it's also super easy to edit. Because of this there are literally hundreds of versions of this pattern, today we'll be looking at two, plain diamond Brocade and double diamond Brocade. Both lend themselves nicely to men's vests I find and could be very attractive in two colours.

Simple diamond Brocade

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 33st X 32st - longtail CON - chain COFF

Pattern for working flat

Con multiple of 8st + 1

Row 1 - K4*P1,K7* end P1,K4

Row 2 - P3*K1,P1,K1,P5* end P3

Row 3 - K2*P1,K3* end K2

Row 4 - P1*K1,P5,K1,P1*

Row 5 - *P1,K7* end P1

Row 6 - Row 4

Row 7 - Row 3

Row 8 - Row 2

Double diamond brocade

Swatch is as follows

4ply - 2.5 mm needles - 36st x 48st - longtail CON - chain COFF

Pattern for working flat

Con multiple of 12st
Row 1 - K5*P2,K10* end P2,K5
Row 2 - and all even rows, knit all knit at purl all purl st
Row 3 - K3*P2,K2,P2,K6* end K3
Row 5 - K1*P2,K6,P2,K2* end K1
Row 7 - P1*K10,P2* end K10,P1
Row 9 - Row 5
Row 11 - Row 3
Row 12 - last week row of pattern see row 2

Whew, well next post is another brocade and it's honestly one of my favourite stitch patterns from the knit purl section of the book, as it's both interesting historically and very pretty. Anyway I have to get on knitting a jumper sleeve see you soon.

Dutch pyramids

Look! It's me! I know, I know, I haven't posted in, like, a month but I have been stupidly busy. I've got 4 bleeding assignments this week (I've already done one so shush mum) so I'm taking a break from the crazy end of term stress to write a post. Also I've managed to figure out how to rotate the pictures on my phone without using Instagram that tends to crash when rotating pictures. (now that's some poor optimization) and no I haven't gotten my laptop repaired but there is literally NO ONE  I can call in Aber about it, ( seriously this is a student town how?!) who will actually pick up during business hours 😠😠😠

Anyway aggravating life at university aside I've been busy Knitting too! I took a small break from the swatches to knit a Christmas jumper, it's fairisle style with reindeer and snowflakes so that's been my project the last 3 weeks I'm on the sleeves at last so hopefully it will be done by next week.

Today's Swatch (or rather November's Swatch) is Dutch pyramids, bow sadly I don't have my kindle right now so I have no clue what Barbra thinks of this one and I cant remember given I knitted this up about 3-4 months ago now (time flies 😨) it's an interesting kind of pattern I suspect that one round of it would make a pleasing border on the bottom of skirts, dresses and jumpers.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5 mm needles - 37st x 36st - German twist CON - chain COFF

CON multiple of 15st+7
Row 1 - *P1, K5tbl, P1, K8* end P1, K5tbl, P1
Row 2 - *K1, P5tbl, K1, P8* end K1, P5tbl, K1
Row 3 - *P1, K5tbl, P9* end P1, K5tbl, P1
Row 4 - *K1, P5tbl, K9* end K1, P5tbl, K1
Row 5 - *P2,K3tbl,P3,K6, P1* end P2,K3tbl, P2
Row 6 - *K2,P3tbl,K3,P6,K1* end K2,P3tbl,K2
Row 7 - *P2,K3tbl,P10* end P2,K3tbl,P2
Row 8 - *K2,P3tbl,K10* end K2,P3tbl,K2
Row 9 - *P3,K1tbl,P5,K4,P2* end P3,K1tbl,P3
Row 10 - *K3,P1tbl,K5,P4,K2* end K3,P1tbl,K3
Row 11 - *P3, K1tbl, P11* end P3, K1tbl, P3
Row 12 - *K3, P1tbl, K11* end K3,P1tbl, K3


Phew that was a pain to write out. Hopefully I will find the time to post again soon, now I have to listen to the lecturer with the most Christmassy name (I would say but I don't exactly have permission, let's just say his first name is that of a reindeer with a sore nose) drone on about crystal structures in magnetic fields. (the thrills! #not)

Pyramid pattern and other news

Ok I know it's been a while but I still haven't gotten my laptop repaired to be fair the guy is literally never in his store or picks up his phone as far as I can tell. But I have realised that some of the pictures I thought were only on my laptop are also on my phone so I'm posting from here despite hating the blogger interface for mobiles (seriously the pictures are just impossible to format) Also I'm not entirely sure I can even rotate the pictures right now so the next few posts the swatch image may be the wrong way around. So on with the pattern.

(Look! I fixed it!)

Sadly I think you've all been waiting for a kinda meh pattern sadly but there are some nice ones coming up. It would make a decent border at least. The pyramid pattern is originally from Italy but it's common to other European countries.

Pattern for working flat:
Con multiple of 8st + 1
Rows 1&3 - *P1,K1* end P1
Rows 2&4 - *K1,P1* end K1
Rows 5&7 - *P2,(K1,P1)x3* end P1
Rows 6&8 - *K2,(P1,K1)x3* end K1
Rows 9&11 - *P3,K1,P1,K1,P2* end P1
Rows 10&12 - *K3,P1,K1,P1,K2* end K1
Rows 13&15 - *P4,K1,P3* end P1
Rows 14&16 - *K4,P1,K3* end K1

Well that's it I will try and post again this weekend, hopefully the formatting on this isn't too terrible and I'm off now as writing on my phone is super annoying.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!

Sorry about the lack of posts but my laptop is busted. And by busted I mean it wont turn on because the power port is damaged and I need to send it off for repair (which I need to stop putting off) and because all the pictures of the swatches are on said laptop it will likely be a while until I can post (somewhere in the one to two week range I'm guessing or it could be sooner or longer really this information is useless) so bear with, and I'll be back posting asap.

Lozenge Pattern

            Well I'm back from my holidays! And I'm just about settled back at uni, I still need to unpack properly and sort a few things out but things have finally quieted down again. Although I may be very busy in the next few weeks depending on how lectures go and how fast I can finish Persona 5 (Yes I'm back at it again) That along with CSD 2 finally being released likely means my knitting progress will slow down somewhat. This shouldn't be a problem for all of you as I'm pretty far ahead (touch wood) It's always the way for me summer is my knitting season and autumn is usually so busy I grind to a halt but hopefully knitsoc will keep me somewhat on track. Its just a short post today as it is late and I want to go to sleep.

Lozenge pattern so called likely because of the appearance of broken rhobuses within the pattern also known as a lozenge pattern. What's weird to me is we call cough sweets after a synonym for rhombus, and no, I couldnt find out why. I'd hazard a guess that maybe some early brand were lozenge shaped and the name just caught on. But that is just a shot in the dark. The pattern is quite old, likely as it is so simple its pretty easy to just make up, and is traditionally from Italy. Weirdly looking at this pattern kineda makes my eyes go funny, like it's an optical illusion. Maybe that's just me. It's a nice enough overall texture but I wouldnt use it for anything requiring close inspection as it might give you a headache!

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 40st - Longtail CON - Surprisingly Stretchy COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 5st

Row 1 - *P1,K4*

Rows 2 & 3 - *P3,K2*

Row 4 - *P1,K4*

Row 5 - *K4,P1*

Rows 6 & 7 - *K2,P3*

Row 8 - *K4,P1*

            Well that's all for today, I'll try and post as often as I can during this insanely crazy period. Normally I'm super busy until around november at this point, I often can't even find the time to game ;_; depending on how much work I'm set, hopefully I'll have a day in the week where I only have one lecture or maybe even none and then I'll use that time as catch up.
I am complaining a lot about this time of year but honestly, I do love autumn because:
1) The best food is autumn food
2) It has the best weather
3) It's the prettiest season and
4) It's my birthday soon!

So Hopefully I'll have enough time to enjoy the season. Good luck and happy knitting

Triangular and Pennant Stitch

my life rn

            Oh no It's been a whole week! In my defense I will say I hacent been fleeling great, I won't
super go into it because 1) It's gross 2) It's a periodic thing so if I say I'm not feeling well you ccan all assume I'm suffering because sometimes my organs like to not work properly. I'm getting a bit impatient at the minute because Cook Serve Delicious 2 is coming out in around 3 hours and I've had to wait an ectra 3 weeks and ITS KILLING ME, also student finance has decided to be stupid and take their website down at basically the worst possible time (seriously it's a week before uni starts and the site is down for maintinance bloody idiots shouldve waited until at least mid-term) so I cant preint out my declaration form and it's stressing me out tbh. AND my holiday to majorca is on saturday so I am getting excited for that especially now it's getting bleeding cold in the day. Oh and there was a powercut today. That was fun. And I really need to pack. There's a lot of stress right now.

            Anyway as a sorry for not posting for a week I'm doing two stitches today, although to be fair they are very similar and would probably have been two shorter posts otherwise. Anyway Triangular and Pennant stitch both have a tendancy to form a pleated look if left unblocked. Pennant tends to do this more than triangular stitch, or rather it makes more defined looking lines vertically in fact the effect is so strong it's sometimes called pennant pleating. Triangular stitch is often also called mock kilting which strongly suggests it's orgininal development being in Scotland or Ireland. Blocking tends to lose the plating so I would suggest doing a swatch of these before using it, as it tends to draw in a little, particularly towards the ends, because of the pleating. Because blocking ruins it they can be hard to predict.

Triangular stitch

Swatch is as follows - 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 35st x 42st - Longtail CON -Stretchy COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 7st
Row 1 - *P6,K1*
Row 2 - *P2,K5*
Row 3 - *P4,K3*
Row 4 - *P4,K3*
Row 5 - *P2,K5*
Row 6 - *P6,K1*

In theory you could broaden this stitch by editing the pattern only slightly, a nice pattern for a skirt.

Pennant Stitch
(blurgh it's slightly blurry I should really re-take this.
I may need an update)

Swatch is as follows - 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 36st - Longtail CON - Stretchy COFF

Pattern for working flat:
CON multiple of 6st
Row 1 - *K1,P5*
Row 2 - *K4,P2*
Row 3 - *K3,P3*
Row 4 - *K2,P4*
Row 5 - *K5,P1*
Row 6 - *K2,P4*
Row 7 - *K3,P3*
Row 8 - *K4,P2*

Both of these patterns have common repeats, so they are quick to pick up. And because the pattern chages slightly every row it's not a chore to knit. Again this would make a nice skirt.



Right that's it for today I'm off to impatiently wait for Cook Serve Delicious 2. At least I can impatiently wait with other people on the Dev's Dischord. This is where it doesn't get released until late into the night and I'm waiting up till 3am only to download it and be too tired to play. I swear half the games I wait for I can never end up playing as soon as I would like. See Persona 5. Anyway have fun with the two patterns, we're heading onto some very nice, very old ,overall patterns soon (yay brocades) so nothing complicated in our future for now. Happy Knitting!

A real pleated kilt

Garter Stitch Zig-Zag

This magazine has the pattern in
im sure you can reverse image search this

            Well today I'm going to talk about some knitting other than our swatches! I've taken a small break (very small about 2 days) to knit something else. My mum bought me some wool this summer that I didn't really know what to do with because I mostly knit with 4ply and it's sort-of scratchy (it's not very scratchy but I'm a big baby and cannot stand anything even slightly tickly) so I couldn't knit anything for me with it. I am a notoriously selfish knitter, I don't think I've ever given a knitted object to anyone other than my bf, where honestly it's just an excuse to knit something for me because I pretty much never make clothes other than scarves and I like making home items and we live together. So today was a large tradition break for me, I made clothes other than scarves, I used some scratchy wool and it wasn't for me. For the record the yarn does look very nice but seriously itchy things blegh. Anyway I got the pattern from that magazine I mentioned last post, so sadly I can't give you the pattern for it because I don't want to be sued, but I will say it's pretty much just armwarmers with a thumb gusset and leaf panel. anyway here's a picture of my mum wearing them. If you want to know the magazine it's literally just called knitting, you'll know that you've got the right one because the front page has a ginger woman wearing a brown leaf dress.

That's my mum.

Anyway a quickie today because it's a pretty simple pattern I can't really say alot about and I've already been waffling on abit. garter zig-zags on stockinette background it tends to lay flat. It has a weirdly 3 dimensional look to it up close, but from a distance the pattern isn't very distinct from far away so you could probably make a weird optical illusion if you made a whole item out of this stitch.

Swatch is as follows: 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 48st - Longchain CON - Surprisingly Stretchy COFF

Pattern for working flat:

Row 1 - And all odd rows *Purl all st*

Row 2 - *K3,P3*

Row 4 - P1*K3,P3* end P2

Row 6 - P2*K3,P3* end P1

Row 8 - *P3,K3*

Row 10 - P2*K3,P3* end P1

Row 12 - P1*K3,P3* end P2

Well that's the pattern today, I would link to the magazine subscription but the link is super long and it's easy enough to find by reverse image searching the top image. I might do some more patterns in the magazine or even some free online patterns that I can directly reference but for now on with the swatches and Happy Knitting!