I’m excited to share with you my latest creation: the Cold Nights Lap Rug. This cozy rug is perfect for snuggling up on the couch with a hot drink and a good book. It’s also a great way to create a unique piece of home decor.
Cold Nights Lap Rug
The Cold Nights Lap Rug is a simple and fun project that anyone can make. All you need are some basic knitting skills and a large circular needle. The rug is worked flat, using one strand of 4 ply merino yarn held together with one strand of 2 ply mohair yarn. I used the beautiful Along Avec Anna yarns which comes in 18 various nature inspired colours, with the Merino and the Mohair sharing the same colour choices. Buying from Sunspun yarns, I choose the colour Tomette, which I discovered is the name for teracotta floor tiles, and I do love this teracotta colour.
You can make the rug as big or as small as you want, by adding or subtracting rows or and stitches. It’s also a wonderful gift idea for your loved ones. Who wouldn’t appreciate a warm and cozy rug to curl up with on a cold night?
I don’t know about you, but I get tired of hearing how knitting is an expensive hobby, and it frustrates me almost to tears. Of course there’s a number of ways to look at this, so let’s get into it.
If you’re going to calculate it on cost per garment produced, yes it can be very expensive, depending on which yarn you buy.
The pattern costs around $14.00. That’s fine. I can use that pattern over and over again once I’ve paid the initial cost.
It uses 1050m – 1800m of yarn. I’m small, so let’s assume I use 1200m of yarn for mine. That would be 8 balls of Eco Baby yarn by Isager. I could get it for $17 per ball at a local online store. That would be $136 for the yarn. For the largest size, it would be $204. So let’s say it’s $150 – $200 for a pullover. That sounds expensive, but you’re getting a hand knitted pullover in pure Alpaca and Cotton that you’ll wear for years, and love. You certainly wouldn’t be able to buy a pullover of that quality for that price.
I could use a more economical alpaca/cotton yarn, say Lana Grossa Puno Due, which would work out to around $80 for a smaller size. Or I could use a much more economical yarn with a totally different fibre composition, assuming I can achieve a fabric that I’m happy with. I can buy a pullover at a charity shop, unravel it, and reuse the yarn.
Now, as I’m looking at this as a hobby, which happens to produce a gorgeous garment, there’s a totally different way to look at this, rather than cost per garment/item.
A hobby is an activity which you do on a regular basis, because you enjoy the activity. Your hobby might be writing, pottery, model building, or any of other multitudes of hobbies. They all require supplies, some more than others, and the more you love your hobby, the more you’ll be tempted to spend on it.
The thing I want to focus on here is that you spend time on your hobby on a regular basis. If knitting is your hobby, not your occupation, then most likely you’ll be doing it on the evenings in front of the TV, and if you’re lucky enough to have some spare time, on the weekends and holidays.
If drinking wine is your hobby, you might spend $12 a week if you have one bottle. Ha, ha!
If going to the movies is your hobby, you might spend $16 a week, per person.
If playing golf is your hobby you might spend $50 on green fees
If writing is your hobby, there are minimal costs.
If pottery is your hobby, you’ll be buying clay, glazes, tools, use of a wheel, use of a kiln.
Model making will cost you the price of the kits, plus any extra paint, glue, brushes you choose. This again can depend on how much time you spend and how many kits you’re getting through.
You get the picture.
As an evening and weekends knitter, I would be very lucky to get through a ball of yarn in a week. That varies greatly depending on the weight of the yarn and the size of the needles, and the meterage of the ball. Sure, you might spend $100 on yarn, but you won’t be using that all at once. It’s spread out over the time it takes to knit the item.
You can spend anywhere from $6 to $50 for a ball of yarn, and there’s nothing to make you buy the highest priced yarn. Knitting needles are available very cheaply from charity shops and from discount craft outlets.
Here is my Rainbow Hussar Pullover, made for under $50. I’ve used Lily Sugar’n Cream, which is about as economical as it gets, and I love the result. It’s a sturdy, comfortable pullover, which will soften with age.
Rainbow Hussar Pullover
Last year I spent $197 on yarn. If I’d had to buy my patterns, rather than designing them, I’d have paid $36 on patterns. That’s a total of $233 for the year; less than a dollar a day. And, as always happens, there’s unused yarn left at the end of these projects, which is free to use for other projects. I’m not saying that this is an average year, just what happened this particular year. I belong to my state’s knitters guild, at a cost of over $100 per year, which gives me a discount on yarn at certain outlets. If I include my guild membership, it’s still less than $1 per day!
You may have much more time available for knitting than I do, or you may prefer expensive yarn. Your costs will then be much higher. But costs don’t have to be high at all. You can be a savvy knitter, and gauging your costs as a per week amount you’ll see that it compares super well to many other hobbies or crafts. And as a bonus you end up with a useable or wearable item for yourself, or to gift to others. I call that a win-win!
Let me know, how do you keep your knitting costs to a reasonable level? Or do you allow yourself to splash out on something special now and then? I’d love to hear from you. Happy economical knitting!
My latest design has just been released on Ravelry. It’s the Rainbow Hussar Pullover, a very easy wearing cotton pullover, with a lovely vintage style fit. I was inspired to combine the stripes of a Hussars Jacket with the fit of a vintage style pullover. My memories of Adam and the Ants may have had something to do with it. 🙂
For those of you who need some help to get started with the intarsia stripes, the Spruce Crafts has a helpful page for learning intarsia knitting.
It will also be available on LoveCrafts soon. Made using the super easy care Lily Sugar’n Cream Solids & Denim and Lily Sugar’n Cream Ombres yarns, it’s so comfortable to wear over a t shirt, and gives the warmth you need when the day isn’t warm enough just yet. There is shaping from the waist to the bust, giving just the fit I look for in my pullovers. I’m jumping out of my skin to wear this one. It’s turned out just the way I envisaged it! Any Worsted/10 ply yarn, should work for this, remembering that it is designed for cotton.
Rainbow Hussar Pullover
Sizes available are 74 (84, 94, 104, 114, 124, 134, 144)cm 29 (33, 37, 41, 45, 48¾, 52¾, 56¾) in
6 (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) balls of the Main colour are required, with under a quarter of a ball needed for the stripes.
It’s been so cold and rainy for so long now, but the glow of the Happy Wanderer manages to penetrate through the gloom and make the cubby house look even better!
All in good time the sun comes out, and Kitty B keeps watch for us. 🌞
For the first time ever, I’ve had a blocked ear for over a week. Is this a symptom of advancing age and a cold dry winter? A doctor’s visit has me using ear drops for even longer than the bottle suggests and waiting to go back for another visit next week. I’m getting used to a constantly blocked ear, and that’s probably not a good thing. 😅
While I’m waiting on yarn for my next project, I’m using up some leftover De Rerum Natura Albertine to make a #3 Slouchy Hat, from the now sadly discontinued Knit Simple magazine, Winter 2018. One of the most incredible features of Ravelry, is the ability to search patterns within your own library, by amount and weight of yarn used. It’s absolutely fabulous for finding ways to use up specific amounts of specific yarns! You can do this in the Advance Pattern search area. Tick the “In my library” box, tick the relevant box in the Meterage/Yardage area, tick the box for the relevant yarn weight in the Weight area, and all the possible patterns that you already own, pop up for you to browse. How fantastic! If you want to be even more specific, you can filter for type of Fibre, category of pattern and lots of other things. How do you go about searching for patterns to use up leftover yarn?
My latest design, the Stars Through the Mist Scarf, has just been published on Ravelry and LoveCrafts. Knit 2 Below is the only stitch used in this scarf other than Knit. It’s very simple and easy to remember the pattern as you go. I’ve used the lovely De Rerum Natura Albertine, a gorgeous merino silk blend, in two complementary shades. It’s beautifully soft to knit with and to wear next to the skin and drapes so nicely!
In these shades the patterns reminds me of stars seen through mist. You can use complementary shades like I have, or go for a bigger contrast to make more of a splash, with more than 20 colours to choose from in this yarn.
This scarf is great for casual and dressy occasions.
Available in one size, the scarf measures 21cm (8 in) x 212cm (83 in).
440 yards of each colour is needed for this design.
You can’t beat the appeal of a classic cable in a classic vintage style, v neck vest. It just never goes out of style! Using the beautifully light and warm Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia Organic Merino it’s a match made in heaven. This lovely cable stitch even has tiny little cables within the larger ones, so there’s the chunky look of the larger cable, with more details to delight, on a closer viewing!
Churchill Island Vest
Churchill Island is an historic island, connected to Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia. The historic house and farm buildings still remain, along with animals including the gorgeous Highland Cows. I can imagine residents of the island wearing a vest like this to go about their daily tasks in years gone by.
The vest is easy to wear, easy to move in, warm and light.
A fitted, cable and twist stitch patterned, hip bone length vest with a V neck and some shaping from waist to bust, in Merino, using Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia Organic Merino which Sunspun Yarns currently stock in a lovely range of 29 colours. There’s bound to be a colour that takes your fancy in subdued earthy tones, or something to make more of a splash.
Size inclusive, this is available for sizes 29 inch to 57 inch bust.
It needs 2 (2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5) skeins of 382 yards each.
Softness has power. I’m excited that I’ve been able to release my latest pattern! It’s the lovely, lacy, Soft Power Vest. Feel powerful in your vintage style, timeless classic vest, like our can-do predecessors.
Soft Power Vest
You’ll be ready for action in this vest, that also has the softness of merino yarn, and lace patterning.
A fitted, lace patterned, hip bone length vest with a V neck and some shaping from waist to bust, in Superfine Merino, using Cleckheaton Australian Superfine Merino which comes in 24 beautiful colours.
It’s a great weight to provide some extra warmth over a shirt, and maybe under a jacket. The eye-catching lace pattern is great to look at and fun to knit.
Size inclusive, this is available for sizes 29 inch to 57 inch bust.
The next and most recent pattern is the Yarra Road Vest.
Yarra Road Vest
I have the absolute luck to be able to use the gorgeous Yarra Road to avoid school traffic on my way to work, not only avoiding horrible traffic jams, but also getting a calming, beautiful rural drive. Winter drives along this road have been the inspiration for the Yarra Road Vest.
A fitted, slip stitch rib, hip bone length vest with a V neck and some shaping from waist to bust, in a cotton blend, the beautifully soft Juniper Moon Farm Cumulus. Cabling completes the slip stitch pattern on every 6th row.
Size inclusive, this is available in 8 sizes from 29 inch to 57 inch bust.
Grey 3 (3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6) skeins
Pearl 1 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2) skeins
Blue 1 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2) skeins
This is my version of vintage style, with increasing happening from the waist to the bust.
Mine is grey clouds in amongst the white in a blue sky. Or go for something really bright!
The knitting pattern for my new lovely, timeless, vintage style Instil Joy Vest is now available!
This is designed in a cosy, all-over textured “bobble style” stitch. It has a classic boat neck, which never goes out of style. I’ve worked it in Rowan Hemp Tweed Yarn which comes in a lovely set of natural looking colours, including the gorgeous “Paprika”, which I’ve chosen. I have to admit that tweed yarn makes me swoon. The fitted style vest reaches around hip-bone length for that classic vintage look, and increases from the waist to the bust to keep a trim fit. The “bobbles” require very little effort, as they are simply a p3 together on the wrong side of the fabric.
Instil some Joy in your life, with the Instil Joy Vest!
I’ve completed writing up the pattern for my latest design! It’s the Instil Joy Vest.
It’s a boat neck vest in a bobble-like textured stitch, very easy as it’s only using double decreases to make the bumps. I’ve worked it in Rowan Hemp Tweed Yarn, but you can use any Aran / 10 ply yarn you wish. I swoon for Tweed Yarns! I’m looking for test knitters for this pattern. If you’re interested I’m running the test in my Ravelry Group which you can access from my Ravelry designer page. All the details are available there. If you’re not a Ravelry user, but are still interested let me know, and I can give you the details and another way to participate.
WakefulKnits 