11 in 11

I've seen a few variations on this Ravelry with people pledging to knit 11 shawls or sweaters or pairs of socks in 2011. While I would love to knit myself 11 sweaters by the end of the year I know that this just wouldn't happen. It would be at least 2 full time jobs worth of knitting time and I'd need 2 full time jobs to fund that quantity of yarn! I'm also continuing last years pledge of using up my stash and there isn't really enough of any one yarn to knit me a sweater.

The Aim

:: Knit 11 items in 2011

The Rules

:: The yarn has to come from the stash
:: The pattern has to be one I've wanted to knit for a while
:: I have to finish before midnight December 31st 2011

I have put a group of patterns into my queue on Ravelry that are contenders. They are a mixture of lace, cables, baby sweaters, shawls and so on all of which could be made from the stash. There are more than 11 items on the list so that I can choose what I fancy as the year goes on and I see how much work/free time that I have.



One down, ten to go!

Baby Surprise Jacket

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket from Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in 907 (deepest olive) and 900 (antique)
Needles: 4mm bamboo circular
Cast on: January 2011
Cast off: January 2011



This is another of the kids kits that I put together last year and the first of my 11 in 11. I went away for a couple of days over New Year and grabbed this to keep me going on the train and in front of the telly. The pattern has been in my queue for a really long time. In fact I bought the book in July 2007 after seeing this version by Brooklyn Tweed.



The yarn had also been in the stash for a long time, since 2005 I think. I had planned to make a Handsome Hound but never quite got around to it. Since I sold the Lucinda Guy book that the pattern is in two years ago it is unlikely to get made now!



As I had a limited amount of yarn available; 2 balls of antique and 1 of deepest olive; I decided to make the jacket striped. 4 rows of white then 2 of green. I had intended to knit this without any alterations as it is the first time I have knit this pattern. However, I did end up making 2 small adaptations. Firstly when told to knit 10 bumps (2 rows of garter stitch = 1 bump) across the center section I only did 9. This was to keep the stripes correct. The other alteration was to pick up stitches around the neck, knit a row and then cast off. This was to neaten the neck up and to make it match the front edges. The buttons again came from Franklins in Salisbury.



Having knit this pattern once I can understand why people return to it time and again. I have a feeling that this will not be the last BSJ that turns up here!

Green and White Cardigan

Pattern: V-neck Cardigan with Contrast Ribs by Debbie Bliss from Baby Knits for Beginners
Needles: 4mm bamboo
Yarn: Sidar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK
Cast on: May 2010
Cast off: December 2010



This was another of the baby kits that I put together last spring. Having finished it just before Christmas it sat in my knitting basket for only a few weeks before being sent to some friends for their new arrival. I adapted this pattern in the same way as Pink, Pink, Pink to be knit with as little seaming as possible. I did however, cast off and seam the shoulder stitches as casting off front and back shoulders together on Pink, Pink, Pink didn't look very neat. As I had plenty of yarn this time I picked up stitches around the armhole and knit each sleeve separately. The cream rib yarn came from the stash and the buttons were from Franklins in Salisbury and picked to help tie the two colours together

Striped Socks

Yarn: Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett, Exotic Pool #4453
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPN's
Pattern: Simple Sock Pattern by Sue Morgan
Cast on: September 2010
Cast off: November 2010



I started these socks for me. However, when a friend asked where she was on the list for a pair of knitted socks and listed her favourite colours as blues, greens and purples they quickly got redirected. They are the usual pattern that I use for socks, with a K2 P2 rib as I wasn't concentrating when I cast on and forgot to do my usual K2 P1!

Pink, Pink, Pink

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Ribbon Tied Hoodie
Yarns: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran; Cashmerino Astrakhan 31016, 31015
Needles: 4.5mm circulars
Buttons: Painted wooden buttons from stash
Started: March 2010
Finished: November 2010

The dark pink yarn was left over from several previous versions of this top which I supplemented with a couple of balls of light pink from the stash. This sweater would need to be stripey, as there wasn't enough of each yarn to knit the whole project in. When I weighed the yarn there was roughly twice as much light pink so I decided to knit wide stripes, 8 rows of light pink then 4 of dark pink.

Rather than knitting this in flat pieces and seaming them I decided to try and eliminate as many seams as possible. I knit the body in one piece, casting on all of the stitches required for the back and both front pieces. Once I reached the point that the armholes need to be I used the extra balls of yarns to knit the 3 sections. I then cast off the shoulder seams together leaving just the collar stitches live. These were then knit across and cast off in the purple that I'd cast on in.



The sleeves came next. Once again I weighed the remaining yarn and now I had more dark than light pink, so I decided to reverse the body stripes knitting 8 dark to 4 light pink. As it didn't look as though I would have enough yarn to knit full size sleeves I decided to pick up stitches around both armholes and knit the sleeves together from the top down until I ran out of yarn. I looked at the shaping of the original pattern to work out how many stitches to pick up and when to decrease. On the first attempt I picked up too few stitches and decreased too quickly giving me a very oddly shaped pair of sleeves. So I ripped them out and tried again, finishing these normal looking sleeves with 1 round of purple before casting off.



The next step was to create some button holes. I did this by crocheting up the left front leaving 6 chain loops for each button hole. The final step was to sew on buttons and weave in all the ends.

This was the first of the baby knit kits that I put together. The aim of the kits was to stash bust and end up with a supply of baby goodies to gift to friends. I pulled yarn and patterns together into baggies so that I could quickly pull a new project once one was finished. When a friend announced the arrival of a little bundle of joy all I needed to do were the final stages, button holes, buttons and weaving in ends. Luckily this cardigan has gone to a little girl despite her dad requesting pink whatever the sex!

Berry and Bark Socks

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select in Caribou Creek
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPN's
Pattern: Simple Sock Pattern by Sue Morgan
Cast on: April 2010
Finished: September 2010


These were made to my usual sock pattern. They have a K2 P1 rib and as they are for a friend I shortened the foot a couple of rows.


The yarn was nice to work with and I love the subdued colours of Caribou Creek.