Kiku knits - Adventures of a happy knitter!

A Hoy There!  The story behind the sweater. Since moving to Sweden my interest of sailing has grown a lot and have been blessed with an amazing neighbour who has been teaching my husband and I how to navigate a boat out on the lakes.  For this design I wanted to create a bold, eye-catching sailing themed sweater.  I have always loved the look of boats, with there streamline shape and graphic sails, they are just gorgeous! As this little sweater is for kids I wanted to make the logo feel more playful, so I designed it to look like it is a sailboat viewed through a telescope. I want to try my hand at doing a super bold, multi coloured intarsia pattern for this motif. This is a technique I have not used for ages so this would be a great way to practice and advance my skills. My yarn stash is also a bit out of control - a great problem that I know many of us knitters have, so I went for a rumage and found these beautiful bright colours and designed the sails to have both...

Duplicate stitch  -  Step by Step  Duplicate stitch is a wonderful technique you can use to place designs  onto the top of knitting.  It is a great way to add colour work without having to work it while knitting or to embellish old pieces of knitting. You can design your own patterns by using knitters graph paper and the possibilities  are only limited by your imagination ! Here are the steps you while need to learn how to work this. Have fun! Gather your materials:   For this you will need: A charted design Tapestry needle Pins   Scissors   Lengths of coloured yarn.   It can be hard to judge how much yarn you will need for a pattern but for small designs like this about 1 meter of the main colour would do and 20 cm for the small square.   Ready, lets go!   Step 1: Figuring out the position   To start you need to plan out the position for your design and mark with pins.   Here I have p...

A Step-by-Step guide to the Crossed Rib Cable stitch used in my Twinning cable hats. This is a beautiful cable stitch that is worked over a 2x2 rib background and is used in my Twinning hat pattern.   In this step-by-step guide I will be showing you the process of working the cable stitch and how to complete the pattern. At the end of this post I will write the whole stitch out in full so you can see it laid out.   Step 1: Start by working in 2x2 rib stitch until you want the cable design to begin.   2x2 rib stitch = RS Rows: [K2, p2] to end. //   WS Rows: [P2, k2] to end. Step 2:   Working the cable; slip the 1st 4sts onto cable needle and hold to the back of the work.   Step 3: Knit 2 stitches from Left hand needle.   Step 4: Next slip the 2 purl stitches from the cable needle back to the left hand knitting needle.     Step 5: Purl these 2 stitches.   Step 6:   Knit...

Twinning or twin dressing has become quite a phenomenon in recent years and can be worked in so many ways.   From dressing identically to co-ordinating colours, types of clothes or a   themes style, you can do it how ever you want.   My husband and I realised we have quite a few items in common, especially shoes! So sometimes we will twin our looks either for style or as my husband said, it takes away the need to make a decision on what shoes to wear that day!!   On a recent trip to visit family down in Cornwall we were both in need of a waterproof jacket and found these brilliant Barbour jackets in a local store.   I am still in ‘Mission use up the yarn stash’ mode and realised I had yarns that perfectly matched our jackets!   I loved the idea to make then in alternate colours, too!   I love a cable hat as the cables give a lot of textural interest and warmth.   Also, using ribbing for the turn-back makes them form well to...

Tuscany is a stunning district in Italy that holds a lot of wonderful memories for me. It evokes thoughts of the gorgeous rolling landscapes, vibrant earth colours, beautiful buildings and of course the most deliciously creamy pasta you can imagine!!!  I have been fortunate enough to travel to Tuscany a number of times and visit different cities and towns. There is a great spirit to the area and I really enjoy the slower pace of life.  Taking time to enjoy family, savouring the small moments and always having a good laugh over a table full of the most divine food. (As you can probably tell I am more than slightly obsessed with Italian food!) It is these feelings that I tried to capture in my new design, the Tuscan Dreams top. I wanted the fit to give a feeling of freedom and relaxation whilst being beautiful and eye-catching. The A-line shape of the top gives it a great flow and the length skims gracefully over the hips which creates...

Inspiration can come from a multitude of places and for this project it was the meeting of a feeling and the finding of a wonderful yarn. This year marked my first winter living in Sweden and even though I love the snow and cold I was more than usually excited about the arrival of spring!   That moment when you first notice the buds on the trees and then before you know it the first flowers are popping up and the world becomes full of colour and beautiful textures.   I also had not realised how much I would miss the feeling of a warm breeze on my skin after months of being bundled up in winter clothing and immediately wanted to knit a strappy top!!   I stumbled upon the gorgeous Lingarn by Växbo Lin in a yarn shop while on holiday and it has been waiting for the perfect project. It is a stunning, fine linen yarn that comes in a multitude of wonderful colours.   It knits up slowly on 2mm/ US 0 needles but its beautiful drape and stitch defi...