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Chunky Alpaca Baby Jacket

I want to knit a baby jacket in chunky alpaca, but cannot find any patterns. So as I am going to have to make it up I thought I'd blog it :) It is knit from the top down on circular needles, for a seamless finish.

I took One 100g skein of Chunky Alpaca (100 yards) (Available from my store) A pair each of size 6.5mm/10.5US, and 8mm/11US circular needles. I had two smaller circular needles to use as stitch holders. 4 stitch markers. Gauge/Tension - 6st x 8 rows = 2 inch square

With the 6.5mm/10.5us circular needles and longtail cast on 32 stitches.

Row 1 - k4, place marker, k6, place marker, k12, place marker, k6,  place marker, k4.

Row 2 - K row increasing one stitch before and after each stitch marker. (40 stitches)

Row 3 - Knit

Row 4 - Change to size 8.mm/11.us needles. Knit row increasing one stitch before and after each marker. (48 stitches)

Row 5 - K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until you have 96 stitches. (12, marker, 22, marker, 28, marker, 22, marker, 12)

Divide row - K 12, slip next 22 stitches onto a spare needle, K28, slip next 22 stitches onto a spare needle, K12

1st  post divide row - K3, purl to last 3 stitches, K3.

2nd post divide row - Knit

Repeat last two rows until work measures 4 inches from the divide row to the bottom of work.

Work 4 rows garter stitch (Knit) Cast off. Sew ends in.

Sleeves - **Slip one lot of the 22 stitches held on a spare needle back onto your larger circular needle. You will have a gap between the last stitch and the first stitch, Pick up a stitch here to close the gap. Continue to knit in the round until your sleeve measures 2 inches from where you have rejoined. Work 2 purl rows then cast off. Sew ends in.** Repeat fromm ** - ** for second sleeve.

Make a twist tie for each side of the jacket fronts and attach securely. Voila!, Beautifully warm, snuggly soft Baby Jacket!

April Dye Club

Although we are basking in glorious sunshine now, the month started with more than its fair share of rain. Our dye club decided on the theme of April Showers for this months project. Looking out across the Valley we had such contrasts of just two colours. Blue and Green. The blue of the sky, the river, the rain, set against the greens of the grass, the trees and the new growth spurting everywhere.

Pictures of the delicious new colourway for your delectation!

lots of woolly loveliness drying in the shade!

Hannahs' Progress pics

Not happy with the pooling in the linen stitch so have gently ripped it back.

I'm happier with the reworked piece

night time pic

Frogged the left leg

Woodland petal

Club challenge for March 2010 'Spring in bud'

So welcome to the first Dyeing of the Pure wool appreciation club!




Our first theme is 'Spring in bud' Inspired by the sea of colour this season brings, after the starkness of all of the snow it warms the heart to see such vibrance peeking its' way into the world.



Our technique is Kettle dyeing. A large pan is gently heated whilst the wool sits submerged in water. One colour at a time will be poured into the kettle over a 5th of the wool, then a different colour will be poured onto the next 5th and so on around the pan until most of the wool is covered, we gently heat until the dye is set.



The finished product will have a repeat pattern, but will also be slightly random in the length of the repeats. As the dye colours are free floating there will also be some merging of colours to create a unique one of a kind batch of skeins.



Members taking part this month are -

- Bibs n bots 2 x sock with bamboo

- Bobby Dazzlers 1 x sock with tencel

- Cecily - 1 x Baby Alpaca Chunky

- LBF 2 x sock

- Michebe 1 x sock wth bamboo



Base colours being used - Yellow, green, lilac, orange, undyed

Woollywumpkins Pure Wool Appreciation Club

Hiya All,

Some of my regulars have suggested a wool club. So here it is…………. taken from my website

Initially, The club will have a maximum of 10 members.

There will be 12 themes with a technique attached to them.

Each member will commit by pre-purchasing a minimum 3 skeins per year.

Upon cleared payment I will give each member a code to correspond with their order. These codes will be used by the member to choose the themes of their choice. These choices can be of 1 theme 2 or 3.

Each month we will decide the theme, technique and base wools. If a member decides they want in, they take the option through checkout and use the prepaid code as payment. The theme and technique is set each month, the base wool can be chosen by the member at checkout - when redeeming the code.

There will be options to buy more skeins set up on the webstore.

The wool will have a discount, the more wool you buy, the bigger the discount.

Web store link

Open only to UK customers.

We will discuss the themes and techniques here Mamapacks discussion





Membership of the Mamapacks forum is free.

A taster of the wool we'll be dyeing.