It’s been a while since I posted on here, and I’ve realised I’ve had several designs published over the last year that I need to catch up on!

In October last year, The Knitter issue 208 published Adeline – a balaclava and mitts combo knitted in gorgeous King Cole Mulberry Soft DK. I like the idea of a hood that can usually be worn down and tucked into a coat collar, giving extra warmth around the neck, but that could also be pulled up and worn as a balaclava in really icy conditions! Both the hood and the mitts have a plaited cable design, and I’ve used a contrast ‘tipping’ edge on each, which is then the main colour of the other item.

Next there is the  Toastie Treats matching set of bobble hat, cowl and mitts, all knitted in King Cole Homespun DK, and published in Simply Knitting issue 259, January 2025. It uses a simple diagonal rib stitch, which works like a bias-cut fabric, and means that the hat fits without any shaping, and in fact there are no seams to sew on any of the items!

Lastly in this batch, is Sibilla, a generous coat with a large cosy collar, knitted in Fisherman’s rib, using a lightweight ‘blow’ yarn – Drops Air and published in The Knitter Issue 212 in February 2025.

I was very pleased to discover “blow yarn” , which is bulky but very lightweight, and according to the Drops website description is ‘made from soft baby alpaca and cozy merino wool – this quality has a unique construction where instead of spinning, the fibers of baby alpaca and merino wool are blown into a tube together. Garments made in this yarn are about 30-35% lighter than those made with conventional spun yarns of the same thickness’.

I will definitely be using this yarn again!

More in the next post……