LADvent 2024 – all you need to know…
27 September 2024
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I’ve been meaning to do this post for a while and it’s so nice to finally sit down and use Pinterest. I feel ready to knit the night away now so I hope by the end of it you do to….
I promised back in January that I’d do a post of things you could knit with the yarn in your subscription boxes – particularly the Seasonal boxes as they’re 3-5 hanks all in different colours. I know that often you’d expect a project to be mainly one colour but I honestly think the joy of the Sub Boxes is that it challenges us to be a bit more imaginative and inventive. I’ve got a Pinterest board dedicated to the sub boxes with a few categories and I’ll try to remember to keep adding to it. Then below I’ve got a few more suggestions and lists. So shall we get cracking?
If you want to stick to single colours and smaller projects, you can make so many things with just 1 hank. Small gifts are perfect! Some quick suggestions would be:
Hats
Gloves
Snoods
Cuffs
Purses
Home decorations
Hot water bottles
Pompoms (more on that below)
There are loads of smaller patterns included in my book and we’ve pinned HEAPS on the Pinterest board under the category “Free Patterns”…. A lot of the patterns on this board are for Super Chunky Knitting and the yarn in your sub boxes can be used with 9mm – 15mm knitting needles (just check your tension). Some of the patterns we’ve pinned are for smaller gauge projects so you may want to adapt them if they’re clothing/if the size is important, where as some projects (like the fish!) would turn out a bit bigger if you followed the pattern as is and it might be fun to see them scale them up!
The beauty of the subscription boxes is that we’ve carefully selected the colours in the Seasonal Sub so that they always look GREAT together, this means they are ideal for mixing and matching and using together. You could easily make a cushion with each side a different colour or a “granny square”/ rainbow blanket using all your colours. There’s plenty of colour work patterns you can find online and I’ve specifically pinned patterns that *should* all be the right gauge in the “Patterns To Purchase“ category…
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/laurenastonknit/sub-box-ideas/patterns-to-purchase/
Now we’ve covered the basics with single colours, free patterns & orderly projects we get to my FAVOURITE part where we can go a bit more wild. Here’s where you can also get really individual with what you make by throwing colour at it and playing with how you use colour. I love to find a pattern that I enjoy the shape/style of and then making it in totally unique colour ways. Considering HOW you use colour and adapting it to work for you is so much fun…For this reason I’ve created a very special Category within the Pinterest board (I got VERY enthusiastic) called “INSPO”
So the thing to note about the inspo category is that none of the images are patterns for you to buy/make. It’s 100% just inspiration to get you feeling excited about the things you could create. My top tip for inspiration is to look at pieces you enjoy and question the WHY and the WHAT. Hopefully there’s something in this category that you love… it’s all very colour-led since that’s what we’re dealing with in the sub boxes…..
Homework*:
Choose your favourite images from the Inspo category and note (on paper or just mentally) what it is you love about them then consider how you could apply those elements into your own project. It might be a colour layout or a combo. It could be placement or pattern… really consider what it is that works for you and then think about how you could apply it to a project you want to make.
You might fancy creating your own boards/categories on pinterest looking at shapes and stitches as this just addresses colour. N.B. It’s important to remember that a chunky knit like ours won’t hang and shape the same as a fine knit or jersey top for instance. So consider how it would work in a chunky knit – it might work BRILLIANTLY or it might be trial and error.
I’ve focused mainly on clothing as I went down a rabbit hole but ultimately you could apply it all to interiors and accessories. Just focus on the bits you love and then apply them…
It’s basically a formula – finding what you want to knit (which the free pattern boards should help with) and then how you want to knit it, which the Inspo board should assist with. Or the other way round! Find a colour layout you love and then figure out what you want to apply it to.
*Homework is not mandatory, I’ll accept excuses including “the dog ate it“
Aside from that, there are also heaps of amazing textures that you could create with your sub box yarn. Left overs are so fun for smaller projects like fringing, embellishment and pompoms. Here’s a blog I wrote last year about PomPoms, it has heaps of ideas and yup…you guessed it – another Pinterest board!
I hope that helps you feel inspired – I’m definitely off to knit tonight haha! I can’t get enough of ALL THE COLOURS! If you have any other suggestions, comments or questions feel free to pop them in the comments section below 😀
Thanks so much for sticking around pals!
Take Care,
L x
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