Hello dear reader, how are you? It's February already and Valentine's Day is upon us. Can you believe that Valentine’s Day has been celebrated around the world for hundreds of years by sweethearts, lovers and courtiers who exchanged amorous greetings with a hand-written note or poem, often decorated with romantic symbols including flowers and lines of poetry or a cryptic puzzle. A great deal of effort went into their creations and they were secretly slipped underneath doors or tied to a door-knocker, with the sender remaining anonymous. How exciting and intriguing!!! This cute little box of chocolates reminds me of those days gone by.
Nowadays however, Valentine’s Day is much more commercial and is promoted as a day to give more expensive gifts like jewellery, along with flowers and chocolate.
But there’s no reasons why we can’t raid our yarn stash to create our own hand-crafted Valentine mementoes. You could attached a little message to each one to brightened up someone's day.
I was gifted the yarn from King Cole as part of their Ambassador programme, so in return I'm passing on a freebie too.
I've used King Cole Stripe DK which is super soft and lovely to knit with. It's a standard double knitting (light worsted) weight yarn with 22 stitches and 28 rows to 10 x 10cm.You can wash it at 40 degrees maximum and there's a handy little image on the ball band to show how the stripes knit up. It creates a nice plump stitch and so the fabric has a squishy, cosy feel.
I chose the red to fit with Valentine's Day and I really love how the pink tones blend into the deep red. The yarn is slightly mottled, which gives a marled effect, almost as if you're holding two strands of yarn together. I love it.
And here's the free pattern so you can make you own knitted heart:
Knitted Heart:
Materials:
King Cole Stripe DK in 4509 Red Stripe (100% Premium Acrylic;100g/290m)
(only a small amount is needed)
3.75mm knitting needles
Toy filling or lavender
Wool needle
Tension: isn’t critical; just make sure that your stitches are tight so that the toy stuffing or lavender doesn’t poke through. I used a slighter small needle than recommended to achieve this (3.75mm)
Finished Size: approximately 13cm high with 3.75mm needle.
Abbreviations: k = knit; p = purl; m1 = make 1 stitch by inserting the left needle into the loop lying between the needles and knit into the back of this loop to twist it (this avoids making a hole); pfb = purl into the front and back of the same st (to increase 1 st); p2tog = purl 2 sts together to decrease 1 stitch; k2tog = knit 2 sts together to decrease 1 stitch.
To make:
Cast on 3 sts.
First row: Knit to end (right side).
Next row: P1, pfb, P1. (4 sts).
Increase row: K1, m1, knit to last st, m1, k1. (2 sts increased).
Next row: Purl.
Repeat the last 2 rows until you have 28 sts (ending after the purl row).
Stocking stitch 6 rows.
K14, turn and work on these stitches only for first hump.
Next row: P2tog, p to end. (13 sts).
Next row: K to last 2 sts, k2tog. (12 sts).
* Next row: P2tog, purl to last 2 sts, p2tog. (10 sts).
Next row: K2tog, knit to last 2 sts, k2tog. (8 sts).
Repeat last 2 rows, once more. (4 sts).
Purl 1 row.
Cast off. *
With right side facing, continue on remaining 14 sts and knit to end.
Next row: Purl to last 2 sts, p2tog. (13 sts).
Next row: K2tog, knit to end. (12 sts).
Repeat from * to * as for first hump.
Sew pieces together with right sides outermost and using mattress stitch, leaving a small opening to fill with toy filling or lavender, before closing the seam completely. Weave in ends and fasten off. If desired you could add a hanging loop or a little note for someone special.
Happy Valentine's Day and happy knitting and crocheting,
Lynne xx
