Ta da!!

Here is my big Ta Da!!!!!

At Knit & Natter at my LYS ,The Wool Bar we have been making a hanging basket filled with knitted Strawberry plants.

The project was to decorate the front of the shop.My lovely friend Caroline who owns the shop was kept in the dark about the progress of the project (which was no mean feat!!).Every one regardless of knitting ability was able to make a contribution to the basket .It was such a lovely project for us all to be involved in & all money in the shop raised for charity will go to the Breast Cancer Care charity.

The strawberry pattern if you would like to make some is here

http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/upload/pdf/strawberry_...

The pattern for the large leaf from the book “100 flowers to knit & crochet ” by Lesley Stanfield ,is ideal.

I knitted the leaf as described in the pattern ,making the i-cord to a length of approx 5”.I then made two more leaves without the “stem” or i-cord & sewed these either side of the stemmed leaf. The following pattern is the large leaf pattern; Cast on 3 stitches & make cord using 2 double pointed needles.Knit 3 stitches then without turning , start next row by sliding the knitting along to the left & bring yarn behind the work to start new row.This will form the i-cord.Continue for middle leaf to make stem for approx 4-5 inches.
continue for rest of leaf as follows

1st row (rs) k1,yo,k1,yo,k1.5sts 2nd row k2,p1,k2.When knitting the yo stitch ,knit into back of stitch,this prevents a hole from forming.

3rd row k2,yo,k1,yo,k2.7sts

4th,6th,8th,10th,12th,and 14th rows,k working centre st p1.

5th row k3,yo,k1,yo,k3.9sts

7th row k4,yo,k1,yo,k4.11sts

9th row k5,yo,k1,yo,k5.13 sts

11th row k6,yo,k1,yo,k6.15 sts

13th row k7,yo,k1,yo,k7.17 sts

15th row k17 16th & WS rows k

17th row k2 tog,k13,k2tog.15 sts

19th row k2 tog ,k11,k2tog.13 sts

21st row k2tog,k9,k2tog.11sts

23rd row k2tog,k7,k2tog.9sts

25th row k2tog,k5,k2tog.7sts

27th row k2tog,k3,k2tog.5sts

29th row k2tog,k1,k2tog.3 sts

31st row S1,k2tog,psso.fasten off remaining stitch.

Sew ends of yarn in.Sew the two leaves without stems to the stemmed leaf ,either side ,sewing a third of the way up the leaf edge to make the 3 lobed strawberry leaf..

The little strawberry flowers were made by Sarah at K & N .They were gorgeous & she used the most beautiful yarn that was most probably silk!Sarah made the pattern herself for this flower but there is a similar one in the 100 flowers book.Its also the one I used to make the blossoms on the Mary Janes in the previous post.

It took me a week to wire the leaves ,flowers & strawberries & assemble the basket.The underneath is made up of a very expensive felted Noro tank top that I cut up into leaves to make a supporting framework.I had the basket hanging in my very messy craft room all set up at the right height so I could just go in & work on it for ten minutes or so as my back would allow.

Here are the girls.......Rose (with the strawberry & wire cutters!!) & Gwen

Closest to the camera is Penny ,then Rita & Rita's daughter.

The girls at Knit & Natter were really chuffed with the end result ,Caroline loved it & was totally surprised & I was so pleased they all liked the way I put their hard work together.

If you would like to see it for yourself ,just visit The Wool Bar in Worthing! There is always a warm welcome & lots of scrumptious yarn & patterns to make your dreams reality.