Knitted Name Badge

I am just about to cast on my next project!  Contrary to my usual system of making for myself, this is for a friend.

To continue my tradition of knitting a name badge for retreats, a group of 4 of us are off to the Queensland Spinners Weavers and Fibre Artists retreat at Maroochydore, Qld next weekend and we have talked Rochelle into joining us.  

It's a nice easy pattern to make - I set up a sheet, using graph paper or an Excel Spreadsheet to plan the colourwork.  It works best using 5 stitches in height, and 3 stitches across for each letter of the alphabet.  A garter stitch border of 3 rows at the top and bottom, and spacing above and below the name of 5 stockinette rows with a garter edge of 3 stitches on each side, gives the colourwork room and makes for a nice no-roll edge.

Once done, I give it a steam block and ta da!  One name badge just like mine shown in the photo.  I have found that Woolganic Knitters Yarn 4 ply just perfect for this kind of project. 

I purchased this Woolganic Knitters Yarn 4 ply through Say! Little Hen in Noosaville, Qld.  The colour way shown is CHP4, Chilli Pepper and it is a beautiful bright red. 

The needles I am using are from the HiyaHiya Exclusive Interchangeable Sharp Set, they have a lovely feel, are super light and swivel cables! 

The scissors shown are HiyaHiya Rainbow Scissors - Guitar, which are my current favourites (you can never have too many sharp pairs of scissors and it does help when they are cute!).

Anyway, I had best get knitting!