My Wee Cottage

Having just signed an extended lease on our house, looks like we're here for another good while, so it's time for me to get decorating this bare abode. I'm starting with the bay window sill. I want to knit an entire little village street for the window, so I've started simple with this easy peasy country cottage;

As I'm not clued-up on adding tutorials to my blog I'm just going to copy and paste from Word for now... So here it goes, my super-simple pattern for my country cozy cottage...

This wee house can be knitted up and decorated in only an hour or two. I generally use 4mm needles and DK yarn. Scraps are needed for doors/windows and other decorations, with slightly bigger oddments for the walls/roof. The main body of the house is knitted in 4 pieces;

• 2x Side Walls
• 1x Front, floor and back walls piece, knitted in one piece
• 1x Roof Piece

Side Walls (Make 2):

Cast on 20 stitches.

Starting with a knit row stocking stitch (st.st.) 14 rows

Row 15- K1 K2tog knit until last 3 stitches, then K2tog K1

Row 16- P1 P2tog purl until last 3 stitches, then P2tog P1

Repeat rows 15 & 16 until 4 stitches remain.

Then K2tog K2tog to give 2 stitches. P2tog and pass wool through the final stitch.



Floor, Front& Back Walls:

Cast on 20 stitches

St.st. 48 rows

Cast off



Roof:

Cast on 22 stitches

Garter stitch 28 rows

Cast off.



Windows:
Cast on 4 stitches. St.st. 4 rows. Cast off


Door:
Cast on 5 stitches. St.st. 8 rows. Cast off


Chimney:
Cast on 4 stitches. St.st. 10 rows. Cast off


Making Up:
Sew side wall pieces to the floor and walls piece to form a boat shape.

Sew one end of the roof to the front of the house 1 or 2 rows up from cast-on edge of the roof to form a ledge.

Sew the windows to the house using black/brown wool to form the window frames. Sew the door using the same colour wool as the door. Embroider a knocker and letterbox using a simple stitch.


Ivy can be embroidered to the side of the house.


Next cut a long piece of cardboard and shape into a rectangle to fit inside the house and give it shape when stuffed. My rectangle was 7cm x 5cm.

Place a few stones/rice/sand in the base to weigh it down. Continue to sew the roof to the front slopes. Add the chimney. Add a further piece of folded card to support the roof and tape it to the square supporting the walls. Stuff and continue to sew the roof to the house, remembering to sew in a row from the cast off edge of the roof, for an overhang.

And that's it!! Next up... A Lighthouse- Don't expect it any time soon though I am extremely slooooooowww......