I went to Down Cellar yesterday to pick up yarn to make one more hat. I really tried to find something in my stash to use, but I failed. I just needed 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted. Somehow I ended up with 3. Well one of them was Malabrigo Chunky.
I am using Cabernet to make a Meret Beret on size 8 needles. To start off I cast on using the Italian tubular cast on. I just like k1,p1 ribs on hats so much better with an invisible cast on. I am almost done with with first repeat of the lace. It’s pretty easy and quick.
And I adore Malabrigo – so soft and squishy!
The Craft Machine was in Knitting Gear last night. I watched the Devils game and started this hat. It’s made in Knit Picks Sierra (which is called Cadence these days, I believe) on size 10 1/2 needles. I used EZ’s Rib & Braid cable to give it a little flair. I didn’t feel like digging out my dpns to finish off the top, so I’ll do that tonight.
The last project I need to start is a Meret for my friend at work. I dug through my stash, but sadly couldn’t find anything to use. This ends my stash busting Christmas run as I had yet to buy yarn for any of my gifts. I just need one skein of Malabrigo Worsted. Planning on heading over to Down Cellar during lunch to get it.
(Apologies for the crappy iphone photo. I was in a rush this morning)
My friend asked me to knit him a hat with the Athletic’s colors. So back in April/May I did. Then it sat for a few months awaiting the ends to be sewn in and a pompom. I finally got around to finishing it off a few weeks ago.
I used Cascade 220 on size 8’s (I think).
He just got it and told me “You are a knitting genius. Like jack White with needles.” Jack White with needles?
He also said the pompom fell apart to which I had to ask – what were you doing with it? I’ve never had a pompom break.
I want to make a gift for some friends who are expecting their first child. My first idea was to try a Baby Surprise Jacket, but then I did some more looking and found the Cardigan for Merry. It’s based off of Kate Gilbert’s Arwen sweater but Anny added some toggles and loops and changed it to raglan sleeves.
I picked up 3 skeins of Sandnes Garn Lanett at Down Cellar today. It’s a superwash merino fingering weight yarn. I started casting on (on size 1 needles, eek!). And then I realized how much seaming this would need. I took out a pad and started figuring out how to convert this to a 1 piece top down raglan. I think if I use a provisional cast on I can go back and add the hood later. Now I just need my paypal payment to clear so I can get the Arwen pattern – which I need for the reversible cable chart. Reversible cables!!
I know mentioned my hat knitting streak recently but there were no photos, and really what fun is that?
So since the sun is shining and there’s still snow I took my slr outside for a photo shoot.
The hat on the left is Rowan Spray that I got really cheap from the Webs sale. It’s an improvised pattern that I did on size 15 needles. It took about an hour.
The hat on the right is also an improvised pattern. I used Lamb’s Pride Bulky and 10 1/2 needles. I decided to knit it from the top down so that I could get the cables on the earflaps lined up the way I wanted them. I’ve never knitted a hat top down before, so I cast on 8 and increased 8 stitches every other row. It seemed to work out well.
I knit some fingerless gloves when I was in Utah. This is Jo Sharp DK tweed on size 6 needles. I made up this pattern and did somewhat of a thumb gusset. I used less than 1 ball of yarn.
Finally I started working on some Endpaper Mitts using Knit Picks Gloss that I have in my stash. I’m using size 2 dpns. This is my first time doing stranded colorwork and it took me a while to find a way that worked for me. At first I tried knitting one color continental and the other English style, but my tensions were so different that one color was all blobby. My new technique involves both colors on my left hand and a ring. I’ll ’splain more later.
In the past 5 days I’ve knitted 3 earflap hats. Granted, 2 of them were on size 15 needles, but still that’s a lot of hat!
I need to get my camera out as I have a backlog of FO’s to take photos of.
Now that the Christmas knitting is over I’m working on something for me! I started knitting the Tilted Duster (aka fall sweater)Â from Interweave Knits back in October. I put it down to various other small projects. In the past week I’ve made a bunch of progress; the back, left front, right front and most of a sleeve are done. Yay! Hopefully I can finish up both sleeves this week so I can start working on the skirt.
I’m going to be going to some training in NYC next week which mean some commuting time (God I miss mass transit!). And of course commuting time = knitting time.
There was a cool sweater in a recent Interweave Knits that I wanted to make, but the instructions called for steeks and I had no idea what they were. They also didn’t really explain them in the pattern.
So I am exited to have just come across a series of articles on steeks by Eunny Jang. Now that I think of it I think the pattern told you to refer to an article Eunny did in a previous issue of Interweave Knits, but of course I didn’t have that.
I also just got myself a subscription to Interweave Knits. Yay!
Plus my Christmas gift from mommyclaus arrived yesterday – a Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder!! Double Yay! I’m already discussing the pedal controlled variable speed motor I want to build for it with my dad. It’s great having an electronics genius in the family. I wound 3 balls of peruvia for my Tilted Duster yesterday and my arms were killing me.
Way earlier this year my sister asked me to knit her a beret out of bamboo yarn. I bought some at Yarn Garden when I was in PDX in May. Then it sat in my stash. Christmas rolls around and I decided I’m going to make this for her. So I searched for a pattern and came up with the Urban Necessity Tam on MagKnits designed by Subway Knitter. They don’t show the back of the beret on the Magknits site, so it’s at the left. Also, the charts are missing from magknits, but you can find them on subwayknitter.com.
Back to my project…Now I know that bamboo is a drapey fiber with no elasticity so I’m wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Swatching revealed to me that ribbing was not going work that well. So I picked up some black sewing elastic but that was a major pain to work with.
I finally decided to knit it all on size 4 needles which is a few sizes smaller than the recommended for the Classic Elite Bam Boo yarn I was using. I knit a size large, which might have been a bit bigger than needed. It’s a very slouchy beret and I had intended on weaving the elastic through the ribbing, but my sister says she likes it loose.
I love the snowflake pattern on the top. I added a little icord “nipple” on the top to make it more fronch. I’m going to have to borrow that snowflake pattern for shaping the crown on some of the beanies I knit.
Overall I like the yarn, it’s lustrous and soft. However I did use 3 skeins for this so it’s heavy (think cotton) and rather splitty.
Someone asked my for some help with how to assemble a Twisty Turns Wrap. I made one last spring, and it can be a little trick to figure out since they don’t show the back.
It’s somewhat hard to explain so I drew up some (horrible) diagrams. I’m posting this up in case anyone else needs some guidance.
Basically the whole thing gets sewn together as shown in the first diagram. The only trick is that you need to fold the outsides in and thread the loose half through the opening in the sewn half to make the wrap into a circle. Then you bring that free end back to exactly where it started.
I’m not sure if this will help any, but feel free to ask questions. I’ll try to help.