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.
This is the bulk of stuff I knit and crocheted in 2007. There’s a few things missing. While I know I knit a lot of hats, it’s rather eye opening to realize just how many I’ve made in a year.
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.
I’ve decided to do a handmade Christmas. Well, mostly. There are a few things I want to get that aren’t handmade, but everyone will be getting at least something that I made. I better get on that.
I can’t exactly describe everything since some of my recipients read this, but it will be a combination of jewelry, sewn stuff, and knitted/crocheted goods. Speaking of sewing – I went to Joann’s saturday for fabric for a gift project and was vastly disappointed by their selection. I was basically looking for some novelty/calico print cottons. I didn’t see anything I really wanted and I’m not paying $5/yd for stuff I don’t really like. I’d rather drop the $9/10 yd on Amy Butler stuff. I guess I will hit up the land of evil to see if they have anything better. I also can’t find a lint comb anywhere!
Saturday I made this cute hat. Excuse the crappy cell phone pic, the real color is much nicer. It’s crocheted with Lion Brand Thick & Quick Woolease. I’m not a fan of acrylic blends but I loved the color. Mustard yellow is my new obsession. This probably took about an hour to do. I am planning on making another one for a gift and if I actually do it I will write up the pattern. In the meantime I need to get knitting.
Anyone have tips for knitting with elastic for yarns that don’t have much inherent elasticity? I’m trying to do a beret with bamboo and it’s not working out. I’m sure the drapey part will look great though. I bought some sewing elastic and I’m going to give knitting with that a try.
I made Jackyll & Hyde for a friend. I decided to stash bust instead of buying new stuff. So I used up some knit picks merino bare fingering weight and double stranded it with 10 1/2 needles. I also skipped making the bottom stockinette part since I figured that would be annoying to tuck in.
I almost forgot to add that I felted it a bit. It was slightly big and a little holey – so felting slightly fixed all that. I also did some modifications around the eyeholes.
Here it is modeled by Ryan. He loves it and says its far more comfortable to wear than a commercial one he bought.
Scary, isn’t it? Especially with the glowing red eyes.
It seems like its been forever since I last posted here. It’s not like I haven’t been crafting either. Oh well. I have a few projects underway, but I wanted to complete something so I made the honeycomb hat. It’s made from Malabrigo Chunky I bought at Down Cellar. That stuff is soft and gushy! It cried out to be made into a hat.
This is a pretty simple cabling pattern. Since you did about 16 cables in a row every 4 rows I just cabled without a cable needle and it made it much faster. I made this in 2 days. Shaping the crown took a little creativity since I didn’t want to just go straight stockinette until I had to.
I will have to give this hat to someone with a small head. I can fit it on mine but everything gets stretched out. I cast on 64 stitches on 10.5 circulars so if I make one for me I’ll do at least 72. And I’ll write up a pattern.
All the honeycomb cables should make this a very warm hat.
I mentioned recently that I was making some pasties and a lot of my readers were curious as to why and who was I making the pasties for. Well here they are.
I made these as a gift for my friend Christina’s bridal shower. She really enjoyed them.
The pastie is crocheted using pearl cotton and small steel hook. I forget what size. I just made a basic circle doing some non-increasing rows so that it would be slightly cupped. Then I sewed on the lace and beads at the same time. At this point I wondered exactly why I was hand beading a gag gift. At least it looked nice. I made tassels out of a skein of DMC embroidery thread and sewed them on. Voila! Pasties.
Christina enjoyed them and even modeled them for the guests.
I tried my hand at crocheting jewelry this week. At first I was trying to crochet onto some hoops but that wasn’t going well, so I ended up just freeform crocheting. My initial attempts were using 99cent 32ga wire from the crafts store, which gave me an idea of what stitches and hooks to use. Then my 
sterling silver dead soft 30ga wire arrived on monday. I also bought some (too expensive) pink tourmaline beads at the bead shop.
Here is the final product. The box is about 4″ square to give you an idea of scale. I used a G hook and prestrung my beads. I really like the organic feel of crocheted wire, and since you can only buy sterling silver wire in 1 oz spools (I got mine from artbeads.com) I still have plenty more wire (and beads!) to play with.
These are a gift for a friend who told me that I should make Lorene originals rather than copying some stuff I saw in a jewelry shop. Although the necklace I liked was $5000! And, yes I am still planning on making my own version of it.
I finally finished that Twisty Turns wrap I started a month ago. Why? Because I needed to wear it on saturday. Thus I spent about 8+ hours knitting on Friday. I put myself in front of my brother’s 42″ flatscreen and watched tv and knit and knit and knit. I saw Janice Dickinson’s Modeling Agency for the the first time. Seriously, other than the men modeling underwear it doesn’t have much going for it.
Anyway I knit until 12:30am, the point at which my hands were about to fall off. Then I put a note on the kitchen table for my mom asking her if she had a tapestry needle, since I didn’t bring one with me. Then I went to bed. My mom rocks, because as I had hoped, she wove all the ends in for me before I even got up. So all I needed do was sew it together.
I’m really happy with how it came out and I got a lot of compliments on it at the wedding. I love KnitPicks Andean Silk! It’s very soft and has a lovely sheen. I think I’ll wear this even for non dress occasions. It would work with a tank and jeans on a cool night.
I finished making the Knitty Fetching wristbands last week. They are a gift for my friend’s birthday. I was originally going to use KP Andrean Silk, but it didn’t get here in time so I used the recommended Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran. I’m glad I did; this stuff is luscious! I can’t remember the name of the color but it’s a lovely orangey red that photographs horribly.
In terms of project notes I did this using magic loop and I didn’t do the picot bind off. I gave them to Sue last night and she loved them. I bought another ball of cashmerino in blue to make some for an expecting friend and some tahki new tweed in brown to make them for myself.
Here’s how they look on so you can see the ribbing in action
