ChemKnits

Bumble Bee Buddy Crochet Pattern

2013-05-22T10:11:00.000-04:00

Since I recently started crocheting amigrumi, it should come as no surprise that I would start to adapt some of my more popular knitting amigurumi patterns to crochet. (Which is acutally much easier than it sounds.) I wanted my first ever crochet design to be my iconic Bumble Bee Buddy!

The crochet bumble bee (left) and knit bumble bee (right) amigurumi.

Materials

Crochet Hook: Size B (2.25 mm)

Yarn: Remnants of Fingering Weight KnitPicks Palette Yarn in Black (2.5 g, ~12 yards), White (~1g, 5 yards) and Hand Dyed Yellow (~1 g, 5 yards)

Gauge: Not critcal for this project, but you want the stitches to be tight enough so you do not see the stuffing.
Misc: Pollyfill stuffing, yarn needle, open stitch marker to mark the beginning of each round.
Finished Size: 3.25" nose to stinger, 1.75" wingspan.

Bumble Bee Body Crochet Construction:
(Starting at the tip of the head. This project is crochet in the round as a sprial, don't join at the end of each round.)
1. With Black (MC), create magic ring with 6 sts. (6 sts)
2. Inc around (12 sts)
3. SC around
4. Inc around (24 sts)
5. SC around
6. SC around
7. *SC 6, sc2tog* repeat 3 times (21 sts)
8. SC around
9. SC2, sc2tog, SC5, SC2tog, SC5, sc2tog, SC3 (18 sts)
10. SC around
11. *SC 1, sc2tog* around (12 sts)
12. SC around
Now starting the body of the fly.
13. Switch to Yellow: Inc around (24 sts)
14. SC around
15. SC 1, Inc, SC 8, Inc, SC 2, Inc, SC 8, Inc, SC 1 (28 sts)
16. SC around
17. Switch to Black: SC 1, Inc, SC 10, Inc, SC 2, Inc, SC 10, Inc, SC 1 (32 sts)
Rows 18-20: SC around
21. Switch to Yellow: SC 1, sc2tog, SC 10, sc2tog, SC 2, sc2tog, SC 10, sc2tog, SC 1 (28 sts)
22. SC around
23. SC 1, sc2tog, SC 8, sc2tog, SC 2, sc2tog, SC 8, sc2tog, SC 1 (24 sts)
24. SC around
25. Switch to Black: *SC 2, sc2tog* around (18 sts)
26. SC around
27. *SC 1, sc2tog* around (12 sts)
Stuff the head and body with polyester stuffing.
28. sc2tog around (6 sts)
29. sc2tog around (3 sts)
30. sc2tog (to make the stinger), break yarn and pull yarn through remaining stitches and weave in loose ends

For an alternate striping pattern (no pictured): If you would like to try a yellow head and 5 stripes on the body, try Rows 1-12 Yellow, 13-15 Black, 16-18 yellow, 19-21 Black, 22-24 Yellow, 25-30 black.

Wings (make 1):
With white yarn, CH 35. SC in 2nd chain from the hook and in each ch uto the end. SL st to form a "ring. Twist the ring into a figure 8 and fasten in the middle. Block if it is twisted to open up the wings. Secure at the neck of the bumble bee using the loose ends from the wing.

This is the first crochet pattern I have ever written. I am still fairly new to crochet termanology, so please leave a comment and let me know if anything needs clarification!

The crochet bumble bee (top) and knit bumble bee (bottom) amigurumi.

I knew that crochet stitches required more yarn that knit stitches and that they are sturdier. I did not expect the bee to end up so much bigger, but I am very happy that the proportions are still the same. This is an important thing to consider if you are converting knitting patterns to crochet and vice versa (especially if you are dealing with something that is NOT a toy!)

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Abbreviations Used in this pattern:
MC - Main Color
ch - Chain
SC - Sincle crochet
Sl st - slip stitch
sc2tog - work 2 sc together, decreasing 1 stitch.
inc - work 2 SC's in one stitch
sts - stitches

Surprise Turtles

2013-05-19T16:56:00.000-04:00

Guess what? I'm pregnant with my first child! Our little Chirphead is due in October 2013.

For Christmas 2011, Keith gave me a yarn sampler as a gift. Each month I got a booklet with some ~10 yard miniskeins of different types of yarn about to go on clearance. One month there was a sample of Araucania Tolhuaca Cotton yarn and it was so soft I couldn't stop touching it. I knew that this was the yarn I wanted to use for my future baby blanket (purchased well before we were expecting!), so I ordered enough for a blanket plus two extra balls for bibs. When I finally found out that I was pregnant, I was thrilled to pull out the green yarn to knit up a little bib to give Keith for his birthday (which was within a few weeks of us finding out we were pregnant.)

Down Clover Laine has some amazing bib patterns and most of them are free. Unfortunately, I got my heart set on the Turtle Love pattern which is only available through the purchase of a Peaches and Cream Pattern Booklet. I couldn't bring myself to spend $12 for one pattern (especially when there was no verification on the website about what patterns I would receive with that booklet), so I recreated the bib looking at the images from the pattern page.

I calculated 37 stitches for across the bib. I used the short row instructions from the Stretch Bib to set it up. After making the turtle heart design + a few rows, I continued on at row 69 (on the RS) of the Stretch instructions. The version I created isn't exact, but I think it successfully preserves the turtle love of the original design!

I decided that it would be faster to make crochet chains rather than iCord chains that I did on the other two bibs I've made. I used a size H hook. I just did a single chain and then cut the tie.

The yarn is a little less soft than it was on the sample card. I'm a little worried because this is the yarn that I plan on using for my baby blanket! I hope that with some handling or maybe even a wash that it will soften up. The Araucania Tolhuaca Solid (color 1203) only had 94 g in the ball of yarn to start. 37 g remained when I was done with the bib (so the bib consumed 57 g).

I wet blocked (lightly) the bib. I know that I will likely wash it before the baby comes, but I wanted to finish it properly for now. I am really excited because this is the first project I have knit for my future child WHILE that child was growing inside me. (I knit a few items when we started trying to get pregnant.) It is safe to say that you can expect to see many more baby knit items coming up here on ChemKnits.

A Search for Free Mario Crochet Patterns

2013-05-15T18:30:00.000-04:00

I started out searching for video game themed crochet patterns, but I found so many that I needed to separate them into (at least) three separate posts! This post is dedicated to Mario Themed Crochet Patterns! (I should mention for the record that I was never any good at any Mario themed games. I was good at playing the second controller to help get additional stars in Mario Galaxy!)

MARIO BROTHERS PATTERNS by WolfDreamer - I first came across WolfDreamer when I found the BombOmb crochet amigurumi. This guy is so cute and fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. Some of the other creations are a bit larger, but if you drop down some hook sizes and use a thinner yarn you can make a teeny creation. Since WolfDreamer provided an alphabetical list of her designs, I figured that I would include them in one section for your ease.

Other Mario Brothers Themed Patterns - I found so many Mario and Super Mario themed crochet patterns that I don't think I could write adequate descriptions of each as the titles themselves are pretty descriptive. Hopefully the titles of the pattern will give you the information you need to create your favorite character.

Yoshi Amigurumi
Yet Another Mario Mushroom Pattern (Yes, that is really the title)
Goomba - Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo)
Bashful Starfish
Mini Mario Mushroom Amigurumi
Mario Mushroom (Pattern is in French, but you can translate it through google)
Koopa Troopa
Bullet Bill
Mario Bros. Blooper Plushie Crochet Pattern
Super Mario Bowser - WOW is this an intricate pattern!
Piranha Plant
A Make Your Own Size Star - Customize it to be whatever size you want.
Mini Gamer Figuring Pack (pdf) - Patterns include a little BombOmb, 1-UP mushroom, Kirby and controller
Cheep-Cheep
Crocheted 1-Up Mushrooms
Mario's Frog Suit - Is this from one of the games? You will need to create a free Ravelry.com account to access the pattern.
Whomp
Luma Amigurumi
Super Mario Fire Flower
Luma from Super Mario Galaxy - Even includes a VIDEO TUTORIAL!
Bob-omb Drawstring bag - while technically not a plushie, this could easily be stuffed as a plushie and used as a non-functional toy.
Piranha Plant
Baby Mushroom Amigurumi
Super Mario Invincibility Star (The picture on the blog is currently broken, but there are some great pictures over on Ravlery.)
Kirby; Super Smash Brothers Edition - Great tip, paint on wool felt to get a cool embroidered look.
Boo, Mario's Ghost - You will need to create a free Ravelry.com account to access the pattern.
Super Mario Lakitu
Shy Guy
Princess Peach / Princess Toadstool - You will need to create a free Ravelry.com account to access the pattern.
Mario Bros. Petey Piranha
Super Mario Monty Mole
Mario Super Mushroom
Wiggler Plushie
Amigurumi Super Mario Mushroom
Luigi - You will need to create a free Ravelry.com account to access the pattern.
Buzzy Beetle

Are you going to crochet any of these Mario crochet amigurumi? Which one is your favorite?

I Just Need a Little Yellow!

2013-05-13T10:10:00.000-04:00

This is the first time in a long time that I've done a blog post about dyeing yarn without also filming a video to go along with it. However, since I made a video with using old tie dye kit dyes in the past, I felt this would be redundant. I do need to make some yellow yarn for a new design I have in the works. (I am super excited about this one!

I still have some mixed yellow dye left over from my Tulip Tie Dye Kit that I decided to use for this project. I presoaked some fingering weight wool in water for 30 min before adding the yellow dye and letting it sit overnight.

The next day I rinsed the yarn and washed it with some dish soap. There was a lot of run off but eventually the color cleared. After washing, this miniskein was a bit tangled, but it is so small that I had no problems winding it into a ball. I hope there will be enough for the project I have in mind!

What do you think I need the yellow yarn for? (Hint, it is just a small amount of yellow yarn.)

Chevron Baby Hat Knitting Pattern

2013-05-09T21:57:00.000-04:00

I love using KnitPicks Shine Sport Yarn for baby items. It is soft, machine washable and drapes amazingly. The problem is that I now have a TON of Shine Sport remnants. Frequently a newborn sized hat uses about 2/3 of a 50 g ball of yarn, so I decided to create a design that would use the remainder of two different balls in a fun chevron pattern. I am pleased to share with you my Chevron Baby Hat Knitting Pattern!

Materials

2 colors (minimum) of KnitPicks Shine Sport in Aquamarine (A: blue - 15 g; 33 yards) and Orchid (B: pink- 12 g; 27 yards). The entire hat weighs 27 g (~60 yards).
4/5 US Size 5 (3.75 mm) double pointed knitting needles or circular needles large enough for magic loop.
Yarn needle for weaving in loose ends.
Gauge ~6 sts/inch over stockinette
Finished Size: Newborn - 6" tall (at the longest point) x 12" circumference (easily stretches to 15")

Abbreviations used in this pattern

K - Knit
P - Purl
S1 - Slip 1 stitch
S2KP - Slip 2 stitches together K-wise, Knit 1, pass slipped stitches over. (Centered Double Decrease)
(K1, YO, K1) in next stitch = creating three stitches from a single stitch. This should create no holes.
sts - stitches

Pattern Notes

To create a larger baby hat, increase the number of cast on stitches by increments of 12 and adjust the length accordingly. The crown decreases also begin on a 12 stitch repeat so you can follow the decreases as written.

When knitting with two colors, don't break the yarn after each stripe, just carry the yarn up the side.

Chevron Baby Hat Knitting Pattern

Cast on 84 sts in Color A with the long tail cast on
Row 1: *K9, S2KP* repeat until last stitch, K1 (70 sts)
Row 2: *K4, (K1, YO, K1) in next stitch, K5* Repeat from * (84 sts)
Switch to color B
Row 3: S1 stitch Pwise (NOTE: This will become the last stitch of the round), K9, *S2KP, K9* repeat until last 3 stitches, S2KP (The K stitch in this centered double decrease is the slipped stitch from the beginning of the round. If you are using circular needles you will need to slip the marker over.) (70 sts)
Row 4: *K4, (K1, YO, K1) in next stitch, K5* Repeat from * (84 sts)
Repeat rows 3-4 alternating colors ever 2 rows as desired. Continue for 15 total stripes or until the work measures 4.5 inches long from the cast on edge, ending after a row 4.
Crown Decreases - Continue switching colors ever two rounds.

Decrease Round 1: S1 stitch P-wise, K9, *S2KP, K9* repeat until last 3 stitches, S2KP (70 sts)
Decrease Round 2: K across
Decrease Round 3: S1 p-wise, K7, *S2KP, K7* repeat until last 3 stitches, S2KP (56 sts)
Decrease Round 4: K across
Decrease Round 5: S1 p-wise, K5, *S2KP, K5* repeat until last 3 stitches, S2KP (42 sts)
Decrease Round 6: K across
Decrease Round 7: S1 p-wise, K3, *S2KP, K3* repeat until last 3 stitches, S2KP (28 sts)
Decrease Round 8: K across
Decrease Round 9: S1 p-wise, K1, *S2KP, K1* repeat until last 3 stitches, S2KP (14 sts)
Decrease Round 10: K across
(Use the color from the previous two rounds) Decrease Round 11: K2tog across (7 sts)

Break yarn and pull through remaining stitches.
Weave in loose ends.

I love this simple little hat. The way the first stitch is slipped before the decrease round makes it really hard to tell where the rounds begin, which is a nice finishing detail in my opinion. The WS fabric of this hat also looks really cool, so you are basically getting two hats from one afternoon of knitting!

A note behind the design. At first I tried to do this with 72 sts (a number I've used for many stockinette newborn hats), but that gave a 10" circumfrence over the chevron pattern. So I cast on again with 84 sts as I created the above pattern. Enjoy!

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Abbreviations Used in this pattern:
S1 - Slip 1 stitch
S2KP - Slip 2 stitches together K-wise, Knit 1, pass slipped stitches over. (Centered Double Decrease)
(K1, YO, K1) in next stitch = creating three stitches from a single stitch. This should create no holes.
sts - stitches
Kfb - increase by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch.
M1 (Make 1)- increase stitch by picking up yarn between two stitches, twisting and knitting.
K - knit
P - purl
I-cord - knit stitches on dpn's without ever turning the needle (effectively knitting in the round with a small number of stitches.)
SSK - decrease by slipping two stitches then knitting them together. Alternatively, you could slip one stitch, knit one stitch and pass slipped stitch over.
K2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.

BombOmb

2013-05-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

When I saw the BombOmb Crochet Amigurumi, I got extremely excited. I knew that I had the perfect colors in my remnant stash to whip up this little creature. I chose to use a F hook because that is what I've been using with KnitPicks WOTA. I figured this was a good project to use some some of the remnants I have laying around. The project consumed 7 g of Black (coal), 3 g of Grey (mist), and 3 g of yellow (color name unknown.)

This BobOmb is one of my first crochet amigurumi projects. I am REALLY noticing that this is much slower than if I were knitting the sphere. A knit stitch in this yarn is approximately the same size as a SC. Of course, I think that the crochet fabric is a better texture for this toy and that it will be worth it in the end. (I Hope.)

I'm also noticing that I'm getting a blister or small irritation on the middle finger of my left hand. This part of my finger keeps rubbing against the crochet project, something that never happens while knitting.

I did a slightly stupid thing where I sewed the cap onto the bomb before sewing on the fuse. Next time, Secure the fuse to the cap first!

Unfortunately because of the way I sewed the feet on, it cannot stand unattended. However, this is intended as an ornament so it hangs perfectly!

How to Create Braided Roving

2013-05-02T18:08:00.000-04:00

When people sell rovings on Etsy, they always come in very pretty braids. As I started dyeing my own rovings, I wanted to explore the best ways to prettily store them. In the following to video tutorials, there are two different methods for creating roving braids: 1) By actually braiding the roving and 2) by crocheting the roving (looks like a braid). I learned how to "braid" the roving first, but then I learned from purchasing other braids that more people actually crochet them.

How to Braid Roving:

How to crochet roving:

Now that you've seen both, which method do you prefer?

Magrathea

2013-04-29T11:03:00.000-04:00

My first time going to my local yarn store in Evanston I became enamored with a skein of Madelinetosh Merino Light in the color Logwood. I looks like this single ply yarn has just a dusting of color applied after the yarn was spun with a slightly white core. I have no idea how the dye job worked, but the coloration is stunning.

Ever since I first tried the Hitchhiker Scarf, I have wanted to knit more of Martina Behm's designs. At long last, it is time for me to knit Magrathea.

I chose to knit the scarf/shawl (this is going to count for my 13 in 2013 after all!) on size 4 (3.5 mm) knitting needles. This is a little bigger than the pattern requires (3.0 mm), but I wanted to be able to knit it with my harmony circular set rather than using straight needles. I do love my round needles!

There were some issues with the set up chart where there weren't enough stitches to do the number of decreases illustrated (row 19 and one row much earlier on that I didn't make a note of.) Maybe I made an error farther down... but row 17 was knit perfectly. Initially, I omitted the first SSK in row 19 and turned the K3tog in row 21 to a K2tog, but the lace didn't look right. Looking more closely at the lace, I realized that the extra stitch is before the first SSK of row 19. (3 rather than 4 sts) I backtracked to move the placement of the YO, and then reknit 21 also turning the K4 into a K3. I really think I must have messed something up somewhere... I am still 1 stitch short for the beginning of the body chart. I therefore changed the second SSK into a K stitch to regain the stitch I lost. (JUST ON THE FIRST REPEAT!) I think everything should be fixed now.

I need to keep track of yardage to know when I am close to 25% remaining.

100 g before casting on. I will need 25 g to finish the scarf.
88 g remain after 6 repeats of body chart.
In the 10th repeat of the body chart, I count 73 sts after row 7. (After row 8, 78 g remain.) I should really count on row 7 of the 11th repeat (since you're supposed to do one more after 3 away from 25) - 77 sts remain. If I am still 1 stitch short at the end of Round 25 (or wherever I need to stop) then I can just add a pfb at the end of the first edging row.
65 g remain after 15 repeats.
55 g remain after 18 repeats.
47 g remain after 20 repeats.
39 g remain after 22 repeats.
36 g remain after row 7 of repeat 23. (125 sts) I'm still 1 stitch off from being divisible by 6, so I haven't lost any more sts. (This is a good thing!)
31 g remain after 24 rows.
133 sts after row 7 of repeat 25. I would need to decrease 1 st to make it divisible by 6. 27 g remain. I am going to go to the end of the shawlette here and decrease one stitch with a P2tog lined up with the lace edge (just after the marker) in the p'd across row.
21 g remain after the completion of Edging Chart I.
15 g remain after row 8 of Edging Chart II.
8 g remain before bindoff.
7 g remain when I'm all done!

It has been very interesting knitting the same lace in two directions. I have enjoyed this a lot! Too bad it isn't simple enough to memorize the pattern (like Hitchhiker), but it was still quite a great knit. I cannot wait to make another. I also cannot wait to use Madelinetosh Merino Light yarn again. Too bad I'm currently on a yarn diet...

In pictures, it is a little hard to tell the difference between the two sides of the scarf, however the directionality is more apparent in person. Still, I took closeups of the two ends of the scarf (above) and the center point (below) so you could get a sense of how it looks if you should knit this project yourself.

First Crochet Amigurumi - Little Owlettes

2013-04-25T18:25:00.000-04:00

I am starting to feel a little more comfortable with crochet, so I decided it was time to try a crochet amigurumi. It is a little silly that I selected a pattern that requires notions I do not have in the house, but I will just have to make a trip to the craft store this weekend. I wanted to try out these Baby Owl Ornaments (pattern available as free Ravelry download) so I pulled out my F hook and started crocheting!

The very first thing I had to look up is what is a magic circle. Oh, I guess this is just the terminology for starting in a circle that I've done in the past. Awesome! I got half way through the increases when I realized I was doing SC wrong. Time to start again! (Third time's the charm?) WOW this is MUCH better!

For the first Owl, I am using a size F (3.75 mm) crochet hook and some 100% Lion Brand Wool Print that I used from my first ever felted mittens. Or 3 g of it... and then I ran out. (I think these are hard colors to work with because I cannot see the stitches very well.) I then Switched to a grey WOTA for the top of the owlette. (AT ROW 7)

The second owlette used 5g of hot pink WOTA.

Don't know what safety eyes look like? They look like little screws with washers that you attach to the back of the toy. Super cute! It turns out that Michaels does not have safety eyes in stock, so I found these from a seller on Etsy.

I poked holes in the felt to get the safety eye through the felt, rather than cutting a slit. I used small DPN and then larger ones until the hole was large enough for the size 6 mm safety eye to fit through the hole.

I then attached the eyes to the unstuffed owl. The biggest problem I see with safety eyes is that you cannot adjust the placement once you've finished the project.

I was not able to sew through t he felt with the yarn needle, so the placement of one of the beaks is much better than the other. After sewing the beaks down, I glued the eyes down. Voila! My first ever crochet amigurumi are complete! I have a feeling that I will be making more of these teeny owls in the future.

Carding Attempt 2

2013-04-23T18:08:00.000-04:00

Watching the videos from my How Not to Card post taught me MANY useful things. But I also wanted to test out once I had the fiber properly carded, how to turn it into rolags.

Pull the fiber off of the carder into a strips (see the bottom part of the picture.)
Roll up horrizontally (which that you have more concentrated the fibers that are facing approximately the same direction.
Gently draft open into a rolag.

My carded wool is a little less grey the second time around. Apparently this is something that can happen with new carders and you should just card with either dark wool or wool you don't care about until it comes off clean.

My spinning wheel is currently occupied with another project, so I wasn't able to immediately try these rolags out... but I am excited to try blending different types of fibers next!

More Hexipuffs!

2013-04-20T15:51:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I've made some hexipuffs, and I've received some generous and very purple RAK's. I have not had the chance to knit with many of these yarns yet, but I hope to very soon.

I made a hexipuff from the yarn that I used in the first sweater I ever made (In high school - see middle puff below.) The puff is a tad bit bigger than some of the others, but I think that this will be okay in the end. I'm not too worried about it in any case.

I did not finish quite as many hexipuffs as I had hoped for this update.

SO I did a "measurement" and found that ~30 hexipuffs (5x6) makes 1 square foot of quilt. A full mattress (double) is 54" x 75", or ~ 4.5' x 6.25'. 28.125 square feet, which means that I would need around 900+ hexipuffs. At the rate I'm going, this should take me around 25 years. Do you think I'll ever make it there? (I only have 36 completed right now.)

Art yarns luxe cowl

2013-04-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

When my mom gave me a coveted skein of ArtYarns, I wanted to do more than just a tiny one skein projects. I realized that I was dying to make a second Luxe Cowl from the Luxe Accessories set, and that the limited artyarns yardage would pair perfectly with some Aloft I had in my stash already!

I started off with a 49g, 114 yard ArtYarns Beaded MOhair and Sequins skein and 24 g of the Aloft in Tranquil. I knit the cowl on size 8 knitting needles. In a slightly creepy fashion, the project required 18 g of each type of yarn... IDENTICAL to what happened the first time I knit the Luxe Cowl. This is especially odd because I used a completely different yarn for the contrast color this time.

I considered making this cowl double size so I could wrap it around my next twice. Therefore, after the 5th repeat, I measured the amount of yarn used again. Unfortunately, after the 5th repeat I only had 9 g of Aloft left. This is enough to finish this cowl, but not enough to make it much larger. There was plenty of ArtYarns left over, so this would be enough for a third cowl (or completely different project) in the future.

The kitchener stitch is much harder with a beaded yarn than it was with KnitPicks Capra from my first version. I quickly got the hang of it, and the grafting is nearly invisible.

I have 31 g of the Luxury ArtYarns remaining. What do you think I should use it for?

A "Real" Crochet Project

2013-04-16T20:22:00.000-04:00

Time to do a new years resolution and make a REAL crochet project! (By REAL I mean not just the border or something... and something that is not a granny square. I want to try increases!) I decided to make a baby hat because it is a small and fast project to create... not to mention that my back up baby show gifts have all disappeared in recent months. I selected the Bev's Newborn Roundie Hat for this project. I used Lilly Sugar'n'Cream Ombre 02223 and Size G (4.0 mm) crochet hook.

So I'm not sure what it means by make 14 DC's inside ring. Am I supposed to go all the way around the chains or pick up a loop from the first chains? I'm going to figure to go all the way in because I couldn't fit 14 trying to pick up from the edge of the frist loop. I picked up from inside the circle and it was MUCH easier. The hole in the center was a little big, but I was able to tighten the tail and it brought it closed. I'm crocheting!!!!

Knitting Round 4, I think that this isn't any where near big enough with 35 sts. Maybe the hat would fit a DOLL head but not a baby. I frogged this row and decided to add an increase stitch into every 3rd stitch rather than every second stitch. (New Round 4 had 48 sts.) Continue as written. (Look at me, modifying a crochet pattern!)

I knit a total of 10 dc rounds, and then did one sc round. 32 g in the hat. 25 g remain. Completed in an evening!! The final hat is 5.5" long, 6" wide. What should I crochet next?

This project would not have been possible without the help from my Encyclopedia of Crochet (seen in some of the above pictures.)

Trying for Less Spin

2013-04-13T22:52:00.000-04:00

My last two skeins of hand spun yarn have been a little rougher than I would like. I've been getting more consistent with my drafting, so this was causing me to try to spin and treddle faster. More twist in the yarn = more rope like. It is time to try to slow things down and get less spin into the fibers. (Hopefull with less breaks!)

I'm using some natural colored Montadale Combed top that I received as part of my generous gift. The fiber has a LOT of crimp to it. It is a really pretty color, brown flecked with white. The fiber is a bit slippery and it is hard to re- join if I break the continuous flow.

A bit too late (30 g into spinning), I decided I wanted to make this a 2 ply (rather than Nply) yarn. I zeroed the scale with a blank spindle and leader, and then split the rest of the yarn to make two 39/40 g bunches. Hopefully I will get close on yardage. (With what remains, I can make a mini 2-ply skein from the center pull ball method. This yarn is so fuzzy that I didn't want to do this with the entire thing.)

I'm really concerned that there is so little twist that I am going to break the singles a ton when I ply.Before I ply the yarn, I weighted the spindles. Both weigh 95 g. (But, of course, this is what I had planed on when I divided the fiber with weighting hte spindles)

So far so good. No breakage of the singles and the plying is going easily. The yarn is really soft and yarny (not ropy) so I think I achieved my less twist. However.... some of this may be due to the crimpiness of the fiber itself and not my spinning technique. i will need to try this "less is more" twist action in a different fiber as well.

There was only a little yarn left on the second spindle, so I wound this into a center pull ball and then used both ends to create a 2-ply miniskein.

So just after writing this I had my break. Rather than adding a knot, I just have a small region of 3 ply yarn. No harm no foul. Right? This is why it is better to make this a 2ply yarn than single ply. Stronger is much better!

Big Skein: 196 wraps = 261 yards 2ply 76 g

Mini Skein (not pictured): 8 wraps + 1 ft = ~11 yards 3 g

17 WPI = Sport weight

Finished in Jan 2013.

Behind the Design of the Denise Shawl

2013-04-10T22:01:00.000-04:00

Denise Shawl Knitting Pattern PDF - $5.00

Now I've shared with you my notes from the actual construction of the shawl, but I also wanted to give you some sneak peaks behind the design of this shawl. I started out with the idea that I wanted to use a twisted braid lace design. I did some sketches on how I could orient it into a triangular shawl.

Next I started drawing out the lace pattern in excel. I drew out a skeleton of the YO's that I wanted and then added decreases around the pattern.

I wanted to check out the decreases were working, so I knit a swatch of each of the three sections. You can see my markings and corrections in the paper above.

Finally, I knew that I wanted there to be some fun points at the end of the shawl. I also wanted to fill in the end with a bit more design for the edging. In the following swatch, I tried out some additional "V's" versus diamonds. (I ended up going with the V's.)

Of course, Indy was very interested in every step of this process.

This shawl was really fun to design, but it was even more fun to knit. Why don't you purchase the knitting pattern and try it out yourself?

Breaking Delphinium Blue

2013-04-08T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ever since I read that Wilton's Delphinium Blue Food Coloring is composed of both Red and Blue food coloring I wanted to try breaking it. I used some unknown wool that was part of my generous gift. I space dyed the roving and it resulted in some stunning color separation from teal to a magenta. (See the below video.)

The finished unspun wool:

I spent a lot of time thinking about how to spin this up. I could have randomly chosen sections and then gotten random stripes, or I could make a gradient. In the end, I separated the most purple parts from the blue parts. I thought it would be fun to spin this one as bit of a gradient. There will still be a lot of variation within the blue section, this is super fun and pretty!

I think that I still have an issue with over spinning. I'm not sure how to go about this or how to make a softer yarn. I would like to make this a 3ply yarn again, but we will see how long it takes me to spin it. It isn't as thin as the previous 3-ply that I created, so it may not have any where near as much yardage. But I am still excited about the prospect of a multi-ply gradient.

There was some debris in the fiber, and also some really short pieces of wool. I am not understanding why good picking is important! This doesn't spin as easily as some of the other fiber I've spun, but the experience is REALLY good because I'm learning about what I want for when I prepare fiber.

After the first bobbin was basically full, I decided to switch to a second bobbin. I know I will need to eventually, and I want to make some 3 ply yarn with the gradient intact. (I was afraid that there would be only blue - med mixed and I wanted no knots with all three colors. This makes it more like a single yarn rather than two different of different colors.)

I n-plyed the yarn, and you could see the deeper purple sections as I went towards the center of the second spindle.

The yarn is a little rough. I really need to stick with the slowest whorl and try to add less twist to the yarn. I need to treadle slower and to draft faster. This is something that I will work on more in the future.

There are two skeins that are technically very different, but are part of a matched set. I haven't yet decided what I would make with this, but maybe some kind of bottom up shawlette starting with the purple.

In the end I had 100 wraps of the more multicolored yarn, or 133 yards. There are 117 yards (88 wraps) of the more solid blue skein.

Finished January 2013.

Guy Knits

2013-04-04T15:05:00.000-04:00

The patterns in the book Guy Knits: Sweaters & Vests (Best of Knitter's Magazine series) are by a variety of designers, including the Knitter's Deign Team. The book contains a short how-to section and then is divided until multiple sections:

Accessories (4 patterns - hats, mittens, ties, blankets)
Sweaters (11 patterns)
Vests (12 patterns)

The Reversible Hat, Mittens set is pretty cute, although it should be noted that the mittens are not reversible! (The pattern is for a reversible hat and then matching mittens. Take care on how you read the title!) There are stripes created from garter stitch. Bold Zebra is a lovely sweater with a herringbone type pattern formed by slipped stitches.

The sweaters have a lot of color and texture, enough to inspire you. I love the look of some of the shawl colors (I think that is what they are called, I'm not a fashion student so I'm not really sure.)

I'm not a huge fan of the vests by Herz & Baum is lovely cabled and looks really expensive looking. Cecropia has stunning colorwork with subtly contrasting colors so it is a big pattern but is quite soft at the same time.

I love the book sections on fit, but my FAVORITE part of the whole book is the color preview. They show samples of the different sewaters knit up in different colors. This will help give you an idea of how the different colorwork patterns will look using different kinds of contrasting colors without you having to knit a swatch up yourself!

Thin Cherry Red

2013-03-31T21:41:00.000-04:00

The last thing I Spun I tried to spin as chunky as possible... This time I'm going as thin as possible. I had the strand break a few times... maybe too much pressure pulling in? I dyed some KnitPicks Full Circle Roving with Cherry Kool Aid for this project (hence the name thin cherry red!) My plan was also to try N-plying the yarn (a method of creating a 3-ply yarn out of a single strand.)

I am spinning this so thin that I decided to break the roving down in to what is basically pencil roving. This is much easier to manage and I get fewer bumps in the yarn.

I am still spinning on the slowest whorl, I move to the faster and could manage it but I don't mind treddeling a little faster if I want more speed at this point. This is going much slower than my other spinning projects, but I am assuming this is becaues I'm getting so much more yardage!

Towards the end, maybe I was getting sloppy but I kept breaking the yarn a lot more. Hopefully everything holds up when I start plying!

N-plying is much easier than it looks. I found a great N-plying tutorial that was super helpful. It is almost like spinning a really long crochet chain with mega elongated stitches.

I split the yarn a few times when plying, but this is around where the yarn was splitting when I was spinning anyway.

The 3 ply yarn is beautiful, but it is funny. Because the color is so dark, it is hard to tell that it is multi-ply at all. On the spindle, it almost looks like single ply.

However if you look closely then you can see the different colors and tell that it is a multi-ply yarn. This is much more balanced than the two ply yarns I've created before, PLUS it is rounder than 2-ply. If not for the fact that it eats up yardage I would do this every time I spin!

162 wraps = 216 yards. This means that I would have had over 600 yards on singles! I didn't measure the WPI of the singles, but I'm guessing that they were close to lace weight just based on the yardage. This yarn is 17 WPI and therefore Sport weight. Wahoo! I am improving. I could still stand to add a little less twist over all, so I will need to work on this in my next endeavor

What roving did I use for this spinning? I overdyed charcoal grey roving with Cherry Kool Aid. I had no idea what I was going to happen when I started with this experiment, but I am very pleased with the final results. The following video wills how exactly what I did. Isn't my yarn beautiful?

Spinning Finished 1/15/12

Search for Free Dog Vest Knitting Patterns

2013-03-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

Since Indy is full grown, I can now knit him some kind of sweater. I'm not sure if I'll find one that I like or if I'll design my own, but I decided to do a search for dog sweater patterns that could fit medium sized dogs. (Yes, I am crazy do be looking at this now that Spring is here and it would be cruel to dress Indy in a sweater... but I can start preparing for next winter now, right?)

This is by no means a comprehensive search, but it is a list of the patterns I'm considering making for Indy.

Free Dog Vest Knitting Patterns

Perfect Fit Dog & Cat Sweater (Pattern Generator, Top-Down) - This pattern does it all. You can select your own yarn, determine your gauge and the measurements of your dog, and the pattern will walk you through the construction. I have a feeling that this is the pattern that I will use because it will guarantee a perfect fit. It is a seamless top down sweater that has arm holes. If your pet hates to be dressed, you may need to select another pattern. You will need to create a free Ravelry.com account to access this pattern.
Hoodie Dog Coat - This dog sweater slips over the head and through the front arms. As the name suggests there is a really cute hoodie! You will need to create a free account to access this Pattern
Snowflake Dog Sweater - Sized for a smaller dog (22" chest). The pattern says that it gives instructions for resizing This one is really like a little sweater vest with fair isle snowflakes around the middle.
Button Up Dog Sweater - This ribbed turtle neck dog sweater knitting pattern has buttons going up the back of the sweater. This is the cover image from the book Knitted Dog Coats (see below) but it also happens to be available for free at the link provided.
Dog Sweater - A cute pullover with a decorative button at the throat. The knitting pattern is available in multiple sizes.
Biscuits & Bones Dog Coat - A cozy ribbed and cabled dog sweater knitting pattern. Pullover.
Rainbow Pooch Sweater - A cute striped dog pullover that would be easy to adapt to contain a different stitch pattern. (You could chart a cute design on the back.) Comes with instructions for 4 chest sizes.
Dog's jumper with Norwegian pattern - Fair Isle knitting for the win in this adorable pullover. Four sizes are available, and the give examples of breeds to go along with the sizes (in addition to actual measurements.) XS = Chihuahua, S = Bichon Frisé, M = Cocker Spaniel, L = Irish setter.
Boston Terrier-Sized Sweater - I am not sure how terriers size up to Eskies, but this pullover has a cute sleek design. The designer provides the measurements of her dog. (Pictures are available on Ravelry)
MinnowMerino Holiday Dog Coat - Three sizes are available in this coat that goes over the head with a chest strap to secure it. There is some stunning large plaid work here, which is much simpler to make than it looks: "While knitting, the horizontal stripes are made by changing colors for a single row and a vertical rib is created with purled stitches. When the knitting is finished, the vertical stripes are made using a crochet hook, following along the purled rib."
The 'Boyfriend" Dog Sweater - Has an adorable colorwork heart/bone (think heart with arrow) on the back. The designer has numerous other dog sweaters located on the same website.
Knitted Dog Jumper - A striped pullover with a bit of a turtleneck.

Dog Vest Knitting Patterns that Cost Money - In my search I came across some dog vest knitting patterns that I loved, but happened to be in a book or for purchase. (You can frequently get book patterns for free from your local library.) I am going to share some of my favorite of these patterns below.

Stripy Coat and Leg Warmers from the book "Doggy Knits: Over 20 Coat Designs for Handsome Hounds and Perfect Pooches" - A colorwork coat that fits over the head and then has a strap going under the chest. This would be easier to fit a variety of dogs, or even a growing pup. (Also easier to dress a dog that doesn't like having his paws touched.)
Barkberry Dog Sweater (Designer Inspired) - For $4.00 USD, you can download this cute plaid dog jacket. It has a buckle at the neck is a cute detail and would be easy to adjust the fit depending on your dog.
Snazzy Jacket from the book "The Gift Knitter: Knitting Chunky for Babies with Four Legs and Two" - I love this pattern because the image on Ravelry shows an American Eskimo! The jacket goes over the head and then has a strap under the chest to keep it in place.
Raingear for Rover from the book "Doggy Knits: Over 20 Coat Designs for Handsome Hounds and Perfect Pooches" - This is another Tillman Design that I love. This piece is knit flat with buttons at the neck and under the chst for closure. (Of course, knit in wool this isn't actually waterproof, but it does have an elegant almost trench coat like effect.)
Tuxedo Dog Sweater - Does your pooch need to go to a special event? It looks like he is wearing a backwards suit with the bowtie on the back of the neck. $6.00 USD from Ravelry Download.
Christmas Trees - This fits with my initial desire to make Indy an "ugly Christmas sweater." I may still do this, but first knit a simpler sweater so I can know what fit I like on him (and to provide the canvas for my colorwork.) $6.00 USD.

Unfortunately most of the patterns I have found are not for long haired dogs, so the pictures are of fitted sweaters on dogs with very short fur. I know that the neck details aren't super important to me because they were be obscured by Indy's ruff.

2013 SusannaIC Mystery KAL

2013-03-22T14:35:00.000-04:00

So excited for another SusannaIC Mystery KAL! The first clue was released in early Jan, 2013 and continued through March. The details were available in December so I knew that I would need MANY beads and ~800 yards for this shawl. I selected Madelinetosh Prairie in Turquoise (started with 122 g.) Enjoy watching the project unfold with me as I work through the clues.

I hemmed and hawed about removing repeats vs changing needle sizes to conserve yardage for a while. I had yarn that would work great for the small version, but when I was ordering yarn for this project I didn't know that there was a small option for this KAL. Oh well. I think I am going to remove 2 repeats (17*2 sts) from the CO edge. This should definitely leave me with enough yarn to complete the project, which still making the shawl a bit larger than a shawlette.

Since there are so many beads in this project, I did not want to use the dental floss method to add them to my knitting. I decided to purchase some tiny crochet hooks to help with adding the beads. I am not sure if I will have enough beads. I ordered five tubes of Toho Round Seed Beads 8/0 #88 'Metallic Cosmos' 8 Gram Tube, which at the lowest estimate (7 g per tube, 38 beads per gram) is 1330 beads. Since I am removing two repeats, this means that there are 86*2 fewer bead that I need to add to the shawl. Lucky me!

I knit the shawl on size 6 knitting needles. I used size 4 for the cast on and size 9 for the bind off, following the pattern instructions.

Clue 1

I am SO grateful that the pattern makes it so easy for you to add or remove repeats in both the small and large sizes. I am going to make the large shawl, minus 2 repeats. (256-17*2= 222 sts cast on) I used the cable cast on as suggested by the designer. Not only does this cast on method meet the firmness requirement, it is great when you want to conserve extra yarn because there is no long tail to calculate.

I realized that I should check my gauge. I am so worried about yardage, why not make sure that my gauge is on target? (Especially since this is the first time I've knit one of her designs with this yarn) 6 sts/inch unblocked. We're ready to roll!

I LOVE the marker placement for the short rows. This is so much easier than keeping track of which stitch was wrapped or not.

When this projected started (second week of Jan), I was working on the sample of my first shawl design. (Denise Shawl) I had figured that it would work nicely because the progress of a mystery KAL is fairly slow. What I didn't count on this biggest step being the first clue! Whoops, not too great for my timing.

107 g remaining after the short rows. I realized (a bit too late for my part) that by removing 2 lace repeats I've reduced the number of rows at the middle of the shawl by 7. This is only about an inch of depth so it will hopefully not make too much of a difference. I can easily get 9" at the center if I pull. Unblocked this is deeper than my Polairs shawl at this point, so I'm feeling a lot better.

Clue 2

I checked my stitch count (as instructed) and seem to be ready to go! Picking up the wraps was a piece of cake. It looks like SSK's and K2togs (as i'm sure its meant to.)

This is my first time using a crochet hook to add beads. Sometimes I accidentally split the yarn, but I am getting the hang of it. 95 g remaining at the end of this clue.

Clue 3

Clue 3 went quickly, but it was also shorter overall than clue 2. I am really enjoying working with this yarn, even with hooking a million beads! (By comparison, the yarn I'm using for my Mom's Polaris Shawl is not quite as pleasant to knit with.) 85 g remain after the clue.

Clue 4

The lace is now getting more complicated. It is taking more focus to knit each row. I am really enjoying how this pattern is coming out. When I started this clue, I was still on the first tube of beads and then opened the second.

There will be 86 beads used per repeat, and at this point we have only used about 30. I suppose it is possible that I severely underestimated the number of beads that I will require for this project, good thing I like the color! The only sad thing is that with my Advent Scarf project starting soon, I would have loved to use these same beads on that project.

Since I would need to move the markers at the beginning of the next clue, I moved them during the last p round. 78 g remain after clue 4.

Clue 5

This is the first clue where I am both working on this Mystery KAL and the 2012 Advent Scarf (which I started Feb 1, 2013). I'm afraid that my days of finishing the clue in 1 day are over. But I am glad to spread this out a bit more because it has been an absolute dream to work on. (Even if it is only spread out over a second day.)

The shape is finally looking less Christmas Tree-y and more like a wonderful geometric shape. I love how there is almost a curve to the lines.

70 g remain after clue 5. I have consumed 52 g of yarn at this point, well under 50% of the skein. I am beginning to regret adapting this shawl to make it a bit smaller. To think I was worried about running out of yarn! I should have remembered that I tend to use less yardage than required for many of Susanna IC's designs (Annis and the last Mystery Shawl, but not my Polaris.)

Clue 6

I take out the shawl to start this clue and realize that I somehow forgot to do the last WS row at the end of clue 5. This means that I didn't finish! (Whoops!!)

I finished the second tube of beads near the beginning of row 57. Of course, I still have a few dozen beads that haven't been used but are too small to fit on the crochet hook. These technically would be usable if I were running low, but I am not. Oh well, I'd rather have too many beads than too few!

I made sure to finish the last WS row this time around. I wonder if there is going to be 1 or 2 more clues after today. I am so excited to see how big this shawl ends up. 58 g remain at the end of the clue 6.

Clue 7/Clue 8

Wahoo! I am so excited that this isn't the last clue. There are only 8 rows, but since I am still busy with the Advent calendar I wasn't able to start this clue until days after it came out anyway. Turns out, it was Sunday when I was able to start it... the day before Clue 8 was to come out. (But this was also the day that I finished the Advent Scarf... so much free time now!) When Clue 8 was released, I was only done with 2 rows of clue 7. My staying on target stream is done, but it is my own fault for doing to mystery projects at the same time.

I am overjoyed! The finishing instructions and blocking schematic won't be coming out until next week's update! This means that I still have some time to catch up.

The end of Clue 7

At the end of clue 7, 49 g remain. Towards the end of row 69, I finished the 3rd tube of beads and opened the 4th.

I've been so exhausted that I've only been managing 1-2 rows a day. My hope was to finish this Sunday evening (Tonight - I currently have 1/2 p row, last beaded row and then binding off to finish) so then I would be all caught up for the last clue. No such luck... The last clue was released Sunday morning!

The end of clue 8

Finishing/Blocking

In total I used just under 3.5 tubes (7-8 g each) of beads. Of course, there is about 1/3 of a tube that are beads that did not fit comfortably onto my 0.75 mm crochet hook. If I were concerned about running out of beads, I could have switched to the dental floss method to add these to the project. I found that the matte beads I used in my advent scarf had MANY more beads that fit onto the crochet hook even though they are the same size same brand. Something about the treatment of these beads must make the holes smaller.

Compare size to Polaris. I really didn't need to alter the short rows... In fact, I wish I hadn't so it would be a bit deeper. Set blocked after soaking for 30 min. 35 g remain. The stages of blocking:

I think removing two repeats was the right decision. If I have had any complaints with (many) of the shawls I've knit... it is that they are too long and not deep enough. I think that I may have a winning size here! Ultimately, I think the size of this shawl is perfect and I cannot wait to wear it.

Dyeing for Denise Shawl

2013-03-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

Part of what makes my Denise Shawl special is that I also designed the colorway specifically for this shawl. I wanted there to be a gradient of color like from my cake dyeing experiments but I also knew that for the large version of the shawl I would need more than 100 g of yarn. My solution was to dye THREE balls of commercially wound KnitPicks Palette Yarn (color Sage).

I have dyed a lot of 100g skeins of yarn, but I knew that I would likely need more than 100g for the Denise Shawl project. I decided to overdye a color other than bare. I selected this color in part because it was on sale (Hurrah for Cyber Monday Yarn Sales!) but also to give some more dimension to the whole shawl.

To start off, I had a dyebath of 8 cups of water, 1/2 cup of white vinegar and added a mixture of McCormick's liquid food coloring and Wilton's paste. After 10 minutes of cooking in the vertical position, the balls of yarn were rotated to be completely submerged for another 10 min of simmering. During the first 10 min, most of the color absorbed to the yarn, so if you want a little more coverage I would wait 5 min during my next attempt. Once the heat was turned off, the balls of yarn cooled in the pot (to allow any remaining dye to absorb). The yarn was washed with luck warm water and dish soap (off camera).

The Video - Watch exactly what I did!

The coloration of the balls was really cool. I loved how the colors played out towards the center of the balls (see picture below.) The effect would have been different if I had submerged the balls from the start of dyeing, but I wanted there to be some consistency and have some colors carry through most of the shawl.

I knew that I would not end up with three identical balls of yarn, and I also didn't want there to be stripes in the shawl. By using three different balls of yarn this would allow me to get a greater proportion of saturated colors near the outer edge of the shawl. I created the continuous gradient by alternating balls of yarn ever two rows and then adding the third (starting at the darkest portion) when I reached the end of the shawl.

I am very thrilled with the over all effect I got from Dyeing for my Denise Shawl. What kind of project would you like to apply this method to?

Purchase the Denise Shawl for $5.00 USD.

How not to Card Wool - First attempts gone wrong

2013-03-17T11:28:00.000-04:00

For Christmas, Keith gave me some lovely chinchilla rabbit fiber. This fiber has been unprocessed, and I can not spin it as is. It will either need some carding or even some blending before I can attempt to spin it into yarn. This means that I need some carders.

There are many types of carders, and I went to the Woolery website to figure out what I should get. I finally decided on "Howard Brush, Standard, 190 TP" because of the following information about carding cloths: "Extra Fine: 190-255 teeth per square inch. For ALL fibers, especially very fine varieties. Can be used for Cotton, Merino, Llama, Alpaca, Cashmere, Dog Hair and other exotics." In addition to the chinchilla fiber, I know that I have some dog fur that I will eventually want to spin. (I also have some raw cotton from my wonderful gift.) Therefore, I settled on the extra fine carders.

When my carders arrived, I wanted to see how intuitive they were to use. I decided to test them out before looking up how to actually use them (yeah, I'm a little stupid.)

So I learned a few things things:

Carding Hurts. Without noticing, I scratched myself up pretty badly.
I have no idea what I'm doing. The end result doesn't look any more ordered than what I started with (which admittedly wasn't raw wool.)
So I tried again...
They turned the fiber grey... (I asked on Ravelry and this is normal for new carders. People recommended using waste fiber or dark fiber with new carders until the discoloration goes away.)

It is time for a time out to look up some Carding Resources. It was stupid to try this out while having no idea what I was doing!

Carding Resources:

The first video shows how wrong I was doing it. I was not pulling with the carders in the opposite direction, I had them in the same direction! No wonder the wool transferred almost immediately.

The second video show that I should not engage the teeth quite so much, but move them gently across one another. Biggest mistake you make when you hand card? I did that one! (Globbing the fiber onto the carder)

Difference between Rolag, Top, & Roving... I'm not sure I can recognize the difference between different fiber preparations, but It is still really helpful to know (and to know what to expect from doing my own fiber preparation). I wish the article had pictures.

The following illustrates some of the confusion I had over carding vs combed top (which is actually more like the "rovings" I've had)

Blending fiber, but also turning hand carded fibers into a roving (i'm not sure if this is the correct terminology... but it looks good!)

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Wish me luck when I decide to give carding another chance. I am going to wait for my fingers to heal first...

Ombré Headband

2013-03-14T14:37:00.000-04:00

Since wearing a ponytail makes wearing a fitted skull cap awkward... I decided to make a headband using the same yarns and the same design as my Ombré hat! (I am shifting the pattern a bit so the middle could be centered in the design.) This way I can still run outside to take the dog out while still having my head accessory match my fabulous Ombré Mittens.

Like the matching Ombré Mittens Pattern, I designed the charts so that you can easily choose how many colors you want in your headband. The 3 color version is more "symmetrical" than the 5 color version. The gradation effect in my 3 color version comes from the fact that I'm using a yarn with long color repeats (KnitPicks Chroma).

Materials

Up to 5 colors of worsted weight yarn, ~59 yards total. The sample is knit in a three color version with KnitPicks Chroma Worsted (Midwinter - B, 10 g, 20 yards) and Blue (A, 13 g, 23 yards) and Purple (C, 9 g, 16 yards) Berroco Peruvia. Charts are provided for both a 3 color and 5 color version of the headband.
Size 6 (4.0 mm) circular or double pointed needles.
Gauge: 11 sts/2 inches and 11 rows/2 inches over colorwork pattern;
Notions: yarn needle to weave in loose ends.
Finished size: 18" circumference, 3.75" wide

Chart Color Key - The 3 color version uses colors A-C, and the 5 color version A-E

The Ombré Headband Knitting Pattern

Cast on 100 stitches on size 6 needles with color A. Join to knit in the round.
Knit 2 rows of 2x2 ribbing (K2, P2 across the whole row)
Begin knitting the chart (either the 3 color or the 5 color version, NOT BOTH), starting at the bottom and following it from right to left. The pattern is a 4 stitch repeat.
5 color:3 color:
Knit all 16 rows of the pattern.
Knit 1 round in color A (3 color version) or E (5 color version)
Knit 2 rounds of 2x2 ribbing (K2, P2 across the whole row)
Bind off K-wise.
Weave in loose ends.
Gently block the headband.
Enjoy your hand knit Ombré Headband!

Why block? If your headband gently curls in like the picture above, some light blocking will help it lay flat.

Now I have the choice between a full hat OR a headband to go with my mittens! And there is great use. With the three colors I started with in this pattern, I made the Ombré Hat, Ombré Mittens AND the Ombré Headband with yarn to spare. After these three projects, 14 g of Chroma, 25 g of blue Peruvia and 45 g of purple Peruvia remain. This is certainly enough for another headband!

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Abbreviations Used in this pattern:
Kfb - increase by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch.
M1 (Make 1)- increase stitch by picking up yarn between two stitches, twisting and knitting.K - knit
P - purl
I-cord - knit stitches on dpn's without ever turning the needle (effectively knitting in the round with a small number of stitches.)
SSK - decrease by slipping two stitches then knitting them together. Alternatively, you could slip one stitch, knit one stitch and pass slipped stitch over.
K2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.

First Chunky Attempt

2013-03-11T16:12:00.000-04:00

I've done a great job (in my humble opinion) of spinning thin singles, but I have not had much control over the spinning yet. I therefore thought it would be fun to try some slow spinning to create some bulky (or at least worsted) weight yarn.

I wanted to limit my drafting, so I formed the roving into pencil like strips. Well, more like marker thick strips. I still wanted to draft a LITTLE!

Spinning bulkier yarn is much easier than I thought. The key? Treddle slowly and don't over draft! The twist moves up the yarn so fast. I am a little nervous about the strength of this yarn. I hope that the yarn won't break when I wind it onto the niddy noddy!

The spinning of 100g took such a short period of time (well under 2 hours). I decided to wind the yarn into a center pull ball so that I could ply it from both ends without wasting any yarn.

It took 45 min to ply this yarn. Wahoo, either I'm getting fast or that this is really low yardage. At some points it was a little difficult for the wheel to take the yarn up onto the bobbin, but I think that is becausee the bobbin is quite full It took me under 10 min to wrap on niddy noddy.

44 wraps on the niddy noddy or 58 yards. Not a lot of yarn, but it is nice to know what a "low" is for my yardage capabilities. I measured the yarn to be 8 WPI or Heavy worsted weight yarn.

In order to make bulkier yarn in the future, I will have to get a Jumbo Orifice Kit so the yarn can make it through all of the hooks. This supplement to the wheel is inexpensive, and I am excited to try out making bulkier yarns.

Now what about the roving that I used? Well this was my first space dyed roving ever! Filling and emptying the syringe I used to apply the dye took some time, so I sped the video up in places. It was such fun watching the colors spread out!

Finished 1/6/2012

60 More Quick Baby Knits

2013-03-09T15:07:00.000-05:00

60 More Quick Baby Knits: Adorable Projects for Newborns to Tots in 220 Superwash Sport from Cascade Yarns

This is the sequal to 60 Quick Baby Knits, but in sport weight yarn. I like using sport weight yarn for baby items because it gives you more stitches to work with than Worsted. I cannot wait to see what is in store! Like my previous review, I will not do a run down of all 60 patterns. Instead, I am going to point out the highlights of the collection.

#4: Elephant Onsesie - The little elephant chart is a tiny 8 st repeat, but it is so darling I can barely contain myself. It would be easy to incorporate this motif into other outfits as well.
#9: Wave Motif Pullover - There colors make this simple wave design come alive. I am a sucker for colorwork!
#17: Plaid Jacket - I am not the biggest fan of the collar and fake pocket flaps on this jumper, but I think that I would love to take the plaid pattern and bring it to a pullover.
#19: Lined Blanket - The blanket is a simple patterened checkerboard, but what makes this blanket special is lining it with some fantastic fabric. This will give strength and extra warmth to a knit blanket.
#25: Octopus Beanie - A litlte toy octopus is knit and attached to the top of a striped beanie. This is really cute, and it would be really easy to add other little toys to the tops of hats. What great inspriation!
#35: Skirted Onesie - A cute little romper that looks like a baby swimming suit

The other patterns in the book are still really cute, but many of them are things that I've seen variations of in other books, blogs and independent designers. If I were going to choose only one, I would pick the 60 Quick Baby Knits , but you couldn't go wrong with both!