One Knit, Two Knit, Three Knit...PURL!!!

2007-12-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

There are times I rather hate being left-handed. Apparently, cable patterns will be one of those time. I finally got up the nerve to try one...granted it was from a pattern that someone admittedly said could have problems, since it was her first written pattern...but come on! At first, I thought it was that I wasn't reading it backwards (as any left-hander must do for any specifically aligned patterns like patterned sweater fronts), but really, all that does is reverse the direction of the pattern, it shouldn't have made that much of a difference. Then I realized the pattern was symmetrical, it wouldn't matter which damned way I did it. Somehow I feel as if my mother is vindicated in her telling me that I'm too stubborn for my own good. I think I fixed the pattern. maybe. I guess we'll see when it's finished.

Convert

2007-12-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

And now, for the latest fashion craze: convertible mittens. Here's my take on them. They're handy (pun somewhat intended). But I didn't particularly like the patterns out there, so of course, being the masochist I am, I decided to write my own pattern. I'm a glutton for punishment...unfortunately...so, without further ado:

NOTE: I AM LEFT HANDED and knit as such, this pattern will work for right handers written as is, the only difference will be that when I say left thumb, it will be your right thumb, and when I say right thumb, it will be the left.

**THIS PATTERN IS WORKED WITH TWO SETS OF CIRCULAR NEEDLES (2) US SIZE 6 CIRCULARS.**

**THIS PATTERN RUNS SMALL AND TIGHT, I SUGGEST ADDING EXTRA STITCHES OR USING LARGER NEEDLES**

- With strand of each colour held together, cast on 16 sts in closed cast on, placing half of stitches on each needle. To start make sure that Ndl 1 will be the back of your mitten, and ndl 2 will be the front (palm side)

- Knit one round.

- K2, M1 (Bar increase), K to last 3 sts on 1st needle; M1, K2, Repeat for second needle(20 sts)

- Repeat until there are 32 sts (16 sts on each needle)

- K until the piece measures 2.75-3 inches from cast-on edge to bottom.

Flap for flip top*:

- BO 2, Knit to last 2, BO 2 On Ndl 1.

- K across Ndl 2

- Work three rows across Ndl 2 in a K1, P1 rib.

- P row

- K row

- BO the 16 stitches

Back to Mitten part (back to working in round):

- On Ndl 1, CO 2, P across sts, CO2

- Ndl 2: Cast on 16 sts

- Ndl 1: K until piece measures 4.5 inches from CO edge to bottom

- Ndl 2: work three 'rows' in K1, P1 Rib (K across 1st Ndl, then rib across 2nd, then K across 1st needle etc etc working in the round)

- LEFT THUMB hole:

- K across Ndl 1, K2, K5 with WASTE YARN (WY), slip WY stitches back onto the needle being pulled from, and K them with the working yarn. K to end of round

-RIGHT THUMB hole:

-K across Ndl 1, K 9 sts, then with WY K5, slip WY sts back onto the needle being pulled from and K them (again) with working yarn. K to end of round.

- Knit until piece measures 2-3 inches (WY to where hand meets wrist)

- Decrease row: *K6, K2tog* repeat to end of round (28 sts remain)

- Work in a K2, P2 rib in round for .5-1 inch.

- Now, work in straight (keeping ribbing pattern), leaving a 'gap' on the opposite side of thumb hole. (This can be edited out, but since I am having problems getting my swollen hands into the glove, I felt adding the little side slit makes it remotely easier...as well as stretching the mitten across a candy box)

- Bind off in a decrease bind off, following the rib pattern.

THUMB

- Pull out waste sts, placing live stitches on two needles. Pick up 4 stitches (two for each needle, one at beginning, one at end) to help decrease likely hood of gaping.

- Knit until desired length - 1/4 inch remains (Around 2.25-2.5 inches)

- k2tog around for 2 rounds

- cut yarn and place **loosely** through stitches.

- turn entire mitten inside out--for the thumb, put the string through the hole on the thumb top and pull, this will tighten that opening closed as well as pulling it inside out. make sure to make a tight knot at the thumb top to make sure it stays closed.

- Weave in all loose ends. If you find the mitten a smidge too tight, try stretching it around things. I found that a soda bottle worked great.

*I added an overlapping 'flap' to the convertible part of the mitten, specifically so it can be tucked inward to make it more snug and secure

Beary Cute

2007-11-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

Have you ever found that one thing that you think is so ridiculously cute that you just must have it? I wonder if it's just a girl thing...anyways, this hat was one of those super girly moments of cute squeeness and need for possession. The title of this blog is Beary Cute because the pattern was supposed to make a 'bear' hat, but I honestly think I look like a very plump (note the very and infinitely add to it) mouse--not that I mind, mice and rats are darned adorable, and much more cuddly than bears... The pattern is taken (and modified) off of a pattern found in Stitch 'n Bitch Nation and I just can't get enough of it! It's sooooooooooo cute. I'll soon be modifying the pattern further to create a cat and bunny version of the hat, but those are in the future, possibly a good deal away...

The keyhole scarf was made to go with the hat, using a strand of the fur and a strand of pink Jiffy (lionbrand) to give it a contrasting colour (but still match) the hat. The set, is by far the best looking with my cream jacket (in pictures). Once again, my stupidity when it comes to fuzzy yarn kicked in and I picked a gorgeous stitch pattern that you can't tell exists because of the fuzziness. Oh well, it was good practice ^^ and turned out super cute. While it's not the most notable scarf in my arsenal it helps to create my most favourite ensemble!

Tubular

2007-11-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

I feel the need to create companion pieces for my knitting, as previously stated. When I picked up my first knitted scarf and looked at it, I groaned and didn’t, under any circumstances, really want to make a hat to match with it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the colours and such, but it was just...boring...of course, this didn’t deter me from trying to make a hat to go with it. But I wanted it to be something simple. Something quick and easy. I remember reading, when I was learning to knit, that if you were in need of a quick hat, that sewing a tube and putting a drawstring in the top was your best bet. and that’s what I decided to do, arbitrarily changing the stitch pattern as I went up to fit with my mood. The eyelet row was the only real required row of the hole thing, and even in that, I arbitrarily placed the YOs. What it turned out, is what I call the hat that makes my head look like a Christmas present. Oh joy. But really, it isn’t all that bad, besides being on the side of snug, it covers the entirety of my ears and is rather on the warm side, so you have no real complaints (or wittiness from me).

(non) Edible Felty Goodness

2007-11-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

I love fall. Well...really, I love the idea of it being a distinct season that lasts a ccouple of weeks and then turns into the wonderfulness known as Winter. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen around here...the leaves change colours, fall, and spring back to green lifehood in the span of one night. So annoying. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t get to partake in all the fall festivities, such as seasonal squashes and gourds. Nothing tastes better than the perfect butternut squash soup or acorn squash quiche...not to mention all the pumpkin pie! So, I made two pumpkins for a table centerpiece. The first felted project I had ever done, and I have to say, I’m darn proud of it. On this side of time consuming...but none the less, I love them! Unfortunately, in the pics you can’t see the twirly i-cord vines, but they’re fun, to say the least. Find the pattern here.

Oh so Fuzzy

2007-11-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, oh dear, I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date--that date was the date I promised to update my blog on...See how good I am at keeping promises? Alright alright, so now for a few mega updates. For the first, I shall present you with a trifecta project, codename: Sir Fuzz-a-lot.

Phase One: OPERATION HAPPY ACCIDENT HAND-WARMERS

I feel blessed to be creative, even if I curse it everday since it causes me to look at things and go "ooooo, what if I take this and move it here and cut here! This pair of pants would make an excellent, hat, jacket, and cocktail dress!" I'd love to say that that is over exaggerating...but I'm not all together sure that it is... The problem was when I saw this fuzzy orange yarn...on sale, looking all fuzz, monstery and perfect for a whimsical project that was just funny enough for people to smile, but not so out there that I felt like I was wearing a bullseye that said LOOK AT ME! So I buy a single skein. It's on sale. I don't know what I'm going to do with it...but it's on sale, so no problems!

Later on that day, I was browsing the wonderful Craftsters.org and came across a wonderfully inspiring thread. Little wristlet hand warmers, BRILLANCE! In an afternoon, the spectacularly easy project was finished, complete and wonderfully done. They're still one of my most favorite pieces I've knitted, the only sadness I feel towards them, is that the diagonal ribbing doesn't show. But that's like crying over spilt milk.

PHASE TWO: OPERATION STRANGLE

A problem arose with these hand warmers, though...They needed accompament. They needed companions, they're loneliness was unbridled and they cried out for brothers in arms! What better then, than a scarf? It would easily complete an outfit, and was a perfect stand alone part. But it couldn't be straight. No....that would be too horrific. And boring. I get bored easy. And distracted...And if distracted, I'll put it down and never return *cue evil laughter*. So I thought about zig zagging the scarf, but the yarn didn't keep the zig zag well...it sagged too much, but perhaps (Thank you Debbie Stoller and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation for the inspiration) a curvy scarf would work. BEHOLD THE FRUITS OF MY MOST FIENDISH LABOUR! I've found that the entirety of the three projects I completed were the easiest and most relaxed projects I've managed to complete. Yay me.

PHASE THREE: OPERATION HEAD (not) COLD

Of Course, the fun of working with this yarn could not be so easily quelled with just a scarf. Thus, a hat was born, thanks to this pattern, once again from the wonderful Craftster.org I was afraid that my hat wouldn't work quite 'right' since I'm to the left--pun aside, when you knit left handed, you're supposed to transpose the pattern...most of the time, I say screw it, and don't. I suppose once I start more complex things like sweaters or writing, I'll need to, but until that day, the quirkiness of mine going the opposite direction of everyone else's is wonderful ^^.

And thus, for now, the creature is complete...though I'm tempted to make a sweater and socks out of the stuff, for the time being, I'll let this set stew, and go forth to complete other sets of projects...since one is the loneliest number and I don't want my single knits to rise up and mutiny against me!

Everything's Rosy...as opposed to being peachy

2007-11-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

Artist’s block exists. Writer’s block exists. And I’m here to tell you that knitter’s block exists as well…it happens in that odd, in between projects time. It’s when you want to knit, have a project on your to do list, but just need something to pass the time, an afternoon retreat…a need to do something for an hour or so, but don’t want to start on a full fledged project. I suppose, in this sense, it can be synonymous with laziness…though perhaps procrastination is a better parallel; I mean, I spent more time looking for a little project to do than actually doing it. I must have gone through forty or fifty magazines and knitting books before finally settling on making a rose (without half of the supplies).

The most annoying part of it all, was casting on the seventy-five stitches and then working in twelve rows—actually that was the entirety of the rose…plain ol’ garter stitched, plain ol’ rectangle, and plain ol’ boring…but time consuming, which was, more or less, the point of the whole exercise. After making the rectangle your supposed to attach it to a pipe-cleaner and twist it, then add another pipe-cleaner around it, resew it, and on and on…Not having any pipe-cleaners, and feeling that I didn’t particularly need it to look perfectly rosy, I went with plain ol’ use the tail to sew the role, tweaking it as I like. Rose bud done…but lonely…and I wasn’t going to sit and waste my time on another mostly useless rose (useless for now…but there are plans in my head, oh so many evil plans that could do with a rosy topping). So I decided that if I actually wanted it to look like a rose, I’d have to add some leaves. And thus an afternoon was finished…the leaves were done in ten minutes each, it was all sewn together and then buried under the paperwork I had decided not to do.

I’m still backlogged on uploading completed projects, to date I have the first two scarves, the bag, and now the rose uploaded, but that leaves me with my wrist warmer project, my felted fall pumpkins project, and my wavy, bubbly scarf that matches my wrist-warmers…

Future planned projects include two hats…one to match the wrist-warmers/scarf, and one nice white fuzzy bear eared hat. There’s also plans for a snake scarf…which should be fun, AND knitted sushi of my own design!!! So excited.

Spotted Puppy Dog Bag (less artistic picture to come)

2007-10-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

From the wallet moths of foreboding doom, we turn to Dalmatians. One-hundred and One to be exact…each pelted specifically for this project—the perfect winter coat!!!...Oh wait…that was Cruella’s plan, wasn’t it…hrm, suppose I need something original for it to count, and according to local law (and my superior conscience) dogs are definitely not on the menu for textile production (How would one go about making dog yarn in the first place?). Instead I turn to devilishly Deville-esque black and white eyelash yarn, accented with her signature blood red—sophisticated evil in all its glory.

The truth is, this bag is another one of those that started from remnants, left over from projects once dreamed of, but never made. Ah, the delusions of grandeur a child can dream of…sweaters, faux fur collars, doomsday devices…er…where was I? Knitting…yeah, knitting. So remnants are all fine and good, but Dalmatian yarn had to have some sort of accent colour to make it not look like I was wearing my first pet fluffy as a bag. So into my chariot I go! (Ok…it’s a Mini, but that’s about chariot size) Off to the marketplace of fine yarns! (Alright…mediocre yarns…cheap yarn…hobby lobby yarn), and back I come, not with the chunky stuff I want, but two skeins of remarkably soft acrylic.

So off I go, fumbling with the awkwardness of circular needles (and the wire going up my nose and down my shirt) slowly progressing, first the bottom, then the sides, working and praying that I was counting right (I wasn’t…but shhh, no telling, it’s a secret!). Then came the handle…the most tedious thing I have ever done, four stitches wide, back and fourth, and back and fourth…a good part of my life was lost knitting repetitive quatrains of stitches, and if the boredom didn’t kill me, the Kitchener stitch (to graft) nearly did: every book and manual I found showed how to do said stitch right handed, but included no tips for us of the sinister (the word sinister comes from the Latin sinestra for the direction left) mindset. While I usually have no problems transposing things in my mind—let’s face it, as a southpaw you either do so or die (float or sink if the idiomatic strain is still going). What I ended up with was a modified Kitchener stitch to suit my (un)holey needs. Amazingly, it seems to have worked…I suppose we’ll see when it gets a ton of use…my luck will be it’ll split on the one day I’m carrying something like an extra pair of knickers or something more embarrassing…

The flap was the easiest part of the whole bag, perhaps because I knew it was almost over…perhaps because it was two in the morning and I was running on pure adrenaline and caffeine. Even the buttonhole (just a nice bind-off in the middle of the row, and then added stitches via backwards loop cast-on) was super easy…now getting around to adding a button…that seems to be a problem, two weeks later and still no button…I’m sure it’s a sad bag without a button…but a happy bag because it fits every knitting project I’ve completed and has gotten more compliments than anything else I’ve done (much to my amusement).

Pattern from magazine: Knit Scene

Yarn: 3skeins of worsted weight yarn (held together)

Needles: US 13 circular needles

Up next: Everything’s rosy

Thread Bare

2007-10-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

With this post I’m reminded of cartoons in which the character pulls out a wallet, opening it to check on their ‘financial stability’ only to find that one annoying moth flying up from the crevices…My first thought is how in the world did the moth survive squashed in the back pocket of a [insert absurd animal]’s suit…Then the next thought is to pull out my wallet and see the metaphorical moth fly out in form of straw wrapper or receipt.

I’m sure by now, you gather that my circuitous intro can be summed up in a few words: I’m broke. And being broke results in my inability to jump in the car (gas) and head over to the local craft store (they’re’d have to be food involved somewhere along the lines), much less the whole buying expensive skeins of yarn (if only money could be knitted…). The solution was to use the remnants left over in the back basket, to use the table scraps from previous projects and hope that out of them I’d make something…substantial.

Of course, I pick up two skeins that look not quite half there…that seem saggy in the middle and of a great longing to be used up. Of course, having the yarn and knowing what you’re going to do with it are two very separate things. An early birthday present of Stitch and Bitch provided a basic pattern idea in a basket-weave scarf. I disliked how small the actual pattern ended up and how insignificant it looked (barely discernable when looked at from anything but right up close), so after altering it to use US size 11 needles the project started without a worry in mind.

A day or so later…the worry started. I had been an utter idiot. I hadn’t even begun to think what I would do if the yarn ran out, if it looked like things were going to come up short…and now, it was too late, I was at the end of the line—literally. Not even half-way through a ‘proper’ scarf length and maybe six yards left. Ugh.

No use crying over spilt milk, though (I’m full of idioms this evening, aren’t I?). I sucked it up and whipped through what little I had left. I stared at it…and stared at it, curse at it, threw it at Elmo (I’m so abusive to that little doll) and came up with a button. Yup…a button, it wrapped around my neck, all it really needed was something to close it…a button, a safety pin, or a stitch/cable holder (used in pictures).

Crisis averted and probably my most favorite project completed.

US 11, Basket Weave, one strand size 5 yarn, one strand size 4 yarn. Completion time: One weekend

Up Next: It's all in the (knitted) bag

Going Through the Motions

2007-10-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

So I finally got around to learning (definatively) how to knit. I'd love to say that it was because I had some sort of personal interest in the fascinating world of textile manipulation...but the truth is, the cable was out, the internet was out, I'd seen every movie we owned a million times, and writer's and artist's block had struck (not to mention a real need to procrastinate from actually doing real work). Perfect time to pick up something as impracticle to our modern age as knitting, don't ya think?

Learning how to do everything left handed proved...cumbersome, trying, and at times, infuriating to the point of flinging needles at the near dead tickle-me-elmo at the other side of the room--but that's normal for learning something left-handed in the right-handed world...my only worry was that I'd become one of those statistical two-thousand left-handers that die each year from using right-handed tools...Something quite odd happened after I figured out what I needed to do...something far beyond my comprehension: I found that knitting was fantastic, not only that, but freeing and the greatest stress reliever since a tub of icecream and a badly dubbed kung-fu flick. I couldn't put those damned needles down, I worked tirelessly for hours on end, perfecting my knits, then my purls, then my knitted purls, and purly knits until all I could think about (and, scarily enough, dream about) was the clicking of the needles and the yarn sliding through my fingers.

The only problem...the yarn sucked.

Talk about the scratchiest, most unsoft acrylic I had ever felt, without a moments hesitation, it went in the trash, too distasteful to even grace this page with its visage. I dug deep into the hidden stash of yarns behind the sewing table (hoping desperately not to pull out a six or eight legged friend) and found, instead, a pattern booklet that had managed to wedge itself under my nail (hey, take what signs the vindictively odd-humoured god gives ya). On the cover was a seed stitched scarf. The pattern was simple. Easy. No problem. And amazingly...I had the needles and the yarn to use. The book estimated about a week for knitting using super bulky stuff. Mine, was finished in three days...every waking moment that was not consumed with droll day to day activities was spent knitting, other hobbies abandoned, work neglected, and (gasp) television near forgotten--my anal self pulled row after row out, working in a manner befitting the OCD perfectionist I have come to accept as myself, and in the end, I've forgotten if any mistakes were actually made...I'm too afraid to look closely, lest I be tempted to tear it out again...but it's beautiful....Too wide--wide enough to fold over and still be substantial--and perhaps not the desired colour palette, but still of utmost triumphance.

Modeled by my lovely sister, Victoria.