Missing in action

Keeping a commitment to knitting while studying and working full time is harder than I though it would be. Basically I don’t have time to sit down and knit. 

I am hoping to release a new pattern on Ravelry soon but I don’t know when it’ll be written. It’s a cowl in Noro Kibou and so far is called Buxton. 

It’s worked in the round in 4.5mm needles and has a simple lace pattern making leaves appear. 

  

Scandiwegia Revisited

Vanity.

You may remember when I was doing handmade gifts for everyone for Christmas. I made this beautiful hat. I wished I could have kept it. I did write about it here, if you want to read my blog on it.

I promised myself I’d remake it once I had a chance. I was considering what I could change about it, and how to make it more interesting, and then I had the idea of doing it was a rainbow. One day I probably will.

The thing is, I’m not a fan of beanies. However I love berets. So that’s what I did, I tweaked the pattern to make a beret, by doubling the stitches and then following the instructions.

There is a possibility that I’m selling this too. While I was knitting it a friend came up to me and started complimenting it, asking if I’d be willing to sell it. I need money but at the same time I don’t. The real thing is though if I do sell or give away something as simple as a hat I can remake it, I did remake this. And it’s interesting to do a pattern again.

The big rib against the fair isle. I love this.

I love how the grey sets a nice subtle background against the brighter colours. All the yarns are acrylic DK. I used a King Cole Baby Comfort for the grey and the other three were remnants of Phildar Charly, in red, orange and yellow. I used all of the yellow, orange and grey, but still have some red.

I made the rib longer because it was a beret, other wise I followed the pattern almost as printed. When I ran out of grey I used the colours in five row stripes and then finished in red for the decreasing.

The pattern is free from Ravelry, and I really recommend it if you’re looking for a new project. These always come out pretty. It’s here if you’re interested.

I’ve not really got anything else to say, if I’ve forgotton anything it’ll be in my notes. Otherwise you can ask in a comment. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the photos below.

Here you can see the stripes and the top.

And here it was really taking shape.

And an early photo of the fair isle.

Valentine Hat

Valentines day really isn’t my thing. Love should be for every day. Hah, I just don’t see the point of having a special day devoted to tat with hearts and stuff on it, so I made myself a hat, with hearts. That after tomorrow will go away until next winter. Maybe. Nobody seems to associate it with Valentines day, which is awesome. So I’m free to wear it as I please apparently. I’ve been wearing it all week.

So this is that hat, with the hearts, and a pompom.

I used a purple acrylic as a maincolour, I think it’s King Cole Big Value but I can’t be sure. To be honest most acrylics are pretty much the same. And for the hearts I used King Cole Baby Comfort, in the purple colours, it has white, a dark purple and a light purple. Both yarns are acrylic DK weight.

I have a light weight scarf that goes really well with this. The thing behind.

I used to wear this colour a lot which is why I wanted it. The pattern was free from Ravelry, and can be found here, it’s called From Norway With Love. The whole thing is worked on 4mm needles, but I actually worked the main bit in 4.5mm needles because I find sometimes my fair isle is a bit tight. It’s quite a popular patten too, there’s over 1400 projects! Although very few have pompoms, that’s just me being weird again.

I shared this on Facebook and got a very positive response, people really seemed to like it.

And this is my only in progress photo of it. It was a really basic fair isle pattern. If you’re looking to get into colour work and can already knit in the round this would be a good start. I’m tempted to do another one, but I doubt I’d wear it. I’m really not a fan of beanies, and I’ve been forcing myself to wear this a bit to try and get into liking them.

This is my fourth hat of 2015!

And if you want to see my Ravelry notes, they can be found here! I didn’t finish it as quickly as I’d have liked, but three days isn’t bad with work/classes/social life.

Christmas 2014 Gift #4

Christmas hat #4. Probably the most beautiful thing I have ever made. Maybe even better than my Heliopath vest.

This may not look like much, and it may have been made in a cheap acrylic yarn, but it is so amazing. I used Robin Acrylic, which you can get for around £1.50 a 100g ball if you’re lucky. However now I know that this pattern works, and I completely improvised it. I think after Christmas I may make another one for myself in a cotton based yarn. But we’ll see.

And yes, I know I’ve jumped straight from gift #2 to gift #4. #3 is currently being knitted, but I got carried away.

A while back I got a bit obsessed with doilies. You know, like your grandma will have. Or my mum had in disposable paper. I added about two pages to my Ravelry queue. And I have a friend who has an afro, so her hats need to be pretty big, doilies can get big on 2mm needles, so if I do the same thing on 4mm needles, I’m really onto something here!

And then I had insomnia. It happens sometimes, something bugs me and I can’t sleep. I was looking through my queue thinking that I’d get the third hat finished that night when I stumbled across this pattern, that was the one I wanted to make. So without questioning (I’d come downstairs with a bag full of wool in case I wanted to start a new thing or finished the current one) I cast on. I got to round 25, I messed up. I ripped back, I cast on, I started again. Two days later it was finished.

A better view of the lace

My instructions and project notes can be found here, but I’ll also include them in this post for those of you without Ravelry. The pattern is published online at this blog, you don’t need to log in and it’s free.

So I just cast on 8 stitches and went for it, although there is a fancy crochet cast on there. I then worked the doily on 9dpns. (yup…) until round 54. You could stop anywhere listed though for a shorter hat. I put the work onto a 3.5mm circular needle and just knitted in stocking stitch for 6cm. If you want a slouchier hat this is where you add the length. For one round I did knit one knit two together, putting the count from 180 stitches down to 120. I then did 3-4cm of knit one purl one rib, and finished with 5 rounds of stocking stitch to give it a rolled edge before casting off with a super stretchy cast off. Simple once you’ve done the doily.

And from the front. This is such a beautiful photo, apart from the spot. Damn hormones.

Yes, I would make this again, but not in the acrylic yarn, cotton, wool, anything of high quality with a good stitch definition. I’d even be tempted to try it in sock wool. It is so pretty! It’s had a few compliments while in progress. The best one being “How the hell are you doing that?!” as well as the typical pretty ones.

Making a doily into a hat is challenging, but at the end of the day all knitting comes down to mathematics, and that does make it much easier to think like that. Yes, I am crazy.

This was actually very quick to finish, even though it was too big to put in my handbag, I think the attractiveness of it really boosted me on.

I mean, look, if you were knitting this would you be able to stop yourself?

Yeah, towards the end with 180 stitches it was more difficult, but to begin with it grew so quickly, and I think that’s what pushed me to do it so much. And when it was transportable on the circular needles most of the work was already done. I just had a few more cm to do. Although I got a couple of weird looks in the train, but nobody really knits in France.

Socks in progress

I love socks, everyone secretly loves a good pair of knitted socks in non scratchy wool based yarn.

And I love new ideas on how to make socks, different heels, adding a lace motif, stripes, doing the sole and picking up stitches to make a sock… And a great place for finding these things is Knitty. Which is where I found this pattern. Carousel Socks, by Louise Robert.

Effectively these socks are worked flat on two needles, but in a way that joins your flat strip to make a tube. I’d not seen this idea before and I love it. Really it works best with a vargiated yarn that has short stripes to bring out the construction of thse socks.

I’ve had some Adriafil Knitcol Trends for a while that I wanted to make socks out of, I’m worried it’ll felt though, and I thought this would be cool. You can get your own from Deramores. It’s not a cheap wool, but it is 100% wool. And beautiful. My shade is Giotto. However this wool is more of a DK or Aran weight, meaning I couldn’t do this exact pattern but I could tweak it.

So now I’m writing  my own version of this pattern for a heavier weight yarn. I’m not doing too badly. If this comes out nicely I might actually publish my finished version. Enjoy the sneak peak photos below.

I’ve got a birthmark on this foot which is why my heel is a funny colour, but this is how far I’ve got.

And a close up of my pretty stitches.

I finished my Heliopath Vest!

Hanging up and ready to wear. My finished Heliopath Vest.

So there it is. Finished. Done. Sewn in all ends. Worn it.

It’s crazy but this is the first big thing I’ve made for myself in the three years I’ve been knitting. And I’m so proud of it too. It’s not the first thing I’ve made for myself, I’ve done hats, gloves, socks, but I did more things for my kids. And this didn’t actually take too long. The stitch pattern with eyelet lace and cables also kept me amused and the fact it’s a vest means it finishes very quickly. I probably could have done it in two weeks if I hadn’t got distracted by socks.

No makeup, early morning photo.

I used Stylecraft Merry Go Round which I got when I was last on holiday in the UK, around June. I loved the colours, but wasn’t keen on using a 100% acrylic yarn, I’m not that impressed by them, I prefer wool…. But the colours! And it was cheap. I can’t remember how much I paid exactly, I think it was £3 a ball, you can get it here from Deramores for £3.50, which is a great price for something so soft! You get nearly 300m for a 100g ball, and I used just over one for this vest.

And the thing I’ve noticed about this rainbow colour, my shade was actually called rainbow, it goes with nearly every skin tone and with most things, jeans, denim skirts, white shirts, black trousers. It works!

And the pattern is the Heliopath Vest from the Harry Potter Knits that was published in 2013. This is a link to the Ravelry page for more information about the pattern.

  

A photo of me wearing this with a yellow vest top and a mini skirt. Not bad with the vest top…

When it gets to winter I really want to try this over some V necked long sleeved tops, it looks great over shirt collars though.

A nice photo of it laid flat

I wish there was some shaping around the waist, I’ve got a nice silloutte so personally I’m wanting it. I also changed the order of picking up the stitches, doing the button band before the neckband and I love the way it looks! I think the changing colours really add something special to this pattern.

And the buttons

And the buttons. Nothing special, no idea when or where they came from. I stole them from my mother’s button box, there were only six and THANKFULLY this only had six button holes. I had to go right through my box of stolen buttons to find some. I thought purple would look nice. I used blue threat as well too.

   

Super Chunky Cable Hat Pattern

I made a new hat! It’s meant for my brother, but I think it’s too small. I used one ball of a super bulky chunky yarn. It was 100% acrylic and is annoyingly fluffy, but only cost 2€47, for the 100g so I can’t really complain much. You get what you pay for. The wool was by Pingouin and is called Islande, I don’t know if it’s still made because there was only one ball in the shop and it was discounted by 50%.

I’ve not yet washed the hat because I knitted it up and tried it on and it’s a perfect fit for me. However I’ll be hand washing it at some point in the near future and hopefully it will swell enough to fit my brother.

I made the pattern up as I went and can’t remember exactly what I did. I used 5 double pointed needles in 9mm size. They were also discounted. The yarn recommended 10mm needles, and stated the tension of 8 stitches and 12 rows. I haven’t checked my tension but I always seem to match the ball bands exactly. Hopefully that will help you choose a yarn if you’re planning on making this hat. I’d recommend buying two balls though as my one has only left me with about 20cm to spare.

Also, a word of warning, my head is around the size of a young teenager’s so if it fits me chances are it won’t fit a full grown adult, there is however a lot of stretch although I wish the hat was longer. To make the hat longer add an extra cable repeat or two before you start shaping. And as I said before, I’ve not yet washed it and normally they swell after being washed.

Pattern

Using 9mm double pointed needles cast on 56 stitches

Work in knit 4 purl 4 rib for three rows

Cable 2 forwards purl 4 until the end of row

Work six rows in knit 4 purl 4 rib

Cable 2 forwards purl 4 until end of row

Work three rows in knit 4 purl 4 rib

Knit 4 purl 2 together twice until end of row

Work three rows in knit 4 purl 2 rib

Cable 2 forwards purl 2 until end of row

Work three rows in knit 4 purl 2 rib

Knit 4 purl 2 together

Work three rows in knit 4 purl 1 rib

Cable 2 forwards purl 1

K2tog until only four (I think, it may be five or six) stitches remain then cut yarn and pull tight.

 

UPDATE

After washing I found the hat swelled sufficiently to an adult size, so should be good for my brother. Always wash following your ball band instructions.

I found darning in ends with a needle too complicated so I ended up using a crochet hook.

When I went back to the wool shop a week after the promotions had ended and the Islande yarn still existed, full price, but not in the same colour.

Free Knitted Octopus Pattern

My first knitted octopus. He turned out really nicely.

I wanted to do something with some odd wool, I wanted to make a toy for Sandy. I was looking for something small so he could hold it, and something quick so I could finish it. This is the end result. Since then I’ve made four, but two of them don’t have limbs because he was enjoying using them as balls.

They took me around a day to knit each one, but this was knitting while my son was sleeping so they can be done much quicker. I’d guess around four to eight hours.

The wool I used was Phildar Charly, which is 100% acrylic. It comes in 50g balls and it’s really nice and soft, it doesn’t seem to get fluffy either.

The pattern was very simple to follow, all knitted flat in garter stitch and then sewn up. It seems great for beginners because it’s small, quick and easy. Even sewing it up is fully explained. I tweaked it slightly by not using the cardboard stiffener and skipping stuffing the legs. You could also put a big bell inside wrapped in the stuffing to make a little baby rattle.

I did make one of the hats, but it got lost and for a baby it’s not really needed. Although they are so cute. These would have been an awesome stocking filler for christmas too. And even better there’s actually a boy octopus and a girl octopus in the pattern, or a unisex one if you don’t knit the accessories.

So that’s enough of my rambling, you can find the online pattern by Jean Greenhowe here. You can either print it, or work off of the screen like I did.

I’m happy to read your comments and answer any questions you have too. Thanks for reading and happy knitting.

Three little octopi(?) sitting on a chair. I’ve lost the forth one and I don’t know where.