FOs: Winter Hats for the girls

I've been on a hat roll. Nice and quick and usually easy. And especially enjoyable when you use mmmmmmmmmmalabrigo!!

Pattern: Sunflower Tam by Norah Gaughan in Knitting Nature
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in lettuce and blue surf (she requested blue stripes after she saw her sister's blue hat)






Pattern: Yellow Bells Jester Hat by Cosette Cornelius-Bates in Knit One, Embellish Too: Hats Mittens and Scarves with a Twist
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in blue surf
Such a nice easy hat. No increasing or decreasing. Just a tiny bit of k1,p1 rib and the rest is stockinette in the round. Three needle bind off for the top. I found the directions a little unclear on the bind off, but was able to find a method of getting the yarn from/to the right places that worked for me.

PATTERN: Star Struck Wristwarmers

If you're on Ravelry, you can see the project and purchase/download from here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/star-struck-wristwarmers

If not, here's the link to purchase without a Ravelry account needed: http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/prajna-mama/7793

Yarn weight: DK / 8 ply (11 wpi)
Gauge: 5.75 stitches = 1 inch in star stitch
Needle size: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yardage: 100 - 150 yards

This pattern is available for $3.00.

This gender-neutral pattern was written to highlight the special characteristics of a good handspun yarn, but can certainly be knit in a luscious commercial yarn with outstanding results.

This can be mostly knit on an 8 to 12 inch circular (all but the thumb), depending on the size you are making. Otherwise, it can be knit on DPNs, two circulars, or magic looped on a long circular.

I do recommend pointy needles to make the k3togs easier on your hands, especially if you knit tightly.


Many thanks to Rebecca and Kerry for their excellent test knitting/technical review.

WIP Parade

I think I have a bad, bad case of startitis. Sigh.

RPM Socks in Noro Kureyon Sock, colorway S164 from The Loopy Ewe.


Ice My Heart socks (my pattern) in Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Cotton, colorway Carib Blue from The Stitching Post in Centerville, Ohio.


No-pattern longies in multiple yarn odds and ends... aka FrankenLongies


And no progress, but still waiting are:
Francie - sock #2 needs cast on
Plain Ribbed sock - sock #2 needs cast on

52 Pair Plunge II - some FOs and some WIPs

Finished sock #1 of Francie and sock #1 in a simple ribbing in Austermann Step. Need to knit the mates for those.


FO #1 - Crystal Palace Maizy in Sky Blue.



FO #2 - unknown wool

Here's the most recently finished pair, in an unknown worsted weight wool that was gifted to me. Basic sock, CO 24 on size 4US. K2, P2 for 12 rounds. Knit 12 rows in the heel flap. After heel turn and picked up stitches, decreased back to 24 sts, continuing k2,p2 pattern on instep. Worked even until it looked long enough, then decreased for toe down to 8 sts total. Grafted toe.

How exciting!!

I am guesting on the Inspired congo on Hyenacart during June. Some of my knits are listed for sale.

http://hyenacart.com/inspired

Come check out what the Inspired ladies and I have created this month!

52 Pair Plunge II - Sock 0.5 "Francie"

Sock #1 of 2 of first pair finished!!

In Crystal Palace Maizy (corn/elastic nylon) in "sky blue". The yarn was a bit splitty, but not too bad with this pattern. Pattern is Francie.

Here's a link to my project on Ravelry.

I am kind of "meh" about the broken ribbing on the leg. It just doesn't seem to "GO" with the rest of the sock. I don't mean to sound ungrateful for the hard work of the designer, I can just never leave well enough alone. If I were to do this sock again, I would modify the leg to have the same type of V pattern that you see on the foot.

Off the wagon

Yes, I fell off my self-imposed no-spend wagon. To the tune of $82.

But... it's $82 worth of scrumptious sock yarn. From The Loopy Ewe. Dream in Color Smooshy, JKnits Eureka, Noro, and ShiBuiKnits. MMMMMMMMM!!!

Take a few measurements and win some silk/wool

Contest here:

http://knitasaur.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/i-have-creepily-scrawny-wrists/

Show Off Your Socks contest

Neat idea!! Go enter yourself... the contest is open until May 20th and you just email her pictures of the socks you've knit since July 1st, 2007 and she puts up a collage of your socks.

Here is mine: http://teaknit.blogspot.com/2008/05/amy-j.html

PATTERN: Tight Braid Cable Baby Legwarmers

After much testing, revising, test knitting, and retesting... I am releasing my first "for sale" knitting pattern.

Tight Braid Cable Baby Legwarmers

This pattern is available for $3.00 USD.

Pattern to fit a thigh circumference range from 7” to 14”.

The legwarmers are worked starting at the top, inner thigh. The cable braid pattern runs down the outer thigh.

WAHMs are welcome to knit and sell from this pattern, up to 26 pairs per rolling calendar year. Please reference me as the pattern designer, and include a link back to me at http://prajnamama.etsy.com/.

New Heel... well... New-To-Me at least

I just turned the heel on a pair of plain ribbed socks. The ones in the nachtblau (blue night) colorway of Austermann Step. The socks are a simple k3,p1 rib on the leg and instep with stockinette on the sole. I've cast on 72 stitches using the long-tailed cast on method on size 2.25mm circular needles (the pink ones from a Yarn Pirate "Booty Club" shipment from last fall/winter). This is producing a fairly snug sock for my medium-width size 7.5 (US) feet.

Anyway, on to the new-to-me heel. This link was posted on the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry, which is where I was introduced to this type of heel turn.

http://criminyjickets.blogspot.com/2007/08/band-heel-generically.html

There are no gusset decreases in this type of heel, though it is certainly not a short-row heel, either.

The decreases are made during the second half of the heel flap rows, just before you start the heel turn. In a traditional turned heel, you knit the heel flap with no increases or decreases, complete the heel turn, pick up stitches along the side of the heel flap, and end up with a bunch of extra stitches which you then need to decrease at the sides (usually) to get back to your original cast on number of stitches.

So I find that the band heel fits much more snugly than a traditional turned heel, and may be a good option for those that have narrow heels or find traditional turned heels to be too wide/loose/floppy for their specific anatomy.

Here is a picture of the heel just a few rows after I turned it. Click on the picture through to my Flickr account and you'll see the notes that I've added regarding where the decreases, heel turn, picked up stitches, etc are located.

WIPs and FOs

I've finished three washcloths/dishcloths over the weekend. One each from the following patterns: Transformers, Skully, and No Holes Dishcloth.

There is errata for the Transformers dishcloth on row 25. It should read:
MB4, K3, P5, K5, P1, K2, P3, K2, P1, K5, P4, K3, MB4

I also made two soap bags (for mom and for MIL) for Mother's Day and picked up some cold process soap at a local farmer's market on Saturday morning to put inside the bags. The pictures I took of them are horrendous, so I will spare you all that pain.

I currently have four projects on my needles (only four!):
+ A Baby Surprise Jacket in Lion Brand Homespun on size US13 (9.0mm) needles for myself.
+ A pair of plain ribbed (k3,p1) socks in the "nachtblau" colorway of Austermann Step yarn.
+ A toddler hat that I am designing.
+ A toe-up pair of socks with a large and simple heart design in lace.

Pure Insanity

I have GOT to be totally, certifiably INSANE, right?

Before you go saying "YES" just on the basis of what you already know about me... let me tell you why even *I* think I'm insane now.

I just signed up for round 2 of the 52 Pair Plunge. I am challenging myself to knit 52 pairs of socks in one calendar year (midnight 1 June 2008 - midnight 1 June 2009). That is one pair per week.

I.N.S.A.N.E.

FO: Fingerless Fishtail Mitts

GREAT pattern from Knitting Pattern-a-Day: 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar.

Used US 6 / 4.0 mm Clover bamboo DPNs. In the "American Beauty" colorway of worsted Malabrigo. Or should I say MMmmmmmmalabrigo?

I ended up with 9 pattern repeats total. 4 before the thumbhole, 1 for the thumbhole, and 4 after the thumbhole. I saw some fingerless mitts my cousin-in-law knit based on the Koolhaas hat stitch pattern that nearly covered her fingers and that got my head thinking about needing fingerless mitts with a bit more coverage than my fetching mitts.

FO: PIE blanket

Just finished this up and turned it over yesterday. I knit this as a donation to my company's United Way Auction. Basically, I donated a "hand knit item of your choice". The person that bid on and won my item got to decide what type of item they wanted, with some input from me as to suitable yarn choices/exact patterns. This is for his sister-in-law, who is expecting a baby in March.

Here's the original pattern: http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/pie/pie.html

I knit it on US 10.5 circular needles (knit picks nickel plated options) using ALMOST 5 hanks of knit picks bare superwash merino.

Because I'm a geek like that, I calculated how long it took me to do a row and then multiplied out from there to get an approximation of the time spent knitting... 26 hours.

Here's a closeup of the stitch pattern.

FO: Soaker Sack for Angel

And here's my most recent finished object... a soaker sack (think cloth diaper cover meets newborn gown) as a baby present for Angel's baby girl to be.



I started it as a crocheted soaker sack using Patti Gonsalves' pattern. Realized about 3/4 through that I would run out of yarn. So I frogged the whole thing and cast on to knit it instead. I combined the waistband from the Curly Purly soaker pattern and then winged the rest of it. Came out pretty well and it's already in Angel's hands. The yarn is handdyed by Jessica of Baby Black Sheep.

WIP: A's killer bees sock

And here's a picture of sock#1 of the pair - prior to my first "too tight" bind off attempt.



I am happy to report that I was able to tink (un-knit, "knit" spelled backwards) the tight bind off and bound off using the combo of rivki and miri's advice. And the sock fits. It has been washed and is currently drying.

I am using the Seeded Ribbing pattern stitch from Charlene Schurch's book, More Sensational Knitted Socks. I seriously love this book. I have made the majority of the handknit socks I've done from this book. Using US1 (2.25mm) Harmony 32" fixed circular needle from Knit Picks, magic looping. Getting 9 stitches per inch, cast on 56. A's foot is 6" long and 5.75" circumference. Long and skinny like daddy's feet. Grandma S calls them "expensive feet" and I agree.

TIP: Very.Stretchy.BindOff

I did my first toe-up sock (for my preschooler, A) and bound off using a traditional bind off in what I thought was a loose manner. I mean, I knit the sock on a US1 (2.25mm) needle, so binding off with a US3 would be nice and stretchy, right? Wrong. Wouldn't go on over her heel. Very disappointed little girl.

So, as any good sock knitter would do, I consulted the ladies in the SKA. That's Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry. I thought I would compile the responses I received and share them with you.

pgprcrst8n: "look for EZ’s sewn bind off. It’s what I use for my toe-ups. Works great."

rivki: "Knit your first stitch. Knit your second stitch. * You have two stitches on your right needle. Slip the second stitch back to the left needle. Slip the first stitch back to the left needle. Knit both stitches together through the back loop. You’ll have one stitch on your right hand needle. Knit your next stitch. * Repeat the steps between the astericks around the cuff."

Miri: "I speed up the k2togtbl [that rivki describes] by not bothering to slip stitches back to the left hand needle. With stitches on the right, just slip the point of the left needle into the fronts of those stitches (now it looks just the same as if you’s slid the right needle into the backs of 2 stitches on the left) and knit them."

MomofTwins: "I have 2 favorites. 1) A Hemmed cuff. Looks fabulous, adding a professtional touch to the sock. And is quite comfortable. Although will mean a bit more knitting. and 2) a Tubular Bind off. It too looks quite nice. It is a “mantra” bind off like the Kitchener stitch (knit/purl/purl/knit). But is nice and sproingy (if you don’t pull too hard) and looks good too. I hope this is helpful. Here are some links: Tubular Bind off instructions

willknit4food: "I love Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Stretchy Sewn Bind off. It is easy as pie and wonderful! Copied from Weebleknits blog:

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Sewn Cast off from Knitting Without Tears

Break yarn, leaving a tail about 4 times as long as the circumference of the sock. Thread a tapestry needle.

• sew forward (right to left) through two stitches as if to purl, leave the stitches on. Sew backward (left to right) through one stitch as if to knit and remove the stitch. Repeat from * until you run out of stitches. Work in tail on the inside of the sock and trim any excess.

Denise’s variation for circular knitting (from http://www.socknitters.com): For the very first stitch only, after you go backwards through it, do not remove it, instead move it to be the last stitch on the final needle. It will then become the final stitch to be cast off. This gives a neater finish to the end of the round."

purplemelly: Definitely EZs sewn bind off. There’s a great article on Knitty of different bind offs and it has this one. Linky It’s the last technique on the page.

FO: Catching up

An wee tiny sock in Knit Picks Essential in "grass".




A *pair*, yes, a PAIR of Nine to Five socks in Knit Picks Essential in "grass".






Again, a *pair* of Fuzzy Feet slipper socks in Patons SWS in "natural plum".
--before felting


--after felting

Charity Auctions for Yvonne

Please check these out and bid if you are able!

http://hyenacart.com/Charity_raffles/
http://hyenacart.com/DivaDesigns/

Your generosity will help Yvonne and her family recover from a fire that caused the loss of their family's business and primary income.

Help support my friend Yvonne

Yvonne's family business (their main source of income) was severely damaged in a fire. Story here. Yvonne is a WAHM that makes gorgeous hand crocheted play food in addition to sewn items that I am lucky to have known. Take a minute to visit Yvonne's Hyenacart at Diva Designs. She is Cuddlebub Creations.

Our friend Cynthia of Rumpknits is also trying to help Yvonne and her family. Click here to find out how.