Pattern: Top Down Bonnet
Yarn: 1/2 a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Black Purl
Needles: 3 mm circs
I think I’ve found my new go-to pattern for baby hats. Previously, it was a simple ribbed-hem watch cap with a pompom and i-cord ties, but this pattern’s a) much cuter; b) a little more interesting than the usual round-and-round-and-round; c) much cuter. It’s actually constructed more or less like a sock toe, with the addition of a few decreases at the back to make it more head-shaped.
The yarn’s ball band states the same gauge as the pattern, but I like my Lorna’s knit a little tighter. Rather than resorting to fancy math, I just followed the numbers for the child’s size instead of the newborn’s. It worked, I think, as the finished hat looks about the right size for a tiny person who should make her appearance in the dead of winter.
I’m tempted to cast on for another. I have a mitten, a sock, and a bolero on the needles, though, so perhaps I should exercise some willpower instead and give one of those some attention.
Nov 18th, 2009 @ 6:53 pm |
3 Comments
I did little to no fibrecrafting over the summer, but I’ve been happily knitting away since the leaves started to change. I guess the fibre stash felt neglected, because when I opened the closet in my craft room last weekend, a braid of fibre flung itself from the top shelf directly onto my head. Other braids seem to have moved themselves perilously close to the edge, ready for flight, in case one alone wasn’t enough to convince me.
One was all it took, though, especially since the fibre in question was a lovely, butter-soft handpainted merino from FreckleFaceFibres.
I spun both bobbins of thick singles the same day; that’s likely business as usual for more experienced spinners, but rather an accomplishment for me since a) I’m a beginniner; b) I’m slower than cold molasses. I almost plied it later that evening, but decided to let my hands and the singles rest. Plied it later that week, instead.
After finishing, I had 140 yards of chunky-weight 2-ply; it’s currently on the needles, being knit into a pair of subtly-striping, ridiculously soft mitts. It’s not my most consistent skein of handspun, but definitely the squishiest. I really worked at keeping a light grip on the fibre and spinning the singles with less twist than usual. It seems to have made a big difference in how the yarn feels and how it behaves (namely: better, on both fronts), but my drafting suffered a bit for it.
As far as the knitting goes, I seem to be in sweater mode after three triangular scarves (one of which still needs to be bound off and blocked). I’m about half-done an improvised superchunky bolero, and I’ve also been gearing up to cast on for Chic Knits’ Twist. I’m planning on some pattern mods that should result in a cardi that’ll fit now and yet still be wearable when I’ve lost more weight.
… I never thought I’d be able to class a sweater as a stashbuster, but, well, the yarn I’m planning to use has been in my possession without a planned project for quite a while.
On a final (non-yarny) note, I’m not sure what’s up with my hosting services, but pages are taking an absolute eternity to load on this site. I won’t even mention how long it took to get to the update page, let alone to get through all the previewing and re-writing I tend to do with any entry I post.
Pattern: Based on Little Coffee Bean
Yarn: Patons Decor, less than 1 ball each of Aubergine and Winter White
Needles: 3.75 mm and 5 mm
Behold the power of stripes. I’m not sure what it is, but doing something as simple as changing colours every two rows somehow seems to make a project fly off the needles. A little aran-weight stockinette cardigan isn’t usually much of a time investment to begin with, really, but this one almost seemed to knit itself.
Pattern specified buttons all the way down the front, but I thought it’d be cute with just three closely-placed ones instead. Buttons are vintage, too, but I’m not sure of their original source.
Am pleased with how clean the button bands turned out. I rarely knit anything that requires button bands, but I haven’t dreaded picking up stitches along a vertical edge since I stumbled across a rows-to-stitches ratio that works well every time, and allows for a band that both lies flat and looks neat along the join.
I’m honestly not a fan of the yarn. Much more of a natural-fibres girl, I guess. There are some synthetic and synthetic blends that I like–Sirdar Snuggly is good for tiny-person knits–but Decor makes my teeth hurt (please tell me that makes sense to someone). It’s popular around here, though, and this little sweater is for the LYS.
The first one worked up so fast that I think I’m going to have to knit a second, in different colours and with a few more pattern mods. Next time around, I think I’ll change the YOs to M1 increases on the last right-side row before splitting the sleeves from the body. The underarm seam, although small, was rather fiddly and imprecise with the YO holes around it.
Oct 20th, 2009 @ 10:13 pm |
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Pattern: Ishbel, from Ysolda’s Whimsical Little Knits
Yarn: Fleece Artist Somoko, about 3/4s of a skein
Needles: 4mm KP Options
I’d had Ishbel in my Rav queue for ages without being able to settle on a yarn, and I’d had the Somoko in my stash for ages without being able to settle on a pattern. Putting them together resulted in loveliness. Quickly-knitted loveliness, too–on and off the needles in just four evenings. Not bad for a slow-to-average knitter.
Somehow, despite using the recommended needle size & yarn weight, and despite the shawlette blocking out to a little larger than the pattern’s stated dimensions, I only used about 275-ish yards of yarn rather than the stated 330. Had I known (I had an inkling, but didn’t want to push my luck) that was going to be the case, I’d have knit the small stockinette and large lace rather than small for both. I’d've had more than enough.
I love the shape of it, how the ends curl up and drape around my shoulders better than a straight-edged triangular shawl. And it does drape beautifully; the silk in the yarn adds sheen and a touch of crispness, and the merino and kid mohair make for softness and strength. I’m perfectly willing to forgive it for knitting up more variegated than it looked in the skein, because it’s pretty, regardless.
… So what’s next? I’m not sure. Am pondering a cardigan, but I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the past few months. I intend to keep losing, so garment sizing is still a bit of an issue. (The Carolyn cardigan I knit myself last November is hilariousy huge on me now; I may try to felt it down to my current size and wear it as a jacket. Also, the Taiyo shrug I started several months ago has been frogged because of fit problems.)
Hmm. Rather than fiddling with sizes, I may indulge in a smaller project–the temperature’s been steadily dropping over the past couple of weeks and I have a serious lack of knitted handwarmers.
Pattern: Springtime Bandit
Yarn: 4 balls of Patons Angora Bamboo in Echinacea
Needles: 4 mm KP Options
First FO in months, yay! I’ve been knitting regularly again since September, but alternating bouts of startitis and frogitis kept me from making much identifiable progress. I’m usually more process than product, but it does feel good to finish something.
I swapped out the recommended aran weight yarn and 5.5 mm needles for worsted on 3.75 mm, aiming for a smaller, more densely knit scarf. It ended up just the right size to tuck inside my coat, so I’m labelling it a success. It clashes less with my plum-coloured winter coat than my orange Swallowtail, too. (Not that that’s going to stop me from wearing said Swallowtail…)
The yarn’s nice and soft, although heavier than expected. It worked just fine in a small project, but I’m not sure how it would fare in a sweater or another larger project. It also fluffs like crazy, meaning I had to take frequent breaks–I can wear angora just fine, but knitting with it sometimes makes my eyes sting and sinuses congest from all the fuzz floating in the air.
The original pattern had the lower edges more or less straight, but I couldn’t resist pulling out the points just a little during blocking.
I have another triangular scarf on the needles right now, too. Ishbel, in deep gold Fleece Artist Somoko. Time to get back to it, I think.
The leaves are turning, and I’m thinking wool.
Life has finally settled down into a comfortable routine, and I’ve been able to spend some serious time in my shiny new craft room. Instead of it all being crammed into drawers and boxed up in corners, I have clear storage containers and shelving and a bookshelf just for my sewing patterns and knitting books.
Because I can never seem to work on just one thing at a time, I have a sock, a lace scarf, and a baby tunic vest on the needles. The vest is getting the most attention because it sort of has a deadline, and also because I love the yarn I’m using for it–pink Karabella Aurora 8 that I snagged on Rav.
… I hope the mom likes pink. I tend to avoid traditional gendered colours where baby knits are concerned, but the colour in question is such a lovely bright shade. The pattern is sorta improvised–I used the cast-on numbers and stitch pattern from a Sirdar cardigan pattern, but am changing the collar, lowering the hem, omitting the sleeves, and adding ribbing to the armscyes. Haven’t decided yet whether I’ll add a tie around the waist or just change around the buttons.
I anticipate a lot of knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing, and writing this winter. I love my new place so much I’m rather reluctant to leave it in the evening, even for knit night. I can joyfully run around like a headless chicken all day, but when the sun sets, I mostly just want to be home. <3
The cats love it here, too. Stevie especially likes his view of the backyard.
Let me explain.
For the past year, I’ve been somewhere I didn’t want to be. The rush of happiness a new degree and new career had brought me started to fade steadily after a couple of months living in my parents’ basement again. I knew I had to wait it out, and that I wouldn’t be working casual or on-call forever, but I guess there was only so much time I could spend in an environment that’s unhealthy for me before I started to become, well, unhealthy again. I had the anxiety disorder pretty much under control while I was working on my degree–proof that it’s not “just” stress-related like some people like to think (and declare)–but it crept into the back of my mind again, and then, came forward and hit me with a vengeance.
It’s been a rough couple of months, hence the blog silence. But then, a few weeks ago, life suddenly went into hyperdrive and it’s like everything came together all at once. I want to ramble and shriek for joy, but I doubt I’d make any sense at the end of it all.
Let me just sum up: a full-time posting came up in my department, I was the “successful applicant” and love my new position, and in two weeks I’m moving into a beautiful little duplex, with big windows, a backyard, and an extra bedroom (read: craft room).
Wow.
<3
Jul 18th, 2009 @ 7:35 pm in
life outside |
10 Comments
Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl
Yarn: Handspun (Fleece Artist BFL Sliver)
Needles: 3.25 mm
I cast on for this in March a day or two after spinning the yarn, then almost immediately got sidetracked and set it aside. It was buried in the WIP basket until this past weekend, when I hauled it out and figured I’d do another few repeats and call it done. Considering the amount of yarn I had left, I may have been able to squeeze out one more repeat, but even without, it blocked out to a perfectly serviceable scarf size.
The second skein of yarn turned out much more purple than the first; I think that would have bothered me had I been knitting the shawl from commercial yarn, but with my own handspun, surprisingly, I didn’t mind at all. I like how it turned out, and it’ll likely get a lot of wear in the fall and early spring, when it’s chilly enough to need something but not cold enough for a thick scarf.
And now, I have a freshly-blocked lace cowl that needs seaming. Haven’t decided yet if I want to write up the pattern yet–it’s simple, but I kinda like it.
Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: For the striped version, less than 1/2 a skein each of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Light Blue (204) and Chocolate (011); for the purple, 1/2 a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Black Purl
Needles: 2.5 and 3 mm
It appears I’m all about the tiny hats this week. I’ve been watching new DVDs of a favourite TV series, and these little projects have been absolutely perfect as mindless-but-adorable knitting.
I started with the cast-on numbers from an old Sirdar pattern, but improvised the rest, and now have a nice default 3-6 months’ size hat pattern I can knit until my fingers fall off or I get tired of it, whichever comes first**. It’s knit flat rather than in the round–I’m one of those knitters (making up approximately 0.0003% of the current world string-bearing population) who actually enjoys mattress stitch, and I like the rhythm of back-and-forth stockinette as much as in-the-round stockinette, too.
** It appears I’m heading toward the former conclusion rather than the latter, because I have a third hat finished but not photographed, a fourth on the needles, and yarn beside me for a fifth.
Edited 23/05/09:
And I now have another two hats done, but since it’s been less than 24 hours I’m appending them to this post rather than making a new one.
Same pattern and same needles as before, but different yarns. The red was knit with Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Wild Cherry, and the other with Opal Harry Potter in Lupin. I love how the colour repeats on the Opal worked out–the ribbing on the bottom has the same part of the colourway as the crown, and all the rest is sandwiched in between.
As far as the CTH, well, I’m seriously wondering why that skein in particular has been just sitting in the stash. The reds are gorgeous. I think I’ll use a pair of simple anklets as a reason to try out my new HiyaHiya circs.
… Or I might knit that fifth hat.
Pattern: Hat C from Sirdar 3149
Yarn: 1 skein of Koigu KPPPM
Needles: 2.5 and 3 mm
After an aborted pair of socks and two aborted scarves, the Koigu finally decided it would be happy as a hat. Not another Purl Beret, but a tiny hat, instead. I love little knits in bright colours.
The button has a snowflake on it, but I couldn’t get an adequate close-up. The angle of the photo also makes the hat look shorter than it is.
I’d usually block a baby hat over a balloon blown up to desired size; couldn’t find any, though, so I used a bowl. As a result, the hat is slightly bigger than I’d intended, sized more in the 6-12 months range than the 3-6 months I’d been planning. I may reblock, or I may leave it as is, for a small head to grow into.
Because the colours are most definitely springlike–the purples, oranges, and yellows coordinate nicely with the pansies that’ll be blooming soon in my backyard–I’m calling it my first submission for Project Spectrum’s East quarter.
