Doctor Who Scarf Saga: Gray Scale pt 2

I kept on trucking with the Season 13 monochrome variant, and this is how it went. 

Dec. 3rd, 85"

Dec. 4th, 114"

I thought I had another shot of it on Dec. 5th, at 152 inches, but apparently not. By that day, I could see that I was coming into the home stretch and was getting sort of frantic about it. This scarf was like crack cocaine--I stayed up too late, didn't eat much & just kept on stitching. Everywhere I went, on the bus, on breaks at work, EVERYWHERE. 

I was so elated when I bound off the very last row right before  my shift started at Ho-Livier's that I had to take a pic without weaving in the ends...

Dec. 6th--D-Day!! 167" before blocking & adding tassels

I wasn't going to block it, but I didn't like the way the yarn was creasing

I am so neurotic. I know these color changes are not bad but they kinda make me wanna rip the whole thing back & do it over...

I really need better lighting, you can barely make out the 6" tassels I added..

So here's a close-up.

I used Deborah Norville Everyday Soft Worsted Acrylic Yarn (2 balls each of the Black & Steel, and 1 ball of the Mist),  and when I finished the actual knitting, I noticed that the scarf was quite stiff and had some creases in it that I was unhappy with. Since the yarn is machine washable, I put it in the washing machine (on warm) with a load of clothes, and then hung it to dry. According to the label on the yarn, it is also possible to put it in the dryer, so when it hadn't dried after a few hours (it is cold today!!) I put it in the dryer on low heat with a dryer sheet & a dry towel for about 10 minutes. I came out nice & soft & the blocking makes the ridges in the knitting pop out a lot more. 

I'm thrilled to death with how this turned out & so is my client!

Now I'm heading back to the needles to start working on a Season 18 Replica Scarf!

Doctor Who Scarf Saga: Gray scale pt 1

I was recently commissioned to make a Season 13 4th Doctor Scarf in a monochrome (black to light gray) color scheme. My little fingers were trembling with anticipation as I ordered this beautiful Deborah Norville Everyday Soft Worsted Weight Yarn from Herrschner's & I was giddy for it as the days passed and I tracked my package with mounting impatience.  It felt better than Christmas when I was walking out of the house to enjoy some Wednesday Bus Glam on my way to Ho-Livier's and spotted a package on my porch!!

Open Up!!

Or should I say Allons-y?

Needless to say, I emptied my bag of my previous project & grabbed a ball of each color of yarn and immediately began working on it as soon as I boarded the bus.

I'm using the pattern found Here, which calls for a pair of needles to hit a gauge of  5 stitches per inch & cast on 45 stitches, giving you a width of 9 inches. With the yarn I have, that translates into working with  a pair of size 8 US (5 mm) needles & 41 stitches per row. 

 I stitched a bit more on it to and from work on Thanksgiving & Black Friday after I got home and on Saturday morning, I'd gotten about this far:

19 inches in 3 days..

Mercifully, I was restaurant-free for the rest of the weekend & by Sunday, I'd come a long way, baby..

Can you make out that blurry 42? It's the meaning of life & erry thang

Here we are on Monday & we've surpassed my 60" measuring tape....

Can't wait to weave in all these ends...

!!!

I find myself once again restaurant free this evening, so maybe I'll fire up the DVD player & watch some of the stories that featured this scarf. I don't have much time to dawdle, as I'm doing a Season 18 replica scarf for another of my fellow Whovians next!!

Eyelet Lace Insanity!

I've been so busy learning new, exciting knitting techniques that I haven't been updating as often as I should, but here goes!

As you may have seen on my FB Page I have been working on a new line of shawls, based on  an eyelet lace pattern that  found here.

But today's spotlight is on my latest, which incorporates another new technique I learned, thanks to Eunny Jang & co on Knitting Daily: Short rows!

I was really intimidated by working short rows at first, but once I got the hang of it, I could not stop! This project is slightly serendipitous, because the flounced collar that I used was originally intended to be a full scarf, (like the one that you can download for free after registering here)  but I ran out of yarn & just bound it off, unsure of what to do with it. Then after doing some research on how to pick up & knit stitches, I decided to give it a try, using 36" Size 13 (US) needles, and a bulky white white Lion Brand "Homespun" Yarn:

As I began to run out of white yarn, I decided to switch to a contrast color

This is how it turned out

As you can see, I used a novelty yarn for the last few rows for a fun, whimsical border!

Here is another shawl type capelet that I made, utilising the same techniques:

The eyelets are not as obvious on this black mannequin, but up close they are gorgeous!

Coaster Magic!

I recently discovered the wonderful show, Knitting Daily, hosted by Eunny Jang. The tips and techniques she shares are a godsend, and have really helped me step up my stitch game.

I made the following coasters based on the pattern found here; I altered the pattern slightly as I was working double-stranded and felt the initial increases should be a little more gradual. Until I made these coasters, I was very intimidated about using increases & decreases in my knitting, worrying that I would ruin my work, but these turned out great, don't you think?

The coasters are available in sets of four for only $12. Feel free to request your own colors!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/156022804/diamond-shaped-knitted-coasters?

My First Skirt

A friend contacted me recently and asked if I could make her a skirt out of scarves. I didn't have enough scarves of matching lengths to do what she was asking, but I'd made a bunch of 10 stitch by 10 row squares awhile back. I suggested that I could sew a few of them together to make her a patchwork skirt.

When I asked how long she wanted it to be & she said "Long enough to cover my ass but too short for me to bend over all the way," I thought, this is the perfect client!!!

She found a skirt she already had of that description and gave me the measurements.

This is the front...

....and this is the back.

I intentionally gave the impression of a split skirt

...And this is how it looks all seamed up

I was really kind of scared about doing this, as I've never actually made clothing before. But I think it's a good start, and while this skirt may not be for everyone, it really did turn out a lot fiercer than I'd hoped. 

Coo Coo For Coozies

I've been compulsively knitting coozies since the last post, in all sorts of new & exciting stitches. Cables, ribs, the trinity stitch, erry thang. Learning to do the 4-stitch cable from the last post was a great starting point for me. As I kept working the pattern, I started wondering how it would turn out if I left out the cabling step and just kept alternately knitting & purling on opposite sides & that's how I figured out how to do what I believe is called a rib stitch:

Even softer to the touch than it looks...

The pattern I created for this was:

CO 10

Row 1: Slip 1 PW, P 2, K 4, P2, K1

Row2:  Slip 1 PW, K 2, P4, K3

Repeat until you can stretch your coozie round your favorite cup, then bind off to where the long end of your yarn is on the opposite side from the one you started with. Use your yarn needle to seam the two ends together & BOOM.

My favorite part about making these coozies is that by the time I start to get tired of whatever stitch I'm dealing with, the project's finished & I have a cute little piece of functional art to sell!

I have done a lot of variations on the 4-stitch cable, but when I had initially looked up cable knitting, I saw that there were loads of different kinds & I've been curious about something I saw called a staghorn stitch. I immediately dismissed it as too complicated, but since I've been pumping these coozies out (eww doesn't it sound nasty like that) at the rate of a few a day, my confidence has increased a lot, so I found a pattern I could understand here and I adapted it to work with this Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn. As you can see, the original pattern calls for you to CO 20 stitches, with the cable taking place over 16 stitches, between 2 selvedge stitches on either side. I used half as many stitches in the repeat part of the pattern, so I call this Sammi Kat's Half-Stag:

CO 12 stitches

Rows 1, 3, 5 (WS) Slip 1 PW, k1, p8, k2

Row 2: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k2, C2B, C2F, k2* p1, k1

Row 4: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k1, C2B, k2, C2F, k1* p1, k1

Row 6: Slip 1 PW, p1,* C2B, k4, C2F,* p1, k1

This is what it looked like after 6 rows:

I sort of lost the plot somewhere along the line (I think i cabled back when I wasn't supposed to, sigh...) but I think it still works:

A good 1st effort, no?

After I finished this, I thought I'd add a bit more to the pattern:

Row 8: Slip 1 PW, p1,* C2F, k4, C2B,* p1, k1

Row 10: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k1, C2F, k2, C2B, k1* p1, k1

Row 12: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k2, C2B, C2F, k2* p1, k1

This way, instead of just making those kind of V shapes, the pattern creates a sort of diamond effect:

You can kinda see where I got a lil wonky with this one too...

...but it looks fierce from here!

They are available on etsy for $10 each or a set of 5 for $35!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/130138754/drink-covers-in-mardi-gras-colors

I'm not listing every single one of these things on etsy this minute, but you can contact me to order specifics!

Cable Knitting...A New Adventure!

Leaving a comfort zone is never easy, but in my quest to find new knitted all-weather knitted items to make, I came across a cup-cozy pattern that incorporates cables, my worst nightmare!

Well, this sent me down a youtube rabbit-hole of cable knitting videos (with varying degrees of usefulness) and now, after several false starts, (and by several I mean like I pulled this damn swatch back like a dozen times) I think I have a good grip on 4-stitch cabling. Part of the process of learning to make these cables is also learning to read & interpret patterns/charts, so in that respect it is like language-learning to me...exhilarating yet scary, but damn if it don't feel good when you get it right!

I adapted this swatch from the pattern & video you can find on my new fave knitting website:

http://newstitchaday.com/4-stitch-cable/

For this swatch, I cast on 10 stitches (the pattern calls for a repeat on multiples of 8, so I added two stitches for a garter selvedge) and I alternated C4B & C4F in row 5. This little swatch only measures about 8" x 1":

This is the front

...and this is the back

I still have a long way to go to perfecting this cabling thing, but I think this is a good start. Coozies, here I come!! (And it's not often I say that....)

Ooh PS I decided to bind off the swatch right there & test it as a sort of pre-coozie (oof I really don't like how that sounds, but there you have it):

Saving the world really does make me thirsty tho...