Category: Knitting

Mini Gloves

Mini gloves were a mini project that was completed in a night because I just really wanted to. The project was inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons podcast called Advantage. It’s one of many podcasts that I started listening too, but it’s one that I really enjoy because they have fantastic storytelling.

One of the characters that the four players have been running into recently is a member of the Hundreds and Thousands (i.e. fairies – I think). His name is Orlander and he’s been both a pain in the butt and useful to the players. At some point, one of the characters promised to knit Orlander mittens for winter. So I decided to make some tiny mittens for this imaginary creature. I found some patterns on Ravelry and sort of fudged something together.

One of the reasons for doing this was that I really wanted to finish a knit project. But the other reason was that the makers of the podcast really enjoy their fans. This podcast, together with another that I listen to called How Friends Roll, have started a mutual Discord (Discord is a free communication platform). I’m a member of the Discord and have enjoyed other fan-art too. So I decided to contribute in one of the few ways I know how to, by knitting. It was well received, so I enjoyed both the knitting and the reactions.

Tiny Knits

I had to travel about 7 hours this weekend, so in preparation for such a trip, I downloaded a number of tiny animal knitting patterns. I figured it was more fun to bring a number of different balls of 5-10 grams in different colours, rather than one big ball in only one colour. In the end I managed to knit 5 little ones on the road and a pentapus before I left. The knit critters were  a crab, a whale, a crocodile, an alien and a pig.

All the instructions were followed completely, apart from eyes which were all made with a thick yarn knotted twice.

Teeny Crab by Amanda Berry and Teeny Whale by Amanda Berry.

Baby Gators by Anna Hrachovec

Mini Alien by Barbara Prime and Tiny Piggy by Amanda Berry

The whole gang together! I have some more patterns, so chances are that a mouse or a sheep or a chicken will join the flock…

Pentapus with Eigth Legs

Browsing Ravelry remains dangerous. I was looking for a pattern for a black sheep and found several but then I was blown over by a little pattern for a ‘pentapus‘ by Twice Sheared Sheep (hence why it showed up in my Sheep search). A pentapus is apparently an octopus with five arms. It was so cute that I had to start it right after finding it. It also helped that the instructions claimed that he could be finished in an hour (I’m apparently a slow knitter, because it took me a little longer..).

I did make some changes. The yarn was held double throughout. To create the eight legs, I did not increase to 25 but to 24 stitches, (k1,make bobble, k1) repeat 8 times and decreased from 24 to 20 stitches, in the respective rows. Otherwise I followed all the instructions.
The eyes are made by making a knot in some really thick yarn, then knotting it together in the octopus.

I think he’s really cute.

Grey Scale Sweater

This project got started with the yarn. I saw three shades of grey that I thought would complement each other, so I bought them. In my library of Ravelry, I found a sweater that I liked the look of, the EazySqueezy Sweater. Well, I liked the interpretation of the lady in pink, not the original which was a type of ribbing all the way through. So I decided to attempt to copy her version.

Took a bit of trial and error but eventually settled on 22 stitches and a 1×1 ribbing. Knit to the armhole divide while increasing two stitches every 11 rows. I may have overestimated the length of my arms (or I thought I was a monkey, also possible), the sleeves are very long. However, this is fine as they can be rolled up and now have space to shrink. I may also decide to remove some length if it bothers me too much. Divided for armhole, then divided for the neck hole, all sort of trail and error. Made the front of the neck hole deeper than the back and kept on knitting the top. It took about 2.5 ball of the darkest grey. Then I picked up and knit the medium-grey along the chest hole. I quickly decided to take it in by 10 stitches or so because it was quite wide and continued decreasing for some shaping. Once the one ball of medium grey had been knit, I switched to the light grey. Then increasing again for more shaping and I ended with a high-low ish back, which also helps in identifying the front vs. the back.

I still need to wear it out for a full day, also to test the monkey arms. But I like the colours and the fact that I finally finished a pattern that had been in my library for years now. I also picked up another knit project that had been cornered for a bit again, in hopes that I can continue without straining my wrists/arms too much. Knitting with thicker yarn is easier for some reason.

Knit Bag

It was Mother’s Day yesterday, for the occasion I made a bag for my mum, I am not in any way shape or form expecting her to actually use it. It was a proof of concept experiment.

My mother has indicated in the past that she has an interest in getting a bag that can be converted from a normal carry bag to a backpack. So I googled, visited internet shopping sites and pinterested for a while and found some interesting things (my board). I tried to make one from fabric but got distracted and it’s still in the corner of shame at the moment. However, after I’d finished another knit project, a grey-shades sweater, I wanted to start something else. I still had some very thick yarn in the hoard that I would not know how to use, so I decided, quick stitches = quick project and cast on 22 stitches on size 7 mm needles for the bottom (the yarn indicated 9-10 mm needles).

Knit the bottom in garter and when it was square, (and my green yarn was finished, no more than 50 cm left) picked up stitches on all sides. Those were put onto 10 mm needles and the stitch count was quickly decreased to 16 on all sides. Worked my way up, eventually decreasing two stitches on the two sides to create a pyramid shape. Switched over to the blue yarn when the green/white ran out.

 

 

A zipper was sewn in the top to close the bag and two handles were knitted on. The handles allow one to carry the bag like a shopping bag. Lastly, a long zipper was sewn on as the (backpack)strap. If the zip is closed, you can use it as a messenger bag, if it is open, it is a backpack. Imagine the chair below is a person to visualise the system. The zip is attached at the opposite side of the back, which means that it automatically closes when carried.

So I gave it to my mother yesterday and she thinks it is quite fun in theory, and in practice it may turn out that the holes from the knitting are too large. We will see!

Watermelon Hat & Doggie

Sometimes you (read: I) find a nice ball of yarn in a shop and you just want to have it because it reminds you of a watermelon. Then you wonder what you will do with a ball of very thick yarn in a colour scheme that reminds you of a watermelon. At that point ravelry came around the corner again. I found the Swirly Smooshy Chunky Beanie, which would require only one ball of yarn. So I cast on one night, size 9 needles and I finished the knitting that night. A very quick project indeed. It took a few weeks more to actually finish the project and add a little fluff ball to the top with the leftover yarn. In effect there is only about 6 cm of yarn that have not been used.

Another one night project was a little doggy with its tongue stuck out that I knit while staying with my parents. It found a new home as a present but it was quite fun to see if it would work. I think it did.

Mini Bunny

Sometimes you just really want to do a quick project. So about one episode of Castle ago, I cast on a little bunny. It’s 15 stitches wide and knit in stockinette to a square. Using the Bunnies from a square pattern, I knit up a tiny bunny. I’m claiming it is for Easter, but I just wanted to try out the pattern.

It’s quite cute, and it was a really quick project so that was nice. Who knows, he might get a family in the next few days…

Eighties Revival

Remember all those sweaters I knit? More Grey, Now a Francis, Accidental Harry Potter Sweater, Frankenpatterned Leaves, Holes and Isis Tailcoat? I had a little yarn left over from all of those and decided to patchwork myself a sweater, using an additional ball of purple. It is fairly reminiscent of the enormous sweaters of the eighties, although this one is slightly more fitted. The base patterns are the Knit Crew Sweater and Patchwork Sweater, which I adapted to my liking to fit. These are the notes I made on Ravelry.

It took me a good few times of cast on and frog to get to where I needed to be. The black yarn is slightly thicker than the others, so I could not use my normal amount of stitches. There are some blocks with eyelets (red) and the sleeves have really random patterns. On the front and back are seams cross-stitched together. This is because the method I chose at the start (knitting in the round) does not work as well when you want to change colours. So I decided to knit about twenty stitches in a loose strip that I would seam later. This worked remarkably well. The rest of the sweater is not actually patch worked, it’s just colour changes.

It has been worn and it wears quite pleasantly. The neck is remarkably high, but it does not bother me. We will see how often it actually sees the light of day, because I’m not 100% sure that it is super work appropriate. On the other hand.. How often do I really care about that?!

Right after finishing this one, I frogged a pair of socks and cast on for a new set. They are now slightly beyond the toes, so who knows. I might just finish socks this year.

Isis Tailcoat

One of the first (possibly the first) knitting patterns I bought of Ravelry was the Isis Tailcoat from Kari-Helene Rane (here). This was July 2016 (yes, 2016), and I cast on immediately. You may ask, why are you only now writing about this then? Well… It was in the corner of shame for a long, long time. You see, the body knit up pretty quickly and easily. You basically knit a half circle and then put all stitches on needles and work your way up for the body.

This means that there is basically no way to fit this thing, no seams to take in etc. After I’d finished the body, it did not look good. Because of my sway back, it effectively looked like a potato sack. At some point I added a safety pin to take it in by 10 cm along the centre back. This improved the look, but the thing still ended up on a hanger in the corner of shame. It was quite sad, since I had finished the seaming and most of the finishing on the body, it only needed sleeves.

It took for the Christmas Break to finally get a move on. I cast on those damn sleeves together and knit them up in a few days. Yesterday, I had a pyjama day (hence the dotted pants) and finished knitting the sleeves and put them in. Finished of all the threads and left the collar loose. I stitched the back pleat down so it stays in shape. I do like it now that it is finished, however, I think this is probably a one of a kind thing and I will not be knitting up another tailcoat like it.

In any case, I hope you will end the year well and have a fantastic start to the next one.

Ear Flap Hat

So, what do you do when you agree to meet a friend for a crafty evening but have decided to stay in town to get your hair cut? You buy a ball of yarn and circular needles and take those along. I had wanted to make a hat with ear flaps for a while now, since it is getting colder on my bicycle and my current hat (with owls) doesn’t cover my ears. So I cast on 50 stitches provisionally (I thought I had cast on 55 for some reason – counting is hard) and started knitting. I had about half a hat finished at the end of the evening. The next day I found the tasseled earflap hat pattern on ravelry and wrote my limited notes here.

I recalculated their instructions based on my row gauge and at that point determined that I had failed knitting 55 stitched as I thought. According to my calculations I needed 52 stitches, so I increased a little at the bottom. Then I knit the flaps starting with 12 stitches and decreasing one on each side every knit row. I ended up with two stitches and added a third one in the middle to make the bind of smoother. There were at least three different bind off attempts but in the end the super stretchy bind of was used (where you do a yarn over after the previous stitch, knit the next stitch and slip both over the last knitted stitch). Then I returned to the top, removed my provisional cast on an continued knitting. I decreased five stitches every second row until there were six stitches left over. Then I added a doubled strand of yarn through each of the left over stitches and pulled those tight.

The finishing touches knitting wise included adding the six strands to knit the ear flap closures, making a knot at the top, weaving in my 2 ends from the middle cast on and adding a tag for the back. The ear flaps are more to the back, so I needed to indicate which side needed to be at the back of my hat. I did this with a small bit of spare yarn. It works well!

After my first test drive, I determined that the wind does come through the knitting quite a bit. So I dug through my stash and found some matching fleece fabric to line the ear flaps with. I sewed it in and test drove my hat again on what felt like the windiest second day of Christmas I ever encountered. This was a significant improvement, so I was very happy with this decision. My hair also fits in it, it may not look pretty but it does fit. All in all, not bad for effectively 2 evenings of knitting and about an hour of finishing.