Category Archives: Knitting


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apparently…

…Mondays in my house are for knitting baby hats.

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Last Sunday night I decided that I wanted to knit something girly.  We still don’t know the sex of the baby, and everything I’ve knit so far has been unisex, on purpose.  But what if we have a little girl?  I was really struck with the idea of having something frilly and feminine that I made for her.  I knew just the project- a lacy little bonnet from a book I already owned.

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As soon as I’d grafted the toe on my father-in-law’s first sock I ran upstairs to my office to find the book, because I knew there was no way I was doing anything else the next day but knitting a girly hat.  Only- I couldn’t find the book.  I’ll spare you the recap of my repeated mad dashes through the house, but suffice it to say that after searching my office 10 times, the basement 6 times, and various other rooms in the house 5 times each, I finally found the book, 2 minutes before I collapsed into bed, in the office of all places.

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My original yarn choice was a vintage ball from my grandmother’s stash.  I liked the idea of my grandmother’s yarn adorning my (possible) daughter.  I wound and measured a few options but single, unmatched ball only had 120-140 yards, and the pattern called for about 240 yards.  I had to give up on a wool blend and dove into my cotton bin.  That’s where I found this Tahki Cotton Classic yarn that I’d won in a blog contest a few years ago.  I had 2 full skeins, each had about 108 yards.  I also had a few other colors, so I knew that if I ran short at the very end, I could bind off with another color of the same yarn.  Perfect!

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I didn’t want to use ribbon ties like the original pattern, so I went through Ravelry looking for cute knitted flowers.  I chose these flowers from a free online pattern and deliberately left enough yarn lengths for the tails so that I could work a twisted cord from them without having to reattach yarn (and have a possible weak point).  I made the twisted cords about 7″ long so they would be long enough to tie under baby’s chin but still be shorter than the 12″ safety standards for cords and babies.

Strangely enough, even with working the flowers and ties with the main yarn, I only used 3/4 of 1 skein.  I have no idea how that happened.

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I didn’t block it because it’s 100% cotton and is going to adapt to the baby’s head anyways, so why bother.  I’ll wash it with the other handknits shortly before the baby’s birth, and if we have a boy then this will go in the gift pile.  Someone will have a girl, someday.

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I love the flower on the back of the bonnet- too cute!

Pattern:  Lacy Bonnet by Erika Knight (Ravelry link), from Knitting for Two.  I used Flowers in Bloom by Alison Reilly (Ravelry link) for the flowers.

Size:  one size.  My guess is about 6 months, which will put this at a perfect cotton summer bonnet (if we have a girl)

Yarn:  Tahki Cotton Classic, 100% mercerized cotton, about 3/4 of a ball.

Needles: 3.75mm and 3.5mm

Dates:  November 10 2008 – this took under 4 hours including finishing

Modifications:  I added the twisted cord ties with the flowers on the ends, instead of using a ribbon.

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here for the hat, and here for the flowers.


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a finished- no, unfinished- no, FINISHED hat

Look- I made a hat!

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Jakob is officially in daycare.  Last Monday was his first day, and while there are still some kinks to be worked out as he gets used to them and they get used to him, all-in-all it has gone very well.  Some mornings he runs into the class before realizing he’s not with me and starting to cry, and other times he cries and clings and reaches out so pitifully when the teacher manages to pull him away, that my heart hurts for a few seconds.  When I pick him up he’s quick to adapt, crying at first as he runs to me, but the second he’s in my arms he turns on the charm, grinning and waving good-bye and blowing kisses to everyone around.  He’s also been more cuddly than usual but I would never complain about that!

At his “school” there are cubbies for each kid where the parents leave changes of clothes, outdoor shoes, sippy cups, etc.  I need to leave a hat for him.  It occurred to me that I didn’t have a hat for him!  Sure, he’s still got some baseball-style caps that fit him, plus that fisherman’s looking thing, but all his “Winter” hats he grew out of last year.  So last Monday I went to spend some knitting time at Maaike’s and swatched for a simple ribbed hat.

Note to self: listen to Ann Budd.  Ann Budd knows from what she speaks.

See, I’m a cocky knitter.  Wait-that came out wrong.  What I mean is, I’m adventurous.  I’m bold.  I’m daring.  I’m not afraid of trying new things.  I’m also not afraid of whipping up a pattern if it will be faster than trying to find what I want online or in print.  So when I decided to knit Jakob a hat I didn’t go looking in Ravelry or in my vast collection of patterns to see what I could find.  Instead I just swatched, made a plan, and cast on.

Let’s forget the fact that my first attempt had too many stitches cast on because I’d forgotten how rediculously stretchy a simple 2×2 rib is.  I remeasured, restarted, and fixed the problem.  I even tried the new version on him when it was about 2″ high, to make sure of the fit.  He kept pulling it off and making angry faces at me, but the width was good, so I settled down to concentrate on the length.

This is where I should have listened to Ann Budd.  A quick glance at the hat page in A Knitter’s Handy Pattern Guide (or whatever it is called) showed that for my gauge, and for a hat of approximately the same size, for a toddler of 18-24 months, I needed to knit until the hat was 7″ long, and then I could begin the crown shaping.  However, my kinda-careful measuring of Jakob’s head told me that from the ears I only needed 4″ to get to the top of his head.  So why would I knit an extra 3″?  Especially in worsted-weight, mindless 2×2 rib?

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Turns out, I should have.  My hat is waaaaay too short on Jakob.  I’d knit a 2″-ish ribbed cuff, then a double turning row, then knit until the hat was 4″ long.  I did some funky decreases for the crown then gathered the last 8 sts and secured.

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You can see here that the hat just doesn’t fit.  This photo was taken with the brim folded down, and it is still too short.  He also still hates it, and it took a lot of squirming, crying and trying to keep his hand away from pulling it off to even get this one crappy photo.

My original title for this post when I started typing up the draft last week was “an (un)finished hat”, because I had planned on cutting off the turning rows and brim, knitting downwards to get the extra 3″, then redoing the brim.  I’ve since decided not to.  Jakob really hates the hat.  He won’t tolerate it on his head, and I’m not going to subject myself to knitting any more navy rib if he won’t end up wearing it.  Instead it will go to the new baby, and if the baby is a girl then I’ll embroider some flowers on it or something.

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I’m pretty sure it will fit the baby.

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Pattern:  Baby’s Blue Ribbed Hat, my own design

Size:  Whatever you get with 108 sts.  Around 18 months, but the ribs pull it in to fit a smaller baby, and stretch out for a custom fit.

Yarn:  Patons Decor in Rich Country Blue, about 3/4 of a ball.

Needles: 3.5mm

Dates:  November 3 – 4 2008

Modifications:  Um…everything, since there was no pattern to begin with.  I did a double turning row to give the fold room to fit up around the thick ribbing.  I also did a custom arrangement of crown decreases to get a star-type shape on top.

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here.


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and yet more baby knits

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Pattern:  Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck (Ravelry project page), available for free from the Knitlist’s website here.

Size:  With this blanket you start at *k1, yo, rep around and keep adding (k2, yo, rep, then k3, yo, rep, etc).  I kept going until I had (I believe) 47 sts between YOs, which would be 480 sts on the needles.  I didn’t want a huge blanket for the crib, I wanted something I could wrap the baby in or tuck over the stroller without having too much excess.  I keep forgetting to measure it, though, to know how wide it actually is.  (I also haven’t blocked it, and don’t plan on it).

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Yarn:  Bernat Softee Baby in White, 1 ball.  I ran out of yarn at the last eyelet row before the border, so while you can’t actually tell, the last 2 rows and the border itself are all knit with the same yarn in the White Sparkle colorway (white with a silver thread wrapped around it).

Needles: 5 mm

Dates:  July 24 – September 17 2008  (until I got close to the end, this was my take anywhere/mindless knitting project, so I didn’t often work on it at home).

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Modifications:  2 major ones.

First I added the eyelet roundss.  After seeing Tara’s Pinwheel Blanket I remembered how badly I’d wanted to knit one, and I decided to knit one for the new baby.  I couldn’t knit it plain, however, as I’d knit Jakob a Debbie Bliss Alphabet Blanket (Rav link) and I wanted to have something that looked at least somewhat as impressive as all those eyelet letters.  I decided on the eyelet rounds and at first I had planned on putting them in on every doubled row.  So, for example, when it was time for an eyelet row, instead of working the pattern row, then one row plain, I worked the pattern row, then one row of *k2tog, yo, rep across.  Then I jumped back into the pattern on the next row.  The doubled row theory had me placing them in the plain rounds after the “k2, yo” row, then the “k4, yo” row, then the “k8, yo” row, and so on.  However, I quickly realized that once I got to “k16, yo” my next doubled row would be “k32, yo” and that would leave a large expanse of stockinette stitch without any eyelets.  Also, I didn’t plan on knitting enough more rounds to be able to go on to “k64, yo” or further.  I decided to work backwards instead, and after completing the “k16, yo” row, I worked until 8 more rounds had been done, threw in the eyelets, then did 4 more rounds, then the eyelets, then 2 more, then the last row of eyelets before the border.  I’d already calculated how wide I wanted the blanket, and thus how many sts I would have, so I was able to plan it out that accurately.

My other modification was for the border.  I knew from the beginning that I’d wanted something that went with the circles and spiral and eyelets, without being too severe (like a garter or moss band, much as I like those) or too fussy (like a sudden lace triangular border, or something).  I knew I had to have seen something like what I was looking for, and sure enough I even had it in my stash- Lucy Neatby’s Faroese Flower Shawl pattern (Rav link).  The border was fun and easy to adapt to this blanket, and gave me the exact look I was going for, plus is something fun for baby to stick its fingers through later.

Oh, and even though this was knit, instead of CO 10 sts and going from there, and tightening the center later, I used the Magic Adjustable Ring technique from Crochet Me and got a perfect, round center start.

Notes:  I’m really, really pleased with how this project turned out.  It was a fun chance to “spruce up” an existing pattern with my own ideas and I’m really happy with the end result.

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here.


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another baby knit

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Pattern:  Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann (Ravelry project page), from The Opinionated Knitter book.

Size:  Whatever size you get when you use fingering weight yarn. 6 months?

Yarn:  Regia Sierra Color sock yarn in color 5548 (blues and greens).  I really liked the way this yarn striped and Yannick and I agreed it would be equally cute for a girl or a boy.

Needles: 4 US / 3.5mm

Dates:  September 1 – 5 2008

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Modifications:  I had originally added a collar, as the photo above shows.  Unfortunately Yannick found that the collar made the sweater a little too masculine (in case the baby is a girl) and he wasn’t crazy about it.  I had deliberately not sewn in the ends yet, so it was a simple thing for me to undo the last bound-off stitch and unravel the whole collar to remove it.

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Notes:  As with the Pea Pod Baby Set, I am calling this project “done” even though there are no buttons on it.  We’re waiting to know the sex of the baby before choosing buttons, so this is a done as it is going to be for at least 10 more weeks.

As usual you can find this and all my other projects under the “projects” tab above, and my Baby Surprise Jacket page here on Ravelry.


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fo report: pea pod baby set

It took some gentle reminding (thanks Tara!) to clue me in to the fact that while I had finished some knits for the new baby, I hadn’t actually shown said knits.  Here’s the first one up:

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Pattern:  Pea Pod Baby Set by Kate Gilbert (Ravelry project page), available as a free download from Interweave Knits’ website

Size:  I knit the 3 month size knowing it would come out larger because of my yarn choice.

Yarn:  Bernat Natural Blends Soy in # 15005 – Rice.  I chose a neutral color because a) I like it, and b) we don’t know the sex of the baby yet.

Needles: 3.75mm

Dates:  July 12 – 16 2008

Modifications:  None.

Notes:  Holy cow this was a fast knit!  And really, really cute.  I would definitely knit this again.  Also, I’m considering this project completed even though there are no buttons yet.  I had chosen some really cute acorn buttons at my LYS but Yannick isn’t 100% sold on them, so we’ll be waiting until after the baby is born, I think.

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here.


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goodies

Last night the Montreal Knitting Guild was treated to an appearance by Molly Ann and Mary, the lovely ladies from Ariadne, here in Montreal.  They brought yarn to fondle, and they were gracious enough to give each guild member a loot bag with some samples inside.

 Let’s get in a little closer, shall we?

8 luscious little mini-skeins of yarn!

Frog Tree – Pima Silk (85% Pima Cotton/15% silk, 50g/140m each)

Lorna’s Laces – Swirl DK (85% Merino/15% Silk, 50g/137m each)

Estelle – Young Touch (100% Cotton, 50g/100m each)

Jo Sharp – Silkroad Aran Tweed (85% Wool/10% Silk/5% Cashmere, 50g/95m each)

Butterfly – Cotton (100% Mercerized Cotton, 125g/230m each)

Lang – Silk Dream (50% Merino/50% Silk, 133g/313y each)

Cherry Tree Hill – Cascade Fingering (100% Silk, 150g/608m each)

There were 2 of this one in my bag…not sure if everyone else got only 7 mini-skeins and I got an extra one, or if everyone else got 8 and I received a duplicate by mistake so I’m missing one.

One of the cool things about Ariadne is that they carry a lot of the yarns you hear/read about online but don’t often find in our usual LYSs.  Cherry Tree Hill, Koigu, Lamb’s Pride, Reynolds, Classic Elite, Jo Sharp, Frog Tree and Lorna’s Laces, just to name a few!

Not only that, but since Mary is one of the founders of Twist Collective, another fellow Montrealer, Kate Gilbert, came by to talk about the online magazine, and to give us a trunk show!  We got to see, first-hand and up close, most (all?) of the wonderful clothes from the TC Fall issue, and even get a little sneak peek at some of the items in the Winter issue.  It’s going to be a great issue, let me tell you!

They even did a little cross promotion, and in our Ariadne goodie bags we were given TC tape measures and a little booklet with advice on substituting yarns Ariadne carries for the yarns required in the Fall TC issue.

It was a fun night, and I even got some knitting done on Jakob’s costume.


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fo: clapotis

Holy cow I’m on a roll!

I took advantage of some free time between Thursday and Friday nights to finish up another long-lingering unfinished object.  I doubt I’ll get all my ufos completed before the end of the year, but even having some of them done, off my slate and project Ziplocks put away makes me feel great!

Pattern: the ever-popular Clapotis by Kate Gilbert.  I had previously knit an oversized Clapotis shawl for a young family friend with leukemia, and had always wanted a scarf version for myself.

Needles: 5mm

Yarn: James C. Brett’s Marble, in the Berries colorway.  1.75 balls.  I still really like the colors, although if I would be casting on for this project today instead of 2.5 years ago, I wouldn’t be choosing an 100% acrylic yarn for a scarf for myself.

Dates: March 20 2006 – October 10 2008, due only to my own laziness.

My Ravelry project is linked here, as well as on the page of 2008 finished objects, in the “projects” tab, above.

Up next: I need to work up a slightly different swatch to photograph for my sock club kit pattern, then I just might try to squeeze in a Hallowe’en costume for Jakob this year.


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freeing up the needles

On Sunday Yannick and I finally did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.  Jakob is already 16.5 months old and will have a little sibling soon, and we still hadn’t taken a child/infant CPR course.  I’d registered us for one when Jakob was about 3 months old, but each weekend it was scheduled, something came up that we couldn’t avoid, and we had to keep putting it off.  I’m so glad we finally took care of it, we both learned a lot, and it was especially gratifiying for me to see that some of the stuff Yannick would pass off as fact isn’t actually the case (or at least, to his credit, has been changed since his last CSST course 8+ years ago). *

The course was from 9-5 at a local hospital, and I had the feeling there would be knitting time around all the hands-on, practical stuff.  I debated bringing my current work in progress- socks for Robyn’s Robyn’s Nest’s November club kit…but figured it might be rude if I started spreading out my pattern in front of me.  I know I work, listen and retain information better when my hands are busy, but it might appear rude.  I mentally wracked my stash for some unfinished object I could bring with that had an easy repeat, or miles of stockinette stitch.  I was at the point of finding a new project to cast on when I remembered my Silk Rumple shawl.  Perfect!  A simple 2 row repeat made it mindless enough to allow me to look up and not have anyone think I wasn’t paying attention.  I brought it with and by the end of the class I was about 28 repeats short of a completed shawl.  I didn’t have the heart to put it back into the depths of my stash when it was so close to being finished, so yesterday, between Jakob’s nap time and a night to myself on the couch, I kept at it.  Now not only do I have another finished project, but I also have the weight of a long-lingering “ufo” crossed off my list.  (And Maaike can get her needles back, since those of you who remember this shawl might remember I had to borrow her 6mm Options needles, as they were the only needles sharp enough to get into the k2togs with the bouclé-y silk yarn).

This detail shows the simple k2tog/yo pattern.  The colors were accurate on my computer at home, but these photos seem a little dark here at my work computer.  Hopefully your monitor settings are better than mine!

The shawl turned out longer than I’d thought, which is a relief.  When Yannick brought me the yarn, what had appeared to be a single skein was actually 2 smaller skeins held together.  I knew that the tail ends of where the two skeins met would be the approximate center of the shawl, and was worried that it wouldn’t be wide enough for me.  In the end it makes a slightly skimpy shawl or a perfect scarf.  I am slightly tempted to pin the edges together and try it on as a shrug, but I don’t think I have quite the body for a shrug.  Luckily that is something I can do at any time, and in the meantime I have a very pretty silk shawl I can wear easily.

It feels so good to have another project completed!

Details:

Yarn: Silk Rumple by Fleece Artist’s Hand Maiden.

Needles: 6mm KnitPicks Options circulars

Pattern: Bias Shawl pattern from the yarn’s ball band

Timeline: February 1 to October 6 2008

All the info and more details/photos on Ravelry.  (Project link)

*p.s. to Julie, Jackie, or Debbie…you’ll be glad to know that the whole eye+spoon or mouth thing?  Balony.  Put a paper cup over the eye to keep dirt away and call an ambulance, no funky Mcgyver techniques allowed!


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Simple Mug Cozies

Update: see end of post for information about a downloadable pattern pdf

Finally! As promised!

The cozies were first shown on the blog here and here.

I designed this pattern last week as part of my cousin’s fiancé’s bridal shower gift basket.  I wanted a mug cozy that was removable, machine washable and dryable, and didn’t need ties, snaps or hooks.  This is what I came up with. 

The cozies have some stretch to them, but were designed to fit standard mugs.  If you want to make this cozy for a taller mug, you will need to keep knitting the plain section until you have enough clearance for the top of the mug handle.  Likewise, if you want to make it for a wider mug, you will need to add extra stitches.

Unfortunately, I forgot to write down my gauge and the gifts have already been given to the bride (who lives 2 hours away) so I can’t measure them.  However, I don’t feel that this will be a big issue with this pattern.  The nature of the cozy will forgive a slightly too tight or too loose fit.

Directions

CO 30 sts with 5mm needle and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist

K 1 round

P 1 round

K 1 round

P 1 round

Next round: BO 2 sts, k to end of row – 28 sts

You will now be working flat, turning the work at the end of each row.

Row 1: sl 1 st purlwise, p to end of row

Row 2: sl 1 st purlwise, k to end of row

Repeat the last 2 rows until 14 rows have been knit flat.  At the end of the 14th row do not turn.

CO 3 sts then k across the rest of the sts, rejoining the work into the round – 31 sts

P 1 round

K 1 round

P 1 round

BO all sts knitwise

Cut yarn and weave in ends

Update!

This pattern is on Ravelry here.

This pattern is provided for free above, but if you’d prefer an easy-to-print PDF version, I have made it available here for a very small fee. The PDF includes the full instructions, abbreviation definitions, an easy-to-read layout and full color images.

*Updated January 2020


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how it all went together

1 bridal shower + 14 days = 14 knitted and crocheted items. Not bad, huh?

If you’ve been following along then you’ve seen all this, but to recap:

top row- 4 Ballband Dishcloths (Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in White with Red, Rose Pink, Sage Green and Hot Orange)

middle row- Puffalump Limbo Line Facecloth (Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in French Blue), 2 Mug Cozies (Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Jewels and Delft Blue), and Velvet Oblivion (Lion Brand Chenille Thick ‘n Quick in Wine and Bernat Boa in Raven)

bottom row- 2 Reverse-Bloom Washcloths (Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Playtime with Hot Orange, and Summer Splash with Banana Yellow), Back Scrubber, Soap Saver Bag and Bath Puff (Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in White and Navy, and Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Holidays Sparkle in White Sparkle), Calorimetry (Bernat Satin in Florals)

Here’s how I put it all together as a coheisive basket. It was a “time” themed shower, and my time was 9:00am. I decided to put together a gift basket with a little package for 9:00am at every day of the week. I wrapped each day’s package seperately, and printed a label with the name of the day, and wrote a little message on the back of each label with a hint at the contents. The bride-to-be’s mother has her own handcrafting business, and the bride-to-be herself always comments on the stuff I make (not on the blog, in person), so I hoped I was safe in assuming that she would appreciate handmade items as a part of her gift.

Monday’s package:

To start the week off on a sweet note- Tim Hortons Hot Chocolate (a favorite in their household) and a mug with a mug cozy).

Tuesday’s package:

To take care of the dishes from the weekend- some dishwashing detergent and matching dishcloths.

Wednesday’s package:

To celebrate making it halfway through the week- French Vanilla Cappuccino from Tim Hortons (another one of their faves- and mine too!) and another mug with a cozy, this one purples (the bride’s favorite color).

Thursday’s package:

How do the dishes multiply so fast? More dishwashing detergent (in purple!) and matching cloths.

Friday’s package:

To remove some of the stress from the week- a facial set. Calorimetry to hold her hair back, exfoliating face scrub and face wash, and a face cloth. (By the way, yes, I know Calorimetry is supposed to be a headwarmer for Wintertime…but I like it as a headband).

Saturday’s package:

A kit to luxuriate in a long shower, get ready for the weekend, and pamper herself. Dove Go Fresh Soap and Body Wash, an exfoliating body wash, the bath puff, back scrubber and soap saver, plus an apothecary sampler kit I got her with an assortment of creams and lotions in a mix of scents.

Sunday’s package:

Hehehe. Sunday’s package is for 9:00am Sunday mornings, when her husband will be home with her…velvet oblivion, a massager and some vanilla-scented massage oil. The 302 Calories edible thong was supposed to go in this package too. ;]

I wrapped each package up in its own colored tissue (the background you see behind each collection of items, above), and when I was finally done wrapping, I had 7 little packages all lined up on the couch.
Ever trying to be practical, Yannick had been at Zellers that morning and picked me up a laundry basket to put it all in.
A quick “9:00am” label for the top (we were asked to mark our gifts with the assigned time) and I was done. At 2:35pm. Not bad for 2 weeks’ worth of work!