Category Archives: Knitting


by Leave a comment

Skylanders Sprocket Cosplay – Vest Part 2

The back of Sprocket’s vest complete, it was time to design the front.  Sunday morning we slept in after a lovely and decadent family wedding, and then while Yannick mowed the lawn I drank some coffee and did maths.skylanders sprocket vest sketch 02Before even beginning to decide how to tackle the front, I wanted a map of exactly how many rows my back piece was.  I wasn’t concerned about matching width, but it would sure suck to start seaming the sides and realize my rows were way off.  I pinned the back out to a blocking board, double-checked my hasty pattern, and filled in my sketch.

Now I knew I had 140 rows total for the front, and to make them even I could ‘spend’ 6 rows on the lower ribbing, 78 rows making my way to the armhole decreases, then jigger the bust however it took as long as I squished it all into 56 rows.  On the width issue, my only requirement was that I finish the shoulders at 16 sts each, so I could do a 3ndl bind off on them later.

By this point Yannick had come inside to join me, and was playing Mario Kart while I did more maths. skylanders sprocket vest sketch 03Which led to way more maths and a minor tease of a headache.

skylanders sprocket vest sketch 04

But in the end I figured it out.  I would cast on enough sts for my belly, and work the rib to match the back.  Mosey my way up to my waist, working darts to decrease towards my narrower point, and then after a bit worked even I’d re-increase along the same dart lines to fit my bust.  More working even, and that should get me to the armholes.  Then I’d decrease for the armholes AND the top of the bust darts at the same time, narrowing the whole top to the same 15″ across as the back.  Work the straps, ending with 16 sts each.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy, as Henri would say.

And?

It worked!  I got all the way up to the bust increases done on Sunday and after brunch with friends on Monday morning I came home and seamed the sides so I could try it on.

skylanders sprocket vest wip 02After trying this I have to say I’m hooked on darts.  I think any knitted top that isn’t complicated by patterning, that I want to be somewhat fitted, will now have waist and bust darts.  Or at least bust darts.  The difference they make is astounding.


by 1 Comment

Skylanders Sprocket Cosplay – Vest Part 1

With last Friday bringing Sprocket’s wrench to a place where seaming was all that remained, I needed to keep going and come up with a new portable part of the project.  I knew I’d be going to see a movie that night and was loath to give up on the possible knitting time, so I hurried to sketch up a quick plan of attack.

sprocket2My working model of Sprocket is going to be a mix of the original (above) and this drawing I found on DeviantArt:

sprocket devartI contacted the artist, DizPlicity, on Facebook, and got permission to work from her design.  Yay!

In both cases Sprocket wears a blue ‘vest’ over black long sleeves and black pants.  A few weeks ago I went to Value Village and picked up those two items, so I tried on the top over the bra I planned to wear and took a few measurements.

The first thing I realized was that knitting the vest in the round would not work without some serious math.  I have a lot more…uh… mass in the front than I do in my back, and simply measuring around my body and dividing in 2 would result in a front that pulls, and a back that sags and bunches.  I had an idea for knitting the front in a way to incorporate bust darts for some serious shaping, but hadn’t quite figured out how to do that, so the easiest thing would be to start with the back.

My back, both in real life and for the back of the vest, is pretty straightforwards.

skylanders sprocket vest sketch 01I knocked out a fast sketch of the shape and dimensions I wanted.  I swatched my yarn (Red Heart Super Saver in Blue Suede, and 5mm Addi circs) and once I had my gauge I plopped those numbers into Excel and did the maths to write up a pattern for the back.  I decided to work from the bottom up so I could have a ways to go before getting into any shaping – perfect for darkened theater knitting.

skylanders sprocket vest wip 01

This, in case you’re wondering, is how much knitting one can get done during Avengers: Age of Ultron.  I knit the ribbing before leaving and all the rest during the movie.  By the time I got home I was only 10 rows short of my armhole decreases. skylanders sprocket vest wip 03And here’s the completed back.  Next up, the hard part – the front.


by 3 Comments

timing is everything

I started a vest for myself.  I shouldn’t have, but I did.

At guild on Tuesday I won a mini raffle we did, and got a 2012/2013 Bergere de France magazine.  There are some GORGEOUS patterns in there, but I was taken by 2 in particular.  One of them I’m not sure what yarn to use, but the other…well…it’s a fun fur vest.  I know.

I know.

I KNOW.

But it’s really cute, and worse comes to worst I’m always cold at home so….  Yeah.  Moving on…

The body is worked on 8mm needles so it’s a fast knit.  It’s kinda a shrug/vest hybrid, and on Wednesday night I cast on.  I finished the back ribbing and the first few rows of the body.  And then I brought it to work with me on Thursday so I could photocopy the pattern out of the magazine to make it easier to work on.

Now, I shouldn’t have started this project on Wed.  I had realized just that morning that Christmas might be in 2 weeks, but the last day of daycare/kindergarten is next week, which means I’m running out of time to do the holiday teachers’ gifts which I haven’t started yet.  I *should* have started those.  But I didn’t.

Which makes it only fitting that I forgot the project at work last night, and then today both boys woke up with fevers, meaning I had to keep them home, and be home all day, and NOT be able to work on the vest.

Which means that in about 5 minutes I’ll be starting the holiday teachers’ gifts, all due next week.  🙂


by 4 Comments

i’m a proud crafty mama!

I’m so proud of Jakob!

For a while now he’s had “His Knitting” on the living room side table. It’s worsted weight, garter stitch and it’s red of course, and every few weeks he asks if he could knit and I remind him how and he does a stitch or two before getting distracted and then I finish the row so we can put it aside again.

20121123-101756.jpg

Last night after I picked him up from school we detoured at my LYS before going to get his brother. I had Spidey with me to find yarn to BO and work the spines. At the door I happened to notice a knitting nancy…a modern plastic version of the old spool knitters used for “French knitting”. Jakob saw it too, didn’t know what it was, but wanted it. When I explained it could help him knit but faster than the two needles for while he was learning, he really wanted it.  It was the Clover Wonder Knitter.

I think I have an old spool knitter somewhere but have no idea where to look, and this version, while modern and plastic, also has a nice hook, and 3 interchangeable heads with different post numbers, and is designed for working with beads so the central opening is quite large. It’s quite easy to work with because they designed a really smart groove down the side if each post, making it super easy to get the hook down into the stitch to pull up/over.

Today is a ped day for the elementary schools so I sent Henri off to daycare for a rare one-on-one day with Jakob.

After lunch we’re going to the library to get him some audiobooks for bedtime, and then to Tim’s for hot chocolate. But first this morning I taught him to spool knit. And he rocks.

20121123-102621.jpg

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.


by 2 Comments

go figure

So. Cast on for a special blankie for my 2nd child in July of 2009. Spent the last 3 years slogging through ever-increasing rows that started with 14 sts and ended at 728 sts per row. Just finished the last, 149th row. About to work row 150- the bind off. And ran out of yarn.

20121121-225811.jpg


by 6 Comments

rainy day cookies

Yannick was away this weekend, and today was too rainy and lazy for me to want to take the boys anywhere after their morning swimming lessons.

20120930-230440.jpg
Who wants cookies??

20120930-230504.jpg
I made a double batch of basic vanilla cookies, and divided it in 4 to flavor it up. The boys helped me cut out the shapes…

20120930-231027.jpg
…and after they had cooled, and the boys played, I iced them. There’s chocolate/mint cookies with mint icing, almond cookies with royal icing, chocolate/coconut that were tapped onto a plate of coconut while the icing was still wet, and peanut butter (un-iced).

20120930-231249.jpg
Once the boys came down from their sugar rush and went to bed, I knit for a bit. It takes so long per row that I feel like I’m not getting anywhere, but I’ve now done 14 rows since restarting to work on it, and I remind myself that once I finish this blue section I’ve only got 1 red section to do. (I’m trying to ignore the fact that those rows will be 616-728 stitches each).