Project Pink - For Lori

First half of the pink project for Lori is complete!
Behold, the lovely pinch slouchy cap!

(And me...hiding from the flash of the camera)

All in all...I think I prefer the thickness of the yarn I used for the pink hat, than I did with the teal one. I think I need to find a teal color like that in the brand of yarn I purchased for Lori's cap..it's warmer, easier to work with, and looks like it won't felt as badly as the other one did. (Hey I was a beginner, I didn't know cheap yarn was a bad thing!)

This was knit up with Brown-Sheep yarn, Nature Spun. I don't remember the name of the color...I accidentally recycled the label that came on the skeins...oops!

My next project will be a pair of matching mittens. I think my plan is to find a basic pattern and adjust it to have the same mock-rib-twist that the hat has...but if for some awful reason I mess that up, it'll just be a basic pair of mitts...I'd rather be safe than make Lori sorry she comissioned me! :P

Tis the Season to be Knitting

So I set this blog up almost a year ago to start tracking/writing down the things I knit and work on. Well I put off a lot of knitting over the summer. So I thought, today, I'd get back on it because I have so many items/projects I've signed up to do for people, and this way people can see when I start working on their items and track the progress I'm making and whatnot!

Plus then for my fellow knitting friends, if they see a project I'm going and want the pattern...there will be a link right here!

So, right now I am working on this : specifically the 12th season one. It's going to be a big project, but in all of I have mastered color changing and weaving in the ends as I knit, which I think is the most effective and useful thing I have learned. I should've practiced a little though. You can see in this picture the difference between the parts where I was doing it wrong, and where I figured it out (where it goes from gray to green). I'm 20% done though (there is a little gadget online that allows you to enter how many rows you've completed and it tells you the % and copy and paste a code to show your friends!)
Here is a photo of my progress:

Up next is the project I just finished this last week and SHOULD have posted in the mail to my lucky recipient in Santa Cruz, but I just haven't had the time to get there before they close! Boy I wish I'd learned the weaving in ends/color change trick when I made this, it would've been faster and looked a lot nicer. I'd redo the whole thing, but Jerroyd wants his scarf, and it's really soft and warm, even if there are funky bits at the beginning!




Lastly, I finished a prototype on Thursday of a project I'm working on for Kimber and her little girls. I've promised a set of five capelets and hats to her, all in pink, by December. The pattern is SO cute and ended up being fairly easy. I just wish I could figure out how to increase the stitches without those funky holes. I practiced a different technique on a video tutorial, and I'm hoping it solves that problem. But I'm sure even if I don't do it perfectly, I can fix it with some good blocking. The rim on the prototype I also did wrong, but I figured out how to fix it!



A list of things I need to have done by November/December:

0) Calorimetry - Matt's Cassie
1) 2 pairs fingerless gloves - Jerroyd
2) 1 pair gray fingerless gloves - Alex
3) Capelets/Hats - Kimber
4) Pink mitts with caps & slouchy twist hat - Lori (this I'm going to start after the capelets b/c I promised her the hat a WAY while back)
5) Black Gloves - Dear Jack (with sewn on leather padding!)
6) Harry Potter Elf Hat & Gauntlets - Liz

I'm actually a master knitter, and my friends picked easy patterns! Do you think I can get all this done before it gets REALLY cold? Wish me luck! :D

Newbie

Hi all. So I thought I'd start out a crafty-sort of blog to archive all the different art and craft and culinary adventures I partake in, because I've done so much lately! Last year I learned how to knit, and oh my, have I come a long way! So to get myself started, I thought I'd post a pattern I wrote for the holidays to share. :)



The Hollyday Hat

You will need:
Size 10 dpns
Size 10 circular needles or dpns (6.0 mm)
Size 8 circular needles or dpns (5.0 mm)
1 skein LionBrand Jiffy Yarn (off-white is what I used)
1 skein Caron Simply Soft (Burgundy is what I used)
cable needle
stitch marker

Using Size 10 (dpns recommended at the beginning) c/o 76 stitches
join round and place stitch-marker, so you know where each round begins.

work three rows k4p4 ribbing
(at this point, you can switch to circulars, if you prefer)
c2f on the knit stitches
for newbie knitters this means: hold 2 knit stitches on the cable needle to the front, knit the next 2 stitches, then knit from the cable needle.
This will create the nice twist in the ribbing.
Work this cable every fourth row.
Work this way for 8 rows, depending on your desired length for the brim. then switch back to k4p4 for the last three rows, DO NOT cable your last row

switch to size 8 needles. knit 1 round.
switch to red yarn.
knit 18 rounds.

decreasing rounds:
k1, k2tog, knit to last three stitches, k2tog, k1
k1 round
repeat until 6-8 stitches remain.
sew round together and pull tightly.
Add tassel or pom pom according to desire.
my tassel is a basic tassel with a braided cord.
If you don't know how to make a tassel/pompom google it. It's nice and easy.

Holiday Cheers!

-Holly

**I sell these hats for $15 at crafty events...people like them. So if you can't knit, or are feeling too lazy to make your own (but c'mon, they're so easy!) let me know. :D