Swatchless

My, I certainly had more of this yarn than I thought!  I have now made a bonnet, a sweater AND the cutest little baby shoes you ever did see.

These are the seamless version of Saartje’s Bootees that was published on Fleegle’s blog.  I have been eyeing this pattern for a while, and was glad of the opportunity to try it.

These darling shoes knit up quickly, and have no seams to sew up, a real plus in my books.  I hope that they will stay securely on little baby feet.

More friends and relatives are expecting babies this spring.  I’m looking forward to knitting lots of tiny baby clothes to send off to everyone!

It’s time to go dive into the stash for a different colour though, I think I’ve just about had it with this blue and yellow!

This sweater started out with the bonnet that I made yesterday.  I had lots of stash left over, and thought a matching striped sweater would be cute.

When knitting sweaters for babies it is important to leave a big neck opening.  This sweater was going to be a cardigan….but changed half way through.

I used Astra yarn and a circular needle, size 4.0mm, to cast on 70 sts.  I separated the stitches  12, 10, 26, 10, 12.

Top down raglan construction is great since you can knit it, increasing on both sides of the markers, until the sweater is big enough to fit around the body and then continue on with the rest of the sweater.

This sweater starts with 6 rows of garter stitch, and then switches to stockinette with an 8 stitch garter stitch border/button band on both edges.

Stripes are worked at will, with button holes placed every 4 ridges in the garter stitch button band.  To make a button hole K3, K2tog, YO.  Making button holes on both sides of the garment will allow you to sew a button in the correct spot by sewing it on top of the redundant button hole.

This sweater spoke to me, wishing to become a pull-over rather than a cardigan.  Perhaps it is just since I don’t like to purl all that much.  After working 3 button holes, and at the end of a purl row, place the 8 knit border stitches on a spare needle.  Begin the knit round by combining both 8 stitch sections together by working a K2tog with one stitch from each edge of the sweater.  This will cause the borders to be one directly above the other.

The sleeve stitches are kept on waste yarn while the body of the sweater is completed.  Cast on 3 stitches under each arm pit.  Knit the body until it is 1/2 an inch from the desired finished length, then work 6 rows of garter stitch.  Note: in the round, garter stitch is knit 1 row, purl 1 row.  Cast off loosely knitwise.

The sleeves stitches are knit, armpit stitches are picked up, and joined in the round.  Decrease 2 stitches every 5th row to narrow the sleeve.  Continue until the sleeve is 1/2 inch from the desired length.  Work 6 rows of garter stitch.  Cast off loosely knitwise.

Work in ends and sew on buttons.

If you like this pattern, check out my others!

This weekend, friends of mine became parents, and I started knitting!  The news of the healthy baby and happy family had me digging through some of the stash to find some old fashioned Astra yarn that I had found at a thrift store a while ago.  When knitting for a baby, machine washable yarns are a definite plus!

My new favourite baby bonnet pattern is the Top Down Bonnet with Anime Character {Ravelink} by Adrian Bizilia.  I have made this bonnet with the ears and face before for a Japanese friend of mine.

This time I made the bonnet without the face and ears.  It’s amazing….a totally new and different hat.

I enjoy how the stripes join up with each other along the line of increases.

This bonnet did not use up ALL of my stash, so I have cast on for a top down raglan sleeve sweater to match (blue with yellow stripes), and there might be enough left for booties too!

The wonderful thing about knitting for a new baby is that projects are small and manageable, and they look SO cute!

What’s your favourite thing to knit for a new baby?

I have joined with many Ravelry knitwear designers to raise money for organizations helping in Haiti. Check out all the ravelry patterns available! Until the end of February, I am pledging 50% of the purchase price of my two hat patterns to Doctors Without Borders, an organization that is saving lives in Haiti and all over the world.

Micah

Knit in bright coloured acrylic yarn, this kid-friendly hat is a great stash-buster. Earflaps and ties keep the hat securely on the head of any little elf, no matter how mischievous they are!  This hat was designed for little Micah by his mommy and me, so he could be a Christmas elf all winter long.

$5.00 CAD

Those Could Be Mountains

A warm hat knit in the round from crown to brim.  You can make it long enough to cover your ears to ward off the winter chill.  Knits up quickly and looks stylish on both men and women.  I showed the finished hat to my brother, and his response was “Oh, Those Could Be Mountains!”  The name stuck.

$4.00 CAD

If you like these patterns, have a look at the others I’ve designed.

Knit in bright coloured acrylic yarn, this kid-friendly hat is a great stash-buster. Earflaps and ties keep the hat securely on the head of any little elf, no matter how mischievous they are!

This hat was designed for little Micah by his mommy and me, so he could be a Christmas elf all winter long.

$5.00 CAD

(Until the end of Feb 2010 50% of proceeds are pledged to Doctors Without Borders)

Materials: 5 colours of aran weight yarn

Needles: 4mm DPNs

Darning needle

Scissors

Skills: Knit, Purl, Decrease (K2tog, ssk), knitting in the round, colour work with two colours per round, chart reading, kitchener stitch.

Hat was designed to fit a 2 year old. If knit with larger needles it would fit a larger child.

Pattern includes written instructions and full colour charts, and instructions to make a great pompom

Micah and his mom showed me around the park today. He likes going on the swings

He’s such a cutie! I think he really loves his hat too. Look at this grin….priceless!

Makes you want to knit one for the little elf in your life!

Download the .pdf pattern with full colour charts for $5.00 CAD

It’s certainly a good question!

Sometimes you’ll see or feel such a lovely yarn that you have to buy it.  It will sit in the stash begging for the perfect pattern to come along where it can be shown off in all its glory.  When you find that pattern, the yarn will leap from the shelf and the knitting will fly off the needles, just like it was meant to be.  Now, this is not always the case, but when it happens, it is magic!  Sometimes you need to make up the pattern yourself as I did in the hat I dreamed up.

Dig through your stash from time to time, and you might be surprised what yarn will speak to you.  Listen to it…..trust it….you’ll be amazed with what you can create.

Picture from ravelry.com

Sometimes it’s a good pattern that will speak to you from the pages of a magazine, or from the depths of Ravelry.  The February Lady Sweater was one such pattern that grabbed my attention.  It was all the rage 2 years ago.  I went on a search and found the wool to match the sweater.

Now, whether you are looking for the perfect pattern or the perfect yarn, things have certainly changed a lot in the last 10 years.  This fact was illustrated on boxing day in the midst of our “ball winding party”.  I had gotten my mom a great ball winder from knitpicks.com, and we were winding up different skeins into center pull balls.

My grandmother, my mom and I were discussing what to knit for a cousin who is soon to be a new dad.  My first instinct is to head to ravelry, or now that I’ve joined twitter and connected with so many awesome knitters, I’d ask them what’s good to make for a new baby.  My mom went to look in her pattern drawer for books and leaflets of patterns that she’s used through the years.  My grandmother wanted to knit the bonnet that her mother taught her to make.  She knew that she had the instructions on an index card somewhere.

It hit me, on Boxing day, sitting in a multi-generational knitting circle, that some things really have changed, but in some ways, they haven’t changed at all.

Being fairly new to designing knitting patterns, I was so excited when I was asked several weeks ago to design a hat for K’s toddler.  The requirements were that it be an “elf” hat with more than just Christmas colours.  I learned that “elf hat” means long and pointy. K requested that it have some patterned sections and stripes.  We agreed that ear flaps and ties would be very useful and a pompom would be fun too.  So after a chat and a quick sketch, and some toddler measurements, I went home to think and draw….but nothing much happened.

I bought some lovely “crayon coloured” acrylic yarn….I know….I usually don’t buy acrylic, but this hat is for a kid and it will need to be washed from time to time without felting.  Still…..no inspiration….

Amazing when inspiration hits isnt it?  I can honestly say that I must have dreamed up the design.  Yesterday I had yarn in a basket, and a bit of a graph coloured in.  Today I have a hat!  (I don’t have any groceries or laundry done, but that’s beside the point)

Pattern details will be coming shortly (I have to remember what I did!)

The hat is knit on 4mm needles.  The yarn is called HIT by Schoeller + Stahl.  I knit with the yarn doubled and paired it with some Red Heart Acrylic that I had left over from knitting robot hats.  The HIT is really nice to work with.  I’ll have to think up another fun project with all the yarn that’s left over.

Now…on to the next.  Plenty of Christmas knitting awaits, but that’s top secret for now.  I wonder what I’ll dream up tonight!

Recently I have become more interested in knitting pattern design, and as winter arrives I start to notice interesting patterns and stitch combinations on garments in stores, or on people that I pass in the street.  I keep mental notes for the most part.  I sometimes worry what people might think if I got out my camera, or notepad to record details on the spot.

There are many people that I know well enough to ask them for a closer look at their knitwear.  They often put up with me examining their new hat, or mitts, and my need to feel the wool and figure out how the garment was made.

It seems like moviegoers have been struck with a similar obsession.  People freeze frame movies, and design the knitwear that they see.  It must be quite a challenge!  I now worry that I will never watch a movie the same way again!!

I’ve done a quick Ravelry search this evening, and compiled a list of movie inspired knitting.  I’ve linked to blogs where available and also to {Ravelry}.  These patterns are all FREE!  Pictures were taken from Ravelry pattern pages.

Feel free to add your favourites in the comments, and I will add to this list.

I think I’m going to have to knit a pair of Bella Mittens, they look so cozy.

Twilight/New Moon inspired

Twilight Book jacket socks or mittens or arm warmers etc {Ravelink}

Bella mittens {Ravelink}

Bella’s LaPush Hat {Ravelink}

Angela’s LaPush hat {Ravelink}

Alice Cullen’s fingerless mittens {Ravelink}

Harry Potter Inspired

Hogwarts scarf {Ravelink}

Dark Mark illusion scarf {Ravelink}

Hermione Hat {Ravelink}

Transformers Inspired

Reversible Transformers Toque {Ravelink}

Starwars Inspired

Starwars Fairisle charts {Ravelink}

R2D2 Beanie {Ravelink}

Felted Baby Yoda Hat {Ravelink}

This evening I treated myself to a night out at the theatre to see “Office Hours”, an intriguing play that weaves different perspectives of the same plot together in six different scenes.  It kept me thinking, and laughing while I was knitting for two hours.  I used this time to finish the mittens that I started at New Moon.  These are mittens knit on a deadline (something that I prefer to avoid).  They will be auctioned off for an environmental charity next week.

Pattern:  Fox and Geese {Ravelink}

Size: Adult small

Yarn: 100% Wool from Topsy Farm Amherst Island (bought at the Farmer’s market on Queen’s Campus) They also sell online.

These mittens have a nice long cuff that fits snugly to the wrist to keep hands warm, and keep the snow away.  I tried them on to take these pictures, and could feel that they will be very warm.  The pattern is knit carrying two colours so there are always short floats on the inside of the mitten.  This extra layer is what causes the mitten to be so warm.

The yarn feels very natural, as if there is still lanolin in it.  It will be a great to soothe chapped hands.

I literally was tying up loose ends and weaving them in to complete these mittens.  Next I will tie up loose ends to catch you up with some of my knitting that has traveled to far corners of the world recently.  It seems that most of my family members and friends here own something that I have knit for them.  I’m now starting to spread the love further afield.  When you receive a knitted gift you must realize that you are getting more than a garment, it is a gift of time and attention, thoughtfulness, and warmth.

I made this Baby Surprise Jacket {Ravelink} for a friend in Germany who just had her first baby.  She’s a knitter herself, but I don’t know if she’s ever tried this pattern.  It sure is a fun one to knit up.  I recommend it to brave knitters everywhere!

I made a Totoro bonnet {Ravelink} for a friend in Japan who has just had her second baby.  The ears don’t show up so well in the picture, but they are there.  A very nice pattern for a baby hat, with or without the ears and face.

Isn't she the cutest?

A pair of mittens made their way to Amman Jordan for a friend I stayed with on a recent vacation.  She tells me that she will have use for them, as Jordan gets a little snow most winters.   I think I’d need a photo to prove it, Amman will always be over 30 C in my imagination!

The mittens were made from patterns found in Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush, using wool from Topsy Farms.  I love that colour red.

There are more projects currently in the mail (but their future recipients may read this blog, so I will not discuss that further).  I look forward to hearing of their safe arrival.  Getting packages in the mail is such a novelty these days.

Have a happy Thanksgiving to those in the USA, and a happy Eid for all who are celebrating.

A project that once was secret can now be revealed!

A Hat for Ella

Material:  Handspun Recycled Sari Silk

Pattern:  Improvised top down baby hat

A friend had a baby recently, and I wanted to make something special for her.  I had recently purchased some spinning fiber from Paradise Fibers, including some recycled sari silk spinning fiber.  This fiber is generally the left overs cut from looms used to weave saris (silk garments worn by women in India).  The sale of this fiber helps women in India and Nepal.

I have seen yarn for sale that is made of sari silk, but generally that is pink or red.  I was so excited to get a grab bag of colours so I could pick and choose and blend colours as I chose.

Before spinning from this material you need to separate the clumps and knots.  I used scissors to cut the twine and knots that were holding the silk together.  I spun half a bobbin’s worth because my project was small.

I cast on several stitches and knit in the round increasing quickly at first to keep the crown of the hat flat.  I knit the body of the hat in ribbing to give it the stretch it needed.

The hat was completely improvised.  I was sort of in zen mode when I was doing this entire project, so I didn’t stop to take notes.  This project seemed almost to make itself–don’t you love it when that happens?  I think it must have been the lovely colours of the silk.

I packed up the hat, mailed it off to my friend, and heard very recently that it arrived, and that it is a big success!  It turns out that my friend also has a similar adult-sized hat made from recycled sari silk.  I can’t wait to see matchy pictures of mother and baby.

I had never used this kind of silk before.  I had such fun experimenting with colour combinations, and creating the pattern.  It is important sometimes to dive right in to the creative process and let it take over.  Sometimes the results will astound you!