Swatchless

I am not a big fan of knitting with cotton.  Most people who know me understand this fact.  I don’t like how it feels on my hands, it is not very elastic, and doesn’t feel soft…and the finished piece doesn’t drape nicely…

I’m going to stop myself mid rant, because I now am starting to sing a different tune.  I have found a cotton that I like to knit with!  I was introduced to Cotton Supreme Batik when I was out at Wool Tyme last month.  I looked at it, and felt it, and pondered whether it really could be cotton, then I saw the price tag (almost $9.00) remembered that I do have a rather large stash of yarn at home, and left the store.

The colourful stuff is the cotton

I then found out that a friend has had twin girls….and after a rather difficult Friday last week, I went to Wool-Tyme to get something soothing to knit with.  To my great surprise, I walked right over to that cotton and bought two balls (in different colourways)

This sweater is knit in “Beach Umbrella”.  The next will be knit in “Watermelon Patch”

This cotton feels very similar to baby bamboo that I’ve used in the past.  It is silky, and soft to knit with, and the resulting garment is stretchy too!  Look at that shine!

One more photoshoot….with spring flowers!

Today was a bad news kind of a day.  Thank goodness it was also a Friday.

Bad days for me usually have me reaching for my knitting….it has been so long since I knit things other than robot hats I had totally forgotten what was on my needles!  It turns out that I needed to go to the yarn store to get the needed yardage to finish a cute baby sweater that I have been working on.  Of course, while I was there I picked up some new goodies!

I knit into the wee hours of the morning and here is the finished sweater–or almost finished–I still need to find the perfect buttons, and maybe embroider something onto the sweater to make the lace detail stand out a bit.

The sweater is my own invention.  I’d change things like button hole placement, and edging details for next time.  I’d probably also make the sensible choice to knit it top down rather than trying to make a one piece bottom up raglan short sleeved sweater.

I am pleased with the heart shaped lacy bits though!  They appear on the right and left front panels and the center of the back.  I’ve never knit much lace–the charts confuse me.  Maybe simple lace experiments will be in my future.

Here’s hoping tomorrow will be more fun!

I help out with the K-Botics FIRST robotics team (blog), and this past weekend was our robotics competition in Toronto.  I have been knitting robot hats for the last few weeks in preparation.

This hat uses a honeycomb texture that I learned when knitting Newfoundland Mittens.  The robot and team numbers are embroidered on afterwards.

This hat, is for our chief robotics scout.  The hat has a crown that stands up when the hat is worn.  The crown was made in segments, by knitting 10 stitches, then casting on an extra group of 10 stitches, then knitting in the round for 3 rounds, then decreasing 4 stitches every alternate row.  After the crown, the top group of stitches were picked up and the hat continued and decreased as usual

This hat, has a reverse stockinette rolled edge, and alternating panels of stockinette and reverse stockinette stitch to create an interesting texture.  The robot was added on afterwards with chain stitch embroidery.

And…for our driver, who lost his earlier hat while skiing, here is the replacement (knit in stages)  The first of which is a pink tentacle moustache that he wore on April Fools day.  What a good sport!

Ordering at Tim Hortons

By the end of the day the hat was ready, and being worn for practice matches at the Greater Toronto Regional Competition.

In the pit at GTR

While at the competition I knit a hat for a rookie on our team, and added a tassel on top by continuing the hat with I-cord, and then attaching a tassel to that.  His smile was priceless when he put it on.

The next hat I made was a bit smaller, for one of our younger fans.  She’s six, and has very long pigtails that fit through holes on either side of the that.

The M.C. of the competition wore his hat proudly too.

The hats certainly caused a stir at the competition.  We may see other teams knitting some up in the future.

In the mean time, I’m going to take a break from robot hats, and knit something else for a change.

Happy Easter everyone!

Today the latest robot hat got modelled.  They are starting to be an interesting fashion trend–kids wear their unique hats to our team meetings!

It is wonderful to have knitting appreciated this much!  I look forward to making a few more before our next team competition, but I’m not sure what other “creative” things I can add to these hats.

Any ideas?

Knitting with orange makes me happy!  It is not usually the colour I’d reach for when making baby clothes, but for this particular project it is perfect!  At least one parent has a particular love of all things orange.

These are the first soakers I’ve ever knit.  The pattern is Curly Purly Soaker.  Knit in the round, seamlessly with no need for elastic at the waistband due to the elasticity of the ribbing knit on extra small needles.  I look forward to meeting the little man that will proudly wear the orange underpants.  I wish him (and his parents) well on his arrival!

What is your favourite colour for baby knits?

Spring is here, which finds me digging through my yarn stash, looking for bright colours, and lighter weight yarns, and thinking of making things other than hats and mitts!  Apart from the threat of flurries tomorrow it is really starting to feel like the seasons have changed.

They daylight lasts longer, and the birds are chirping and flowers are pushing up through the warming soil…..and I’m knitting robot hats.

Here’s one for the MC of the competition.  The red is added because that’s his team’s colour.  Hopefully he’ll wear it while he announces our matches.

Here’s another one for one of our presenters.  There are holes all over the hat to let his curls out.  In theory, it’s going to be awesome.

There is a cute detail added to this hat.

Our robotics team has heart!

The past few days were spent on the road at a FIRST robotics competition in Pittsburgh.  It is a rewarding and exhausting way to spend a weekend, and such fun to see the students learn and compete, and be so proud of their accomplishments.

One of my accomplishments over the weekend was to knit up 4 robot hats!

Hat #1: complete with ponytail holder so our long haired girls can keep their hair back.

Hat #2: Headband knit in team colours following the “Jaywalker Sock” method of creating zigzags.  Team number is sewn on later.

Hat #3: Robot eyes are beaded, and there are beads around the base of the hat, hanging down from strings.  This hat is a bit noisy, but certainly stands out in a crowd.

Hat #4: Striped hat, with an onion on top!  Robot was embroidered on after hat complete.  Team number stitched on too.

There is a 5th hat that was finished on the bus ride home, but it has not yet been photographed.

I’m afraid that most of the knitting going on here will be robot hats until our competition in Toronto on April 1-3.

It is fun to knit something ridiculous every now and again!

It was a very productive weekend.  Not only did I sing in a choir concert, but somehow time was also dedicated to this little sweater which is now just about completed!  It needs a few ends sewn in, and a good blocking, and it will be good to go.  I love the yarn Life DK; it feels like wool, but is a machine washable blend of 75% acrylic and 25% wool. In case you are wondering, this colour was 2346 “Mixtures Blue Haze”

This little sweater vest will fit a 2-3 year old, but in the mean time, it is long enough to be a sweater dress for a 6-9 month old.  I polled several mothers who agreed with my measurements and my logic.  Can’t you imagine a darling baby girl wearing this over tights?

I might just have to get another colour and test knit my pattern!  The entire sweater vest took less than 100g of yarn, and the pattern is only 90 rows, but each row is different from the last.

The pattern will be available later this spring.  If any patient knitter with an eye for detail would like to test knit the pattern, please contact me!

The Olympics are done.  The Knitting Olympics are done.  The Ravelympics are done.  Or……are they…..

Ceilidh and Eirinn (Photo credit: Mom)

I had such a good time, I think I will start up another Olympic challenge for the duration of the Paralympics later in March!  Who’s with me?

I’m happy to report that the sales of the Olympic Red Mitten Pattern have been rolling in, and are currently at the $1550 mark raised for the Penguins Can Fly swim team.  I hope that people continue to purchase patterns and knit these mittens through the end of the paralympics.  Maybe we can hit $2010…wouldn’t that be cool?

Who knows….one day maybe some of the Penguins will be swimming in the summer paralympics!

Tonight, during the closing ceremonies, after proudly modeling my gold-medal pattern creations Ceilidh and Eirinn, I sat with no knitting in my hands–for all of about 15 minutes.  It’s at times like this that I wonder if I do have a serious problem, but I was suddenly struck by inspiration to knit more cables for a baby sweater/vest of sorts that I can almost see in my mind.

The trouble with things in your mind is that it’s very difficult to make them appear just like you imagined they would.  I am doing my best though, keeping careful scrawly notes and math written down just in case this project ends up successful enough to share with other knitters out there.

I absolutely LOVE the yarn.  It’s Life DK by Stylecraft, a blend of acrylic and wool.  Easy to care for, and so soft.  I may need to go back to Wool Tyme to get more–there are so many babies to knit for this spring!

Are you gearing up for March 12th when the torch gets re-lit?  The Paralympics run from March 12th to 21st in Vancouver!!

Knit in the round from crown to brim with two contrasting worsted weight yarns, this celtic inspired hat would be perfect to wear on St. Patrick’s day.

Buy Eirinn for $4.00 CAD

The Gaelic word Eirinn (pronounced air-en) is a poetic name for Ireland often used in songs.  The celtic patterning of the braid represents the continuum of life, love and faith, and the circle motif represents eternity.

As the final hours of the Ravelympics, knitting olympics and sporting olympics wind down, I am extremely proud to present a second pattern.  This is like an unexpected medal win for me as I thought it would be a big enough challenge to spin and knit and publish one pattern!  Watching all of the fantastic performances of our Canadian athletes I felt inspired to go for the double gold.

Skills: cast on, knitting in the round, purl, cables, kfb increase, stranded knitting, chart reading
Needles:   4 size 4.0mm DPNs, cable needle, darning needle
Yarn:  Worsted weight in 2 contrasting colours
Gauge:  4.5 sts per inch, 7 rows per inch in stockinette stitch

This pair of hat and mitts is perfect for someone interested in a little colourwork and a little bit of cable knitting.

If you like Eirinn, you may also like to knit Ceilidh mittens to match!

Download the .pdf pattern for Eirinn (hat) only  $4.00 CAD

Download the .pdf pattern for Ceilidh (mittens) only $4.00 CAD

Download the .pdf pattern for Eirinn and Ceilidh together for $6.00 CAD

Check out my other patterns here.