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Tag: knitting

  • My First Sweater

    My SweaterMy First Sweater
    It’s done! It’s slightly wonky and the fit is weird in places, but it’s wearable. (I think I’ll be able to block out some of the weirdness when I wash it. I should’ve done that first, but I was too excited to wear it.) The pattern is called “Sweet” and it’s from The Knitter’s Bible by Kate Buller. The wool is Jo Sharp DK 100% wool in “Plum”. The ruffle looks hard but – other than having to cast on 500 stitches – it was suprisingly easy to knit. The actual hardest part was sewing everything together at the end. I suck at that. The seams are a little bulky and non-symmetrical, which accounts for most of the fitting problems. I’m definitely going to knit my next sweater in the round so I don’t have to worry about that stuff. But it’s kinda cute, right?

    (Edited to add: Yeah, ignore my glazed expression in the photo. It was 7:30 am and I’d overslept, so I’m a bit out of it.)

  • Scarves Galore

    Scarves Galore
    The Easter Crafting Marathon continues. I’ve finally finished my red mohair scarf, which you can see below. The other two are scarves I’ve made in the last couple weeks.

    Snookums and the Rock Star Scarf  Me and the Red Mohair Scarf  Blue-green Mohair Scarf

    First you have Snookums modelling my “Rock Star Scarf”, which is knitted out of Faux Fur. It’s this crazy yarn with lots of little hairs sticking off it that actually looks like fur once you knit it up. (Let me warn my fellow knitters: It was insanely difficult to work with. You can’t see any of the stitches so if you drop one, you have to start all over.) The second and third scarves are both made of mohair, which is incredibly soft and fuzzy and beautiful. I did the blue-green one first as a gift for my Dad’s wife Cindy, and I liked it so much I got the red to do my own. Pretty nice, huh? They’re both about six feet long and six inches wide. I can’t wait to wear mine outside (if it ever stops raining)…

  • Craftiness + Hoochiness = Knitted Bikini

    Knitted BikiniCheck out what I made! I felt like I’d been making scarves for years, so as a change of pace I decided to knit a bikini using Get Crafty’s fabulous instructions. It’s knitted with cotton, not wool, and as I used a double thickness throughout it’s pretty dense (and therefore ensures no nipple visibility). Unfortunately this design is just not the right swimsuit for my body shape. The trunks, which just barely manage to go over my thighs, are pretty cute, but they’re so low that I have major plumber butt (even though I followed the instructions for “more coverage”). And the top… Well, I think the main problem is that string bikinis aren’t made for girls with larger boobs. I’m a C cup, and the whole triangle thing just doesn’t work. Even if I made them bigger, they still don’t fit the shape of the breast very well. (I really need to figure out how to knit one with an underwire.) So needless to say, I shan’t be sporting this puppy at the beach anytime soon. It was a fun experiment though.Some notes if you’re interested in trying it yourself:

    As I can’t get the kind of cotton recommended in the pattern here, I just went with normal DK weight cotton. Unfortunately I knitted a test swatch and my gauge was way higher than it needed to be. I was afraid to move up a needle size though, for fear that the weave would be too open (and I wanted to keep the nips covered). So I played around a bit and discovered that if I doubled up the cotton and went to a 5mm needle, I got the correct gauge and the fabric was nicely dense. Unfortunately that meant I needed twice as much cotton. Luckily I’d bought 4 50gm balls, and I used up just about all of it.

    Another problem: I knitted the two boob triangles on different days and my knitting tension changed significantly, which means they’re slightly different size. I’d suggest that you knit them both at the same time to avoid this.

    The biggest problem I had was the bit at the end of the pattern where it tells you to “single crochet” around the trunk elastic and the bikini chain. I posted a request for help on Glitter and was directed to this page of instructions. That’s for making a hair band, but I figured out fairly quickly to adapt it to what I needed to do. I did the bikini chain easily, but I decided not to finish the trunks since they don’t fit well enough to ever wear.

  • Knitty

    The spring issue of Knitty is out! Too bad the seasons are reversed here and all these pretty little spring things aren’t exactly appropriate for an Aussie winter…

  • Gryffindor Stocking Cap

    Gryffindor Stocking CapHere’s my latest knitting project, a stocking cap that I whipped up earlier this week. As you can see, I’m still trying to use up leftover bits of Harry Potter scarf yarn. The pattern is pretty easy to follow and it’s a good one to get familiar with using double-pointed needles (for knitting in the round). The only part I had trouble with was the tassel. Mine is all kinds of wonky. But the rest is cute, huh?

  • Hogwarts Scarves

    The beach is... that way!

    I’ve been waiting for Marci (who just set a wedding date!) to receive the scarves I made her before I showed them off. Since she got them today… here they are! (Don’t worry, Marci; he doesn’t have cooties.) The Gryffindor scarf shown here was acrylic and turned out really long. The Slytherin was 100% wool (some gorgeous soft Tasmanian stuff that I’m now obsessed with) but is wider and shorter.

    Another shot of the Gryffindor

    Slytherin scarf

    Another shot of the Slytherin

    I’ve gone one more in production, but after that I’m available if anybody wants to place an order!

  • Purdue Hat

    Me in the Purdue Hat Side view of Purdue hat

    Feedback needed.
    My brother is a sophomore in college and I asked him recently what he’d like me to knit him. He said a hat would be nice, and that “the more unique the better”. This is what I came up with. (Don’t worry; he never reads the site so it won’t ruin the surprise.) I based it on this pattern for an “ear flap hat”. Instead of using the provided zig-zag design, though, I decided to try my hand at doing some fair isle knitting. So I laid out a design using the name of his university in their school colors. It came out pretty well! Slightly wonky shaped, but I figure some blocking this weekend (i.e. me wearing it around the house a lot) will square it up. Now I’m wondering… Should I put a pompom on top? He said “unique.” Would any of you guys actually wear a hat with a pompom on it? Is this whole discussion moot because it’s so dorky he’d never wear it regardless? Please advise. (I’ve set up a poll to register your thoughts on the issue.)

  • Knitted Kerchief

    For this weekend’s knitting project, I whipped up this 60’s Triangle Scarf for myself. I think I look quite the hippie in it. It was pretty easy and I managed to finish it in just a day. (Well, two days if you count my first unsuccessful attempt. I misread the pattern and my scarf ended up only half as long as intended.) It’s my first project that involved “decreasing”, which means it’s the first thing I’ve knitted that wasn’t basically a square. If you give it a try, I’d advise playing around with different needles to achieve the stated gauge, since they ones they list are totally wrong. (I ended up using 6.5 mm.) I think I’ll try the button version next.

    60's Knitted Head Scarf     Rear view of 60's Knitted Head Scarf

  • Funky Hat

    Funky Hat: Last week I figured it was time to try something new with the knitting, so I settled on this funky (yet easy) hat. It’s easy because you don’t do any increasing or decreasing; you just basically knit a tube with a circular needle and then close off the top (like a square). Then that bit kinda flops over. It’s also got twisted rib brim and little braids that hang off the back corners. (I’m going to put beads on mine as soon as I can get to the bead shop this weekend.) Since I’ve still got tons of Gryffindor yarn left over (hint hint – anybody want a scarf?), I decided to do it in Gryffindor stripes. Pretty cute, huh? The only flaw was that I grossly overestimated the diameter of my own head, so it’s not a very snug fit. But at least I know now, right?

    Funky hat       Funky hat side view

    And before you say anything, Sis, yes, I know I need to pluck my eyebrows. I’ve just been too busy with the craftiness. 🙂

  • Chicken Bib

    Chicken BibMore craftiness… I just shipped a package of homemade Christmas presents off to Mom today, including this bib I knitted for my baby brother. Yes, those are chickens embroidered on the front. (Apparently Mom collects them now, so I’m trying to indulge her.) It turned out a bit… longer than I envisioned, but the basic shape is there. Cute, huh? After I practice up on a few more scarves, I think I’ll try my hand at a sweater.