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I am finally blocking my Flower Petal Shawl today, and I also spent some time updating Flickr and Ravelry with a few old knitting projects that I hadn't gotten around to uploading yet. Most had already been posted in my LJ but below the cut is a pair of socks that I don't think I posted about. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/flower-petal-shawlalpaca & silk/mohair petal shawlPattern: Flower Petal Shawl by Elann Needle: US 6 / 4.0 mm 1 skein (341.1m) Habu Kasuri Silk Mohair A-32D Purchased at: TKCS Sep 07 2 skeins (804.7m) Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud "autumn heather" (via swap with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sistercoyote) The pattern calls for worsted weight and I did it in lace weight, but it’s a reasonable size anyway. (I am not sure if I ended up doing more pattern repeats than specified.) I like how the strip of Habu works with the Alpaca Cloud. flower petal shawl being blocked ( two more pix )Tags: i made this!, knitting
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Have Fun! Scarf by Sally Melville, The Knitting Experience, Book 1: The Knit StitchI finished this in 2005 but I got it out for a photo today because auntysocial was talking about the book in question. I don't remember what needle size I used. I knit this from a bunch of different yarns I got at the Mendocino Wool & Fiber Festival in 2004. It’s knit sideways and self-fringing. I made the mistake of hanging it on a hanger, and it grew so now it’s over 10 feet long. ( Read more... )Regia Jacquard socks (two at once, top down on 2 circs) (Finished last month) Pattern: Boot Socks by Knit Picks Design TeamSize: custom Needle: US 1 / 2.25 mm Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Jacquard Color 4-ply / 4-fädig 2 skeins = 460.0 yards (420.6m) Color family: Blue Acquired: as door prize, TKCS Oct 07 ( Read more... )Tags: i made this!, knitting
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http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/an-unoriginal-hatUnoriginal Hat Pattern: An Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Needle: US 10½ / 6.5 mm Yarn: Rowan Big Wool 1 skeins = 87.0 yards (79.6m) Colorway 21 (white and gray) Notes I used exactly 1 ball of Rowan Big Wool with only a couple of yards left over. The hat is a bit small on me; I misread the instructions and used size 10.5 needles instead of size 11. (But then I might have run out of yarn.) Rowan Big Wool is kind of hard to work into cables because it’s not very elastic. It’s very soft. ( photos )Tags: i made this!, knitting
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This info is written up more tidily on http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firecat/heartbeat-sweaterPattern: Heartbeat Sweater by Jill VosburgCraft: Knitting Made for: me Size: 44" bust with side panel modifications Needle: US 5 (back panel), US 3 (front panel), US 2 (side panels, sleeves, neckline) Yarn: mercerized cotton Colorway: purple and pink varigated (front/back panels), purple (side panels, sleeves, neckline) I got the yarn in a swap. (Waves to punkmom) Notes The pattern goes up to a 64" bust, but as written it isn't all that well designed to accommodate larger sizes - the shoulders and neckline end up too wide. Also the side panel width doesn't change (but I think that it should—a person who is bigger around also tends to have wider sides). We did it as a KAL on the ample-knitters yahoo group. Different folks modified the pattern in different ways to address these issues. My bust is larger than the 44" size I knit; I made up the difference by increasing the width of the side panels. Also I modified the triangles at the bottom of the back sweater panel to accommodate wider hips. (I won't do that again if I make another Heartbeat Sweater, because it makes the bottom of the sweater into an upside-down vee shape, which isn't entirely flattering. But it looks OK for this one). I used #5 needles and continental knitting for the first front/back panel, but the fabric was too loose. I switched to #3 needles and combination knitting for the second front/back panel. When I was ready to start the sleeves, side panels, and neckline I discovered the purple yarn was much thinner than the multicolored yarn, so I knit with two strands held together on #2 needles. The sweater is loose on me - my gauge-fu for garments larger than socks or hats is weak (and it doesn't help when I change techniques and needle sizes mid-project). It has some drape so it looks OK at this size, but I may take in the side panels at some point. Better pictures to come. I've mislaid my camera so I took this on my crappy cellphone camera. It's a detail of the front panel and neckline. ( stitches )Tags: i made this!, knitting
feeling:  accomplished
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This scarf has been on the needles since last December; I started it in the airport waiting for a flight to Las Vegas to visit the OH's cousin and kitchenwitch. I've been carrying it around in my bag as my "knit in waiting rooms" pattern, and I ended up taking it to Wiscon. Every time I got annoyed in a panel I picked it up, so I quickly finished it. :-) The pattern is from a book called Knit It Now!. The book teaches six stitch patterns and gives patterns for three or four garments in each pattern, each made with a different type of yarn, so you can see how a single pattern looks in a wide variety of yarn types. Nice idea, but the garments are mostly kind of dull. They call this pattern Brick Stitch. It's a slip stitch pattern, which means that you're only knitting with one color per row but slipping some of the stitches from the row below to bring that color up into the current row. To my eye the result looks complex but the process is pretty easy. It was my first attempt at two color work that wasn't multi-row stripes. The yarn is Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo. I really like the yarn; it feels really nice in my hands, drapes well, is lightweight, and has good stitch definition. It's not particularly warm. I really like how this scarf turned out, and I got lots of compliments on it while I was knitting it. ( pix - also available on flickr at firecatstef )Tags: i made this!, knitting
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I tried to make a Moebius scarf using Cat Bordhi's A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. I failed to check the cast-on carefully for only one twist, and it ended up as a scarf with one side but three half twists instead of one. I used one skein of Mountain Colors handpainted "Mountain Goat" worsted weight yarn, 55% mohair and 45% wool, and #8 needles. This made a scarf with about a 65" circumference and 5" wide (ribbed). The yarn is absolutely luscious - soft, light, warm, and developing a lovely halo. I finished it with an applied I-cord edging of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK, 80% alpaca and 20% silk. This yarn feels lovely but is very delicate. If you knit with the brand-new yarn it's OK, but if you frog it and try to knit with it again, it starts splitting very easily. It's hard to tink and impossible to un-knot. I won't be buying it again. ( Two photos of a twisty scarf )I haven't given up on Cat Bordhi's Moebius cast-on, but the first Moebius scarf I made used a different method for casting on (you cast on half the stitches and then pick up from the bottom edge for the next half...not sure if I'm explaining that very clearly) and I didn't have the problem of extra twists. Also Bordhi's cast-on, because it is over two cables, is either very tight to knit into or produces a loose center to your Moebius strip. A lot of Bordhi's projects are felted in which case the loose center wouldn't matter. Tags: i made this!, knitting, mathematical knitting
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I finished knitting my first pair of socks. I used some German self-striping sock yarn, I don't remember the brand, washable wool/polyester. It wasn't the softest stuff I've ever knit with, but it feels good on my feet. I used the Universal Toe Up Sock Formula from Knitty.com. This pattern works quite well to create a custom fitted sock (although for me the toe came out a bit too narrow. I have wide forefeet). I had one problem with the pattern: When I went to start knitting in the round again after making the heel, there were holes in the corners. The pattern suggests that you make some extra stitches to compensate, but that didn't work for me. I knit them on size 2 Brittany birch DPNs, which I loved. The gauge is a bit looser than I prefer for socks, though; if I did them again with DPNs I would use size 1. They are stockinette except for an inch of 2x2 ribbing at the top. ( Herewith are photos of my socks and my hairy shins. )My next sock project will use circular needles. I like working with DPNs; it's portable and most of the sock could be done without my full attention. And the yarn did not slide off the DPNs nearly as often as I expected it to, but it did do so a couple of times. I want to see if I can learn to do circular needle socks the same way and if doing socks on circs will solve the problem of ladders where one DPN shifts to the next. (I did find a way to solve that, which my brain isn't letting me describe in words right now. But the way I used would make doing patterned socks more difficult, I think). Tags: i made this!, knitting
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punkmom cleverly suggested that I ask my knitting friends if y'all have any of the books I was ranting about not being able to see online. Here is my current list and if you have opinions on any of these, or if you are local and have a copy that I could look at, please let me know: Wrap Style: Innovative to Traditional, 24 Inspirational Shawls, Ponchos, and Capelets to Knit and Crochet by Pam Allen, Ann Budd I like this wrap from it and either don't like or can't tell whether I like (Green Sleeves) the other wraps shown on the Interweave site ( here and here). I like this but it's available for free. I want to know if there are any others I like, because I would rather not pay $22 for one pattern. I find myself wanting to play around with cable and celtic knot stitches so I would also like to have a look at these: Aran Sweater Design by Janet Szabo I have these on hold at the library: 220 Aran stitches : includes diamonds, cables, twists, honeycombs, textures, panels, backgrounds Aran knitting, Alice Starmore Vogue knitting stitchionary 2. Vol. 2, cables : the ultimate stitch dictionaryMichael Pearson's Traditional knitting : Aran, Fair Isle, and fisher ganseysFinally, if you have any opinions about the books in my Amazon yarncrafts wishlist I would welcome them. (ObDisclaimer: I am not trolling for gifts; this is just a convenient place to keep track of stuff I want to check out.)http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/2H16VWFC2C9PQTags: all knowledge is contained in lj, books, knitting, queries
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