Christmas Knitting

As you might expect, most of the Christmas gifts I give tend to be handknitted, while many of the gifts I receive tend to be knitting related. This year, my favorite knitting related gift was a dress form that I can use to display my finished objects. So I get to use it for the first time as well as show off the Christmas presents I made this year, which I freely admit I am proud of mainly because I knit them all in just over 2 weeks. Not bad, considering it took over 1.2 miles of yarn to knit it all.

So the first present I started was a stole for my mom. I had ordered the yarn from Knit Picks during their big sale, then had to wait for it to arrive, so I didn't start it until the 7th. It was easily the most frustrating of the projects, since I designed it myself and discovered after I was roughly at the half way point that I had accidentally inserted a column of knit stitches into one of the charts so that it wouldn't match up with any of the others and had to rip it all out:

 

Started a bit later but worked at the same time since my dad doesn't usually notice what I knit and I could work on it while sitting with the rest of my family was my dad's scarf. He didn't have a good scarf, just this ratty thing he found in the closet, so I made him one to match the hat I made for him earlier this year. It's too long for the mannequin (7 feet, since my dad is about 6'4"), so I'll add one of him wearing it Christmas morning once my mom sends it to me. 

After I finished Mom's gift, I needed a girl gift for the family gift exchange on Christmas Eve. We have to bring a generic $30 gift for our gender, then we pick numbers and choose a present to unwrap in that order, although you can also steal something someone else you can open. I decided to use up some stash yarn and a spare tube of seed beads and knit a wide scarf (could be worn as a stole). Lace is pretty quick since it stretches out so much, so it only took a few days.  My mom drew number 1, the best number since she gets to pick first and has a chance to steal at the end if she wants, and knew what was in mine (she had seen it on my blocking mat), so she picked it and no one bothered to take it from her. 

 

 The last present was a basic 1x1 ribbed scarf for my brother Sean to match a hat I gave him earlier this year. I stayed up until about 2 am on Christmas Eve night to finish it, so I didn't get any pictures before he left, so I'll have to post one from Christmas morning once those are up.

I mentioned that I finally got a good picture of my Drum Beat cowl, so here it is:

So I talked my mom into modeling...

With some pretty good final results.

I just finished writing/knitting the companion piece to my Venetia hat,  Venetia's Cowl (though I really should think of something more creative to call it- Florence, maybe?). So I asked my mom if she would be willing to model for me, since modeling anything myself can get complicated. Imagine trying to arrange everything, model, and usually take the photos at the same time. Yeah, tends to take a couple (dozen) tries to get anything decent.

Anyway, when Mom saw the hat and cowl sitting on the dresser, she tried it on and so I asked her if she would be willing to model. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the suggestion, but she was happy enough when I suggested she wear them shopping this evening. Granted, it was about 20 degrees, so warmth might have been a factor.

Then I just kept taking photos as we went.

Here's one in the popcorn shop:

Then I tried when we were walking:

Did I mention that I get my fidgeting from her? We don't stand still very well. So candid shots were out. So I asked her to stand by the lights:

Not bad, but she was pretty clearly uncomfortable.
But we got there eventually:

The pattern/ebook will be available in December. It will be $3.50 on its own, and will also be sold as an ebook with the hat pattern for $5.00.

As a bonus, here is a picture of the cowl while it is blocking so you can see the cables better:

PS: if you have any ideas for a better name, please let me know...

25% Off Sale as Part of the Indie Design Gift-A-Long

From now through November 15th, many of the independent designers on Ravelry will be holding a 25% off sale to begin the Christmas season to coincide with KALs/CALs, giveaways, and other prizes. For a complete list of the participating designers and patterns, visit the Ravelry group: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/indie-design-gift-a-long.  Many of the participating patterns will have a golden tag on the first picture saying giftalong.Also in the group, you will find a link to pinterest boards that are organized by pattern types if you want to search that way.

I have chosen to include all of my own paid patterns in the sale (and am still working on adding the tags).  Just enter the coupon code: giftalong and you will receive 25% off all of my patterns. The code is also good for any other participating designers (so you might want to enter it at check out, even if you aren't sure that they are participating).

Adventures in Double Knitting

I decided to take a break from my larger projects since I am getting to the point of having to force myself to work on them, and knit, you guessed it, a hat. I'll admit that I probably own way too many hats at this point, half of which I don't even wear, but, oh well, I enjoy making them. Some people make dishcloths when they need a break, I knit hats. I have been considering signing up for some craft shows next year to get rid of the excess of FOs.

I've been wanting to try double knitting for a while now, but I never got around to it and, except for a blanket, I hadn't seen any pattern that I truly wanted to knit. Plus, searching for a pattern is a bit annoying, since many people tend to use the label double knitting when they mean the yarn weight rather than the technique.

 So, when it started to snow before Halloween, reminding me rather painfully of last year's Christmas tree cutting trip, I decided to create my own pattern. It wasn't a terribly complicated pattern, but I'm happy with the results.

Here is Side A:

Here is Side B:

Not the best photos, since I still need to block it and I took it indoors at night, but you can at least see the general idea.  The hat itself isn't perfect. You can actually see an error on Side B if you look closely, but it isn't too bad for a first attempt.

I'm thinking about making matching mittens, since I have 1 1/2 skeins of each color left in my stash still.

I'm also thinking that next time I try double knitting, I might try making it with two different patterns, just to mix things up.   

Back to the Frog Pond.. Ribbit, Ribbit

Or rather, rip it, rip it.

I have spent a portion of two days last month trying to clean my room and find space for all of my knitting related items. I've had to decide what I want to keep and in what form, and what should be consigned to the dust bin and what should be given to new victims... I mean recipients.

Joking aside, the last was relatively easy, as my family has a habit of "shopping" in my FOs and the excess hats in washable yarns are going to be donated to Cancer Care of Maine or another society. The only yarn I got rid of was acrylic that had started to yellow .

The first was the part that every knitter both loves and hates- frogging failed projects. I love it because I'm destroying something that has been quietly mocking me for months and now I have more yarn to play with. I hate it because I'm destroying that I spent a lot of time on and now I have more yarn to store. If that seems about as clear as mud, then oh well, at least it is somewhat cathartic and entertains cats (so much yarn, so little time to chase it). Plus, I don't know about other people, but I tend to feel guilty if I spend a lot of money on yarn for a project only to have it sit as far out of site as possible. At least I can reuse it for a gift or something that will at least be used.

So which projects met their maker?



The first was the first sweater I had ever designed, which I had been holding onto more out of sentiment than anything.

 As you can see by the numerous bulges it highlights on me, it isn't exactly flattering. Mostly because I had tried to take my own bust measurements and apparently trying to contort enough to measure your own back and boobs means that your measurements will be significantly off and any shaping below that will now be equally off. Plus, I used worsted weight pima cotton, so it sags... a lot. I almost saved the bottom lace section and turned it into an infinity scarf, but the knots/mats I used to secure the yarn looked awful. Here is what it looks like now:

 I might turn this into a baby blanket or some storage baskets.

The other item I frogged was this infinity scarf that has more problems than a good blocking could fix:

For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me as I was knitting this to go up a needle size or two for the middle portion, so the edging is much wider than the middle and even stretching the middle out isn't enough to make it lie flat. And, it wasn't reversible.

Here is what it should have looked like, though admittedly the black makes it difficult to see the edge cables in the picture:

This one uses bigger needles, reversible cables, and garter stitch, so it is flat, reversible, and not distorted. My sister actually took this one from my FO stash, so I'm guessing that means she likes it. No one has ever offered to take the other one off my hands. Oh well, now it will be made into something I might actually use, like mittens or another hat (apparently 20 isn't enough).

What projects have you frogged?

Something I Never Thought I'd Say...

I used the ratios for an isosceles right triangle in every day life!

Like a lot of people, remembering ratios and formulas for most things in geometry always felt like something that I had to learn just for math class, but I would never use it outside class. Surprisingly, I was wrong. The ratio of the hypotenuse to the sides of a isosceles right triangle, also known as a 45-45-90 triangle, is useful for knitting.

Granted, it shouldn't be surprising that geometry is useful for knitting. Knitting is probably one of the most math based fiber crafts out there. I've actually known several people who do not like knitting because you are so dependent on math. They would rather crochet, where you can free form any shape you want relatively easily, compared to knitting, where you need to calculate how many increases and where in order to create curves and diagonals. You can still free form with knitting, it just tends to take some more trial and error than crochet, since crochet can move in any direction.

So to get back on topic, the ratio for an isosceles right triangle is very helpful when knitting a blanket, or anything really, on a bias because it lets you figure out how many stitches you need in order to get the width you want for each side. Since each side started out the same length and grows at the same length, it is an isosceles triangle. The growth rate with the garter stitch, makes it a right triangle. Here is the blanket I am using it for:

It isn't the best picture (the cables are much more defined in person) and it's about a week old at this point, but the blanket is large enough now that I can't get a good picture of it as it is bunching up on the needles. It's a companion piece to my Camden hoodie. I wanted to figure out how many stitches I needed on the needles for a blanket that's short side was 36 inches long without having to whip out a measuring tape all of the time. That's when I realized that I was trying to calculate the hypotenuse of a special triangle. All I had to do was multiply 36 by the square root of 2 and I had my hypotenuse measurement!

Of course, this trick really only works if you know your gauge and are using mostly garter stitch. But it still worked! And it almost makes up for having to sit through geometry on a daily basis in high school.

Labor Day Sale

In order to celebrate everyone's productivity and hard work, I have decided, admittedly a bit spur of the moment, to have a Labor Day Sale over on Ravelry. Starting tomorrow, August 30th, I am offering a 20% discount on all of my patterns until midnight Central US time on Friday, September 6th. All patterns in my store will be included, including my newest release, Venetia, and my upcoming release, Lady Danbury.

Here is a link to my Ravelry store: Knits Who Say Needle

The coupon code is: laborday.

Venetia will be available tomorrow (8/25)!

Venetia will be released on Ravelry and Etsy tomorrow in my pattern stores! Remaking this hat is the most fun I've had knitting in a while- it was a relatively quick knit (about 5 hours) and the pattern isn't repetitive, so I didn't get tired of it. And I've discovered that it works up surprisingly well as both a beanie and a beret, depending on the needles used. Here are the two versions:

Beret

Beanie

 

 

One of my testers discovered by accident that if you skip the increase round and only repeat the cable pattern 4 times, it works out as a good fit for a child. The beanie fits an average woman's head (20-22"), but if you use larger needles, both hats could fit larger head sizes.


As a bonus: here is a pic of my reversible Drum Beat Cowl and Scarf pattern that will be released in mid September.

A Hat a Day

Apparently, I really am on a hat kick. I have made three hats in three days... well technically the last one was finished on the fourth morning, but that was just weaving in the ends as I couldn't find my yarn needle the previous night. I've been trying to come up with hat patterns that will fit a bunch of different head sizes without feeling tight. Here is the hat I just finished:

The pattern is one I used for Jason's Christmas present a few years ago. It was originally going to be part of my donation to the Cancer Care hat drive, but I started to run out of yarn and had to decrease rapidly in order to finish, resulting in a hat that is a bit too short. Since Lauren has a hard time finding hats that don't cover her eyes, I decided to give the hat to her instead. The non-shortened version of this hat pattern is available on the side bar under "Jason Hat." Both this hat and Venetia will be done again in some Red Heart Soft that I have been trying to use up and donated.

Hats, Hats, and more Hats!

I have news about three different hat patterns.

The first is an update to my last blog entry. I decided on the name Vinculum, the Latin word for binding or chaining. It is now available for free in my Ravelry Store.

 The second is a free pattern designed for cancer patients. The Hogwarts at Ravelry group is having a hat drive for Cancer Care of Maine to support Holly, who recently lost her husband to cancer. The goal of the hat drive is for Ravelry to donate 500 hats before Christmas, with an emphasis on hats for men as those are the most in need. I pledged to donate a few and started to think about a good unisex pattern. My geeky mind automatically went for the hat I saw Mickey Smith wearing in Doctor Who's "Christmas Invasion" episode and a somewhat similar one worn by Nigel at the Second Task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Both were ribbed hats which I know from experience can fit a wide range of head sizes. So I mixed the two together, pulling out different elements from each, added my own touch to it, and Voila! The Mickey Hat was born. It is a beginner level hat that works up very quickly (I did it in an evening). The complete directions can be found on the side bar.

Mickey

The third hat is called Venetia (for now- me being me, that is likely to change before release). It is another pattern I created a while back and never wrote up. This time it was because I had done the original by slipping and cabling the stitches at the same time and my software didn't have a good way to express that. when I started thinking about hat patterns again, I decided to see how it would work if the steps were spread over two rows and it worked. I knit it at a smaller gauge this time and it ended up a nice sized beanie. The pattern is now in testing and should be available by the end of the month.

Novem/Linked/Whatever I Decide to Call It Hat

So I finally got around to writing up this pattern, which has been sitting on the Coming Soon list for about 2 years at this point. This hat was probably one of the first I ever designed by myself. Yet I still can't pick out a good name.

I was surprised by how well I remembered the construction (and yes, I realize that in the best picture I have of it, I have my eyes closed). It was relatively quick to write up, at least compared to my most recent pattern writing experience. I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to write a simple pattern where I didn't have to worry about grading or numerous charts. Instead, there are two charts, and I remembered ahead of time to change the names of some symbols, so I didn't have to manually do it later for the written portions. I'm waffling between having it be a free pattern and selling it for $1.50 - $2.00. It's simpler that the other hats I have for sale, so I wouldn't charge as much for it.

Lady Danbury

I based this baby blanket on Lady Danbury, one of my favorite literary characters. She is the awesome old lady who frequently appears in Julia Quinn's novels set in Regency England. Although an elegant and bold woman on the outside (stylish, but loves being old since it allows her to say whatever she wants and hit people with her cane and no one can do anything about it), she has a romantic and loving heart. She is a devout matchmaker, constantly trying to get her favorite people together, and doing her best to boost the confidence of those who need it.

Hence, a baby blanket that is less complicated than it looks, yet bold and romantic. I just started testing on it over at the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry. Yes, I know it needs better pictures. I'm hoping to release the pattern by late August 2013.

The Undecided Sweater

So I just finished this baby hoodie which I've been calling Minty (in real life the color combo looks like those after dinner chocolate mints you get at restaurants). I can't decide if I should write the pattern up or not.





I made the 6-12 month size, but in order to do the color section, I had to do it as a mosaic (2 rounds in a row are on the same side, so 2 RS rows then 2 WS rows). And that would be a bit hard to explain in written form. Plus, there is the issue of slipped stitches in cables. Technically I could just have the next stitch up be slipped, but I would actually find that harder to follow. Maybe I'll write it up as a regular cable pattern without the slipped stitches first, and then offer the colored version as a bonus. I'm thinking of writing up a chose your own adventure baby sweater. So there would be a hood, rectangular, or shawl collar options for the top and then 3 different options for the cables. I'm not sure yet. Maybe it would be better to have them as an ebook and have 3 different patterns where you could mix and match the elements from each.

I did decide to not publish the baby hat patterns mentioned in the previous post. I'm just not sure how tall a baby's head is and the measurements I'm finding are decidedly unhelpful. They all include a folded brim but do not specify how much is folded up so I would know how much to subtract.

Camden, Mr. Blanket, and Some Other Patterns

It's been a crazy semester, but I've still managed to get some designs done. One pattern, Mr. Blanket, was released a few months ago. It's based off a joke my brother, Sean, has with his girlfriend about his beard. Whenever he shaves it off, for a day or two he leaves a mustache and styles it into a handle bar. He thinks it's funny. She just rolls her eyes. There are three different faces: Mr. Top Hat (Shown), Mr. Artist, Mr. Chef, and Mr. Cowboy. It costs 3.50 USD.

Mr. Blanket

Mr. Top Hat, Mr. Chef, Mr. Cowboy, and Mr. Artist

Now, I have an e-book of baby hats called Slip, Slip, Baby that I am hoping to have released by mid May. I have the samples for 2 of the patterns done, and am working out the pattern for the last. The whole e-book will cost 3.00 USD, while each hat alone will cost 1.50 USD. Each hat comes in the following sizes: 0-3 months 3-6 months, 6-12 months, and 1-3 years. And yes, that is a slightly creepy baby doll modeling the 3-6 month size. I think the creepiness might be due to the fact that it looks lifelike yet not at the same time.

Slipping on the Diamonds in 6-12 months size

Slipping on the Diamonds in size 3-6 months

Slip 'n' Slide in size 3-6 months

After that I have another pattern due out in mid June. Camden is a baby cardigan/jacket done in sport weight yarn. My brother wanted me to call it Boodie and say "Warning: do not shake your Boodie when your baby is in it." As you can tell, he loves puns. The body is done in garter stitch and then a reversible cable is added. It is currently being tested. The sizes available will be 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, and 18-24 months. I may add larger sizes later if enough people request them.  The sample I knit still needs buttons but I lost the toggles I was planning to use. Cost is 5.00 USD.

One Day Sale

Over on Ravelry, I am having a one day sale to celebrate my birthday. Any one paid pattern is free for February 1, 2013. It runs Eastern time. The code for this promotion is HAPPY. Enjoy!

Pattern Productivity

I've just finished writing two new patterns:

The first is I Think I've Broken Something Hat & Cowl/ Infinity Scarf. This is a basic Broken Rib pattern that I recently discovered I like a lot. There are two sections of the pattern: the first is the pattern for the hat and cowl in Super Bulky weight yarn for an average female adult, the second explains the math that I used to calculate the pattern so that it can be adapted to any yarn weight and size.

The second pattern is Professor McGonagall. It is a baby blanket/throw that is loosely based on The Boy Who Lived, where we first meet the professor. So loosely, that Muggles (aka non-fans) can still enjoy the picture of a cat looking up at the night sky without knowing. This was intentional since the original is intended as a gift for just such a Muggle. Plus, it amused me to sneak it in on her. This one will be available shortly.