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The pattern for the Jurassic Mittens is available for purchase through Ravelry! (Ravelry account not required for download.)
Jurassic Mittens: US $6.50
Included in the pattern are directions to make the following dino mittens:
– Triceratops
– Stegosaurus
– T-Rex
Sizes: Children’s S (Children’s L, Adult) Shown in Adult
Children’s S: Ages approx. 5-7, 5” palm circumference
Children’s L: Ages approx. 8-10, 6” palm circumference
Adult: Should fit most adult hands, measures approx. 8” around palm, length is to fit.
Finished measurements: 6” (7”, 8”) (palm circumference)
Gauge: 5 sts/7 rows per inch stockinette
Yarn Required:
MC: 150-200 yards worsted/aran weight yarn, green (sample used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride)
CC: 20 yards worsted weight yarn, red (sample used Ella Rae Classic)
CC2: 10 yards worsted weight yarn, off-white (sample used reconned thrift store sweater yarn)
CC3: 4 yards worsted weight yarn, white (sample used Lily Sugar ‘N’ Cream)
You will also need:
-Set of 5 US 7/4.5 dpn’s
-Stitch marker
-Stitch holder or waste yarn
Alright, y’all, the pattern for Geometric Spirals is up and ready! Since it includes a chart, I’m not going to post it here like I did for Lilith and the Tissue Cozy. This means you’ll have to mosey on over to Ravelry to pick up the pdf. Deets/Link below.
Geometric Spirals
A free pattern, available for download.
Yarn: 100-150 yards worsted weight in MC and 30 yards in CC
Needles: US 8/5 mm dpns and 16″ circular needle
You will also need a tapestry needle and a stitch marker.
Finished size: To fit 20″-23″ head (should fit most adult heads)
This post has been a long time in coming. FINALLY, this is the super secret knitting patten I’ve been talking about since probably July.
Pattern: Counterpoint by Jennifer Crawford, available as a free Ravelry download
Yarn: Plymouth Encore, one skein of each black and white
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm straights, probably from a garage sale
Modifications: Went up a needle size because I didn’t want the scarf to be too difficult/uncomfortable to wear. Other than that, knit as written. I think I got 6.5 octaves.
Now, I’ve knit some fairly complicated things in my knitting history. I’ve done cables and lace, sweaters with shaping, fiddly gloves, and I’ve used teeeny little yarn and fairly small needles. I’ve done color work and entrelac and all sorts of sewing up. All of this absolutely pales in comparison to this scarf, which is absolutely the coolest thing I’ve ever knit. Now, I’m sure illusion knitting is old hat to many knitters, but I don’t care. This scarf probably took me twice as long to knit as it should have, simply because I couldn’t stop admiring it long enough to just knit the damn thing. It’s beautiful and wonderful and cool.
This has been fairly long in the planning. About a year ago, I was browsing Ravelry with my boyfriend in the room, and he thought this pattern was super cool. I’d made him a scarf for his birthday last year, but it was a pretty plain cabled scarf is Bernat Satin Soft – lovely, but nowhere near as nice as this particular pattern. I kept it in the back of my mind and didn’t actually buy the yarn until July. I started knitting in August, working on it off and on in between other projects, both on deadline and just because I wanted something different.
I will say that there was a significant learning curve to getting comfortable with illusion knitting. I couldn’t knit a stitch without the chart and I had no idea which knits or purls were doing what and what was creating that super cool patterns.
Then, all of a sudden, I got it. And now I’m fairly confident I could design my own illusion-knitted garment (though I find they’re mostly confined to scarves and dishcloths) fairly easily. My advice for those just starting illusion knitting, I would say to keep at it until it clicks. Because it will click. It just takes a little work first.
The awesome new mittens I’ve been working on? They look like this:
That’s right, folks, dinosaurs! I’ll be selling the pattern for these as well and will have several options for different dinos. The Triceratops is all written up, and I’ve got to figure out how to do the T-Rex so it actually looks like a T-Rex. I’ve yet to muddle out the stegosaurus, but that’s happening too. If you’ve got suggestions or requests for other dinos, just let me know! I want to have as many options as possible for these guys.
Like the sharks, the pattern will be in both adult and child sizes. I hope to get it up before the month is out, resulting in a pattern that will make perfect holiday gifts–I did the actual knitting of these (disregarding fiddling and figuring time) in like, three days.
These ones, in an adult size, are for the boyfriend, who love dinos and I’m sure will be noming on people all the time once I figure out the T-Rex. : )
I’m also knitting for me:
That’s a Classic Elite pattern, A Slouch for All Seasons, done up in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes left over from the sweater vest. I should have enough yarn, but it’ll be close. I’d be more worried if I hadn’t cut out two pattern repeats and only cast on 80 instead of 100. This hat looks to be done tomorrowish.
I’ve thrown my hat back into the ring for the Ongoing Wish Swap and claimed someone for a knit hat, so that’s coming up on the radar. I’m not doing Christmas gifts this year (except for my sister, which is a story for a later date). Stay tuned!
Pattern: My own, which will be available for purchase in both adult and child (like age 5-7 and 8-10) in the near future.
Yarn: A little of this and a little of that: Grey Cascade Ecological Wool, red Ella Rae wool, while Lily Sugar and Cream cotton, and random black crochet cotton from the thrift store. What I had around, basically.
Needles: US 6/4 mm for the main mitten bit and fin and US 7/4.5 mm for the red mouth parts.
I also made a little Samuel L. Jackson (like in the movie Deep Blue Sea) to go with them:
(He’s bald cause I don’t actually know about doll hair.)
Samuel L. Jackson is also my own pattern, though that I basically just made up as I went. He’s made from brown and blue (I used the last couple of yards) of Lion Brand Wool and the same black crochet cotton used above.
The sharks like to eat Samuel, especially when he’s making important speeches. : )
The pattern for these is currently being test knit and will be available for purchase through Ravelry soon. In other knitting news, I started more mittens. They are also awesome and I will be offering a pattern for them as well. What are they? You’ll see on Monday!
Pattern: Hilja Vest
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather, 3.5 skeins (way less than I budgeted)
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm Knit Picks Options circular needle
Mods: Only CO 144 to make it smaller. Probably added length. Did fewer pairs of shaping. Basically, I made it up as I went until I started the V/arm holes. Then sort of made that up as well.
Serious moderation went into this vest. Basically, I didn’t know how to construct a v-neck or a vest, and the pattern taught me how. So now I can make up my own vests. Awesome, considering I fancy myself a budding designer (which you’ll see more of on Thursday).
Anyway, I think the vest came out super cute. I love the deep v (the depth is just about perfect, I think), and the fit is great for me basically making it up as I went along. I think the arm things/straps/not sleeves/shoulders could stand to be a bit narrower, but they’re mostly fine and I’m not really complaining.
I used less yarn than I thought I would, as I said. When I ordered a bunch of things from Knit Picks a while ago, I randomly threw into my cart five skeins of purple Wool of the Andes. I meant to use much of it here, but instead I only used three and a half. So now I have a skein and a half of Wool of the Andes, which will most likely end up in a cowl of some sort because I love cowls and they are quite quick to knit.
Coming up on The Adulterous Whore Club: a surprise, as I said, plus another super awesome thing. It will be awesome, trust me.
Pattern: Srsly, it’s a toe-up sock with a short row heel. And some increases to fit my calves.
Yarn: Lion Wool in Cadet Blue (bout a quarter of a skein) and Ocean Blues (two FULL skeins)
Needles: US 6/4 mm dpns
So I wanted socks to wear in my rain boots to keep my toes warm in the snow. These definitely fit the bill. They come up to my knees (actually, a bit over) and are super warm. Because they are wool, my feet will still be able to breathe, but even if snow gets into my shoe, my feet will stay (mostly) warm and dry. Win.
And as for the yarn: The variegated has been marinating in my stash almost since I started knitting–I bought it on sale at Micheal’s before I knew I didn’t like variegated yarn and I hadn’t been able to find a use for it. When I decided to make the socks, I knew I didn’t want to have ANY left, so I knit until I had just enough yarn left for the cast off. This resulted in a left over length of yarn (after weaving in) of about a foot on one sock and about two inches on the other sock. WIN.
The blue in the heel and the toe I was a little more worried about. I knew I wanted contrasting heels and toes (because I really love that look) and I only had about a quarter of a skein. I thought it was going to be close and I would run out on the second toe. Fortunately, I had plenty and I even have a couple of yards left. Not sure what I’ll do with them though—Maybe I’ll make a scrap hat one of these days. OH, or, I have some purple that would look lovely in a hat with a blue stripe. : )
In other knitting news: I started (and finished, actually, except for blocking) a hat from some left over Cascade Eco. Featherweight, as I said, is on the back burner and in the mean time, I’ve been working up small projects to burn through some stash. I’ve recently decided that I can’t buy more yarn until everything (or at least, all my good non-acrylic) yarn fits in the bin I have at school. This includes a whole skein of Cascade Eco, four balls of Valley Northampton, and most of a cone of Jaggerspun lace weight. We’ll see how that goes. At the very least, I’ll have lots of hats and mittens and things.
(I can and do button all the buttons, it was just a little warm that day.)
Pattern: owls by Kate Davies, size small
Yarn: Cascade Eco Wool in coffee, about a skein and a half (ish)
Needles: 6.5 mm Knit Picks Options circular and plastic 6 mm dpns, Susan Bates or somesuch.
Modifications: Made it a cardigan. Probably increased length. Moved the waist shaping to the sides.
So I definitely love this sweater. It’s warm and cozy and PERFECT for fall weather when the temperature drops to 50 degrees. Plus, it’s super cute. I used a total of 13 smallish plastic tortoise-shell buttons, none of which match because honestly, who the hell has 13 matching buttons in their button stash? I’ll probably leave the owls without button eyes, though I do have some little silver beads that I might sew onto a couple of them.
And as for the yarn: I am a fan. It’s super economical (I paid like $15 for 476 yards of bulky weight goodness) and softens considerably after a bath. I noticed a little bit of growing, but I was actually quite pleased with that because my first sleeve was started too small and I wanted to add a little length. It came out to the perfect length, actually, and I’m super pleased. The yarn is a little pilly, but I suspect that’s because I do dumb things like lean my elbows on rough concrete and whatnot. And in any case, a quite run with a sweater shaver (which I need to procure…) will fix that right up.
All in all, this is a great sweater and I know I’ll get a lot of wear out of it. Especially since I’ve been wearing it as my outer layer since I sewed on the buttons. Very cozy.
This weekend is fall break at my school and I also have Friday off due to midterms for those classes being earlier in the week. Which means I have FIVE WHOLE DAYS to my weekend, which means lots of time for knitting! For example, I’m knitting these fingerless gloves:
(Even though I’ll probably finish them tomorrow or something ridiculous.)
Funny story about those gloves, which I will tell you in the FO post. For now, just know the first glove was a pain in the ass, and the second one is going much more smoothly (I say, as though I’ve actually done more than two and a half fingers).
Also, I’ve finished owls, and it’s blocking nicely on my bed. And in case you didn’t know, bulky wool takes FOREVER to dry. I’m hoping FO pictures of that can happen over Fall Break as well.
My plan is to start one of several things once my gloves are done: a triangle shawl, a lace scarf, or a lace-weight cardigan a la Featherweight (which I’ll either make up because I’m cheap as hell or give in and just buy the damn pattern and actually make Featherweight). Basically, I’m working with lace weight next. Thoughts?
So I’m knitting another sweater, making my total for the year 14 once this one’s done. To be fair, some of those were tank tops. So maybe I’ll go through what I’ve done and let you know when I’ve done 12 legit sweaters, long sleeves and all. Actually, I’ve only done a handful of those… We’ll stick with 14.
Anyway, I’m knitting owls by Kate Davies, everyone’s favorite bulky yarn sweater. I’m modifying mine into a cardigan because I’ll wear it more. Right now, I have the body done up to the short rows and the sleeves both knit. I started this on Sunday. There’s a good chance this sweater will be done before the week is out. Or at the very least, not much more than a week.
So the sleeves of this thing are knit in the round, from the wrist to the armpit. Upon embarking on this sweater, it didn’t occur to me to check to make sure I had the right needles. Except for the ribbing, the pattern calls for 6.5 mm needles (I know, they’re fucking huge). I have 6 mm dpns, so that’s what the sleeves are knit on. But check out these needles:
THEY’RE SO LONG (that’s what she said; tee hee). Seriously. They’re like a foot long. They’re some plastic Susan Bates nonsense that came from a garage sale back when I first started knitting. I mean, they’re pretty smooth and work well with the wool yarn, but still. Huge.
As I said in my last post, I finished Watermelon, so I’ll have pictures of that soon, probably in a couple of days. So that will happen. Stay tuned for knitting. And maybe some other crafts if I feel like it (probably not).
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 