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Crochet Squares

April 25, 2013

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Are you on Pinterest?  I love Pinterest. I get so many great ideas from that site. Being a knitter, I love all the gorgeous knitting photos there.  But one photo recently caught my eye .  It was  photo of a crocheted throw, all in grey.  It looked like it was made up of a bunch of crocheted squares.  I wanted to make a throw like that.

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Problem is, I’m not a crocheter.  I crocheted a Granny Stripes afghan this past year, but it was a no brainer.  There was no pattern and you just did the same stitch over and over.  So in order to make this new throw, I was going to have to learn crochet and learn how to read a crochet pattern.  So that is what I’ve been doing these past few weeks.  Because of all the great tutorials on the internet, it was pretty easy.

Then I had to pick out a yarn.  I only knit with wool, never cotton or acrylic or anything.  I did a test square out of wool and it looked like this:

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I wasn’t happy with the stitch definition.  The photo that I saw in Pinterest looked like it might have been made from cotton or blend, something heavier.  I bought a skein of Cascade Pima Cotton and did another test square.  It was just right – the cotton really shows the stitches well and it had the feel I wanted.

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Flower Burst Crochet Square #3 from Chris Simon  (above)

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This is a square I cobbled together from two patterns

I decided to add just a little bit of color to some of the squares, although most of them will be grey.  I cobbled together parts of two different crochet squares to come up with one that I like.

I’m having a blast crocheting – it’s so easy, goes so fast and it’s way easier than knitting to rip back and fix something. So I’m going to be knitting a bunch of crochet squares in the coming months.  When I get them all done and crocheted together, I’ll post the photos.

Posted in crochet | Tagged | 9 Comments »

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Roundabout Cowl

February 5, 2013

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I’m finally getting around to posting about this fantastic cowl that I have had finished for a while.   It just took me forever to photograph it for some reason.  I couldn’t remember to accost my 16-year old son to have him model it, but I finally made it happen.  I must say, this is one of my favorite projects yet.  And it’s a free download on Ravelry!

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This cowl is knit in just four colors.  It uses two colors at a time and you end up knitting four different sections, using two different color combinations each time. On Loop Knits, they show you some possible color combinations. I used some nice blue-greys in Quince Osprey, one of my favorite all time yarns. This is one warm cowl, when you wear it doubled up.  I love it.

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This project was my brainless TV or movie knitting, where I don’t have to follow a pattern.  The only downside to this pattern is that it is not knit in the round, so there were the dreaded purls that I had to do.  But I got through them.  I did knit this on a long circular needle, which helped with the bulk of it.  You finish it up with a kitchener stitch.

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Pattern:  Roundabout Cowl
Yarn:  Quince Osprey
Needles:  US #9, 40″ circular
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, scarves | 16 Comments »

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Knit Stars

November 23, 2012

I’m knitting these cute stars for Christmas and they are so much fun.  They are a free downloadable pattern from Webs.  I can see making these in all kinds of colors. The pattern calls for sport weight yarn, but I knitted them in worsted.  It doesn’t really matter for these – it just depends on how big you want them.

These stars use a really interesting construction.  You cast on 5 stitches and join in the round. You increase stitches as you go around and then start knitting the points by using turns and decreasing stitches.  After a few stars, I had the pattern memorized.

the ends are used as stuffing, so no weaving in!

One thing I liked about knitting these was there was no ends to weave in!  I hate weaving in ends.  You use the ends as stuffing.  So if you want the stars to be plumper, leave longer ends.

sewing the two halves together is so easy

I knit these using Magic Loop, which made it so easy.   No DPN tips to mess around with.  These were pretty fast to knit, also – one star from start to finish takes about an hour and a half.

I gave the stars a little soak after I knit them and laid them flat on a towel to block. Then I sewed the two halves together, stuffing the ends in as I went.  I crocheted a little loop at the top so I could hang them.

Wouldn’t these be cute in pinks and reds for Valentine’s Day?  I could even see knitting a bunch of them in a room’s colors and throwing them in a big bowl on a coffee table.  So many possibilities.

Pattern:  Knit Stars
needles:  US #6 circular
yarn:   Worsted Wool
Ravelry Page

Posted in holiday stuff, knitting, magic loop, uncategorized | 8 Comments »

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Chinook Fingerless Gloves

October 1, 2012

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Can you stand another Jared Flood pattern?  I can’t believe what a roll I’m on with his designs.  What can I say  -  I love this guy’s stuff. I’ve knitted a lot of fingerless mittens but I wanted to do gloves this time, with individual fingers, but without the tips so I can still use my phone.  So when I saw his Chinook gloves, I knew this was it.

I just did one modification to the pattern –  I did not rib the fingers.   I just don’t like that K1, P1 rib for the fingers, so I did a plain stockinette stitch and knit them until I liked the length.  I did them a bit long because really, all you need is the very tip of your fingers to stick out to use your phone.  The next pair I knit may even have full pinky fingers.  I don’t care for the K1 P1 ribbing on the cuff and I may do a K2P2 ribbing on the next pair, like I did with these.

Also, I put the live stitches on stitch holders for the second glove because picking them up from waste yarn was too hard. The stitch holders were easier.  I also knit the entire glove using Magic Loop, which I love and allows me to try on the glove as I go, which you cannot do with DPNs.  I even did the individual fingers with Magic Loop – so much easier than trying to manipulate DPNs around a little finger. Using Addi Lace Turbo needles makes working with the fingering weight yarn super easy.

I did a little stash busting by using Dale of Norway Baby Ull, although it is not one of my favorite yarns. There is just something about that yarn that I don’t like – it doesn’t have enough structure or something.  I’m not buying any more of it, for sure.

As soon as I got finished with these gloves, although they were intended for me, my 16-year-old son wanted them.  What could I say – I love anyone appreciating my knitting, so off he went with them.  I would still like a pair so you’re going to see another set up here in the near future.  I’m trying to get some Quince Chickadee for my pair, but they are still having production problems.  It is a yarn so worth waiting for, though.  I love all the Quince yarns.

Pattern:  Chinook Fingerless Gloves
Needles:  US#0 and US#2 circular Addi Lace Turbos
Yarn: Baby Ull in black, white and charcoal
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, knitting, magic loop, mittens | 8 Comments »

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Granny Stripes Blanket

September 14, 2012

Finally.  Finished.  I’ve been working on this so long. Since it didn’t require a pattern, it was my mindless knitting that I could do in the dark practically while we watch TV.  But since we don’t watch a lot of TV, it took forever!

This blanket was inspired by granny stripe blankets I saw on Ravelry.  The fun thing, too, about looking at all those blankets was all the different color combinations people used.   There are 2,286 Granny Stripes blankets on Ravelry.  You could look at them forever.  I love it!

I chose colors that would go in our bedroom.  We needed some kind of throw/blanket back there to use if someone wanted to take a nap.  I decided to use Cascade 220 Superwash Wool so I could throw it in the washer.  They also have a ton of colors in that line and I did not have a hard time selecting a few colors to perfectly match our bedspread.

I used four shades of brown and a shade of pale yellow/cream.  I decided to do a series of stripes by doing 2 stripes and then the cream, three stripes and then the cream, four stripes and then the cream, five stripes and then the cream and then reversing it.

I don’t like weaving in all those ends, though!

I crocheted until I felt the blanket was just big enough because I figure it would grow after I washed it and sure enough, it did.  It really expanded, so I have a nice big throw now.  The Cascade Superwash washes up really nicely.  I threw it in the dryer on low and came out great.

Pattern: Granny Stripes Blanket
Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash
Crochet Hook: #H (5.0 mm)
Ravelry Page

Posted in crochet, finished objects, uncategorized | Tagged | 8 Comments »

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Jared Flood’s Autumn Leaves

September 5, 2012

Wow – it’s been a while since I’ve posted around here but hey – something called “Summer” happened.  There was a lot of yard work to do and feeding my summer addiction.  But I was knitting.  I’ve been working on two big, long projects and finally got one of them finished – the Autumn Leaves Stole by Jared Flood.

This stole is knit in two halves and then grafted together, using kitchener stitch. I had the first half finished the first part of the year and then, after it went on a stitch holder, I got distracted and picked up some other things to knit. But discipline set in and I determined to finish the second half.  The second half just flew off the needles. Such fun to knit!

Jared’s pattern is, as usual, so well written and the chart is easy to read.  The pattern is very easy and once you get the hang of the stitch symbols, a very fast knit.  This stole can be worn as a scarf, also.  I’ve used Madelinetosh Vintage, which is a yummy yarn, so warm and soft.

Pattern:  Autumn Leaves Stole
Needles:  US 9 Circular Addi Lace Turbo (of course)
Yarn:  Madelinetosh Vintage in Bark
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, knitting, scarves, Shawls/wraps, uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments »

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Super Stretchy, Super Easy Sewn Bind Off

March 25, 2012

When I posted about my finished Guernsey Wrap, I said that I would write about the sewn bind off that I did to finish it.  Jared recommended a stretchy bind off in the pattern and so I did Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind off.  I think it’s my favorite yet.  It’s not only easy to execute but it has a nice finished look to it and is super stretchy.  Here is how it’s done:

Cut your yarn to a length about 3 times as long as the knitting and thread it onto a needle.  Insert the needle into the first two stitches, purlwise . . .

. . . and draw it through


insert the needle into the first stitch on the knitting needle as if to knit, draw the yarn through and . . .

. . . slip the stitch off

Repeat. 

This creates a super stretchy bind off that actually resembles your long tail cast on.  My new favorite.

Posted in knitting, techniques | 5 Comments »

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