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Archive for the ‘magic loop’ Category

Turn a Square Beanie

August 17, 2011

I love Jared Flood’s patterns and so I added this men’s hat to my Christmas knitting. I’ve made this for one of my nephews. I love this little hat. The decreases at the top are really nice.

I used some Ecolana that I had left over from these fingerless mittens. The yarn matched nicely with the brown Shepherd’s Wool. Shepherd’s Wool is made right here in Michigan. I love this wool – if you’ve never used it, it’s worth buying some. It’s a worsted that incredible soft and knits up so nicely and comes in a lot of colors.

The hat was just a tad too large, so I picked up stitches and added a lining with the Shepherd’s Wool. It made the hat fit perfectly and just made the hat a little nicer and extra warm – linings are so nice.

Pattern: Turn a Square
Yarn: Ecolana Natural and Stonehedge Shepherd’s Wool in Brown
Needles: US#7, circular
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, gifts, guy stuff, knitting, magic loop | 1 Comment »

Borealis Fingerless Cuffed Mittens

August 7, 2011

Am I boring you with my Christmas knitting FOs? Well, here’s another one. This one is for one of my nephews and, of course, it has to be fingerless so he can text on his phone!

I’ve knitted these up with Berocco Borealis, a really nice chunky yarn that is a blend – 60% acrylic and 40% wool. This is new for me, because I never buy yarn that contains acrylic but I couldn’t help myself when I saw this squishy yarn in my LYS. HAD to get it! And it is yummy feeling. And they have lots of really neat colorways.

I’ve knitted these mittens before, making a modification to the pattern by knitting extra on the top and cuffing them. I love that. They feel warmer that way. I also used a chunky yarn this time (the pattern calls for worsted) and I just decreased the cast on stitches to 27. It was perfect. The K2, P2 ribbing is really nice and stretchy on these mittens. A favorite pattern. I used Magic Loop for these mittens. As usual.

Pattern: Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes
Yarn: Berocco Borealis in Grindvik
Needles: Addi Lace US #10
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, gifts, knitting, magic loop, mittens | 4 Comments »

Wonderland Fingerless Mitts

August 2, 2011

Another Christmas FO! I’m knocking these out and have about 6 more to go, I think. It’s funny to be sitting around in 90 degree heat, knitting things up for winter. These are another pair of fingerless mittens designed by Jenn Wisbeck. I knitted two of her designs now, and I love both of them.

For this pair, I stuck with using Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light. The pattern called for a fingering weight yarn, but when I looked at the gauge, I knew I couldn’t get it with a fingering weight yarn – the mittens would be too small. I know a get a gauge of about 7 stitches to an inch in two stranded colorwork when I use a DK weight yarn on #2 needles, so that’s what I used. And my gauge was right on. I love these mittens so much, it will be hard to give them up!

Pattern: Wonderland
Needles: US#2 circular, using Magic Loop
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, in Winter White and Rose Spice
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, gifts, knitting, magic loop, mittens | 4 Comments »

Treescape Fingerless Mittens

July 26, 2011

We’ve been traveling a lot lately and I’ve taken full advantage of the plane and car time to knit. I started these fingerless mittens for one of my nieces on the plane out to Portland, Oregon and I worked on them every time we were in the car out there and driving up to Seattle. I absolutely love these mittens and it may be very hard to part with them!

The pattern is Jenn Wisbeck’s “Treescape” Mittens and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why there isn’t anyone on Ravelry who has knit them! What’s up with that? They are so adorable and fun to knit. The only problem in my knitting them was that, although the pattern photos of the mittens show a light background and dark motif color, and that’s what I knitted, the actual pattern chart is a dark background and light motif. This was confusing and I constantly had to tink back if I wasn’t paying close attention. I always had to remember that the white squares were the dark color. Anyone have a solution for that? I wish I could have copied the chart someway and reversed the lights and darks.

I knit them up with Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light, one of my favorite yarns. It’s so soft and warm, with the alpaca added to the wool. I used a #2 circular needle, using my favorite Magic Loop method. I know my niece will love them when I give them to her at Christmas.

Pattern: Treescape
Needles: #2, circular needle, Addi Lace
Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light in Star Sapphire & Winter White
Ravelry Page