This is my second finished entry in the Ravelympics. It is an earmuff/headband with a hawaiian hibiscus flower duplicate stitched over it.
Pattern: Hawaii A Goth-O Yarn: Naturally Caron-Countryin black and claret Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm Completed: February 27, 2010
Even rows are all purls. 1. CO 3 sts. Turn. 3. K1, m1, k1, m1, k1. 5 sts. 5. K1, m1, k all but last st, m1, k1. Repeat rows 5 and 6 until at least 25 sts on needles, or desired width. Knit about 70 rows in stockinette, or enough to go around head, minus length of increases. 1. Ssk, k all but last two sts, k2tog. Repeat rows 1 and 2 until 3 sts left. K3tog.
Cut 6 strands, 16" long. Insert three strands around center st, two rows from tip, and braid. Repeat on other end.
Locate center of band and duplicate stitch motif. At least 6 yards are needed for one flower. There is enough space to place three motifs, preferably rotating image.
This is a very simple hat that can be modified for slouchiness and size, and knit up in a weekend. I will try to explain the individual stitches, but I will make more emphasis on the logic behind them. Size mods and glossary are at the end.
Yarn: Rio De La Plata wool solid in Carnation
Weight: Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)
: 140 yards (128 meters)
: 100 grams (3.53 ounces)
: US 8 / 5.0 mm
1. Cast on 80 stitches in the round on 4 DPNs, 20 sts each. (circular needles can also be used)
2. Knit an inch (10 rows) of 2x2 rib.
3. Start chart, 2 chart repeats per needle.
p2tog all around until you run out of sts and bind off. (8 sts > 4 sts > 2 sts > 1 st).
GLOSSARY: Stitches are counted as they approach the tip of the needle. -->
g
knit
/
purl
j
yo
S
D
fcP
S
G
fcK
\
ssk
|
k2tog (both from leaf)
d
k2tog (including backround purl)
3
k3tog
fcP: front cable purl. First st is held in front, while second st is purled behind it, then k first st. fcK: front cable knit. First st is held in front, while second st is knit behind it, then k first st. ssk: a one st decrease that leaves the first st on top of second st. k2tog: a one st decrease that leaves the second st on top of first st. k3tog: a two st decrease that leaves the second st on top, then the third in the middle, and the first on the bottom. p2tog: purl 2 together.
MODS:
This pattern started off with a three leaf branch from a tree in the last pattern in A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, by Barbara G. Walker. The original pattern had all the leaves the same size (3 increases), which I modified to have 4 and 5 increases on other leaves to make it baggier. If you want a more fitted beanie, skip rows 19-22 in the left leaf, and 29-33 in the center leaf. The same logic can be used to make the hat even baggier.
For smaller sizes, a 10 st repeat can be substituted with the appropriate number of purls, distributed between repeats. Purls can also be added in between repeats to make a bigger hat.
Pattern:Evergreen, by Kristin LeMoine Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in 27009 (lavender) Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm Completed: January 28, 2010 Notions: five wire wrapped amethyst beads, chained together, to be used as a scarf pin
The main reason Fer and I met up in NYC, was because our other friend, Pili, has been working at Disneyworld this year and came up to see the snow. It's funny that the Snowpocalypse hit this same weekend, but only a few flurries actually made it that far northeast.
So, in my undying NEED to knit people gifts, I played hooky that thursday and knit her a neck scarf triangle thing in about 12 hours, with a total of 6 pattern repeats, and had a whole 6" left over after binding off! And, holy shit, I even blocked it! Which was completely pointless, because it was silk and had no memory. But I felt like a Big Girl ^_^
It was so odd, yet nice to work with the silk, and the pattern was very easy and intuitive, and can be scaled to desired dimensions. I didn't like the 3st garter border, but that can easily be changed for future iterations.
Pattern:calorimetry, minus half the rows Yarn: my handspun Merino in Mustard and Raspberry, purchased at Pennsic 2008, poorly fractal plied, about sport weight Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm Completed: January 31, 2010 Notions: 2 1" buttons
I met up with my bestest friend from high school this weekend in NYC, and found the NEED to make her something. It was originally going to be made out of a (now I know is absolutely nasty) pink wool yarn I bought, but thought to ask what her favorite color was before making it. She said yellow. Well, I know half of what she owns is pink, and I didn't have any yellow yarn, but I did have roving in mustard and raspberry colors that I had bought a year and a half ago, that should probably get some use out of, so I spun some up.
My original idea was to fractal ply it (your first ply is half of your color A roving, and then half of your color B, and your second ply is the first 1/4 A, then 1/4 B, then 1/8 A, 1/8 B, 1/16 A, 1/16 B... etc. until you are sick of splitting your leftover roving in half), but DEX was my throwaway stat, and must have botched my skill: craft roll, that my two plies were different lengths and the thickness got progressively more consistent (but very much not at first).
I ended up with about 50 yards of yarn, that knit up nice and quick into a Calorimetry. I only did the first 12 rows before turning back, managing to make it about 3" wide. It also works as a neck warmer. And I think that what Fer liked the most was the button I used >.<
I also need to learn how to better instruct my roommate in taking pictures of my FO's, not me.
Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup, commonly consisting of a pig-head and dried red pepper stock. It stains like a mofo, but is ever so good!
***WARNING***
At the bottom of this post I will be including pictures of the pig head. And my crazy friends posing with it.
The recipe itself was quite simple. You simmer 20 chiles for a while, blend them up, and pour into a 5 gal stock pot with a couple of onions and garlic and herbs, and a 15 lb head. Simmer for several hours, remove meat from head, remove fat from meat, and serve meat and stock with hominy, radish slices, minced onion and tostadas.
As with many great soups, it tasted decent on Saturday, but I can't wait for it to sit a couple of days and let the flavor mature!
Now for the adventure. There is always an adventure when I cook.
After a couple of hours of cleaning off the meat, we were finally ready to serve ourselves and eat, when my roommate dropped the can of hominy into a gallon sized bowl of the bright red soup. Did I mention it had 20 dried red peppers blended into it? Does anybody have any clue how potently peppers can dye things? Do you know how much fat is in a pig's head? Yeah, all over the kitchen. And my friend Cassie. It was like Carrie's prom scene. And judging by the look on Cassie's face, we were thisclose to being incinerated. Luckily I managed to clean it off with Dawn soap while she showered. And even though we put a lot of effort into cleaning the kitchen, it is still greasy. That's going to be our project tonight after work >.<
Wilbur.
The perk of working in a chem lab is that I have gloves for devaining the peppers!
After a few hours simmering with the peppers. I think his ear was getting chapped.
Wrestling the head out of the pot was such an ordeal! Bastard was slippery like a wet pig!
Getting down and dirty taking off the meat.
After fondling a pig head for an hour, it kind of loses its mystery, and turns into a fun prop!
Because we needed to take a break from playing D&D.
The first time I have ever been thankful for synthetic fabric!
The next day, all the gelatin in the soup made it very jiggly ^_^
These gloves were such a brain sore! I mean, the pattern is technically written correctly, but I want to stab the editor IN THE EYE! I hate printing things out, so I tried following it on my computer at first. Yeah, not gonna happen. No part of the process can be done with only one screen/page. The pattern starts off with four pages of charts, both drawn and written out, which are useful... but... Then you go into three pages of directions, which are divided for the cuff and the hand (makes sense) and contain a hodgepodge of individual lines for each of the three sizes. And instead of telling you (k1, p1, k16, p1, k1), it tells you (k1, p1, k to last 2 sts, p1, k1) which, yes, can be interpreted, but is unnecessary, since you work 20 sts no matter what size.
My main peeve was reaching the hand, which is done on three sock needles, one for the pattern, one for the thumb, and one for the palm. You are given ten lines on how to work the first part of the hand, that alternate Work in Pattern As Set, and Work As In Round 4. They are mostly just stockinette and a couple of increases, and a direction to go to pg 3 and follow the Hand Pattern for only one of the needles.
Yes, the pattern isn't written in with the instructions, and you constantly have to flip back to it. This gets a lot more complicated once you start creating the thumb gusset and have to keep straight which non-commital line in the paragraph you are currently on. There are a couple of numbers wrong in the final counts towards the end, but they are noted in the errata. As far as binding off, I need to find something that doesn't leave a one row step at the end.
You can't quite tell in the pictures, but in the first picture, the top cuff was done on sz#3 as per pattern, and the lower one on #5, like the rest of the mitt. The cuff was very uncomfortable and tight, even in the L. I was on the first row of the final ribbing when I frogged them. You can't tell in the pictures either, but on the leaf motif I switched ssks and k2togs and the leafs look cleaner and pop out more.
The pattern doesn't really specify where to pick up stitches on the cuff for the hand, other than "along upper edge", so I took this picture to show people I picked them up between the p1 and k1 rows along the edge.
The thumb was really what made me redo them. I couldn't stand how the M1L, M1R on the same stitch made it gape like an ass hole, so I changed it for a KFB on the two stitches that are kept between the markers.
The vagina of the thumb also was stretched and deformed, so instead of BO20, I only BO the 18 stitches in the middle of the thumb, and when I was asked to M2 on the next round, I took the two stitches that were left on the sides of the thumb, used them as one stitch (k2tog), and KFB on them (k2togFB?). This doesn't change the count of the stitches, and it allows for a heartier foundation stitch that won't pull to the sides.
I'm guessing it was my mistake in my binding off that I didn't know how to blend in the last row, but by this time, I was just so happy to get rid of the needles that I didn't care. I managed to pull off seven or eight rows of ribbing before running out of yarn, and had less than a foot left over ^_^
And I used pretty buttons! La Mode 26269, 1/2". They had them in 5/8", but only in the silvery color, and I really needed copper for this yarn. I anchored the chain for the loops on the top corner, ch4, skipped 4 sts, did 2 half crochet sts, and repeated three more times until the hand edge, and used the tail to reinforce the joint of everything.
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Above all, I am really glad I finished these. I really like the yarn (and will never frog 100% wool again!) and its gradual color changes. I hope that next time I want to follow a pattern from Knitty, it will be written in a more intuitive manor. If not, copy/paste will be my friend!
Ok, so it looked a lot cooler in my head :/ This hat is knit in a rectangle and sewn up the sides. I used Caron Country Yarn in red and black, and size 11 needles.
PATTERN Cast on 39 stitches in RED. Knit in stockinette 40 rows. Knit two rows in BLACK in garter stitch. Knit two rows in RED in garter stitch. Knit 20 rows in BLACK in stockinette. Knit 4 rows with pattern. Knit 16 rows in BLACK stockinette. Cast off. Fold wrong sides together and sew up sides; add pompoms.
