A wool blanket for me

Lately, I've made a lot of stuff for other people, for sale, or for experimentation, so I decided to get a little greedy.

I am the sort that is always cold.  And I have 3 boys in my family that are hot blooded.  They always want the fan on, so in cooler months (AKA every month except July and August), I love afghans.  My mom has made me a few that have had serious usage.  They're great - made with acrylic yarn and washable, but I was longing for a warmer wool blanket.

A while back, I bought wool for a sweater.  At some point after that purchase, I decided sweaters aren't my favorite thing to knit.  So, I looked for a new idea for this yarn.

Let's start with the finished product photos:  (Yes, it took forever to knit!)

 

I think it's fantastic.  I used Anne Hanson's Hourglass Throw pattern, and Valley Yarns Northampton yarn in colorway Twilight Heather.  It's a 100% wool, worsted weight.  I had 5 skeins in my stash, which was a total of 1,200 yards worth.  I started in on the lovely lace and cable design.  As I knit, it was so nice to cover up with the blanket as I worked.  I knew even after only having finished 1/3 of it that it was going to be warm!

As I came to the end of my stash of yarn, I realized that the blanket was too short to cover from my neck to my toes, an absolute necessity in Kristi's book of afghan rules.  So I ordered 2 more skeins of yarn.  As you can see in the second picture, near the far end of the blanket, there was quite a difference in the colors from the two dye lots I ended up with.  I WAS SO FRUSTRATED.  Still am, to tell you the truth.  But.  I can't FEEL the difference, and for an item made for myself, I guess I can live with it.  I just don't understand how a major yarn company can mass produce yarn and have such color variances in their yarn.  I guess you get what you pay for in that department...

Ok - off my soapbox now.

The finished blanket measures 60 x 40" and covers me nicely.  It's soft and pretty.  I love it.  I'm currently trying to figure out where I can put it so it is handy to reach from my recliner but also have it be a place where the boys don't use it for a fort, sled, or other reckless boy activity!

Kathmandu Sparkle Scarf

It's always dangerous walking into Hobby Lobby.  You can relate, right??  I always walk in there for one particular thing, and end up either with a cart full of stuff...or even an inspiration that bugs me until I create it.  This week was the latter.  I saw this yarn:

 

Yarn Bee Diva Sequin in colorway Kathmandu.  It's a lovely eye-catching yarn full of jewel tone colors like pink, purple, gold and blue.  It has a thin thread containing pink sequins spun into the yarn.  So I got it.  :)

As I was winding a warp for a scarf, letting the yarn flow past my fingers, I realized I must be outside my mind if I thought I was gonna weave with this stuff.  Novelty yarns are awesome in weaving, but they cause their own headaches.  I knew the sequins would be a challenge with this yarn.  But, never one to back down from a challenge, I pressed on. 

And yeah, I did have trouble beaming and threading the loom.  The sequins would snag on either the reed, or get caught in the heddles, but with some attention and slow movements with frequent stops, I got it on the loom.  At this point, I looked at the firmly tied on yarn and realized that there was no way I was going to effectively beat in the weft.  On my 16" table loom, I only have a 12 dent reed.  So I called up the Yarn Barn of Kansas, who are SO helpful and fast, and ordered 2 more reeds: a 10 dent and a 15.  They arrived at my door in 2 days!  Thanks Yarn Barn!

Now, the yarn was already beamed, so I simply untied from the cloth beam, slid out the 12 dent reed, and resleyed with the 10.  I was satisfied that the extra width for the yarn to pass through would help with the sequins.  AND IT DID, a lot. 

Away I went, weaving plainweave to allow the colors to shine.  I quickly realized that the best way to beat is to throw through one shed, switch sheds, beat and throw.  Then repeat.  Typically, I beat before switching sheds.  But this technique helped.  The weaving went fast, taking only about 3 hours to complete.  I finished it off with tied warps in groups of 4, then trimmed my fringe to 4" on each side and washed it.

What do you think?

The final scarf measures: 78.5 x 9.5".

LOVE!

I've put it up for sale on my Etsy page:  More Hours Per Day

Handwoven 7 Countries Scarf

I have a new weaving project to share with you today!  The Seven Countries Scarf started as inspiration from others using self-striping sock yarn as both the warp and weft in handwoven scarves.  I was looking to add some yellow to my scarf collection, and wanted it to coordinate with navy and black pieces, so I found this perfect yarn:  -->







Turtlepurl Yarns (Click Here to find her Etsy Page) makes this fabulous hand-dyed yarn, and the colors of the stripes were just what I was looking for.  This is fingerling weight yarn, composed of 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon.  It has a fabulous softness!  She winds two separate hanks, allowing you to make two identical-striping socks easily.  Very nice!

But I wasn't going to make socks with this one.  I paired this yarn with a hank of Malabrigo Lace in colorway Cadmiun (a lovely tonal yellow).  Now this is a lace weight yarn, of course you knew that by the name, right?  To be brutally honest, I had a lot of trouble finding fingerling weight yarn to match the Turtlepurl yarn I had, and this malabrigo coordinated perfectly, so I just went with it.  I was wanting a lightweight scarf anyway, and figured the smaller gauge yarn wouldn't hurt.

I held both the multi colored yarn and the solid yellow lace yarn together as I measured on the warping board, and then threaded the reed multi-solid-multi-solid.  One shaft held all multi yarns, the other had all the yellow.  Then it was fast plainweave from there.  (I used only the Turtlepurl yarns in the weft)  From warping board measurements to trimming the fringe, this project took only about 8 hours, I did it all in one day! 

The colors interacted in an unexpected way, for me at least.  The yellow laceweight yarn in the warp made the gray and dark gray colors hue toward brown, and the brightness of the yellow is muted.  It actually turned out a nice unisex color.  I could see a gentleman wearing this with a nice grey suit on a cold day too!

The fringe was left simple, hemstitched and tied in groups of 4.  They're super soft.

I'm loving it!  It'll coordinate with lots of colors in my wardrobe.  I think I'll try a brighter one next!  Maybe with all multi yarn this time.

Oh and are your curious about the title?  I named it "Seven Countries Scarf" because I'm adding scarves to my collection to go with me on an upcoming European vacation, where we will be touring seven countries.  Hoping to put some serious miles on this scarf!

For my measurements and details so you can make your own, click HERE for my Record Sheet PDF.

Evening on the Prairie Scarf

I'm so excited to share with you my latest design creation: my Evening on the Prairie Scarf.  This idea began with my closet transformation I'm working on.  I'll give it to you straight - I'm 33 years old and still have high school clothing in my closet.  That I wear.  All the time.  I prefer comfort, warmth, and softness.  AKA sweats.  However, I have been making a conscious effort to become more adult-like with my clothing choices lately.  Recently, Mom and I were walking through Kohls, and I had made some nice business-casual choices (yay me), and I commented that a scarf would look nice with this particular blouse.  (Hear that?  Blouse.  Not in my vocabulary, or closet, until recently.)  I went over to look at their fashion scarves, and mom said "Why not just make one yourself?".  Well duh.  Why didn't I think of that?

I started off with a stitch pattern.  I thumbed through one of my knitting stitch dictionaries, and was really drawn to the Wild Oats design.

With this stitch in mind, I drove down to my LYS, and as always, I'm drawn to variegated yarns.  Then I realized variegated would look quite nice in the Wild Oats, so I picked an earthy blue/gray/brown color.  Malabrigo Rios in colorway Playa.  Rios is 100% superwash wool - read: throw it in the washing machine.  Love that.  From the back of the yarn label: "Rio means 'river' in Spanish.  Malabrigo Rios is named after the four major rivers in Uruguay; Rio Cuareim, Rio Uruguay, Rio de la Plata, and Rio Negro.  Each river is represented by one ply.  These plies twist together like winding rivers.  Rios also signifies the yarn's washability; for millennia, rivers have provided water for washing garments."  --Isn't that fabulous?  Nature inspires me so, and I'm not the only one.

Getting back to the scarf, I knitted for a while in this pattern, loving it, but then decided I wanted to use more stitch patterns in this scarf.  And here comes the complications.  I'm somewhat new to this whole designing bit, and I guess I'm from the school of Hard Knocks, because I have to try something and look/feel it before I decide if I like it or not.  The above pattern uses cables, which nearly always draws the material inward, necessitating more stitches per inch.  When I decided to transition into the basket weave pattern (below), I had to find the right number of stitches to use in order to maintain a consistent width within the scarf. 

I am a big fan of life-lines in knitting.  Yes, they take time to place, and it's mildly annoying to do so, but if you find yourself needing to go back and undo a section, a life line will save so much time and aggravation.  Here I am placing a life-line while trying to decide how many stitches to decrease between sections.

As I pictured this scarf in my mind before starting it, I knew I wanted it knit in the round. However, with worsted yarn, a scarf would be a thick tube without anchoring one side to the other in some way. I decided on anchoring the sides together halfway through each design element - by grabbing a loop from the back side and knitting it together with the front side work. This worked great. It flattened the tube out, improving how it would lay around your neck, all while giving you a completely reversible scarf. It was a challenge, however, to describe in words how to perform the anchoring. Hopefully I eloquently and clearly described it in the pattern!

So after I figured out the right amounts of stitches to have in each pattern, it was simply a matter of finishing it out.  To finish out the ends, I wanted to add a fringe. I think it added a nice detail - visual interest. And it was so easy to do.

Technical help:  Executing the fringe

Once you've finished the scarf and woven in the ends, turn your attention to the garter borders at each end of the scarf. Decide how many fringe tassels to add on (I chose 6 per side), and also decide how long to make your fringe. I went with 12" pieces of yarn, which after folding in half, tying and trimming, it ended up 3.5-4". 

To make cutting the lengths easier, I used a template - fancy, the lid to my notions box (aka recycled lunchmeat box). 

I wrapped the yarn around 6 times, then cut along the bottom only. I then had 6 lengths of 12". 

After visually dividing up the stitches at the cast-on edge, I inserted a crochet hook into the pre-determined area, going through both sides of the scarf. 

 

Next, I folded those 6 lengths of yarn in half, and using my crochet hook, pulled the yarn by the loops through both sides of the work, stopping before they pull all the way through. 

Then, I inserted my fingers through the loops, grabbed the tail, and pulled them through the loop, making a slip-knot.  Pull tight. 

Repeat across the cast-on edge. You will notice that you are effectively closing the tube up, further securing its flattened shape. Once you have your evenly-spaced fringe tassels placed, repeat on the other side of the scarf: the bind-off edge. 

Then lay out your scarf on a flat, hard surface, and comb through the fringe to straighten it. 

Using a straight edge, rotary cutter, and mat, trim the ends to make a nice, even edge. 

You've done it!  Feel free to message me with questions on any of the techniques!

A special thanks to my FABULOUS sister-in-law Mandi for test knitting it for me.  She picked the lovely colorway Solis for her scarf, and opted for no fringe.

The pattern is now available to download in PDF format:

Click here for Ravelry

I so hope you enjoy the pattern!  Make sure you share your finished project photos with me! 

Barrage of Felted Slippers

A friend of mine asked for some slippers to give as gifts, and picked this pattern.  These slippers, called French Press Felted Slippers, are my favorite sort - felted.  I made a pair of felted slippers for Chris years ago (here is a picture of them), and they are so warm.  He wears them all the time.  There are several benefits of felting.  First of all - felting is always done with natural animal fibers, and that is because (in this case) wool will shrink and mat (felt) into a dense fabric when exposed to hot water and agitation.  Generally in knitting, you avoid those conditions and wash your handknitted item in cool water with little or no agitation.  But in this case it was desired.

For these slippers, you knit the bottoms while holding 3 yarns at a time.  This makes a nice, thick sole for the slippers - able to take abuse and wear.  Then you make the sides of the slipper in two pieces.  The second nice thing about making felted items is how fast they work up.  This pattern uses size 15 needles - huge.  I knitted the pieces for each slipper in one sitting.  Here is a picture of all 6 completed pieces for a set of slippers.

Then, you seam up the slippers in a way much like that of shoe construction.  Below, I have a slipper all seamed.  You'll notice how large the slipper is - that is to allow for the shrinkage during the felting process.

A button band is knitted separately, then all pieces go into the wash.  For felting, I  place the two slippers and the two button bands into a garment bag, and toss them into the washing machine with a small amount of delicate wash soap.  I've kept a pair of the boys' old tennis shoes, which I use only in felting so they are clean ;).  They are great agitators - beating the slippers with each tumble.  So they go in too.  I turn the machine to a "sanitize" cycle, which uses the hottest water and longest wash tumble cycle.  I have a high-efficiency front loader, so I have to check the felting process frequently, as you never quite know how long it will take.  Every 5-10 minutes, I will stop the washer, take the slippers out, put my foot into them, rub them around the contours of my foot, and throw them back in.  When the pieces are the size I want, I rinse them in cool water, gravity spin them, and lay them out to dry.  A thick felted wool like this will take 2-3 days to completely dry.

After felting, my slippers and button bands looked like this:

Then came the fun part - picking out buttons.  I sat down with the boys and my huge box of buttons, and looked for matching pairs and fun colors.  I, of course, got all veto rights - because the boys wanted to pick buttons like stars, soccer balls, and gaudy 1970's pearl buttons.  After button selections were made, it's simply a matter of sewing on the button band and button.

Here's the result:  I ended up with 5 pairs, 3 in a natural marl color and 2 in "mercury".  I used a total of 7 balls of yarn to make these 5 slippers. It was a fun, satisfying and quick project!

I hope their recipients will enjoy them!  They should be warm, and cute to boot! 

Delicious Cowl

OMGoodness.  Check this out. 

I think I've found my new favorite accessory.

It's so faaabulous that I finished it in two evenings.  I stayed up till 3 am finishing it up last night.

Ok.  Enough gazing.  The details.

This lovely yarn is Manos Del Uruguay Maxima, in colorway Agua.  It's a lovely singly ply 100% merino wool that's beautifully hand-dyed.  I had one skein leftover after making a baby blanket for a friend.  I just knew it would be great in this pattern: A Very Braidy Cowl by Maryse Roudier. 

It's a simple design, just a set of two humongous cables, which I knit flat and then seamed together. 

Love it!

Nina's Matching Neon Hat

My good friend Nina asked me to make some fingerless mitts for her, and they turned out great.  I was so happy she texted me again and asked if I would make her a hat.  Nina looks great in bright, bold colors.  She has fabulous dark skin and the colors really pop.  So after I made her the mitts, she went looking for a hat to match at clothing stores, and said she didn't see anything that spoke to her.  Her wise husband suggested she ask me about it.  I was thrilled that Jennifer Beaumont, the designer of the mitts I made for her, also had a coordinating hat pattern.

I set off making the hat with the same yarn: I Love This Yarn in colors Yellow Neon and Fuchsia Neon.

The above picture turned out the most true color-wise.

 Nina requested a big 'ole pom pom, and while I was hesitant at first, it really turned out great. 

Now her ears will keep warm!  She reported to me that she's already machine washed her mitts and they look good as new - always a good thing to hear.  Hopefully she gets some good use out of these and wears them till they have holes.  Of course, if that happens, I'll gladly make more for you, Nina!


I'll take the opportunity to update you on my works-in-progress:
1. The super hero blanket: I'm nearing completion on the middle panel, and have all 6 hero logo panels done.

The star is still on the needles - you can see them if you look closely, and I think the middle panel will be a little taller than the space I've allowed in this layout, but it give you an idea of what my vision is.  I'm very happy with how it's turning out.  Between the logos will be solid color knitting with textured patterns.  There are about a zillion ends to weave in too...

2. I'm designing a scarf - I'm calling it "Evening on the Prairie".  Here's a little sneak peek at what it's gonna look like: