Knitting – Wednesday WIP – Mittens with a Fair Isle Design

My WIP (work in progress) this week was actually just completed – a pair of mittens for the Pine Ridge children. There is a special drive in the fall to supply each child in the K-12 school with a scarf, hat and pair of mittens. At all times, I have a scarf on one set of needles to work on while watching TV and a mitten on another set of needles to work on during the day when there are no distractions. So far, I have two boxes packed to the brim with warm winter wear. These mittens are from a basic pattern that I developed over the past couple of years and this time I added a Fair Isle design.

I finished my WIP from last week, a child’s scarf in Bubble Gum and sparkly white yarn, using the Ridge stitch.
http://newstitchaday.com/how-to-knit-the-ridge-check-stitch/

Knitting – Wednesday WIP – Child’s Scarf

My WIP (work in progress) this week is a child’s scarf made in a favorite pattern, #147 on the New-Stitch-A-Day site.  This is an easy slip-stitch pattern that can be changed by count or color to give different two-color designs.  Free pattern is found here:  http://newstitchaday.com/how-to-knit-the-ridge-check-stitch/

I’m using #7 needles with a #4 white sparkly yarn and Lion Brand Lb. of Love #4 Bubblegum yarn.

Finished last week:

Used bulky #5 Premier Deborah Norville Collection yarn in a variegated Spring color and #9 circular needles. The turtleneck collar is turned down halfway in this photo.  This is a free Ravelry pattern:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shaded-collar

I also used the same pattern and needles to make another neckwarmer from bulky #5 Premier Deborah Norville Collection yarn in a variegated Gold color.

 

The cowls feature a new-to-me crocheted bind-off.

Knitting – Wednesday WIP – Neckwarmer-Cowl with Crocheted Bind-off

My WIP (work in progress) this week is a neck warmer/cowl that seems to fit the criteria I’ve been looking for in one of these patterns: no lace, warm and comfortable around neck, extends onto chest about 5 inches. I’m doing this piece in bulky #5 Premier Deborah Norville Collection yarn (Golden) and #9 circular needles. This is a free Ravelry pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shaded-collar

Finished last week: The Santa Claus mittens which turned out very well.

I added a little round nose. Pattern for nose:
Nose: With pink, CO 3 sts.
Row 1 kfb across: 6 sts
Row 2 purl
Row 3 knit
Row 4 purl
Row 5 k2tog across to make 3 sts
Break off, thread tail through remaining sts, pull up, and tie off. Use CO tail to weave through edge sts all the way around nose piece. Pull up to round out nose. Tie off. Sew to center of face, on top of beard, just below hat brim.

Knitting – WIP Wednesday – Santa Mittens

 

My WIP this week is a pair of Santa mittens for the Pine Ridge children. I saw a picture online of cute, easy mittens with a Santa face – no pattern – but it will be easy to adapt my favorite mitten pattern. I’ve completed the hat portion and part of the face, doing two-at-a-time.  I’m using #4 worsted yarn and #7 circular needles.  My “go-to” pattern for easy mittens is here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/handy-mittens—with-fingerless-option

I completed the lace portion of the cowl that I started last week and, as I feared, the lace work was not up to par. I unraveled it and finished off the piece as a short neck warmer.

I’m still looking for a good pattern for a neck warmer that extends down onto the chest (without lace).

 

 

Knitting – WIP Wednesday – Scrap Yarn Cowl

My WIP (work in progress) this week is a cowl, one of several I’m auditioning to see if I can find a nice one to make as Christmas gifts. This is a free Ravelry pattern (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baa-baa-huey-handspun-gradient-cowl) which is written for gradient yarn, but I’m using bits of scrap yarn to make mine.

For this portion, I’m using #5 circular needles and Lion Brand Pound of Love #4 thin yarn. So far, it’s within my early-intermediate skill level and working out nicely. I’ll soon be going into a lace portion which usually gives me trouble.

My finished project for last week was another cowl made in a child’s size from a free Ravelry pattern, https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-green-elf-cowl. I used #7 circular needles and Lion Brand Pound of Love #4 thin yarn. I had my usual problems with lace but it’s a very nice, well written pattern – the problems were totally my fault. It’s not exactly what I was looking for but makes a good neck warmer.

Knittting – A Presto-Chango Sweater – Free Pattern

 

I found a really cute, free, easy pattern on Ravelry.com for a baby sweater and used it to make 3 different versions for the Children of Pine Ridge.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/presto-chango

The pattern is very clever in making a simple sweater with narrow sides and then adding a detachable panel. Buttons are sewn on the sweater portion and buttonholes are knitted into the panel. The first attempt was a 6-9 months baby sweater in a pretty “creamsicle” color, using the lace panel shown in the pattern. I’m not very good at knitting lace but this one turned out pretty well.

It’s very easy to make up another panel with a different design. I used a really nice cable bunny pattern to make this panel.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bunny-cable-square

The second sweater was made with denim and light blue yarn for a 6-9 months boy size. In this case, I used snaps for the closure and just added a couple of buttons to the top of the panel for decoration.

The third pattern was an adaptation of a favorite baby sweater in which I made the sides narrow to accommodate the panel and used the bunny cable again along with nice buttons. This is for a 12-18 month child and has short sleeves for the spring/summer season.

This was an easy and fun pattern to use and adapt. A sweater along with several spare panels would make a nice gift.

 

Knitting – Mittens Two-at-a-Time

Two years ago, I tried knitting once again after numerous unsuccessful attempts through the past 85+ years. This time, I got it – due mainly to YouTube tutorials, free Ravelry patterns and circular knitting needles. I especially like the Magic Loop which is a circular needle with a long cable. One of the features that intrigued me from the beginning was the possibility of knitting mittens (or other small items) two-at-a-time. I’m not a consistent knitter and like the idea of having two items match. Also, I hate to finish an item and then make an exact duplicate of the same thing – boring.

I’ve been doing well knitting two-at-a-time on flat items but had problems when casting on for something in the round – like mittens. There are many YouTube tutorials but the procedure looks and is awkward to do and, in my case, didn‘t produce a neatly ribbed cuff. In searching for a solution, I found a tutorial which worked for me but which I can’t find again to link. It’s basically casting on one cuff, pushing the cuff down and pulling the loop of cable out so there are an equal number of stitches on each side. Knit 5 rows and removing the cuff to two double-pointed needles, keeping the stitches and yarn exactly the same as they were originally,

Then, cast on the second cuff and repeat as for first cuff, pushing the cuff down and pulling the loop of cable out so there are an equal number of stitches on each side. The stitches on the double-pointed needles are carefully returned to the circular needle and everything is set to go to knit two-at-a-time. I attach a marker to the right hand front edge of the piece nearest the points of the needles to identify it.

This pair of teenage-sized mittens have a nice, neatly ribbed cuffs.

I use a simple mitten pattern that I’ve used many times so I’m not struggling with a pattern. The main problem I’ve had is to forget to drop the working yarn when completing one mitten and picking up the yarn that belongs to the second mitten. This only happens when transferring in the center of the two mittens.

Also, I find it easier to put the stitches for the thumb on holders, complete the bodies of the mittens, and then go back and do the thumbs individually.

I knit a lot of mittens for the Lakota Children of Pine Ridge and it’s nice to be able to do them with this technique.

Knitting for Charity – Amigo Blocks

Knitting for Charity – Amigo Blocks

My main interest in knitting is making things for charity, so I was pleased when I was contacted by a gentleman on Ravelry, suggesting I might like to make some squares for a charity he supports in Mexico. They collect 5-inch and 6-inch knitted and crocheted squares which are given to women in a migrant shelter in Mexico to form into afghans. The organization gets a small amount of money for each afghan and the women are in turn paid a small amount for their work in assembling the blankets. The afghans are donated to children in the school that is associated with the shelter. It seems that every woman I have known wants to do something useful and pretty and also earn a little “pin money”. That makes this project especially appealing to me. You can read details about the project here:

http://www.srbrown.info/afghans/

All squares are mailed to Dr. Brown in Connecticut who sees that they get to Mexico.

My daughter and I have 33 squares each to contribute. Mine are pictured above and below.

Here are my daughter’s squares:

In addition to making good use of small amounts of yarn and being a good item to carry in a purse for spare moments in the doctor’s office or waiting in the car, I like to use the squares to learn new stitches. It takes a little experimenting to see how many stitches you need to cast on for your needles, yarn and gauge, but it’s enjoyable and rewarding. Below is a recent square that I made from a pattern on knitpurlstitches.com. It’s called “Seersucker” and I knit it with #5 bulky yarn.

http://www.knitpurlstitches.com/2016/09/seersucker.html

This is a nice way to try out new stitches or color combinations.

 

 

 

Knitting – Baby Sophisticate Sweater – Free Pattern

 

In the fall of 2017, I found a pattern on Ravelry that has become my favorite for a baby or toddler sweater. The free pattern is here:  https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-sophisticate-2. I bought an additional pattern for children’s sizes and there is also a pattern for purchase for adult sizes.

It’s just a nice, practical, comfortable-looking sweater with a shawl collar. I have only been knitting for two years and often run into sections of patterns that are difficult, but this one was manageable from start to finish.

I made one sweater in the three-month size in a pretty seafoam color and added a matching hat, pictured above.

I also made three toddler (2-3 years) sweaters in dark blue …

…a tan and brown with a checkerboard panel …

…and a red one with fuzzy white trim. On this one, the white, fluffy yarn was so difficult to work with that I just used it as trim and didn’t make the large collar.

On a pattern like this with a lot of increases, I type out a chart like the one below that will tell me how many stitches will be in each section and a total for the end of the row. In this case, when the increases are finished on row 7 there will be 6 stitches on the right and left sides of the sweater, 14 stitches each for sleeves and 26 stitches for the back – total of 66 stitches. In this case, there are 32 rows with the correct number of stitches.  Taking the time to type up this reference and have it with me as I’m knitting saves me from making errors and cuts down on frustration.

INCREASES:
ALTERNATING 8 AND 10 INC – ODD ROWS
EVEN ROWS PURL

R1      2 8 20 8 2                                  40 STS
R3     3 10 22 10 3                               48 STS
R5     5 12 24 12 5                                58 STS
R7     6 14 26 14 6                                66 STS

This is a really nice pattern, enjoyable to knit, and makes good, warm sweaters for the Pine Ridge children.

Baby Bib and Washcloth – Knitting – Free Patterns

From the day I started knitting two years ago, Ravelry.com has been an important source of information, patterns and guidance. The one Ravelry benefit I did not use was logging my projects for my present and future reference. I liked reading other people’s project notes but it sounded like too much trouble when I was already struggling with knitting something usable.

Now, that I make 5-10 “usable” items a week, depending on size and how complicated they are, I thought it might be worthwhile to start logging my new projects on January 1, 2018, and started with a very easy baby bib and washcloth pattern – free on Ravelry.

I used this free pattern to make a bib in yellow and in a blue/pink blend, cotton yarn (pictured above).

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/mapledr61/grandmothers-favorite-baby-bib/edit

The charity where I send my baby items mentioned particularly liking to receive washcloths so I used another free pattern to make one to match the blue/pink yarn.

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/mapledr61/baby-washcloth/edit

Both of these are quick, easy items to knit and would make a nice shower or baby gift.

I have several more projects in various stages that are logged into my account.  If I’m careful to note all of the details, it will be an invaluable source of information for me.  Another good reason to be a Raveler.

https://www.ravelry.com/