Tag Archives: Knitting Projects

Update on Design

Knoontime Knitting

My bag is coming along. I’ve finished the main body, and put in a round of purl stitches for a fold. Then the lining is stockinette.

The unit is 12″ wide, 9″ deep, and 0.75″ thick. This view shows the 12″ width. I’ll need to block the outside, the 9″ part, to make sure it fits. I’ll pick up stitches at the top and add an envelope closure, and probably make a button.

This view shows the lining inside the bag. I couldn’t get it down inside deeply because of the needles; while I could slip the stitches off to a string as a holder, I don’t really need to see how it works since I can size it by putting the unit itself inside to ensure it fits.

This shows the ridge of the purl row separating the pattern fabric from the lining. You can even see in this shot how the lining leans away from the body. That will make the lining sit down inside without tacking.

I’ll update soon with more.

What Am I Designing Now!

Knoontime Knitting

I have an AlphaSmart 2000 portable keyboard that I use to write while I’m on the train or the bus. I got to thinking, it needs a cover! I knit!

These two things taste great together!

So. Here’s what I did:
I knit a gauge swatch on size 7 dpn (double point needles, the kind used for making socks). I got a good gauge from them, but realized when I started to cast on that 100 stitches wouldn’t fit on them.

I knit a gauge swatch on size 9 circulars, 24″, without really thinking about the length of the circular part. I realized, though, that if my circumference wasn’t 24″, I was toasted when I wanted to cast on since I wanted to knit in the round.

The third time’s the charm. I found my size 7 circulars with I think 8″ or 12″, and knit a gauge swatch. Then I figured, 9″ x 2, plus 1.5″ is 19.5. Make it an even 20.

Just a smidge too small to make it around the circular part. The unit is 12″ wide, though, and even though I originally wanted the stitches to face the other way, 12″ x 2 + 1.5″ works on circulars that are the length I have, but only just barely.

I did a knitted cast on and realized two things: I should have cast on one needle size up, since it’s a pretty tight cast on, and that the knitted cast on curls just like stockinette fabric does, even if you use a straight weave for the fabric itself. This isn’t a bad thing, exactly, it’s just a thing – but I got to thinking: next, I want to try a ribbed knit cast on, and see if purl stitches work as well as knit stitches, to eliminate the curl.

I have about 4.5″ on the needles now, and today decided to make sure it “fit.” That’s what this picture is:

I like the fit quite well, actually. I think I’ll do two rows of reverse stockinette, then another 9″ of plain stockinette, for a lining; finished with a 3 needle bind off. The closure will be picked up and knitted into a triangle, with a button closure. I need some sort of window cover for privacy, but I haven’t worked out yet how I want to do that.

The stitch for the body is a garter rib stitch: 1 row of rib, 1 row of knit. That gives a purl bump in the rib columns that’s pretty but retains the elasticity of a true rib.

Camera Bag

Knoontime Knitting

So, I sez to my friend, Friend, what kind of a bag would you like? And she sez to me, she sez, Well, I’d like a camera bag.

In camo.

…

Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

I must have mentioned this.

In fact, my friend, she started giggling because we had talked, at length, on just this very topic the day before while hiking. I sez to my friend, Friend, do you have a hat I could borrow for this here desert hiking in the sun? And she sez to me, she sez, sure! Here you go!

It’s camo.

…

Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

So this bag. Well, it’s a camera bag, for a wee little bitty camera of a thing. So I knitted a swatch, and I knitted a sock, and I closed the sock with the three needle bind off, and I picked up the gusset for the lid, and I knitted the lid.

I even did some lace, but you can’t really see. The end is sort of diagonal, which I don’t like much, so I think I’ll do another one. And I want to add a strap. But I finished the bag. Poof!

In camo.

…

Have I mentioned before that I HATE camo?

It’s quite roomy inside. I showed this picture to my friend, and she said it looks like a little mouth. Which of course makes me want to make a version of the bag with ears and teeth…

This is the inside of the cover. There’s actually a small lace pattern in the triangle that forms the flap, but you can’t see it since the yarn is so dark.

This is with the flap closed. The line of the flap at the point of the triangle is angled down and to the right, which I don’t like; I want it to be square. What I think I’ll do is start the next bag from this point, rather than end here, and then cast on the extra stitches for the body and go from there.

Even with white in the background, you can’t see the lace. It’s a pity, but a good lesson: on dark yarn, use a textural pattern and not lace to see it – or use bigger needles (or block the heck out of it).

This is how it looks when I hold it straight, but I’m still not really happy with the closure. I do want to find a cool wooden button to use for the clasp, and I may make a prototype with a button since it will be used in the field on the fly.

And here is the back in all its glory. I did the top part in a garter rib pattern that actually looks quite nice in this yarn; I may do the whole thing next time in that stitch for added padding against the camera body.

Another thought I have is to do a lining, so that there’s extra padding to protect the camera – I just don’t want the bag to be too bulky. We shall see.

Spring Bag

Knoontime Knitting

I’m on a kick to make more gift bags. I found a cool overdye at Michael’s, and I like the colors. I think it looks like Spring or Ostara.

I did the top as straight knitting, but I used a knitted cast on instead of long tail. I like the way it comes out, since you can’t really see the edge and it looks very neat and clean. It’s looser than long tail, too, which is nice; although when working that first row off the cast on row it sometimes is tight.

I used a slip-stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionary, A First Treasury of Knitting Patterns which has been re-released by Schoolhouse Press. I actually didn’t like the way it looked with this yarn, which surprised me. I have found it to be pretty on some overdyes, whereas on others it looks flat and muddy – which I thought it did, here.

I switched back to plain knitting for the next segment, and then experimented with a Garter Rib. I tried doing the plain rows by switching between knit and purl by row for the first segment, then doing purl every straight row for the final segment.

It wasn’t until I finished and turned the bag inside out to seam it that I realized my error – I did the stitch inside-out!

I like the way it turned out, but for the next bag with this yarn I’ll do the garter rib for the whole thing and see how that looks. I used the three needle bind of for the end and made a 3-stitch i-cord for the cord. On the whole, I like how it looked.

The yarn is worsted-weight, and I used a size 7 needle, which is much smaller than I’d usually use for this yarn thickness. The resultant fabric is quite dense, which I like for the purpose of the gift bag.

Element Bag

Knoontime Knitting

I recently experimented with a pattern for a gift bag, which is really a very simple project. I used pearl cotton, gauge 5 and gauge 12, to create the bag. Starting with yellow for East and Air, I then used red for South and Fire, (both yellow and red are the gauge 5), then navy blue for West and Water, and finally green for North and Earth. For the i-cord, I used indigo and violet, both gauge 12, held together to make it thicker. Take a look:

You can see the difference in yarn thickness between the 5 and 12 sizes. I used a Size 3 (US) set of double-pointed needles to make the bag (and plan to switch away from my usually beloved bamboo and purchase some steel ones; anything smaller than Size 5 (US) is too bendy in the bamboo and wood).

For the next bag, I plan to use only the size 5 thread; I found the size 12 too thin and the resultant fabric too flimsy for what I wanted. I could double up on the 12, but that would use twice as much yarn and I don’t need that thickness for warmth or durability, just appearance.

This is a top view of the finished bag, with all colors visible but the i-cord untied. The finished bag clocked in around four inches tall.

This is the finished bag. The pattern I used calls for a 3 needle bind off, which I did use; I also like stepped decreases though did not use that for this bag. They give a more rounded finish.

Update on Opera Gloves – Design Challenges

Knoontime Knitting

In designing my opera gloves, I am using a couple resources. The first is the stitch dictionary by Barbara Walker, A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

Additionally, I did a web search for a few different opera glove designs, but found nothing exactly to my liking. What I want is a glove pattern that goes up the forearm and over the elbow, ending in a ruffle. The fingers will be partial, so it will be a ‘fingerless’ glove, but I do want actual fingers rather than a flat line across the knuckles.

I found it a lot harder to do the swatch with the two lace patterns I’d picked out. I wanted to use one panel that’s a lace rib stitch, two lines, and one as a center panel that’s sixteen rows. It turned out to be too easy to drop stitches on the larger lace pattern, when trying to track both it and the circular knitting. I fiddled and struggled for a while and then realized, if I was having this much trouble on the swatch, I’d hate doing the gloves. I switched to the simpler two row repeat and voila!

One thing I did change, in the pattern, is that it’s a K1 * yo… etc. Well, at first, I did the K1 at the beginning of the round, but not each new needle (I’m knitting on three needles). That was pulling too wide at the joins between the needles, so I decided heck with it, I’d add a K1 on each needle change and it made the pattern much neater. Also, since the pattern is written for flat knitting, I had to reverse row 2 (which is the wrong side row), but luckily it’s just either K or P stitches, no complicated stitchcraft. It’s run to work.

I don’t have pictures yet, but when I finish the swatch I’ll post another update.

Opera Gloves

Knoontime Knitting

So, I joined Weight Watchers. I decided to make milestones for the celebrations, and I’m celebrating my first 5%! I’m so excited. I purchased two skeins of Sock Ease™ yarn from Lion Brand in “Red Hots.” It’s beautiful!

I will say it’s more orange than I was thinking it would be (which isn’t bad, just surprised me). It’s very Autumnal in flavor and I think will look really nice with summer-tanned skin (not that I tan a whole heckuva lot, but hey).

I’m going to make a pair of opera gloves that are fingerless. I’m thinking I’ll have partial fingers go to about the middle knuckle, then have the glove go all the way up to cover the elbow and end in some pretty ruffles. I’m just swatching right now, but I’ll post more as the design comes together in my head.

These are double-pointed needles from Brittany, size US2 (2.75 MM). I want to like them, but I find them too bendy and broke one while making a sock. I’m going to get some Crystal Palace (first I’ll swatch with my CP 3’s and see how it looks, I may just use them). I am also planning to try some metal needles for the really small sizes, 4 and below, because the natural ones just seem to be too fragile when they’re that thin.

Fuzzy Shawl

Knoontime Knitting

My lovely sister in law gave me yarn for Christmas (which is a little like giving crack to an addict, but there you go). Two of the balls are this really fuzzy tribble stuff that have a variegated black and grey colorway with little silver sparkles. It’s fun stuff. I decided to make a triangle shawl with it, since it’s a little scratchy, that way I can wear it over other clothing.

Here’s the progress so far. I’m going to have to switch to circular needles shortly, since I’m running out of room on these. As you can see from the tip, I was adding four stitches every other row – a make one on each edge and a yarn over in the middle once the lace pattern started. I decided to leave off the make one, so I don’t run out of depth (since I only have the two balls). It makes a pleasing sort of rounded heart edge on the point that I like.

This detail picture shows the lacy bit, which is a little silly with such a textured yarn but I like it. Bonus points if you can spot the error!

The Story Shawl

Knoontime Knitting

My husband and I went on an Outward Bound Dogsledding expedition in 2006. When we got back, I went shopping with a friend of mine in Wisconsin and found some incredible silk and mohair yarn that looked like sunrise on snow. Still under the influence of the Boundary Waters and our experiences there, I set to work on a shawl that would tell our story.

The border is eight stitches, one for each person in the party. I chose a seed stitch to symbolize life and growing. Just like in a garden, people can come together and learn to support each other in the same space but not taking the other’s light or nutrients. We form symbiotic relationships.

I added a row of lace yarn-overs, the holes symbolizing the fact that when we came together, we weren’t a team. We were eight separate individuals, but not one unit. We separated into two teams of four; three students with an instructor. One day the students were with the dogsled, one day they were skiing. The instructors had a two-day cycle, two days on the sled, two days on skis. I chose a basketweave pattern of K4, P4, four rows each, every so often going for eight rows to symbolize the instructors.

At one point in the middle of knitting, when I had about a hundred stitches on the needles, I decided to try an alternate basketweave stitch that I found in a book, thinking it was the “right” way to do it.

It looked totally wrong.

Faced with the decision of unknitting three rows of over a hundred stitches, it occurred to me that this was a perfect metaphor for the middle portion of an expedition. You know your mates well enough to identify their quirks and likes, and well enough for little frictions to pop up. After all, you’re adults enclosed in a vast and threatening wilderness with these other individuals for hours at a time.

It was exactly right.

I left the stitches in and completed the shawl. Eight rows from the end I dropped the yarn-overs, symbolizing that by the time we arrived back at Home Place, we were a team.

The bind-off is done in a sewing needle bind-off that took about six hours to complete. Incredibly detailed, it nonetheless creates a soft, supple edge that doesn’t look at all like a bound-off edge. It’s springy and slender and adds to the beauty of the garment.

This is one of the most expensive and time consuming projects I’ve designed and I share it with you so you can see what can be done with two sticks, some yarn, and an idea.

Fingerless Gloves

Knoontime Knitting

I came across a wonderful pattern for fingerless gloves in a book by Melanie Falick, Weekend Knitting. Here it is from her website with some images you can browse:

http://www.melaniefalickbooks.com/weekend-knitting-gallery/

I used some bulky wool from Knitpicks, in a lovely dusky rose color. I got them from a class I took a couple years ago, so these gloves are a good thing to use when you have stash and no project.

My hands are larger than the model, though, so I cast on 30. The first one I knit I used the directions for the thumb and didn’t check before I bound off; it turns out to be too tight. I apparently have really muscular hands. (We won’t say fat, will we?) The other one I used six stitches and it fits just fine.

This first shot is of the gloves flat on the table. They’re not very attractive this way, surprisingly, though you can see the garter rib stitch very well.

For this second shot, I used one hand with the camera and wore the glove on my right hand, which is coincidentally the glove where I modified the thumb.

I really like the purl bind off. It’s simple but pretty and makes a nice line of stitches that match the cast on. I will definitely be making these again. If I make them longer, to go up to the elbow, I’ll need to modify them to fit over the muscles in my forearm (here is where your gauge swatch will come in handy). (Shush. Of COURSE you gauge swatch.)