Tag: pattern

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Fixing the Blanket

Iris Rose

A couple of weeks ago, June 28th blog post, I wrote about a small blanket (and included the pattern) that I had knitted using two Caron Cakes without manipulating the colour changes.  While I was happy with the finished blanket in general I did not like where the one colour change from the lightest colour to the darkest happened.

I did not notice this row until I was much further along in the work and, being me, I just kept knitting thinking that I could live with it.  Well, when all was done and ends woven in, I decided that, no, I could not live with the obvious stripe across the middle of the work.  I like the blanket and, after toying with should I just leave it alone or fix it, thought I would give the fixing a try.

 

The light to dark actually made the repair much easier as I could see where to follow the knitting.  I took a blunt needle so that I didn’t catch any threads of the existing yarn and cut a long piece of the dark yarn.  I started at the end of the row and worked backward, weaving in and out following the stitches formed originally.  As it turned out, the dark yarn piece was too short and as I neared the end I had to stop and take it all out (my choice instead of adding another piece!).  Read curse, curse, and curse here.

The gauge was a little tricky but I think I did a pretty good job of matching the original.  I finally made it to the end (beginning) of the row and the moment of truth arrived.  Did I have enough courage to cut the work in the middle?  If I had made a mistake in following the original stitches I would have created a massive mess.  Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained and as you can see, the scissors were in place.  Eyes closed, I snipped.

 

Pulling the old yarn out carefully and checking for mistakes, I proceeded across the row each way from the centre snip and success!!!  I pulled the work across and up and down to even out the stitches and, after I weave in those ends, it is finished and ready for blocking.

 

I am so much happier now with the way this little blanket looks and with myself for not giving in to the easy way and just leaving it as it was.

Thanks for looking and I hope that you have a lovely crafting and safe week ahead.  Remember to be kind.

Knitting

Baby Blanket, Pattern Included

Iris Rose

Stash diving, got to love it.  I dove in and came out with a whole bunch of ideas and the yarn to make them without going out or spending money, woohoo!

I knew that I had two Blueberry Cheesecake Caron Cakes that I bought when this yarn first came out.  I am not sure why I bought it but I think it was “oh, that is so pretty that I must have it and why not two?”  I actually remember buying way more than two and that is how my Another Cake Shawl and Latte Scarf came about.

Anyway, back to the blue stuff.  I waffled on this one which is why it sat in my stash for a few years.  I have been clearing up my UFO’s and felt justified in starting something new, something easy, read TV knitting.  This little blanket (70 cm by 83cm, 27.5 by 32.5 inches unblocked) used about one and half cakes.  What am going to do with the left over, I don’t know!

I knew that I didn’t have enough for a big blanket but a baby blanket, maybe.  I used a simple feather and fan pattern with a short repeat, one row of patterning, one row of purl and two rows of knit.  This meant that I only had to concentrate on one row out of four, in other words, perfect.

Me being me, I was determined to knit right through each cake so that I didn’t have many ends to weave in which was a great idea until I looked back after knitting away without inspecting my work and realized that this dark to light colour change was not the prettiest.  I wanted to stop and rip back many, many rows but also just wanted to keep going.  Guess which option won?

I am really not happy with the finished blanket because of the one row and haven’t blocked it yet.  I am going to see if I can use a navy piece (I have some left) and replace the light colour with the dark to fix this glaring, not mistake, but mishandling of the colour change.

If you want to knit a blanket like this one, this is how I made it:

6.5mm or US10.5 circular knitting needle, (knit back and forth) and two markers.

540m or 600 yds of worsted weight yarn all one colour or use up your bits if you don’t mind the ends to weave in.

Cast on 108 stitches; I used a cable cast on.  Knit 10 rows for border.

Row 1: Knit 6 stitches for side border, place marker, K2tog twice, (YO, K1 four times, K2tog four times), repeat to a total of seven times, YO, K1 four times, K2tog twice, place marker, K6 for border.  Each pattern repeat across is twelve stitches.

Row 2: K6, slip marker, P all stitches to next marker, slip marker, K6.

Row 3: knit all stitches, slipping markers as you go.

Row 4: knit all stitches, slipping markers as you go.

Repeat these four rows another 44 times for a total of 45 pattern repeats.  Remove the markers as you go and knit 10 rows.  Cast off loosely.

Easy peasy and very pretty.

If you want a larger or smaller blanket, you need to increase or decrease the cast on by groups of twelve.  Borders can be wider or narrower but I would not go less than three stitches to stop the roll at the edges and six rows at the top and bottom.

I am currently knitting another one with DK weight odd skeins and am using a 5mm or US 8 needle with 144 stitches cast on which I estimate will give me the same size.  I have a bin of this yarn in one skein of each colour, what was I thinking???

Have a lovely week ahead filled with kind thoughts and deeds.  Remember to wear your mask when going out to help oldsters like me stay healthy.

Knitting

New Kids’ Sweaters

Iris Rose

Hi!  It has been a long time since my last post.  Life sort of got in the way of everything else and I had to step back for a bit.  I never stopped crafting and have a bunch of things on the go.  I have been working, mostly, on building up my stock for fall craft sales which may or may not go ahead.  I do enjoy what I am doing so if it is may not it is not a problem.

Mostly working on kids’ sweaters, I have made significant gains in what I have on hand.  I wish that I were a more accomplished photographer and then I could stock my Etsy store.  Stay tuned to that because miracles can happen!  Here are a few of the little, and not so little, sweaters that I have been busy with.

 

 

I had a bunch of fuzzy yarn similar to Caron’s Latte that I have had in stash for a while and wanted to use up.  I used the Latte that I had and remembered this stuff from my ebay binge of a few years ago.  There was only enough for one sweater of each colour but I managed to make a large dent in the stash, yippee!

 

Next time I will show you a little blanket that I knit with Caron Cakes yarn (sensing a trend here?) that I bought and stashed in 2016.  I found an error in colour management about halfway up that I ignored until I got to the end and now I don’t like it.  I am going to attempt to change it without ripping out; wish me luck!

I hope that you have a lovely crafty week and remember to be kind especially in these difficult times and please wear a mask in public to help save those who are not able to fight off disease as easily as you can.

Knitting

Headbands

Iris Rose

I have a new to me bulky knitting machine that has an issue with the carriage arm. I tried to straighten it out and it will work for a little while then it is back to bending the needle latches, not a good thing. I suspect that the carriage was maybe dropped or the arm stepped on because the steel is slightly bent in the centre and will not hold onto its revised shape when straightened out.

The machine was a great bargain so I got what I paid for. This is the situation where the Queen of Clearance has to step up and fix the problem. I had another carriage arm that fit and worked so I know that the issue is with that piece. Got to love ebay; another is on its way to me right now and the machine was still a great deal even with the added expense.

And now I finally come to the topic of today’s blog post. Since I had to test each time I worked on the carriage arm, I decided to make the yarn do something other than random swatches. Headbands with a twisted front seem to be a trend so I jumped on the wagon and made up a few.

They are very easy to make and, on the machine, very fast as well. I whipped up the pink one on Wednesday and the other four yesterday. The sewing up took longer than the knitting but it usually does with machine knits.

These would be very quick to hand knit as well and are a great way to use up those part skeins of worsted weight. You know the bag in the bottom of your closet where you put all of the bits that you can’t bear to throw out. Stripes are another way to use the smaller pieces. There are many patterns for these in both knit and crochet made in all weights and types of yarn. I think that something fuzzy knit or crocheted on a large needle or hook would be very appealing and warm with a built in cozy factor.

Thanks for looking and have a crafty cozy February week. Remember to pass the kindness along every chance that you get.

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Finished!

Iris Rose

I started this cardigan last year (I think) and hated the neck edging that I had made. The sweater is machine knit, sideways on an LK150 hobby machine.

I knit it with Hobbii’s Twister which is a colour changing yarn. Twister is sold as a gradient but the colour changes are a bit abrupt resulting in stripes. I used a sideways method (one cake for each front and back) so that the stripes run up and down instead of across which is so unflattering to my body type. Rant here: Take note all of you buyers for plus size women; we want to be flattered not stuffed into a larger version of a garment that looks good on a size two. Don’t get me started on fit! Just because we need a garment wider doesn’t mean that we need it proportionately longer with a huge neckline and shoulders hanging down to our elbows. Maybe spend a few moments looking at real people.  Rant over and moving on.

Anyway, back to my cardi, I put this naughty sweater in time out on a shelf under my sewing table and, every once in a while, remembered it was there, took it out, got mad at it again because of the neck edge and stuffed it back.  Finally last month, I ripped off the neck edge and I do mean ripped, leaving a ragged and not very nice edge to deal with. No loose stitches but not pretty so back into time out it went.

I decided to hand knit ribbing and attach it in the same way as cut and sew on the machine. The overlapping stocking stitch edge covered the ragged bits nicely and I finally am happy with it. It is big and boxy and very soft; a perfect it’s cold in here cover up.  Yay!!!

Thanks for looking and please, have a happy week with lots of yarny goodness coming your way!