It's been a long time since I've posted to my blog. There's been a lot going on and I finally have the time again to put up some projects.

In honor of Kirby, I made these armwarmers. I think he(she?) is probably one of the cutest characters made even if he was originally just for testing. And really, who doesn't go on a rampage when their cake gets stolen?!

When I decided to make Kirby inspired armwarmers I knew that I wanted them to be long. New England has a tendency to be cold. I also knew I wanted to make them a little thick. Worsted weight yarn would be best for that. To be honest though, I would use a lighter weight next time. I think it would make the process much easier.

Making the design was easy enough. Actually making the armwarmers, maybe not so much. There was a lot of unraveling and re-knitting involved. I originally was using the stranding method, then, realizing it wasn't working, settled on intarsia. Thinking on it afterwards though, double knitting might have been best for some elements.

These armwarmers are knitted flat. A seam is stitched on the side to make a tube with a hole for the thumb. The finishing is fairly simple.

This design makes an armwarmers that has an eight inch forearm circumference and is about 12 inches long. The pattern itself is worked over 25 stitches. A stitch marker can be used to make knitting easier.

Materials

• Tapestry needle
• Stitch marker
• US #4 straight needles
• 1 ball each of Bernat Satin worsted weight in light blue, antique rose, snow, ebony, and sea shell
• 1 ball each of Impeccable worsted weight in rouge and royal

Instructions

Gauge 23 st x 27 r = 4in please take the time to check your gauge.

Remember that the first stitch in every row is slipped.

• CO 48 sts
• 2 x 2 rib for 1” (K2,P2)
• St st for 8” on last row place marker for 25 st pattern and end with a wrong side row.
• Work Kirby chart for either the right or left hand (intarsia). For left hand chart, Kirby is first 25 sts. For right hand chart, Kirby is last 25 sts.
• 2 x 2 rib for 1/2”
• BO and weave in all ends
• Sew side together with mattress stitch leaving a hole for the thumb.

Now, what to do with all of that left over yarn! If you have any questions about the pattern, please let me know.

0 Comments

I've always been an English style knitter ever since I learned to knit. For me it was fun to learn and easy on my hands. As I have been knitting more, I wanted to learn the continental method.

I have a soft spot for stranded knitting and as such, knowing continental knitting would make my life easier. I could hold a strand of yarn in each hand instead of overloading my fingers.

There's a great tutorial for continental knitting here if you are interested. I think this is also the site that taught me to knit.

This scarf has no gauge. Any type of yarn and any type of needle will work. The basic garter stitch pattern is all you need to know; that's just knit every row.

I used one of those bumby types of yarn. It's got several thick threads of multiple colors with one thin white thread wrapped around it. I've always like these types of yarns; but, once I get it home I never know what to do with it.

Well, I think I got the hang of this new technique. I'll put it to the test when I make my new bag. More on that coming soon!

0 Comments

This is a very basic mitten pattern. You could, of course, doll it up a bit with variegated yarns. Plain black works fine for me for now.

Unlike the last few times, I've taken somewhat decent notes.

Basic Mitts Materials

• 1 ball worsted weight yarn (110 yds)
• Tapestry needle
• Length of waste yarn
• 2 stitch markers
• US size 7 dpns

Basic Mitts Pattern and Notes

Gauge swatch measures 18 sts by 24 rows for a 4" square.

CO 28 sts and distribute over three dpns 10, 10, 8.
Join and begin 2 x 2 ribbing for 2 1/2 inches. This is the cuff. You can make it longer if you wish.
K next 2 rows increasing 1 st each row (30 sts).

Thumb gusset:

• R1: k10, pm, m1, k1, m1, pm, k across
• R2: k all
• R3: k to m, m1, k to m, m1, slm, k across
• R4-5: k all
• R6: repeat R3
• R7-8: k all
• R9: repeat R3
• R10-11: k all
• R12: repeat R3
• R13-14: k all

K to marker, remove sts between markers to waste yarn. Backward loop CO 2 sts.
St st for 4 inches from base of thumb or until desired length.
Decrease: K2tog every rnd until 4-5 sts remain. Graft together.

Thumb:
Sl sts from holder to needles and pick up 3-4 sts across gap to fill holes.

• R1: dec to # of st of thumb gusset +1 (12sts)
• cont in St st until 2 inches from base of thumb
• dec every round by k2tog until 2-3 sts remain
• graft together

Weave in all ends. Repeat pattern for 2nd mitten.

A few of my notes from working the pattern:

• When you make a stitch, I found it easier to k1 keeping the st on the left needle, then ktbl on that same st dropping it off the needle after. This way you've made a st and k one at the same time. I also didn't get any holes this way.
• When I k2tog, I k the last st on any dpn that had an odd number of sts on it. I thought it made it a lot easier.
• I also tried my mitten on frequently to make sure it was fitting properly. The pattern above makes a ladies small.

And that's it for the pattern. Enjoy!!

0 Comments