knucks

I jumped on the bandwagon, too. These are my two sets of knucks that I made this week. One for my store manager, one for me. For whatever reason, the knucks I made this week were super easy and fast - sometimes, I feel that they drag on forever. I am thinking that I will make a couple more mis-matched sets over the next couple weeks, just for fun -- see how some different yarns work for knucks or maybe try fetching.... They are a nice change from hats!

Happy Knitting!!

Green Gable

Hi All!

I'm so excited to be sharing an actual, real-life, finished project with everyone! I've actually been done for a couple of weeks, but I've just now had time to take the pictures and get them off of my camera. So, here it is, Green Gable from Zephyr Style, made with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Provincial Pink. (Sidenote - is it just me or does provincial pink sound kinda old-ladyish?)

I've included more details and a couple more pictures over at my blog if you're interested. I'm eager to get started on my next project - knucks in a NIN theme for a friend! I can't resist the handwarmer trend that's been going on over here!

Irish Hiking Scarf

I joined the Irish Hiking Scarf Knit-a-long and finnished my scarf last night.

I knitted it on 4.5mm needles using 8ply varigated yarn.

It was partly frogged several times.

Slouchy Hats Ahoy!

Yesterday it was high 40s - low 50s outside. Not freezing, but not warm either. While I should have been mopping the kitchen floor or folding laundry, I watched Heroes and knit on my Wicked Slouchy hat. I love it. It's awesome. And I was SO excited to wear it today...except it was 70 degrees! What?! Ugh. I wore the hat anyway. It's still cute. *mutters under breath*



I posted the pattern over on craftster. It actually matches the shirt I'm wearing today.

Have you Even Wondered What Insanity Is?

Today I realized the sheer insanity of our next long scarf. We are going to turn over 200 skeins of yarn into icord to make The Marley. This is me standing on a chair turning the winning yarn into icrod that has been made into a test swatch. By the way that yarn is a Patton worstered acrylic called Autumn.

In the foreground of the picture is small scarf that a knit for a plastic flamingo that hang from the ceiling of the Bee Hive. Apparently I can not knit a normal sized scarf.

I am knitting some black socks just so I can knit something that is interesting. I will post pictures of them when I have them. They are really dark and scary.

Pink Socks

I must be on a finishing roll this week. I have finally finished the pink socks that have been sitting in my unfinished knits basket for close to a month. I have a bad habit of not making the second item. Socks are the worst. I did it though. I am quite happy with them. I love the colors too.

Have a great weekend...I am watching a Back To The Future trilogy marathon on TV. It makes for good knitting time. Toodles.

Last Call

Just throwing out a last call to anyone who wants to participate in the Punk Rock Gift Exchange. Sign-ups close on the 28th of February. We have a great group right now - but there is always room for more. You can check it out at www.prge.blogspot.com.

Have a great weekend!

Fetching, A Pair

I have finished my pair of Fetching gloves. Two days, two gloves. These are very quick to knit and I learned a new thumb technique to boot. I am rather pleased with these and I adore the color. Did I mention the Rowan Wool Cotton is so soft and comfortable?

I love these and recommend them to everyone. It's funny, because I had passed these up when they came out at Knitty. I did not originally like them. I am so happy I was persuaded to make a pair. I love them.

HAPPY WEEKEND, everyone!

Finished Glittens!

Pattern: Glove - Hooray for Me Gloves!
Mitten - basic math from Broad Street Mittens
Yarn: Schaefer Yarn Anne (60% Merino Wool Superwash, 25% Mohair, 15% Nylon)
Needle Size: US 3






I promise the other glove is done, it was busy taking pictures of the other one!
The actual hand part and the glove part were surprisingly easy. The fingers drove me nuts though. I used double knitting, but I kept dropping stitches and would have to start the finger over. They are awesomely warm! I wear them when I work. The boss keeps the heat low and we call the computer area "The Cold Spot" because it always seems to be freezing there no matter what the temperature is elsewhere. I'll be sad when it gets too warm to wear them.
-Paula

One Fetching Down, One To Go

Alright, I could not stand it anymore...I had to make some fingerless mitts. Everyone else was doing it...

I decided that I would try to make Knitty's Fetching. So far, I only have one to hand to show. I just finished the one, this afternoon. I will begin the second one, tonight probably. I am feeling rather proud of myself. This is my first attempt at cables in the round. Also, the thumb part was a first for me, too. I was sweating and nervous when it was time to remove the waste yarn. One slip...and that would have been the end of my glove.
The yarn is Rowan Wool Cotton (50% wool, 50% cotton) in # 955 Ship Shape. It's sort of a dark teal color. Me likey!

So, there you have it...I have proof of knitting. My ongoing projects are still that, ongoing. UGH! I hope to finish the second glove by tomorrow, or so. Toodles for now...

Forget Mittens....

I'm gettin ready for summer! Okay, I truly lie. I made these for my best friend, who lives in Florida. It's already getting up to 70 degrees down there?! Do you believe that nonsense? Anyways, she's really a great friend and I owe her a lot. Cotton foot thongs are a good start, right? She wears sandals and flip-flops year round. The pattern came from the pattern-a-day calendar I got for Christmas.

For those of us who are still cold, I finished my first sweater!

Long-time Comment-er...

First Time poster.

Hey!
I'm Robbie From NJ, most of you know me as KnitXcorE. I've been knitting for almost 4 years and love to make off the wall things in interesting colors. I'm excited to be part of this group!

From my blog:

I finally bought D-rings for my Felted Military belt, from Michael's book, Knitting With Balls. I used a small ball of leftover Noro in color #51. I had to shorten it considerably. The pattern said to knit 64" and it would felt to 46", my waist is around half of that so I knit about 46" and it felted to a 34. I just secured the end with a Ben & Jerry's pin that has an ice cream cone on it. Pretty sweet, eh?

(It's incredibly difficult to take a good picture of your own waist.)

Ok, Now where's that cliff...

Yep, another pair of Fingerless Gloves/Wristwarmers/Mitts/Whatever. I already posted a different pair a couple days ago, and this pair is for my Cousin, who said she needed a new pair because the other ones I made her wore out. These are crocheted, but I can be a Punk Rock Crocheter, right?

Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted
Hook: US Size H-8
Pattern: Modified version of these.

I've made so many pairs of these, I think this is my... 7th? I dunno. They go so fast, and are perfect for gifts.

PS: Hey Lana, Do the socks I'm wearing in the picture look familiar to you? :)

Another set of fingerless mitts!

Since its all hand warmers- all the time here at PRK, I figured I'd join the club and post some that I finished earlier last month. These are Fetching from Knitty made in LB Wool-Ease for my son's school bus driver for Christmas. I knit them as instructed and they fit her perfectly but I am definitely going to drop down a needle size when I knit them for myself.. as you can see that they are a bit too large. The are a super simple knit and super fast - especially if you cable without a needle!

omG.... she FINISHED SOMETHING...

aka... my brothers dickie and this is how i wring his neck....

he's a mail carrier.. or a cliff claven... a postal kinda guy. and now that the really COLD weather has passed us, i finally finished his dickie... he actually ASKED for a dickie... and ya gotta laugh... because there's so many jokes, it's hard not to

i based it on a vintage pattern that i've got in this 40's book on "how to knit" BUT... not really... i mostly did my own thing w/it (their pattern was for a woman). i'll put the pattern up on my blog i used peace fleece and it's SOOO warm & wooly he's gonna love it (or hate it) haha... my instructions were WARM, DARK BLUE ALMOST BLACK he didnt care if it was soft cause it's really just to hold his face mask ON (which is apparently not long enough) i hope it works... it's the first thing i've made for my brother.

oh & i'm mailing it to him... heheh... it's all about the irony w/this knit! (and i'm kinda proud of it... and him)

WARNING!

For others getting into the fingerless glove groove, be warned that the cool looking cabled fingerless gloves that Lana added to her list a few posts below (PDF pattern here) has an error.

I haven't ever done anything with real cables and thought I'd cut my teeth on these fingerless gloves and until I got some help I thought I was so worthless as a knitter, I might as well start calling myself a muggle.

First Try: I thought something was a bit "off" about the beginning of the cable, so I modified it but by the time I got to row 13 or so, I couldn't do the repeat and figured I modified it wrong so I frogged down to row 5.

Second try: I decided that as smart as I think I am, I should probably just follow the pattern as written. So i did....and it looked off. While I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong, a male knitter riding in the front seat of the car asked what I was doing and I explained my knitting dilemma. After studying the pattern, he helped me determine that there was an error in the pattern. Time to frog again.

Third try: Finally! I'm getting somewhere. Per the pattern modification suggesting from knitter man, they are turning out quite well.

What was the error?
So far everything seems to be fine except for row 1 of the cable pattern itself. Row 1 of the cable should read as follows:

Row 1: (RS) p 2, sl 2 sts onto cable needle and hold in front, K 2, then k2 from cable needle, k 2, p 2.

What it really says is k 4 after you k 2 from the needle. So any good cablers can now see my dilemma.

Knit on, punk rock knitters, knit on.

Fingerless gloves aplenty!

After blowing the PRK fingerless gloves groove with my cowl a few days ago, I feel compelled to post my new Knucks. They were mostly knit en route to the Body Worlds exhibit in Dallas and during breaks in a ticket-dismissal defensive driving class. (I left them at home when I went to the strip club, though. It was quite a weekend.)



And for good measure, I present my completed Fetching gloves. These were actually completed a couple of weeks ago. I did a terrible job picking up the stitches for the thumbs, but the cables are tidy enough that I still feel triumphant.

Handwarmer Bandwagon

I was already on the handwarmer bandwagon, just haven't had time to post. I made my daughter some knucks and then made them longer, added a ruffle and a cable!! She loves them!!

pi r square

Since it appears to be Elizabeth Zimmerman day here on PK, here is my first EZ project completed! The body of the pi r square shawl is so easy - a lot of garter knitting with some yarn overs for shaping - easy! So I figured that the borders would be easy as well -- not so.... Lets just say that I learned alot. I need to re-block the piece, but for right now, its good enough to wear, enjoy and if you didn't know, you probably wouldn't notice. I think that is another EZ lesson right there.

On an fyi note - Halcyon sent me new yarn for the Hush Hush dress - I have started over - more details on my blog!

Have a great week!!

Hi Everybody

I updated the layout on my blog with a super evil Purple with Yellow Polka Dots template. It is more reflective of the real me. Lawrence Welk would be proud if he was not stricken with terror at the pure darkness embodied in the new template.

I take it I am the only one that likes tiny bubbles here. I am probably the only one that owns a bubble machine here as well. Next time I will try to be more sinister.

Visit if you dare : www.zeeppoville.blogspot.com


Onto real knitting stuff. Choosing a yarn for The Marley is almost finished. We have made several test swatches and are narrowing in on a yarn. We have had several choices and it is looking like we are leaning to several of the sport weight acrylics. I am even thinking of going with something other than the traditional favorite Red Heart Mexicana. I will post picture of the swathes when I can get pictures of them.

The Marley will be our long scarf for 2008. This yearn long scarf The Judy was a braided design that six people could knit on at once. The Marley will be knit out of icord made on an icord machine. The up side is that people from far flung places will be able to knit on The Marley.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Cuteness is cool, right?

I promise I did listen to some punk while knitting this. I had to turn off the TV and use music instead so I could pay attention to the pattern. A few mistakes can only be caught if you stare intently at the sweater. Hopefully nobody will.

Pattern : Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater, Knitters Almanac

Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Silk in Celadon (more green then in the picture, almost exactly like Silver Sage by Restoration Hardware

Needles: Knitpicks options, size 6, used as straights, which was great, because the cables gave a lot of flexibility.

All About The Hands

Since we are on the topic or posting about hand warmers, etc and I am currently not knitting a pair...I went in search of free patterns for them. Here are my finds, so far...

Checkers Wrist Warmers, Stars Wrist Warmers, Armwarmers, Buttoned Fingerless Gloves, Cabled Fingerless Gloves (PDF), Cabled Gauntlets, Mens Fingerless Gloves, Mohair Armwarmers, Fingerless Gloves with Ruffles, Wristers, Nearly Gloves, Simple Fingerless Gloves, Cozy Wrist Warmers, Dragon Scale Gauntlets, Pulse Warmers, Earthtone Warmers, Earthy Warmers, Fetching Fingerless Gloves, Web Surfing Mitts, Snowball's Chance In Hell, Fingerless Gloves, Long Fingerless Gloves, Fingerless Mittens, Fingerless Mitts, Spooky Cabled Armwarmers, Funky Punky Armwarmers, Supple Rib Knit Armwarmers, Funky Vintage Wrist Warmers, Swedish Fingerless Mitts, Glove Bites, Symmetrical Braided Gauntlets, Touch Of Whimsey Fingerless Gloves, Lacis Gauntlets, Sockotta Fingerless Gloves, VooDoo Wrist Warmers, Victoriana Gloves, Warm Cable Braid Wrist Warmers (PDF), Vino Armwarmers, Lace Hand Warmers, Wrist Warmers, Flashdance Wrist Warmers, Little Twist Warmers, Long Noro Rainbow Arm Warmers, Knucks.

Time to jump

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm doing it too. But hey, at least I'm trying fair-isle. lol I'm seriously having a love affair with this pattern. I already ordered more yarn to do a brighter, more exciting version in green and yellow. To be honest, I've only finished one mitt so far, seeing as how I'm having technical difficulties with the second one. >.< blargh

We should have a fingerless mitt party. Who's in?

Knitting day !!!!!!!!

I was granted as good wish for the day as Valentines Day is nothing to me. I got the day of work as a self proclaimed knitting day. So I stayed in and worked on these.

6 cup Tea cosy in pure Aussie wool known as Mudgee Wool. A basic patons pattern was used as it reached the top the pattern was not the best so I tweaked it to a beter way.

An alpaca baby cardigan that has taken over a year to get completed. It is for the alpaca only classes. Now I will tinker more on things and hope this weekend to knock more over to the list of done for the show.

Everyone else was doing it...

Here are the fingerless mittens (or "Hobo Gloves") I just finished.

Yarn: Cascade 220

Needles: US Size 6 DPNs

I used my easy wristwarmer pattern, but increased my cast-on number to 40 because of my tighter guage.

♥ : Kaity

Cowl from Loop-d-Loop

I hate to ruin the streak of fingerless gloves today, but I made something different. :-)

Behold, the cowl from Loop-d-Loop:

I'm liking it, although it looks like I started making a sweater and gave up after a couple of hours. See my blog for the dorky (dorkier?) flipped-up neck version.

Speaking of fingerless gloves

I happened to finish a pair of these the other day too. (Sam & I must have been having the same knitty thoughts, lol).

Anyway, these are from the free pattern at: http://fpea.blogspot.com/2006/08/free-pattern-friday-raging-fingerless.html

I followed it up until it got to the top of the hand. I didn't like the unfinished edge that appeared when it said to just bind off. So, I ended up doing 4 rows of K1P1 rib like on the thumb gusset so it looked more polished.

Wavy rib glove things.

In red. I tried SO hard to get a proper picture of these but the camera didn't like them so this is the best I could do. They are a sort of uneven rib with dropped stitches every few rows, to make the holes, and they are fingerless so you can actually DO stuff whilst wearing them. There is a little hole for your thumb to go through so they dont go all "old lady slouchy tights" round your wrist :-)

Its a bug, It a bug

Well this morning was interesting......

About two weeks ago i had a house guest in the form of a GRASSHOPPER and it seemed no matter how many times i would return the unwanted guest back outside the next morning he would be inside again freaking my kids out, who would in return demand (not ask) that i KILL it.
Well i haven't seem it for about the last week so i thought it got the hint that it wasn't wanted until my youngest pulled her dora house out of the wardobe and started screaming something that resembled BUGGGGGGG. Well the grasshopper haven't left the house he had just found another house to live in.

I have been knitting heaps. Its like i go through fads with knitting. Just finished the Irish hiking scarf and a red double moss knit scraf as well.

I am looking for Dora the Explorer mofits if anyone has seem any. My daughter is Dora mad. Its cute its her first real interest not sure what will be next Barbie or Brats.

I could cry.....

I have been working on the hush, hush dress from knitty for quite a while now. I figure that I have about 30 hours in it so far. It has been a side project, since it is for spring and I thought it would be cute with my skinny jeans when the snow eventually melts. Mr.sunneshine and I watched a movie this morning and I finished the decreases for the body and held it up ---AND THERE IS A HUGE STRIPE IN IT!! Being the pack rat that I am, I ran back and picked up the four cones of yarn that I had used already, ready to mia culpa for my mistake and throughly flog myself for not ready more carefully -- BUT ALL THE NUMBERS ON THE CONES ARE IDENTICAL!! I am not sure how I could not have seen the color difference, other then I usually knit it watching movies - the pattern is simple so I look at the tv more then the project. I could cry - this dress is 280 stitches to the round on a size two needle and I am 18" into the 20" body - soooo much time into this project, it is not my mistake, I don't understand. The yarn was ordered from Halcyon, and every number on the tags matches....yet there is still a giant stripe through my dress! I have written Halcyon, its their 3/2 pearl cotton yarn, but I don't know that they will do anything......anyone have any suggestions besides dying the d@mned thing black.....

update - thanks for all the kind words!! Unfortunately for me, the stripe hits - read accentuates my widest point, so just leaving it is not an option. I did receive a call from Halcyon today - I was unable to take the call. So when I talk to them tomorrow, I will let you know what they suggest....

Many miles away but still busy here......

Things are still busy with the Show mode working and the ending of the first stage of Certificate Knitting being prepared for sending. It might be rather warm but a repreive with wet weather and good night of thunder has helped a Shawl get its wings off. I so far Have a Lace weight scarf for the show done and so close to finishing a few other pieces. Charity knitting also is keeping me on my toes. There is still a fair amount to do before the show as well. Last year I got most sucessful knitter and hope to enter as many classes as I can again this year. For more updates and Pictures see my blog.

If You Got The Notion...

I've had this link to Acme Notions bookmarked for awhile- I actually have no idea why I never shared it before.
I like notions, notions make me giddy in a way I can't really explain. When I found this shop last year, I fell madly in love. At the time I was doing medieval reenacting and I needed a wooden thimble and wooden needle holder (it is a long story, just go with that I needed them) and I got both of them there for $2.50 with like $1 shipping. By the way if you are the uber crafty type, you can repaint and refinish the wooden tubes and thimbles to whatever you like- I did, its super easy.

BUT, the reason for why I mainly wanted to give you guys the link is because of all the vintage stuff they have, like a filagree yarn ball holder, vintage books, vintage patterns, vintage accessories for those patterns, vintage and old fashioned notions.

They even carry random stuff like ring sizers, pencil sharpeners, iron on transfers and patches, and black cat mini cards (I'm looking at you Obsidian Kitten).

I'm in, are you?

I found this pattern, I'm so making me a pair of these:
http://www.plfm.net/michelle/Toe_Socks.pdf
I always wanted to make a pair of toe socks, since the once I buy from Target or wherever always get holes in them.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

All things turquoise

Well, I don't mind turquoise at all really, but of course I prefer black, lol. It just so happens that the recipients of these gifts wanted that colour. The 1st item is a pair of socks (my design) that I did on my fine bed knitting machine using a tuck stitch.
Next, this beret pattern is from "Interweave Knits: Winter 2006, pg.134". Done in the round on my new Knit Picks Options, which, by the way, I am in total love with & will now knit everything on! I just used larger needles because I was knitting with the same sock yarn as the 1st project. Samantha also wants socks to match like the ones above too.
Here is Sam sporting her new beret. Anyway, that's it for now. If you're interested, I've written a cheesy poem about my love for making socks on the blog. http://thecreativecastle-boop.blogspot.com/ Thx. for looking :O)

Oh lookie! LesleyD is almost finished with her Pizza Slut Cash Bag!

Details are located at my blog :-)
http://knitting4zen.blogspot.com

Knit and Crochet Festival Pittsburgh

The Clowns and I are getting ready for the Knit and Crochet Festival here in Pittsburgh this week end.

If you are not busy come down and see us. Great fun will be had by all.

Well everyone except for that guy behind us in the picture. We think he might have a deep seated fear of clowns or something. Either way he did not look happy to see us.

be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice. And watch out for that guy.

Skull illusion scarf

Yup, it's the one from the side links; thanks Lana. I did 4 repeats (2 each side) & plain in the middle. I worked it in 2 pieces so that the skulls were all facing the appropriate way. I absolutely love this pattern!!!

Some Free Patterns

It's been pretty quiet for the last few days. I am going to just post some random free patterns I have found while surfing this week...

Sonata Shawl, Tori Vest, Argyle Cable Afghan, Lucy the Lamb, Coco Evening Bag, Harry Potter Uniform Sweater, Journal Cover, Cabled Headband, Mesh Stockings, Fern Leaf Lace Socks, Roxane Scarf, Gansey Gloves, Reid Sweater, Twiggy Hat and Scarf, Razor Cami, Gwennabe, Tarantino Vest, Eiffel Top, Sigil Sweater, Top Down Sweater with Crazy Collar, Wisteria Sweater, Licorice Whip, Bikini Top, Shimmering Gown, Jazz Coffee Cup Cozy

The Great Felted Mitten Experiment

I finally finished the "Great Felted Mitten Experiment"

(Before and After Shot)

Read the full story on my blog at: http://creativecarissa.blogspot.com

Feb. Magknits!

Just a reminder to everyone that the February issues of Magknits is up.

Also, I noticed that the AntiCraft is all new too. (this comes with a explicit warning, a racey issue this time around. I warned you!)

Go forth and knit...

Madonna

I finally decided to post this... ANOTHER pillow. What can I say?? I am redecorating my house!! Except this one is (was?) supposed to be for my sister. I got the chart from PRK blog and away I went!!!