Month: March 2011

Potato Chip Knitting

An unrelated photo. Look, she's holding his hand!

 What’s your potato chip knitting?  You know, the pattern that you just can’t stop knitting.  Like the old commercial (for Lay’s?), “betcha can’t eat just one.”  You want to keep knitting just to see how the next chunk turns out.  For some people it is cables; these people just can’t wait to see how the next cable turn looks.  For some people it’s lace.  It’s the kind of knitting that makes you say, “just one more row.  I’ll just do one more row, then I’ll go wash the dishes.”  As for me, I can’t get enough of short rows.  There’s just something about those little suckers that make me want to keep knitting to see how the next one works out.  It’s amazing how doing one little partial row then turning your work and knitting back along that short row can completely change the look of your knits.  It can create a curve where there wasn’t one before.  It can create fun little toes in socks or shaping in sweaters. 

For me, my current potato chip knitting is the Helix Scarf (pattern linked) from Spin-Off Magazine.   It’s a free pattern that was sent out in a Knitting Daily email a week or so ago.  I started thinking about the poison apple green laceweight that has been sitting in my stash waiting for a shawl.  The delicate, floaty scarf can be made in any weight of yarn and is particulary nice for handspun.  The link I have included above has several different variations on the scarf.  The pattern is somewhat cryptic, but if you cast on 30 stitches and go ahead with the wedge pattern, you’ll be on track.  The pattern in it’s entirety is in Spin Off Spring 2010.  It’s not a difficult pattern, it’s a 5 row repeat.  I don’t know what I find fascinating about it, but I love doing the little short rows.  I can’t wait to see what happens when I do just one more pattern repeat. 

I believe this scarf is going to an old friend that I haven’t seen in a very long time.  This person replied to a Pay It Forward post on Facebook.  The idea is that 5 people would respond to my post and I would create a handmade item for each of them.  They in turn would have to make things for 5 other people.  I got the idea from my friend Knittymuggins.  This is the first of my 5 items, and I hope the potato chip knitting sustains me through the entire scarf.

And The Winner Is….

Using a random number generator, the winner of yarn from my 100th post is Julie!  I’ll be in touch with her to talk about her prize. 

As for knitting the cardigan, I haven’t started anything yet.  I really haven’t been knitting much of anything.  I am slowly working on a white wrap cardigan for myself.  I also started some fingerless mitts, but I am not happy with the color of the yarn.  It’s blah and I’m struggling to finish the first one.  It’s probably going to move into the UFO pile.  I have made some decisions on the cardigan for Addie though.  I’m definitely going to knit the Tuckernuck.  Most likely it will be out of the Malabrigo.  I’ve also decided to make a shrug, mostly for the instant gratification that I’ll get from it. 

I have this half finished cardigan that I’m just not crazy about anymore.  I started it years ago and stopped when I screwed up a sleeve.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I don’t have enough yarn to finish this.  So I’m ripping it out to redo it as a shrug.  There should be plenty of yardage for a shrug, even one that’s longer than a traditional shrug.  The only bad part?  Ripping out miles of this knitted I-cord edging…

 

I hated knitting this edging.  It was miserable, but somehow I managed to slog my way through it all.  Ripping it out might be a job for a stronger person than me.

Lily’s Perfect Hat

 I may have finally hit on the epitomy of perfect hatness.  At least for a 4 year old named Lily.  Lily tends to be rather picky about most things, and knitwear is no exception.  I have made her 2 other hats this year.  She wears them for a short time and then finds something else that she likes better.  We’ve bounced between knitted caps to a Bentleyville hat to a fleece hat with earflaps during the coldest weather. 

This hat is made from Noro Silk Garden, so it is both warm and has a wonderful texture.  The hat fits her perfectly, coming right down to her eyebrow line to keep her forehead warm.  In Lily’s opinion, the best part are the earflaps and the fact that it ties under her chin.  I don’t know why, but the ties must be tied in an overhand knot but definitely not in a bow.  I think the fun colors are also a hit with this particular 4 year old.  As a bonus for Mommy, it makes her very easy to spot in a crowd.  The pattern is from Hat, Mittens, and Scarfs Deck.  The pattern is for a baby hat, but since Silk Garden is a thicker yarn than the dk that is called for, I used larger needles and got a bigger hat.  I also made the hat an inch or so taller than the pattern called for.

As I was knitting this, I knit the hat to the specified depth.  I tried the hat on Lily and found out that it was too short.  I was running low on yarn and was worried that I wouldn’t have enough to finish the hat, so I asked Lily if we could give this hat to a baby and I could knit her a different hat.  Lily melted down.  Her bottom lip stuck out and her eyes filled up with tears as she said she wanted this hat.  What’s a Mommy to do?  I ripped back the decreases and knit for another inch before starting the decreases again.  I used all but a few yards of the skein of Noro Silk Garden.  This time the hat fit perfectly. 

Lily likes this hat so much that for once she doesn’t mind getting her picture taken.