Finished Knitted Objects! Whee!

July 29, 2018July 29, 2018Leave a comment

Friends, I am so happy to post that I have a few more finished projects and this time they’re from needles and not hooks!

I feel as if I’m the world’s slowest knitter, even having learned to knit continental style, but even so, I can actually pick up knitting needles and knock out something that resembles a real thing. I just need a few…months….longer than most people might.

Since around this time last year when I first completed a pretty raggedy rendition of a dishcloth, I’ve gone on to attempt numerous swatches and other projects that have either been frogged or relatively unsuccessful.

It took the better part of six months, but I finally completed a knitted wool scarf for my husband to replace the previous one I’d made for him. Pictures to follow. In addition, I whipped up a few more wash/dish cloths.

Here are the cloths, all made with Knit Picks Shine Sport. Because this a mixture of Pima cotton and bamboo, I prefer using this yarn for wash cloths (facial cloths). Dishie or another mercerized cotton yarn, is sturdier for dish cloths. The Hydrangea and Cream colors are knitted in the same pattern, a “fancy stitch combination” called sugar cubes stitch. I got the tutorial from Very Pink Knits. The bright teal colored cloth is actually done in Tunisian crochet but it has a lot of Tunisian knit stitch in it. It also makes for a gorgeous and sturdy facial cloth.

The photo of the cream cloth shows the difference between the finished cloth without blocking and the cloth after a light wash, some time in the dryer, and some steam blocking with an iron. Side note: still getting the hang of binding off, a loathsome process.

Now, onto the scarf! This thing is 8.5 feet long. Yes, that’s right. My husband really wanted a long scarf and while this seems excessively long, it’s actually an appropriate length. It took four balls of Capra DK from Knit Picks, which is a merino wool and cashmere blend. Particularly as I’m a beginner knitter, I had to be careful with this yarn, because it could be splitty and too much handling meant it would start to felt. By no means is this scarf executed perfectly, but the stitches and the wool helped hide any glaring flaws.

The pattern is easy peasy for beginners (knits and purls only) from B.Hooked Knitting. One side is only knit stitches and the other side switches between knit and purl stitches. It creates a gorgeous textured scarf on both sides. No matter how this scarf is wound around the neck, it will be pretty to look at.

Blocking really helped the wool relax and get it fully shaped. My husband is very much looking forward to wearing his scarf come winter. It’s soft and cuddly and very handsome in the navy.

Tada! I think I’ll go rest my hands for a while.

Folded with the front facing out

Squishy and thick!

Shows both the back (on the left) and the front) on the right, draped

Folded with the back of the work facing out

Folded with the back facing out from above

Knitting Update: We Have Dishcloths

July 30, 2017Leave a comment

When I last wrote on learning how to knit, I was swatching like mad.

Eventually, you wear yourself out on swatching, and you have to dive in and make an actual thing.

The month of July witnessed me making three dishcloths. I didn’t think they’d all been this month, but when you diligently record your projects in Ravelry, the details don’t lie.

This bright orange item that resembles a square now sits in my kitchen sink, and was my first official knitted project:

I didn’t block it, and because it’s done on the diagonal, one has to be careful about how one decreases, which is more difficult than increasing, which is a simple yarnover. I have higher hopes that the next time I tackle this design, it will look a bit more polished.

Then of course you have the hole in the middle, which I didn’t know how to fix. Still don’t. I don’t know what to do with dropped stitches and, so far, any mistakes I made either live in the project or I have to frog all the way or most of the way back; this is completely unlike crochet, where mistakes are easier to fix when you catch them right away. (+1 crochet)

After the orange thing, I graduated to attempting a chevron washcloth from Very Pink Knits. It’s quite pretty and I love that it’s reversible. In fact, I’m not really sure which side is supposed to be the front.

I don’t actually have a photo of it, just a video from Instagram, which you can see here.

That one ALSO had a mistake in the middle (what’s with me and doing that?) and I didn’t know how to fix it. Trust me when I say that I had to frog along the way, but only when I was catching the mistakes mid-row.

My most recently completed dishcloth is this ZickZack design from KnitPicks:

What I like about it is that it’s easy, with just knits and purls, and a simple row counter app on my phone helped me stay on track. I didn’t have to frog nearly as much mid-row, and lo and behold, I don’t have any holes in it! The toughest part for me was binding off, which I still need to perfect. This one got blocked and looks terrific. I’m thinking of making more to do bundles for the Etsy shop.

Little aside: I was encouraged by my cloth-making when a friend of mine tagged me on Facebook, who said she loved her (crochet) spa cloth that I made for her, as it was done up with KnitPicks Shine Sport, which is made from Pima cotton and bamboo. I can attest that they do make for seriously luxurious washcloths.

Last but certainly not least, what has contributed to my success in knitting has been investing in some better needles, specifically circular ones. My ultimate goal is to be able to make things in the round, namely hats and mitts and things, and I have hit some hard potholes going down that road so far. I am currently working on my Magic Loop skills, which I hope will be the key to my success in finally whipping up a hat. Stay tuned.

In sum, I have gone from ultimate frustration with loads of epithets and claiming I would never be able to “DO this,” to swatching, to attempting a dishcloth, to actually making a dishcloth that is attractive and doesn’t have any holes or other unsightly mistakes.

This crocheter is on the knitting path. If any of you readers are also experienced knitters, or just learning like me, I’d love to hear any stories, tips, or anecdotes you may have.

Cheers!

Inspiration and Then, A Dishcloth

July 8, 2015July 17, 20152 Comments

Almost immediately after publishing my post about what to DO with some pretty yarn I had on hand and was aching to try out, inspiration struck when I came across a pattern for a Tunisian crochet ripple scarf. It was less of a “Eureka” than a “DUH” moment. Of course I should be making a Tunisian ripple scarf. To recap, the yarn in question is a beautiful angora and acrylic blend, so it has some stiffness mixed with softness to it, but also has some wisp. It is a fingering weight blend (weight class 2) but I thought it would work up nicely, and to my delight, it has! It took me about ten rows or so to memorize the pattern completely and get comfortable with it, especially since I was still mastering the Tunisian Purl Stitch, and there is one purl stitch right in the center of each row. (If you’d like a great close-up tutorial, Stitch Diva Studios does a fantastic job of it.) It got easier and easier as I went along, though, and now I feel like I could purl all day long. One tip I have for anybody who wants to try their hand at this pattern is to make sure to loosely do the return pass for the first half of the scarf, and then tighten up as you finish. It will even it out better, as it has a tendency to curl on one side and look lopsided. I feel confident that some light blocking will also help stretch it out and get it more symmetrical looking. The recipient of my scarf still remains a secret but I know this person will love it! In the middle of making the scarf, as I am wont to do, I became impatient and wanted to whip out a project that I could quickly complete and give me that crowning sense of achievement. I decided on a Tunisian dishcloth in Tunisian Knit Stitch and it felt like it worked up so fast. In reality, it probably took me a couple of hours, but here is a shot of of the finished project, including single crochet border: Dishcloth_tunisian_zvc My husband and I were streaming some terrible movie (of my choosing) on Netflix and so it made this dishcloth go by all the faster, since I was focusing on it much more than the movie. I finished it off with a single crochet border and it sits in my sink as I write this.

Tunisian crochet has really turned out to be the “vacation from crochet” when I still want to create but don’t want to do single crochet in the round for hours on end, as in making amigurumi, or doing double crochet patterns, such as granny squares. I’m always in awe of how much there is to learn and do with this craft! Until next time, friends. Just keep hooking….just keep hooking….