Category: Knitting

There are some people I know that love animals, but could never make the commitment of caring for a pet. I fully understand that to be a fact of our busy lives, what with school, work, and various obligations every day – It’s a lot of work to keep another living being happy and healthy, especially when they can’t really communicate their specific needs. The next step down from housing an animal involves caring for a plant, which can be oddly fulfilling to many individuals. It’s still alive and therefore dependent on your love, so it’s really not such a strange practice to find rewarding. They’re beautiful, inviting, and you only need to remember to feed them every two days or so.

However, there is still a fair amount of people (Caring, thoughtful, wonderful people, no less!) that are completely incapable of preventing a once thriving pot of flowers or what have you from turning into detritus in a matter of days. I hold nothing against these select people, nor do I judge them for their apparent negligence; Honestly, life happens.

For this group who are clearly not destined to be gardeners or care-takers of any sort, I may have found the solution. Certain plants are a lot heartier, naturally able to withstand harsh conditions… And so are fake plants, too! They’ll still keeps you company and can easily be found in any average craft store, but why buy something when you can just as easily make it?

There’s no denying it, real or not, cacti kick ass. We’ve had our pot of [real] cacti for longer than I can remember, but I’m positive that in my entire lifetime they have not grown even a full inch. They live forever on practically no nourishment and are almost guaranteed to look exactly the same for years on end. They’ll never surprise you by leaving “presents” in your slippers like a conventional pet might, and they won’t immediately expire if you forget to feed them once or twice.

For those who still can’t handle the proposition of being in charge of anything with any life to it, my knit cactus began from the basic concept illustrated on craftster. I added arms by putting a couple stitches on waste yarn, casting the same number back on in the same place, and then continuing with the main body until it reached a satisfactory height. Once complete, I returned to the open holes and used short row shaping to make the extremities point upward.

Now that I have a dog, real plants, and a fake cactus, it’s not so lonely here at home anymore!

As a newbie knitter oh so long ago, I wrestled with countless patterns before producing anything that was even half way identifiable as lace. Indeed, I ended up with many brand new scarves that were full of holes with no rhyme nor reason to them. Even attempting to read these strangely foreign diagrams were headache inducing. What were these odd hieroglyphics that everyone seemed so eager to use? I couldn’t understand for the life of me why the instructions for lace items are almost never written out in the abbreviations I was only just getting the hang of. Wouldn’t it be easier for the writers anyways?

What seemed like a never ending struggle when I was in the moment now feels like ancient history looking back on it now. I personally believe that my knitting ability has progressed a great deal since then, and I’m pretty darn proud of some of the things I’ve recently made. To demonstrate just how completely full-circle I’ve come, I I even prefer to use diagrams in general now, even for patterns that won’t produce lace. What I absolutely love about my Japanese amigurumi books is that they always use diagrams, so even if I’m unsure about a few kanji here and there, it’s a snap to figure out what to do next.

This particular scarf pictured is one that I attempted previously during my earlier knitting days, which failed miserably at the time. When I came across a delightfully autumnal muticolored yarn, I knew that it was destined to be a part of my second try. It was perfect in every way to me – a cozy scarf of falling leaves in gorgeous reds, browns, and greens, just like the colors our trees outside are displaying right now.

I’m very pleased to say that this time I was met with no problems making my way through the pattern. My fresh try was just in time, too, because this autumn is shaping up to be rather cold and windy. Although it still has holes since it’s still lace, it certainly provides comfort through the soft strands of cotton thread.

Sorry for the crummy detail picture, but I assure you that the lace really does look like falling leaves in person. I’m so happy to finally be capable of following such a skillfully written pattern and doing it proper justice.

Lately, it’s been very difficult to think of new food-related patterns. Every time I think I might have something totally unique and exciting, a brief internet search will turn up numerous other patterns for the same exact thing, and prove me dead wrong. It’s also been tough trying to think of more functional items, seeing as I’m beginning to run out of floor space as my pile of animals and things continue to grow at a somewhat disturbing rate.

I don’t know why, but my mind kept wandering back to cupcakes. Yes, I know, it’s already been done in both knit and crochet, many times, but… There’s something so intriguing about that shape, something so inspiring. In that same sort of vein, I came up with a small spin off on the cupcake-hat idea. Hostess anyone? Or should I say, Fauxstess?

The knitting the hat itself is very simple, it’s really the icing squiggle on top that pulls it all together at the end. I also knit this hat a bit on the shorter side, so feel free to add extra rows to the ribbed area to increase the length.

Instructions:

With #8 (US) DPNs and black worsted weight yarn, CO 80 and distribute among needles.

Knit 4 x 1 ribbing (k4, p1) around until length from the CO edge measures approximately 11 cm (or to your preference.)

When you reach your desired length, knit 2 rows even.
K8, K2tog*
K 2 rounds even
K7, k2tog*
K 1 round even
K6, k2tog*
K 1 round even
K5, k2tog*
K 1 round even
K4, k2tog*
K 1 round even
K3, k2tog*
K2, k2tog*
K1, k2tog*
K2tog*
K2tog*

(* Repeat until you reach the end of that round)

Cut yarn, tie off, and weave in ends.

For the icing, CO 3 in white and knit an I-cord for approximately 24 inches, or until you’re happy with the width of squiggles that it will create when applied to the top, straight across right at the edge of where the ribbing ends. Once you reach the end of your I-cord, k3tog and leave a long tail. I suggest you pin it in place before you begin sewing it, so that you can ensure even loops.

Now you can knit your cake and wear it too!

Continuing on my crusade to finish all of my holiday gifts before the marked date, I’m all but pulling out my hair just trying to think of things that my family would actually like to receive. My specialty at this point is probably stuffed animals, but I don’t know that it would be so appropriate for most. While I love them all dearly, I will admit that they do take up a bit of space without doing anything functional… But really, who needs function when you have cute?

I suppose that a good all-purpose gift for the more “mature” (ha) recipients is usually a hat of some sort. It’s a good thing that there are so many different and creative patterns out there, because I would surely be in tears by the time I finished off my list. This is one that I was drawn to many months ago, but couldn’t think of a practical reason to make it, since I rarely ever wear hats, even though I already have a number that I’ve knit for myself.

By now you could probably guess my yarn of choice… Oh come on, this isn’t hard! Caron’s Simply Soft Tweed in black. How funny is it, the way I used to detest this label and now with their new fiber… But it’s still wonderfully cheap, so I’m not complaining in the least.

The pattern is from Marnie McLean, who has an incredible talent for creating Lacy, stylish, and downright impressive works of yarn. I wish there would be new patterns available every now and then, but you can still read about her knitting [and other] exploits through her blog, also linked to the pattern page.

This hat will now get stowed away with the rest of my holiday surprises, hidden from all until a certain aunt of mine unwraps it. I’m so excited for winter this year, I keep waking up and half wishing for snow to be falling already!

Getting right down to work, one of the lovely knitting resources given to me from Eva was seemed to be right up my ally – Jess Hutchinson’s Unusual Toys For You To Knit and Enjoy. I went right to work on the first pattern that caught my eye, which just happened to be the very first pattern in the book.

“Henry the Bear” is so cute, how could I simply pass him by? It reminded me a whole lot of one of the free knitting patterns for a stuffed rabbit I made ages ago, when I realized that it had also been designed by Jess Hutchinson! This woman’s got talent up the wazoo. Not only are her designs all adorable and unique, but they are also very easy for a beginner to follow, seeing as her bunny was probably the second stuffed toy I had ever knit.

Nearly all of these toys are knit on #8 DPN’s, but for some reason I couldn’t find mine, so I just grabbed the nearest set. I don’t remember exactly what size they were, probably #7’s or 6’s, but that’s not really important or interesting, now is it? I loved the fact that this project used up a good deal of scrap yarn while making something that I would like to keep around. Stash-busting to make thousands of dishcloths way be effective, but… In my own opinion, dead boring.

Something about his basic shape was so imensely pleasing, how it was so unique and different from your classic teddy bear… I couldn’t bring myself to disrupt the clean flow of his outline with limbs. Let’s forget that in addition to this adoration for his simple shape, I was feeling a bit lazy at the moment. Sometimes, I think that stuffed animals just don’t need all those gangly arms and legs, that they can become even more intensely cute without them. You understand the reason for my madness, right?

After finishing my Henry, I wanted to take pictures right then and there to share with all of the blogosphere, but it was growing darker by the minute. In one of those rare moments when I actually come up with a good idea, I realized that I could set up a mini “green screen” by propping scrap fabric on my sewing machine and then using the high powered flourecent light attatched to the table! Hopefully I’ll have fewer dark, ugly photos on cloudy days now (It’s really hard to manage your time in a way that you always have sunny days free…)

The funniest thing happened after I snapped the first few pictures though. I went to go answer the phone for just a minute, I swear, but when I came back to finish up with my Henry… He had disappeared! Has one of my creations truly come to life this time? I just wonder where on earth he went…

After having recently splurged on yarn as if there was no tomorrow, I [Like any seasoned knitter / crocheter] find myself only wanting more. So many lonely partial skeins wait patiently in my closet, begging for a second chance to create something marvelous. How hard it is to find adequate projects to finish out a ball of half-used yarn without still leaving extra, or running out and then needing of buy yet another whole skein to finish! Both completely defeat the purpose of stash busting, the subject of much ranting and frustration from me. I’m sure I’ve already beaten this particular issue to death, it just keeps on nipping me in the butt as the piles grow larger while the uses continue to diminish.

Turning once more to the .pfd of lacy hair tamers from Interweave, I found that the shorter pattern for a bun holder / cover was small enough that it could most likely take care of one tiny ball of colorful scraps I had been harboring for an extensive amount of time. This was yarn I found so lovely, it had been impossible for me to waste even as inch of it. I don’t even remember what brand it is or when I first got it. The only detail I know for certain is that it’s made of cotton, and quite a sight to behold.

This mysterious cotton yarn complied with my manipulations with delight, forming into graceful swatches of lace as it moved back and forth between my needles. I’m afraid that it may have been a little bit thicker than what the pattern had called for, but the end product only came out slightly bigger than was the accompanying picture modeled. Screw accuracy if “perfection” means compromising your choice in yarn.

As my luck seems to have left me lately, I expected something to go terribly wrong. I had visions of the tiny stitches flying off those cruel metal needles, yarn helplessly tangled around itself… But the disaster never occurred. Instead, it managed to manifest itself in (What else?) an only smaller ball of left over scrap yarn. There’s just no winning, I tell you.