Continental method of knitting

I'm trying to teach myself continental style. In doing so I'm learning new things about how I throw. Turns out I never really kept tension in my working yarn. I would just pinch it between my index finger and thumb and allow them to slide along the working yarn. I would also use the index finger on my left hand to 'push' the right needle through the loop and my left thumb to push up the next stitch and the other six fingers would hold the needles. I'm having a really hard time with the tension part of knitting, turns out I have no idea how to do it even though I've been knitting (well if I do say so myself) for over six years now.


I decided that the baby-bib-o-love would be a perfect project to teach myself since I thought garter stitch was more forgiving for BAD gauge. And bad gauge is what I have right now, my loops are either crazy big or really tight. I think that I'm just going to have to come to terms with having very lose gauge when knitting continental since the really tight stitches are when I try to fix it. I'm pretty sure I will always have to drop a few needle sizes, but we will see. I'm only 8 garter ridges into the first bib and I plan on making several for practice.


Now come the whole reason I'm making myself even do this (my left index finger is in pain already). I just discovered how reasonable the kits at knitpicks are, and bought 2 fair isle ones. I've aways thought about trying this out but always thought that it was too expensive for my college student budget, but I found a crazy cute hat and mitten kit for only $18 and a really nice vest one for $19. The mitten one is on back order and so I don't know how long it will take to get here but I have to start learning this now. I'm really scared that my gauge with each hand will be too different and my stranding will look like crap.


Here is the shawl I made back in June, I already gave it away but here are the pictures (taken the day it was gifted)



I knit it in dreamy angora wool blend and used Lucinda Shells Shawl from Beyond Wool by Candace Strick. Knit this strait from the pattern, just used a size larger needle and only the angora instead of angora and linen together. This is also the first project I have ever blocked and wow, I am now on board blocking things. The yarn really came alive after being washed, like ten times softer than before. But the best part about this shawl, guess how much it cost...

a grand total of $5!!!. I finally used the method of recycling yarn. I went to goodwill with a type of yarn in mind. The most important key to recycling yarn is to get a sweater that is not in your size. I also bought two other sweaters that day to recycle, both of which moved from my knitting stash right to my wardrobe without being re-knitted. Also an important key to picking out the recycling sweater I found from laughing purple goldfish. Scroll down to the seams to look out for. I have really taken a liking to wool and now know what all the fuss is about. I'm going to try and not buy anymore acrylic yarn but recycle wool. The other best part about this shawl is that I only used 1/2 of the original sweater so I can make one for myself too. I found it was more time effective to not wind it into a ball but to knit as you unravel the old sweater. This also allows for less tangles and would be an interesting sock blank if I find a white sweater in a stronger yarn, no way would I use this angora for socks.

My first lace

I finally started a lace project. Two of my good friends from high school are getting married this summer so I wanted to knit them something nice. A lace shale seamed perfect for one of them. The pattern I'm using is from Beyond Wool and calls for argora and linen to be held together.

I found a beautiful sweater at goodwill that was make with a argora blend and this was perfect. Since I wanted it to be more lacy I didn't hold it together with anything and used size 2 US needles instead of 1 Us. I finished the shawl last night (finally this thing took forever) and I'm attempting to block it this weekend. Since I recycled a sweater I'm not sure how much yarn I used. I used both sleeves and half of the front. I'm quite pleased with the recycling of yarns. This project cost me a whole $5, and I have enough left for a nice scarf or something. I'm defiantly going to recycle a lot more.

One Month Ago

I'm not really a purse kind of person, I don't normally carry one if possible. However I have fallen in love with this brea bag. I wanted to make a purse for a good friend of mine for her birthday. I started out just making a pattern as I go along but it was going to be fairly boring. I only had 4 days to finish so I had picked out some cotton in my stash and held it double and used size 9 needles. I started with just a rectangle bottom and picked up stitches all the way around and got up a good 3" (using a purl row for the corners) My thought was that I could find a sideways cable to finish off the top and add a strap. So I went to raverly and try my luck. Turns out I was not able to find any sideways cable but I did find the brea.

One look at the bag and I wanted to make it. It is gorgeous. My thought was I could maybe make it for next year or Christmas but I got to reading the pattern. Each side only has 29 rows and you only start with 128 stitches. That seamed more than reasonable in my time frame. Then I read what materials you need, yarn held double and size 9 needles. The exact things I had with me. And my yarn even made gauge (or at least close) I measured 14 stitches to 4" in stockinette not seed stitch but still pretty close. I made my mind up right then and there to rip out my lousy excuse of a purse and cast on this puppy.

The first bag took me only 2 days to finish (true one of the days was over the entire span of a baseball game on top of my train ride). I made only two modifications to the first bag (not pictured here, it was pink if you where following along) I did not make three parts to have to sew together. The whole time knitting the first side I was thinking about how to not have to sew the thing (when I wasn't thinking how much I loved this bad) My brilliant idea was to instead of knitting the bottom long part width wise like in the pattern but length wise. I would then instead of casting off this bottom section continue on to the second side and only have one seam to sew. I almost went with this theory when I dawned on me, I didn't have to cast on at all, just needed to pick up stitches along the bottom edge of the first side. This eliminated all need of sewing. That is when I married the bag, it was far beyond love at this point.

The other modification was simple, I used a braid cord as a strap. Of course I needed to make the bag again. My mother-in-laws birthday was coming up and this sounded perfect. This time I only had 6 oz of cotton in the blue and I used about 8-9 oz of cotton on the first bag. I knew I was going to run out and I wanted to use up stash. Also, I though the bag was a bit big (probably not for a normal person but when I do use a purse it is the smallest one I can get away with) so to make this smaller I skipped the first 6 rows and cast on for row 7. I just had enough yarn for both the bag and strap. I used an old found button, key rings for the hardware. I made a lining for this one too. It finishes off the bag quite nicely.

I have now have to make a bag for me. To bad I used up all my cotton that was 6 oz of the same color. Since the pattern isn't written for cotton I might try some other type of fiber but I really like how sturdy the cotton turns out. Maybe I will just go and buy one 3 oz skein.

2 Months Ago

For my birthday I bought myself a ball winder.

I wound these 4 yarn pats in 30 min flat! These have since been knit up into a skirt from Fitted Knits. The matching suit coat will be coming soon but I have to unravel the cardigan the yarn is in the form of now first. Once both are finished I'll post a picture. The skirt is very nice and I added a zipper and elastic hem and everything. The zipper turned out not to be needed, as the elastic allows the skirt to be taken on and off without undoing the zipper. This also means that without the elastic the skirt would not have been kept on so good thing I added it. This occurred because I did not read the errata until I had already started. The pattern used starts on p.123. Yes that's right, I finally check gauge and get it smack on and turns out the gauge listed on the pattern is WRONG. Oh well, I really didn't want the skirt to lay at my waist but at my hips so with the elastic it is perfect. I was actually thinking about starting over to make it for my waist when I checked the errata so it turned out ok.

Next project I was working on is a baby blanket. My husbands best friend is having a baby (very soon now) so of course I had to make her something knitted (the baby) I didn't completely draw from stash for this one. I used up the rest of the sweet pea peach fuzz left over from the last baby blanket, and I bought some soft white baby yarn to use as the carrier yarn. This blanket is much softer than the last one. However the baby yarn is a sport/fingerling weight where the yarn in the last blanket was worsted/aran. I liked the textured of the first blanket better, more substance. This one stretches to much, even if it is crazy soft.
I also used a 'real' pattern for this one, bunny hop blanket. The pattern repeat was getting to me so I cheated and only did 1 and 1/2 repeat along the edges. This made 2 and 1/2 diamonds around the sides and a stockinette middle. This blanket was finished just yesterday when I finally washed it, the shower is next weekend so I really didn't have a choice.

3 Months Ago

Here are a few things I've been working on.

This was actually a Christmas present, a mistake rib scarf made from Lion Brand Wool. A matching hat was made but never quite finished, I ran out of yarn. I tried to make an inside-out hat, my first ever pattern that I wrote myself but have since found out it is in no way an original (start with 8 stitches increase to total hat and then eventually decrease and fold in half for double thickness) but really only had enough yarn for one hat, not two on top of each other.

And here is the new winter set I made my self. I am constantly loosing my hats and I saw someone downtown (Chicago) one day with a beautiful cabled scarf with an attached hood, and I new I was going to make one. I thought I would have to make up my own pattern but did a quick search on ravelry and actually found the exact pattern for a hoodie scarf that I had in my head (this actually does happen, who would have thunk it) Only made a few adjustments. I changed the cable to a 9-stitch braid and likewise changed all the ribbing to 3x3 to match the cable. Also, I added in some decreases on the hood part to curve off the top. But the best part is I added buttons and button holes to the end of the scarf.

It being very windy in Chicago my scarfs always fly over my shoulder and the only way I can get the end back is to take the whole thing off. The buttons let me wrap it around my face and keep it there. It is also crazy warm, perfect for those negative 30 days. The only bad thing about this scarf is that it is in no way reversible. Next time I would find a reversible cable, open braid maybe.

I made some fingerless mitts to match. Used a basic 2x2 rib pattern and altered it the same way as the hood (added the cable and made 3x3 rib) These are not so perfect for negative 30 days, and I wear my dollar store gloves under them. I'm thinking about making actual mittens to match next winter but will have to rip out these guys to finish, only have enough yarn left to make one mitten I think.

More to come with the other things I've been working on. Also, writing the pattern is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The actual directions and how I did it are all there but still working on the presentation. Now that school is over I might get it done soon (hopefully)

God Save the King

I found my pattern that I wrote!!! Within the week I will be posting a free pattern for a bar stool cover. I had been looking for the pattern for two weeks now. At least I got a clean house out of the whole thing. First I tore apart the place looking for it, and then I put absolutely everything away and got rid of a lot of crap and still didn't find it. When I gave up and thought I must have thrown it away on accident, I pulled out my blanket knitting bag to put in my new project, there it was in the bag along with all the left over yarn from this project. Sitting quietly right were I left the darn thing.

A magic day in knitting

I finally started to use the lion brand magic stripes my grandma gave me. She had picked up three skeins of it because she found it for 85% off!!!!!! She had never knit a sock before, being a crocheter, but who in their right mind can refuse yarn that is that discounted? Well back when I made my first socks I was working on them over at her house so she brought out these very precious skeins that had been fermenting in her stash for 3 years now and gifted them upon me.

I had been upset at knitting socks because of my last pair. The cotton ones that I hand dyed did fit, however they did not fit inside my shoes with my feet in them. Now finishing my first sock with actual sock yarn I think I know were I went wrong with my hand dyed yarn. Sock yarn is a much lighter weight yarn than I though it was so using a size 1 needle on the cotton made it way to thick. Next time I'm using a three because my cotton it probably closer to worsted.

I was annoyed at knitting socks because of the double pointed needles, I just plain don't like them. So this time I gave 2 circulars a go. I ran over to the craft store and the only size 2's that they had had a 29" cord, I wasn't to happy about it being so long but bought it anyway since it was the only one. I started the first sock toe up and finished increasing for the toe and the long cir was driving me almost as crazy and the double pointed needles where and wanted to cry. But that is when it hit me. I had heard about the magic loop before only needing one large circular needle, exactly what I had. So now not only are these magic stripe yarn but also done on the magic loop. I love it.

Magic loop is actually very easy and I don't understand why anyone would make socks any other way. But then maybe I am a bit obsessive about things not being clumsy and in the way. I found a very complete list of sites on the magic loop and learned after about 5 min.

Soft enough for a baby

I have another baby shower to go to at the end of the month so here comes a baby blanket. This one is a stash buster. I had picked up a sad amount of peach fuzz a while back when it was on clearance at hobby lobby. This stuff is crazy soft (obviously implied by its name but so much so you simply can't understand until you touch it for yourself). Well the one problem with being induced by the clearance yarn fumes is you really don't look at what you buy. When I got this stuff home (5 of sweetpea and 2 of playtime) I started thinking of all the cute soft baby stuff I could make. Finally, I actually looked at the ball band for the suggested needle size to see this:

There where several problems, 1) no knitting gauge, 2) this is a super fine yarn, 3) hand wash hot only (what is that?). Upon closer inspection it did say to used a US 3 knitting needle, but there also was a key ingredient that I was missing. On the other side of the ball band there was this:

This yarn is best used as a carrier thread with another larger yarn.

Well that says it all right there. Something that I might have seen if the yarn wasn't on clearance.

This turned out to be OK. I just got a nice worsted weight yarn and held the peach fuzz double with it. I'm using size 9 needles and really like the resulting fabric, nice and warm. It's not quite as soft as what I was imagining but still nice. Also, I will end up only using 2 1/2 of the skeins that I have so I see 2 more of these blankets coming. All was going along quite nicely and I was very happy about using stash.

I picked out a free pattern from lion brand (if it can be considered a pattern) just your basic wash cloth with the eyelet edging. I was slightly nervous about knitting a blanket diagonally for fear that I would run out of my worsted weight yarn (that I only had a lb of and didn't want to have to buy more) but I told myself I would just knit half way a start decreasing and there would be no problem. Well if you don't own a nice scale just knitting till half of it is gone is easier said then done. Lets just say I didn't make it (no duh my brain is screaming at me)

I'm going to go and pick up another Caron 1 lb, if they sell have that colorway (not likely knowing my luck) or what ever acrylic at the store is closest. I have some other acrylic stash that is close and will have to do if I can't find anything better. If there wasn't a dead line I would probably throw this in the closet and tell myself that at some point I will rip back all of the decreasing and several rows of the increasing and re-knit to be able to finish with what I have. Another plan that is running though my head it to rip back 4 rows, knit a eyelet row, then one regular and then bind off. Making a blanket something like this:

Any opinions?

Christmas all taken care of

I finished all of my Christmas knitting just in time. Christmas eve morning I threw all of my potholders in the wash Aren't they so pretty? I love how the patterns changed slowly though out the year making them. Washing them was a great idea, they became so much better once the hot water shrunk the stitches together making them much more pot holder like.

That is how much lint came out of the wash with them (not to mention what was in the lint trap.







And that is what was happening out side while washing them.







While they were drying I finished weaving in all the ends on my tailgate rug from Mason-Dixon knitting. My first project ever from their books.

I love knitting this thing but let me tell you, the weaving in part is no fun. There are a million ends (can you tell I don't typically do much color work?) I will however defiantly be making more of these, my mom and me both want one. This one went to my grandma.

While washing the rug I wrapped all the pot holders. They look so small all wrapped up. The rug came out of the dryer at 2:00 and we had to be out the door at 2:30 to get there on time. I guess I did cut it pretty close. But in my credit I a) got it done and b) started last January, it wasn't my fault I had 3 baby showers to go to and totally got distracted by discovering yarn on e-bay, knitting blogs and ravelry in the meantime.

Everyone loved their presents, or at least they did to my face. (that's all that matters) I'm very happy with this years knitting.

I have it all planed out for next year. I'm going to make Christmas ornaments. I'm using the "Cabled Globe Ornament" by Eunny Jang from A Little Something Special on knitting daily. I'm going to adjust the pattern greatly to

a) make it smaller, the pattern is for balls that are 9" across, I want them to be more like 3"

b)use the Christmas sale yarn I got already, here it the whole kit-n-kabotal (when I got the add from Joann's that said that all the wool-ease was on sale for $1.99 I couldn't wait until Friday but when I got there are realised that wool ease is regularly $3, I was slightly upset and almost didn't buy any, but as you can see, I did anyways. 33% off is still on sale)