Shawl and hat pattern.

I finally finished off my danish work shawl and sadly I am not really happy with it. I think I knit it a bit tight so it doesn't really have any drape and it doesn't really lie flat. But I really like the concept and I will have to make another sometime. Raveled

I am very happy with this hat I made for my mother in law. She has a fairly small head so I am hoping that it will fit her. Here it is modeled by my son and it is a little big on him. It was inspired by Thorpe by Kristen Kapur but hers is knit top down and that was just not working for me so I made something up. It ended up with about a 21" brim and 7" tall sort of a small adult medium. But it could easily be made bigger just by going up a needle size and knitting the hat a little taller before decreasing.

Yarn:
Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool - held double

Needles:
Size 7 16-24” circular

Gauge 4”x4” =
Garter: 16 st and 32 rows
Stockinette: 16 st and 24 rows

Earflaps:
Cast on 5 (I used double tailed)
1: k1 kfb k1 kfb k1 (7st)
2: and all even rows knit across
3: k1 kfb [k3] kfb k1 (9st)
5: k1 kfb [k5] kfb k1 (11st)
7: k1 kfb [k7] kfb k1 (13st)
9: k1 kfb [k9] kfb k1 (15st)
11: k1 kfb [k11] kfb k1 (17st)
continue in garter stitch until flap measures 5” from cast on edge
leave flap on circular with 6” tail
repeat for second flap but do not trim off

Body:
turn and knit the 17 st on second flap,
then cast on 17,
knit 17 st on first flap,
cast on 25
1: join for circular knitting and purl one row
2: k all
3: p all
knit in stockinette until piece measures 4” from brim

Crown decreases:
[k8 k2tog] x4 [k7 k2tog] x4
k 1 row
[k7 k2tog]x4 [k6 k2tog] x4
k 1 row
follow this pattern until you k2tog each stitch

half double crochet around edge with contrast color.

Raveled

Little Purse - pattern

I went ahead and made a pattern for my Little Purse. You should be able to squeeze it out of two fat quarters which was an unexpected bonus, though the pockets might require a little extra fabric. Here is a link to the file and one on the right as well.

A hat, three quilts and a skirt

We head off tomorrow evening to visit my parents and retrieve our first born so tomorrow is my last day to get something done with just Clara around. She has complicated things by perfecting her crawling technique and starting on pulling herself up. She also likes power strips.
Tuesday evening as we watched a little kung fu I made this hat for Clara. I call it her Eggplant Hat. Sadly it is too big, I think it might fit next winter. So I have to make another, too bad, so sad. First I need to finish my scarf so I have the left over yarn to make it with. Note that the purple and green in these pictures is the same yarn, while it is variegated I also don't have the white balance quite right in either one or both of them. They are both Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee. I am really liking them right now because they have a very gradual color change to them, which I have decided I like a lot more than the yarns with very short color changes, resulting in a mottle appearance, though it can be nice for felting.

Yesterday I finished the last "top" for my triptych 6-12" quilt swap. I also got them all quilted and machine sewing on the binding done. Now I have to decide if I will do the hand sewing on the binding or wimp out and bring them to my parents' and let my mom do it. Here are all three of the triptych:

Yesterday I also went down to what turned out to be a crocheting class at our library. Turns out I am still bad at crocheting. At one point I honed my skills enough to make two scarfs for Oli (I don't ever see him wear them...). I have issues with things getting wider, then narrower, then wider. I should probably stick with knitting, but there are so many cute amiguri out there. When I was at the library today to pick up a book (Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich - read it, it is hilarious), one library asked if I could crochet because apparently they were thinking I should do an evening crochet class. I had to bow out of that, the blind leading the blind, but it looks like I may end up doing a little knitting class. One librarians comment "Thats the one with two needles right?" We shall see. 

Today I also made myself a skirt. This skirt was my inspiration, it is much cooler than mine. I decided to use a light-weight denim and quilting cotton panel for my first try.

1. I used Burda pattern #8281, a basic a-line skirt with darts in the back because I can't just make up my own clothes patterns. I am not that good. I mostly followed the pattern to start out with. 
2. I lengthened the skirt by a few inches, it ended up just past my knees. 
   
3. I sewed the darts in the back (had to adjust them a tad)
4. Then sewed the two back pieces together.
   
5. Then sewed the front to the back on one side only (my right)
6. Then I sewed on the waistband piece. 
7. I also straightened out the curve on the sides of the front and back not sewn together. 
   
8. Then I cut a panel 18" wide (next time I might do a bit wider, but no narrower) and the length of the skirt+waist band.
9.  Sewed the panel in along with the d-rings and ribbon. 
   
10. Hemmed the bottom, finished off the waist and all done! I think I have a little topstitching to do still but it fits.
    
11. If I were doing it again I would take an inch or two off of the side of the front panel (denim) so that more of the decorative panel showed. I would also pick a pattern with a lower waist line.

I have noticed Mishka is much more affectionate when she wants something. For example when she kept fighting and getting abscesses we kept her locked in for a bit and she was very affectionate. She is currently on a bit of a diet (i.e. she doesn't get to pig out all day) and she has been hanging out with me a lot. This has its upsides and downsides. It is nice to have a kitty to pet but it is not nice when she lays down on the fabric I am cutting or chops my yarn in to short pieces with her sharp little teeth.

Camera Case

This is my first improvised felted projected. Through a little research I found that in general, when felted, wool shrinks to 60 percent of the original height and 80 percent of the original width. So I used a little math and made this case. 

finished dimensions are 3.5" x 5" not counting the flap. 

Before felting dimensions: a strip 4.5" x 18"  approximately

Yarn: super bulky 100% wool (Joann's sensations Licorice)

Needles size 15

Cast on 12 stitches

Knit in stockinette for 17" 

Decrease at the end of each row until you have 6 stitches

BO

Felt: I hand felted this because it was so small. 

I alternated (swishing gently): 

hot water with dishwashing detergent until the water wasn't hot

cold water rinse

Then when it was the right size (3.5" wide) I gently pressed the water out and let it dry overnight.

In the morning I used some black wool yarn to blanket stitch the edges and then sewed on the button and cut the button hole

To make a case of any dimension first decide how big you want it to be

In my case 3.5" wide,  4.5" tall plus a decent sized flap.

So for this I need a strip (after felting) 3.5" wide and 12" tall (4.5" + 4.5" + 3" for flap)

To determine my pre-felting dimensions I divided the width by 0.8 and the height by 0.6. 

(of course you can get more accurate numbers by felting a test swatch since yarns can felt differently. But I am lazy so I did it this way and waited to sew it up until after I felted it.)

Back to division:

3.5/0.8 = 4.375

12/0.6 = 20

So I need to knit up a piece that is about 4.375, I rounded this to 4.5" and 20" long

I knitted up a swatch to test gauge and got about 3 stitches per inch. So I cast on 12 (some how my test swatch is always tighter than the finished project so I cast on 12 instead of 14) and then knitted until the entire piece was 20".

You would then felt it until the width was correct

Clear as mud?

Kimono Tute

Here is the pattern for how I make a baby kimono, it is actually significantly different from Habitual's pattern that got me started. I like to do the sleeves separate because then I can fit it on a smaller piece of fabric. This pattern also gives you long sleeves rather than short, uses extra ties and uses all bias tape rather than hemming

For a newborn the dimensions are:
A - 4.5 B - 5 C - 9.5 D - 13 E - 2.75 F - 8 G - 7

For 0-3 months
A - 5 B - 6 C - 10 D - 14 E - 3 F - 8.5 G - 7.5

For 3-6 months

A - 5.5 B - 7 C - 11 D - 15 E - 3.5 F - 9.5 G - 8

Other sizes may come later.

You also need about 3 yards (one package) of bias tape and 8 (or 12) 10" pieces of ribbon or whatever you want to use for ties. I like ribbon because it isn't too bulky when tied, comes in lots of colors and the ends are easy to finish.


First sew the sleeves onto the body pieces, I also topstitch the seam so it lays towards the sleeves.

Now put the back right side up and put the left side right side down and pin the ties on top of the two layers. I line the top one up with the corner of the front flap or about 1" under the armpit and then 4" below that on a NB sized kimono on the next size up you may want to do 3 ties along each side though 2 might be sufficient. Now sew the two pieces of fabric together along the edges of the sleeve and down the side.

Now we sew on the other side but this time pin the ties in the same position between the two layers.

Turn right side out. You will want to clip the seam at the inside of the armpits so it lays nicer.

Now the kimono is sewn together and we just have to add the binding. First pin ties along the edge of each flap.

I just use bias tape that I buy at the fabric store but it is possible to make your own if you are feeling adventurous. I start the bias at the middle of the bottom edge holding open with the end folded over and the smaller half of the binding lined up with the edge of the right side of the fabric. Then sew in the fold indicated by the white headed pin.
Here is a video that shows how to sew on binding in more depth.

Keeping going all along the edge of the kimono, and over lap the starting edge then cut off the extra. Now fold the bias tape over the edge of the kimono and using a medium zigzag stitch in matching or contrasting thread along the edge of the bias that you just sewed down. It should catch the back of the bias tape. I fold the ribbon over as I zigzag over it.

Do the same to the sleeves, careful not to sew the two sides of the sleeve together and you are done. I usually start sewing the binding on the underside of the sleeve.


This one is for a friend having a little baby boy in December. I bought this fabric to use in the quilt I made for him and I liked it so much I had to get extra but I had trouble figuring out what to use it for.

Tutorial not for commercial use. Feel free to link to the tutorial or repost with a link to this original post.