All posts tagged yarn

More mittens and yarn (and some exciting news)

by ohdessa on August 3, 2010 in knitting with No comments


I am working on some new mittens right now, a bulky worsted weight pair on size 6 needles. Thick and warm. I have all this Noro and Létt Lopi leftover from all sorts of things begging to be used up. I actually finished a mitten yesterday, but there were so many little things I wanted to change, I figured I would just start over. There are just so many mittens I want to make and not enough time. Expect some awesome mittens in the future. My favorite part of making mittens is coming up with a good repeating pattern for the palm. This one is more of a simple pin-stripey one. I bet there is some sort of bug related Norwegian name for it. Would they be considered ants? Or lice? Or something else altogether perhaps.

On our weekend day trip I managed to finish the lace edging on the shawl I am working on. It’s my first lace (and shawl) attempt. All that YOs and YO a million times knit-twenty-stitches-together-at-once stuff makes me nervous. Mostly all the loose yarn. I do love projects where there are complicated repeats over many rows. It’s like a challenge to remember all those rows.


I also picked up some new yarn. I got some Kroy Socks for some gloves I am going to make. This photo does not quite capture the colour (flax) as they come off a bit cool here, but it is the perfect worn grey colour with a bit of a yellow-y tinge. The grey I’d imagine fisherman’s mittens to be (as I live on the prairies far away from fishermen) Perfect for some men’s gloves. I also finally bought some roving so I can make thrummed mittens. I am going to dye it some fun colours before I start.

The most exciting news is that I am going to have a pattern in the Deep Fall issue of Knitty! It comes out in October, so you will have to wait until then to see it.

Recycled Sari Silk Mittens (or as I like to call them Happy Hippy Mittens)

by ohdessa on June 6, 2010 in knitting, knitting pattern with 2 Comments

In my last post, I talked about the recycled sari silk mittens I was working on. I finished them tonight, and figured I’d write up the pattern here. Even though it’s a really basic mitten pattern, its nice to have someone else figure out all the math stuff for you. I looked for patterns to use this ball of yarn so I could admire all of its colours and textures, but came up short. Unless I liked drop-stitch scarves (which I don’t, all that loose yarn makes me anxious), or had just a bit more yarn to knit a bag (that I probably would not use, so that would be a waste), there just was’t much out there. So I decided to use it to knit my favorite thing, mittens! Mittens are a little bit of an unconventional use for this sort of yarn. It’s not really stretchy or particularly soft and fuzzy (although a bit of washing with a gentle conditioner goes a long way!), and some people find it really difficult to work with. Maybe it is the particular brand, (Darn Good Yarn Wild Peacock Recycled Silk), but this stuff knit up really well. And quick! Because it’s so chunky they knit up crazy fast, and only took a few hours per mitten. Sure they are not warm fuzzy wool mittens, but think of how much more positive your outlook will be on a cold February morning when you are wearing such colourful and exotic mittens! Like their yarn’s namesake, they look like vibrant peacocks strutting their stuff. No one is going to be mistaking these mitts for their Thinsulate flip top mittens. Anyways, on to the pattern.

Happy Hippy Recycled Sari Silk Mittens

Yarn:
Darn Good Yarn Wild Peacock Recycled Silk (or any chunky recycled silk yarn) The ball is 155 meters (or 170 yards), and I would say each mitten used about a third of it.
Needles:
Size 8 (5.0mm) double-pointed needles
Gauge:
17 rows and 14 stitches in a 4 by 4 inch square
Size:
Finished mitten is 9 inches long and 3 3/4 inches wide, it’s on the larger side of medium
Note: In the shaping of the thumb gusset, when I say M1, I mean make or increase however you feel comfortable, as long as it does not make a hole. I KFB’d (knit into the front and back of one stitch). For more information on increases look here. And here are decreases for good measure.

Pattern:

Cuff:
Cast on 21 stitches and divide equally between 3 needles
Knit 10 rows
This will give you a cuff of about 1 1/2 inches, if you want a larger cuff, just knit a few extra rows.

Shape Thumb Gusset:
K10, M1, K1, M1, K10 (23 stitches on needles)
Knit one row
K10, M1, K3, M1, K10 (25 stitches on needles)
Knit one row
K10, M1, K5, M1, K10 (27 stitches on needles)
Knit one row
K10, M1, K7, M1, K10 (29 stitches on needles)
Knit two rows
K10, put 9 stitches on holder or waste yarn, k10 (20 stitches on needles)

Body:
Right mitten: M1, K10, M1, K10 (22 stitches on needles) Left mitten: K10, M1, K10, M1 (22 stitches on needles)
Both mittens: Knit 17 rows
Top:
K2tog, K7, SKP, K2tog, K7, SKP (18 stitches on needles)
Knit 1 row
K2tog, K5, SKP, K2tog, K5, SKP (14 stitches on needles)
Place 7 stitches on each on two needles and bind off using kitchener stitch
Thumb:
Pick up 9 stitches from waste yarn, as well as one from each side of the inside thumb (11 stitches)
Knit 10 rows. In the first row knit the two picked up stitches together (10 stitches)

K2tog, K1, SKP, K2tog, K1, SKP (6 stitches)

Knit 1 row
Place 3 stitches each on 2 needles. Bind off using kitchener stitch
Weave in all ends and gently hand wash with a gentle conditioner to soften. Air dry. Dazzle!

Smitten with mittens…

by ohdessa on June 4, 2010 in knitting with 1 Comment
All I can think about are mittens! Mittens I want to make. I am almost done my second pair in the past few days. The first, which is just drying, is a pair of felted neon-y Noro Kureyon and black stranded mittens in a geometric pattern I made up. The pattern is comprised of rows of leaves and petals that have been distilled from their original inspiration (bright flowers on the cover of Good Housekeeping) into a more South American geometric mitten aesthetic. When I was younger I remember getting mittens and gloves from Global Connections at The Forks that were handmade in South America. The geometric patterns were so simple and pretty, and the colours really made the bold pattern pop. I wanted to use a yarn that was really bright, inspired by both the flowers on the cover and these original mittens I once had (and lost, of course). Anyways. So I bought the brightest Kureyon I could find at Ram Wools. I paired it with a solid black Istex Lett Lopi. I find the Lett Lopi pairs really well with Kureyon, as they both have similar weights and textures, amoung other qualities. It also comes in a decent amount of solid colours to counterpoint the crazy  colour-changes in the Kureyon. Then after spending lots of time with graph paper and pencil, I came to a final pattern. It was a super quick knit, taking only a few hours for each mitten. Then I washed them twice to felt them up a little for extra warmth. If you click on the picture it goes to the corresponding Ravelry page. I am going to update it with the final felted project soon.


Ben was really excited by the finished mittens. He kept poking one with one of my needles saying “Making holes, fixing holes.” Then he kept stealing them and using them as driving gloves. He told me “Just like a race car (driver).” What a cutie.
The other pair of mittens that I am still working on, is a pair of recycled sari silk mittens. It’s a little bit of an unconventional mitten yarn, but when I tried to find a good pattern for the ball of Wild Peacock Recycled Silk I got from Darn Good Yarn, all I could find was drop-stitch scarves, and I am just not a fan of them. So I decided, why not make mittens! Because the yarn is so chunky, and the needles so big (8), they are a super super quick knit. I made up the pattern on the fly, and it turned out well. I think the mittens show off all the colours and intricacies of the recycled silk so well. I love all the colours! I can see these giving a lot of hope for warmer days come winter. Again, the picture links to the corresponding Ravelry page.

Little O is doing so well. He is almost 4 months old.He rolls over both ways, and is trying so hard to move around on his tummy. I brought out B’s old spinning play mat (that is not quite the same one, its a newer model, but the idea is the same), so he could have a bit more fun while wiggling around. I found both of the boys really liked this because it allowed them to spin about really easily just by inadvertent foot or hand movements. Which made them both enjoy tummy time a lot more, because I found they were mostly getting frustrated by not being able to move. O’s little coos sound less screechy and more syllable-ish every day. 

B is such a funny little guy. He loves his cars. Above is a picture of him with a car mall he asked me to make for him. He loves having places to park them. He calls parking garages “car houses.” Anything an item is stored in is its house, and he loves finding houses for things. Sometimes I will find his Hot Wheels in perfect-sized spots for them in between books in his bookcase. He’s recently started identifying objects by how many there are. He can identify one to four things. Like three cars or two books. Anything over four is four. 

The next few days will be busy. I have lots of baking to do (buns, cinnamon bread, cookies, cheese crackers, regular crackers, and scones or muffins) and the prepa
ratory shopping for that. Our library books are due this weekend, and I have some more ideas for mittens I need to work out.

Busy, blah blah excuses.

by ohdessa on May 18, 2010 in knitting with No comments

I think i have been busy, but not really. It usually comes down to a choice of knitting or blogging, and the former almost always wins. Mostly because I want to finish up some stuff (of course I started two extra projects after finishing one, so I still have three on the go… which I will fix, I swear) before my sari silk comes. I still don’t know 100% what I am going to do with it, but it’s down to crazy mittens or shawl. I will probably do mittens because I hate doing scarves for the most part, and I think they would be beautiful mittens. Have I ever mentioned how much I love making mittens? They are my favorite kind of project. They are small enough that it’s hard to get too bored, and for the most part, one ball of yarn makes two mittens, so you can invest in some really  pretty yarn. And you can do really intricate colour work in small doses. Most importantly, at least living up here, everyone needs mittens. So there is always someone to offload your creations to. I’ve been working out a few small patterns of my own lately, and I hope to properly knit them up soon once I get some more yarn.


I always said I would never knit socks, but then I saw this book the other day, and it changed my mind. Soo pretty. I especially want to make the Kai-Mei socks in a really pretty tonal yarn. But I think I’ll start with some regular stripey Noro socks first. I love the way that stuff changes colour. The changes are so subtle and gradual, but the colours are always so different, its amazing. Knitting is a bad hobby for someone who loves colour so much! I just want to buy all the colours! Although, I must say finding the perfect green is really hard. They are never vibrant enough, or lean a little too blue, or are a little too muddy. One day!


It’s my birthday this week which is fun. My dad is going to watch B for the evening. O will come with us, because he is pretty attached to me these days, and he is still young enough (and happy enough) to be portable. He is so adorable. Whenever I look at him he smiles and giggles at me. It’s awesome. I think I am going to make Ryan take me to Kawaii Crepe. Yum.

Bye bye cable, hello pretty yarn.

by ohdessa on March 28, 2010 in food, knitting with No comments



We decided the other day to get rid of cable again. Ryan was working on our monthly budget, and I pointed out that he forgot the Shaw bill, and that made me realize that we should just get rid of it. We had only meant to have cable for a few months anyways, and then forgot to cancel it. Ryan had recently called Shaw to see if they would match MTS‘ current promotion by giving us a free PVR and some extra channels, which they did in order to keep us as customers. I was so excited to have a PVR again. Seriously. When I was in university, we drove down to Grand Forks just because Ryan decided that he wanted a TiVo. And me and that thing became BFFs. I always had something to watch (I’m one of those people who need the TV on when they do things), and not only did it record all of my favorite shows, but it recorded shows it thought I would like. And it made the cutest noises when I deleted things or skipped commercials. And the remote! With its thumbs up/down buttons! It was amazing. But then we got rid of cable, and with that TiVo. So when Shaw gave us a Pace Tahoe, to say I was excited would be an understatement (I am a TV addict!). And it sucks. And has really bad user architecture and seems fairly unintuitive.
(Sidenote: I heard the Mozilla guy on Spark today talking about how software should grow with the user, teaching it the skills needed to use it as they go along like a video game does and opening up as the user gains more skill. He went on to talk about how you don’t need to read a manual for a video game, because you learn all the basics by playing the first level. I had never thought about it this way, but it’s so true. More designers need to think like that.)
It just erases files or stops their recording for no good reason. It was really disappointing. Probably even more so after having a TiVo. Our first one was broken with the deleting problem so we returned it two days after getting it, only to get another one with the same problem. I called Shaw again, and they told me it’s just an issue with the box that I’ll have to deal with until a firmware upgrade happens. LAME. Not to mention our cable blips all the time which is just annoying. So instead of using something that just frustrates me a lot, I’ll just go back to watching stuff online which works really well. Except that B’s favorite shows, Team Umizoomi, and Fresh Beat Band are not really around yet as they are newer Nickelodeon shows, but he probably watches too much TV anyways.


I went grocery shopping yesterday. $108.96. Not bad! Especially since I spent 10 of that at Organza on blueberry perogies(!!!) and Veggie Booty for B. The greenness of them threw him off at first, but once I convinced him it was something tasty, he went nuts. They’re like a healthier more natural corn puff coated in veggie powder. There is spinach and kale in the ingredients and he will eat it. It’s a start. It’s my goal to make O less of a picky eater than his big brother. See, I started out making all of B’s baby food, with lentils and beans and real veggies and fruit of all kind, and applicable spices here and there. I bought Baby Cubes (which are really awesome) to put all the food in. But then our food processor broke, and I got lazy, and jarred mush it was. In my opinion, there are two kinds of mush: sweet mush and savory mush. It all just tastes like jars. But B loved it. And then came crackers and toast, and then when I was pregnant with O it was a lot of convenience stuff. It’s not like he eats horrible though, he does get all his food groups in a day, but getting him to eat veggies is rough. Ryan even made these DELICIOUS Parmesan butternut squash noodles from Deceptively Delicious, but even that did not work. He is a smart cookie and fairly picky. I want to try making the pea mint popsicles in Toddler Cafe sometime soon, as he did like the pea pancakes a lot and loves popsicles. We have since gotten new parts for the processor, and little O is going to eat well when his time comes. And maybe if I try real hard, it will look this pretty.


After shopping, I went to Ram Wools. I got some beautiful yarn! I got a ball of Noro Silk Garden (my favorite!), and some black Lett Lopi to contrast it with to make some pretty mittens with. Well, I think all the yarns I got today are destined to be mittens. I also got a colourful skein of Mirasol Hacho, which is a beautiful hand dyed merino, as well as aubergine and pale blue balls of Sandnes Alpakka. So soft! I haven’t been to Ram Wools since I lived with my mom. It was the only good place the 88 bus went other than to the 18 North Main. The new location is a lot brighter. It was so hard deciding which yarns to buy. They all felt so nice and were such pretty colours (although I did not find the perfect green I was looking for – I might have to make a Knitpicks order). And now between yarn for three pairs of mittens that I bought yesterday, and the yarn for the hoodie I bought last week, and the project I am currently working on, I’ll be busy for a while.