Keith's Ombré

I love my knit Ombré hat so much. It is a great project for using up remnants of worsted weight wool. I haven't had enough close colors to make a TRUE Ombré type gradient... that is until now.

This is a mixture of greys and browns, but there is a nice dark to light transition as you approach the crown of the hat.

Colors for Keith's Ombré and grams of wool consumed (KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Worsted Weight Yarn):

A - Bittersweet Heather; 13g

B - Fedora; 8 g

C - Chocolate; 8 g

D - Mist; 9 g

E - Cobblestone Heather; 9 g

F - Bramble Heather; 9 g

G - Mink Heather; 6 g

H/I - Dove Heather; 7 g

Of these 8 colors (not 9 as are in the pattern, but I'm just omitting the last one), there are 5 browns and 3 grays. (ABCFG are brown, DEH are gray.) If I were using new yarns, not ones in my stash I would have selected colors that are all of the exact same hue.

There are a lot of loose ends to weave in. I decided to try something I saw on the KnitPicks Blog to deal with these ends, braiding them. I kept the ends longer than normal, and the wove them enough to make them in a vertical column.

This hat is bigger than mine, but Keith's head is also bigger than mine. I think this one is bigger/longer than the first ombre hat that I made... My gauge was 10 sts/inch rather than 11 sts/inch. Make sure to check your gauge! (I did want this one bigger, so I wasn't too concerned when I realized my gauge was a bit off.)

Keith likes this hat so much that it has replaced the K1B hat I made him ages ago. It is a warmer hat, perfect for Evanston winters. Now my husband and I match as we walk down the street!

Another Skullcap

Here is another variation of my generic skullcap knitting pattern.... with stripes! I knit this hat as a Christmas present for a member of the family.

Do you want to replicate the striping pattern? Knit the 8 ribbing rounds as directed. Then:

• K3 rounds MC
• K2 rounds CC
• K3 rounds MC
• K2 rounds CC
• K3 rounds MC
• K2 rounds CC

This takes up 15 of the 33 stockinette rows. Knit 18 more rounds and finish up the hat as directed in the pattern.

The hat required 45g of MC (Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool Yarn) and 7 g of CC (KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Worsted, Mink Heather).

Vogue Drop Stitch Scarf

The moment I saw the #26 Drop Stitch Scarf by Karen Wessel from the Vogue Knitting Spring Summer 2010 I was enamored. I knew that this was something I had to knit.

I choose KnitPicks Shimmer Lace yarn in Bayu (2 skeins held double) on size 3 knitting needles.

The knitting is a bit finicky to get used to. There is ribbing, casting on, dropped stitch and binding off and twisted stitches. Once you get into the rhythm, it is really easy and satisfying to knit. I would definitely make another one.

I was concerned that this was going to take 3 years like my last lace weight scarf, but it turns out that it only took me just over a week! The scarf consumed 73 g of wool with 22 g remaining (9 g in one ball, 13 g in the other).

Since the scarf was knit in ribbing it has a lot of room to grow. It measured 4.5" at the widest point 65" long before blocking, 8" wide and 68" long after blocking.

When I wore this scarf at a party, I received tons of complements on it. I wish I had selected a brighter color so it would work well with sweaters. It looks great with paler colors, but there is not enough contrast with a lot of the other colors that I wear. I suppose I'll just have to make myself another one!

Dan's BC Hat

I love knitting hats. They are a great project to use to experiment with different techniques. It was a lot of fun to search through different hat patterns using worsted weight yarn as Keith and I attempted to find a hat pattern for everyone on our Christmas list.

Dan has many associations with Boston College. I forget how many of the BC associated schools he attended, but it has been part of his life from childhood- college. I do know that Dan goes to many BC football games, and that the weather can get quite chilly in Massachusetts. Therefore I wanted to make him a hat that would celebrate BC.

I used KnitPick Wool of the Andes (worsted weight) in currant and daffodil; 32 g and 18 grams were consumed of the maroon and gold, respectively. I used size 6 knitting needles. I selected the Turn a Square hat pattern which is a great variation of a striped skullcap. Looking down at the top of the hat, you will see squares rather than circles.

I knit 7 rows of the K2, P2 ribbing. I started the decreases after the 6th gold stripe (the first maroon row after that was the setting up the markers round.)

I was reading about the joggless stripe technique when I had a revelation. All I am doing is making a K1B stitch under the first stitch of the new color. Sure, this still moves the "seam" (or beginning of the round) in a diagonal, but it is nearly invisible!

Showing how the start of the round shifted in a diagonally.

This was a really fun project. I would love to make this hat again with variegated yarns.

Herringbone Cowl

I had a single skein of Lion Brand Amazing, but had no idea what I should make with it. The yarn was an impulse purchase while I was at Michaels last Thanksgiving, but I don't have enough yardage for many types of projects. (And I don't feel like making another hat.) When I saw the Herringbone Cowl knitting pattern, I was immediately attracted to the texture. I also could see that I would be able to knit until I was out of yarn, allowing me to showcase the entire colorway.

Boooo... there was a knot in the yarn. Thankfully this wasn't noticeable in the knit project, but I was still disappointed by the disruption in the colorway.

Finished size - 21" around (or just over), 6.5 inches wide. I used 47g of yarn, knit with size 9 knitting needles. There really wasn't much left:

I plan to make another cowl, or at least use this stitch pattern again on another project in the future. It is just so lovely!

Rough Sea Shawl

Rough Sea Shawl requires 360-440 yards of fingering weight yarn. I have 462 yards, assuming that I have 50g in each ball of palette. I have 99 g between the two balls, rather than 100g.. but this should still be enough. (I'm kept my fingers crossed!)

This is my first triangular shawl. I knit the shawl on size 7 needles. In the end, I used 86 g of wool for this project (you can see my notes as I kept weighing what I had left as I knit below.)

I finished the first ball of palette on row 97 (out of 110 before beginning the lace edge)- I am only a tiny bit worried about running out of yarn. However, this is the K2, YO row, and I didn't want to start a new skein of yarn on a YO. Therefore, I made a K2tog with two strands held together to help make the change secure.

• After row 110, 35 g remain. I was starting to get concerned that I would run out of yarn, but I knew I could just do two repeats of the lace not three like Remcat put in her chart.
• After the first 8 lace rows (repeat #1) - 27 g remain.
• After 16 lace rows (repeat #2) - 18 g remaining
• Although I had plenty of yarn left to do a third repeat, I decided to just repeat row 1 (or really row 17 of Remcat's chart), do a WS row and then bind off. Looking at pictures of these projects, I like the way the 2 repeats looks a bit better.

Now came the next dillema, how to bind off. In the Polaris shawl, the bind off needed to be tight to provide structure for the shawl, so this wasn't a concern. I therefore decided to do a crochet bind off where I would chain 1 in between each stitch. (I don't really know crochet nomenclature, so this is the best description I can give to what I did!) I used a size H (5mm) hook.

I used my grandma's knitting needles for this project. I have been using these needles for a lot of projects lately because I like feeling like I am holding her hand as I use a tool she also used for so many hours.

One thing I love about knit shawls is that you cannot find them in stores. There are many fantastic knit scarves you can find, but knit lace shawls are so unique that they are bound to be a conversation piece.

Hexipuff Update

The hexipuffs continue! I seem to use between 12-14 yards per hexipuff (with fingering weight.) At this point I have mostly unique hexagons, I have not yet started creating duplicates (with one exception - I made two out of a self striping sock yarn.)

First symmetric unit

All about lace. I was looking at my leftover lace, wondering what I could do with it. Of course there are doilys and even a remnant lace scarf (I'm thinking of using mostly scraps for an advent scarf.) But then I realized that lace held double is bascially fingering weight. Horray for some lace hexipuffs!

I wanted to join the Mini Skein Mania, so I purchased some hand dyed miniskeins from Mermaid Knitting. My set had 9 colors in it, 6 of the 9 skeins pictured below (but 9 hexipuffs.) There is enough yarn that I should be able to make two hexipuffs from each miniskein, I expect to get 18 hexipuffs total out of this lot

At this rate it is going to take me years to finish this quilt, but didn't I expect that from the beginning? If you want the most up to date information on this project, check out my BeeKeeper's Quilt Ravelry page. I am trying to keep track of the yarns used and yardage consumed. Happy Knitting!

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P.S. Don't forget about the Knitting Project of the Day Submission contest running through April 17. Enter for your chance to win a free copy of the Anemone Coat Check Scarf pattern pdf.

Hermes Winged Baby Socks

The Greek god Hermes is famous for his winged sandals. I thought that that it would be cute to adapt this image into some baby socks!

The socks are a fast knit, and you can put either one or two wings on each sock to make your favorite baby fly!

Materials

• Shine Sport (or other sport weight yarn) in White and Yellow (Cream and Butter were the color names.) This project consumed: 28 g yellow (~62 yards), 15 g white (~33 yards) making two socks and four wings.
• Needles -size 2 (2.75 mm) double pointed knitting needles (or round sufficient for magic loop)
• Yarn needle for weaving in loose ends
• Sewing thread and needle (optional)
• Gauge (of sock): 13 sts/2 inches; 17 rows/2 inches over stockinette.
• Finished Size - Width: 2.25 inches, toe to heel: 4.5 inches. (Should fit a 3-6 month baby.)

The Pattern for the Baby Socks (Make 2)

• The Cuff
• Cast on 33 sts. Join to knit in the round.
• Knit in 2x1 ribbing (K2, P1 across) for 10 Rounds.
• Next Round: K31 sts, SSK (32 sts)
• K 14 rounds of stockinette (K all stitches.) A total of 25 rows have been knit at this point.
• Short Row Heel - Note: The heel is knit flat in short rows across a total of 16 stitches.
• Heel Round 1: K 15, turn (16 sts on the needle - one is left unknit on the needle.)
• Heel Round 2: YO, P 14, turn (17 sts)
• Heel Round 3: YO, K13, turn (18 sts)
• Heel Round 4: YO, P12, turn (19 sts)
• Heel Round 5: YO, K11, Turn (20 sts)
• Heel Round 6: YO, P10, turn (21 sts)
• Heel Round 7: YO, K9, turn (22 sts)
• Heel Round 8: YO, P8, turn (23 sts)
• Heel Round 9: YO, K7, turn (24 sts)
• Heel Round 10: YO, P 6, turn (25 sts)
• Heel Round 11: YO, K6, K2tog, turn (25 sts)
• Heel Round 12: YO, P7, SSP, Turn (25 sts)
• Heel Round 13: YO, K8, K3tog, turn (24 sts)
• Heel Round 14: YO, P9, SSSP, turn (23 sts)
• Heel Round 15: YO, K 10, K3tog, Turn (22 sts)
• Heel Round 16: YO, P11, SSSP, turn (21 sts)
• Heel Round 17: YO, K 12, K3tog, turn (20 sts)
• Heel Round 18: YO, P 13, SSSP, turn (19 sts)
• Heel Round 19: YO, K 14, K3tog, turn (18 sts)
• Heel Round 20: S1, P14, SSSP, Turn (16 sts)
• Body of the Foot
• Next Round: S1, K 14, [S1, M1 stitch from instep, PSSO], K 16 (32 sts)
• Next Round: Pick up (but don't knit) one stitch from instep, K2tog with first stitch of the round, K 31. (32 sts)
• K 15 rounds.
• Toe Decreases
• Decrease Round 1: K1, SSK, K10, K2tog, K2, SSK, K10, K2tog, K1 (28 sts)
• Decrease Round 2: K across
• Decrease Round 3: K1, SSK, K8, K2tog, K2, SSK, K8, K2tog, K1 (24 sts)
• Decrease Round 4: K across
• Continue pattern as established, decreasing 4 sts in pattern on odd rows, knitting across on even rows until 12 stitches remain. (End on an odd row)
• Graft the final stitches together using the Kitchener Stitch.

The Pattern for the Wings - Worked Flat (Make either 2 or 4, depending on how many wings you want on each sock.) You can also refer to the chart below these written instructions.

1. CO 19 stitches.
2. K1, SSK, K15, M1, K1 (19 sts)
3. K1, M1, K18 (20 sts)
4. K1, SSK, K16, M1, K1 (20 sts)
5. K20
6. K17, K2tog, K1 (19 sts)
7. K1, SSK, K13, K2tog, K1 (17 sts)
8. K14, K2tog, K1 (16 sts)
9. K1, SSK, K13 (15 sts)
10. K1, SSK, K11, M1, K1 (15 sts)
11. K1, M1, K1, M1, K13 (17 sts)
12. K1, SSK, K13, M1, K1 (17 sts)
13. K1, M1, K16 (18 sts)
14. K1, SSK, K14, M1, K1 (18 sts)
15. K18
16. K1, SSK, K12, K2tog, K1 (16 sts)
17. K1, SSK, K13 (15 sts)
18. K1, SSK, K9, K2tog, K1 (13 sts)
19. K1, SSK, K10 (12 sts)
20. K1, SSK, K8, M1, K1 (12 sts)
21. K1, M1, K8, K2tog, K1 (12 sts)
22. K1, SSK, K8, M1, K1 (12 sts)
23. K1, M1, K8, K2tog, K1 (12 sts)
24. K1, SSK, K8, M1, K1 (12 sts)
25. K9, K2tog, K1 (11 sts)
26. K1, SSK, K5, K2tog, K1 (9 sts)
27. K1, SSK, K2, K3tog, K1 (6 sts)
28. SSK, K2tog, K2tog (3 sts)
29. K3tog (1 sts)
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitch.

The chart summarizes all rows of the wings.

Chart key

FinishingWith yarn needle and yarn (or sewing needle and thread, whatever is your preference, sew the wings onto the socks. I decided the placement of the first wing by pinning the wing on while the sock was stuffed, and then using that placement as a guide for the other sock.

If you are making the two wing version of the socks, make sure you attach the wings to opposite sides of each sock. (you don't want one wing on the outside of the foot, and the other wing on the inside of the other foot!)

Tip: So your little one doesn't actually start flying across wooden floors, make the soles non-stick with puffy paint.

Other Pictures from Construction of the Wings

My initial sketch of the wing.

The graph paper doesn't have the correct gauge for the wings, but I wanted to get a sense of the size relative to the sock.

My attempt of a stockinette wing - it was turning out too large so I adjusted the design to fit the sock better.

The wing pinned onto the sock.

I do not have a model available to show you how these socks fit on a baby. I would love to see pictures!

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Abbreviations Used in this pattern:

WS - Wrong side of the fabric

RS - Right side of the fabric (the side of the project that you will see in the end)

S1 - slip one stitch purlwise
Kfb - increase by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch.
M1 (Make 1)- increase stitch by picking up yarn between two stitches, twisting and knitting.K - knit
P - purl
I-cord - knit stitches on dpn's without ever turning the needle (effectively knitting in the round with a small number of stitches.)
SSK - decrease by slipping two stitches then knitting them together. Alternatively, you could slip one stitch, knit one stitch and pass slipped stitch over.

SSP - Slip two stitches as if to knit, transfer back to the left hand needle. Purl the two slipped stitches together through the back loop.

SSSP - Slip three stitches as if to knit, transfer back to the left hand needle. Purl these three slipped stitches together through the back loop.
K2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.

K3tog - decrease by knitting three stitches together. (2 stitches decreased)

Kitchener stitch - a method of grafting live stitches together to make an invisible seam.

This knitting pattern was created by ChemKnits for your personal or charity use. You are not to distribute or sell this pattern without the permission of ChemKnits. © 2012 ChemKnits