Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Pattern Archive, Continued

Thus continues the archive of fun, free knitting patterns that I (mostly) found on the web.

Miniature Candy Stocking
http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=1696
I made a bunch of these stockings for "stocking stuffers" one Christmas. This pattern was an easy, and FAST, way to use up some remnant yarn. They were a big hit when the receivers took them out of the stockings. The loop on the end of the stocking would allow these to double as Christmas Tree Ornaments.


Ribbed Hat Pattern
http://www.figandplum.com/archives/000021.html
The color of the hat reversed, this should be blue, not orange. I used 100 sts instead of 80, and modified the decreases correspondingly. This is a basic hat, but is very functional and I have gotten a lot of use out of it.


Wool-Ease Sock Pattern
http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60049.html
Although these look like good boot socks, the worsted weight yarn is a little thick and textured for hiking socks. They work well as bed socks or even wearing under the felted slippers (see below for picture.) I made these for a gift (Christmas 2007), and am currently working on a pair for myself in blue.

Mobius Strip Scarf
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/1328AD.html
You can purchase this pattern from the Lion Brand website, or it comes free in some balls of the Wool-Ease Chunky Yarn. It is simple, a garter stitch scarf whose ends are sewn together with a twist. Since this scarf is a circle, it is shorter (and therefore a faster project) than most scarves. This scarf would make an impressive last minute gift.


Diamond Pattern Throw Blanket
http://www.freepatterns.com/list.html?parent_cat_id=&usage=afghthrw&criteria=diamond
Freepatterns.com requires a log-in, but they have a number of free and interesting patterns. This was the biggest project of my life up to this point, mainly due to the amount of repitition. I made a sweater in highschool (unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of that to put in here, maybe I'll find it next time I go visit my parents) but each section of that went quickly in comparison. If I had worked on it steadily, I would have been able to finish it within a month. Instead, I worked on it only during breaks from college, so it took me more than four years.

Aside from the time this blanket took me to complete, I absolutely love it and crave the construction of other afghans!



Felted Slippers
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/PATTfuzzyfeet.html
I found that the cuff of the slippers did not constrict as much as the length. Cuffing the slippers helped with the fit. These are very warm, and are perfect for keeping feet warm in a cold basement! They also work well for sliding along wood floors.


Ireland Flag Pillow
This project was the result of a request to knit my boyfriend an Irish Flag for his birthday. Little did he know that I would come through!

I knit three stripes (each about 6" long by 12" wide, making a 12" x 18" rectangle) and then sewed the flag into a cylindrical pillow, gathering the ends and stuffing with batting. The resulting effect is a lot like a sausage. I may have had better luck if I had felted the pillow, then the batting would not have shown through as much. It does make a good weapon in pillow fights!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Howdy!

Searching the net for that perfect pattern can be hard, especially when all of the links do not come with photos of the finished products. I intend to share some of these patterns, and (hopefully) those of my own invention in the future. Welcome to ChemKnits, the knitting blog of a Biochemistry graduate student studying mechanistic enzymology. Today, I will link you to some of my favorite old projects.

-------------------------------------------------

Some of my favorite archived projects:

Tini amigurumi stuffed turtle
http://knittedtoybox.blogspot.com/2008/04/amigurumi-tiny-turtle.html
These turtles were so cute that I needed to create an army of them! They are about two inches long, and are a fast and easy project. I think that if you added a loop to the shell, they would make great Christmas ornaments.

Sheldon the turtle - with the removable shell
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTsheldon.html
This would be a great toy for a child (or in my case, my boyfriend who "collects" turtles!) Knitpicks.com has Sheldon kits for sale so you can turn Sheldon into a sheep or pirate. Knit Picks Shine Sport yarn recommended for this project is sublime, soft and easy to work with.


Beer Cosy!

from Knitting with Balls: A Hands-on guide to Knitting for the Modern Man
So the colors got corrupted when I uploaded this image, but the general point is there. This knitting book has some great small projects that work well for gifts. What better to give an apartment of guys than homemade beer cosys? This project works well with left over yarn.


Guitar headband
I adapted the following guitar pattern chart (http://vickidesigns.homestead.com/zachsguitar.html) into a warm winter headband. The headband was knit in the round with worsted weight Wool ease yarn. A purl row at the midway point helps the headband fold over well.

Felted Oven Mitt
http://www.madisonknittersguild.org/patterns/aanderson_fryingpan.pdf
What a perfect housewarming gift, and also a great way to use up remnant wool yarn. Be careful, if the oven mitt gets wet, it is no longer insulating!

Before felting, the length was 19 inches and the width was 7.5 inches, final product 13 inches high, and just under 6 inches wide.

Stripe pattern

  • 5 rows green, 5 blue
    10 rows green, 10 blue
    20 rows green, 20 blue
    10 rows green, 10 blue
    thumb, 7 rows blue, 7 green

Harry Potter Scarf
http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/scarves/wizard-scarf-1.htm
Dimensions (without fringe): 5.25" x 64"
  • 2 skeins of each color Lion br andwool ease yarn
  • 16 inch size 7 circular needles
  • I did 19 stripes, 20 rows of each stripe before switching color
Since the scarf is a big tube, it ends up being extremely warm. There is the added benefit that minimal blocking was required.

Felted mittens
http://www.kraemeryarns.com/patterns/pdfs/eleganteskimo.pdf
They are super warm and cozy, and hand felting ensured that they would, in fact, fit like a glove! I made a couple small changes from the pattern: no fuzzy stuff at the cuffs and I knit with only one strand of yarn at a time. A 100g ball of worsted weight wool yarn is more than enough for this project.

That is all for now, the archive will continue at a later date!