Itsy Bitsy Holiday Sweaters - Part 2

Welcome to part to of my Itsy Bitsy Holiday Sweaters series! The sweaters from this post came from the 2009 Berocco Minutia. I used size 1 (2.5 mm) knitting needles and KnitPicks Palette Yarn that I hand dyed (with the exception of the black).

The third sweater I knit was #8. In this cape, I used the second brown that I dyed to create a knit hedgehog. The cape didn't turn out as cool as it looks in the pattern page, but then again I didn't have a crochet hook with me to put any edging on it.

The Fourth Sweater I made was #6. I was able to use a lot of different hand dyed colors in this sweater.

There are a lot of ends to weave in! Thankfully no one is going to actually wear this sweater.

I knit the sleeves in the round (to avoid some seaming), and bound off at the last purl row.

I knit 9 rows in the neck. I then rolled the neck and then

This sweater makes me think of Charlie Brown for some reason.

I hope you enjoyed the second installment of these sweaters! Be sure to check out the first itsy bitsy sweater installment.

Edible Knitting

Today I am defending my dissertation, hopefully tomorrow you'll be able to call me Dr. With the completion of my degree, I am about to launch a second blog: ChemEats - A Biochemist's Cooking Perspective. In honor of this new project, I decided to create a post about the intersection of knitting and cooking.

http://veganyumyum.com

The Author of VeganYumYum.com created some marzipan knitting decorations for cupcakes. I had no idea that when I searched for knitting and food I would find something so creative! I want to eat those cupcakes!


--------------------------------------
Stop by ChemEats and see what I have to share about cooking!

A Little Lamb

This cute Spring Lamb knitting pattern was a fast and fun knitting project. I used white Palette Yarn and size 1 (2.5mm) knitting needles.

The body of the lamb knit up looking like half of a sweater! After this step I only knit 5 rows of stockinette before decreasing for the nose.

Folding the body to get the lamb shape.

The lamb is stuffed, but the poor thing still needs legs.

The leg pieces came out looking square, so it is up to you which way you want the ribbing to go when you sew them onto your lamb's body.

At the end of sewing on the legs and ears, I knotted the yarn sticking out the back a little bit to make the tail shown in the first image. I hope that you enjoy knitting this lamb as much as I did!

eReaders and Knitting

I love my Kindle, and I love the fact that it is so easy to bring places with me. The case that it is allows me to prop it up to read easily, but I have to admit that the case has no style. Earlier this month, I decided to do a search for iPad and Kindle cover knitting patterns, to see what could be done to spice up my Kindle's appearance. I think I found around a dozen free knitting patterns, but this is certainly a pattern genre that is open for a lot more design. (Hmm... I think I may have just added something to my design ideas list!) I wish that I knew how to crochet, because there are even fewer free crochet eReader case patterns currently available! I mean, at least you can purchase knit iPad cases!

This research got me thinking about the intersection between knitting and technology. Searching the Kindle Store for "knitting pattern" returned 401 results, and this number is growing. Since I find most of my knitting patterns online, having them easily available in a eReader will make it easier for me to bring patterns with me without printing them to paper. So I ask you, how do you think this movement away from paper books will change your knitting habits? I would love to hear your thoughts!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of iPads, I have to put in a shameless plug for iPad case in the Zazzle store with the ChemKnits bumble bee mosaic!

Bumble Bee Mosaic iPad Case by ChemKnitsBlog

Simple Knits for Sophisticated Living

Simple Knits for Sophisticated Living: Quick-Knit Projects from Beautiful, Chunky Yarns by Barbara Albright

I really like the organization of this book. The six chapters separate the categories of their patterns very nicely:

• Cozy, Comfy Home (pillows etc) - 7
• Kitchen Knitting (cozies, table runners, place mats, pot holders) - 4
• Holding it together (purses, backpacks, etc) - 7
• Knits for kids (sweater, hat, throw, toys) - 5
• Simple Wearables, Sophisticated Threads (scarf, sweater, vest, slippers, shawl) - 5
• Under Cover (blankets) - 5

The "how to" instructions are very straight forwards, with clear images to help teach the technique. (If someone is going to bother to give instructions, then they HAVE to show some kind of picture.)

Albright includes some really interesting details in her patterns. I really like the beaded, knit napkin ring. Some of the embellishing buttons really make the patterns look extraordinary. There are some items that are quite unique, I have never seen a pattern for a hanger cover before. Of course, as an avid toy knitter, I ADORE the knitted mice, who look like they could have been needle felted. I like the idea of a picnic blanket with a checkerboard in the middle, and handmade checkers, but I don't think that the concept is new.

Overall, the book is well laid out, and has really nice images. None of the patterns tempt me enough to want to make them, but flipping through this book has giving me inspiration for some other patterns. Therefore, I consider this library trip a success.

A Sample of Intarsia Knitting (Video)

Intarsia is a form of colorwork knitting where you are only holding one strand (a single color) of yarn at a time. I created this video for my sister-in-law-to-be to help her out with a knitting project. Some notes on the video quality: At one point my knitting goes above the camera, but I promise that I come back into frame! The video is a little blurrier than I would like, but I wanted to finish it fast so I could send aid across the Atlantic.

Video: A Sample of Intarsia Knitting

How to Felt by Hand with a Bucket (Video)

Well I did it! I finally made some oven mitts and held off on felting them until I could make a video! I hope that you enjoy this tutorial on how to felt by hand with a bucket.




I have also put an extended version of the video on youtube. It is almost three times as long, and contains extra footage of me felting the oven mitts and a lot more talking by me! I doubt anyone would want to see the extended version, but someone may be interested to see a some more images of intermediately felted items.