Entrelac 2: New Techniques for Interlace Knitting

I've only completed a few Entrelac projects over the years.  I love this technique of constructing an object out of interconnected squares, it isn't as hard as it looks.  While I've seen many projects that are lovely, I haven't ever seen any subtle entrelac projects... until now.  I received the book Entrelac 2: New Techniques for Interlace Knitting by Rosemary Drysdale as part of my Vogue Knitting Live 2014 admission.   This sequel shares new ways to do this technique AND multiple patterns that subtly take advantage of this basketweave.

I shouldn't be surprised with the idea of putting other types of stitch patterns inside an entrelac square.  I learned in my cable design class how cool it is when you cable lace and ribbing, why wouldn't it be just as cool to do this with entrelac?

This book starts out with an introduction on how to start knitting entrelac.  The stitch patterns are divided into six sections: Basics, Beading, Cables, Lace, Buttonholes, and Triangles.  I disagree with the method Drysdale uses to bead (putting all beads on the yarn in advance), but this is really a matter of preference.  Otherwise I think her tutorials are pretty helpful.   I am much more intrigued by doing entrelac with cables and lace, these provide a whole new level of design to a garment.

When I got to the end of Triangles, I expected to move into the patterns but instead I found myself in a "Beyond the Basics" section.  Here we are exploring Four Star, Five Star, Six Star, Zig Zag and Braid Coil type configurations of entrelac.  Suddenly I am seeing some swatches that really excite me as you go beyond stockinette in these configurations.  It is hard to not think of fun tams when you're going through the 6 star configurations.

In Chapter 3 we hit the projects.  There is a variety of patterns from scarves and hats to sweaters and pillows.  I LOVE the Color Block Mohair Tee.  This is a really elegant two tone sweater with a subtle entrelac top and then stockinette body.  The Pretty Patchwork Tunic has huge entrelac squares all over the main body of the sweater.  I've never seen this technique look so refined as it looks in these two garments.  The Shades of Gray Pillows have an unfortunate title, but are actually really pretty and modern.  I wouldn't mind having some of these on my sofa, and they are a fun way to play around with the techniques.  I almost did a double take with the Aran Poncho.  This garment has entrelac cables on the front that are set in a way you almost wouldn't notice them as squares, you would think that magic took over the cables for them to run on a bias.  Finally, I like how the Slouchy Striped Hat combines colorwork and entrelac - stripes travel through the entire hat that really highlight the entrelac.

I'm not sure whether I would have purchased this book if it weren't given to me for free, but now that I have it I'm happy that it is in my library.  I'm excited to play more with entrelac and maybe try to incorporate it into some of my own designs.  If you get a chance to see this book at your local library I highly recommend you take a peek!

A Newborn Dino Cape

Before Lucky (then dubbed Chirphead) was born, I debated between a whale themed nursery or a dinosaur themed nursery.  I ended up designing a pretty awesome under the sea themed nursery for Lucky, sidelining the dinosaur theme for a while.  Before finding out the sex of my second child I knew that I would make him or her a dinosaur themed room.  Aren't I proof enough that girls can love dinosaurs, too?  We selected a green color for the walls with this theme in mind, even though I didn't even know I was pregnant at the time we made our color selections.  In light of BOOGALOO's nursery theme, I wanted to incorporate some dinosaurs into his newborn photoshoot.  When I found the following free crochet pattern for a dino hat with a cape I knew that I found a winner.

This design isn't really functional as a winter hat as much as it is a photo prop.  I have been known to create photo props for my children (and dog!) so I was more than up for the challenge.  I knew that I wanted the base of the hat to be green with purple accents, but since my color cards were still packed up when I was making a KnitPicks order I selected two purple shades to test out.

The colors are a little more pink than I had wanted, but I do like the contrast with the green and will make for a vibrant photo.  In the end I selected Everglade Heather (green - 28.4 g, 62 yards) and Columbine (pinkish purple - 12.3 g, 27 yards) and left Amethyst Heather to the side.  I liked the colobine was so vibrant.

The owl hat that Lucky (and many other of his friends) wore on his newborn photoshoot was crocheted on a size H hook and had 40 stitches around.  This hat will be 42 sts around and uses a G hook.  I think I'll go with G since that is what the pattern calls for, that is if I have a G hook (4.0 mm) in my stash.  I was a little concerned because the owl hat had 9 DC rounds whereas this hat only has 8.  After I finish the 8th round I'll measure and see if I need to add another round.  (I think the owl hat is back in my possession now so I can double check against that.)

When I'm crocheting in the round I don't consider any chains to count as DC's.  I therefore started my magic cricle with 12 dc's and then added a DC to replace the chain throughout the pattern.

After 8 rounds the hat is a but short on my model, Dede. When compared to the 9 row owl newborn hat that fit Lucky perfectly at 1 week I know for sure that I want to add a 9th row.

After finishing the 9th row (with my cell phone for a sense of scale), I moved on to the cape following the pattern instructions.  

I'm not that good with straight crocheting.  I did my chain 3, and then in the next sttich started the 21 dc's.  But when I turned, I did the Ch3 and then the DC in the next stitch.  This didn't quite look right, so I ripped back to do a DC in the same stitch as the ch3 at the beginning.  (Otherwise I'd be decreasing too fast).

I really dont love the skipping of the last stitch. It is giving steps to the cape rather than a gentle slope like in the pattern sample.  I ripped back again and decided to do a decrease for the last stitch in the round. 

Much better.  The cape looks so much more streamlined!

The fit of the cape on Dede is a little wonky, but he is a stuffed dog and not a newborn human.  A newborn's head won't be so up so I think the cape will fall better.  Plus I haven't blocked or added the school border yet.  

There is a danger to using your toddler's favorite toy as a photo prop.  Lucky fell in love with this dino cape and kept stealing it to put on Dede!  He would then run off with the pair so I had to stop trying to take any pictures while he was awake.  

Most SC borders I do are in the same color as the hat, so I was a little worried that my technique might look strange.  I think I did a reasonable 

I am a little concerned that the green and purple are so close in tone that a gray scale image won't show any contrast.  But then I remember that in Photoshop you can convert colors in a way to preserve some contrast.  I haven't done this since my class, but maybe I can figure that out again.  By reducing the amount of magenta in the black to white conversion I was able to make the magenta look like a darker hue.  Cool, right?  

Before Photoshop

After Photoshop

I took a mini break between the SC border and making the little spines for this cape.  I just couldn't focus on making 9+ little shapes while Lucky was running around.  Once I was able to find the time to sit down and craft these shapes came out really quickly and super cute.

Spines from left to right, 1 large, 2 medium and 1 small

I ended up making 7 large, 2 medium and 1 small dorsal plate.  I started by placing the plate on the top center of the head first and then working towards the front.  This was to help me get the spacing right and to make sure I was on the center plane. And then, I had about 10 million ends to weave in.

I'm thrilled with how this came out!  This is an adorable little photoshoot prop from a free pattern.  What fun!

Dede (Lucky's favorite stuffed animal) is my model for most of the newborn items I create.  I cannot wait to show you this photo prop modeled by my little boy!

Attack of the Creepers Hat - A Free Knitting Pattern!

Sssssssss.... KaBoom!  Here is a fun simple hat design for the Minecraft lover in your life.  I personally like to play Minecraft on peaceful mode so I don't have to worry about creepers sneaking up on me.  I love the creativity and unlimited nature of the sandbox game.

I wanted a special yarn for this project.  Creepers have a mottled green exterior, so I overdyed some KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted weight yarn in Jalapeno green to help me get this pixellated quality to my knitting (see the bottom of this pattern post for the video of me dyeing the yarn!)

Materials

• Worsted weight yarn in Black (MC - 42.5 g, 92 yards) and green (CC - 12 g, 27 yards).  The sample was knit using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted weight yarn in Coal and Overdyed Jalapeno green (see the end of this post for the dyeing tutorial). 
• US size 6 (4.0 mm) circular knitting needles with a flexible cable for the magic loop or double pointed needles.  
• Gauge - 11 sts/2"; 7 rows/1" over stockinette
• Finished Size - Adult Small (18" circumference, 8.25" brim to crown).

Abbreviations used in this pattern

• K - knit
• P - purl
• K2tog - Knit two stitches together, decreasing 1 stitch
• Sts - stitches
• dpn - double pointed needles
• MC - main color
• CC - contrasting color

The Creeper Knitting Chart (First shared on another of my blogs, Knitting Project of the Day.)

10x10 stitches

The Pattern - The Attack of the Creepers Hat is knit in the round from the bottom up and has stranded colorwork for the creeper pattern around the brim.  Wrap the carried yarn around the working yarn to minimize the length of floats when necessary.  

• With MC, cast on 96 stitches.  If using dpn's, arrange evenly on 4 needles. Join to knit in the round, taking care to not twist your stitches.
• Knit in 2x2 ribbing (*K2, P2* around) for 7 rounds or until the piece measures ~1 inch from the cast on edge.  
• Next Round: K around in MC
• Colorwork round:  K1 MC, Knit 10 sts of the creeper chart starting at the bottom row #1, reading the chart from right to left.  *K2 MC, Knit creeper chart* until last stitch, K1 MC.  The creeper chart will be worked 8 times with two MC stitches separating each creeper.  
• Continue the colorwork rounds until all 10 rows of the creeper charts have been knit.  
• Knit 22 rounds MC or until the hat measures 6" from the cast on edge. 
• Begin Crown Decreases (with optional striping pattern):
• Switch to CC: *K10, K2tog* around (88 sts)
• K around 
• *K9, K2tog* around (80 sts)
• Switch to MC and K around.
• *K8, K2tog* around (72 sts)
• K around
• Switch to CC: *K7, K2tog* around (64 sts)
• K around
• *K6, K2tog* around (56 sts)  Break CC
• Switch to MC and K around
• *K5, K2tog* around (48 sts)
• K around
• *K4, K2tog* around (40 sts)
• K around 
• *K3, K2tog* around (32 sts)
• K around
• *K2, K2tog* around (24 sts)
• K around
• *K1, K2tog* around (16 sts)
• K around
• *K2tog* around (8 sts)
• Break yarn and pull through remaining stitches.  Weave in any loose ends and block if desired.  Put on the hat and sneak up on your friends hissing!

Dyeing the Green Yarn
I wound the yarn into a skein and handpainted the yarn with brown, black, yellow and green food coloring to get a mottled effect.  For more details, check out the following dyeing video.

This hat is knit as an Adult Small so it would be appropriate for a young teen.  It is a bit too big for a 2 year old toddler, but Lucky needed to try out the hat!  (Plus he makes a cameo in the above video... make sure you check it out!)  

I've been meaning to create this hat for such a long time.  I'm so happy that I finally got it finished in time for the holidays!

These knitting pattern was created by ChemKnits for your personal or charity use. You are not to sell, distribute or reprint this pattern without the permission of ChemKnits. © 2015 ChemKnits

A Rainbow Unicorn Woobie for My Baby Boy

When I found out I was pregnant with my second child (who am I kidding, this started before I knew I was pregnant) I started queueing tons of baby patterns for my little WIP.  I made Lucky a woobie Zebra.  I wanted to make something on a similar theme, so when I saw the Unicorn Woobie in the Woobie Pattern Collection Series 2 I knew that this was going to be a winner for my second child.  It didn't matter the sex, boys can like unicorns, too!  I wanted to make it rainbow so I am counting back from previous woobies to divide the main blanket section into equal stripes.

In August I finished a Monkey Woobie for the first born to Lucky's godmother.  I wanted the woobie unicorn to be the first thing I started for my little WIP (besides the pregnancy announcement) but I didn't really feel like making a second woobie immediately after finishing one.  Therefore I decided to cast on some of the embellishments and then proceed with the woobie itself.

I used shine sport in Serrano (red - 6 g, 13 yards), Clementine (orange - 11 g, 24 yards), Dandelion (Yellow - 17 g, 38 yards), Macaw (green - 18 g, 40 yards), French Blue (blue - 22 g, 49 yards), Iris (purple - 24 g, 53 yards), Cosmopolitan (pink - 2 g, 4.4 yards) and white (83 g, 183 yards) and size 3 (3.25 mm) knitting needles.  All weights are rounded to the nearest gram.  To see the complete before and after weights check out the Ravelry project page.

Planning the Stripes
I kept detailed notes on all of the woobies, but in particular the Monkey Woobie since I just completed this project the day before starting the unicorn.  (I'm exactly 20 weeks behind Blue Harvest's Mama.)  In the monkey there were 52 Brown rounds + 3 cream rounds between the double picot edge and the closure for the head meaning that there are 55 main blanket rounds.  I can do stripes of 9 rows in Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and then 10 rows in Red.  I'll switch back to white for the head before I criss-cross the stitches to secure the head bottom.

Notes from Construction

• I decided to start with the smallest parts for this Woobie.  This way I can really work on the finishing details when I complete the head of the unicorn.
  
  
• White Ball 1 weighs 50.6 g
• I cast on with the long tail cast on.  The next round is Round #1.  AHHHH I haven't made this mistake in so long!  I'm 9 sts away from the total and I'm out of my tail.  Grrrr time to rip out and start over.
  
  
• As with the other woobies, I do my decreases differently than is written in the pattern.  Slip the first stitch of the round, knit until 2 sts before marker and make a cdd.  The first slipped stitch becomes part of the last cdd.  
• I finished white ball 1 in the middle of round 15.  White ball 2 weighs 51.2 g.
• On Round 22 I switched to purple (purple round 1, ball weighs 50.9 g) and folded over the hem.  Now the project will start picking up speed!  Not only am I starting stripes of 9 rounds each, but the rounds will get smaller and smaller.
  
  
• The extra decreases started in the middle of the orange stripe.  I started the additional deceases as follows: S1, K 15, CDD, K14, CDD around.  
• When I hit 28 stitches, I knit one more round in red before switching to the additional "next round" decreases in white.  My math for the striping was spot on!  Everything went according to plan!
  
  
• As I finished up the woobie I'm super excited that I've already knit the little bits and pieces so I can focus on finishing my fabulous unicorn woobie.  

Unlike the other stripped woobies (zebra and tiger), this woobie has a bunch of loose ends to weave in.  I'm missing the whole carry the ends up with you as you go thing.  I wove in all of the loose ends before tackling the finishing of the woobie face.

I'm glad that I have my woobie zebra on hand to compare to.  The face is a little different but this will help me figure out the placement of the ears at least.  It was a lot easier to place ears evenly when I could sew them along a stripe.  This is going to be a bit more difficult.

The ears were much easier to secure on than I remembered.  I tacked the inside edge of the ears to some stitches a little further away so they would stand upright like a horse versus falling down a bit more like a cow.  (Now I sort of want to make a cow woobie.  There isn't a pattern in the collections from what I've seen but I think you could add some spots and turn one of these horses into a cow pretty easily.)

Horn first or eyes first?  The pattern has you do the face first but I decided to start with the horn so I can decide where the eye placement will work the best.  I'm more confident in my whip stitching then I am in my embroidery skills.  I'm really proud with how well the embroidery came out.  I think that having the horn in place actually did help me find the right stitches to embroider around.

For the Zebra's mane, I used 3 strands at a time and applied them in 3 rows of 7 deep.  For the unicorn, 6 deep will be perfect so I can do a rainbow mane.  For each fringe I cut two 6" colored pieces and one 6" white piece.  I started with red and then worked my way towards the back of the head in the rainbow configuration.

Cutting fringe pieces is much more fun when you are making a rainbow!  I knew exactly how many pieces I wanted and so the cutting went super fast.

I started the first row way too far back and needed to move up again so it started immediately after the horn.  Other than that the fringe application was very straight forward.  Once again, I felt confident with the placement due to the position of the horn.

Someone needs a haircut!  

I'm in love with my little unicorn!  If I were to do it again I might make the mane solid, but I think that the white through the whole mane holds it together.  I'm 21 weeks (almost 22) the day I finished this woobie and I'm so happy to have something for my new little boy that will be HIS and not just a hand-me-down.  I am excited to reuse many of the hats and vests that I made Lucky, but I want to make sure that Boogaloo gets some things that were made specifically for him, too.

Lucky was at school when I finished up the woobie so he hasn't really seen it yet.  I'm wondering if he is going to run off with both of them.  At just shy of 2 years old, we're not sure if Lucky understands what being a big brother means (although he knows that Indy is HIS big brother), but we're optimistic.

Now that this project is done I have to sit down and take a real and hard look at my queue.  What can I finish by Christmas/Chanukkah?  What baby items can I realistically hope to finish before my delivery?  This pregnancy is making my "to do ASAP" queue much longer than it was before!