Rowan Pure Wool Mystery Afghan

Posted on August 14, 2016 by Deborah Cooke

I finished an afghan in the last couple of weeks. I was determined to get it off my needles. It was yet another bulky project that was crazy for me to knit in the summer. This was the Rowan knit-a-long mystery afghan by Martin Storey, which I started in 2014. I designed my own border for it, and had to knit it in a contrasting colour since I ran out of the variegated yarn. It’s been waiting on that border to be finished for a while.

The variegated yarn proved to be a bad choice, even though it was in my stash, since the different stitch combinations on the blocks meant that the colours pooled in different ways on different blocks. Oh well. (Interestingly enough, the pooling is much more evident in this pic than in real life.) I’m glad it’s done, and there’s 5 lbs less of Patons Decor in my stash. It’s now in the car and The New Girl loves it, so all ends well. Pure Wool Mystery Afghan by Martin Storey knit by Deborah Cooke in Paton's Decor

Storm on Exmoor

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve been thinking about winter this past week. I’m not sure why, as it hasn’t been that cold, but I’ve been making plans for staying warm. I bought a new hat, for example, and it has ear flaps. I also knit this cape-cowl, out of Kidsilk Haze Trio from the stash:You might remember that I made a sweater of this yarn a while back. This cowl was made from two of the leftover balls of wool. It’s light and warm, nestles over my shoulders and rises in squishy goodness to cuddle under my chin.

The pattern is called Storm on Exmoor and it’s free. (That’s a Rav link.) The designer suggests wearing the capelet as a topper outside a coat on a chilly day, but I wanted a big cowl to wear inside my coat, to keep my throat and chest warm. (This may be a Canadian vs. a UK perspective.) I modified the pattern a bit, working the body in stockinette stitch instead of garter, the hem in garter instead of ribbing, and continued the cowl until I ran out of yarn. I figured stockinette stitch will sit flatter inside my coat than garter stitch would and I wanted the neck as high as possible.

I just love how this came out, and how warm it is. I can knot a scarf over or under the neckline, or just wear it as it is. It’ll be just the thing this winter.

Plus the pattern is really nice, a quick and easy knit with room for variation. I may be making more of these for Christmas presents, in different yarns.

How do you plan to stay warm this winter?

Progress on the Mermaid Shawl

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Deborah Cooke

I thought I’d show you my progress on my Undine striped shawl today. I really like what the self-striping yarn is doing:You can also see how the hem is beginning to flutter. If I held that top edge (the one on the right) straight, it would ripple even more.

I’ll start to decrease the width of the shawl once I’ve used half of the yarn. The easiest way to determine that point is to weigh the balls of yarn. (I use the kitchen scale.) They were each 100g when I started. Now they’re both around 75g. When they get to 52 g or so, I’ll start to decrease. I want to make sure the shawl is symmetrical, so might do something different at the midpoint. We’ll see when I get there.

In the meantime, what do you think?

Knitting for a Mermaid

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Deborah Cooke

Because I’m having an administrivia week, I needed something to knit in garter stitch. I decided to use one of my own patterns, but make it stripey. The colours in this yarn are shades of blue and green, so that makes it fit for a mermaid. 🙂

The pattern is for a shawl with a ruffled edge and is called Undine. That’s the Ravelry link to the pattern (which is free download) but I also blogged about my first one here. That one was knit in a self-striping yarn – Noro Kureyon Sock – and I mirrored the striping pattern. I’ll add the picture here so you don’t have to click through:For this new one, I wanted stripes. I had two balls of Crazy Zauberball sock yarn, which is a self-striping yarn, in the colourway 2136. Originally, I planned to knit knee socks with this yarn, but I wasn’t happy with the way they were coming out. Plus, I’m more likely to wear a green shawl than green knee socks.

I found a mistake in my own shawl pattern in the set up! Yikes! So, I’ll have to fix the PDF, but here’s a detail shot of the set up tip of the shawl. Although I’m using two balls of yarn for this project, I did this part with only one.I joined the second ball after this, and began alternating between the balls, working two rows from each. Here’s a progress shot:
With the change in colours, you can see the godets more clearly in this version. At this point, I’ve worked seven godets, which make the hem of the shawl ripple when worn.

I’m having fun with this one. It’s not quite a mindless knit, which will keep me interested, as will the self-striping yarn. I also like how the striping is periodically disappearing when the colours from the two balls are similar. This could be avoided by using a solid yarn as one colour or a completely contrasting colourway, but I like when things slide in and out of focus. My Rav project page is here, if you want more detail.

What do you think?

Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Deborah Cooke

This week, I was seduced by a quick holiday project: knitting Christmas ornaments. Actually, you knit a covering for a styrofoam ball. The results look like this:The pattern is called Balls Up! and it’s available as a free Ravelry download. It calls fro a 7cm polystyrene or styrofoam ball, but I found some at the dollar store that were 6.3 cm. I went down a needle size and everything worked out just fine.

Mine are in the order they were knitted, from left to right. The first one is leftovers of a handpainted Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn and is just plain. There’s something about this colorway that just looks festive to me—I knit Celestine out of it a few years ago.The second is in a loose ball of yarn which I think might be Rowan Tapestry (it has a slow graduation). I added a snowflake in purl stitches to the middle band of this one and some beads—the truth is that I should have used one or the other. The beads were hard to put on the yarn, because it’s a loosely spun single ply, although they are pretty.

The third is from ends of another color of handpainted Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn—I have a feeling this colour was called Monet—and I knit seed stitch on the central band of that one.

The fourth is in sock yarn and my only fair isle attempt with snowflakes in the middle band. My plan was to put a bead in the middle of each one, but I forgot that the bead ends up on the row below when you use the crochet hook method. Next time I’ll get it right.

I would have knit more, because they are fun, but I got distracted. I’d picked up some Crazy Zauberball sock yarn to try it in ornaments and decided I just liked it too much. The colorway is the green, #2136 Lenz (scroll down.) I cast on a pair of socks on those same needles, so they’ll be tucked into that project for a while. I think I’m going to knit knee socks with it, so I’ll need a second ball.

I’m convinced that, one of these days, I’ll knit some of the mini sweaters that are Chrismas ornaments. Here is one set of free patterns on the Berroco site and here’s another set of teeny sweaters. I think they’re so cute!

Have you ever knitted any Christmas ornaments?

Java Ninja Free Pattern

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

It’s been a while since I’ve published a new knitting pattern, but my new coffee pot provided the impetus. Here’s my knitted cozy for a 12-cup French press coffee pot – called the Java Ninja. The pattern is free for download on Ravelry, right here.

What do you think?

Undine Shawl

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

Here’s another of my knitting patterns, now available for free download.It’s a triangular shawl, knit in garter stitch, with a ruffled edge. That edge has a picot border. it’s also knitted sideways, which makes for fun stripes in self-striping yarn. You can make this shawl in any size – basically, you follow the directions to increase the width of the shawl until half your yarn is gone. Then you use the directions to decrease down to the other point.

I used Noro Kureyon Sock for mine. This is two balls-worth and it’s a pretty good sized shawl. Something about the colours and that ruffley picot edge made me think of mermaids and seaweed, thus the name.

The pattern is on Ravelry right HERE.

Sock Yarn Hexagon Afghan Blocks

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

This is the project I mentioned yesterday, the one that will probably never be finished.

When you knit socks, you have leftover bits and ends of sock yarn. This isn’t a new problem – in fact, there are lots of ideas on Ravelry of what to do with those bits. (And it’s better than the alternative, of running out of yarn and needing to finish the toes in a different colour.) I make lots of socks, thus have lots of bits.

Many people make medallions or squares from these scraps, then create an afghan. My mom knit argyle socks like crazy in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and when I was a kid, she made a lap afghan out of little hexagons. I always loved that afghan and remember helping her knit more hexagons to make it a bit bigger. Scrap quilts and knitted afghans are fun, because you often remember the origin of each little bit. I like that nostalgia. I’m not sure where my mom found the original pattern (she doesn’t remember) but it was a good way to use up those leftover bits.

It only made sense that when my own stash of leftover sock yarn started to grow, I thought of that afghan of hexagons again. I couldn’t find her pattern, so I reverse engineered one myself. I knit these on 2.75mm needles, and each is about 2.75″ across.

These four are knit in Fleece Artist Trail Socks:

Here are four in Noro Kureyon Sock:Here are four in another self-striping sock yarn:My Hexagon Block

Cast on 73 stitches. (I use the long tail cast on.)
Row 1 and all odd-number rows: Purl.
Row 2: *K2tog, K8, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 4: *K2tog, K6, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 6: *K2tog, K4, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 8: *K2tog, K2, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 10: *K2tog, Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 12: *Slip 1, K1, PSSO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Cut end, draw wool through remaining stitches and sew up seam.
Block the hexagons – individually or once they’re sewn in groups – on the ironing board. Put them flat, put a damp pressing cloth over them, and steam with a hot iron.

These are pretty quick to make and can be addictive – like so many projects – when knit in self-striping yarn. You can knit the centre in a different colour, if you run out, or could even stripe them if you’re more compulsive than me.

Then there’s the fun of arranging them. You can use a random arrangement, or assemble the hexagons into diamonds the way I have. You can assemble them into bigger diamonds, or into six-petalled daisies. You can make zigzag lines, or straight lines, alternate light and dark in a sunshine-and-shadow pattern. The possibilities are almost endless. I assembled mine into small diamonds of hexagons made of the same yarn (or yarn that looks the same), as you see in the samples above. Then I’m arranging the diamonds into bigger diamonds, like this:The red is Lang Jawoll sock yarn. It’s surrounded by hexagons in various colourways of Regia Colori Fortissima. I’m stitching the small diamonds into big diamonds using black sock yarn as contrast. I can’t decide whether it looks funky or Frankenstein.

The only thing was that my hexagons looked a bit smaller to me than my mom’s had been. I finally found her pattern, which is slightly different, buried in my yarn stash. I think she may have used 3.0mm needles which would account for the size difference. Naturally my mom, who is so much more organized than I will ever be, has noted that each hexagon takes 12 yards of yarn.

Original Hexagon Block

Cast on 79 stitches.
First row and every odd row – Purl.
Row 2 – K2tog, K10, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K10. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 4 – K2tog, K8, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K8. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 6 – K2tog, K6, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K6. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 8 – K2tog, K4, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K4. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 10 – K2tog, K2, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K2. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 12 – K2tog, *Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO. Repeat from *4 times. Slip 1, K1, PSSO.
Row 14 – Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO, K1.
Break wool, leaving a 12″ end. Run end through remaining 3 stitches. Draw closed and seam two edges together. Leave end for joining to next hexagon.
Make 238 hexagons for afghan.
To make up – Sew 17 hexagons together in one long strip. Make 14 strips. Join strips and blog flat.

There’s a note here about making half-hexagons to square up the edges. It says to cast on 40 stitches, purl the odd rows, then work as above. Obviously there will be fewer repeats – I’ll guess that you repeat from the * only once on each even row.

The blocks aren’t that different, but are probably different enough that you should choose one and go with it.

What do you do with leftover sock yarn?

Calienté

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Deborah Cooke

This is the stole I made with my Zauberball Lace, which is the Fuschienbeet colourway. The symmetry was pure luck, but it makes me very happy.

My initial idea was to make a stole with pointed ends and a fairly simple pattern to show off the colour changes in the yarn. I thought immediately of Miriam Felton’s Juno Regina, but a quick look at the pattern revealed I’d have to follow the charts. I was in a chart-free frame of mind. I reasoned that I could adapt the Diamond Centre pattern from Victorian Lace Today to my purposes, and that’s what I did. It used almost exactly one ball of Zauberball Lace – I had less than 2 metres left. And beads – of course, it had to have beads.

The pattern is available as a free Ravelry download (do we love Rav? Yes we do!) right HERE.

Stripey Noro Messenger Bag

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Deborah Cooke

Well, this week we have kind of a re-useable bag theme going on here, at Alive & Knitting. First there were bags we could make from reclaimed or vintage sweaters, that had been felted to make them tough. And now, here’s a bag knitted from scratch, ready to be used again and again and again.

But first, a bit of a saga. Remember the sweater I made from Noro Kureyon? Well, I had some leftover yarn and wanted to use it. (Stash management is key, right?) Remember my Dr. Seuss Socks? There’s just something about using a self-striping yarn like Noro in stripes that works for me in a big way. Noro Kureyon is said to felt wonderfully, so I decided to make a felted stripey messenger bag with those leftovers.

I paired the Noro with a colourway of Patons Classic Wool that I bought on a pilgrimage to Spinrite – thus, yes, doing some responsible stashbusting while pursuing a responsible project. This must have been a test colour because it’s not on their site. ($9.99 C for 8 x 100g balls. That’s not temptation. That’s inescapable acquisition.) Actually, there were a number of colours available at the mill, all of which had one ply that had a long graduated colour change. This is a mustard with the coloured ply changing through reds and purples. It worked well with the greens in the Noro Kureyon.This is the massive project that has been taking up my needle time. After all the knitting was done, I wanted to add I-cord. Ugh. There are about 10,000 miles of applied I-cord on this bag. It’s not strictly necessary, but it does make the edges look so much better. Here’s a shot of the I-cord in progress – it’s done on the left but not on the right:See how the I-cord neatens up those edges, and makes the bag look more crisp? I get really bored knitting I-cord, but I love the results.

I found some amazing buttons in my stash – I bought these because they were so wonderful, but never found a project for them. (Until now.) They look like pieces of amber, but have little lines inside them – Mr. C. says they look like rutilated quartz. I’m taking his word on that.

And here’s the finished bag before felting:It’s HUGE. The edges wanted to roll so I pinned them down – here’s hoping they just stay flat once it’s felted.

And here it is, after felting and finishing. Of course, it has a zipper and a lining, because I’m kind of compulsive like that.

I LOVE this bag! What do you think of it?

My Ravelry project page is here.

The pattern is posted as a free download on Ravelry right here.

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