Month: February 2017

all was well

Posted on by trish

This week’s quick make! :D

I had quite a bit of left­over untwist­ed mul­ti-colour yarn left from the pink fish­er­man hat project, I thought it would make a great colour block cowl! Also a per­fect oppor­tu­ni­ty to try the no purl rib pat­tern from Purl Soho, which I have been eye­ing for some time :D

I used 10 mm straight nee­dles, cast on 27 stitch­es, used 2 strands of bulky weight yarn held togeth­er for the grey part, knit­ted till the piece was about 45″ long, then sewed the ends togeth­er to make a cowl. Here’s a bet­ter look at the mag­i­cal­ly made ribbed tex­ture, with no purl­ing involved! 

It is very thick and warm :)

Speak­ing of warm scarves and hats, I’ve just dis­cov­ered that there’s a knit/cro­chet-togeth­er event in the city next Sun­day! If you’re in the city, maybe con­sid­er join­ing me to knit for those who can use some hand­made warmth this win­ter? Warm­ing Toron­to Knit­ting Day is hap­pen­ing next Sun­day Feb. 26, 12:30–6pm at the Impe­r­i­al Pub (Dundas/Yonge). I’ve start­ed anoth­er fish­er­man rib hat for the event!

And of course you notice the rad t‑shirt I’m wear­ing in the first pho­to? :D 

Mike and I final­ly vis­it­ed the Lock­hart, a Har­ry Pot­ter themed bar in the west end of Toron­to, for brunch!

The food was mar­velous and quite afford­able. The Bet­ter Beer (a but­ter beer in my book :D) does not disappoint!

High­ly rec­om­mend if you’re in the neigh­bour­hood, espe­cial­ly if you’ve enjoyed the Har­ry Pot­ter series. (con­fes­sion: I’ve actu­al­ly not read the books, but quite enjoyed the movies! Maybe I’ll read the books one day…)

Wish­ing every­one a love­ly week­end! :D

 

this week’s awesome finds

Posted on by trish

Awe­some cat purse from Tapes­try Cro­chet :D

 

Sim­ple and beau­ti­ful coast­ers from Sug­ar & Charm.

 

These waf­fle stitch wash cloths is such a bril­liant idea :D Pat­tern by Chip Flo­ry on Rav­el­ry, super cute waf­fles pic­tured by Rav­el­er Star­bugHay­ley.

 

I might just try mak­ing these clever Morse Code bracelets! From Lime Riot.

 

A cro­chet ver­sion of the pol­ka dot hats that I real­ly like :) from Whis­tle & Ivy.

 

Adorable cat socks from Geena Gar­cia on Rav­el­ry.

 

Very styl­ish blan­ket sweater from Mama in a Stitch.

 

This would be nice for Mike :D by Schachen­mayr on Rav­el­ry.

 

Also want to use my pink yarn for this sweet sweater! I do love garter stitch. From Johan­na Knits.

 

More sweet­ness! Recipe for ani­mal cook­ie-shaped marsh­mal­lows, from Stu­dio DIY.

 

Cozy piz­za par­ty :D Piz­za snug­gies from Yarn­spi­ra­tions.

 

Have a fan­tas­tic crafty week, every­one! :D

 

 

pink fisherman

Posted on by trish

Made a colour block hat in bright pink this week­end :D

I usu­al­ly don’t wear bright pink, it’s kind of out­side my com­fort zone, but it’s quite uplift­ing in Feb­ru­ary, where the days are short, grey, cold and snowy.

It incor­po­rates the fish­er­man rib pat­tern that I learned from Purl Soho. The stitch makes an extra squishy fab­ric that’s very cozy for a hat. The hat is worked flat and then seamed. The result­ing fab­ric is also quite stretchy, and I imag­ine the hat will stretch as it is being worn, so the stitch count is con­ser­v­a­tive, and it fits my head com­fort­ably (21″ in cir­cum­fer­ence). But I’ve also includ­ed instruc­tion for a larg­er size in parenthesis.

What I used:

Red Heart Soft Essen­tials in Peony (bulky) — one skein

Con­trast­ing bulky weight yarn (I actu­al­ly used Issac Mizrahi Lex­ing­ton yarn in Irv­ing, it’s a super bulky yarn that I untwist­ed, or split into 2 strands, and only used one strand at a time. It was a very time con­sum­ing, bor­ing task, so I would sug­gest just using a reg­u­lar bulky yarn, unless you’re in love with the Issac Mizrahi yarn like I was.)

6 mm straight needles

Tapes­try needle

Toi­let paper roll and scis­sors (for pom pom)

Pat­tern:

CO 56 (60) with pink.

Fol­low fish­er­man rib pat­tern for scarf until piece is 4″ from beginning.

Attached con­trast­ing yarn, break off pink, and con­tin­ue in pat­tern until piece is 6″ in length (or desired length, i.e. 7–8″ if you want a bit of a slouch)

Larg­er size only:

Row 1: *work in pat­tern for 8 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 2: work in pattern.

Row 3: *work in pat­tern for 7 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 4: work in pattern.

For all sizes, con­tin­ue as follows:

Row 1: *work in pat­tern for 6 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 2: work in pattern.

Row 3: *work in pat­tern for 5 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 4: work in pattern.

Row 5: *work in pat­tern for 4 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 6: work in pattern.

Row 7: *work in pat­tern for 3 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 8: work in pattern.

Row 9: *work in pat­tern for 2 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 10: work in pattern.

Row 11: *work in pat­tern for 1 st, p2 tog* repeat from * to * to end.

Row 12: work in pattern.

Row 13: p2 tog to end. 

Leave a long tail for sewing a break off yarn, weave yarn tail through remain­ing stitch­es, cinch tight­ly and tie off. With wrong side out, use remain­ing yarn tail to sew up seam until pink sec­tion. Fas­ten off con­trast­ing colour yarn tail. Using pink yarn, sew up the rest of the seam in pink sec­tion. Fas­ten off and weave in ends. 

Pom pom making

Flat­ten a toi­let paper roll, and used the flat­tened roll to make the pom pom as if it is a square of card­board. This blog post has a nice pho­to tuto­r­i­al.

As you shape the pom pom, leave the yarn tail that you used to tie the mid­dle of the yarn wrap long. Use the yarn tail to attach the pom pom to the top of the hat.

Have a bright and hap­py week­end, everyone!

 

 

office cape

Posted on by trish

Stum­bled across Two of Wands’ beau­ti­ful Sad­dle­brook cape scarf pat­tern on Insta­gram, thought it was just the thing I need for the chilly office! The arm open­ings are per­fect for typ­ing and tea drink­ing, and it’s so styl­ish-look­ing! I love the clev­er­ly designed edg­ing detail. It’s a beau­ti­ful design, and it’s free! And! I had been look­ing for a project through which I can use up the almost-full skeins of yarn left­over from the cor­ner-to-cor­ner cro­chet blan­ket for my par­ents last Christ­mas, it’s awesome!

It’s very pack­able, so I imag­ine it would also be great to bring on the train or plane or road trips! And it makes a nice giant scarf!

I had mod­i­fied the pat­tern so that it’s short­er (because I’m a short­er per­son, and I find it eas­i­er to move around if the cape is kind of reg­u­lar coat length), and so that I could use the worsted weight yarn I have. So I thought I’d share the mod­i­fi­ca­tions in case you’re in sim­i­lar situation!

My cape mea­sures 60″ x 20″.

I used a 6mm hook, and start­ed by mak­ing a chain of 182, then dc in 4th ch from hook (turn­ing ch counts as a dc through­out). I used dc stitch­es through­out, 180 dc across.

I fol­lowed the pat­tern for the edg­ing (the grey/brown part), then split for arm open­ings on the 14th row after edg­ing. Arm open­ing stitch count as fol­lows: 25 dc, 20 fdc (for arm open­ing), 90 dc, 20 fdc, 25 dc.

Then I fin­ished the oth­er half of the cape in the same way as the first half.

I used Bernat Super Val­ue yarn, less than half a skein of the grey, brown and blue, and almost a full skein of the teal.

Now let’s throw on the cape and unleash superpowers.

Have a fan­tas­tic week, every­one! :D