Tag Archives: knitting

Ravellenic Games 2016

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It’s almost here!  The most exciting biennial, world-wide athletic competition known to man!

No, silly, not the Olympic games.

Rio-2016-Olympic-Logo-Vector-Graphic[1](Although I am excited to see some synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.)

No, I’m talking about the Ravellenic Games!

Rav-GamesThis’ll be my second time participating.  Last time (Winter 2014), I made a sweater.  It was pretty great (the sweater, not this photo).  I actually still wear it quite a bit.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

(If you’re considering taking part, join the Ravellenic Games group on Ravelry.  It’s essentially a big, friendly knit-a-long where everyone casts on at the same time (7:15 Rio time on the 5th), when the Olympic games start.  Then, you see how much you can get done before the end of the games, two weeks later.  There are a lot of rules and teams and stuff, but I plan on ignoring most of that, because I’m a rebel. Ha.)

Last time, I planned out my project weeks ahead of time, maybe even months.  This time I’m flying by the seat of my pants.  Looking at the list of “Events,” I’m thinking I might participate in the Sock-Put, the Sweater Triathalon, or the WIP Wrestling (I’ve got a stack of half-finished projects that need to be finished).  Maybe I’ll do Garment Polo- I’ve been thinking about making a cabled skirt (because apparently I want everything I wear to be cabled).

We’re going on a road trip during the Olympics, so I’ll have lots of time to knit, but I also don’t want my project to be too fiddly (I get carsick if I spend too much time looking at my knitting).  I’m thinking something with a lot of stockinette or garter stitch.

Any suggestions?  Do you think you’ll be taking part in the Ravellenic Games?  What events will you be joining?

Knitting with Kids

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For my “day job” I get to hang out with elementary school kids and teach them sewing and arts and crafts.  It’s kind of the best- I’m still half-surprised it’s my job.  And for a couple golden weeks each summer, I get to teach my absolute favorite class- knitting.

We have a range of ages- last week we had a dozen children from 6 to 10.  Some had knit before, and some had never even touched a knitting needle.  We started with finger knitting, letting the kids get used to playing with yarn, and getting them used to the idea of pulling loops into other loops (a surprisingly difficult concept for some of the little ones).

One girl was enjoying her finger knitting so much, she did it all week- ending up with a finger-knit tube almost 60 feet long.  She then took her finger-knitting and sewed it together in a spiral, making a multi-colored rug that she was really proud of.  WP_20160715_10_26_08_ProWhen a kid gets bored of finger knitting (which most do), we move on to loom knitting with the Knifty Knitter.  I am completely in favor of the Knifty Knitter now- a position I would never have taken even a ouple years ago.  What I once thought of as “cheating,”  I now see for what it is: a way for kids (or anyone, really) who don’t quite have the motor skills to actually knit.

The kids this year made adorable hats (with pompoms), fingerless gloves, bags, and even a tiny hedgehog stuffed animal.  (This is a glove in progress:)WP_20160715_10_26_14_ProAnd every class, we get a kid or two who wants to try their hand at “stick knitting.”  This year 9 of our 13 students broke out their needles.  It was a record!

There is nothing more adorable than a whole classroom of kids, needles clicking, concentrating on their projects and chatting about whatever it is that kids chat about.  (I wanted to take a picture to share with you, but I figured their parents might have reservations about having their kids pictures up on the internet.  So, you can look at my student’s knitting project- her second ever!  I believe it ended up being a very small pot holder.)WP_20160715_10_26_24_ProHave you ever knit with kids?  How did it go?

Favorites

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Everyone has their favorite patterns.  My favorites are well documented:

Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth ZimmermanOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHitchhiker by Martina Behm

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAApparently I have a thing for garter stitch. Who knew?

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get into a bit of a rut when it comes to patterns.  I keep falling back on my favorites- evergreen patterns that I cast on time and again.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing better than working up a friendly old pattern, one you know like the back of your hand and you’re sure is going to give you reliable, fantastic results.

But sometimes you want to try something new.

So, here’s my question for you:

What are your all-time favorite patterns?  What’s a pattern that you turn to again and again?  And why do you love it so much?

I’d love to hear from you, and if I get enough comments, maybe we can have a whole post next week about your favorite patterns!  I’m excited! I always love finding a great new pattern!

OK. New Plan.

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I’ve finally got my act together.   I’ve sulked long enough, and I think I figured out a solution.  I think I can make this sweater work.  I’ll live to knit another day.

But first, I had to rip an entire sleeve.  It was… an unfortunate amount of ripping.   I poured myself a nice stiff drink and went to town.

God… look how different that yarn is.  (New yarn is on the right, old, scraggly yarn is on the left.)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI remembered someone telling me, or maybe reading somewhere (not sure where… I just know I didn’t make this up), that if you had two different dye lots that you had to make work, you can work them in stripes to blend the two colors together.  It was worth a shot.

First I tried 2-row stripes, but that ended up looking really stripey.  (I didn’t even bother taking a picture of this one- it didn’t look good.)

But, when I tried narrow, 1-row stripes, I managed to get a pretty even color.  And, since I’m using a big circular needle, I can slide the needle back and forth after every other row.  That means I don’t have to break my yarn or juggle extra balls of yarn!  Winning!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASee?  The sleeve (the bottom portion of the picture) is pretty close to the rest of the sweater.  It’s still a smidge blue-ish in real life, but only so much that someone looking really closely would notice it.

The only problem is that the combination of new yarn and old, frogged yarn makes the fabric a bit of a mess.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABut at this point, I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that it looks OK after blocking.

Have you ever had to get creative to get around poor dye-lot matching?

Heartbreak

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I’m completely heartbroken.  My hopes have been dashed.  My best plans of a simple, fun, and easy sweater are completely falling apart.

My yarn came in the mail.  (Actually it came in the mail a few weeks ago, but I was so disappointed, I threw it into the closet and pretended it hadn’t showed up yet.)  Usually new yarn is a source of joy, but ugh…

Look:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOK, it’s kind of hard to see in a photo, but take a closer look:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe ball of yarn on the left is the new yarn- it’s significantly more blue-gray.  And the half-finished sweater is on the right- it’s a lovely pink-y lavender.

I know they look pretty similar in these photos (it’s been established my photography skills are lacking), but in real life, they’re significantly different.  Even my husband commented.  I’ve got the whole sweater finished with the old yarn, except for the left sleeve.  I can’t have a sweater with one different color arm!

This, boys and girls, is why you buy all your yarn at once.

Now I’m going to go drink a lot of coffee and come up with a plan.

Big Head

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I think I made the world’s longest hat.

No joke.  It’s really big.

It’s an Antler Hat from tincanknits.  I thought I followed the pattern, but something happened.

The hat on the right is a normal, long-ish beanie that I made for my husband.  The hat on the right is the one I just knit up. It’s like twice the size!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAEven if I fold up the brim, it’s so long!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI look like a silly gnome when I wear it.WP_20160612_15_18_04_ProI need to rip out the crown and take out a couple pattern repeats.  After all, the pattern is absolutely gorgeous, and looks great in my Tosh DK.  It’s just too long.  Look at that great cable!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI feel like I’ve been on a streak of not-quite-correctly finished knitting projects.  Oh well, it just means I have more knitting to do!

Coffee and Scraps

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Imagine this:  You’re in the back seat of a minivan, somewhere on the Ohio Turnpike.  You thought you brought enough knitting for the day, but your project has gone faster than expected (yay), leaving you with three more hours of driving, and nothing else to knit (boo).  You’ve got plenty more yarn, but it’s tucked away in your suitcase, which is buried in the trunk, under everyone else’s luggage.

What’s a girl to do?

Just keep knitting.

I finished my gloves earlier than I had expected, but I had a little extra yarn.  Not even enough to make a third glove, much less any other garment.  But, it was enough to make a coffee sleeve!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI already had the gauge (after all, I was using the same yarn and same needles as I had used on my gloves), and I could guess at the proper dimensions for a coffee sleeve.  And, since this stitch pattern is super stretchy (it was the same one I used for the gloves), I didn’t have to worry about being perfect.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt worked like a charm!  Now I’ve got a lovely matching coffee sleeve to go with my new gloves.  I think I just might start making coffee sleeves with all my leftover scraps!

Have you ever been in a similar situation?  What did you do to keep yourself occupied?

Cheap Trick

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On my Epic Road Trip, I spent a day with my in-laws, visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.71ed32[1]I’ll be honest, I was kind of “meh” on the idea of stopping by, after all I’m not a huge fan of classic rock.  But, I really enjoyed myself!  I saw Michael Jackson’s rhinestone glove, the Supremes’ pink sequin-and-feather dresses, and the white guitar that Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock.  There was a fantastic exhibit about the history of rock (starting with blues and jazz through modern day) and a cool display talking about the intersection of politics and music.  I’d definitely recommend stopping for a day (or at lest an afternoon), if you’re driving through Ohio.

“But Allison,” you ask.  “Why are you talking about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on a knitting blog?”

Well, reader.  I’ll tell you.

One of the newest inductees to the Hall of Fame is the band Cheap Trick.cheap-trick[1]And in the display about the new inductees, was one of the outfits that Rick Nielsen, the guitarist wore at a bunch of his shows.WP_20160607_10_32_04_ProIt’s hard to see in such a small picture, but that cardigan… it’s knit.  Black and white checkers at a tiny gauge (I think it’s double knit, but I couldn’t get close enough to really examine it).  And the two big black squares on the front are giant pockets with “Cheap Trick” worked over and over again in white.  Can you imagine knitting something like that… it’s such a small gauge, and would be such a pain to knit!.  (And can you imagine performing on stage under all those hot lights in a wool cardigan?  Ugh!)

According to the plaque, Rick Nielsen designed the sweater and someone named Sally Walton knit it up.    It might not be my style, but it’s a pretty impressive piece of knitting.  Imagine one of your finished objects ending up in a museum!

What’s the most surprising knitting you’ve come across?

Home Again, Home Again

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Jiggity-jig.

(What? I’m the only one who says that?)

I’m back home, and I’m exhausted.

It was great to see our families (both mine and my husband’s), and I had a fabulous time.  We played cards, ate lots of great food, and explored Pennsylvania, Cleveland and Chicago.  All in a week!  A real whirlwind tour.

And, of course, I did a ton of knitting.  You can’t expect me to spend all that time in cars, airplanes and the Chicago L and not get out my knitting.  I’ll tell you about everything I worked on (I can finish a surprising amount of knitting when I’m cooped up in the back of a minivan for 12 hours) over the next couple weeks.  But, I want to start with what might have been my favorite project.

You remember this brightly-colored beauty (the one on the right)?  It’s Knitted Wit Victory DK in Fairy Garden… Swoon.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWell, a few hours of work (and approximately 1 million ends to weave in later… no wonder I’ve never made gloves before… what a pain!), I’ve got my own crazy-lady riding gloves  (Also known as the Ringwood Gloves from Rebecca Blair- a very well-written pattern!)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI love them!  And I love that their coloring is just slightly different.  It’s hand-painted yarn, after all.

I also love the very cool, but surprisingly simple stitch pattern.  It’s two rows of stockinette, and one of k1p1 rib.  Easy!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe gloves are dense and squishy and lovely, and I can’t wait for the weather to get cool enough to wear them.

Now I just have to find buttons for the cuffs… I’m thinking little, white shell buttons, or maybe faux pearls.  I’ll have to go through my big button jar and see what I have.

What kind of buttons would you use?

Inspiration: On the road again

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I’m on the road again.  Somewhere between the Shell gas station and the Wendy’s on the side of the freeway.  I’m having a great time hanging out with my extended family and I’m getting tons of time for knitting. Win-win!

I can’t stop at any yarn stores (which is probably good, since my suitcase is already full), but all the hours in the car have made me think about all the other road trip knitting I could be doing.

This beanie is just too perfect for words, after all it’s a “Road Trip Hat.”  I love the interesting, minimalist use of cables  I could see this becoming a favorite for years and years.

Road Trip Hat by Emily Williams

Roadtrip-cover-rev-600px_medium[1]Of course, my perennial favorite, the Hitchhiker Shawl, would be perfect for knitting on a road trip.  A simple, easily memorized pattern and acres and acres of garter.  I can’t think of a more perfect pattern to work on while staring out the window, watching the scenery go by.

Hitchhiker by Martina BehmCIMG7885And, if you’re looking for something a little more practical… maybe a pair of driving gloves?  You could wear them to keep your hands warm while the A/C is blasting.

Men’s Driving Gloves or Fingerless Gloves by Tara Smolinski

IMG_0163_medium2[1]But, really, if you want the perfect road trip project, it doesn’t get any better than this adorable road cowl.  Cute!

Road Trip Cowl by Ping Woodvalleypat550.550.zoom.1_medium[1]What do you work on when you go on a road trip?