Tag Archives: pattern

Lazy Susan Beanie

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I love knitting stripes.  Changing colors back and forth keeps my interest, even when making a super simple project like this beanie.  But, as you know, I am utterly lazy.  I absolutely detest stopping my flow of knitting to attach and reattach new balls of yarn.  And weaving in all those thousands of tiny ends at the end of a project is pretty much the worst.    The Lazy Susan Beanie avoids both of these issues by working both colors at the same time, knitting them in a spiral pattern that ends up looking like perfect one-row stripes (get it?  Lazy Susan?  Because it spins and is for lazy people… like me).

Also, this pattern is a great way to experiment with color and dying your own yarn.  I knit the sample with a turquoise variegated yarn and a dark purple/black semi-solid which I dyed using food coloring.  (You can read my posts for more information about dying yarn with food coloring.)  Try using different color combos for different results!

You can get the Lazy Susan Beanie pattern here:

Lazy Susan Beanie

Coffee Sweater

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coffee sleeve

Keep your coffee comfy and cozy with this cup-sized sweater! If you’re as caffeine-addicted as I am, you know how important it is to keep your coffee nice and hot, while avoiding burning your fingers.  This coffee cup sleeve is super-fast to knit up, and the addition of a few simple cables will keep the attention of even the most caffeine-addled knitters. Since it’s a small project worked with worsted-weight yarn, you can make several from a single skein of yarn, making the Coffee Sweater a great pattern for gift knitting.

Get the pattern here:

Coffee Sweater

Pattern: Shiny Jammer

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When I’m not being an obsessive TV-watching, tea-drinking knitter I like to let out my aggression by playing roller derby. It’s super fun. I play with a local banked track league (Tilted Thunder), and it’s probably one of the most satisfying things that I’ve ever done. (And definitely the most fun I’ve ever had playing a sport, although that’s not saying much.)

Actually, since I’m usually pretty polite and quiet soft-spoken in real life, and I don’t have any tattoos, sometimes people don’t believe me when I tell them I play derby. So, here’s proof:

1044944_10151760344398223_1844534174_nI’m the one in green with the black helmet.  I love this picture because I look kind of terrifying.  Usually in derby photos I just look scared and awkward.

In this picture, I’m giving my jammer (the girl in front of me who wears stars on her helmet) a push to make her go faster.  The jammer is the one that scores points by lapping skaters on the other team.  (I’m a blocker, whose job it is to help our jammer go faster, and stop the other jammer.)  If you are interested in the rules, this is a good overview.

Anyway, a friend of mine, who also plays derby, asked me to make her a jammer hat  for her birthday, and who am I to say no?  I looked through some of the available patterns, and I didn’t care for them, so I made my own pattern.

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Now you, too can channel your inner badass with this roller derby-inspired hat.  It’s knit in the round with a simple ribbed cuff and decreases on the crown.  The stars are added using the duplicate stitch after the hat is knit up.  Knit this super simple hat in the colors of your favorite roller derby team to show your spirit.  And don’t forget: skate fast, turn left, and hit hard!

Get the pattern here:

Shiny Jammer

Pattern Spotlight: The Baby Surprise Jacket

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E_Zimmerman

EZ was sort of the original knitting blogger, so I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for her.  She published a quarterly knitting newsletter in the sixties that you could get delivered to your house for 25 cents.  (A deal, if you ask me.)  She has a ton of really clever patterns to her name, and they’re all written in an interesting “conversational” style, which I really enjoy (although I’ve heard some people complain about it).

In my opinion, her most interesting/clever/cool pattern is her “Baby Surprise Jacket” originally published in Fall of 1968 (though it’s been republished in many places now).  It’s a little garter-stitch baby cardigan knit all in one piece.  As you knit it up it looks like nothing more than a random pile of knitting.  But, when you bind off and execute a couple simple folds and sew in two short little seams (along the shoulders), you end up with an adorable little sweater.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis sweater is one of my favorite things to knit for my friends that are expecting.  Here’s why:

1.  It’s easy to adapt the pattern for either boys or girls, or for babies whose parents refuse to tell you if they are going to have a boy or a girl. (Jerks)

2.  I’ve probably made half a dozen of these sweaters, and I still get excited when I get to the final step and get to fold up the sweater.  It’s like magic.  Or origami.  Or magical origami.

3.  This pattern uses just about the same amount of yarn that a grown-up pair of socks uses, so one 100g skein of sock yarn will make an entire sweater.  And, depending on the brand of yarn, you might have a little extra to make a matching pair of bootees or a little stuffed animal or something.  AND, this pattern looks really cool when you use self-striping sock yarn.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASo, go get yourself a copy of this pattern and make a bunch of baby sweaters.  (Even if you don’t have any babies/preggo ladies in your life, it’s a fun pattern to try just for the heck of it.)

Socks II: The Resockening

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I just realized that I hadn’t made an official pattern of my Sock Week  Month Tutorial.  Here it is, in a nice .pdf format for your printing pleasure.  I also have the pattern saved in my “Pattern Library” page along with all the other patterns I’ve posted here.  And, you can see all my patterns on Ravelry.

Socks by the Numbers

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