Tag Archives: yarn

Yikes! Stripes!

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve still got socks on the brain.  They are possibly my favorite project to work on when I’m looking for something easy, portable and fun.  But, sometimes having a million plain socks gets boring, so sometimes I mix it up, and use self-striping sock yarn.  Lots of brands carry self-striping sock yarn, and when you buy it, it just looks like regular variegated sock yarn (except that the label will have the word “stripe” on it…duh):

But, when you knit your socks, you magically end up with beautifully striped socks with absolutely no effort on your part!

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Pretty awesome, right?

So, how do they do it?  Basically the yarn company figures out how much yarn the average knitter uses for every row when she makes her socks.  Then, they dye the yarn in row-long increments, so that each row is a different color.  So, for example, if it takes 1 yard of yarn to knit 1 row, they might dye the yarn sow that 5 yards are blue, then 5 yards are green.  This means that in the finished sock, you will end up with a 5 row stripe of blue followed by a 5 row stripe of green.  Pretty clever!

It’s too pretty out for a real post

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If the sun’s out in Seattle, you’re pretty much required by law to spend your day outside.  So, I decided to sit out in the yard with a nice iced coffee and a pile of granny squares and sew them together.  Not a bad afternoon.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After an hour or two of work and a few chapters of my most recent audiobook…

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And I’ve whip-stitched my squares together:

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They’re nowhere near an entire blanket yet, but they’re a start.  It’s going to end up being possibly the tackiest blanket ever (since I’m using up all my sock leftovers from over the years, and I tend to knit brightly colored socks), but I’m kind of OK with that.  It’ll be a nice project to work on a little at a time, whenever my bowl of sock yarn leftovers gets too full.

Granny Squares

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Want to make your own blanket like Chummy’s?  It’s super easy (and satisfying) to make granny squares from your scrap yarn.

I made you a video!  (I even figured out how to and sound and a title!  I’m still not sure about editing and stuff yet.  Next time, I’m thinking special effects, background music and unicorns.   Some day, I will become the Steven Spielberg of knitting/crochet videos.)

Pattern: Super Hat

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Looking for a super-quick hat to knit up?  Who isn’t at the end of April?

This hat is made with super-chunky yarn to knit up super-fast.  The finished product is super-warm for the coldest parts of winter.  It’s knitted flat, which makes it great for super-beginner knitters who are afraid of knitting in the round.  The ribbing is worked super-long  to give a nice flipped-up brim.  Super!

(I think I need a thesaurus.)

If you’re looking for a child-sized hat, use worsted-weight yarn and medium-sized needles.  If you want a doll-sized hat, use sock yarn and matching needles.

Materials:

Person-sized hat:

1 Skein Lion Brand Bulky Yarn or other super bulky yarn

Size 13 needles, or size needed to get gauge

Doll-sized hat:

A small amount of Mini Mochi, or other sock yarn

Size 2 needles, or size needed to get gauge

Scissors, tapestry needle

Gauge:

Person-sized hat: 2.5 sts/in

Doll-sized hat: 8.5 sts/in

Instructions:

Cast on 10 stitches, work back and forth as follows:

  • Row 1 (and all other odd-numbered rows): Purl
  • Row 2: K1, (K1, inc 1) 8 times, K 1 (18 sts)
  • Row 4: K1 (K2, inc 1) 8 times, K 1 (26 sts)
  • Row 6: K1 (K3, inc 1) 8 times, K 1 (34 sts)
  • Row 8: K across
  • Row 10: K1 (K4, inc 1) 8 times, K 1 Row (42 sts)
  • 12: K across
  • Row 14: K1 (K5, inc 1) 8 times, K 1 (50 sts)

Work in stockinet stitch for 15 more rows (ending with a wrong side row).

Begin ribbed brim as follow for 20 rows as follows:

  • Row 1 (and all odd-numbered rows): P2 (K2, P2) across
  • Row 2 (and all even-numbered rows): K2 (P2, K2) across
  • Bind off and cut yarn with a nice long tail.

Using the tail from the cast-on edge, sew up the crown of the hat, making sure the seam is on the inside (the purl side). Don’t forget to close up the hole at the top of the hat, too! Hide the end of your yarn in the inside of the hat, and cut off any extra yarn.

Using the tail from the bound-off (brim) end of the hat, sew up the brim, making sure the seam is on the outside of the hat. This seems weird and backward, but since this hat is designed with a fold-up brim, the outside of the hat is actually hidden when the hat is worn.  Sew in the tail and cut the yarn, making sure the remaining tail is on the inside of the hat.