Quart Cozy

I had someone ask me for a cozy for her quart sized mason jar, and I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I wanted it to be simple so it would work with variegated yarn if I had some I wanted to use, but it also needed a see through bit so you'd know when it was time for a refill.
Enter, the quart cozy

Pattern:

Worsted yarn, leftovers should do it. I knit on size 6 needles. Gauge ~5.5sts per inch

Cast on 56. Join to knit in the round.

K2P2 ribbing for 7 rows.

Begin pattern section. Cozy is knit in stockinette with one panel of the pattern stuck in wherever you like. Or you could go nuts and put it in twice. That's completely up to you.

Pattern Section

Row 1 - P2, SSK, YO, K3, YO, K2tog, P2

Row 2 - P2, K7, P2

Row 3 - P2, K2, YO, sl 1, K2tog, PSSO, YO, K2, P2

Row 4 - P2, K7, P2

After your piece is 6.5" (including ribbing) begin to decrease

K5, K2tog for 1 round

K4, K2tog around

K3, K2tog around... and so on, ending with a K2tog round.

Thread your needle through the last 8sts and pull tight. Weave in ends. Enjoy

 

Resolution

In which I am determined to photograph everything I knit this year.
We're off to a great start.

Finally!

I've not been blogging since we lost our Loki. Most everybody knows that we have gotten a new puppy. We named him Hagrid, because he is hairy and not at all large. He is cute and takes a lot of time. I still miss Loki, but having a puppy around helps.

 

In other news, I FINALLY finished Rowan's Christmas present. Yes, I know it's March. It was a complicated knit, on size 2 needles. Frankly, I'm proud of myself for getting it done in 3.5 months. We had all that stuff happening, and Rowan had a surgery, and I simply had to take breaks from it to maintain my sanity. The front wasn't hard at all, but miles of stockinette on tiny needles has its own brand of peril.

But now, behold... The Vest. Be aware that this is not blocked. He couldn't wait for that to wear it. I'll block it later so I can enter it in the Carolina Fiber Fest.

 

It's not terribly impressive from the front, but that's a lot of knitting. Keep your hats on for the back.

 

I believe this deserves nothing less than a SHAAAA-ZAAAM! And it's big on him. He can wear it for years. 

And since Jane said that the colors he chose work well for not only the Order of the Phoenix, but also for the Weeping Angels...

Pattern: Order of the Phoenix Winged Vest

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes

Needles: Size 1 for the cuffs, Size 2 for the body

The one that taught me about gauge

I cast on this sweater 2ish years ago. I went to the yarn shop with Fran, and we saw the sweetest little sweater. She loved it and bought the pattern and yarn, and then handed it all to me and sent me on my merry way with it.

I knit a gauge swatch or two, figured I had it, and started knitting. I knit the fronts, the back, the sleeves, and then thought they might be easier to sew together if I blocked them first, so I threw them in the bath.

That's where I got my big lesson.

You see, the yarn was completely different after it had gotten wet. WAY different. It GREW. A LOT. And suddenly the reason I didn't get gauge on the needles the pattern recommended was pretty obvious. Because it grew once it got wet.

I skipped that step where you're supposed to wash your swatch the way you'll wash your finished item. I'd done that over and over again, and the swatch never really changed with washing. It might get a bit thicker, but the size was always pretty much the same - but then the fiber was always the same. I usually just knit with straight wool, or a wool and acrylic blend, or plain old acrylic. This was a fancy blend of merino, silk, and cashmere. It didn't do what I was used to, and there is where I fell down.

Faced with a way bigger sweater than I wanted, and having to do a bunch of seaming while matching up stripes, I stuffed it in a bag and walked away from it. But I did remember the lesson and made sure to wash the swatches when I cast on for bigger sweaters for me - you better believe that!

Finally, I took the pieces back to Fran and handed them over. I really do hate seaming, and she said she'd be happy to put the pieces together for me, but she was not going to knit that ruffle.

I got the pieces back from her this summer, and finally sat down yesterday to do the last bit. That ruffle went on for ages, but everything else was done, and even though the sweater was way bigger than I originally thought it would be, Eleri was now the perfect size to fit it, so I needed to get cracking before there was a chill in the air.

She picked out the button after her nap, and here we are.

2 years later, it's a perfect fit!

WIP Wednesday

With dental visits, orthodontist visits, car pool, and baseball coming up - knitting that travels well is essential.
Socks fit the bill.

ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! And introducing WIP Wednesday

I got to try out the new Rex urgent care today.
Rowan dropped a spaghetti sauce jar on the front walk yesterday when he was taking out the recycling. He cleaned it up (he said) and I forgot ALLLLLL about it until right before lunchtime today, when I found a big piece of glass with my foot.
I now know what hurts the instep more than Lego. A big piece of glass.

 

5 stitches and a tetanus shot for me!

Black and white and after I got cleaned up, because I love you.

 

So, I'm grounded for a while. No pool for 2 weeks. I can't even shower for 3 days. :( Thank goodness for a tub and a shower head on a hose. Mama needs to wash her hair. 

 

What's a girl to do with forced sitting time? Good thing I knit. 

It's WIP Wednesday. I decided to start working on a Tempest Shawl, for my Goddaughter's first communion some time in the future. Yes, I have a lot of works in progress. I've decided that Wednesday is when I'll show you whatever particular one I'm working on that day.

knitting plans 2013

To make this year, for me:

Celtic Icon - in purple from knitpicks yarn (already in stash)

TARDIS shawl - in blue from knitpicks yarn (already in stash)

Wrap Sweater - in "Niall" from TIG (just ordered)

Avalon hat - from my one ball of Spiffy Knits

and I'm sure I'll think of more...

Oh how she's grown!

My Pixie is tiny for her age, but she sure has grown since she was a baby!
I knit this little dress for her when she was 9 months old.

 

It now makes a lovely top.

 

It's nice when a knit has longevity. :)

I may have a bit of a problem

My grand plans for today involved cleaning up my house and organizing things. It all started when I couldn't find the spindle of blank CDs. I joined a CD swap, and I'm already late sending mine out.
That's not unusual. I have issues with mailing things on time. But everywhere I looked, it seemed like yarn was in the way... So I got sidetracked and ended up tossing the stash. - No, not into the garbage!

Tossing is when you go through the stash, look at it, check for moths, wind what needs winding, and sort it in some new and exciting way to try and make it fit where you have to keep it.

It is currently all over my living room.  :|
In fact, it is currently at war with the laundry that needs folding, battling to see who will be supreme leader of the couch.

In my madness of the day, I decided that part of my problem is that I go looking for yarn to use, and never know if I have enough in the stash to do a whole project. I had the bright idea to weigh anything that didn't have its label, and sort them out by weight and then if they are solid or a colorway.
It was fun in a super anal retentive sort of way.

I now know how much yarn I have. While it is a lot, I was sure I had more. That means that somewhere, some skeins have gone renegade. Where? Who knows? Maybe I knit them after all, because it's only a vague sense of "wasn't there more?" instead of a definite knowing that something specific is hiding from me.
I even found a couple of balls that I was sure had been gone long ago.

So here I will present to you some of the fruits of my labor. This is a bowl/art installation that I will call Snack Size Yarn. It is only colorways - no solids. Every ball weighs less than 1oz. If there were several balls of the same colorway and dye lot, they got put into a bag together and didn't make it to the bowl.

Oh wait. I just spotted that wee yellow bit down front there. It's a solid. It's going to have to go into the solid bag.

These are just the under 1oz bits. I put them all in a basket, and their total weight all together is 1lb 6oz.

The 1-2oz bits are in another pile, and the over 2oz bits get to hang out with the full skeins. It's a complicated system, but I think we call all agree...
I might have a little bit of a yarn problem.

The Toddler called Jayne

My friends pestered me until I finally broke down and watched the Firefly series on Netflix, and now I'm with them. What a great show! I really wish there were more than the 14 measly episodes we got from Fox.
But now I'm in the know, so now I know exactly what a Jayne hat is, and how wonderfully awful it is, and I had the opportunity to make one.
My friend has a chance to go to a comic con, and Adam Baldwin will be there! Jayne! In person! And she just happens to have a toddler who has Jayne as her middle name. That's TWO reasons for a Jayne hat. I offered, she accepted, and I looked around for a pattern.
There are lots of Jayne hat patterns on Ravelry, but all of them were written for adults, or newborns, or even smaller. Nothing in the right size, and most of them used a bulky yarn instead of the worsted I'd gotten. So I figured I should go ahead and write my own. I've made ear flap hats before, but this one is extra easy because you aren't supposed to worry about fixing the flaps so they won't curl. They're supposed to!


Jayne Hat - Toddler size (approx 19" head)
Materials - Worsted Weight Yarn.  I used Vanna's Choice in brick, rust, and golden yellow.
16" circular needles, and DPNs in whatever size you get gauge (I used size 7)
Gauge: 9sts for 2" in the round
Abbreviations: SSK - slip 2 sts knitwise, place those back on the left needle, knit those 2 together
P2togTBL - Purl 2 together through the back loops


How to do it:
Using orange, cast on 76sts. Join to knit in the round.
K1P1 for 3 rounds.
Continue knitting in stockinette until orange stripe is ~3" high. Change to yellow yarn.
Continue knitting with yellow yarn until yellow stripe  is also about 3" high. 
K2tog all the way around. Change to DPNs when your circumference gets too small.
Keep on with the K2tog around and around until you have about 10sts left on your needles. Ma Cobb wasn't picky about the crown shaping.
Cut yarn and thread the tail through the 10 remaining sts. Snug it up and tie it down.


For ear flaps:
Ma Cobb wasn't picky about placement either. Your ears are a little ways to the back of your head. To figure out where the flaps go, lay the hat flat and mark the sides.

 

Then you'll pick up about 15 sts along the side for the ear flap. Just pick up one leg of the cast on edge, so the outside of the hat stays looking nice and cunning. 

 

Make sure you pick up 5 or so stitches on the front side of the marker, and the other 10 go toward the rear of the hat. By the way, you might want to mark which end is the front of your hat so you'll remember when you get around to knitting the other flap.

Knit in stockinette stitch until your flap is about 2" long, ending with a wrong side.

Decreases: Right side - K1, SSK, Knit until 3sts are left, K2tog, K1

Wrong side - P1, P2tog, Purl until 3 sts are left, P2togTBL, P1

Continue on in this fashion until you get to a purl row that only has 5sts left. P2tog, P1, P2togTBL

Bind off those last 3sts knitwise. Leave that string hanging and thread another one through the end there and tie it in a knot. Trim it up so it looks real nice.

Pompom

I'll assume you know what you're doing there. I figured since there wasn't as much red in the hat, there should be more red in the pompom. I used a cereal box flap to make mine, and wrapped a layer of red, a layer of yellow, a layer of orange, and then another layer of red. That seemed like enough, so I tied it, cut it, and gave it a hair cut.

 

I'll be sending this one on tomorrow so the toddler who needs it will get it in time. I have a feeling that my own little one is going to be looking for it, so I'll likely be making another one pretty soon.

Now we are 35.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was not a really birthday kind of day. The Pixie is still snotty and coughing, I'm still snotty and coughing, and we had to go to the school for Kindergarten night instead of doing a fun birthday type evening. It ended up being pretty fun watching Niall do his thing. He showed us how he uses the materials in his classroom to add 4 digit numbers together. It was very cool. Of course, I forgot the camera. John took a cell phone picture, so now we have to figure out how to get that picture off his phone and onto some sort of usable platform.

Until then, have a picture of one of my recent knits. It's the Hermione Hat, and I made it for Rowan's teacher, who is moving away to California this month. We are really sad to see her go, but she's starting a grand new adventure with her little family, and we know she's going to have fun.

How do you knit a fridge?

It's very simple, really.
First, you knit for a few weeks and make 3 pairs of shorties for a local lady.

Then, you stalk Craigslist and find someone selling a fridge for $100.

End of the year teacher gifts

Today is Rowan's last day of school! Pics of that later, after the day is over and we've gone to pick him up. The rest of the class won't finish school until Thursday, but Rowan is going to Victory Junction for camp, so he's leaving the class early.
We decided to give the teachers each a wash cloth and a bar of soap from a local farm. So here they are, the Elvish Leaves dishcloth, and a bar of soap from the Mooning Goat Dairy.

Ruffles!

Someone was in a bad mood when we first tried out ruffled shorties...
But she got over it.

Yay! Ruffles!

Why yes, I have been knitting.

Knitting quite a bit

I've also finished some shorts for Eleri but the verdict is still out on those. I put ruffles on the cuffs but she seems to think that she can't walk while wearing them. I will give her a day or two but if she still hates them I'll take them down and put on plain cuffs.

and yes, there's that whole pool thing. I plan on making a big post about that once the whole thing is done. Let me tell you, it has been a PROJECT, and John deserves husband of the year.

I learned something new today!

I learned how to make a shell edging. :D

These are the britches I made for the Pixie for her birthday. They still fit in the body but are too short in the legs, so I took them down into shorties for this summer. And now that I have a little girl, I need to learn some of those fancy edges. I watched a youtube video over and over to learn how, and then I did it!

Pixie Dust sweater

I started this one when Rowan had his pre op and finished it the night before his post op. It didn't take that long to knit, but I didn't have a lot of knitting time along in the middle there.
I think she likes it.
The pattern is the KPS Baby Cardigan, only I made button loops and used sheepy buttons instead of making ties. The yarn is from Mosaic Moon, in the Pixie Dust colorway.

The Pixie has reached a very hard to photograph age. She's on the MOVE and isn't stopping for anybody, much less that same old momperson behind the camera.

She has not yet learned the art of going in and out through the dog door, but I fear that it's not too far in the future. It's a good thing we gate off the kitchen most of the time.

John's fishy hat

Finished on Dec 31st, on the road. One fishy hat, from this pattern, made using scraps of wool ease.
Fitting for the marine biologist, don't you think?

I forgot to turn on the flash, but I like his face here.