“I Don’t Have Cabin Fever” Knit Scarf

I finally had chance to finish the scarf I was knitting.  I hadn’t really given it any kind of tame, but someone contacted me for info on how to make it, so I thought I would share.

I am not in a position to type a formal pattern and save as a PDF today, but the general directions are as follows:

I DON’T HAVE CABIN FEVER KNIT SCARF

Size 8 (US)  straight knitting needles

7 ounces  (384 yards) worsted weight yarn

Blunt end yarn needle

Cast on 30 stitches

A:  Garter stitch for ten rows.

B:  Next row, knit across row, but wrap yarn twice around needle instead of once.

Next row, knit across row by knitting  only one wrapped strand from previous row.

C:  Garter stitch for eight rows.

Repeat B and C above for length of scarf, ending with C.

Bind off.

Weave in yarn ends.

Note: Wrapping yarn twice round your needle, then knitting only one wrapped strand on the following row is how the Drop Stitch is made.  Drop Stitches give an airy look to a knitted piece.  For this particular scarf, I wanted to knit something while looking out my picture window at our late April snowfall.  The Garter Stitch is easy to knit while looking away from my needles, but the Drop Stitch adds enough interest to keep the task from becoming tedious.

I rescued the yarn for the scarf pictured below from a thrift store.  There were three skeins of the variegated yarn.  The scarf required two, so I have a skein left for matching mittens!

p.s. I knit the little flowers many years ago, but they still look cheery in that little cut glass vase after all these years!

The Bun and Pony Show

I wasn’t completely listless during the film fest that I threw for myself yesterday.  I managed to knit GN’s head accessory that will pass her JROTC uniform inspection.  Then I managed to knit a second one in a more fun color for her to wear on other days. 

I call it the ‘Bun and Pony Show’.  It’s basically a watch cap with the shaping necessary  to accommodate a hair bun or ponytail . . . or maybe I should say partial watch cap shaping that allows for the bun and pony show.  Below are photos of GN’s black version.  It actually buttons under her bun so it is less likely to mess her hair.  She can wrap it on, rather than pull it over her bun.

 

I had a feeling she would like it, so I choose a brighter fabric for her to wear on non-uniform days.  The green matches one of the colors in a scarf she  made for herself last year.  I didn’t get the ends woven in until after I dropped her at school today, so you are stuck with the Gram for the Bun and Pony model.  For this version, I skipped the buttonholes and knit the lower portion in the round on dpn’s. (double-pointed needles).

The green one is cute as it is in the photos, but I plan to add some knitted flowers along the top edge of the hole for the bun or pony.  I have yarn in the other colors of GN’s so will make flowers in those colors.  I took the photo without the flowers because a) I wanted to show the hole edge without the flowers.  I used a single crochet to tidy up the diagonal rib decreases; and b) I haven’t knit the flowers yet. 

It’s a fun piece to wear with long hair down, too.  Just pull your locks through the opening.  It’s more covering than an ear warmer. 

I am planning to knit a third Bun and Pony Show in a brown wool that will match that long Teddy Bear winter coat I bought for myself.   Here’s the pdf file for the Bun and Pony Show Winter Headwear Pattern.  Pattern is for the version without the buttons.

Happy knitting!

Hello to visitors!

I want to say ‘hello’ to all the visitors who have been stopping by my blog because of a knitting link that has gained a wide circulation today.  I know the link goes directly to the pattern for which some visitors may be looking, but I see that tons of you have also found my home page.

I want to let you know that there is a related follow-up pattern that turned the face cloth into a table runner.  For the fast knitters, there may still be time to get that done for Easter.  If not, there is always next year.  To see the Easter Crosses Illusion Table Runner and get the free pdf, click the link. 

Besides,  a knitting-related post makes for a better Home Page than the ‘Dead Guy Mail’ post I just uploaded on what I didn’t know was going to be a high site-traffic day.  

Advent Candles Illusion Knit Table Runner

I know it’s St. Patrick’s Day but I just finished knitting an Advent runner for my table and I promised to post the pattern when it was completed.  Besides, because of the design, I will leave it on my table for the remainder of Lent now, too.

Here’s the techno-deal for the day . . . the light was perfect, I set the table with winter greens and everything, took the photos and then my camera died.  I don’t mean died as in the battery needs charging.  I mean died as in there is no way I’m going to get those photos from that camera.  So I asked Goodnight if I could borrow her iPod to use the built-in camera.  She was kind enough to agree.  (Thank you, Honey.) By the time I realized my problem and re-set the table for Advent, the light had changed.  I admit that I rushed the second photo shoot because we were on our way out the door for green bagels!      Oh well, you’ll get the idea.

The photo below shows the four purple candles with their respective yellow flames.  The image is repeated at the opposite end of the runner.  I left the center section a plain white to accommodate the Advent centerpiece of candles and greenery.

The photo below shows the table runner from a different angle.  As one moves about an Illusion/Shadow knit piece, the images come in and out of view.  I love it!

The following photo is an overhead shot of part of the runner: just stripes.

Like I said, I’m leaving the runner on my table for Lent.  I deep-sixed the winter greens and swapped them out for a vase of brown twigs.  Two-season table runner!

If you’d like to knit my Advent Candles Illusion Knit Table Runner, feel free to click the link to download the pdf.

Happy knitting!

Liverpool Football Club Illusion knit scarf

A knitter contacted me last week and asked if I could help her with a scarf she wanted to make for her husband, an avid fan of the Liverpool Football Club.  She told me that she liked the Illusion/Shadow style of knitting she had seen on some of my Super Bowl 2012 Super Scarves, but didn’t know how to come up with the design.  I agreed to help. 

She sent me a link to the Liverpool Football Club’s website and we discussed the lettering and the colors.  Easy enough.  Additionally, I noticed a red and white checked pattern on the website, so I incorporated the checks into the Illusion work.  Check the link for the website.  You can see the lettering as well as the red and white checked pattern there.

Here’s what I came up with in the end.

 

Every good visible Illusion image photo has a good invisible Illusion image photo to accompany it.  Changing the viewing angle of the knitted piece makes the image appear or disappear.

If you live across the pond from me (or across the street) and are a fan of the Liverpool Football Club or know someone who is and would like to make the Liverpool Football Club Illusion Knit Scarf , click the link for the free pdf pattern. 

Happy knitting!

Pi Day Face Cloth

I know it’s only February 12, but it won’t be long until Pi Day – 3/14 –  rolls around.

Some knitters have recently found my Pi Party Illusion Cloth pattern and someone who felt she knew only knitting basics asked if the cloth could be made using only one color.  It can!  I promised the knitter this morning that if I could find the time in the next few days, I would work it up for her.  I found the time today.  It isn’t Illusion knitting when done as it is in the photo below, but it’s still a Pi cloth.

 If you would like to knit this Pi Day Face Cloth, feel free to click the link for the pdf pattern.  If you know how to cast on, bind off, knit and purl, you can make this cloth!

Happy Pi Day knitting!

Super Scarf Pattern: It’s All About the Ball

Hello everyone,

Four days left until Super Bowl XLVI!

I have one more pattern ready to share before the big game.  It’s for one of my early Super Scarves, #5 It’s All About the Ball.  It’s worked in garter stitch, with the exception of the increases and decreases.

I typed the pattern last night, the when I tried to open it this morning, the file was corrupted.  I recovered the text, inserted the photos again and have it ready to go.  I hope there aren’t any hidden bugs left.  If you’d like to knit my It’s All About the Ball Super Scarf Pattern, click the link for the PDF file. 

Happy knitting!

Hands-Free XLVI Neck Wrap

In my previous post, I showed a pic of what I came up with to wear to Indianapolis Super Bowl XLVI events.  The pic is a little deceiving, however, though not intentionally.  What I have around my neck isn’t exactly a scarf.  It can double as one when it is unwrapped, but that isn’t how I want to wear it.

I know that long winter scarves can be wrapped any number of ways, tucked here and there to make the ends stay in place, but mine all seem to eventually get blown in the wind or unwrapped to have loose ends.  I didn’t want loose ends in Indy.  I want to be warm outdoors, but keep my hands free for taking photos of Super Scarves and doing other things in Super Bowl Village that don’t involve holding onto a scarf end.

So . . . when wrapped properly, my hands-free neck wrap looks like this:

When unwrapped, it can still be a scarf, though a bit shorter than usual.

It’s not a tough piece to make.  It’s just 2 x 2 ribbing.  But, I wanted to have some fun with the pattern, so in honor of Super Bowl XLVI, I wrote my pattern, directions, dimensions etc.,  using Roman Numerals!   Don’t worry.  I added a link to a Roman Numeral Chart in case you’re a little rusty.  I called it XLVI Neck Wrap because that’s how many stitches I used.

If you would like to knit my Hands Free XLVI Neck WrapHands Free XLVI Neck Wrap, feel free to click the link.

Happy knitting!

“Gram? Do you have a Mustache?”

I was minding my own business this morning – sitting at the table, looking down at my knitting.  Goodnight came down the stairs in an unusually bouncy mood for a school day.  Don’t get me wrong; she loves school, but she’s a normal teen and school mornings aren’t her ‘bounciest’ time.

She stood on the other side of the table for a second, staring at me.  I find that waiting works better than prodding.  Then . . .

GN: Gram? Do you have a mustache?

Gram: (the voice in my head said ”Don’t answer that til you know     E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what she’s asking.)  I let my knitting rest in my lap and looked up at her – secretly hoping that the light would fall on my upper lip, thus taking away any shadow that caused her question.  What WAS that girl thinking?

GN:  Oh!  Ha ha hahahaha!  I mean . . . do you have a SPARE mustache?

Gram: (the voice in my head didn’t like that question any better.  In fact, that she asked me for a spare, implied an aswer to her first question.  Yikes!)  I . . . said . . . .nothing.

GN:  I mean . . . do you have a mustache that I can use for my costume for today?  See, I gotta play this guy who murdered someone.  We read it in a book and today we are acting out the trial.  See, I’m going on trial for murder today and I gotta have a mustache.  Do you have one?

Gram:  (Seems like someone going on trial for murder needs more than a mustache.  The voice in my head was secretly praising me for waiting – with dignity – while at the same time looking at the clock and calculating the minutes she had before her school bus arrived AND saying to myself, ”Does she realize how long Officer Friendly has been gone and that he didn’t have a mustache either?)  Gosh, Hon.  Lemme think about this.  You want to wear a mustache today, eh?  AND you think I have a spare, eh?  I have no mustaches in this house.  But . . . WAIT!!!  I think I can do this!!!!!

I slipped the project I was knitting right off the needles, picked up a bit of black wool that was right there on the table in front of me and knit that crazy girl a mustache!

GN: Gram!  I look like Hercule Poirot!  Thanks!

 

The eighth grade class has been reading an Agatha Christie novel and will be acting out the trial today . . . however Monsieur Poirot is not a character in this particular Christie volume.

GN made it to her bus on time – wearing the mustache.

GN’s Knit Mustache

Black wool – sport weight

#3 straight needles

Cast on 20 stitches.

(The cast on side of the mustache is the bottom and goes just above the lip.)

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: Bind off 2 stitches, knit to end of row.

Row 4: Bind off 2 stithces, knit to end of row.

For 5 Bind off 3 stithces, knit to end of row.

Row 6: Bind of 3 stitches, knit to end of row.

Row 7: Bind off 4 stitches, knit to end of row.

Row 8: Bind off 4 stitches, knit to end of row.

Row 9: Bind off last 2 stitches leaving a 12-14 inch tail.  Cut yarn.

(This side of the mustache is the top and goes under the nose.)

With the bind-off tail, take a few loose stitches through the center of the fabric – from the top of mustache to the bottom and then back up to the top.  Pull tightly to gather the fabric.  This draws the middle of the mustache upwards and provides a bit of additional shaping.  Secure the gathering and then weave in the end.

Weave in the cast on tail.

Affix to wearer’s upper lip with duct tape rolled over on itself to provide two sticky surfaces.  (Or you could use double-sided tape if it’s sticky enough.)

Have fun! 

A Cautionary Plea to Knitters

This is just a little blurb to all the knitters who have been stopping by here lately.

I can see by the blog stats that two of my knitting patterns are currently being viewed quite frequently lately: Pastor’s Winter Cap and Scarf and my Skunk Scarf. 

      

If you are knitting them both as gifts, I implore you not to get them mixed up.  They both require black and white yarn as I designed them.  I like them both, of course, but you’re bound to upset the pastor if you gift wrap the Skunk Scarf accidentally.  Of course, if the pastor is a different denomination than the skunk . . . carry on!