I can't wait until this is finished to post about it. The hat is too fantastic. It's mustard yellow, slouchy and has a beautiful lace pattern. I found it a few days ago while trolling Ravelry and instantly had to buy it once I saw the preview images that went along with the pattern. (Find the pattern here.)
This is what my hat looks like currently, after 4 days of work:
This is what it should like after I'm finally finished.
Needless to say, I'm very anxious to finish. I'm not used to spending so long on one item. The lace repeats and length makes this a bit tiring on my poor fingers, but the end result will be worth it. I'm also thinking that I might pick up this beautiful ice blue yarn from the model picture and knit this hat again.
On another note, I took a break from knitting to finally sit down and make a business card that I can hand out to people who ask (and to slip into gift bags for purchases). I am not very confident in my photoshop skills and I tried to create a card earlier last week, but to my chagrin it did not work very well once I got to the printing stage. So I gave it another try today and I have to say that I am very pleased with the result. It's absolutely perfect and really captures my style.
Aren't they the prettiest? I love them so.
Please note, the facebook page listed on the card doesn't really exist at the moment. It will, very soon, but for now it's just writing on a card.
Boy have I been busy lately! I don't think I've stopped knitting these past few weeks. And if I have, it's been to look for new patterns that I'd like to try and to drive back and forth to the city. Due to this busy spurt, I decided to wait until things relaxed a bit to make another blog post but now that it has, I don't even really know where to start. I'm going to stick to jot notes!
I wore my Shamrock Headband proudly this past weekend in St. John's and it was a hit! (So was Emily's -- I had made a lighter version for her). Women stopped both of us asking where we got them and we so full of praise when they heard they were hand knit. What a great feeling! A few even asked for my card. Another woman asked if I had a card when I was at East Side Mario's this weekend as well. I really need to get on that!
Even Johnny had to wear the headband for a bit!
Finally got to deliver all the headbands and other orders to my customers!
I've gotten very crafty with my packaging (gift tags, brown craft bag, tissue paper).
Finally got around to making the Cranberry Sauce hat I fell in love with on Ravelry. I used the Fairy Tale yarn from Knitpicks (Bravia Bulky line) and it's so comfy. I think if I make it again, however, I'll add a few extra repeats of the cable pattern to make it more slouchy.
My second hat this week was the Acorn Lace Hat that I've been asked to make for my sister's roommate. It turned out lovely seeing as it was the first time I'd babbled in lace work. But again, not as slouchy as I would have liked. The yarn is very stretchy however, so maybe with wear it'll get larger.
Acorn Lace Hat in Black.
And my final project this week is the Mug Cozy in Candy Apple Red. I started this last night while teaching a friend how to knit for the first time. I used two strands of the worsted weight yarn, but it got extremely knit after the first few rows. Next time I'll stick to a single strand. Really happy with the result though!
I live in rural Newfoundland. If you've read this blog before, you'll know that. If not, you've learned something new today! Now, I really enjoy life here for the most part, but when it comes to knitting, my choice of yarn is very very limited. I'm stuck with Red Heart or Bernat worsted weight yarn and only select colours. So when I visit the city (St. John's -- the best city in the world might I add), I kind of go a little crazy with my yarn purchases at Michaels, A Good Yarn and Wool Trends. I bought 10 skeins of yarn this weekend alone. I had visited A Good Yarn and Wool Trends for the first time and really couldn't leave without something for my stash. But I got a little out of hand.
Then, I went to the post office this morning to mail off a few Shamrock Headbands to friends and discovered that my Knit Picks order had arrived! 8 more skeins for my stash. Whatever am I going to do with all this yarn?!
Finally here after 3.5 weeks!!
Jewel tones everywhere
The whole Knit Picks stash
What wonderful colours! 18 skeins of yarn love.
I knew that the first thing I needed to do was organize it all and get it out of the dusty corner in my living room. I have a beautiful 9 section black bookcase in the spare room here so I decided to reclaim a few sections for my yarn. Two sections for worsted weight, one for Bulky and another for Super Bulky. I'm quite happy with the result.
Now I have to get back to the knitting. All that yarn is yearning to be used!
While I certainly didn't intend to have a St. Patrick's Day filled Saturday, that's exactly how yesterday turned out. First of all, I bought the new Chieftain's album, Voice of Ages, and blared it on the ol' stereo system all morning long. Then a trip to the local Dollarama was filled with Patty's Day purchases (beaded necklaces, earrings, decals for my front window). But I couldn't find a decent headband.
So when I got home and started trawling through the patterns on Ravelry, I came across this beautiful pattern for an adjustable, two-strand headband by Rachel Bishop (Pattern here). It's the first time I've made an I-Cord, and the whole thing turned out amazing. I made two cords in Kelly Green and thought I might leave it at that. But when I finished the cords, I wanted to add more to it. Hence the Shamrocks. I YouTubed a tutorial on crocheting (which has hated me up until now) and I made these two different crocheted shamrocks and attached them to the strands.
The best part of the headband is that it's adjustable. Most headbands like this on Ravelry are tied together in the back or joined by a series of knit stitches. This one, however, is joined by a hair elastic. Both strands are attached to the elastic and thus it will stretch to fit whoever it's made for. And it's comfortable! No pesky plastic digging into the back of your ears.
I've been making hats for almost a month now. I have made berets, beanies and toques so far. And they were all solid colours. They are fun to make, don't get me wrong, but it's gotten a bit repetitive. So I decided it was time to try out some color work techniques (using two or more colours in a piece) using the Fair Isles Hat pattern by Bernat.
This was a challenging project. It was the first pattern I've tried that uses a chart to designate the pattern and what colour to be used. This particular pattern isn't written very clearly (for a beginner in colour work at least) so I spent a good bit of my afternoon yesterday translating the chart into a workable row pattern.
When I get around to it, I will post this to Ravelry for anyone who wants to tackle the hat but is scared of charts.
A few tips for fellow knitters though:
This pattern is written as a straight needle method project. I worked in the round (on US 8 - 24") and just ignored the abbreviations for WS and purl. Anywhere it says to purl, I just knit.
In the last row of your ribbing, I used the k1fb stitch every 16th stitch in order to increase by 5 stitches evenly. I'm terrible at the M1 stitch and always get small holes in my work when I use that method of increasing.
It's very useful to place stitch markers between each pattern repeat once you start chart work. It kept me on track and it was easier to notice if I made any mistakes in my stitches.
Once you start Chart II, be very careful of the tension of your Contrasting Colour (the Mosaic yarn). I was using US 8 dpns by this point and my tension became very tight and the top started to pucker.
I also used another method of making the pom-pom for the top of the hat. The hand method used in this pattern made a very large and loose pom-pom. I made two small circles out of cardboard and followed that technique.
I must say though, this hat makes me happy just looking at it. All the colours are just brilliant and it was a great first colour work project. I really want to make another now!
What a fun hat to knit! It was my first attempt at colour work (knitting with two colours) and it was relatively easy -- but a tad tedious. The whole project was tedious actually. The ribbing took almost two days to complete as it's meant to be doubled-up or folded over. Then I had to knit the actually hat part. Then make the pom-pom. Blah. The moral of the story is that it took a lot of work to finish but boy is it ever nice! Fits great and looks super cute. One of those hats you wear if you're going to play out in the snow... or in my case, shovel it.
So that one is finished and I'm planning on starting a different hat today. The hat Hermione wore in The Deathly Hallows to be exact. Updates on that soon.
And on a happy note, my friend Elizabeth over at The Elizabeth Files just received her hat in the mail today! She loves it and I couldn't be happier. I'm glad to see a hat find a head to call home :-)
It's Friday and of course we have a snowday. It wouldn't be February without a snowstorm every Friday. Seriously. Last year we didn't have school once on a Friday in February. It's a thing. But I am prepared!
I also have to share a shot of the beautiful little Thank-You cards I came across at the store yesterday. Perfect for including with my hats when I package them up!
That's it for now. I'm off to start a new hat for a friend. Happy weekend!
I'm officially obsessed with knitting hats. Since buying my Boye Interchangeable Needle set, I've made 5 hats and I don't intend on stopping. My first men's hat (the Regular Man's Beanie found on ravelry.com) has even been sold to a friend. My first sale! Needless to say I'm excited about that. I love to knit these hats, but getting paid for them is an amazing feeling.
I know I should post these pictures chronologically, I really want to showcase my latest knit first. I followed the Seed Beret pattern by Diane Serviss and I'm totally in love. I used the US size 11 and 15 needles as indicated in the pattern and Wool-Ease Thick and Quick (Super Bulky) in Fisherman. Mind you, it didn't come out as slouchy as the pictures indicate, I think I prefer this beanie style. Have a look see.
It's strange that my porch is the only part of my house with good lighting.
I made the regular ribbed brim and star-crossed cap version of this hat (it's the prettiest way to finish the cap of a hat, isn't it?!) but added brass buttons to the ribbing because I thought it added a lot to the look of the final product. Steps up the classiness really. And you can't have too much class. Ok, here's another picture of the ribbing detail and the buttons for good measure.
I really couldn't be happier with the result. Now I have a lovely hat to wear with my brand new Spring coat that I probably won't get to wear until June (did I mention that I hate winter in Newfoundland?).
But I digress. I have made other hats before this seed stitch beauty. I'll spare you pictures and a huge diatribe as they are just colour variations on the Slouchy Beret that I wrote about earlier this week. However, while I was bored this weekend, I knitted up my first men's hat from the Regular Guy's Beanie pattern.
I used Red Heart's Super Saver worsted weight yarn in Aran Fleck and US 8 needles for this particular hat. While I love the colour of the yarn, a different yarn might have been more stretchy. When I make this hat again, I think I will add a few more rows of the knit repeat to make it a bit longer, but otherwise I'm pleased with the results. This is also my first sale as a knitter! A friend of mine tried it on at my Super Bowl Party and fell in love with it, so I was very pleased when he said he wanted to buy it.
This knitting business is exciting. Can you believe I've only been knitting for a little over 1 month? I certainly can't.
It's been a few days since my last post. Apologies for anyone checking in and finding nothing new. I was very sad to lose my amazing grandfather this week, so blogging certainly wasn't a priority. However, I kept knitting. Knitting has quickly become a hobby that I can lose myself in and calm down, so when I've had a moment to myself, I've been able to work on my first 'knitting in the round' project: a Star Crossed Slouchy Beret.
Now this is a hat I am proud of. I had tried a "cloche" style hat before, one that was knitted back-and-forth and then sewn together, but the result was somewhat lack lustre. It was very tight and wasn't really a style I'd wear. But this is a hat I'd wear everywhere.
And it was fairly easy to make. I followed a pattern written by Natalie Larson found HERE. Material wise, my sister bought a skein of Loops & Threads Impeccable (worsted) in Kelly Green for the hat (it was her first knitted gift from me) and I used a US 10 circular needle for the rim and US 11 for the body of the hat. Suggestion: have a set of US 10 or 11 DPNs on hand for the end of the hat. After 4-5 decrease repeats, you'll need to transfer the remaining stitched onto the DPNs to finish the hat. I also didn't pay attention to my gauge. I think if you knit moderately loose, it'll turn out lovely.
My recent project, an Anthropologie-inpsired Braided Headwrap by Jen Geigley, has quickly become my favourite thing I've knitted. I will wear this and I will wear it until the yarn breaks apart. It's the perfect width, the yarn is super warm and its comfortable. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn in Charcoal and size US 13 needles to complete the headwrap. It's also super fast to finish. I was watching the Giants vs. 49ers football game (yes, I knit and watch sports and realize I'm the biggest contradiction) and it took approxiamtely 3 hours from cast on to cast off.
While I very much dislike snow (anything that causes cancellations is not a friend of mine), I can't discount how beautiful the town looks after a fresh blanket of the stuff falls. This is the second day of snow (and thus shovelling) we've had this week.
Since I've started posting pictures of my knitting successes on Facebook and here on my blog, I've had so many friends comment and say they've been inspired to start knitting themselves, or wanted to learn. How great is that? It's lovely to hear.
In my opinion, knitting is best learned from someone else, hands on and visually. Sure, you can pick up a book with lots of pictures, but pictures can't show you the direction you move the yarn or smaller intricacies of the different stitches. Coming from Newfoundland, a culture where knitting and other forms of needlework was such a large part of rural society (from necessity to a form of social gathering amongst women), learning to knit is the best passed down from generation to generation, like many other traditional artforms (music and storytelling being the most common here in Newfoundland).
That being said, times are different. In a culture where convenience often trumps creativity, finding someone to teach you how to knit isn't easy. While I had my mother to show me the basics, with modern technology, it's possible to learn to knit without your grandmother sitting next to you telling you when to wrap the yarn around the needle.
Youtube is the best source of 'how-to' videos for beginner knitters. When I start a new project and find myself stumped on a new type of stitch ("what the hell does 'psso' mean?), the first thing I do is type it into youtube. And I'm often greeted by thousands of videos explaining the stitch and showing me how it's done! But if you've never picked up a set of knitting needles before, you need to know what to look out for before you start knitting. So let me share with you what I think are the best videos on youtube that will help you learn to knit.
Step One: Look for a pattern on ravelry.com. If you don't own any supplies, you'll need to find a pattern that's super easy like this one by Elisa McLaughlin and find out what you'll need to buy/borrow to complete the project. The ravelry page will tell you what SIZE needles you need (US 9 - 5.5 mm in this case) and the type of yarn to buy (for this pattern it's WORSTED, the most common type/size of yarn). If you have a Walmart near by, you can get all these things there for quite cheap.
NOTE: This pattern is great because it comes with its own video tutorials.
Step Two: Once you have your needles and yarn, you are ready to get started. This pattern tells you that you have to CAST ON 20 stitches on your needle. So you need to know how to cast on. You can visit the video linked in the pattern, or my favourite is done by the Knitwitch.
Step Three:
After you've CAST ON 20 stitches, the pattern then requires you to knit for 86 rows (to knit every 20 stitches on your needle, 86 times). So you need to know the KNIT STITCH. Here's the video.
Step Four:
The other most common stitch is the PURL STITCH. You'll need to learn this one.
Step Five:
When you're finished all the required stitches/rows, the pattern will then tell you to CAST OFF or BIND OFF the last row to finish your project. The easiest beginner way of doing this is the KNITTED CAST OFF. Here's how you do it.
That should be it. Cast on, knit, purl and cast off. Those are the four basic techniques you need to know in order to start knitting. In the future, I'll post tutorials or videos from others explaining some more advanced stitches (Seed, Cable, lace etc), but this should keep you busy for the next while.
It just won the Golden Globe for Best Television Mini-Series and if you haven't been watching Downton Abbey, stop everything you are doing and press play. Pride and Prejudice meets Gosford Park, this British tv series is visually stunning and the acting is out of this world. Maggie Smith steals the show with her snarky portrayal of the Dowager Countess of Grantham but the real heart of the show is found in the sordid love affairs of Lady Mary Crowley and Matthew and their lower-class counterparts, the servants who hide the secrets of the Crowley family. Secrets, lies, and messed up socialite families. What's not to love?
What an easy and lovely project to complete. I've never tried moss stitch (also called 'seed stitch) before but I'm absolutely in love with it! It looks very uniform and full when you finally start to see it come together (after 4-5 rows). It's also extremely warm because the stitches are very close together. But before I go any further talking about the headwarmer, I should show you the pattern! Interested knitters can visit the DROPS Design website to look at the pattern forStrawberry Fields (I've renamed it for my purposes because I didn't use red wool).
Cast on 13 sts on needle size 9 mm with Eskimo. Work in MOSS ST - see explanation above - until piece measures approx. 55 cm. Cast off sts with K over K and P over P. Sew tog with neat stitches to make the seam invisible.
For the strip, cast on 15 sts on needle size 9 mm with Eskimo. Work in moss st until piece measures approx. 4 cm. Cast off sts with K over K and P over P. Fold this strip around the head band.
Sew tog on the back with neat stitches to make the seam invisible.
Making this headwarmer took me about 3-4 hours from start to finish, so its a super quick project to do. I used Loops & Threads Cozy Wool (Super Bulky) in Mushroom and size US 13 needles.
Important notes:
- Moss stitch is the same as seed stitch. Moss stitch is UK, seed stitch the is US term.
- The pattern says alternate rows until you reach a length of 55cm (or 21.65 inches), but I'd actually recommend a 53cm length for a more snug fit.
- The strip you create to bunch up the headwarmer could reach a 5-6cm length if you wanted a less, bunched up look. I also wear the strip to the side of my head, but it's meant to be worn on your forehead. I found it looked too big. How you wear this headwarmer is totally up to you and how you want it to look.
Welcome to The Rural Knitter. My name is Kayla. I live in rural Newfoundland, Canada and yes, it really is as cold and foggy here as you imagine it to be. It's always sweater weather here, so when I decided to take up a pair of knitting needles as a New Years resolution (to take up a hobby), I ended up with a very useful talent. I've only been knitting for a short while, but it has become a part of my life. (read more...)
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