Shamrock Headband

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.

Happy Knitting!

Fair Isles Hat

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:

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!

A Most Bespeckled Hat!

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 :-)

That's all for me today. Until next time!

Snowday Fridays

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!

Seed Beret and More Hats!

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. 

Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret

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.

Anthropologie-Inspired Braided Headwrap

Anthropologie Braided Headwrap

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.

Head on over to Ravelry.com to pick up this amazing free pattern.

Happy Knitting!

Sunday Snapshot: A Portrait of Rural Newfoundland

Outside my window

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. 

Knitting 101!

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.

Happy Knitting!

Must watch: Downton Abbey!

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?

Sit back and enjoy.

Moss Fields Headwarmer

Moss/Seed stitch headwarmer

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 for Strawberry Fields (I've renamed it for my purposes because I didn't use red wool).

MOSS ST:

1st row: * K 1, P 1 *, repeat from *-*. 

2nd row: K over P and P over K. Repeat 2nd row.

--------------------------------------------------------

HEAD BAND: 

Worked back and forth on straight needles. 

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.

Happy knitting!

New Music: Kathleen Edwards - Voyageur

Do yourself a favour. Brew up a pot of tea. Set out the milk and sugar. Then press play on Kathleen Edward's new album "Voyageur". She's one of the best Canadian indie-folk singer-songwriters (I know... a mouthfull, but true!) and there is no better way to spend your winter afternoon. This album, produced by boyfriend Justin Vernon (most people know him as Bon Iver), will be sure to warm up the cockles of your heart.

Check out the album HERE

Happy listening! 

Cable Knit Cowl

My very first project!

I completed this project a couple of weeks ago. I received my first cowl as a Christmas gift from my sister and wanted to try to make one myself. So I did! I scoured ravelry.com for a pattern that used large needles (US 17 in this case) and the appropriate size wool I had found at Walmart (Bernat Roving - Bulky) and came across this pattern by Maria Olson. I absolutely love the result. It's just long enough to cover my entire neck and the roving wool is light, but warm. It's also short enough that you have your neck covered but you don't have to worry about a bulky scarf making it difficult to zip/button up your already bulky winter jacket. Being from Newfoundland, where it's currently -12 below, this was a wonderful addition to my winter wardrobe!

If you are trying to complete this project yourself and you are a new knitter, familiarize yourself with the cable stitch through this Youtube video. You will also need a cable stitch holder ($2-3) or just an extra knitting needle to hold the three stitches needed to make the cross-over pattern that forms the cable stitch. Other than that, the pattern only calls for the knit and pearl stitch, which are your basic two knitting stitches. 

I also suggest casting on using both needles put together if you are a tight knitter like me. If you plan to add buttons to the end of this scarf, your stitches need to be slightly loose in order to allow the buttons to pass through without button holes. 

NOTE: The last three rows of stitches in this pattern show you how to knit button holes into your scarf. If you are using a bulkier wool and larger needles US 17 or US 19, you don't need button holes as the buttons should be able to hook through the spaces in the stitches fairly easily. If you do not want button holes, follow the pattern for Rows 1, 2 and 3 at the beginning of the pattern and then cast off.

I hope you have fun with this pattern if you decide to try your hand at it. While it isn't my pattern, if you have any questions, I can try to help as much as I can.

Happy knitting!

Baking: Petits Pains au Chocolat

Ingredients 

1pkg frozen filo pastry (I've used 3 sheets for 1 roll)
Butter flavoured cooking spray
1/2 - 3/4 cup of chopped milk chocolate
1tbsp of cinnamon
1/2 cup of sugar

Filo pastry, cooking spray, chocolate chips (substituted for solid chocolate), cinnamon and sugar

I couldn't find solid mik chocolate at the local grocery story, so I took chocolate chips and chopped them with a large knife.

You lay out 3 pieces of filo pastry, spraying the top of each sheet with cooking spray or an egg glaze before placing the next one on top of it. I then spread out the chopped chocolate on the bottom of the pastry along the width and rolled it up into a cylinder from bottom to top.

Put the sugar in with the cinnamon and whisk until incorporated.

Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mix along top of the roll before placing into the oven for 8-10 minutes at 400℃

Cut up the roll into sections and serve!

I learned this dessert last week at the cooking class I've enrolled in at the local grocery store. It's super easy and quick to make. Really glad I tried it out at home.