Leilani's Knit this Blog

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My completed projects:

Feb. 23, 2008 My second pair of toe up socks!

 

Feb. 28, 2008 Ribbed Hat for friend Pattern "Skip" from Hip Knit Hats

 March 19, 2008 Happy Womb For more information, see: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTwomb.html

   

  And a matching boob hat. I didn't use a pattern for the hat.

May 12, 2008 A horizontal scarf as a gift for my bosses birthday.

May 21, 2008 a Wee Willy Winkie hat for nephew. Pattern from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss

May we went on the LYS Tour going to 6 shops. My first knitted project from a free pattern was the silk rose lariat from Burien Yarn Stash. I used some glass lampwork beads I had made last winter with it. Completed June 1, 2008

  

Then I made a couple knitted necklaces.  This being my favorite of the two on the left. It was a gift for a co-worker's birthday. Completed early June. http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/tornabuoni/tornabuoni.html

 

And still in early June I finished a washcloth and wine bottle cozy for a friend's wedding in their wedding colors.

 

 

Mid June I knitted two pairs of Swingin' Gauntlets from Punk Knits by Sharon Ross. I love these!!

    

The next pair I made a matching Cossack hat from Folk Knit Hats by Vicki Square. I made these a little longer.  And I knit a rose from Knitted Flowers by Epstein but ended up removing the rose as it was too heavy.

       

I took a crocheting class at my favorite shop http://www.renaissanceyarns.com and then have started my first crocheted items July 6, 2008
A catnip mouse http://tubachingching.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/easy-peasy-catnip-mouse/

  
And then my first crocheted amigrurumi - a bird and nest completed July 15, 2008 pattern from Kooky Crochet by
Sharleen Morco

 

A crocheted pig!! The pattern is free but you have to register at http://cache.lionbrand.com/ and then look under amigurumi toys

 

More July projects!

Socklets! The pattern is here

Then a fruit cozy for keeping pears from getting bruised when I bring them to work for a snack or travel. I didn't follow a pattern just shaped it.

Then another amigurumi project! From the book,  Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful by Narumi Ogawa. This is probably my favorite crocheted item so far!!!

And another amigurumi! A Highland cow! Have you seen these before? There's a farm at the bottom of Orillia Road in Kent where I get a peak at them. This is a heavily modified design.  I thought at first I'd use one of the cute cow amigurumi patterns but none of them really captured the Highland cow look:) I used this pattern for the legs, head, and snout only. I made the legs by double strands of black with an H hook then switching to the cascade/bollicine combo on a F and doing one more round than the pattern calls for. The snout I started with pink cascade and then switched to the cascade/bollicine combo. Highland cows have a little less hairy place where their snout and lips are:)

I crocheted the ears as spirals since that's more of the Highland cow look. I also crocheted the body completely off pattern into a much bigger piece with the front torso as blunt and wide then narrower and then very round for a belly and spiraled down into a rump. I regularly drive by a farm with several Highland cows and I just love 'em! They're sooooo cute! Furry, short, stocky, brown or black with long horns.

I knitted Icord for the horns and used pipe cleaner for shaping.

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Here's brushed crochet instructions: http://littlegreen.typepad.com/romansock/brushed-crochet.html

8-1-08 I love bees. I thought this bee might be good as an embellishment for other knitted and crocheted items. It is great! I made a little crocheted slip stitch cord and added it as a purse to my crocheted amigurumi bunny with a dress.

I made a head for the bee with hdc and dc and slip stitches. I could also imagine that reversing the colors for a more black looking bee would look good as well. Pattern http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/~chalkley/bee.pdf

   

8-3-08 

I bought the Clover cutter at Renaissance Yarns and all the bone, silver beads, clasps, and beading stuff from Blue Iris Beads. I made this necklace for cutting yarn for my knitting and crocheting projects. I wore it out today and got tons of compliments. Several people didn’t realize it was a thread cutter pendant. I love the bone beads. I used while working an amigurumi project:)

I had considered making it longer but with my ample curves I would have been snagging it on stuff and having it in my way. So, I went with just in the cleavage line. I love it!

8-1 to 8-3-08 I love bees!! This is just about the cutest bee EVAR! Love it! Instead of making the stinger and antenna out of just pipe cleaners - I knitted icord and used pipe cleaners to reforce the icord. For the eyes I used simple black beads from a sadly now closed Blue Iris Bead shop in downtown Kent. I didn’t have the weighted filling for the bee body. So I used a old pair of nylons and filled it with aquarium gravel for the weated stuffing to help him from being too top heavy. He still doesn’t seem to stand up proper without being propped, but he’s adorable!

     

8-5 to 8-11-08

I love bees! This is my third bee toy and definitely a winner! I had a difficult time keeping my cat away from it and since it’s a gift I managed it:) I couldn’t even photograph it outside without my cat coming running to be a part of things and check it out again! ha!

The bee was done with magic loop on my addis and then I did the icord with my new crystal palace dpns. Pattern is here http://www.christinelandry.com/?cat=5

     

8-11 thru 8 -14 I'm addicted to making knit and crochet toys! I love Wallace & Gromit so this was a must-make! He turned out adorable!!

I tried my hand at duplicate stitching the white but it looked terrible probably due to my inexperience and tension issues with duplicate stitch so I knit an oval patch and sewed it on. I made him using magic loop for everything but the wings and icord sections. The pattern doesn’t include feet and the very important hat yet. So, I winged it through those. I knit the hat decreasing in ssk and k2t until finishing it. I think knit short icord fingers and sewed them on in a line for the hat. I tried it on him as I was knitting trying to get it just right:)

The feet I knit icord legs and then feet with magic loop increasing every other round until a size that seemed reasonable. I bound off with kitchener. And put a longish piece of pipe cleaner through the leg into the foot then sewed the pieces together. Stuck a large section of that same pipe cleaner into his bottom and sewed his leg to his bottom.

        

He’s done! Well, except I need to stop by a craft or bead shop and get his dark beady eyes! heh!

! Just in case you don't know who Feathers McGraw is check this out.

http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/films/wrongtrousers/characters.html?character=0

8-14-08  I just left a knitting class at Renaissance Yarns. We're making this sweater vest in noro yarn. Mine is Noro transitions: 55% wool, 10% silk, 7% cashmere, 7% angora, 7% alpaca, 7% kid mohair & 7% camel in blacks, greys, purple, and browns. Pictures here, here, and here. I'm glad I'm taking the class. It's not super complicated but enough that a class is absolutely needed for me so I'm

 quite pleased I took the class. I don’t believe I would have gotten the increases or gist of this without Liz’s help. She also gave us her notes on rounds 30 up. Because I’m using a bulkier yarn than silk garden she recommended the size 11’s give the proper drape and tension for such a bulky yarn.

My first night working on it I’ve completed maybe 5” from the center. I need to get to half of the distance of my back arm hole to arm hole before the next class. That shouldn’t be too hard. I only have to get to 11”. I started with magic loop past the point I would/should have transferred to a simple round on 24" long circs or 32" and kept my magic loop going then just went to going around on the 47" without the magic loop.

8-22-08 I've been really disliking the metal crochet hooks I have because they hurt my hands. I found a tip for http://bohemianrevolution.com/42-crochet-tips/ making a larger more comfortable handle out of fimo or sculpey. I'm baking my first crochet hook & handle this very moment! It's art! It's fun!

   

9-17-08 My circle vest from Silk Knits and my class: It’s huge! I love it! I was running out of yarn however. I only had one ball left. I got four more from Renaissance Yarns. And I may get one more from another ravelry user. It’s 22” and I need to go 5+” inches and it seems like I’ll make it with the four more… but I wouldn’t being on the safer side of that… I’m using two circs one 47” and one 60”.

9-24-2008 I finished the total circumference and bound off in pattern with 13 needles. And started weaving in ends.

9-25-08 In class we bound off the arm holes using a crocheted slip stitch bind off K hook. The arm holes were too big either because of the weight of the yarn/garment or the stretch of the overall garment. After some measuring, I seamed part of the arm holes closed. It looks good. The circle is huge! Since I’m so short - it’s a very large circle. I can wear it high with a large cowl or lower slung on my shoulders. It’s more of a “duster” or coat-look on me. It’s truly lovely. Sheds like all-get-out though… Hopefully, that’ll calm down or else I’ll be putting one of those hair/lint removers in my car. heh.

I have one and half+ balls of this yarn left. I’ll be making matching wrist warmers and a hat. I’ll try to get some pictures of me wearing it when the weather cools off. It’s supposed to be in the 80s today.

9-25 => 9-26 I used magic loop on a 40” needle doing both mits at the same time in k2p2 ribbing. I kept trying them on. When I got to the numb I bound off 4 stitches and knit them in the flat until past the thumb. I then put them back in magic loop again increased 4 stitches back into pattern and continued until they were the length I wanted. I bound off the same as my circle vest with a slip stitch crochet bind off. I added a crocheted thumb to these.

     

9-26 After making my noro circle vest, I wanted a matching hat since I had leftover yarn. The "Beth" hat from Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron was the perfect hat! I knit 28 rounds in pattern exactly as the book describes then I did the decreases so the spiral was unbroken. The pattern’s decreases create a reverse going spiral ending in a top knot - neither of which I wanted. So, I decreased in the same way so that every two rows were identical ribbing and shifting to the left. I looks great! I can imagine I’ll get a lot of use out of this hat! It looks great with the circle vest and the matching fingerless mits I made too!

9-28=> Oct 1 Fingerless Mits in Weekend Knitting by Ann Budd

This is one of the items I’d picked out when I first learned to knit that I really wanted to make for my partner. Our 7th anniversary is 10-20 and we’re going to Victoria, BC for the weekend. This will be a nice little gift maybe he’ll even get a chance to wear them!

These are super nice! The size 7 needle gave me the 5 stitches per inch gauge. And it feels lovely. I crocheted a row of single crochet around the thumb hole. I knit both of these at the same time on a long circular needle in the flat. I hope he likes ‘em!

I’d like to try a pair of these with a provisional cast-on and then use kitchener to bind off. I made these to sort of match a hat I’d made for him last year. I added a crocheted thumb to these upon H’s request. He however lost them sadly as we were flying toSF. I’m gonna make him another pair with the provisional cast-on. I’ve ordered the yarn since I ran out. It should be in this week. 10-20-08 => 10-24

I made a pair of these for Henry but somehow we lost them in flying to SF. So these are a replacement pair:) This time I started with a provisional crocheted cast-on so I grafted them together with kitchener stitch rather than having a seam/unpleasant ridge. I crocheted a thumb on each of them as well. And he was able to wear them during our anniversary celebration trip to Victoria:)

Oct 2 => 5  

 I’m making some fingerless mitts for Xmas gifts. I did these using magic loop doing both at the same time on a long circ. These are to go with a scarf I made for her for her birthday.

I started at the wrist and it’s all stockinette until the finger area which I ended in purl and a purl2together bind off. Then I crocheted the fuzzy yarn on the wrist area one round sc and second round dc. Around the wrist I just did a single round of sc. I like how it turned out!!

Oct 6 =>14 These I did with ribbing k3 p1 and knit in waste yarn for the thumb and picked those stitches up later like in an afterthought heel. I used a long tail cast on starting at the wrist cuff holding two threads cascade paints and a fuzzy yarn on sale at Ren Yarns in Kent. These are a gift for my sister-in-law [H's bro's wife.]

Oct 15 => 16 I made this hat because I have a few items like my fingerless punk gauntlets that don't match a thing in my wardrobe. I also find I prefer blacks, purples, and bright pinks since these go nicely together I wanted to do a wild hat with them. So, this is a stash hat! I was totally awed and inspired by Dreamwoven on Ravelry.com. She also has a blog at http://dreamwoven.blogspot.com and a shop at  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=27707! I also liked the happy hat with the two pompom idea. http://www.marniemaclean.com/patterns/HappyHat/happyhat.html So using both of them as inspirations I made this hat on a 24" 11 needle just adding yarn from my leftovers.

      
I started with 1x1 ribbing, then stockinette, and ending with seed stitch. I to end I used a 3 needle bind off. The tassels were just a basic tassel. How to here http://www.fiberimages.com/Free_Things/How_Tos/free_how_to_make_tassel_twisted_cord.html

Oct 16- 20 I did these similar to another pair. Magic loop both at the same time. Long tail cast on 24 stitches 5 st per inch k3, p1. Crocheted bindoff. Single crochet around thumb opening with main color. Single crochet fuzzy yarn around finger opening. At wrist single crochet one round and second round double crochet. These are a gift for H's niece.

Oct 24-26 I liked H's fingerless garter mits so much I made myself a pair. I made these to match some black items of mine and on larger needles. This baby alpaca is wonderful!!! I crocheted thumbs for these and used a provisional cast-on so I could end with kitchener.

 

Oct. 26-27 A lovely headband a gift for a friend, but I seriously love it! I think I MUST make myself one. heh. It’s a quick knit. I think next time I’ll do a provisional cast-on and kitchener it closed. I did a graft of sorts with the one bound off side to the live stitch side so it looks good but would have been easier with a prov cast-on. The Cash Vero, cashmere yarn I used feels amazing!!! The pattern is here http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=86&d_id=10&lang=us

Oct. 29 - Nov. 2 A bear for IM in SF for Xmas. This is my first felted knitted item. I think he’s adorable! I bought the yarn at Renaissance Yarns and the eyes/nose combo at All Points Yarn. The last photo of him is before I felted him. The pattern is from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant.

   

Oct. 2008

This felted bag is so soft that I didn’t add a pocket or any embellishments. I did cut a rectangle out of a sleeve and sewed it to the bottom for more of flat bottom bag. I plan to make more of these if one turns into a firmer fabric maybe I’ll add some felted flowers or other embellishments, but not this one.

I just have to finish stitching the handles and around the top.

     

Nov. 16 I'm currently working on stuff for me including at various times: my sweater, an amigurumi doll, two pairs of socks, and a recycled sweater felted tote bag. I'll get back to my holiday knitting soon.

Nov. 16-20  I knitted another pair of garter mits for a Christmas gift for our yard-person and friend

Nov. 9-25 Another pair of toe up socks!

These are my first project on hiyahiya 9” circs and my third pair of socks. These needles do indeed sped up the knitting of socks! And a bit tighter gauge than on my addis. I bought the yarn & needles from http://www.renaissanceyarns.com . The hiyahiya’s take a little getting used to and then zoom. I finished one of these socks in two days!

I made both toes at the same time on my size 2 47” addi’s using magic loop. I then slipped the stitches of one sock onto my size 3 9” hiyahiya’s and finished the sock using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bindoff. This is my new fab flexible bindoff.

I picked up the stitches for after-thought heel with my addi’s and completed the heel using magic loop. I made these a little smaller than my first two pair of socks since as handknits they seem to stretch a bit. This colinette jitterbug yarn was a joy to knit. Truly colorful fun!

I've now migrated over to www.ravelry.com to blog about my knitting adventures! Check me out at "LeilaniB"