Year: 2010

Summer Knitting: Washcloths/Dishcloths – #1 – #3Summer Knitting: Washcloths/Dishcloths – #1 – #3

July 7, 2010July 7, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comment | 8:00 am

During the summer months, I like to knit smaller projects that knit up quickly, are portable and don’t require a whole lot of intricate knitting. So, 2010 is the Summer of Washcloths. I recently came across a booklet with 10 different knit dishcloth patterns: “Kitchen Bright Dishcloths” from Leisure Arts (2004).

Now, I had already downloaded a few patterns from Ravelry and knit up 1 of those, plus I decided to finally knit the “Ball Band Dishcloth” printed on the back of the Peaches and Cream yarn label. So — if I knit the 10 in the Leisure Arts booklet, by the end of the Summer, I will have …(count ’em)… a Dozen new knitted dishcloths.

I am a quarter of the way through my dozen. Here are the three completed projects:

#1 – Waffle Weave Dishcloth
Waffle Weave Dischloth

Pattern found on Ravelry. Yarn Used: Peaches and Cream, Winterberry Ombre. I like this pattern, though I’m not sure I like the way the yarn pooled when I knit it.

#2 – Ball Band Dishcloth
Ball Band Dishcloth
Pattern on back of Peaches and Cream yarn label. Yarn Used: Peaches and Cream, Teal Blue and Teal Ombre. I like the end result, but really did not like knitting this pattern. Not sure why — I just didn’t enjoy knitting it.

#3 – Bee Stitch Dishcloth
Bee Stitch Dishcloth
Pattern from Leisure Arts booklet. Yarn Used: Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton, Natural. I really enjoyed knitting this dishcloth. The Lion Brand yarn feels softer than the Peaches and Cream (probably due to lack of dye) and I loved knitting the Bee Stitch — it’s an easy 4 row stitch pattern.

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Lastest FO: Crocheted Pickup Truck for GrandsonLastest FO: Crocheted Pickup Truck for Grandson

June 29, 2010June 29, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comments | 5:16 pm

Yesterday I finished a crocheted pickup truck for my grandson. He is 5 months old and almost to the point where he will be playing with soft toys, rattles and items that he can chew on.

Crocheted Pickup Truck

This little truck measures about 7 inches long by 3 inches wide and is about 3 inches tall. At the request of my son, I did NOT put a little bell inside of it — but I thought about it! It was an easy pattern to crochet and it went together very quickly.

Details: I purchased the pattern from Stacey Trock’s Fresh Stitches website and downloaded it directly from there. I used Knit Picks Shine Worsted for the truck body and Peaches and Cream in black for the tires and the pickup bed. You crochet the truck body and cab in one piece, the front is crocheted separately as are the lights — which are sewn in place before you stuff the front and attach it to the truck body. The tires and the pickup bed are separate pieces and you stuff the body as you go. It’s soft and squishy, but you can actually put something in the pickup bed as it has depth.

I think my grandson will enjoy his first red pickup truck. 🙂

Side view of pickup truck

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FO: Plain Vanilla Socks in Serenity Sock YarnFO: Plain Vanilla Socks in Serenity Sock Yarn

June 14, 2010June 14, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comments | 2:39 pm

Plain Vanilla Socks knitted in Serenity Sock Yarn
I have finished my Plain Vanilla Socks knitted in Serenity Sock Yarn (Premier yarns), colorway Amethyst. This is the yarn that I wrote about in a previous post: “A Study of Pooling in a Variegated Sock Yarn”. As I discovered in my study of how this yarn pools, by using 54 stitches on size US 2 (2.75mm) needles, I got a “striping” effect as the yarn pooled. You can see the result in the picture above.

Serenity Sock Yarn is a variegated yarn with color changes that are fairly short and don’t necessarily produce stripes when the number of stitches increases. The yarn itself has a nice soft feel to it and it knits up nicely, but I did experience a tendency of the yarn to split at times. The yarn is 50% Merino Wool, 25% Bamboo and 25% Nylon and has sufficient stretch for a well-fitting pair of socks. Anyone planning on using this yarn should definitely knit a swatch with the number of stitches they are planning to use for their socks to see if it knits up in a way that they like.

There was a pattern printed on the inner label that called for a gauge of 9 spi on US 2 (2.75mm) needles. The pattern is based upon 64 stitches. Now, I got an spi of 6.25 on US 2 needles, which is a significant difference and I cannot speak to how it would pool at the stated gauge of 9 spi. I know that I knit more loosely and guess that in order to obtain 9 spi, I would have to use US 0 (2.25 mm) or US 00 (1.75 mm). I really prefer to knit socks on a little bigger needles. These socks were for me to wear around the house and they fit my feet perfectly.

Socks in Serenity Sock Yarn (on my feet)

As for the pattern used for these socks — I really didn’t use one. I knit a 3 X 1 ribbing for 1.5 inches, then switched to stockinette stitch and knit until the cuff measured 6.5 inches. I did a short row or mitered heel and then knit the foot and toe in stockinette and grafted the toe when I had 9 stitches remaining on each side of the sock. I used the Magic Loop method and knit the socks two at a time.

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Mirrored Cables – Front Cross & Back Cross CablesMirrored Cables – Front Cross & Back Cross Cables

May 13, 2010May 13, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comment | 11:03 am

Front Cross and Back Cross Cable Stitches are mirror images of each other. The Front Cross cable twists to the left, while the Back Cross twists to the right. Both cables are done over four stitches.

Mirrored Cables

In the sample – I have knitted a swatch with 3 Front Cross Cables and 3 Back Cross Cables to demonstrate how they mirror each other and also to show how these two cables would look in a ribbing. Remember that cables are usually separated by a few purl stitches in most textured pattern designs. In this swatch, I separated the cables by 2 purl stitches on each side. (I also blocked this swatch and stretched it to separate the cables. If you were using these cables as a ribbing, you would not want to block your garment this way.)

Front Cross Cable Stitches

The Front Cross Cable is often written in patterns as “C4F”. To knit this cable, you slip the first two stitches onto a cable needle and hold them in the front of your knitting while you knit the next two stitches. Then you knit the two stitches off the cable needle. This results in the cable twisting to the left.

Single Front Cross Cable
Tension can be an issue here, as many knitters tend to stretch the last stitch of the four a bit too much and end up with a looser stitch on the left edge of the needle. If you look closely at the left edge of the cable in the picture above, you will see that I do have looser stitches on the left edge.

Montse Stanley, in the “Knitters Handbook”, suggests knitting through the back of this stitch, rather than then front will tighten it up. You must remember to purl through the back loop again on the next row or you will have a twisted stitch if you do this, however.

Back Cross Cable
The Back Cross Cable is often written in patterns as “C4B”. To knit this cable, you slip the first two stitches onto a cable needle and hold them in the back of your knitting while you knit the next two stitches. Then you knit the two stitches of the cable needle. This results in the cable twisting to the right. The same tension issues occur with this cable as with the Front Cross Cable.

In my swatch, I have varied the number of rows between cable stitch repeats to demonstrate how the appearance of the cables changes with the number of rows. The first two cables are based upon a four row repeat (meaning that the cable was done on the fourth row) and the last two cables are based upon a six row repeat.

These two cable patterns are very versatile – uses include: all-over cable patterning in a sweater (the popular “baby cable” sweaters found in stores today), a border for another textured pattern in an Aran style sweater, a decorative ribbing for a pullover sweater, the patterning found in my Cable Rib socks. I’m certain you can find many more examples as you look through sweater and sock patterns.

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