Blankets for boys

My boys wanted some warm blankets so let them pick out Lion Brand Homespun in their favorite color and I got to work. BTW, blankets take forever, even with this thicker yarn! I started the red one first and it took me about a month to finish. I did a simple seed stitch to play off the lumpy style of the yarn. I then did the green one and it took longer. I was back home by then and it was also started to warm up so I was short on inspiration. I still finished it in less than 2 months. This was done in a 2x2 rib, just for a different look. I cast on about 180 st for each blanket. I guesstimated that 4 skeins would be a nice blanket size so I just knit until those were used up. Turned out perfect, just around 4 feet long. They fit a kid just right, and could be a lap blanket for an adult.

Awesome Dishclothes

I bought a bunch of cotton yarn on sale and was looking for a quick project so I found some dishcloth patterns. I started out with the one on the right, called Double Bump. Then as I was searching and searching I came across the peace sign pattern. I thought it went well with the tie-dye-ish yarn colors so I cast on the Peace Washcloth. Both very easy wash/dish cloth patterns that look great in solid or patterned yarn. I even found a nice hippy to gift them too :-)

Recycled Knits

I've got kids that wear through clothes like it's going out of style... They get stained, holey and too small all the time. As I was sorting what winter clothes would get packed and which ones were done for I remembered an e-newsletter I gotten around Earth Day that talked about knitting with recycled materials. So, instead of trashing the worn out stuff, I decided to cut it up into strips and try knitting with it.

My first project was with two pairs of holey jeans. I wasn't sure what I was making, I just had a couple ideas in mind. I tried a couple different size needles and ended up having to use my size 50 needles because the jean was too thick for anything else. I was hoping to make a bag of some sort, but the jeans I had didn't go that far. I ended up with a longer cowl-ish, necklace-ish thing. Haha... I was thinking if I add some flashy embellishments it could fit in on Etsy. So, while not what I had in mind, it's certainly not a failure either.

Next I had a pair of PJs that were too small for my daughter. I was able to make a cute little lightweight scarf for her. She thought it was hilarious because she could have people touch what they thought was a scarf and then tell them it was her pjs :-)

So, after cutting and knitting a couple of items I learned some things about working with recycled materials. The most important is to cut out all the seams, pockets, and lumpy parts. I tried working with the seams on my first two and came across two problems. The first being that, especially with jean, it's just too lumpy. Secondly, with the pjs, the seams can become unraveled during knitting and leave you with a hole.

After I cut out all the lumpy parts I start cutting my strips. I try to make the longest continuous piece possible, using the "z" way of back and forth cutting. When I have all my strips I make a ball out of it, just putting ends of strips together, not knotting them together.

I've started on my first unraveling too. The yarn is pretty thin, it was quite difficult to find a starting point, and the process itself is very tedious. I'm not sure how many more unraveling's I'll be doing because my fingers are starting to hurt!

Slippers for DH

Yes, I know, pretty plain... these were made more for practicality than beauty. Just some basic slipper socks for about a size 11 mens.

Magic 8 CO 10(20) stitches
Knit 2 rounds
*kfb, knit to last st on first needle, kfb, kfb on second needle to the last st, kfb
Knit 1 round
Repeat from * until 26(52) st
Add 3rd needle to beginning of work, these first two needles will be the heel
Knit in the round for about 40 st or 5 inches
Begin heel:
Knit heel to last st, slip st, wrap, and move st back
Purl to last st, slip, wrap, and move st back
Knit to 2nd to last st, slip, wrap and move st back
Purl to 2nd to last st, slip, wrap and move st back
Continue to Knit (or Purl), slipping & wrapping until there are 6 st not wrapped
Knit across, pick up 1st wrapped st & knit, wrap the next already wrapped st and move st back
Purl across, pick up 1st wrapped st & purl, wrap the next already wrapped st and move st back
Continue to Knit (or Purl), picking up wrapped st, until all wrapped st are knit (or purl)
Wrap the first and last st on the needle not being worked
Begin knitting in the round again, picking up the wrapped st
Knit two more rounds
Begin 2x2 rib, knitting around for about 19 rows or 3 in
CO on row 20

Feeling reinspired

Finally finished blanket #2! Recipiant is very happy :-). As I was getting to the end I was getting more involved, mentally I guess you could say. Got through the last skein in just a couple of days. Then I was still thinking about knitting... I was kind of surprised as I expected to want a break.

So today I cast on my next project... Slipper socks for DH. He has an ideal slipper sock in mind, so this will be a test. The last pair I made (which were my 1st attempt at the genre) did not pass muster. This time I have the luxury of having the feet available for measuring.

I like to get the CO and increasing out of the way before deciding on a pattern an am now at that point. Although I first need to decide if there should be a pattern at all. The pair I'm replacing did not pattern except to have a color change around the cuff. I don't really have an ideal color match in my stash for that, so we'll see about that when we get there.

I know I haven't posted pics in a while and do intend to, however my 1st blanket is in the wash, the slipper socks done in between the blankets are MIA, and the camera battery needs a charge...

Girls slippers

Doing this as a copy and paste so hope it all translates correctly :-). Pics to follow...

fig 8 co 20
knit round 2 rows
add one by knitting into front & back of first stitch & last stitch of each needle
knit one round
add one to the first & last stitch on each needle
knit round
add one to the first & last stitch on each needle
knit round
add one to the first & last stitch on each needle (36 stitches)
knit round
add a needle to the heel section
r1-4: knit round
r5: knit heel, k2, yo, *k2tog, yo, repeat from *, end with k2 (19 stitches now on this needle)
r6: knit
r7: knit, on top needle k9, k2tog, k to end
r8: knit
r9-12: repeat r5-8
r13: knit heel, k2, c4b, repeat for top
r14: knit
r15: knit heel, c4b, k2, repeat for top
r16: knit
r17-18: repeat r13-14 except c4f
r19: knit heel, k4, *c4f, k2, repeat from *
r20: knit
r21-24: repeat r13-16
r25-32: repeat r5-8 twice
begin heel:
k heel to last stitch, slip stitch, wrap, and move back
purl to last stitch, slip & wrap, move back
knit across to 2 nd to last stitch, slip & wrap
purl across to 2 nd to last stitch, slip & wrap
continue slip & wrap until 5 on each side are wrapped
knit across, pick up 1 st wrapped stitch & knit, wrap already wrapped stitch
purl across to 1 st wrapped stitch, knit wrap & stitch, wrap already wrapped stitch
continue picking up wraps until all have been, wrapping the first & last stitch on the front needle

begin knitting around again, picking up the wrapped stitches
after 2 knit rows, continue knitting round in 2x2 rib until desired length (~3 inches)

Downtime...

Most of my knitting is done while I'm working on the road, thus when work is in "downtime" my knitting seems to do the same.

I've been home for about 2 mos now and I've not completed much. I was working on a blanket while on the road and was able to get that done once home. Perhpas unfortunately, the next project was to be a blanket also. These take too long to get that sense of accomplishment that keeps one going.

I managed to cast on and get going, but got side tracked by a yarn sale and did some slippers. I was very happy with the results and was able to get back to the blanket for a while. That slowly dropped off though as it seemed to be getting nowhere.

I'm just about to the end of skein 3 of 4, so the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to glow and I hope to get this finished within a couple weeks.

Once I finish I hope to post patterns and pics of these recent projects. Then I'm going to work on smaller & funner projects...