The Green and White Fluted Rib Scarf

I got a lot done over winter break. My second project after the hats was this green and white fluted rib scarf. Doesn't it have a nice pattern? It's the same two rows, alternating between white and green. 

I found it on Ravelry, of course.

Here's the pattern that produced this coloring:

Cast on 21 stitches.
Following the pattern, work 12 rows in white.
Switch to green, work 2 rows.
Switch back to white, bringing the yarn up the side. Work two rows.
Switch back and forth between green and white until the scarf is long enough. Mine hit six feet before I stopped.
Work 12 rows in white.
Bind off.

Two Sparrow Hats

Over the holidays I got to practice Portuguese knitting on a new pattern. It's amazing how much I can get done when I don't have to go to work.

The first hat is huge. It is a melon hat. My sister tried it on and it covered her entire face.

I followed most of the instructions (cast on 100 stitches, knit 5 rounds of the pattern) but didn't switch to size 8 needles after the ribbing or use the contrasting color for the crown. It knit up in about three days.

The second hat knit up in about two days. I cast on 90 stitches and did only three repeats of the pattern. This made the hat more manageable and removed the first row of decreases from the pattern. It went by much faster.

Here's evidence of the size disparity.

I like this pattern. I think I can get by with casting on 80 stitches to finish up the last of that bright green yarn. 

The Orange and Black Checkered Hat

I had forgotten how quickly hats knit up. It took less than three days to finish this hat once my last scarf was done.

This hat was knit using Portuguese purling. The idea behind that style is to run the working yarn around the head and hold tension in the right hand while purling by flicking the yarn over the needle with the left thumb. The piece is worked inside out, so purling the entire piece ends up with a knit hat. 

The pattern wasn't free so I won't re-post it here. The orange yarn was some leftover Vanna White from my stash and the black yarn came from the Carron One Pound monstrosity. 

It worked out pretty well except for the crown. Patterns shouldn't tell you to place more stitch markers halfway through so I half-assed the crown. It's all bound off and that's the best that can be said for it. I definitely didn't have the yarn to do it 'right'.

When I do this pattern again I'll use another pattern for shaping the crown.

The White Cabled Scarf Monstrosity

Why do all of the projects I do with this yarn end with "It's DONE!"? Because there is no variety in these projects. I memorized the cables early on and after that it was the same thing over and over again.

The pattern came from Ravelry - the Change-ringing scarf. It was supposed to have two different cable sections but the second one wasn't pretty so I skipped it. 

This was knitted on size 8 needles with Carron One Pound yarn.

Still, it turned out well. The scarf reaches down to my knees and the cables turned out pretty alright. They gap a little at the cross overs but it's not that noticeable.

Practicing finishing techniques

Last month, I had the pleasure of taking a couple of knitting classes. One dealt with finishing techniques and a second taught different ways of binding on.

What I have here is some practice. Both have the same pattern, knit with the leftover Seahawks yarn.

The Dragon Scale Pattern

CO multiple of 4 sts.

R1: K across

R2: (K1, P3) across

R3: (K2, P2) across

R4: (K3, P1) across

This was the first one, on size 6 needles, 24 stitches. Bind on was the Twisted German cast on, bind off was the super stretchy elastic bind off, and I tried slipping the first stitch of each row.

Attempt two was 24 stitches on size 7 needles. Bind on was the twisted German cast on again, bind off was the sewn bind off, and I successfully slipped most first stitches on this piece.

Take away: the twisted German cast on is stretchier than the traditional long tail cast on, the elastic bind off is far too stretchy, and the sewn cast off is nice. I'll be using it again soon.

Slipping the stitches made the sides look nice, but I was too loose in the final stitches on each row to make it look good. Still, it's a good skill to know and it'll look better next time.

The Snowflake Headband

When I saw a friend knitting this stranded headband, I knew I needed to make one myself. Luckily, I still had leftover yarn from the Seahawks hats to use up.

The results were disappointing. I enjoyed the colorwork but the band was too big for my head. If I made it again, I'd shrink the pattern and cut back on the ribbing. And the bind off wouldn't use the super stretchy bind off, which caused the ripples on the bottom here.

Maybe next time will be better.

The Isaac Mizrahi prayer shawl

Look at this little beauty. Three skeins of Isaac Mizrahi craft yarn produced this fuzzy prayer shawl. My friends keep telling me how pettable it is.

It was a fun side project and never got boring. Surprising, given that the entire thing was worked in seed stitch. I liked watching the colors change as I knit.

The pattern couldn't be easier.

Cast on 60 stitches on size 10 circular needles (Gauge is not important).
(k1, p1) util the end of the row.
Repeat until you run out of yarn.
Bind off.

The Lace Edged Prayer Shawl - Part 2

Done! Finally done.

And I still have half a pound of white yarn to use up. What was the point of this shawl again?

Go 'Hawks, Take 2

Guess who has two thumbs and a second Seahawks hat? This girl!

This time I tried giving more slack to the color I was stringing behind, to stop the wrinkling. That turned out pretty well.

I had just enough blue yarn left to knit the hat again. Literally, I had five inches left after binding off.

To top it off, the Seahawks shut out the Bears earlier today. It looks like I've found my lucky 'Hawks hat.

The Lace Edged Prayer Shawl - Part 1

I'll admit, not actually lace edged. 

This shawl was meant to use up the leftover One Pound Carron. That... didn't turn out the way I thought. Halfway through I ran out of yarn so I had to join another pound of yarn. You should never have to join pounds of yarn together. And how will I use up the rest of this yarn? This was not a well thought out plan.

I wanted to do something like the yarn overs from the triangular prayer shawl but with a rectangle. Have to say, it's really boring. At least I'm mostly done.