The shrug for knitters afraid of sweaters.

I haven't been knitting for very long, and I have to admit... sweaters scare me. Everytime I read the patterns, they're talking about circular needles and making armholes, stitch holders, attaching sleeves... It just sounds far too complicated considering I've been doing mostly small projects.

Recently I felt the need to branch out and knitted up this self designed shrug. I did it all on straight needles, and just about all you need to be familiar with to knit this up is ribbing, and minor inc and dec.

It's given me the courage to think about actual sweaters. I love this shrug, I even got to use little heart shaped buttons.

If there's enough interest I might be willing to share the pattern on my newest creation.

Please leave comments, I'd love to know what you think!

Newest FOs

Here's a couple of things I finished this week:

Knitty's Flora using Jiffy Quick and Easy in Light Pink


A skully intarsia wrist cuff with some scrap yarn I had around.

Cabled Wrist Warmers, Part 2

Wrist warmers, the sequel! I made another set using the same general pattern as below, only with these mods:

Wrist warmers were knit in reverse stockinette with 6 stitch stockinette cable.
Dec 6 stitches over the first 3 twists, (one on each end) on each WS row before a twist.
Work inc rows on WS, add an extra inc row adding only 2 stitches.

That's most likely really confusing, but all I did was dec so they would fit tighter around my wrists and then inc 2 extra stitches so they were big enough to fit my hands still.

Current WIPs:
Cropped wrap sweater
Skinny Scarf
Double knit Camo Scarf
(I frogged the eyelash shrug because I realized it was too small)

Panta

Well, I've been ignoring my current WIPs so I could whip out this super cute headband. I got the pattern from this thread on Craftster.org. You can find the english translation a couple pages into the thread. Check it out, it's cute and knits up fast.

Cabled Wrist Warmers

I love these. They only took me a few hours to whip up, and I think the cables make something that's otherwise punk look really femme. With winter coming up, I'm sure they'll get tons of wear.
















Finished! I used Lion Brand Jiffy 'Mohair' and size 8 needles. These measure about 8in around at the wrist and 9in through the hands. I have pretty small hands and wrists, but they fit my mom too, and she has fairly standard girl sized hands, so I'd say these are one size. I'm including a short tutorial, it's written assuming you know your way around a knitting needle, but if I get enough interest I'll write up a full pattern. If this is confusing, let me know, it's my first attempt at anything close to a pattern. (For personal use only).

CO 30 stitches, divided as follows 8K, 3P, 8K, 3P, 8K
This can be knitted in the round, but I knitted on straight needles and seamed.
The cables are twisted every 6 rows, with 3 stitches of reverse stockinette on either side and the remaining in stockinette.
Optional: I held the cable needle in front during the twists for the L hand and in back for the twists for the right hand for a little variety, but you can really cable these any way you want as long as it's done every 6 rows.
Knit 19 rows (3 twists) ending with a WS row after 3rd twist.
RS Increase row: K1, M1, K1, M1, knit/purl to last 2 stitches, M1, K1, M1, K1. (34 stitches)
Knit/Purl WS row normally. Repeat RS increase row. (38 Stitches)
Knit 1 WS row.
For R wrist warmer: Knit/Purl 32 stitches (this is a RS twist row), leave remaining 6 stitches on spare needle, turn. Knit seperately: 11 rows on larger piece and 12 on smaller, ending with WS row on both. Join on next RS row (twist row). Knit WS row.
For L wrist warmer: Knit RS/twist row. Knit/purl 32 stitches on WS row, leave remaining 6 stitches on spare needle, turn. Knit seperately: 11 rows on larger piece and 12 on smaller piece, ending with a RS (twist) row on both. Join on next WS row.
BOTH: Knit 6 more rows. (4 rows, twist, WS row) then BO leaving long yarn tail.
Finishing: Seam sides together (unless knitted in the round). The end!

Well Hello

... and welcome to my new knitting blog, a little experiment in combining two of my loves: knitting and writing (and sometimes crochetting and sewing). Expect to see all kinds of randomness ranging from amateur to semi-pro here. And of course I'll post my patterns and links to ones I've usesd as often as possible.
Just to give you a taste of my flavor, my past projects include all sorts of funky sewing recons, plenty of crochetted hats, scarves galour, and a sad attempt at knitty's pasha. Now I'm venturing into a whole new world of knitting beyond rectangles.
WIPs
-cabled wristwarmers
-cropped wrap sweater
-eyelash fur bolero
These are all my own design, and I will be posting some sort of pattern for them. However, I knit slow, so be patient.
Until then.