Friday, July 27, 2012

Knitted Broomstick Lace

No, not the one you do with a needle and a hook...... the OTHER one. The all knitted one.

Yep, that's right, you can knit the broomstick lace! YAY!

I made a video of the technique. Check it out and let me know what you think. If you like it, hit like and share it!




TTFN

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Knit and Purl is amazing, and so are free patterns!!

Ahhh the ol' knit and purl designs...you can do just about anything in a knit and purl design and it will be reversible. But "We want pictures Melissa!!!"

Ok Ok, here is the first installment of my series.
Its called the "Double Seed Stitch" found on page 11 in Barbara Walker's first treasury. Or, anywhere on the net, here is a quick google for ya.

"Foxycrafters" from Ravelry, tells me that this 4x4 stitch pattern is also called ‘Sugar Cubes’ in some stitch dictionaries.
This was done in Knit Picks Shine Worsted, in the Terra Cotta colorway.



"Ok this is front," you say "where's the back?"

This my friends, is a mobius headband. The top is front and the bottom is back. Can you tell where they separate?

I think this stitch pattern is perfect for a mobius anything. For that matter, ANY knit and purl combination is perfect for a mobius anything.

Lookie at the whole thing, ain't mobius cool?



And just for grins, here's the pattern for this headband. And if you don't wanna make it?? I sell these in my store in whatever color you want.

Double Bump Headband

Materials:

Size: 19 inches circumference
Yarn: 22grams (approximately) of any worsted weight yarn
Needle: US8/5.00mm long circular needle (I used a 47" and I'm fairly certain it can be done on a 32" scrunched up.)
Gauge: 4 stitches per inch in pattern

Using a mobius cast on of some sort, I suggest this one except don't do the first round like she does it,  cast on 76 stitches, or any multiple of 4, or if you are using a different yarn/needle/gauge, a multiple of 4 that will fit your head. A note on sizing though, you want this a little smaller than the circumference of your head so it actually does it's job.

Place marker(fairly important in mobius knitting/crocheting) and....

Row 1 & 2: [k2, p2] repeat around. Just in case you have never done any mobius knitting, this will be a looong around, just keep going until you hit the marker again.

Row 3 & 4: [p2, k2] until you hit the marker again.

Repeat Row 1 and then do a tubular bind off for a 2x2 rib.

In case you're looking for a video for a tubular bind off for a 2x2 rib, I looked for one to put on the pattern and couldnt find one. I just did it like a 1x1 tubular bind off..

Basically, you take two dpns and put all the knits on the front needle and all the purls on the back needle and kitchener them together, making sure you start with a knit.

It will look right, trust me.

Or if you don't want to get all that elaborate with it, just bind off making sure your bind off stretches with the knitting.

Sew in the ends, put it on and show everyone how fabulous you look! And have someone take a picture and show me!!

TTFN


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Reversible Stitch Patterns in knitting

So Im doing some mobius headbands to put in my store and was looking for some stitch patterns that were identical on both sides. Yanno....reversible.

I cannot count how many times I have went looking for a stitch pattern in knitting or crochet that was reversible. So, Im gonna start a series on reversible stitch patterns so the ones I find will be in one spot. This will be an ongoing project and I will have a section over there on the right bar that will have all the links to the posts that include these in them.

I will put either knit or crochet,
in the round or flat
and show pictures of both sides.

I realize these things are all over the net and some in my books and all spread out all over the place...how inconvenient?

If yall have any stitch patterns you would like me to swatch up....let me know! I would be happy to include them here. I hope this will be a combined effort because Im sure I won't be able to find them all. And lets face it, new patterns are born every day!

What do yall think of my idea??

Stay tuned!!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The cat is in the plant!!!

I've been hearing this phrase lately around here so I decided to do something about it.

I mean seriously, Its not like Ive never had a cat and didnt foresee this coming! I guess I was just putting it off thinking this cat wouldn't do that!

Yea, fat chance.

Anyway, for one of my plants, I had the boy make me a cardboard circle, complete with pretty coloring. He said it was a field of flowers...LOL And then I cut out the center and then a line all the way out so I could fit it in.


Its been working pretty good so far, except he gets his little paw in the center there and starts to pull out dirt, but he doesn't see this as a second bathroom, and he cant get too much out anyway. 

For my money tree, I decided to go a different route. I wanted purty. So I went out to my rock garden and got some medium sized rocks, tried to get some that had a section out of one of the sides so it would fit up against the trunk. Then I filled in the holes with some river rock and stuck my glass hummingbird in there that I got for Christmas(isnt that the most awesomist thing EVER?? side note: I LOVE all things hummingbird) and voila! I have a source of humidity and the cat wont get in it. And even if he does get the little ones out, he cant use this one as a second bathroom either. And if I hear it, I can get the spray bottle out and stop it. 

Hopefully eventually he will get the picture. Cuz I would like to keep this method, its purty don't you think? 





Im sure there are other bennies to using rocks, if you know, please fill me in! 

TTFN