Samstag, 31. Oktober 2015

Kreisel Fingerless Gloves

Keep your hands warm this winter with these stylish and unique fingerless gloves. They are crocheted around the thumb which allows you to show off your variegated yarn to the best effect.

These mitts are the crochet version of my knitted Circle Mitts.
Kreisel is the german word for (spinning) top.




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This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



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Materials
  • about 40 to 45 grams of fingering weight yarn
  • 3mm crochet hook
  • 4 removable stitch marker (e.g. safety pins)
  • tapestry needle to weave in ends


Stitches and Abbreviations

General Construction

When crocheting in the round, the structure of the finished piece looks different than when crocheting back and forth. Since in the original (knitted) Circle Mitts are knitted in the round (parts 1 and 2), back and forth (part 3) and then in the round again (part 4), I needed to change the pattern in a way that a change like that wouldn't occur - at least for parts 2 to 4.

Therefore, these mitts are constructed as follows: it starts with the thumb (part 1) which is finished by connecting the edges and creating a small tube (the thumb). Part 2 starts with crocheting around one edge of this tube and increases in circles. However after each "round" direction is changed (i.e. the round closed by a slip stitch and the piece is turned).


How to Crochet a Flat Circle
Start with a ring of 5 chains or a magic ring. Into this ring do a set-up row consisting 8 single crochets, close round with slip stitch.
In all following rounds, the stitch count should be increased by 8, i.e. in the first round every stitch, the 2nd row increase every 2nd stitch, in the 3rd row every 3rd, in the 4th row every 4th and so on ...
To avoid an octagon pattern, the increases should be made at different points, so the first rows may be
Round 0: sc to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (-> 8 stitches)
Round 1: inc into every st, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every stitch was increase, now there are 16 stitches)
Round 2: [sc, inc] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 2nd stitch was increased, now there are 24 stitches)
Round 3: [inc, sc 2] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 3rd stitch was increased, now there are 32 stitches)
Round 4: [sc2, inc, sc1] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 4th stitch was increased, now there are 40 stitches)
Round 5: [sc4, inc] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 5th stitch was increased, now there are 48 stitches)
Round 6: [sc2, inc, sc3] repeat to end, sl st into first sc, ch1 (every 6th stitch was increase, now there are 56 stitches)
For this pattern the above recipe will be applied.


Gauge or What to Measure
If you're knitting for your own hands, you just have to try it on a few times before finishing. If you're knitting for somebody else, you'll need the following measurements:
  • thumb circumference, 
  • hand circumference at wrist height
  • hand circumference at base of thumb
  • hand circumference at knuckle height
As with many of my patterns, it is written in a way that you can adjust it to your hand size. If you're uncomfortable with instructions like that, the pattern might not be for you.



Instructions

Part 1 (Thumb)
Row 0: ch 10 and 1 turning-chain
Row 1: sc 10; 1 turning-chain
Row 2: sctbl 10; 1 turning-chain
Row 3: sctbl 8, dec; 1 turning-chain
Row 4: sctbl 9; 1 turning-chain
Row 5: sctbl 7, dec; 1 turning-chain
Row 6: sctbl 8; 1 turning-chain
Row 7: sctbl 6, dec; 1 turning-chain

(Your piece should now be as high as half of your thumb circumference. If it's too small for that you can add an even number of "sctbl all, 1 turning-chain"-rounds.)

Row 8: sctbl 7; 1 turning-chain
Row 9: sctbl 6, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 10: sctbl 8; 1 turning-chain
Row 11: sctbl 7, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 12: stbl 9; 1 turning-chain
Row 13: sctbl 8, inc; 1 turning-chain
Row 14: sctbl 10; 1 turning-chain

Now your piece should look like in picture 1.

Fold the edges together (chain edge and your last row) and connect.



Part 2:
Setup Round: Chain 1, and stitch about 20 sc's into the rim of the thumb in the round (while you're doing this you're looking to the inside of the thumb), after about 20 stitches you should be back at the beginning. close with a slip stitch. Chain 1 and turn.

For the next rounds, do the circle crochet recipe from above, but crochet sctbl stitches. Don't forget to change crochet direction (ie. turn) after every round.
If you had to crochet a few rounds more during part 1, there may be more stitches. If you have between less than or excatly 24 stitches in the round, you the next round should be increasing every 3rd stitch. If you made the thumb bigger and have more than 25 stitches start with increasing every 4th stitch. After a few rounds your piece should look as like picture 2.

Continue until the distance between the thumb and the upper edge is high enough for you. Make sure to end on an outside row.
For me this was the case after 13 rows.

To get you started here are the first few rounds spelled out
Round 1 (outside, ie. while crocheting you're looking at the outside of your piece): [sctbl 2, inc] repeat to end (or until there are less than 3 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 3rd stitch)
Round 2 (inside, ie. while crocheting you're looking at the intside of your piece):[sctbl, inc, sctbl 2] repeat to end (or until there are less than 4 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 4th stitch)
Round 3 (outside): [sctbl 4, inc] repeat to end (or until there are less than 5 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 5th stitch)
Round 4 (inside): [sctbl 2, inc, sctbl 3] repeat to end (or until there are less than 6 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 6th stitch)
Round 5 (outside): [sctbl 5, inc, sctbl 1] repeat to end (or until there are less than 7 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 7th stitch)
Round 6 (intside): [sctbl 2, inc, sctbl 5] repeat to end (or until there are less than 8 stitches, sctbl to end), chain 1 and turn (i.e. increase every 8th stitch)
... and so on ...

When the distance between the thumb and the upper edge is high enough, move to part 3.

Don't do a chain and don't turn after the last round.



Part 3:
Count your stitches, place stitchmarkers at the beginning of the round, the middle of the round, and around 5 stitches before the middle marker and 5 stitches after the mittle marker. These last two markers mark the ends of the rows in part 3.

Don't turn but go on crocheting in the same direction, but now with slip stitches into the back loop until you have reached the marker that is placed 5 stitches before the middle marker.
The point of these slip stitches and the subsequent stitches into the stitch below, is to get an even texture on the outside - the slip stitches will be hidden behind the next row.
Your piece should now look as in picture 3.

Chain 1 and turn.
Row 1: dec, then sctbl into the stitch below and continue the circle increases (e.g. if you increased every 15th stitch in the last round of part 2, in this row you have to increase every 16th stitch) - for the first half (until the "beginning marker") stitch into the stitch below the slip stitches you just did; for the second half do normal sctbl's - until you are two stitches away from the other marker that is placed 5 stitches away from the middle marker, dec, chain 1 and turn
Row 2: dec, sctbl 9, turn, sctbl to last 2 stitches, dec; chain 1 and turn;  dec, sctbl to last 2 stitches (while doing the circle increases) to the last 2 stitches, dec - this row with a short row is needed to widen the upper edge - your piece should now look similar to picture 4.
Row 3 = Row 2
Row 4: dec, sctbl (with circle increases) to last 2 stitches, dec

Repeat Row 4 until the the piece fits around your hand (or until the upper edge equals the hand circumference at the knuckles and the widest part equals the hand circumference at the base of the thumb) - see picture 5. If you want to widen the upper edge more, you can do one or more repeats of row 2 (i.e. using short rows).

Part 4:
After you have finished, count your stitches again. Devide the number of stitches by 4 and add 2 or 3. This is the number of stitches that you're going to connect to the other side of the mitt.
I had 99 stitches - devided by 4 makes a bit less than 25, plus 2 makes 27.

Hold the right sides of the mitt together and connect the number of stitches that you just calculated.
Your piece should now look like in picture 6.
Turn the mitt back right sides out (be sure to secure your last loop while you're doing this) and put a stitch marker in the current stitch.
(You can remove all other stitch markers at this point).

For an even texture you need again to hide the next few slip stitches before continuing.
If the last row you knitted in part 3 was an even numbered-row, you need to do slip stitches up the right hand side as seen from the current stitch, if it was an even numbered row, you need need to do the following slip stitches towards the left.

In my case, I had crocheted 7 rows in part 3, so I did my slip stitches up the left side (see picture 7).

Setup Row: sl st 14 on the inside of the mitt, turn

Now you can start to work on the little triangle on top of the joined stitches as follows (see picture 8). These are short rows, so you don't crochet a turning-chain but start with the second stitch.

Row 1: sctbl 11 (into the stitches below the slip stitches you just made), dec, (now you should be back at the marker), dec, sctbl 14, sl st 1, turn
Row 2: sctbl 11, dec (now you should be back at the marker), dec sctbl 8, sl st 1, turn
Row 3: sctbl 5, dec (marker) dec, sctbl 8, sl st, turn
Row 4: sctbl 5, dec (marker) dec, sctbl 2, sl st, turn
Row 5: dec (marker) and close with slip stitch, chain 1

Now do several more rounds of sctbl's until the shaft of the mitt is as long as you want it, i.e.
Round: sctbl to end, sl st into first stitch, chain 1, turn

Make sure to end each round with a slip stitch, chain 1 and turn - to keep up the regular stitch pattern.

Try your mitts on for size (or measure the circumference, it should equal your wrist circumference). If the shaft is too wide you can do some decreasing rounds as well, i.e.
Decreasing round: dec, sctbl to last 2 stitches, dec, sl st into first stitch, chain 1, turn

Weave in ends.
Make two.


This pattern was featured as most clicked at the Hookin on Hump Day Link Party 107. It was also featured in the Stash-buster Link Party on Linda's Crafty Corner in December 2015, on the Crafting Along Link Party #120 at Be a Crafter and at Yarn Fanstastic Party #54 at EyeLoveKnots.

EyeLoveKnots

Freitag, 16. Oktober 2015

Vermicelli Autumn Wrap

This year I went to some yarn festivals for the first time ever and bought some beautiful hand-painted yarn. However, these yarns are always different, i.e. no two skeins are the same ... and one 100 gram skein is not enough for a nice big scarf that I love to wrap myself into when it's getting colder outside. That's why I got the idea of combining this yarn with a semi-solid yarn. This shows off the colors of the hand-painted or hand-dyed yarn even better.

Wide stripes of garter stitch show off the beautiful features of the hand-painted yarn while a lace pattern makes the most of the (semi-)solid yarn.

Vermicelli Autumn Wrap - Free Knitting Pattern by Knitting and so on

It's called Vermicelli because the lace pattern looks a bit like little caterpillars and because the brown color reminded me of one of my favorite autumn desserts - Vermicelles.

Creative Commons License
This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.








Materials
  • 3.5 mm needles
  • 100 grams of yarn in color 1 (C1), here I used some beautiful hand-dyed yarn (by Wolleverliebt that I bought at Wollefestival).
  • 150 grams of yarn in color 2 (C2), here I used some semi-solid Wollmeise Pure Merino that I bought some years ago
  • tapestry needle to weave in ends

Construction

Vermicelli Autumn Wrap - Free Knitting Pattern by Knitting and so onThe vermicelli wrap forms a rectangle but is knitted diagonally. You start with only a few stitches and increase on both sides (part 1). During the next part the stitch count stays the same but you increase on one side and decrease on the other (part 2). When the scarf is long enough you decrease on both sides and finish (part 3).


Techniques


Instructions

Part 1

In color 1
CO4
R1: k all stitches
R2: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
-> repeat 12 more times (i.e. you have knitted a total of 26 rows with C1 and there are 30 sts on your needles)

Color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb
-> then knit chart 1 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2 and now there are 66 sts on your needles)

Here's the pattern from chart 1 spelled out:
R1: k1, * k2tog, yo, k1 repeat from * until there is only one stitch left, k1
R2 and all even numbered rows: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb
R3: k2, * yo, k1, k2tog repeat from * until there are only two stitches left, k2
R5: k3, * k1, k2tog, yo repeat from * until there are three stitches left, k3

The pattern is a repeat of six rows - the charts show 12 rows of it to illustrate how to handle the increases or decreases.

Vermicelli Autumn Wrap - Free Knitting Pattern by Knitting and so on



Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1 and there are now 90 stitches on your needles)

Color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb
-> then knit chart 1 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2 and now there are 126 sts on your needles)

Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1 and there are now 150 stitches on your needles)

If you want your wrap to be wider you can repeat the last two stripes again.



Part 2

First stripe of part 2 with color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: kfb, p to last stitch, kfb (-> now there are 152 stitches)
-> then knit chart 2 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2, since there is always an decrease at the beginning of an even-numbered row and an increase at the end of it, the stitch count will from now on stay the same during part 2)

Here's the pattern of chart 2 spelled out
R1: k1, * k2tog, yo, k1 repeat from * until there is only one stitch left, k1
R2 and all even numbered rows: ssk, p to last stitch, kfb
R3: k2, * yo, k1, k2tog repeat from * to end
R5: k3, * k1, k2tog, yo repeat from * until there are two stitches left, k2


Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: ssk, k to last, kfb
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1)

Color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: ssk, p to last stitch, kfb
-> then knit chart 2 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2)

Repeat the last two stripes of color 1 and 2 until your wrap has the desired length.

Vermicelli Autumn Wrap - Free Knitting Pattern by Knitting and so on

Part 3

Color 1
R1: k all stitches
R2: ssk, k to last, k2tog
-> repeat 11 more times (i.e. you have knitted 24 rows with C1 - there are now 128 sts on your needles, i.e. if you subtract 2 edge stitches there are 126 stitches - a number that's divisible by 3)

Color 2
Setup Row 1: k all stitches
Setup Row 2: ssk, p to last stitch, k2tog
-> then knit chart 3 for the next 34 rows (i.e. you have knitted a total of 36 rows with C2, and there are 92 stitches on your needles)

Here's the pattern of chart 3 spelled out:
R1: k1, * k2tog, yo, k1 repeat from * until there is only one stitch left, k1
R2 and all even numbered rows: ssk, p to last stitch, k2tog
R3: k3, * yo, k1, k2tog repeat from * to end
R5: k2, * k1, k2tog, yo repeat from * until there are two stitches left, k2

Repeat these two stripes (color 1 and color 2) once more - now there are only 32 stitches left.

With color 1 repeat the following rows until there are only 4 stitches left
R1: k all stitches
R2: ssk, k to last, k2tog
Then bind off.

Weave in ends and block.


Samstag, 3. Oktober 2015

Studies in Topology 2

Not sure whether this can be used anywhere ... but I wanted to knit entwined rings (just not know if it can be done :)

I'm not quite satisfied with the result and there are a few things to figure out before I can use this idea within a pattern. However, it was fun to knit.

Donnerstag, 1. Oktober 2015

Edgy Fingerless Gloves

These fingerless gloves have a beautiful garter-stitch look that shows off your variegated yarn to the best effect. As with many of my FG designs, these are knitted in one piece each, i.e. there are only two ends to weave in for each gloves. The design also allows you to adapt them in size to make them custom-fit your hands.



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This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.







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Materials
  • 25 to 30 grams of fingering weight yarn
  • three 3mm needles (I used dpns to start, then switched to circulars), whichever needles or methods (e.g. Magic Loop) you prefer, you need a third needle for the three-needle BO
  • 4 stitch markers
  • scrap yarn or a long stitch holder
  • a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques
  • Three-Needle Bind-Off: The three needle bind-off is used to attach two pieces of knitting (or to ends of one piece of knitting) to one another - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by planetpurl.
  • Short Rows with Wraps and Turns (w+t): In this pattern short rows are used to shape the mitts, e.g. to make it a bit wider at the bottom edge. The pattern is written with "wrap and turn"-short rows (see this YouTube Video by Very Pink Knits).
  • Pick up and knit stitches from the edge - as shown in this YouTube-Video by Very Pink Knits


Construction
The basic construction is shown in the picture on the right. The gloves are knitted in three parts. They are started in the round at the thumb (part 1), in part 2 (also knitted in the round, but alternating in knit and purl rows to achieve a garter stitch look) increases are made at the for corners to make the piece rectangular. Once it's high enough the upper and lower edge are cast of and it's knitted flat (part 3) in (real) garter stitch. When wide enough to fit around your hands both sides are connected with a three-needle bind-off.


Gauge and Measurements
In garter stitch 13 rows are 5 cm in height and 11 stitches equal 5 cm in width
The finished gloves (as described below) measure about 20 cm in height and 17 cm in circumference at the top and 18.5 cm at the lower edge. However, the pattern is written in a way that you can adapt it to the size of your hands.


Instructions

Part 1: Thumb - Knitted in the round

CO18 and join in round
Round 1 - Round 10: * p1 k1 p1 repeat from *
Round 11: *p1 k1 p1 mk1 repeat from * (-> 24 sts)
Round 12 – Round 15: *p1 k1 repeat from *
While knitting R15 either distribute the stitches evenly on four needles (6 sts each) or place stitch markers after every 6th stitch -> your piece should now look similar to illustration 1

(When in the following the pattern speaks of „needle 1“ this means the stitches between the beginning-of-round-marker and the next marker, “needle 2” means the space between that marker and the next one … and so on to “needle 4” which means the space between the last marker and the beginning-of-round-marker.)

Part 2: Knitted in the round

Round 1: * kfb, knit up to last st on needle (or to 1 before marker), kfb repeat from *
Round 2: p all stitches
Round 3: needle 1: k to end of needle, turn work (do not wrap and turn),
    sl1, k to last stitch, sl1, turn work (do not wrap and turn)
    k to end of needle, turn work (do not wrap and turn)
    sl1, k to last stitch, sl1, turn work (do not wrap and turn)
    kfb, k to last stitch, kfb – next needle (or slip marker)
    needle 2: pick up three stitches from the side (i.e. from the edge of the rows you just knitted – see picture 3), k up to last stitch, kfb – next needle (or slip marker)
    needle 3: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb - next needle (or slip marker)
    needle 4: kfb, k to end of needle, pick up three stitches from the side (i.e. from the edge of the rows you knitted on needle 1)

On illustration 2, you can see the gap between needle 1 and needle 2 (or needle 1 and needle 4) that shows up after you've knitted needle 1 in a round 3. That's why you do not only have to increase one stitch at the corner, but also two more stitches (ie. a total of three stitches) at the beginning of needle 2 and the end of needle 4. Illustration 3 shows part of the process of picking up.

Work rounds  2 and 3 a total of 9 times – or until the long side measures the intended length of your fingerless gloves. (After 9 repeats I had the following stitch count: needle 1 and 3 = n stitches each, needle 2 and 4 = 48 stitches each)
Row 20: needle 1: purl and BO all but the last stitch,
     needle 2: purl all stitches - either with a new needle or put these stitches on scrap yarn/a stitch holder afterwards, make one new stitch by purling into the first stitch on needle 3 (but don't slip this first stitch from needle 3)
     needle 3: purl and BO all stitches, purl the last stitch and keep it with the others from needle 4
     needle 4: purl all stitches

(The stitches increased at the end of needles 2 and 3 are there to avoid different heights of parts 2 and 3.)

Edgy Fingerless Gloves - Free #knittingpattern by #knitting and so on


Part 3 – Widening the shaft (knitted flat)

The next part is knitted in garter stitch – with a few short rows for shaping.
Here you can adapt the gloves to fit your hands. So, please try on the gloves and make them fit your hands.

I used a combination of the following rows to make the gloves fit my hands:
Standard Row 1, 2 (WS, RS): sl1, k to end, turn, sl1, k to end  
Widening Below Rows 1, 2 (WS, RS): sl1, k15, w+t, k to end
Widening Upper Part Rows 1, 2, 3. 4 (WS, RS, WS, RS): sl1, k to 5 sts before end, w+t, k18, w+t, k to end; turn; sl1, k to end

Here’s the sequence I knitted:
Rows 1, 2 = Standard Rows
Rows 3, 4 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 5, 6 = Standard Rows
Rows 7, 8 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 9, 10 = Standard Rows
Rows 11, 12 = Standard Rows
Rows 13, 14 = Widening Upper Part
Rows 15, 16 = Standard Rows
Rows 17, 18 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 19, 20 = Standard Rows
Rows 21, 22 = Widening Below Rows
Rows 23, 24 = Standard Rows
Row 25: sl1, k to end

When the glove is wide enough to fit around your hand, put the stitches from the scrap yarn onto another needle. Hold both needles together (wrong sides out) and do a three needle BO.

Weave in ends.

Make two.