Current WIPs

As usual, I have many works-in-progress (or WIPs for short) on my knitting needles. Most of them are my own ideas ... some of them will work and eventually been made into finished objects and patterns, some will be put in hibernation and maybe unearthed at a later date (usually slightly altered), and some will be frogged completely.
Here are the current ones that are most likely to be made into finished objects and maybe even patterns :)

1. Short row scarf with lace pattern inbetween - similar to the Mermaid's Garden Scarf, but not quite :) The yarn I used here is Schoppel Zauberball colorway Teezeremonie. Since the pattern is quite lacy it will look better after being blocked ...
2. The idea here, was to knit a hat completely without swatching, but with an interesting twist (or rather slant :) The finished shape was supposed to be similar  to a Pussy Hat. It took me five (yes, five!) attempts to get the closing vertical edge right(-ish) ... but it still is too roomy and slouchy to my liking. So at least the upper part will be frogged again and knitted differently - or maybe the complete hat ... (?) For this project I have used Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big Color.
3. Ever since I saw knitted pieces with square holes on the internet, I wanted to do something similar for myself - but of course without having to cut my yarn in the middle of a project. It took me quite a while to figure out how to knit them. Once you've grasped the idea this is great for mindless (TV, train etc.) knitting. When this piece is finished it will be a big wrap. The yarn I have used here is Wollmeise Lace.
4. After I had finished the Starburst Mitts in 2014, I thought it might be a good idea to do an opposite construction to them, i.e. to group the short rows around a point at your wrist or at the edge or your hand - instead of around the thumb. I gave up on the idea then, but at Christmas I tried them again. This time the shaping worked a bit better, but it still isn't quite right. But I guess I will finish these - if only just to see how they fit around my hands. It might just work once they are closed. Here I used some hand-dyed yarn from Frau Wo aus Po - leftovers of the yarn that I used for my Seitenstreifen Socks.

If you have any ideas for pattern names, please let me know. Choosing names is not my strong suit :)

Easter Eggs

Only three more weeks until Easter ... these cute little easter eggs are great to use up your self-striping fingering weight leftovers and maybe a funny project to try a three-dimensional piece of knitting.

A German version of this pattern is available here.
Eine deutsche Version dieser Anleitung gibt es hier.



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






Materials

• about 5 grams of fingering weight yarn - I used leftovers from self-striping sock yarn
• 2.5mm dpns or circulars
• stuffing - I used (really) old yarn leftovers and waste fabric (cut into small pieces)
• a removable stitch marker to mark the end of your round
• a tapestry needle

Size
Your finished eggs will be a bit bigger than hen's eggs.

Techniques and Abbreviations

• Magic Ring CO: Basically, the magic ring technique (from crochet) is used to cast on knitted stitches. There are several videos on Youtube that show the technique - I used something similar to the technique shown in the first video, but since this is fiddly work, just use the one that suits you best.
• with knitting needles: http://youtu.be/_xZywv8wj9Y or http://youtu.be/eXgvTPSOVIw 
• or with a crochet hook: http://youtu.be/4Vkpqdea-6o 

Alternatively, you can always use your preferred CO and later sew the hole closed with the tail.

• [X]*Y, means, knit the sequence in brackets (X) Y times, e.g. [k2. kfb]*4 means knit the sequence "k2, kfb" four times.

Instructions
CO 8 sts and join in round - I used a Magic Ring CO (see link above). or just CO8 and join in round, if you do so, keep the tail outside of the egg, so that you can use it later to close the little hole. If you start with the Magic Ring CO, your piece will look like in illustration 1.
Round 1: k all - now your piece will look like in illustration 2.
Round 2: [kfb]*8
Round 3: k all
Round 4: [k1, kfb]*8
Round 5: k all
Round 6: k all
Round 7: [kfb, k2]*8
Round 8: k all
Round 9: k all
Round 10: [k2, kfb, k1]*8
Round 11: k all
Round 12: k all
Round 13: [k4, kfb]*8 - now your piece will look similar to illustration 3

Round 14: k all
Round 15: k all
Round 16: k all
Round 17: k all

Illustrations

Round 18: k all
Round 19: k all
Round 20: k all
Round 21: k all

Round 22: [k6, k2tog, k4]*4

Round 23: k all

Round 24: k all
Round 25: [k1, k2tog, k8]*4
Round 26: k all
Round 27: k all
Round 28: [k4, k2tog, k4]*4
Round 29: k all
Round 30: [k7, k2tog]*4
Round 31: k all
Round 32: [k1, k2tog, k1]*8

Round 33: k all

Round 34: k all
Start to put stuffing into your egg. Stuffing the egg will become more difficult the smaller the upper opening gets.  Now your piece will look similar to illustration 4.
Round 35: [k2tog, k1]*8

Round 36: k all

Round 37: k all
Round 38: [k2tog]*8
Round 39: [k2tog]*4
Cut yarn and thread it through a tapestry needle. Make sure your egg has enough stuffing.
Catch the remaining 4 sts with the needle and pull tight. Fasten off and weave in ends.