Circles

After the hexagon mitts, I'm knitting fingerless gloves in a circle shape around the thumb. Right now, it seems that I really like patterns with some "jommetry" (*) in them ... guess, I'm not a witch then. Maybe I should try an Octagram next :-)

UPDATE: The pattern is available here.

(*) "Female wizards aren't right either! It's the wrong kind of magic for women, is wizard magic,it's all books and stars and jommetry" (Terry Pratchett, Equal Rights)

Hexagon Mitts in Two Colours

These mitts are started from the thumb –
increasing to form a hexagon. They are knitted in one part without cutting the yarn - switching from knitting in the round to back and forth and again to knitting in the round. They start with the thumb, i.e. the fiddly part is dealt with right at the beginning. The colour effect is achieved by changing the colour every other row.

Marianne Holmen from strikkeglad.dk has written a Danish translation of this pattern. Thank you very much or rather "mange tak"!


I have designed a cowl in a chevron pattern to go with these mitts.







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

Materials

• a total of about 30 grams of fingering weight yarn – either in two colours or two ends from one skein of variegated yarn
• 3mm dpns (if you prefer the magic loop technique you will need a 3rd needle for a three-needle bind-off)
• 7 stitch markers (1 different from the others; i.e. six “hexagon markers”  & one “travelling marker”)
• a tapistry needle (to weave in the ends)

Techniques and Uncommon Abbreviations

Travelling Jogless Stripes (more about this)

• To minimize the jog between the stripes, you can – when knitting the second round of a new colour – slip the first stitch of that round, place a marker and knit that round not until the old end, but until the newly placed marker. That way the end-of-round shift by one stitch. This technique will be used during part 2 of the pattern.

“Make One Purl”-Stitches (a video that shows these stitches)

• mk1p right-leaning: make one purl stitch by inserting the left-hand needle from the back in the bar between the two stitches and purl through the front of the loop
• mk1p left-leaning: make one purl stitch by inserting the left-hand needle from the back in the bar between the two stitches and purl through the back of the loop

The Pattern

Part 1 - Thumb
CO18 - with yarn A
Round 1: *p1 k1 p1 repeat from * to end
Round 2: *p1 k1 p1 repeat from * to end
repeat round 2 a total of 10 times
Round 12: *p1 place marker k1 p1 repeat from * – these 6 markers will be called „hexagon markers“

Part 2 - Hexagon In-the-Round-Increases
Round 1 (Yarn A): k
Round 2 (Yarn A): *k to marker mk1r slip hexagon marker k1 mk1l  repeat from * to last marker then knit to the end of round
Round 3 (Yarn B): k
Round 4 (Yarn B): sl1 purlwise (re)place travelling marker; p to marker (i.e. also purling the stitch you slipped before)
Repeat these 4 rounds 5 times or until the height from thumb to the top is high enough for you - ending with round 2.

Top Bind-Off and moving from part 2 to part 3
With yarn B: *k1 sl1 repeat from * until you reach the first hexagon marker - stranding yarn A.
BO between the first and the second marker (use any stretchy bind-off techique that you like, e.g. this) - while still stranding yarn A. Remove the two markers.
Knit until the end of this round then *k into stitch below k1 (repeat from * until you reach the first BO stitch - (you have just knitted the first stitches of this round again).
Remove travelling marker.
Turn and knit back one row with yarn B.


(A Note:  I really (really, REALLY) don't like breaking yarn in the middle of a piece - and consequently having to weave in more ends. That's why I go to any length to avoid breaking yarn. In case of these mitts (because of the construction and the colour changes) the yarn is not always where it is needed to be. Therefore, I have used a few "cheats", i.e. stranding the yarn over the first bind-off or knitting in the stitch below. If you don't mind the cutting and the weaving in, you can alternatively break your yarns A and B, slip the stitches to the first marker, start binding off with yarn A there and so on ... )

Part 3 - Hexagon Back-and-Forth Increases
Row 1 (Yarn A, RS): k
Row 2 (Yarn A, WS): *p to one stitch before marker mk1p (left-leaning) p1 slip marker mk1p (right-leaning) repeat from * to last marker then purl to the end of row
Row 3 (Yarn B, RS): k
Row 4 (Yarn B, WS): k
Repeat Rows 1 to 4 a total of three times (or until the mitt is wide enough to fit your hand). Try it on to make sure.
Then knit one row with yarn A - while you're knitting that last row, place the travelling marker (right at the stitch in the middle between the first and second hexagon marker).

Three-needle Bind-Off and Moving to Part 4
To join the front and back of the mitt, do a three-needle bind-off until you reach the travelling marker (you are seeing the WS of your mitt.) -  using yarn A and stranding yarn B. When you've reached the marker put the last stitch on the back needle. Turn your work inside-out to see the RS.
The first stitch of the round is the one you just knitted. Place an end-of-round marker and slip this stitch.
Still using yarn A, pick up a stitch from the bar between the two stitches, i.e. mk1r. Knit to the end of round. Pick up one stitch from the bar between the two stitches, i.e. mk1l.
Make the stitches around the end-of-round marker quite tight in order to avoid holes.
There are only three markers on your needle, the end-of-round marker and two hexagon markers.

Part 4 - Wrist In-the-Round
Round 1 (Yarn B): k
Round 2 (Yarn B): p1 p2tog p to marker p1 mk1p p to marker mk1p p to two stitches before end-of-round p2tog
Round 3 (Yarn A): k
Round 4 (Yarn A): k1 k2 tog k to marker k1 mk1l k to marker mk1r k to two stitches before end-of-round ssk.
Repeat these 4 rounds until there are only three stitches between the two hexagon markers.

With yarn B, k until the last stitch of round. Slip the next stitch, k2tog and psso.
With yarn B, purl one round.

In case the wrist part is not long enough for you, you can continue as follows until the desired length.

Part 5 (optional)
Round 1 (Yarn A): k
Round 2 (Yarn A): k
Round 3 (Yarn B): k
Round 4 (Yarn B): p

Bind-Off
Then bind off loosely with yarn A.

Weave in ends.

Hexagon Mitts

I don't like weaving in ends ... so I tried to construct the mitts in a way that there are only two ends per mitt. It (sort of) worked.

EDIT: Here's the pattern: http://knitting-and-so-on.blogspot.ch/2013/10/hexagon-mitts-in-two-colours.html

Nori - 海苔

Lovely "Nori" Scarf (Pattern by Carissa Browning, published in Knitty, Summer 2013). The first time I ventured into a serious lace pattern - I'm quite happy how it turned out. 

 

The only modification I made is that I did a p2togtbl where the pattern said ssp. 

Historic Knitting Book

as seen at the Swiss Open Air Museum Ballenberg.

Yoga Pants

Considering that this is my first EVER sewing project,  I'm quite pleased with myself even though the seams are not really straight and there are some parts that I'd do differently next time - but they fit! I used the method from this wonderful video tutorial.

Earring Organizer

Only vaguely related to knitting and yarn ... This earring organizer is made of a cardboard cone, that was used for yarn.

I drilled holes into the cardboard and painted it with acrylic paint - voilà.

Hyperbolic Crochet

I love the idea that some fancy mathematical ideas can best be explained with a crocheted piece of fabric - hyperbolic planes. Here's a video that explains the idea, an interview and here the paper.

Plus, it makes a great bathroom sponge/scrubby :-) 

How to make it

If you want to crochet such a sponge, it's really easy to do: you only need some leftover cotton yarn and the appropriate crochet hook.

Do a magic ring with 6 single crochet stitches.

After that continue to crochet 2 sc into each single crochet (i.e. doubling the number of stitches every round) ... until it's big enough or you run out of yarn.

Enjoy!

WWKIP Day(s)

Knitting meeting on World Wide Knit in Public Day (June 8 - 16, 2013):

Crochet Dress

Seen in a shop window in Barcelona. I didn't look for a price tag ... ;-)

Guerilla-Knitting in Berlin

Buttercup

My Buttercup sweater (pattern by Heidi Kirmeier - available at Ravelry). I used some lovely Kaléido yarn - bought at La Droguerie in Paris.

Knit Your Own Cat

 Seen in Paris

Chair Cover

Upcycle your old blankets by cutting them into strips and knit a comfortable chair cover ... to sit a bit warmer on cool spring days.

I used an old fitted sheet (i.e. elastic material) and cut it in a spiral (as described here), except that I didn't tear the material, but used scissors. Afterwards I stretched the material a bit (as you do when making t-shirt yarn) while I wound it up into a big ball.

This chair cover is knitted along the lines of Frankie Brown's Ten Stitch Blanket pattern. However, it's not worked as a spiral.



I used 25mm needles and cut up sheets as yarn, but I guess T-shirt yarn will work fine, as well.

Here's how I did it:

Provisionally cast on 10 stitches,
Row 1: sl1 k9
Row 2: sl1 k8 w+t
Row 3: sl1 k to end
Row 4: sl1 k7 w+t
Row 5: sl1 k to end
Row 6: sl1 k6 w+t
Row 7: sl1 k to end
Row 8: sl1 k5 w+t
Row 9: sl1 k to end
Row 10: sl1 k4 w+t
Row 11: sl1 k to end
Row 12: sl1 k3 w+t
Row 13: sl1 k to end
Row 14: sl1 k2 w+t
Row 15: sl1 k to end
Row 16: sl1 k1 w+t
Row 17: sl1 k to end
Row 18: sl1 w+t
Row 19: k1
Row 20: sl1 k1 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 21: sl1 k to end
Row 22: sl1 k2 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 23: sl1 k to end
Row 24: sl1 k3 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 25: sl1 k to end
Row 26: sl1 k4 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 27: sl1 k to end
Row 28: sl1 k5 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 29: sl1 k to end
Row 30: sl1 k6 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 31: sl1 k to end
Row 32: sl1 k7 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 33: sl1 k to end
Row 34: sl1 k8 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 35: sl1 k to end
Row 36: sl1 k7 (picking up the wrapped stitch)
Row 37: sl1 k to end

Repeat Rows 1 to 37 a total of 3 times, then knit rows 1 to 36.
Graft ends together in garter stitch, i.e.

• setup: Front purl, back purl.
• front needle: knit slip, purl leave.
• back needle: knit slip, purl leave.

Mixed Wave Cowl - The First 5 Sections

I finally got round to knitting another cowl and taking photos of the process.
So, in the hope that this might help people who try to knit the cowl but at first cannot imagine how it will add up, here are photos of the first 5 sections. The marker around which a section has just been added, is pointed out with a red dot.

The first section is a left leaning section - knitted around the current marker 3.

 The second section is a right-leaning section - knitted around the current marker 5.

The third section is a left-leaning edge section - knitted around the marker that was number 6 when the five-section-sequence was started, but is now the fifth marker. Please note also, that a new marker (left of the marker with the red dot) has been put on the needle.

The forth section is a right-leaning edge section - knitted around the first marker on the needle.

The fifth section is a left-leaning section - knitted around the only marker that hadn't been used in this five-section-sequence.

The above photo shows a summary - above the markers it is written which section was knitted around it. You can see that all markers have been used while knitting five sections.

Please note,

• the new marker has been put on the needle because there were more than 10 stitches between the edge marker and the last pattern marker as well as 
• that the marker that was the first (when the five-section-sequence began) has been remove because it had reached the edge marker.

So cute

Seen in a bookstore in Shibuya.

Short Wave Mitts (DK Version)

I knitted this DK version of the Short Wave Mitts to match a cowl I had made earlier - pinching the idea of inversing the colours from another knitter on Ravelry.




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

Materials:

• a total about 45 grams of DK weight yarn  (in two colours)
• 4.5 mm dpns

Here are the modifications to the original pattern:

Thumb panel:

• CO7 in MC
• do increase (to widen thumb panel) in rows 16 and 26
• do thumb increases in rows 32, 34, 36, 38 - move 11 sts to scrap yarn in row 40
• do decrease (to narrow thumb panel) in row 47
• BO thumb panel in row 58

Main Part:

• Pick up 30 sts from side => 31 sts on needles
• When first knitting a row down the side: k3 pm k8 pm k8pm k8 pm k4 (to mark the beginnings and endings of sections - the sections are 8 sts wide).
• Knit MC rows in stockinette stitch (i.e. k on RS, p on WS)
• There are only 4 down sections and 4 up sections

Thumb:

• for thumb pick up 3 sts from above gusset
• knit 4 rounds of garter stitch (i.e k 1 round, p 1 round) and BO

Variations on the Hitchhiker Theme

This scarf is based on the Hitchhiker pattern by Martina Behm - with some short row waves added.

To create the waves pattern, I used the technique described in the Mixed Waves Cowl pattern, i.e. dividing the width of your knitting into sections of the same length and filling them out with short rows in a random manner. As the scarf gets wider, it is also necessary to make the sections wider as you go along - I started with sections of 10 stitches and increasing them gradually ended up with a width of 20 stitches per section.