This image has been severely tweaked in an attempt to make the pattern clearer. It looks fine in real life, but not so much on picture with this yarn. In person, the pattern is more 3D, it’s easier to see the nice bias, the wool is lovely autumnal shades… in photo, it pretty much just looks like a mess.

This picture gives a much better idea of the colour:

These are basically a mod of the Nutkin sock pattern turned into wristwarmers, but adapted in the following ways:

12.5 repeats along the arm, then the thumb (about 10 stitches knit on waste yarn, picked up and worked in the round for the thumb).

For the thumb, I started decreasing until it was a tight fit. I placed it so it travelled across two pattern repeats, which means four stitches (two either side of the thumb) I carried on as purl. The decreases I did to carry on with the way the pattern had set up and then, when it was the right tightness, I did a 1×1 cable stitch to keep up the diagonal.

On the pattern repeats after the thumb, I omitted the YO, doing a purl stitch where it wold be, to keep the pattern tight around the top of the hand. When it had decreased enough, I did the YOs again.

At the top, I did chromosome-crosses (wobbly, and going in the same direction as the pattern)- basically a four stitch repeat:
k1,p1,k1,p1.
c2r (knit stitch crosses in front of the purl),k1,p1
p1,k2,p1
p1,twist 2right (stitch from the left crosses the right), p1
p1,k2,p1,
p1,k1,c2r,p1
p1,k1,p1,k1.

I mirrored all of this (including the nutkin pattern) on the other hand, for the entirely rational reason that if the pattern pointed in the same direction on both warmers, then one would always be on the wrong hand and I wouldn’t know which.

i’ll write up the pattern more clearly and take close-ups if anyone wants to know more.

Things that I discovered:
Mum and I pick up stitches differently.
It’s easy to get turned around when something is garter stitch.
Any time you start making something as a present, between the time it takes you to buy the wall and knit juuuuust enough that you’ve really started, someone else will have bought them the same thing in the mean time.
Blankets never end up being the same size as you intended.

This last one was actually a conscious decision. Mum and I decided that instead of being about 5×5 squares, it should be 5×7.5. Ack! Especially since it needs to be pretty much done by tomorrow, since mum and dad are flying over to visit the grandparents. We’re aiming for something that can go around her shoulders, rather than a lap blanket (and that, as a lovingly hand-crafted -just look at all the mistakes! Those really make it unique- it will be be appreciated even though she got given a (fleece) one just recently).

What you can’t really see in these pictures is that the light hits it pretty directionally, so it looks pretty cool from an angle. What you can see are the missing spots in the middle and on the side — those empty triangles on the edges that I need to fill in before they fly off. I’ve done four of eight since Sunday, so it should be possible as long as my wrists don’t give out.

So my current projects are herringbone socks (which look like a pretty good ayof using up the odds and ends of sock wool) and a blanket my mum and I are doing for my grandmother.

Since we don’t live together, we needed a pattern that could be put together easily enough and would be convenient to do on the go and we opted for a domino knit blanket. Step one: explaining what domino knitting was to my mum, how the squares go together and so on.

Domino knitting is pretty basic. You cast on X number of stitches, doing a double decrease (slip 1, k2tog, psso) in the middle of every other row. This pulls the knitting together in the middle, making a square witha spin running diagonally up the middle.

We’re doing garter stitch since it’s forgiving, marginally quicker and is nicely bouncy.

To save on sewing ends in, the diamonds are pretty big.

N= total number of stitches)

Odd rows: slip 1, knit across, purl the last stitch.
Even rows: slip1, knit to (n/2)-5, sl1-k2tog-psso, knit to -1, purl last stitch

We cast on 49 since it’s a nice, easy number to remember (7 squared!), which means
R1: sl1, k47,p1
R2: sl1, k22, sl1-k2tog-psso, k22, p1
R3: sl1, k45, p1
R4: sl1, k21, sl1-k2tog-psso, k21, p1
etc.

To join squares, the easiest way is to put two of them together like diamonds, pick up along the edge of one, and then up the edge of another, and start a new square.

Hopefully, difference in tension should be minimal (they were on the practise squares) and we’ll be able the bits we worked apart together without any problems.

Fingers crossed!

Enough with the words! Pictures ahoy!

So this is the first sleeve in Debbie Bliss and the accent yarn.

I started by casting on 60 stitches using waste yarn, then knitting stocking stitch for 25 cm before joining and knitting in the round (starting from the back since I hate sewing up and I needed the lace to go in the same description on both ends).

This is 25 cm of back and about 35 cm of sleeve (her wrist to midback measurement is about 85cm). The sleeves are knit stocking for about 6-8 cm, then decreased every 5 stitches 11 times, then knit 5 rows stocking

And this is the first repeat of the lace pattern. Unblocked, but pretty!

For the lower sleeves, I’m increasing one stitch per row, but not exactly. I’m trying to increase to match the lace pattern, so it blends better. I think it’s working okay– better than just kf&b every row, anyway. You can judge for yourself below.

I’m going to be moving up a size (0.5 mm) in needles with every pattern repeat to make it more open and lacy as the sleeve goes down, which is also why I’m knitting on reasonably tight 4.5 needles for the stocking/first pattern repeat.

I’m thinking three or four pattern repeats in the main Debblie Bliss, then either a pattern repeat in the accent yarn, or just the last couple of rows in it.

Together, we made the SnB baby blanket using olive green (trusty, gender-neutral green) artesano alpaca, which is apparantly good for babies, being fluff and danderfree, hypoallergenic, water and flame resistant, or so the yarn sellers tell me.

For my cousin, I wanted to make something a little more interesting and came up with this:


Inspired by the knitty convertible, but with a different lace pattern and crocheted cufflink-style closers.

The leafy pattern can be seen better here:

Instructions for the lace pattern:

sl2-k1-p2o = slip 2 as if k2tog, knit next stitch, pass two slipped stitches over. This gives a verticle, non-slanting double decrease with the middle stitch raised.
All even rows are purl

R1: k1, yo, k2, k2tog, k1, ssk, k2, yo
R3: k1, yo, k2, k2tog, k1, ssk, k2, yo
R5: K2, yo, k2, sl2-k1-p2o, k2, yo, k1
R7: k3, yo, k1, sl2-k1-p2o, k1, yo, k2
R9: k4, yo, sl2-k1-p2o, yo, k3
R11:k1, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, k2tog
R13:k1, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2, k2tog

From this point on, the first and last pattern repeats, the ones on the edge, will be diferent from the ones in the middle, since you will be starting mid-leaf. Repeat the [section] only, though you will have to start with a ssk and finish with a k2tog instead of a sl2-k1-p2o.
R15: ssk, [k2, yo, k3, yo, k2, sl2-k1-p2o], k2, yo, k3, yo, k2, k2tog
R17:ssk, [k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, sl2-k1-p2o], k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, k2tog
R19:ssk, [yo, k7, yo, sl2-k1-p2o], yo, k7, yo, k2tog

Convertible shawl instructions:

The first stitch of every row is slipped.

CO 80 stitches.
slip first stitch, then k all stitches for 6 rows of garter to set up.

Lace start:

*R1: sl1, k2, yo, k2tog, then repeat R1 of pattern 7 times, ssk, yo, k3.
R2: sl1, k4, purl across til 5th stitch to end, k5 remaining stitches.
R3: sl1, k4, [repeat R3 of pattern seven times], k5.
R4: Repeat R2. All even rows are the same as R2.

Continue in pattern (Rx: sl1, k4, [repeat Rx of pattern seven times], k5) until you have reached the R20, then repeat from * (including buttonhole) for as many pattern repeats as it takes to get it the length you want. This will probably be at least 14 repeats (mine was 14, making it about 150 cm long), but lightly block it with steam as you go along to make sure you get the right length.

Block it properly when you’re done to bring the lace out.

For the crocheted cufflinks, I used the time-honoured making-it-up-as-you-go method, which was about:
Chain 5, join into a ring, then hdc and dc (or double and treble crochet) alterantely into the ring until it’s a solid looking flower, join flower, then chain 8 or so, join 5 into a ring and repeat the first flower.

It’ll take about ten or so of these to make your shawl into a shrug, and of course you can rejigger then if you want to make it a poncho or a wrap or whatever.

Shadow knitting: General notes, how to design your own and my original design.

General notes

Illusion or shadow knitting is pretty simple. Basically, you have two colours, one for the pattern and one for the background (red and black in this case), which are knitted in two row stripes. The background (black) is raised garter-stitch, and the pattern colour (red) is flat outside the motif, and switched around (background colour flat stockinette, pattern colour) on the motif.

This means that when you look at it straight on, you see red and black stripes:

Long view:

Close up

but when you look at it from an angle, you’ll see the red, raised motif, and the black raised around it:

You can see the negative of the motif pretty clearly on the wrong side.

How to design your own:

First, knit a test square with the yarn you’ll be using so you can work out the tension. Then you can use this site to print out some actual size graph paper.

Choose the design you want to do, then draw or print it out the actual size you want on to the graph paper, like this:
Now, you can fiddle with your graph so it’s visually clear to you. Remember, you are changing colour every two rows.

Close up on legend:

Instruction for my specific scarf.

Please note, this was designed using a different chart which is long since lost. All I have left are my old written instructions and the scarf itself.

This was made using Spectre Modem 100% wool, red and black, 80m/40g and japanese size 8 bamboo needles. It’s all springy when you touch it!.

Change color after every two rows. All odd rows are knit, so the pattern is [Row 1] black, knit 40, [Row 2, black] knit 4, purl 1, knit 35, [Row 3, red], knit 40, [Row 4, red] purl 4, knit 2, purl 34, [Row 5, black] knit 40 etc. Because I can’t be bothered to type out “k40″ 90 times, just take that as read for the odd rows.

All bold rows are red.

C0 40, black

MOTIF PATTERN

2. K4, P1, K35
4. P4, K2, P34
6. K5, P2, K33
8. P5, K3, P32
10. K5, P4, K31
12. P6, K5, P29
14. K6, P8, K26
16. P6, K10, P24
18. K6, P10, K24
20. P7, K9, P24
22. K8, P11, K21
24. P8, K13, P18
26. K10, P12, K18
28. P12, K12, P16
30. K14, P11, K15
32. P15, K11, P14
34. K17, P9, K14
36. P18, K9. P13
38. K19, P9, K12
40. P20, K9, P11
42. K20, P10, K10
44. P13, K17, P10
46. K16, P18, K6
48. P16, K20, P4
50. K16, P18, K6
52. P13, K17,P10
54. K20, P10, K10
56. P20, K9, P11
58. K19, P9, K12
60. P18, K9, P18
62. K17, P9, K14
64. P15, K11, P14
66. K14, P11, K15
68. P12, K12, P16
70. K10, P12, K18
72. P8, K13 P18
74. K8, P11, K21
76. P7, K9, P24
78. K6, P10, K24
80. P6, K10, P24
82. K6, P8, K26
84. P6, K5, P29
86. K5, P4, K31
88. P5, K3, P32
90. K5, P2, K33
92. P4, K2, P34
94. K4, P1, K35