ZebraKnits

Socks, socks and socks

Project: Firestarter by Yarnissimma

Yarn: Sock that Rock Medium weight, Banded Agate, 1 skein

Needles: US #1/2.5mm Addi Turbos 32' circular, using Magic loop

Modifications: None. Added a bit of length on the cuff to use up yarn.

Verdict: The yarn is glorious to work with and the finished product has a nice feel. These are probably the warmest socks made so far. The pattern was easy to follow even though it's not quite a mindless knit. I felt challenged with this pair since they were my first toe up's. And, yes, I had trouble matching the stripes even though I tried my hardest. So a fraternal pair they are! But, overall, the best socks knit so far.

Project: Socks of Kindness by Couchy09

Yarn: Cherry hill supersock merino, 1 skein

Needles: US #1/2.5mm Addi Turbos 32' circular, using Magic loop

Modifications: Added 2 more pattern repeats on the cuff. Nothing else. The pattern was so easy and mindless to knit. The yarn doesn't do the pattern much justice and so do my photos ( they were notorious to photograph for some reason) and I think I might try them in a different yarn in future. This was was also my first short row heel. My sock knitting skills have so far been enhanced with knitting both the pairs.

Thank you all for your tremendous response to the Cabled blanket. I cannot bear to put it away even though the weather is getting warmer.

Have a fantastic weekend with your loved ones during this Mother's day weekend! Have a great one!

Cabled Patchwork Blanket

I started knitting the blanket squares back in April last year, on impulse, while seeking a cure for my cableaholism, which apparently, still exists. Time flew by and knitting went on rapidly at times and slowly other times and sometimes, none at all. There was a time recently the blanket was stashed, unfinished, put out of sight due to mere boredom. Forward to two weeks ago, I had an enormous desire to finish knitting something, be it a blanket or not and now, am happy that I picked up the blanket again.

Already, I am emotionally attached to the blanket because of just what it is - a warm, cozy, handmade blanket with a lot of memories of the year passed. Looking at it every time, reminds me of so many things about me - absolute craziness to tackle such a huge project, the determination and passion to try out so many cable patterns etc - unfortunately, these characters tend appear in other parts of my life as well.

Project details

Finished size: About 68' long and 52' wide. Individual squares approx. 9 inch by 9 inch. Knit a total of 32 squares. More details on Raverly

Yarn: Bluefaced Leicester Aran in Silver, 19 hanks, 100g each

Needles: US #9/5.5mm

Resources used include: The harmony guides, Barbara G. Walker, viking patterns for knitting among others.

If you would like to attempt such craziness and make your own blanket - here is a little recipe that might work for some and to some extent. (With a Disclaimer)

• Be impulsive and crazy enough to tackle a project idea that comes to mind while you trying to get to sleep
• Make sure you have some huge stash of yarn that you don't like something about (in my case it was the colour) plus other necessary resources like needles, which as a knitter, you certainly have
• Grab all resources like knitting books you have that you never knit anything from and take a good look around for some interesting patterns that you can incorporate into your project
• and finally begin to knit. Don't forget to set both relaxed long term deadlines (in my case was whenever) and tight short term deadlines ( gave myself  a number of 5 or 10 squares to knit during a knitting spurt) and you will be good to go for the next few years....
• Or less but at least you'll have a blanket!

Really, without misleading you, here are a few tips and tricks I learned that would help if you would like to make your own:

• Decide on individual square sizing. The squares were about 9' by 9' although not exactly in each case depending on the cable pattern used.
• Test gauge at least one or two cable patterns to determine the average number of stitches to use. For most of the squares, I cast on 46 stitches and that gave me ample number of stitches for a 24-28 stitch cable panel plus moss stitch and/or small cable panels border on either side. On average, the stitches ranged from 46-50sts.
• When choosing cable patterns, select the ones you like that would fit the size of the square needed. I stuck with mostly 24-30sts cable patterns with a 24-28 row repeats. Thus, the big cable panels like this or this, were repeated at least twice (ie a total of 48 rows) in a square and smaller cables like this or this were repeated multiple times. Also, the simple cable stitch pattern like honeycomb or lattice were easy to make to fit the dimensions.
• The seed stitch background is optional. I like the texture it gave with the yarn therefore didn't mind knitting it so much. A word of caution- on the squares that I used more seed seed stitch on either side of the cable, the squares gained a little  more after washing.
• Sewing the pieces together was easily done by using mattress stitch. This created a continuous seed stitch pattern on the top and no bulky seems on the back.
• Blocking really helps with straightening the blanket. Mine is slightly bigger on one side due to the combo of squares I put together in the last row (Most of them were over 9 inch in size but that's ok).
• Make your own desired size blanket. Don't be limited by squares of x size - you can basically make any shape and size you want. I even considered a round shaped blanket!

For more photos, check here and here.

**added*** Full Photos are here and here.

Spring cleaning, gardening and two year old tantrums await. Thus why blogging and responding to emails has been very limited lately!

Enjoy your spring days knitting!

be inspired + wips

I have been knitting these past few weeks on Diva and making some good progress. The back is done and now working on the fronts. So far, the project is quite enjoyable - no hitches encountered yet. The size US#2 needles seem to have grown on me as I don't notice at all the slowness of knitting with them on this project as compared to socks, which always seem to take ages to finish.

Things on my mind that are inspiring me this week include:-

• This spring coat by Vilma. Gorgeous!
• Mexican Pinwheel Star from Moonstitches - her quilt projects are amazing. This star in particular has me in want of starting some new quilting project.
• I just saw the movie Bewitched after seeing this sweater (by Tikru) inspired from the movie. I want to cast on one. NOW.
• Fiddlehead mittens by Helloyarn. I purchased the yarn recently on a whim and cannot wait to cast them on. There were so many colour choices to pick from but finally settled on these. I think I could make more than one pair from this quantity of yarn.

• Project Spectrum Earth theme: Metallics, Brown and Green. The Pewter serving utensils are by a South African artist Carroll Boyes whose work is also featured in the book Craft Art in South Africa. Her work is sold globally as I found out. They are my favourite serving pieces. In the photo are the elephant salad servers weave sauce ladle and a butter knife.

continuing on small things.....

I never thought making pincushions could be so easy, fun and less time consuming until now. These are a product of my current state of crafting mind - small things and another sewing date with my friend. Now, my pins have a new lovely home where I can enjoy crafting with them.   

I used this tutorial for the square one and the round one is from whip-up.

I also made these coasters a while ago for my in-law. These are also so quick and easy to make and can definitely be made as a last minute gift item. Here is the tutorial used.

Lastly, thank you all so graciously for my birthday wishes! I very much enjoyed my day!

Have a great weekend.

for me

Today.

Enjoy your day!

101st post about nothing really

Mornings like today, so slow and quiet with not much on the agenda or deadlines to meet are some of my favourites. With some knitting, playing with my camera and a cup of my favourite freshly homemade carrot juice with ginger, I really can't complain at all.

Last week on our walk we saw some fresh blooms on trees, just a reminder that spring is here, though the weather is still chilly. Nowadays, I try to remember to bring my camera along just in case.

The green boxes are for Project Spectrum theme Earth - Green, Brown and Metallics. I use these every time for grocery shopping (and skip plastic bags) and really they are multipurpose - even just for carrying stuff or totting around the little one. I stocked up more on my last trip to Canada and always carry a few in the boot (trunk in American term) of my car.

Have a cheery Tuesday!

slow

It seems like it's been forever since I last knit a sweater. In the last three months, only one sweater came off my needles, that is a second Ellen knit for a friend, who was sweet enough to let me take a photo. Sounds pathetic of me but, I have been really focusing on small projects that I usually don't do much of throughout the year; learning more about stranded/colour knitting and hence my recent book purchases below to add to my knitting library.

I haven't started any projects from the books yet, that's one thing I struggle with buying books or resources that I don't get much use out of. But, hopefully, I will learn a lot from them as I pursue my knitting goal.

From the kindness of a friend who noticed my passion for colour knitting and mittens, I received a generous parcel from Maarja all the way from Estonia! Thank you so much!

The books have tremendous amount of Estonian patterns with historical background information in English translation.

Currently, I am working on my first smallest needle project ever - a Hanne Falkenberg design Diva, a treat to myself as an early birthday gift. I have kept an eye on the designs for a while but wasn't brave enough to take one such a slow project , until Leslie assured me it's doable. She has knit a few of HF designs.

Between that and the socks, things are a bit slow but good. I guess for now am more of a process knitter and enjoying every few rows knit on my projects.

stripping or pooling???

I finished my first pair sock of Firestarter and am quite happy with it except the fact I have no idea if the yarn stripping is pooling or not. With no experience at all with multi coloured yarn, I am clueless as to what the overall outcome should look like....

I have to say that either way, I am going forward with the next sock although the trick would be to get the both socks to match. Who knows, I might end up with not so matching socks!

I am also on the second sock of the sock of kindness. This one is an easy TV knitting except for the notorious Size US#1 needles am using. If it wasn't for my fantasy of at least knitting a tiny percent of this sock collection, I would give it up now!

Knit on. Happy day!

Chevalier Mittens again

Normally, I don't knit the same thing more than once unless it's really a great pattern like these mittens. These are my second pair and not the last. I think they are eye popping and pair perfectly well with my coat. Really love them so much. They are so easy to make and if you haven't considered them before, try them. There are some great mittens around I've seen on Flikr.

Pattern: Chevalier Mittens by Madebymyself. She is a very talented knitter who whips up cables really fast.

Yarn: Tahki Stacy Charles Donegal Tweed, 1 skein, Colour#809

Needles: Addi Turbos circulars on US#4/3.5mm.

Modifications: I omitted one repeat on the cuff and the finishing just to make them shorter because I wasn't sure one skein will do it.

These shots were taken in Ottawa, where the snow was piled up so high, like I have never seen in my entire life ( you can't blame an African girl for that!). It was really cold too and there was a lot of layering with warm clothes. But hey, almost over half my knits came along with me and had fun wearing them!

Happy weekend everyone. 

All day tote

For a friend I was visiting last week. I think she liked it.

All day tote from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing made with 100% cotton canvas with 100% cotton African wax print lining.

Made it on another sewing date with a friend.

Remember the green grosgrain ribbon? And I didn't forget to put a label inside. See?

I have another tote ready cut for sewing but will sew it after I have Gerda serviced.

Thank you all for your kind well wishes on our trip. We had a fabulous time .

Now off to catching up with Google reader and getting back into swing of things. I will have some knitting updates soon.