Tag: pattern

My Knitting Life

End of an Era (or, It’s Not Done Until You’ve Blogged About it)

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Blanket on chair

Here I present the end of an era. It’s the end because I started this leftover sock yarn blanket in the fall of 2008. After almost 9 years, a lot of changes have happened. It’s inevitable. The kids grew up, we moved almost across the country, went from a house to a condo, and now we own e-bikes, for crying out loud! Change happens! It is time to knit other things. Or, finish other things, because of the way my year went, with teaching almost a full schedule at school, and then throwing teaching 3 graduate classes for SLC teachers on top of that! I have about 5 projects that are mostly finished, but need a little more attention.
Back to this blanket-afghan-throw thingie. I wasn’t sure how big I was going to make it; I was just enjoying the process. But 8.5 years later, I’ve decided to finish. And by finish, I mean, squaring it off, not adding any height or width to it, and most importantly, edging it in i-cord! The edging, you see, is like a stopper; it prevents me from adding more rows. Smart, huh? Done.

Blanket on wall

But at the end of this crazy-sock- leftovers-turned-into-a-blanket era, I have a crazy urge to come up with something else “scrappy” because I’ve still got a small tub of sock-yarn leftovers. Maybe in a year I will have a new pattern to show.
I briefly entertained the idea of putting this on Etsy for a ridiculous sum of money. I was thinking something over $2500, just to see if anyone would “bite.” But that’s cheap. Way too cheap. I calculated my labor at $10/hr (hey, I’m a skilled knitter!), 30 minutes per block which takes into account tucking in loose ends and knitting the i-cord edging. So, with 380 blocks @ 30 minutes per block, that’s 190 hours. Multiply that by the $10 per hour, and the labor cost on this blanket is around $1900.  That doesn’t include the yarn. And it takes a lot of sock knitting to accumulate a great variety of yarn. (That was my excuse, anyway). So, the next time someone knits something for you, they don’t do it to save money or time. They do it because they LOVE you!

For now I’ll just sit on my balcony on cool mornings and enjoy the warmth of this throw.

 

Free Knitting Patterns · Free Sock Patterns

Diamond Array Socks

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About 15 years ago, I came to the happy realization that I was equally comfortable with purling as with knitting. I’m not sure why it took so long. But I remember as a child I would always finish with a purl row if knitting stockinette stitch, so that the next time I picked up the project, I would do so willingly because I would be on a knit row. Every project was subject to this rule. Hated purling. Doesn’t everyone, at first?

Brick Pic

But lately I’ve begun to realize how beautiful the knit stitch looks as it travels along in a field of purl stitches. Texture. One of the features that makes this craft of “knitting” so beautiful. Perhaps I should call myself a “purler” instead of a “knitter”!

So, here’s my latest free pattern offering, Diamond Array Sock Pattern, with a cute but true little story at the beginning.

 

Diamondweave Hat
Free Knitting Patterns · Hello World! · My Knitting Life

Diamondweave Hat

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Diamondweave Hat20160205_172929

Not tight enough to be a beanie, yet not loose enough to be a slouch, Diamondweave Hat delivers highly textured diamonds that float over background purl stitches. As you know, “textured” means you’ll be moving a lot of stitches around, so be prepared. But the payoff is a beautifully patterned hat that has depth and drama.

Diamondweave Close-up
Diamondweave

Click on the link below for the free pattern pdf. Enjoy!

Diamondweave Hat

Knitting Patterns For Sale · Olympic Sweater Pattern

Around Sochi

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Image

More info tomorrow–or look on Ravelry for “Around Sochi” pattern!

Technology Patterns

Free iPhone 4 Cover Knitting Pattern

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iphone 1

I went to the cell phone store “just to look” at iPhones and walked out with one–haha, the joke’s on me! And of course the geek guys tried to sell me cases, skins, covers, etc.  They tried to scare me by talking incessantly about how easily iPhone screens break, but I held out and only spent $15 on an iPhone cover. But because of that, my big fear is dropping this thing! So I decided to knit a little case to at least cushion a fall. Here’s what I did:

iphone 2

Materials

Size 4 (US) Double Pointed Needles and some worsted weight yarn (I used Noro Silver Thaw), tapestry needle, button, thread, and scissors.

Pattern Notes

iPhone case is knit from the bottom up with a rectangular flap, a buttonhole and button. You should be familiar with some knitting terms to complete this pattern.

Cast on

Cast on 36 stitches using Judy’s Magic Cast On.  Google it, and watch the YouTube video.

Body

Mark the beginning of the row and knit as a tube in the round stopping when the depth of the tube is one row taller than the iPhone itself. My case is 5.25″ tall.

Flap

Bind off first 18 stitches. Then work the remaining stitches back and forth in stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row) to make the flap as follows:  Row 1: K;  Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10: P.

Row 3: Sl1, SSK, K12, K2tog, K1

Row 5: Sl1, SSK, K10, K2tog, K1l

Row 7: Sl1, SSK, K8, K2tog, K1

Row 9: Sl1, SSK, K6, K2tog, K1

Row 11: Sl1, SSK, K4, K2tog, K1

Make Buttonhole

Row 12: P 3, bind off 2, P3

Row 13: Sl1, SSK, cast on 2, K2tog, K1

Row 14: P all stitches

Row 15: Sl1, SSK, K2tog, K1

Row 16: Bind off all stitches.

Finishing

Tuck in all ends with tapestry needle and sew on cute button in appropriate place. Enjoy!

Knitting Patterns For Sale · My Knitting Life

Nine Patch Update

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9 patch 1
Since we’re just coming out of “Finish It In February” month, I feel motivated to get busy working on my original design, “Nine Patch Mitered Square Afghan.”
Check it out here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nine-patch-mitered-square-afghan
I am going to make this 4 squares tall and 6 squares long. It’s going to be more of a throw or a lap afghan. I really like how it’s mixed media (sort of), because it’s knitted, but it looks like a quilt!
9 patch 2
9 patch 3

My Knitting Life

2012 in review

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Yes, I’m still here! I haven’t posted in a few months, but I mean to be more active this year. Our family is in the process of moving from Indiana to Utah! Needless to say, we are busy and excited!  I have a new hat pattern coming out soon, but in the meantime, take a look at my blog’s year in review. In addition, look around my blog for a few free knitting patterns!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 9 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Knitting Patterns For Sale · My Knitting Life

Nine Patch Mitered Square Blanket

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I continue to work on this blanket in a mitered square. I originally was going to use only superwash worsted scraps for this blanket, but once I got started and decided to make my own pattern, I decided I should BUY yarn for it! But I haven’t bought that much, and I’m waiting on some more superwash at my fabulous LYS: Knitting Today! Check it out in my links!
You can buy the pattern for just $1.00 on Ravelry!

Free Knitting Patterns

Bulky and Warm Neck Wrap

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Materials: 2 Skeins Lion Brand Thick & Quick yarn, size 17 needles (if you know that your gauge is loose use a smaller needle like 13’s or 15’s), 1 tapestry needle, 1 extra large button.

Pattern: Cast on 17 stitches. ROW 1 and all rows: Slip the first stitch purlwise, k1,p1 across the row until 2 stitches are left, k1, k last stitch in the back of the stitch.  Knit this row until 33″ in length.

BUTTONHOLE ROW:  Work first 8 stitches of row in moss stitch pattern, cast off 2 stitches, work in pattern until the end of the row.  NEXT ROW:  Work until cast-off stitches, cast on 2 stitches, work until end of row.

Work for 2″ beyond the buttonhole, and then bind off loosely.  Weave in all loose ends, choose a cool button and sew it on.  On the green scarf, I sewed the button on so the ends overlap.  On the black scarf, I sewed the button on so the scarf ends meet at a 90 degree angle.  Enjoy this pattern!  It only takes a few hours to knit 🙂

I’ve just updated this pattern (Nov. 26, 2011) because I am knitting a few of these for my nieces for Christmas and I discovered that I didn’t have enough yarn with just one ball to finish the wrap.  So, I purchased a second ball.  I’m pretty sure that Lion Brand changed the yardage in the Wool-ease Thick & Quick yarn…in their favor.

Bulky & Warm Neck Wrap

Bulky & Warm Neck WrapDownload