Flint Knits

It turns out nothing welcomes Fall like Rhinebeck. I went to my first New York Sheep and Wool Festival last week, and not only did I have a great time with good friends, but I also met some new folks, saw loads of lovely handknits, and got to hang out with Caro’s kitties.

I also got the chance to take advantage of Caro’s superior photo skills — along with the crisp New England weather, striking Fall scenery, and gorgeous afternoon light — to document Pickadilly, a sweater I designed and finished knitting just in time for Rhinebeck. (Literally. I made my carmates stop at WEBS on the way to the fairgrounds so I could buy buttons.)

Pickadilly will be for sale here, and on Ravelry, starting November 1.

In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:

 
[RAVELRY LINK]

All of which fun has lead up nicely to what is clearly the bestest thing about Fall: Halloween. And while I’ll be playing a music fest in Florida over Halloween weekend, I had a chance to get crafty all the same — on behalf of my niece, who (with no encourgement or intervention from me) has decided to dress up as a lamb this year.

Lamb Ears tutorial (Ravelry link)

MATERIALS:

• chunky boucle yarn
• approx 20 yards of pink sport or fingering weight yarn
• small amount of pink flannel fabric
• tapestry needle
• embroidery needle

STEP 1: KNIT AN EARFLAP HAT! (Use the chunky/bulky boucle yarn. Thorpe is a great pattern for adults; Sandi’s Ear Flap Hat is good for kids 2 and up.)

STEP 2: EARS (make 2)

Cast on 16 stitches.
Work 5 rows in stockinette stitch.
Row 6: k1, ssk, k 10, k2tog, k1 (14 sts)
Rows 7-13: stockinette stitch
Row 14: k1, ssk, k8, k2tog, k1 (12 sts)
Rows 15-21: stockinette stitch
Row 22: ssk, ssk, k4, k2tog, k2tog (8 sts)
Bind off all stitches purlwise.

STEP 3: FINISHING:

Cut 2 matching pieces of pink flannel large enough to cover the ears, with about 1/2 inch of white showing around the edges.

Using the embroidering needle and pink yarn, affix the flannel to the wrong (purl) side of the left ear with a blanket stitch or whip stitch.

Using a tapestry needle and an 18-inch length of the main yarn, tack together the two bottom corners of left ear. Sew the ear to the hat as pictured.

Repeat the two previous steps for the right ear.

Happy Halloween!

By far the most common question I get on Ravelry is “how did you make the Wicked cardigan?” And when Leslie pointed out that this week marks Fred Rogers’ 80th birthday? Well, in the interest of promoting Cardigan Love, I finally sat down to write out some instructions.

As I began, I realized that it might also be useful to have a much more basic tutorial for turning a raglan pullover into a cardigan. And while I get that those of you asking crave specific directions, seriously, you don’t need them. Just split the front of any pullover pattern down the middle, slap on some button bands, and you’ve got a cardigan. Do it! Show that pullover who’s boss.

But if that doesn’t quite explain it for you, there’s a general tutorial below for how to take a top-down raglan pullover and trick it out cardigan-style, followed by a more specific explanation of what I did to convert the Wicked pattern.

cardiganizing a top-down raglan

Read the rest of this entry »

When I cast on for what’s become known as the Phildar Swing Jacket, I saw right away that the pattern calls for a regular cast-on edge for the front, back, and cuffs, which is later sewn up as a 4cm hem. I decided to work the turned hem with a provisional cast-on. Nona has an excellent demonstration here.

But then I realized that the jacket is done in a half-woven pattern — meaning that the right-side stitches are a series of knitted and slipped stitches — making it impossible to join the hem on the right side as I usually do. Since the wrong side to this pattern is all purl stitches, I just joined the hem on the wrong side. Simple solution, and the results are the same.

Here’s what my provisional crocheted cast-on looked like (crocheted stitches in the white thread). For info on how to do this kind of cast-on, check out the video tutorial from the Michiganders at Knitting at Noon.

Once the hem selvege (stockinette stitches here) and the main body of the jacket (patterned stitches) were both 4cm tall, I “unzipped” the crocheted chain and put the new live stitches on a long circular needle:

Then, when the pattern called for a purl row, I purled TWO stitches together all along the row — one from the main body stitches (on back needle here), and one from newly picked-up stitches (on the front needle here).

Do this 113 times, and voila! A turned and joined hem, with no sewing, and no stiff ridge of cast-on stitches.

This is what it looks like from the back and the front. In these pictures, two rows beyond the joined hem stitches have been worked in regular pattern. From the back, the p2tog stitches look much like the regular purled row above them:

From the front, the hem join is nearly invisible: