How to Crochet a Bike Cosy: Part 2 Engage the Audience

How to Crochet a Bike Cosy

Part 2: engage the audience

It's probably going to take you a little while to make your bike cosy. In the interim you can get the ball rolling with some temporary decorations. It's a great way to play with colours and textures and inspire yourself. Additionally, a bike cosy isn't just a fait accomplit, it's an experience and a process. A little bit of decoration will tip off your audience (the viewers) that something is happening. 

Make your embellishments quickies, you don't want to sink much time into them - save it for the actual cosy. I suggest using they same yarn you'll be making the cosy from, it'll create a continuity with the finished project. 


Speaking of which, it's time to buy some yarn. I suggest using a sturdy synthetic that can handle the elements. A chunky weight is ideal, or use 2 strands of a Sport weight yarn held together. 


Materials

• SMC Schachenmayr Bravo: neon yellow (8232), neon pink (8234), neon green (8233), and neon orange (8279) 
• Red Heart Super Saver: Light Grey OR  SMC Schachenmayr Bravo: silver (8205)
• 5.5mm crochet hook

Ideas

• Pompoms (mine are made with a Clover Pom-Pom Maker)
• Wrap yarn around parts of the bike
• Simple crochet flowers

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Finished: Super Easy (& Groovy) Baby Blanket

I finished up my Super Easy Baby Blanket. It looks great, feels great, and was fun to make. Very satisfied, a great mindless knit on large needles. 

I cast on 100 sts on 7mm needles and worked approximately 32 to 34 rows in each colour (depending on the yardage in the skein - it tended to vary from skein to skein). 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Finished: Arshile Remix Hoodie

Liane finished the Arshile baby/child pullover with Berroco Remix and I think it looks awesome. It's a pattern written specifically for the yarn (from Berroco #303) so I expected it would make good use of the yarn's inherent properties. I was surprised how tweedy it came out, the yarn doesn't have any wool, but it came out looking pretty close to a real tweed which is .... awesome - I like that aesthetic.  I've confirmed it to myself, it's a soft all season yarn that has some texture and interest, and it's machine washable = kid friendly!  :-)

As always, you can find us at knitomatic.com!

How to Crochet a Bike Cosy: Part 1 Prime the Canvas

How to Crochet a Bike Cosy

Part 1: prime the canvas

Why paint the bike first? Because it's fun!  It's also much more inspiring, and you can put it on display immediately.

Materials

• 1 Bike at the end of it's life: rusty, old, immobile.
• 1 U bike lock (no cables, they are too easy to cut. Unless you live in Moncton NB, I hear people are really honest there.)
• 2 to 3 cans spray paint in main colour
• 1 can spray paint in colour that blends with the wall
• rubber gloves
• lots and lots of news paper
• painting clothes and shoes
• masking tape

Directions

1. Source a crappy bike.
2. Go to the hardware store and buy Neon paint. 2 cans for mediocre coverage, 3 good good coverage. 
3. Be sure to wear crappy painting clothes, especially pants and shoes that you don't care about. 
4. If your bike has a kick-stand feel free to paint it standing. If not, you'll have to do it one side at a time. 
5. Tape over any crucial working parts of the bike lock (like where the key goes).
6. To clean the nozzle of the paint can, hold it upside down and spray (do not hold in front of your face while you do this - big mistake)

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Bermuda Bound

Last week I started a Bermuda Scarf with Noro Silk Garden Sock. The pattern is not hard, but you need to pay attention and keep track of where you are. It also helps to have some experience with short rows.

This is my Bermuda. It is not very Caribbean looking, but that's ok by me.

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Groovy Baby Blanket

I cast on to make a fast & mindless little project for the store. It's a Super Easy Baby Blanket and I'm using Dream In Color Groovy, which is thicker than the yarn suggested, so it is working up at a nice clip. When I have time to knit at work I'm getting one colour block done per day (4 down, 3 to go). 

I cast on 100 sts and it is about 34" wide un-stretched. I am working each colour for 32 to 34 rows (depends on how much yarn there is, some skeins seem to have a bit less yardage), which is between 5.25 & 5.5" each. To see if I have enough to work another 2 rows I measure 6 times the width of the blanket (3x per row).  

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

I want to learn ... Tunisian Crochet

I want to learn this ....

I have a small short term goal to teach myself Tunisian Crochet. It's very easy, Stitch Diva's Tutorials are very good, it's just something that I need to sit down and do. I've been meaning to for ages, funny how bad I'm getting at sitting down and doing things.

So I can make this

A Stashbuster Blanket. I won't be busting any stash, I'll probably be using Cascade Eco+  and a P/12mm hook. 

I also like these

Here are two more versions of the same blanket. I like the monochrome-ish palette. 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

day-dreaming about projects to come

this is what I am thinking about making

I know, toques (Canadian vernacular for basic winter hat with a pom-pom on top, pronounced  Two-k) are out of season, especially in lieu of the premature summer weather we've been having around here. But I love it sooo much! 

and this is what I'm thinking about making it with

Malabrigo Worsted in 606 Frost Grey and 37 Lettuce. I also want to make it in a real neon, but I'll have to wait until those come in. I know what you are thinking, I know you're dissing the neon. This will just have to be one of those time where you think I'm on crack and I'm right in the end. Neon is going to get under your skin, it is going to creep in and you'll wonder why you didn't notice before.

Here's the deal, neons need neutrals. Sure, neons can be migraine/seizure inducing in large quantities, but are cool paired with neutral colours like off white, grey, beige, and camel. The savy girls at the PurlBee know what I'm talking about, they've been down with neons and fluorescents for a little while now.  Still don't believe me? That's ok, just sit back, put some Duran Duran on your iPod, and see what happens after a while. ;-) 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!