Finished! Bermuda Shawl

Here's a finished object I am very, very happy with!  It is the Bermuda Scarf by Ilga Leja. I used 2.25 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Sock, but I think it would look equally good made with 2 skeins of Noro Taiyo Sock. I've also seen some gorgeous versions on Ravelry using 2 skeins of Schoppel Wolle Zauberball.

The pattern was a very nice  summer knit. The shawl is light and airy, so not too heavy to lug around or work on. The pattern is a low-brainer, probably suitable for an intermediate to advanced-beginner. knitter. I say that because the design is based on short rows and it might overwhelm someone in the beginner range. The pattern is long but not complex. Just about everything is written out for you. You might  want to have on hand a row counter, a pencil, and some locking stitch markers (to mark your wrapped stitches). The only hitch you might have is blocking - this thing's got quite the wingspan and I had to use 2 boxes of Knit Picks blocking pads for full coverage. That said, you might not feel like being a stickler for blocking and just stretch it out on the floor. 

As for the finished product, it's a really comfortable shape!  the Back isn't too deep, and while the sides look long, they actually wrap around your shoulders extremely comfortably.  Bermuda makes are really great shoulder wrap, and I'm looking forward to wearing it (when it isn't 30 Celsius outside). 

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

Finished: Knit Market Bag & Survey Results

Wow, did the Ilene Market Bag ever come out great! We used just over 1 skein of Super 10 Cotton, and it looks amazing and is just the right tension to actually hold stuff! I think I want to make another in yellow, but I'll just make the strap shorter and forgo the extra skein. 

Remember our little market bag survey to help us decide which colour to make ours? Thanks to those of you who took part, it was really fun checking in to see the results. 

Tangerine Tango (orange) was an early leader, and that's what we went with. Personally, I like Solar Power (yellow), but I just like the idea of having a slightly mustardy yellow purse. I also really like Sodalite Blue (you probably already figured that out, based on the sweater sharing the spotlight. 

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

Noro Tunisian Blanket Experiment No.1

Hi, my name is Haley and I LOVE Tunisian Crochet! Following on the heels of the Stitch Diva Online Class I took, my experiments continue and I made a blanket in Tunisian Simple Stitch. I used one colourway of Noro Odori (colour 1), but employed the 3 colour technique and 3 balls, all started in different parts of the colourway. 

I started with 90 sts and am using a 12mm tunisian crochet hook. This colourway has a lot of black in it and I've been breaking the yarn and playing with colour to avoid pooling. I started by weaving in the ends, but on an off chance I tried a spit felt and it held! 

Things I LOVE:

1. Tunisian goes soooo fast!  I've made almost half a blanket in one week!  And that's just off and on work, I haven't been going at it aggressively.
2. It looks really impressive. The texture is really cool, it looks woven.
3. It's so easy and incredibly mindless. I don't have to think about anything except which colour I want where. 

The  Noro Odori is nothing to sneeze at either. It's really soft, has a nice single ply texture, and is easy to work with.  In fact, I'm so happy with this project that when it is done I am going to make another with the same yarn, but I'll play with 3 different colourways. 


Addenda:
I wrote the above blog post a week ago. I finished the blanket yesterday, brought it home for photography, and tried it out. It's is super comfortable and looks great on my sofa, so it is staying here.  


BTW, the fabric is very elastic, which is nice when sharing in front of the TV. 

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

How to Crochet a Bike Cosy: Part 3 Wheels

How to Crochet a Bike Cosy

Part 3: Wheels

Materials

• Notebook, pencil, eraser
• Measuring tape
• 5.5mm crochet hook
• Main Colours: SMC Schachenmayr Bravo in neon yellow (8232), neon pink (8234), neon green (8233), neon orange (8279) 
• Contrast Colour: Red Heart Super Saver in Light Grey OR  SMC Schachenmayr Bravo in silver (8205)

Abbreviations
CC - contrast colour
Ch - chain
MC - main colour
Sc - single crochet
St - stitch




Techniques

• Pretty Crochet in the Round (a faster, easier method)
• Seamless Symmetrical Crochet Circles (a flawless method)

Resources

• Random Number Generator

Notes

• Alternate rounds of contrast colour (light grey) and main colour(s)
• Choose main colours randomly by using a random number generator (or a dice). Assign a number from 1 to 4 to each colour. If you don't like the results just click/roll again. 
• If your circle is curling up like a bowl it means you need more stitches and you should work an increase round.
• If your circle buckling it means you have too many stitches and you should work a row without increases.
• As you come to ends, work them in under your crochet stitches. It's a lot easier than weaving them in later.
• When working with 2 strands together, take 1 from each of 2 balls. Don't bother trying to take it from the inside and outside of the same ball, you'll be using lots of yarn. To keep the yarn flowing well take each strand form the inside of the ball, and slip the 2 balls inside a yarn sleeve or the leg cut from a pair of panty-hose. 

Directions

1. In the notebook, make a crude & homely sketch of your bike. 
2. Measure the diameter of the wheels (right across from the outside edge of the tires) and note it in your notebook (right on your sketch).  Your sketch does not have to be particularly accurate or to scale, you just want to get a feel for it's constituent parts. 
3. It's good to have an idea of how wide you need to make the wheel covers, but you should try the pieces on as you go to make sure they really fit. 

Wheel Cover (make 4)

• With CC and hook, make an adjustable loop. 
• R1: Make 9 sc into loop, join to 1st st of round with a Sl st. (10sc)  Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left,  break yarn. (FYI: from here on I use the  Pretty Crochet in the Round method because it is faster.)  
• R2: With MC (colour of your choice), join yarn with a Sl st, ch 2, make 1 sc on same space as the ch2, 2 sc in each sc st around.  Join to 1st st of round with a Sl st (20sc).  (NOTE: the 'stitch' where that last round finished (with the yarn tail hanging off) is not actually a stitch, skip over it.)  Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left, break yarn & fasten off. 
• R3 & all odd rounds: With CC,  join yarn with a Sl st, ch 2, 1 sc in each st.  Join to 1st st of round with a Sl st (20sc). Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left,   break yarn & fasten off.
• R4: With MC,  join yarn with a Sl st, ch 2, * make 2 sc in next st, make 1 sc in next st, repeat from * to end of round.  Join to 1st st of round with a Sl st (30sc). Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left,  break yarn & fasten off.
• R5: increaase round
• R6:  With MC,  join yarn with a Sl st, ch 2, * make 2 sc in next st, make 1 sc in each of next 2 sts, repeat from * to end of round.  Join to 1st st of round with a Sl st (40sc). Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left,  break yarn & fasten off.
• R7:  With MC,  join yarn with a Sl st, ch 2, * make 2 sc in next st, make 1 sc in each of next 3 sts, repeat from * to end of round.  Join to 1st st of round with a Sl st (50sc). Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left.   break yarn & fasten off.
• R8:  With MC,  join yarn with a Sl st, ch 2, * make 2 sc in next st, make 1 sc in each of next 3 sts, repeat from * to end of round.  Join to 1st st of round with a Sl st (60sc). Turn your work 90 degrees (1/4 of a circle) to the left,  break yarn & fasten off.
• Continue in this manner until work is wide enough to cover one side of wheel, ending with a CC colour round Do not break yarn. Ch 2, work 1 round Sc. Join with a Sl st, break yarn. 

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

Taking a Tunisian Tour

I have embarked on a Tunisian Crochet odyssey!  A couple of weeks ago I took a Craftsy online class  guru Jennifer Hansen (stitchdiva.com), and since then I've been exploring this new technique. 

The pillow above was my first experiment. As soon as I got to the lesson about 3 colour Tunisian Crochet I started playing around. Actually, I think I dove in even before that class - ever impatient to skip ahead. Don't worry, I did stop to learn how to do it correctly.  I set to work with a 12mm Tunisian Crochet Hook and 3 skeins of Malabrigo Gruesa in different colours. 

I actually took copious notes, the class was great, I loved the format and the platform, and the instruction was excellent. Currently I'm playing around with the basic 3 colour technique (Tunisian Simple Stitch), but I'm going to go back and complete my coursework and make the Tunisian Multi Garment (above). It's so Missoni, I think the textile design is so incredibly clever! Actually, it would make a dynamite blanket. Hmmmmmmmm ......   :-)  Anyway, Jennifer promises that by the end of the course I will be a Tunisian Crochet Ninja, and if I do my work I don't doubt her.

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

Finito! Silk Moon Crescent Shawl/ette

Well this one was quick little piece of sunshine! It's the Silk Moon Crescent Shawl/ette (the pattern has 2 sizes) and it looks great!  

We used 5.5mm needles and 2 skeins of Noro Taiyo (colour 40). We didn't get to the end of the pattern, a third skein would have been required, and it's already larger than the pattern's finished size (probably because the Taiyo is blooming on the 5.5mm needles). Anyway, we worked to row 99 and cast off.  

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

Under Construction: Bermuda Scarf

I'm making progress on my Bermuda Shawl, although I had to slow down prior to the DKC Knitters Frolic (where I happened to have seen several of them in various colourways).  

I still maintain that it's a simple knit, it just requires a little attention. In addition to my trusty row counter,  I also have a pencil at the ready and do lots of checking off rows in the margins. The pattern is very straight-forward, but sometimes it says too repeat a couple of rows a bunch more times, and in order to keep track I write those out in the margins and check them off.  The pattern would definitely be a really good introduction to knitting short rows.

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

New Free Pattern - Frolic Shawl

New Pattern - Frolic Shawl

We introduced this pattern at the DKC Knitter's Frolic last weekend and now we are making it available for everyone! It's a quick & satisfying little spring knit, and only uses  2 skeins of yarn: 1 Noro Taiyo and 1 Berroco Remix. 

To see the projects go to the Ravelry Page, or download it directly from our website.

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