Crafts – Page 2 – String and Beans

Knitvent Day 10 – Playing with math

Quite awhile ago I created my own pattern for seamless baby booties to match a hat I had designed nearly a decade previous. It’s my goto personal pattern for baby gifts. I had the booties test-knit, the pattern tech edited, but never got to publishing it, thinking I wanted to do something more.

Last year I thought these booties would make great slippers. So I’ve been playing with yarns, needles, math to upsize the bootie pattern. This past weekend I’ve knit a mens’ small in Drops Eskimo wool, and a ladies medium in Premier Appalachia.

I like how they look, but there’s more work to be done before I’m ready to test knit, pattern write, etc…but these are quick gift knits!

Knitvent Day 7 – my launching pad

As the month progresses, I have everything ‘in process’ out for me to pick from when I find a minute or two to sit and knit. Knitting (knit repair) isn’t my full-time job (yet) so I carrying ‘something’ with me each day when I have to travel to meetings, arenas, appointments, school, etc. Everywhere I go that may have a wait, is an opportunity for knitting time. In the house, I have it laid out so if I have time to sit and knit, I can grab something quickly.

At the moment, the launch pad is my living room coffee table, beside the Christmas tree & fireplace – a very cozy place to knit. It’s also the first thing I see when I come down the stairs in the morning (yikes!) At the moment, this is ‘tame’…I’ll post a progress photo as we get closer to the ‘deadline’.

Note, there are 3 project bags as well as what’s on the table.

Knitvent Day 6 – Woolly Dozen

Another way that I get gifts knit throughout the year, is participating in a year-long challenge (a different kind of KAL). One designer I truly love is Woolly Wormhead. On her Ravelry group, they created a challenge to knit a Woolly Dozen.

I’ve participated each year, and have yet to actually knit a dozen, but it does help me get part of the knitting done. Some hats goto the school holiday fair, some are given as gifts during the year, some are donated, and one or two are wrapped up as Christmas gifts.

Below is a peek at one of four I’ve managed to complete this year (yikes!)

Knitvent Day 4

It happens a lot at this time of year. Distractions, not being present, lack of focus and I have to rip something back. This is nothing compared to the pile of yarn I ripped back last evening…

Mistakes happen, miscounting stitches, purl instead of knit, miscounting the two colour pattern, or having a dog at your feet suddenly get up and take the yarn right out of your hands because it caught on her tail.

It happens, just a bump in the road, no need to panic…..yet

21 knitting days

Knitvent Day 3

I easily get distracted during the month of December. I usually have a ‘plan’ for my gift knitting but I see some wonderful ideas from following others on Instagram and Ravelry.

Yesterday was a distraction day! I’ve seen a number of these knit stars popping up in my feeds, so it gave me the idea I could “whip up” a dozen of these for the school holiday market.

I made 2 failed attempts before my gauge seem tight enough for stuffing – and managed 2 stars in one afternoon. I am faster now that I know what I’m doing with these, but the distraction is now deluding me into knitting a bunch for my own tree and maybe extra gift knits.

Pattern is Stjarna and is a free download on Ravelry

Knitvent Day 2

This is only a sneak peak so the recipient doesn’t know what it is! I’m posting just a closeup of the brioche stitch that makes up this particular knit.

This was from a knit-a-long (KAL) back in the spring (for the non-knitters – a KAL is where hundreds (thousands) of knitters around the world knit the same item over a specified time period and chat/share their tips, problems & progress)

This was a brioche stitch KAL over the US Memorial Day weekend. Sometimes these KALs help me learn something new as well as set things aside early! I do try to spread out the holiday knitting across the year, and periodic KALs help me to do just that!

Knitvent Day 1

Countdown to #knitmas – day 1
As anyone who knows me is aware, I try to knit a small gift for family members, as well as a bunch of knits for my son’s school Holiday Market. So as I go crazy with getting things completed, I’m going to post sneak-peaks of how much I actually get done – one post per day as my “advent calendar”

For Day 1 – I’ve completed 20 of my candy stripe facecloths which have already gone to the school and I have another 3 to wrap around soaps for neighbour gifts…I’ll likely be knitting at least another dozen – fast last minute gifts for when I run out of time

I’m trying to get pattern tech edited and posted in time for others to do quick last minute knits!

PomPoms!

Happy belated New Year! I was not feeling very happy January 1st, so I tried my best to stay off the internet. But, I still managed to cast on a new project to start the new year and if it weren’t for my arm, I would have finished it on the 1st…instead it finished January 2nd, and included remembering how to make pompoms!

I can’t stop trimming the pompom #cirro #woollywormheadhats

A post shared by Katherine Caughran (@stringandbeans) on Jan 2, 2018 at 3:25pm PST

I had an old set of Pom-po-Nette from my grandmother, but the pompom would only be 1.75″ and this called for a 3″ pompom. So after digging through recycling for plastic yogurt lids, I managed to make 2 3″ circles with a 1.5″ centre as per the pattern. My steps were to create a manual compass out of cardboard, then I drew the circles, then realized it might be easier to cut if I used the tip of an exacto knife in the ‘compass’.

Thumbtack centre, cardboard compass, golf pencil to trace

After all this I wanted to figure a speedier way to make pompoms so last evening I went Pinterest searching and found a couple of neat tricks:

The classic cardboard circle method I learned as a child:

Two toilet paper rolls (much easier imo) & a fork for smaller ones:

And of course the commercial version that would be very speedy indeed from Clover:

One method I may try when I need a bunch of gifts done would be this method:

Happy pompom making!

Pumpkins!

Knit pumpkins seem to be filling my Pinterest feed, and I must admit, they are irresistibly cute. Years ago (2009!?) I made a felted pumpkin for our ‘nature table’ and it has been our fall decoration ever since. It’s been a lonely little pumpkin, so with all these pins, I thought it time I knit some companions.

First off, “Autumn Pumpkin” by Jan Lewis – I used leftover gold yarn from a Dr. Who scarf I had knit, figuring I could make a Dr.Who themed pumpkin table. Quick knit, but I found the closings tough on the hands. Pulling 30 stitches tight makes a nice gathered look for the top & bottom of the pumpkin, but its hard on the hands depending on the yarn & needle you use.

Next up, I found a popular pin that kept redirecting, after many tries, I finally got one that worked without redirecting, and read through this pattern – I have yet to make it, but its another closure that I think will hurt my hands…but don’t they look adorably cute?

Ravelry has a bunch of others, but I created my own pattern by increasing and decreasing like I would the top of a hat. I know those smaller openings makes stuffing it difficult, so I’m still playing with how it works. I like neat crown increases (if you’ve ever seen my purple hat pattern), so its still an experiment requiring me to make some more 🙂

Happy knitting!

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August Heat, time to bring out the sweaters?

If you took care of your sweaters last spring when you put them away, they were cleaned & de’fuzzed’ and put away in breathable bags/containers. Then when the cool weather comes around, you need only pull them out and put them on. (see my post on breathing new life into an old sweater)

BUT, most of us wash & put things away without the extra ‘care’ for the woolies…and the moths love us for that…pills attract & hide dirt, and dirt attracts those little moths…and we end up opening up our sweater drawer (closet, wardrobe) and find our lovely woolies have become a moth buffet!

Now, rather than have a sweater emergency in late September, now is the perfect time to pull out those woolies and check them out. Wash with a wool soap (my favourite has always been Eucalan Lavender no-rinse wash, but Soak or Kookaburra are nice too); shave off those fuzzies (the technical term is pills) and have your lovely woolies ready for the cool breezes soon to come….

(As I write this, I have the air conditioner on, tank top and shorts…I just finished knitting a wool hat, so yes, I know it sounds crazy, but believe me, do it now rather than later)