Snow Day Updates!

I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted here!  My only defense is that I've finally succeeded in landing a music teacher job (back in August) so most of my time has gone to that, instead of writing here or creating patterns.
Since today is a snow day, I thought I'd post some of the projects that I've recently finished:

Animal Adventure

One of my college friends is having a baby (really, really soon!) so for her shower, I decided to make her a crib-sized quilt.  Of course, given my time-management skills, I managed to finish everything but the binding by her shower party, so I had to bring in the quilt, covered in pins, and then take it back home!  However, now it is done (including a label) and completely pin-free!

My friend and her husband decided to be surprised about whether the baby will be a boy or girl, so I tried to pick a print and colors that were gender-neutral.  First I found the print (used as the border and the backing) and then I picked a bunch of solid/semi-solids from the print's different colors.  Roughly I ended up with 7 yds of print and 1/4 yds of each solid/semi-solid except for the brown border, of which I had a 1/2 yard.

The pattern is called "streak of sunshine" (I though of it more as a 1/4 trip around the world as I was putting it together) done with 3.5 in squares ( 3 in finished) and 1 in brown border and a 6 in print border.    The binding is a bias-cut green and white plaid (not the most sturdy binding, but just as soft as the rest of the quilt).  For other ideas on the "streak of sunshine" quilt pattern, check out quiltville's tutorial here: http://quiltville.com/streakofsunshine.shtml.

I used my Bernina free-motion foot to quilt a basic stippling pattern over the border, and paisley hearts over the squares.  I tried to keep the pattern fairly loose, so that the quilt wouldn't get too stiff.

For fabrics, I chose flannel because I want this blanket to be soft and cuddly, the kind of blanket where the child sleeps with it until they are 18 and off to college!  (Although I know plenty of college kids who brought their blankie/special stuffed animal with them to school).  Well, I can hope, right?

Heart Table Runner

My man's mother is a February baby, so for her birthday this year, I made her a heart-themed table runner.  (One of her friends made her a darling watermelon/4th of July-themed runner, which she has out all the time.  I figured that she could rotate between the two of them now).  I was really pleased with how it turned out; there is something beautiful about the different reds against crisp white.  Of course, digital cameras don't take solid primary colors very well, so the whites ended up looking kind of pink.  (If I had more time, I would experiment with taking pictures of the table runner with yellow and blue in them as well, to see if I could get a more true-to-life red color).

For the pattern, I took the pattern for the lap quilt,  "Hearty Blend Lite", from Coffee-Time Quilts by Cathy Wierzbicki, and altered it so that I was just sewing the center 4 blocks, on the diagonal, of the pattern.  (I've used the book several times now, and I've always found the directions and measurements fairly good for an intermediate quilter).  I quilted twisty hearts on all the red sections, and a tight stipple stitch on the white sections.  The center hearts are hand appliqued and the binding is a bias-cut plaid.

The Red Scarf Project

About a month ago, my mother discovered this great charity knitting project, the Red Scarf Project, which provides care packages and (you guessed it) red scarves for college students from foster care.  (The project is an offshoot of Foster Care to Success, an organization which provides assistance to former foster care children, including college scholarships).  As a college student, I remember how great it was to get care packages from home, and can only imagine how important these care packages are to students who have little or no family support.  Each knitter may send up to 5 scarves (at the appropriate collection time; check their website for specific details) and Mom has already finished 3!

This led to the following phone call:
"ring ring"
Me: "What's up?"
Mom: "Do you want to knit some scarves for the Red Scarf Project?"
Me: "Sure, I guess, if I have time."
Mom: "Oh good, I'm on my way back from the yarn store; I bought you a bunch of red yarn to get started!  Come get it later today!"
Me: "...okay.."
Later that day... she hands me a bag with 7 skeins of various yarns.
(I have lots of phone conversations with her that involve her calling to ask the one question that just occurred to her).

Grandpa Scarf

After looking around at several scarf patterns (there are some great suggested scarf patterns on the Red Scarf Project Ravelry group page) I found this one up for testing.  It features a braid cable border, and a rather intense (if you haven't worked cables before) cable in a cable center panel.  The pattern is entirely written out, which I found slightly irritating; it was my fault though, for signing up for a knit test marked "written out pattern" only.  (I will now take two seconds to voice my profound love of charted patterns, especially for cabling, because you can visualize where each cable is supposed to go while knitting.  This prevents the I-cabled-the-wrong-way-and-just-noticed-after-knitting-40-more-rows-issue from occurring.  Which may have occurred when I was knitting this scarf. Gold stars to anyone who can point out which center cable repeat I screwed up!   I took the mistake as a from the universe that the scarf was not destined to be perfect and have ignored it since it's discovery.  But my point is, I like charts).

Apart from this, the design is really lovely; there's a cute little XO (hugs and kisses!) cable, hidden in the last bit of the braid cable edging.  I love that it's a secret message to your scarf recipient!  I do recommend dropping down a needle size, as the scarf has the potential to be very wide.  (It's the kind of scarf you wear outside when it is -40 degrees).  The original pattern calls for size 8 needles; I used size 6's and got 7.5 inches across.

I used 4 skeins of Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice yarn in cranberry for the scarf.  Vanna's Choice has never been one of my favorite yarns, because it is acrylic and tends to fuzz with use.  It holds up better than Wool-Ease, though, and fit the parameters of the Red Scarf Project people just fine.  If I was going to knit the scarf again for someone special (and not as a RSP) I might consider using something like Cascade 220 or KnitPicks' Wool of the Andes, which would show off the cables beautifully.

As for the Red Scarf Project, I'll probably knit a few more scarves this year, probably with more simple patterns.  What would you knit for the project?

Test Knitting Adventures, Part 3

And we're back, again, with one more test knitting adventure!

Most of the test knitting opportunities available on Ravelry offer knitters a free working pattern in exchange for feedback, but if you look hard enough (and respond quickly) there are some tests which include yarn support!  I was lucky enough to find such a test for Interlacements Yarns, a small fiber arts company based out of Wisconsin specializing in hand-dyed yarns and rovings.  Tracey, (one of the owners) was wonderful to work with!


Sweet Feet

I was sent two skeins of Sweet Feet, a merino/Tussah silk blend sock yarn in two colorways; Mountain Jewel (blues, greens and purple) and Grape Harvest (purples and green).  Tussah silk, for those of you who were wondering (I was) is cultivated from wild silk worms living in tropical environs.  The silk they produce is brown or beige and is generally more resilient than the white silk produced by domestic silk worms.

The yarn itself is wonderfully soft to wear or knit, with a lovely silk sheen, but it can be a bit splitty if you are not careful.  However, the yarn really stands out in terms of colors.  All the colorways available feature rich, vibrant colors (more so in real life than on the computer) perfect for luxurious socks, shawls, mitts, etc.  (Check the Ravelry test group here for more pics of the colorways).

The sock pattern which I tested (not yet available for purchase) was a fairly basic cuff down sock with a simple picot edging for the cuff, and flaps sewn to the sides of the sock, through which a leather lace can be drawn to tighten the sock up around the ankle.  The simplicity of the pattern allows the beautiful colors of the yarn to really shine, but I did run out of yarn before completion of the flaps.  Although, this could have been because I was knitting a size 9 pair of women's socks, which felt like the larges pair of socks ever knitted while I was working on them!  Any smaller size sock would probably be finished without fault.

Test Knitting Adventures, Part 2

My last post was starting to get really long, so I decided to break it up into sections.  Here is another test knitting adventure!

Like other social media sites, Ravelry has the capacity for connecting a multitude of people across oceans and continents.  I am especially impressed with how you can use it to meet knitters and designers local to your area, as well as work with foreign designers (like my next test knit project, which I did for a Swedish designer).  It makes the world seem like a smaller, friendlier place.


Jolnir Mittens

In early December I was pattern-surfing with the idea of finding something quick to knit for my sister for Christmas, when I can across these beautiful Scandinavian-style mittens by Emmy Petersson (available on Ravelry).  I had knit socks, sweaters, cowl and gloves for my sister, but not mittens (and I'm really glad I did given the crap-tastic winter weather WA has received over the past couple weeks).

Her favorite color is green, so I chose a forest-y green and white color combo, reversing the main and contrasting colors for the left and right mittens for a funky look.  (Have you noticed how knitters are doing this for socks?  That was my inspiration!)

I used sock yarn for the mittens for several reasons; 1. Sock yarn is the right weight for the pattern (can you imagine how cool the mittens would look with a solid and a variegated?  I want to try that next.)  2.Mittens (just like socks) wear out, so if your yarn has a little acrylic or nylon in it, it will wear longer than if it was knitted out of 100 percent wool.  3. The doubled thickness of sock yarn creates a warm, dense fabric, perfect for keeping your hands toasty!  (I would, however, strongly recommend against using Serenity Sock Yarn, as it is very slippery and split-y, making it hard to work with in a Fair-Isle setting).

My favorite part of the pattern, is that the thumb is actually charted (unlike many Fair-Isle mittens that I've seen) with a cute column of hearts.

Both mittens knit up pretty quickly (except for the mental freak-out moment I had where I didn't follow the main color/contrasting color color key, and used the wrong needle size) and have fairly basic construction.  Although this isn't a beginner pattern, if you've knit mittens and you've done stranded knitting, you could handle this without any serious problems.

More adventures coming up in Part 3!

Test Knitting Adventures Part 1

As explained in my last couple posts, I've been doing a lot of tinkering around on Ravelry which has included test knitting for three different designers.  I'd like to say that my initial thought in test knitting was that I would gain experience in what makes a good tester/designer relationship (for when I get my current designs ready to test) and expand my networking contacts in the woolly-world.  But really, what went through my head each time I signed up was "Ooo!  Free pattern/I want that!"

The Testing Process
When a designer has completed a pattern for design, it's really important that the pattern be checked for errors and comprehension (the same way that you would have someone else proof read a research paper).  Apart from any obvious errors like spelling and grammar, or incorrect stitch counts, there is the bigger issue that knitting has it's own language.  Sure, there are some pretty basic instructions, like knit or purl, which can only be interpreted one way.  But you also have more vague instructions like "cast on" (did you mean "provisional", "long tail", "cable" or "wrap"; each one has a different look and feel), "increase" (knit into front and back of stitch or knit from bar below, or yarn over?) or "decrease" (knit two together, purl two together, slip stitch and knit next stitch and pass the slipped stitch over?).  It's enough to make any novice knitter want to cry!  Add to this the added confusion of abbreviations which are sometimes universal (K for knit) and sometimes specific to the designer or design source, and you can see why the process of pattern writing can be so complicated!

So, what should the aspiring designer do?  Be as specific as possible in your initial pattern, define all abbreviations (even if you think they are obvious) and provide good quality photos or illustrations.  Also, have your design test-knit by several knitters.

Test knitting is the phase where a group of knitters try out your pattern.  They are the ones who will try and reproduce your creation, while making constructive suggestions and catching errors.  As a test knitter, it is really important that you be in constant contact with the designer (so they know what/how you are doing; no news  is no news), be very clear with any suggestions or questions you might have, knit to the gauge recommended and make no alterations to the pattern without designer approval.

My favorite part of test knitting has been finding errors and then figuring out what to do to fix them (this may actually be more of a tech editor thing).  There's something really exciting about that "aha!" moment where you confirm that the issue is really with the pattern and not you, and that there's a way you can solve it!  It immensely satisfying to have figured out what is going on in the designer's brain, while they were designing.

Sophisticated Scribbles
The first pattern I test knitted, by Elizabeth Rislove Elter, available on Ravelry, is a simple knee-high sock with adjustable shaping for the calf and ankle and intarsia detailing.  Having never done intarsia, I figured that this would be a good pattern on which to learn.  So, I checked a couple YouTube videos on basic intarsia (you really only need basic intarsia, even though the sock will be worked in the round: this was the most helpful video that I found) and cast on!

The socks knit up pretty quickly (I ended up frogging a lot of the calf of the first sock when I miss-read the shaping instructions).  (As a side note, in each pattern that I've tested, I've had this mental freak-out moment when I either have no understanding of the pattern, or I read it wrong and knit the next 40 rows wrong, which is weird since I don't have this problem when knitting for myself).  My favorite section to knit was the foot, because of the interesting zig-zag cabling.  That, and after knitting what seems like an endless leg the foot feels like it finished super fast!

Probably the best feature of the pattern is the shaping.  Although I may be designer-friendly-sized (I wear Small for most Vogue knits, and have never knit a sock pattern that didn't fit my ankle, as is) I have several friends who have complained about the lack of sizing options in most sock patterns.  Liz, the designer, has accounted for this with 3 basic sock sizes based on ankle and foot circumference (I made the medium) which all call for customized calf shaping.  You measure your calf and then do some math (she explains it all in a non-scary way, I promise!) and voila!  A sock that fits and won't fall down!