Autumn Instructional

I know there have probably been a millon blog posts on this already, and I'm sure everyone is sick of talking about it, but the weather this year has been really frickin' annoying. I've been dealing with it up until now, letting winter, spring and summer move along in their freaky, foreboding, vaguely apocolyptic ways. But now the weather gods have started to mess with autumn, and NOBODY messes with autumn.

Fall has to be one of my favorite things in the entire world. I spend most of the year pining for it, but here it is, September, and honestly, I'm not that excited. Summer in Portland didn't feel like Summer, and so, inevitably, Fall has started to feel, well, not very Fallish at all.

I don't even know if it's the weather's fault anymore. Maybe it's just me. So I've decided to share a little instructional I made, in case you need one too, on how to get into the spirit and fall back in love with fall.

Step #1 - Dress the part. Dig out your favorite fall boots, your cozy patterned tights,  your rustiest colored clothing. When you get dressed in the morning, pretend it is the most perfect fall day out, with crisp, cool air, and red-orange leaves speckling the sky. Don't worry if people think you are crazy wearing a scarf and a hat when it's 80 degrees outside. If you're anything like me, you already look crazy.

Step #2 - Drink tea. Preferably something with cinnamon, or apple or vanilla.

Step #3 - Take a walk. Preferably with a cute dog. Look for signs of fall. Dead grass, leaves turning at the edges? No luck. Look for orange painted houses or brick walls and pretend they are trees.

Step #4 - Come home, curl up in your coziest chair and daydream about all the summer fun you had. It was there, remember? The days swimming in the lake, exploring golden meadows, eating ripe tomatoes peaches. Ahh, that was nice. Now, daydream about all the fall fun ahead - apple pies, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, cozy wool sweaters!

Feeling it yet?
Yeah, me neither. I miss my red ripe tomatoes.
Damn you, weather gods.

Sweet Olivia

I love making baby sweaters.  They should feel totally impractical - spending hours knitting something that will, in short time, be grown out of, covered in spit up, or ruined in a washing machine. But they just have so much else going for them, mostly their killer mini-size cuteness. Every time I knit an adult sweater, I find myself wishing it was for a baby. It would just be so much easier and cuter that way, and I wouldn't have to worry about the sweater being flattering or making my arms look like sausages. Baby arms already look like sausages! Plus, baby sweaters use a small amount of patience and an even smaller amount of yarn. And they provide a good opportunity for trying out new techniques on a quicker, faster project. A lace baby sweater, or pretty fairisle pullover? Maybe it's a little bit much, but they just scream heirloomy love, and warm, fuzzy knitted good will. 

And, indeed, a whole lot of knitty love went into this baby cardigan I designed for my friend's new baby, Olivia. I wanted it to feel special and sweet, but also modern and a little bit bold. Like any great baby sweater, it was a fast knit, with a few challenges thrown in for fun, and a couple of great educational moments (purple and orange are made for each other? who knew!). I got to experiment with designing my own colorwork pattern and doing a partial steek. But what really made this sweater exciting was that it was the first time I've knit a baby sweater and wished I was knitting it in my size instead. I want one of these so badly!

If you know of any hip, modern babies in need of a pretty new something, please check out the pattern on ravelry here or etsy here. It's available in newborn to 2T sizing. However, the moment I started those colorwork leaves, the adult pattern became inevitable, so I'll let you know when that comes out too.

dkk knits

So, my sister has been traveling around Europe for the past two months. Surprsingly, I'm not that jealous. Really. Truly. Except maybe a little, teeny bit whenever she emails me about all the cool knitting she is seeing on fashionable ladies in Iceland, or Berlin, or Copenhagen. She sends me little snippets of design ideas - gauzy or deconstructed tunics, necklace necklines, chunky knits. She says the women in Copenhagen make knitting look chic. Intrigued, I spent a little time perusing the internet for some made in denmark knits, and wow, there is some crazy stuff out there. Why I haven't been drooling over international knitting for years is beyond me. Design sense +  lithe, skinny european figures = some very adventurous knitwear.

Check out this dress from Trine Elmkvist, a graduate of the The Danish Design School.

   
I don't think this is what my sister had in mind, she was probably drooling over something machine-made and ridiculously impossible to knit like this:

I'll take the fun, handknit garter patchwork dress any day. And by take, I mean knit. I'm not quite confident enough to pull off wearing something like that. Which is maybe the downfall of a lot of the couture knitting I viewed. This chunky knit hat?

 

Seriously insane. You won't be seeing a pattern for one of these headache-inducing puppies on this blog anytime soon. I did, however, find one piece of handknitted yumminess that manages to be both chic, cozy, fun to knit and beautifully wearable.

This sweater makes me swoon. It's from a handknit line by Gudrun & Gudrun. You can't tell from the picture, but the knitting is just loose and gauzy enough be really sensual and drapey. It's knit from organic Faroese wool. Apparently it's their best seller, and Helena Christensen wears hers all the time. 
And it's only 2,100 DKK. Which is, hmmm..... $372.41.

They don't skimp on prices in Denmark, let me tell you. In fact, that was the other half of my sister's recent report from Copenhagen - some serious whining about how expensive it is. Yup. Definitely not that jealous.

Messy Scarf

You might not be able to tell over the internet, but I'm a bit of a slob.

If there were a scale of slovenliness from 1 to 10, I'm about a 6. (I mean, there are some serious, serious slobs out there...I'm not so bad that I would end up on the evening "news" or anything).

Anyway, that's just who I am. I will always be the girl with dirty glasses, sweaters covered in dog hair, random bits of food stuck in her hair, and smudges all over her face. More often than not if some one is staring at me it's because they are about to say "Ummmm, I think you have a little something...."

At some point in my life my messy status went from being a fact to a point of pride. I just learned to love it as part of myself and incorporate it into my "style." I feel a little weird saying that because I don't always think of myself as stylish, but if were possible for messy to make you look more chic, this scarf manages to pull it off.

The original orange version of this scarf has seen a LOT of love over the years, and I've made more from requests from friends. It has a weird way of perking up an outfit - it's beautifully messy and fun, and it's a breeze to knit up.

This pattern is great for stash-busting or showing off random bits of pretty yarn. And I love that I get to knit stripes without having to tie in the ends.

With the kerchief cowl, the fringe cowl and now this, I might be a little triangle crazy. I promise this is my third and final pattern for a triangle shaped neckwarmer....but just between you and my messy self, I've saved the best for last :)

NOTES:

This pattern is really just a general guide to knitting this scarf. It is super flexible. Each one I've made has been a little different, depending on the yarn, but the pattern is always forgiving. It's good for beginners because if you make a mistake it's really hard to notice on the finished product.

You can use any kind of yarn you want for this project, but I recommend using a combo that goes like this:

Yarn A: something interesting with either good texture or lots of colors, something that pops
Yarn B: a solid colored yarn that coordinates with A
Yarn C: a mohair or something hazy for the lace

In the following picture, if we pretend the blue isn't there, than the sea green would be the A, the yellow-green is the B, and the grey is the C.
Pretending aside, I threw the blue in on a whim cause I liked it, so really, people, you should be using whatever yarn you darn well please.



To get a good drape, you'll want to use larger needles than you would normally use for your yarn. For instance, with worsted weight yarn, you'd want a size 10 needle or so. If your yarn is a range of different weights don't worry about it, just base your needle size off of a weight somewhere in the middle.

This scarf is knit flat on straight needles, but I'd recommend knitting on circular needles if you have them to accommodate all the stitches you cast on at the beginning.

The scarf is knit from the widest part of the triangle down.
The top of your triangle should be around 36 inches, though feel free to go bigger or smaller.

Figure out how many stitches per inch you get knitting in garter with Yarn A.
Mulitply that by 36 and then round to the nearest ODD number. Cast on that many stitches.

PATTERN:

Garter Section:

With Yarn A:
Knit 2 rows
Switch to Yarn B.
Knit 1 Decrease row as follows : SSK, knit to end, K2tog
Knit 1 row.
Knit 1 Decrease row.
Knit 1 row.

Lace Section:
Switch to Yarn C.
Row 1: P1, K1, *yo, K2tog* repeat until last stitch, P1
Row 2: P2tog, purl to last 2 stitches, P2tog
Repeat these two rows 4 more times, or until the lace section is a big as you want it be.

Then knit another Garter Section.

Keep alternating the Garter Section and the Lace Section till you have about 3 stitches left,
then K3tog and pull the yarn through the last stitch.

Attach fringe to the start of each section on both sides. You'll want to use a mix of all the yarns in the scarf for the fringe, just mix them all together until it looks like a good balance to you. I like to make my fringe really long, and then cut it at the end until the length looks right.

Wear your messiness with pride!

Not-so-Plain Jane Cowl

I've been avoiding sharing this one with you. It's plain. It's stockinette. It's exactly like a million other cowl patterns out there right now. Who knows what inspired me to knit this really. I mean it's WHITE - the non-color - I hardly ever wear white!

It is just really not very "me" in a lot of ways. However, given that I did knit up something so simple and uncolorful, it makes perfect sense that I would do it in the most complicated way possible. That sounds a whole lot like "me."

I went to the store to pick up paper for my printer, and just happened to end up in their yarn aisle where a lot was on sale (and by just happened I mean I purposely walked down to the end of the aisle where the yarn was because...well...there was yarn there). They had Lion Brand Hometown USA which I had never seen before and which looked pretty decent as yarns go. And for $2 a skein, I figured it wouldn't really count against my pledge to Not Buy More Yarn till Stash is Diminished (I never had much faith in this pledge anyway).

I figured it could sit in my closet for a while and make itself useful for a cheap, fast gift. And white was a nice all-purpose choice. I never imagined that I'd find myself using it just a few hours later, when the urge to knit something fast and mindless latched on strong...

I would have cast on in the round, but I was too lazy to swatch and I didn't want it to end up droopy, so I made the whole thing pretty complicated for myself (see pattern below). Laziness always has a way of catching up with me.

The yarn - surprise surprise - turned out to be a little cheap and plastic-y looking, but it did knit up fast, and it is pretty soft, and the white does go with everything, and the fit is just right - long and drapey, but still keeping my neck warm.

So maybe I'm more of a plain jane than I thought....


PATTERN

I'm wondering if it's even worth writing up a real pattern, because like I said, there are a million simpler and more rational patterns out there that would get you essentially the same thing. That being said, if you want to be able to knit a cowl with whatever needles you have on hand, this method is useful. Let me know if you'd like any more details.

Here's the drift:
Figure out how wide you want your cowl to be (not how big around, just how thick from neck to boob).
Do a Provisional Cast On for approximately enough stitches to get you this width. I did 20 stitches in Hometown, or about 12 inches wide.
Then knit till it'll be as long around as you want it to be (mine is 30 inches around).
Remove the Provisional Cast on, place stitches on needle and graft two ends together.

Optional: I was steadfastly against this drooping too far below my chin (I like a warm neck!), so I picked up stitches in the round along one edge, knit a few rows in garter and then bound off tightly. It made it a little harder to get over my head, but the firm edge has kept it where I want it - no drooping!

Optional: If you'd like a Mobius effect, simply put a twist in the knitting before grafting (Straight needles: rotate one needle and then take the needle out of the stitches and put it back in the right way to match the other needle, Circular Needles: Just rotate and then push the stitches back towards the needle on one side). **This gray cowl below was made this way, but in seed stitch.

Paw Me Mittens

My dog likes to paw at us. She does it for food or attention, and it should be annoying but it is mostly just adorable (unless she mistakenly paws your eye, or inside your mouth).
So, after knitting up a pair of basic tweedy mittens, I decided they needed a little something extra. I cut out a paw print, cradled it in my hand, and honestly, my heart melted just a little. If that makes me a crazy dog lady, so be it.

The end result looks somewhere between a cozy mitten and a pair of old-fashioned driving gloves - only with some extra pup appeal :) And amazingly, every time I hold out my hands to Annie wearing these mittens, she slaps a paw right on the spot - she's a genius I tell you.


Pattern Notes:

I custom fitted these to my hands - which are rather petite- so you will want to adjust to fit your hand size. I wanted the mittens to be tight and form fitted to my hands. I would say an extra 4 - 8 stitches would make a women's medium - large, with extra stitches beyond that if you want your mittens looser.

I used a super chunky tweed yarn, but knit it tight on size 8 needles for warmth. Gauge was around 3.5 stitches per inch in stockinette.

These are knit in the round. I used two circular needles, though knitting in the round on double pointed needles would work too. The right and left are knit up the same.

Cuff:
CO 28 stitches.
Join to work in the round.
Work in Seed Stitch for 2 rounds.
Dec Round: Decrease 2 stitches evenly on each needle, 4 stitches total
Knit 1 round.
Dec Round
Knit 1 round.
Switch to K1xP1 Rib for 6 rounds.

Mitten Body:
Knit 4 rounds in stockinette
Increase 2 stitches evenly on each needle, 4 stitches total (24 stitches)
Knit 4 rounds
Increase Round (28 stitches)
Knit 4 rounds
Increase Round (32 stitches)
Knit 2 rounds

Knit 12 stitches, slip 8 stitches to waste yarn for thumb, and then knit into next stitch with live yarn (skipping over the stitches you just slipped to waste yarn) and knit to end of round.

Continue knitting around until you've reached 3 inches from where the thumb is.
Decrease Round: SSK, knit to two stitches before end of needle 1, K2tog
Repeat with the second needle.
Knit 3 Rounds
Decrease Round
Knit 3 Rounds
Decrease Round
Decrease Round again... You should now have 4 stitches left on each needle.
Knit one more round and then pull yarn through remaining stitches.

Thumb:
Remove 8 stitches from waste yarn.
Pick up 2 stitches from inside of the thumb to make 10 stitches total.
Knit in round for 2 inches.
K2tog five times to end
Pull yarn through remaining 5 stitches.

Weave in all ends. Then cut out your paw from felt or fabric and sew on to the palm of your mittens. Now prepare to be melted with cuteness every time you look down at your hands...

Seconds Handwarmers

So, I finally made some handwarmers for the old husb-cap. Considering I have made countless numbers of handwarmers, including for people I've never even met, it's rather surprising he's stayed immune from them for so long. I guess I was just waiting for the proper pattern - I used the Beer Mitts pattern from Son of Stitch and Bitch, and they turned out hefty and cushy and comfortable and look quite perfect on him.

Now for the embarrassing part. I started these while it was still hot enough to crave Popsicles. I know this because I took a picture of myself wearing one - a fully completed first handwarmer - while eating a Popsicle.

Ahhh me. I was faced with my laziness yet again when I friend was over asking about handwarmers, and I was able to pull out from various closets no fewer than four or five lonely, pairless little handwarmers that were abandoned before their mate could be finished.

Then, this week I was reading an article about socks and discovered a name for my exact problem - "Second Sock Syndrome," or in my case just plain "Seconds Syndrome," - that strong inability to have to do something all over again that you just did. It feels nice to know I am not alone with this. However, I'm starting to think I'm ready for a cure. There are some things - I don't know - a pesky office job comes to mind- that you have to do over and over again, one second, one monday after another. So, I guess those things you do have the power to finish - all ends-tied-in Done- really can't be so bad, no matter how tedious the process.

As some not-asked-for advice to anyone out there who may have a similar problem - no matter how nice avoiding feels - It feels WAY nicer to grit your teeth, finish the second one, and see them on your husband's lovely hands petting your dog's tummy.