Category Archives: Knitting

Drop stitch scarf-a-long

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My drop stitch scarf-in-progressThe knitting bug has been ignited to a degree. Yesterday found me surfing around looking at scarf patterns.

Our office is so cold that I generally keep a scarf knotted around my neck every day in winter. I got to thinking about how much I enjoyed knitting that cushion cover, and I just couldn’t stop myself. (And I had some of that nasty Wal*Mart yarn left over that needed to be used, too.)

There are a *ton* of scarf patterns out there on the ‘net–Knitting Pattern Central has a great list of free patterns. Of course I couldn’t choose one of those. I had to fall in love with a photograph that had no pattern included. The knitter mentioned that it was a drop stitch pattern, but there was no link to a pattern.

Naturally I had to spend some time Googling for a free drop stitch scarf pattern like it. I found plenty that were several rows of garter stitch followed by a row of drop stitch, but none that had that cool zig-zag thing going on. Fortunately the original photo was detailed enough that I could count the stitches and guess at the method. (The photo here is a scan of my scarf-in-progress.)

I can’t say for sure that I’ve got it exactly like the inspiration scarf, but it’s close enough to suit me. Care to join me in an easy knit? (I knitted 10 inches while watching a few sit-coms last night even after starting over twice to work out the pattern.) Here’s how:

Cast on 25 stitches and knit across.
Row 1: *k5, k1,yo,k1,yo,yo,k1,yo,k1,k1,* repeat across, end with k5
Row 2: knit the knits and drop the yarn overs
Row 3: * k1,yo,k1,yo,yo,k1,yo,k1,k1,k5,* repeat across, end with k1,yo,k1,yo,yo,k1,yo,k1,k1
Row 4: repeat row 2

Repeat these four rows until you get tired of it, or until you run out of yarn, or until it’s long enough. Bind off loosely. Weave in ends. Done!

I’ll show you mine next week. (I almost said “on Monday,” but that might be too soon.)

Green Cushion

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Green cushion top

Some blocking wires would be nice so that I could get perfectly straight sides, but I don’t have any, and I don’t knit enough to go in search of such. With this cheap acrylic yarn, I doubt blocking this thing will have any effect at all anyway. <sigh>

This is the project that I worked on while I was down South before Thanksgiving. We left too quickly for me to get anything together ahead of time, so I had to head off to the LYS (local yarn shop) aka Wal*Mart, and get something to knit.

You know I can’t sit still, even if I do have to knit with stuff from Wal*Mart.  (I do love the yummy green color, though.)

This piece stretched out to 14.5″ x 22″, which is a little wider than I wanted.  I may scooch it in to about 12″ so I’ll have a long, narrow cushion.  I’ll just sew it onto a green form and put it somewhere.

I have to make the cushion first, though.

The pattern for the flame stitch came on a dishcloth pattern from K1,P1. It got a little boring to knit after a while, but it was something to do.

Variation on a Frill Update

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the Frill in progress

My knitting is coming along. In case you tuned in late, this is the “frill” portion of Sivia Harding’s Variation on a Frill stole from the Spring 04 Knitty. I’m actually 4 repeats into the body–check the gallery for that photograph.

To get the frill, you first knit 18 repeats of a two-row rib stitch pattern. Once you’ve completed that, you drop every third stitch and allow it to run down to the cast-on row. I had to “help” my stitches run. I’m sure they would have done it on their own eventually, but I couldn’t wait. Some of the stitches are “waiting for help” on the left side of this photo.

So far it’s a fun and easy project. I could have used a stole like this during the cool weather we had recently. It’s back to 85 now, though.

Knitting interlude

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Listening to …

The Cat Who Turned On and Off by Lilian Jackson Braun

Variation on a Frill

Let’s take a break from the regularly-scheduled sewing talk and talk knitting a bit. Knit-itis struck me hard last week as soon as I started stringing those Elf Moon beads. Unfortunately, those are a pain-in-the-neck to string, and I wanted immediate knitting gratification–preferably lace

…with some beads on it.

I had no clue what I wanted to do beyond beaded lace. This mercerized cotton jumped into my basket, impressing me with its color and softness. When I wandered over to the bead aisle, the multi-colored beads seemed to leap from the rack to join the yarn. Procurement accomplished, I had only to find a suitable pattern.

Do you know how many beaded lace knitting patterns there are out there??? Too many for my frenzied mind to sift through, that’s for sure. I wanted to knit, and *now*!!!

When I narrowed my target down to a wrap or stole of some sort, it helped. Then I found the perfect pattern for my chosen materials: Variation on a Frill from Knitty.com’s Spring 2004 issue.

I’ll have to say that doing a long tail cast-on with 151 beads almost drove my thumbs back into retirement, but that part’s over. You can see from the squished scan that I am 3 rows in and knitting like crazy!

Getting started on the Elf Moon

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When I ordered my kit for the MaryElla cuff from EarthFaire, I also ordered a kit for a bracelet called Elf Moon, which I can’t seem to find there now. It’s a beige-colored cuff accented by some dangling leaf beads.

Like the other beaded knitting projects I’ve done in the past year, this one requires stringing a bazillion tiny seed beads before you begin. (I said I wasn’t going to do this again, but I’ve got *all those seed beads* just sitting there in my basket.) When I finished the Diamond Blossom on Wednesday, I just picked up the Elf Moon beads and started stringing.

I’ll feel better when I clear that project out of my basket! (I don’t ever have to do it again. Write that down.)

The MaryElla is fun to wear and people comment on it a lot. It does stretch with wearing though. I find a little rinse and dry shrinks it smaller again. I’ll make the Elf Moon shorter, so perhaps I won’t have the same problem with it. (When you have a 5.5in wrist, you don’t have to string as many beads!)

There are a number of bracelet patterns at Earth Faire. I’ll have to see if there are any that any don’t require stringing those miniscule beads ahead of time.