Seeing Red

 How many red scarves can I make? I can't even keep track. I have two pictures in my Google Photos that were since the last time I posted red scarves, but no actual "staged" photos.

This one was just double crochet, 20 per row. Super easy, super fast. The first one I did in DC was 18 stitches and I wanted just a bit bigger. A couple times I found out I had gone down to 19 DC, so I had to rip back. One time, it was quite a bit to rip out but it is super fast to crochet. 132 gr. 

This is another ribbed one. It was a bit narrow but I was hoping I could heavily steam it and stretch it looser. That didn't really happen but I'll throw it in anyway. It's more like 4-5" wide instead of 6". 

The school I have a small part time job at has started a "share closet" for extra supplies, donations, spare clothes etc. I'm going to donate the bag of mittens that I had from lunch supervision. Plus, I've made some in the mean time but never found anywhere to donate. I also decided to just grab some yarn and knit some tiny mittens. More on those in the next post. While looking in one of my storage ottomans for something, I found 3 felted but unstuffed mice. So I sewed them up with some catnip.

I also made two more fingerless gloves using the orange/yellow/pink yarn. I needed one to replace the too-yellow one from the last pair. Then I thought I might as well knit another to make that one into a pair, and donate those to the school. 

The too-yellow one on top, the new one at the bottom.

This is the pair I've ended up with for myself.

While I was in the ottoman, I found a fair isle ear flap hat I had made on the Singer 155 many years ago, that I wasn't totally happy with. There was a yarn tail hanging out, so I wove that in and threw it in the donation bag. Apparently I made it in 2011 and there were some issues. I don't know if I ever fixed all the issues....I sort of remember wearing it, but I've had so many hats. I'm not counting this yarn total since I really didn't even do much. I wasn't keep track of yarn back then.

Many knitters do a "Finish it February" theme, and perhaps that's what I'm doing too. I have a Christmas tree skirt pattern I think I bought in 2001 at Spinrite, in Listowel, back when it was still just Patons I think. And a mohair sweater from pre-blog....who knows what else....I have a bag of wool socks that need mending, but I rarely wear wool socks now. I have three Sofie purses from 2002/2003 that need handles (I think I have two of them, maybe even three). 

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out:  334gr + 206gr = 540gr

Balance:  540gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

The Singer is Singing

I'm just not sure if we're reading the same music LOL. 

I wanted to knit up the yarn I mentioned in the last post right away. I had a resource I was finishing up for Teachers Pay Teachers and that took priority, but then I got to it. First, I had to clear some space, find the parts and tools, etc. I took a look on my blog to see the changes I had made when I first made these gloves--Dec 2015! 

I got started, and it seemed to be going okay. Then I moved on to the first thumb and nope. Nothing I would do for the next few days would be simple or easy. Between this pair, a thumb I made for a pair that's been waiting since Jan 2016, and another pair I made, I made every possible mistake and mishap. 

• forgot to set tension at tightest for zig zag cast on.
• forgot to hang cast on comb
• forgot to change settings for zig zag cast on
• forgot to change to ribbing tension
• forgot to change carriage settings for ribbing
• caught yarn around gate pegs
• dropped stitches trying to fix something
• forgot to have end stitches on Ribber bed
• forgot to change settings to Fisherman's Rib
• forgot to reset row counter
• forgot to switch settings back for top rib
• forgot to move stitches from ribber to main bed for loop through loop cast off
• forgot to do one row at really loose tension before moving stitches for cast off
• forgot to do ribbing after casting on for thumb
• forgot to change to Fisherman's Rib on thumb
• totally messed up thumb decreases
• sewed thumb on wrong side out
• tried to set thumb slightly higher on seam but somehow it didn't change
• shortened cuff to try to get one pair from one ball and it's a little too short AND there was yarn left

I played yarn chicken and lost. I wanted to get both gloves from one ball and this is what I had at the start of the second thumb.

So, you can see...I made 6 gloves (a couple got ripped back) and 7 thumbs (one ended up being a dud, two I ripped back) just to end up with 2 pairs plus 1 thumb.

I couldn't figure out why one thumb was different than the other so I reknit the other than discovered the first one, I had forgotten to switch to English Rib. 

These plum ones were with the new yarn. I thought I had made them the same as the earlier pairs but it took slightly more than one ball.

These colourful ones (on the left) are to replace the ones I've been wearing since Jan 2016 (on the right). I wanted the hands longer, but knew I'd have to shorten the cuffs compared to the plum ones. I messed up the thumbs so bad. I don't like how one ended up with a wide orange section, the top rib AND thumb all in yellow. The seam looks bad because I was trying the pattern's way of outer needles on Main Bed. 

This pair is knit to the pattern's directions and has been on my shelf since likely Jan 2016. It only needed one thumb! I think I had lost the yarn for awhile, and then maybe one of the gloves. I considered throwing them out, but I'm glad I finished. I don't need them, and I find the short length too short for me, though perhaps they are better for driving. I'll put them in the donation bin. 

Altogether, these weigh  133 grams. Not a bad way to start the year! I'm going through my sock yarns trying to find more to knit up but it's either boring solids, or hand dyed 100% wool that needs to be balled.

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 133gr

Balance:  133gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Custom!

I LOVE getting custom orders for unique items. Usually they start out as a question--"Is it possible to make....".  With over 20 years experience, I have a lot of knowledge to draw on.  Crochet vs Knit? Wool? Machine Knit or Hand Knit? Design? Stitches?

One day I saw a post in our local "HomeMADE" Facebook group. A woman had injured her wrist badly and was going to be in various splints for quite a while. She couldn't find anything to keep her hand warm (and it was quite cold that week!). I immediately sprung on it, knowing that making a mitten in ribbing would be awesome. I thought maybe I could even felt the hand portion, leaving the ribbing unfelted. She wanted purple and grey and the only wool that I had both purple and grey in was Moda Dea's "Washable Wool".  Which most likely wouldn't felt due to it's chained structure. Oh well.

I got to work swatching on the SK155. Then, I couldn't find my copy of Ann Budd's calculations for mittens! So, I went with what I knew from my 20 years experience (lady's mitten, worsted yarn, 20st/4", Cast on 40sts).  I used T3 for the ribbing and T2 for the stockinette. And why did I knit the hand flat when I have a ribber and could have knit it in the round? Ummm. Habit? Well, this is a real "D'oh" moment. Especially since I struggled a bit to get the seaming of the stripes looking good!

After I got part way through the first one I remembered that I had scanned the pattern. Well, I couldn't find the pages with the calculations, but I could find the schematic page so I worked out the rest of the numbers from that.

The second mitt, I cast on 50st instead of 40 and kept the ribbing going up to the top of the thumb separation, and on the thumb, because her thumb was strapped down next to her hand, though there was space between the thumb and the hand. I had trouble increasing in the ribbing for the thumb and it doesn't look all that great along the seam.  The seam on the normal mitten is at the non-thumb side, which means I did all the thumb increasing in the middle of the piece and moved all the stitches (one side only) outwards. I just love this type of thumb gusset. I also kept the right thumb in ribbing to stretch easily over the splint.

The mitten feels a bit loose on me but I do prefer snug mittens. And it's not knit as tightly as I would have liked. But she needed it ASAP!  And, as luck would have it, she couldn't pick up for a few days and the weather turned warm. Hopefully, with it hovering around 0C now, she can make use of them.

Yarn In:  120gr
Yarn Out: 96gr + 327gr = 423gr
Balance: 303gr more USED than in
Costs: $7.91/25 days = $0.32 per day

Lucy's Turn

Megan is my one child that is often requesting items crafted by momma.  Lucy asks once in awhile, and Hugh...well, not anymore and when he does, it usually something obscure and/or obtuse.

Lucy is playing in a jazz band made up of students from across our region.  She got a "band coat" that is, of course, black.  I don't get this.  Musicians are supposed to be creative people.  Yet our folders are black, our cases are black, or uniforms are often black, our jackets are black....

We were at Wal-Mart and of course I had to pass by the yarn aisle.  I stopped at the small selection of Red Heart "Heart and Sole" sock yarn.  This yarn feels thin and stringy.  I hoped it would wash up nicely.  She picked out this grey/black blend to make some of the fingerless gloves to go with her new coat.  I hoped she would help make them, but she wasn't interested :(

Before I started though, she determined she wanted an accent colour.  Perhaps bright green or purple.  What do I have?  We went through my sock yarn bin and she declared them all "boring".  I found a few yarns but they weren't really suitable.  I finally found a ball of Patons "Lace Sequins" but she didn't want the sequins!  Then I found two balls of a cheap, fake mohair from Dollarama (our big dollar store chain).  It's very fine, but with two balls, I could double strand it easily.

The white hand is cut from foam board and was a tracing of Rob's hand, Man's XL.  So you can see the stretch of these gloves!

I got to work, making random stripes in the cuff.  Got the hand part done, then it dropped a bunch of stitches.  I took it to show Lucy and she said she didn't want stripes on the cuff and wanted fewer stripes in the hand.  Whatevs.  I restarted, got the hands done quickly.  Worked on the thumbs.

I found with the other pairs that the "gusset" part of the thumbs don't seem long enough (not surprising since the length for the hand doesn't seem long enough and I add 8 rows), and it pulled up the wrist.  Not too noticeable in the multi coloured yarns, but if you did the cuff in one colour and the hand in another, it'd show.  I had experimented with changing the last couple decreases working down to the point, and that helped, but this time, something went wonky.  The first thumb worked out right (could still be longer) but the second one...I don't know.  I ended up finishing it up by hand.

She's been wearing them!  Yeah!  These gloves took only 36gr total (33gr of RH is left), which leaves me with some more boring yarn to add to the sock bin LOL.

Yarn In: 50gr
Yarn Out: 36gr + 1145gr = 1181gr
Balance:  1131gr more USED than bought
Costs:  $7.90/27 days = $0.29/day

Just a Few More

I was struggling with Christmas gift ideas this year.  My budget was really tiny.  So tiny, well, it might as well have been non-existent.  So that means things knitted from the stash.  But what?  People can be picky.  Or, I should clarify.  I needed to make things for teenagers.  Teens can be picky.  Yup.

After making the trial pairs of the fisherman's rib fingerless gloves, I figured they be good little gifts.  If I found some extra money in the budget, I could tuck a bill or gift card into the gloves.

I don't recall which of the two left pairs came first.  The left one is from some old yarn...I'm a little surprised just how old!  For laughs, check out this post about the socks I made, and here's the post from when I bought the yarn.  

While this is certainly NOT the oldest yarn in my stash, I think it marinated long enough.  It is disappointing though to see how those socks looked after a few wearings.  On one hand, natural felting will make them warmer, and I love seeing knitted gifts used, but on the other hand, felting will reduce the natural ability of the rib to stretch, which is a key element of this design.

 The first difference I did was to set it up with the edge stitches on the RB.  I made the gloves slightly bigger to do this, rather than slightly smaller.  This did allow for easier seaming, although, as you can see in the blue pair at the thumb gusset, the resulting column of knit stitches created by taking in 1/2 of each edge stitch, does not match the fishermen's rib.

Issue?  I don't know.  Next time maybe I'll do an even number of stitches and seam it up with a purl column.  Megan did most of the knitting of the blue pair, I just set the machine up, casted on, changed the settings when she called me, and sewed them up.  Child labour is so handy!

 I also elongated the thumb gusset a bit by fiddling with the last couple decreases, so I ended with putting three sts on one needle, instead of 5.  I also started with two extra stitches (by having the edge stitches on the RB) so that automatically made it a bit longer.  As well, I used my two stitch transfer tool for the decreases, rather than moving the edge stitch.  That helped A LOT.  A LOT.  And looks nice too.  I did experiment with the grey pair of trying to increase on the sides of the hand to make the thumb gusset that way, but it made a mess.  I might try again, but keep the thumb in stockinette.  But you'd end up with a seam up the middle of the outside of the thumb.  My next trial will be to do the thumb first, then "seam as you go" although I'll probably get the thumb inside out.  I've never done it with the RB in use.


All these totals are in that year end recap.  I did T6 for all three, 40 rows for the cuff, 48 for the hand.  They feel very cushy, stretchier than the orange/purple, but not too 'thin'. This is surprising, because the blue yarn, and the grey/white (it's really a soft, creamy white) are Kroy 3 ply, which is thinner than the orange/purple Kroy Socks.  So, this pattern is quite forgiving of the tension, but I think that if you're using a Singer, just start with T6.  The orange/purple ones could even been T6*.

Fuschia

My youngest kid, Megan, figure skates.  We've never given a gift to her coach(es) and I always feel bad!  This year I decided it was time, and those reversible 4 Way Fingerless Gloves would be perfect!  So we picked two yarns.  Megan wasn't really happy with the choices, but that's what I had.  I did a swatch, did the math.  And got sick.  And the math lied.  Really, it did.  I got one done, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish the second one.

The charcoal is Zara again, and the other side is plated.  One strand of an acrylic mohair from this project .  Mmmm, reading that post, I'm wondering where the rest of the Paton's "Sequins" in purple went!  That would have been much better!  The other side of the plating is two strands of a bright violet coned yarn (I happen to have two cones); I used it also for Megan's legwarmers.  I have it written down which yarn went in which feeder...we surprisingly liked it with the colourful mohair NOT the main yarn.

Megan did most of the knitting.  Though I had to stand there since the cones were too close to the machine and kept getting hung up, plus there's markers to be placed and tensions to change.  

They somehow turned out too small.  Plan B.  Well, there was no plan B, except a Christmas card that said "my mom is sick and your gift will come next week" LOL.

After making the fingerless gloves on the Singer 327 I knew I wanted to make them for the coach.  But I had no fuchsia or purple sock yarn that was "acceptable".  I had some wool I just bought and the fuchsia was deemed perfect.  I tried it on the 327, but while it would knit fine in rib, the Fisherman Rib was too much for it.  And the label says it's aran weight!  I already had gauge info for it on the LK150, so back to it.  Feeling better by this point, I re-worked the pattern for the LK150 and did a thumb gusset by increasing at either side, but no FR.  The cuff did take a little while to latch up, but the hand and FR goes fast, so don't be intimidated!  It's been too long since I've done mittens on the LK150 and I forgot that I hate this thumb gusset, but oh well.  Guess I wasn't feeling as better as I thought :)

It would be really easy to do either a thumb gusset in the middle of the knitting (yes, moving about 19 sts on each side over, every two rows), or add a thumb gusset after like I do in my other mittens on the LK150.  Totally forgot!

Other than the thumb, I LOVE these mitts.  I really, really need to get my new SK155 ribber set up.  Oh?  I haven't told you about that yet?  That's what I was waiting for back in early December, and it deserves it's own post!  Again, the total for these mitts were already included in last year's totals; the first pair weighed 67gr and this pair is 61gr.

Hey! It's Winter!

One thing knitters struggle with is being prepared for the changing seasons.  We have good intentions:  "I'm going to knit my new winter set in July!  Yay me!".  But we all know how it turns out.  The temperatures suddenly plummet and our numb fingers remind us that our July was spent knitting dishcloths.

We've had a really warm December, here in Southern Ontario.  Really warm.  Like, we just need a sweater outside.  Until Sunday, Jan 3, 2016.  Hello, new year!

I thought knitting the fingerless gloves was maybe going to keep the mercury on the plus side.  They seemed like great gifts when it was 5C/41F out there.  Now, it's more like -15C/5F and fingerless gloves seem like a joke.  The nice thing about them though, is they can be layered over thin gloves!

Someone, somewhere, posted about Diana Sullivan's Fingerless Gloves video again.  Again, they were something I had wanted to knit since the video was released.  I decided this was the year.  Well, technically, last year was the year, but does a flip of a number really matter?  And hey, I have "lots" of Kroy Sock yarn!

 I actually had some real Kroy "Socks", not the old 3ply and 4ply Kroy, so I thought I'd start with it, and follow the video exactly.  You know how hard that is for me, right?

First big issue came with changing from 1x1 rib to Fisherman's Rib.  Diana has a Brother, so I looked in my Singer manual, and it does the FR on the mainbed.  I googled, and I went through all my Knitwords magazines cause I knew there were FR patterns.  I found an article where MAO says yes, this is how the manuals tell you to set it up, but it can be done in reverse.  I don't know how though, there appears to be no way to tuck with the Singer ribber bed carriage.  So, I just followed the manual.  This meant that my end needles, carefully set up to be on the MB like Diana said to do, were now tucking (instead of knitting, like in her video).

I finished the first one, and took it off the machine.  I know rib is stretchy, but this was small!  What went wrong?  I made sure to change tension where needed.  I double checked the needle count.  I consulted with my MK mentor. I wasn't happy with the feel of the knitting either.  It was too crispy.  Some of that is because it was unwashed, but there was just something the yarn was trying to tell me.  I concluded that I had mysteriously done something wrong and should try again.

And got the same result.

Now, I know the definition of an idiot is someone who repeatedly does the same thing, expecting to get a different result.  Time to change it up.

I upped the tension to T6.  I shortened the cuff to 35 rows as it had seemed a little long even in the smaller version and I felt the larger tension would allow a bit of length anyway.   I set it up with the same needle set up--end needles on mainbed.  I did 40 rows of FB, hoping the larger gauge would mean they'd have longer hands.  I did the thumbs as written.

As with just about everything I make with self striping yarns, the second one ended up being too close too the first...but not close enough to make them identical.  I'd rather have had them be wildly different (but obviously the same yarn), then "almost close".

Sewing up was not as easy as Diana said they'd be.  I think because the end stitches were tucked.

They are still on the smaller side--but very stretchy.  This yarn really preferred T6.  I probably could have gone up a dot (or two even).  And people think I'm weird when I say yarn talks.

These gloves weighed 46gr, which I included in the previous post with all the totals.  There is a tiny bit of yarn left.  I would much prefer to have NO yarn left, and make these a smidge bigger.  However, technically I don't have "no" yarn left, since there's a couple more balls in the cubbies :)

4 Way Fingerless Gloves Tutorial

Last post, I wrote about the development of these 4 Way Reversible Gloves.  Now, I'll share a bit more on how to make your own, with any yarn.

The most important tool is going to be your swatch.  The second most important thing is a schematic with all the important measurements.  For this, I highly recommend Ann Budd's "The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns".  I get a copy from my public library.

It has all the important measurements, for sizes from toddler to XL Man.  I don't usually look at the pattern as my gauge always seems to be something like 4.5st/inch and she includes only full stitch/inch (4 st/inch and 5st/inch).  I just take the measurements and my gauge and figure my own numbers, remembering to add 1 or two stitches if needed for seaming.  I recommend to use yarn that is not too thick.  Two layers of DK add up to worsted weight, but even using one worsted weight and one DK makes the gloves quite thick.  

Start with an open cast on with the required number of stitches for the wrist.  Using a tension a little bit tighter than your main tension (about MT-3), knit the length indicated by the pattern for the cuff. Change to the main tension, knit a row, and mark both edges.  Knit the height needed for the thumb gusset (make sure to use the right measurement from the schematic.  I have used the thumb length measurement before!), and place markers at the edge again.  

Look at your calculation for how many total rows you need.  For this, I look at the length needed before starting the mitten shaping.  I figure the tighter tension at the cuff and the top edge shortens it up a bit, and then I round down a row or too.  I like my fingerless gloves long, but other people like them shorter.  For charity, there is no right or wrong.  Depending on the size, take the last two inches of the mitten and tighten up the tension so it will be snug around the fingers.  If the mitten gives flipped upside down to wear, this will still give a nice cuff.

I tried two different ways to make the turning row.  The men's pair has a converted row, creating a ridge.  The lady's pair has an eyelet row (move 1 stitch over, place empty needle in work; repeat across).  When I did the converted row, I realized that it has to be one colour or the other, so take your pick.

Now, you're going to do all this again, but in reverse.  Using the gauge of your inside yarn and your measurements, knit about two inches at a tighter tension, then loosen up to the main tension and knit to the top of the thumb gusset.  Mark it, knit the gusset length, place another marker at the edges.  Knit 1 row and knit the required length of the cuff in the tighter tension.

If there is 1st/inch difference, or more, between the two yarns, you need to account for this.  I would recommend starting with the finer yarn, and then decreasing after the turning row.  Then you will need to increase on the last row of the cuff, so you have the same number of stitches as what you started with at the very beginning, to make for easier grafting.

Take it off on waste yarn, and make a second one.  Or, better yet, knit the waste yarn for about 8 rows, do a row of ravel cord, then knit 8 rows in waste yarn again.  Once off the machine, separate the two by the ravel cord.

Seam up the long side first, leaving the thumbs open between each set of markers.  Weave in any ends.  Then, tuck the one layer inside the other, matching up the open cast on with the open cast off and the thumb holes.  I found it helped to put each colour on a circular needle before grafting.  Pick one colour, and graft the cast on to the cast off.  Then, stitch the layers together around the thumb openings, so they don't shift.

The key to making them 4 way reversible, instead of just inside out reversible, is to make sure the thumb opening is not perfectly centred.  The amount of the cuff should be either a little bit more, or a little less than the amount above the thumb opening.  Having the thumb off centre means that when they're worn one way, they will be long over the fingers, and when they're worn the other way, they will be shorter over the fingers.

Over Christmas, I'll knit another pair and take pictures of this process :)

Stay Warm

Late one night, I had this idea.  I love using my LK150, but it doesn't have a ribber and converting ribbing gets tedious.  I wanted to make some fingerless gloves.  I want to make a lot of fingerless gloves...gifts, to sell, to donate, to have at school for the kids I supervise who come with those cheap stretchy gloves.  But if I just make a stockinette tube, it will curl at the top and bottom.

I've posted the tutorial at http://www.tracykm.blogspot.ca/2015/12/4-way-fingerless-gloves-tutorial.html and it's also on Ravelry now!  If you try it, please post your project on Ravlery!


If I made a tube though, and turned half of it to the inside, and grafted the cast on and cast offs together, then they wouldn't curl and wouldn't need ribbing, would be really warm, and could be reversible!!  I love reversible things!

It took a while before I could put this idea into action.  One night, I just had to start.  I did a swatch and let it rest.  Did the math the next day, and knit the first tube.  I planned to use tighter tension at the wrist and top..slightly longer at the wrist.

Well....of course, it wasn't a tube, LOL.  It was a long rectangle.  I put markers where I wanted the thumb gussets to be, and convert the turning row to garter stitch.  Did the second one.  Sat down to sew them up.

Which to do first?  Sew the side, or graft the bottom?  I started off by grafting the bottom, so my rectangle was folded cast off to cast on, purl sides together.  No problem grafting that.

Then I realized, I wouldn't be able to put it on the machine to knit the thumb gussets!

So, I tried sewing the second one with the side seam first.  No, I wouldn't be able to put that back on the machine for the gusset either.  Well, I might have, I"m not sure, but I didn't pursue it because I was not unstitching the first one, so these ones would be thumbless.  Then I realized I really needed to stitch the sides together around the thumb opening.

I had Rob try them on.  He felt that with the longer snug section at the wrist, that they were too long over the fingers.  He flipped them around and because the thumb opening was not centered, now the portion over the fingers was shorter.  He liked them that way.  I realized that now they could be worn FOUR different ways!

I also had to make a pair for women, as part of a gift exchange game.  I had intended to use similar yarn as the green pair (I think they are Zara (the charcoal) and Georga ) but I really wanted to do a reflective yarn.  Which is much thicker.  I pulled out this Moda Dea "Washable Wool" which is also thick.

Immediately, trying to swatch the Reflective on the LK150, I knew it wasn't going to work.  So, I dug out the SK155 which was on the backside of the table and they swapped places.  I still had to get the tension up to T8 for it to feel smooth.  The reflective strand in this yarn has NO stretch, so it's not really well suited for the knitting machine.  I left the swatch over night.

I did the numbers.  There was definitely a gauge difference between the yarns.  I wanted an eyelet turning row this time, but if I  started with  the Reflective, then I would need to increase after the eyelets when I switch to the beige.  No problem.

I got the first one done.  Ho hum.  Beige.  Yawn.  I knew I had to spice it up.  I tried a Fair Isle punch card with the second one, but between trying to figure out which row to put the dark brown, and a child talking to me, and figuring which row I was on for changing the tension...I messed it up.  It did show me though that I was on the right track.  I ripped back both of them and simplified the Fair Isle, which just happened to fit exactly in the 11 row section now.  I also realized that because I had increased stitches for the beige, I would need to decrease back down to the original number in the purple half, so I wouldn't have to do the decreases while grafting.  I was really proud of myself for figuring that one out before I was actually trying to do the  grafting!

This time, I decided to do the thumb gussets right away, before seaming.  A few false starts since I haven't done this in a while.  However, once I had the first one sewn up, I realized that the two layers of worsted yarn were just too thick around the thumb, especially with having a seam on each thumb.  I ripped all the thumbs out!  Again, being thumbless, they can now be worn four ways!

 It's so hard to capture the reflective nature of this yarn!  Will this catch your eye at the edge of the road at night?  I see too many people out in the dark, wearing dark clothes!

I have been a little envious when I see other knitters selling items with a nice wrapper.  My computer skills are not all that great (and my computer is very outdated now), but I really wanted to give it a try.  It went surprisingly well, and my daughter had a couple tips too.  Printed "landscape" mode, these fit perfectly around the gloves.  I did forget however to include the yarn content.

You might not be able to see it, so click for a larger version.

My cousin opened this during the game and commented that he didn't know I had my own business selling things--he saw how nice they were wrapped and thought they were store bought!  Awesome!  Mission accomplished!  He said they will be very handy but might get caulking on them.  I said that's fine!  I want my knit items to be used and appreciated, not put on display.  I can always make more!

Green/charcoal ones are 114gr and the beige/purple ones are 133gr

Yarn In: 5654gr

Yarn Out: 247gr + 7025gr = 7272gr
Balance:  1618gr more used UP than brought in
Costs:  $267.84 /348 days = $0.77/day

I made a Mitten

Yes, I made a mitten.  I wrote about it briefly, and thought I'd finish it that weekend while away, so I could drop it off at my cousin's house on the way home.  Didn't happen.  It sat around until Friday when I finally finished it up, and Saturday morning after skating I sewed a pink little tag on it.  We were heading back up to Bancroft on Saturday afternoon, but were a bit behind schedule and the weather was HORRIBLE, so we didn't stop in on the way up.  It was late on the way back and still the weather was bad, so I didn't think we'd stop in, but we did.  It was dark.  She wasn't home.  I didn't get a picture.  It looks a lot like this one on the left:

But had the pink colour at the top, and the top decreases were a little off center.  It weighed 32grams.  At least I did weigh it, LOL.

Yarn In:  500gr
Yarn Out: 32gr + 1547gr = 1579gr
Balance: 1079gr more USED than bought
Costs:  $21.19/54days = $0.39/day

Mitten String!

Mitten strings are not just for four year olds!  My 14 year old son lost a favourite mitten this winter.  My nine year old daughter just lost one yesterday.  There's a period of time where childish things are childish and unacceptable.  And then we grow up and realize that some of these ideas were a good thing.  Like mitten strings.  You might not catch a 14 year old with mittens on a string, but a 30+ woman with a new pair of Canada Goose mittens?  She was all over it like a toddler and a sucker!

8grams of Patons "Astro", double stranded, crocheted with a 6mm hook.  I did it double stranded so that there would be two tails at each end, for tying through the size loop inside the mitten.  I added an extra knot to the slip knot end, so that the other end would be easier to notice, as it's the end that could be shortened if the string was too long or started to stretch too much.  And I didn't know exactly how long she would need it.  I hope they keep her mittens safe and secure!

Yarn In:  500gr
Yarn Out: 8gr + 1069gr = 1077gr
Balance: 577gr more USED than bought
Costs:  $21.19/ days = $0.57/day

Sip Sip!

Back in mid-November, my cousin sent me a picture of a cupholder mitten for sale.  I had seen it before, but I`m not much of an outside drinker in the winter, LOL.  Looking at the picture, I thought, Hey...that would probably be quick to make in crochet, or on the machine--if I could figure out how it`s done.  By Dec 13 I had gotten around to searching for a crocheted pattern, and found a free one.  I got started late after my community band's Christmas concert.  Crochet is quick, right?  Well, maybe I should have done a simple single crochet instead of the "fancy" into front/back loop type thing.  It did go pretty quick (once I picked the yarn--I wanted this for the "girl" gift for a gift exchange game and none of my chunky yarns were really girly, plus I wanted it sort of neutral), but still not super quick.  I got the cupholder part done, then thought I might hand knit the cuff in ribbing for a good fit.  But I wasn't in love with it, especially once I realized there's no bottom.

So, I got to work on the knitting machine.  Digging through the stash, I was disappointed....I didn't think any of my washable wools were girly enough while still being neutral/basic.  Other yarns were "too good" for something I'm making to give away and I don't even know if the receiver will like it.  I finally opted to use Patons "Decor" in a dark, dark green and Bernat Mosaic in a colour with some pink.  The Mosaic is slightly thicker, but I hoped it wouldn't show.

 I crocheted the little heart in pink for the one mitten because there ended up being no pink in it's stripes.

I made the mitten first, using numbers from Ann Budd's "Handy Book of Patterns".  On the LK150, 40sts, I think T5.5.  20 rows of ribbing.  Then, I worked on the cupholder.  I did the cuff the same, then took half the stitches, and put two rows on waste yarn.  Then I continued over all the stitches for twice the length of the regular mitten.  Took off on waste yarn.

Sewed up the mitt.  It was a little big on me (could have been knit tighter too).  Fiddled with the cupholder mitten, and realized it was too long.  Sewed the long edges together (did the cuff, then skipped the few couple rows where the waste yarn was, then sewed most of the long side), then pinned the cast off to the waste yarn.  WAY too big.  I ripped back and tried again with a disposable coffee cup.  Still too big.  Ripped out a bit more, and it was perfect.  Grafted the open cast off to the two (half) rows on the waste yarn.

I wanted a bottom.  A while ago, I had made a newborn hat in this yarn, but it was a little small.  I ripped it back so I could use the yarn, and somehow, I had a crochet circle that was nearly a perfect fit!  I sewed it in along the seam line.  Added my personalized tag, and wrapped her up.

I made this on December 18/19.  I'm a member of the Yahoo group for Machine Knitting.  I wasn't really keeping up with the group digests.  Last week I got a chance to look through them more closely--especially one message that said it was a "surprise pattern" (and posted on December 14).  I checked the messages and someone had posted a picture of their completed surprise.  It was a cupholder mitten!!  I can't follow along her pattern very well just by reading it (my fault, not hers).  I will have to re-read it really well and try to visualize it.  If only I had read it right away--and knew what it was supposed to be!   The one thing I'd change with my pattern is to do some plain knitting after the ribbing and make the opening where the thumb of the regular mitten splits off (my opening was at the base of the thumb, and the ribbing gets pulled up to compensate).

Of  course, I didn't write down how many rows I ended up for the cupholder.  And I didn't weigh them.  And the girl that won them doesn't have a kitchen scale.  And now that I've remembered that some of the yarn came from a project already accounted for...bah.  I'm sticking with the 100gr estimate I already included in last year's totals.  I based that on there being 100gr left of the two balls, which were each 100gr.

Odds and Ends

Just a little post with some odds and ends.

I think this was the first year I used yarn instead of ribbon for Christmas presents.  I didn't have any ribbon or bows (that I could find), so I went with yarn.  I could customize it for each present!  I started out with just tying a simple bow, then started getting fancy--tying each end into a bow, so it became fluffy, multi-looped bows!

 Canadian Christmas tree photo--our ice skates are all there beside it!  Our colours this year were turquoise and silver and I grabbed a roll that had red too (cause I thought Santa might have red paper).   Of course I have lots of yarns in those colours!

 Fluffy bows!

 None of those yarns were white--they were very pale grey and turquoise.  I used about 40grams!

For awhile, my sister in law has been wanting me to fix her gloves.  But she lives 11 hours away.  In the summer, she forgot to bring them, but they came up for Christmas and on Saturday night, she realized she had them with her, and could I fix them before they left--5:30am on Monday.  Sure!  What's one thumb in fingering weight alpaca?

 One thumb was split and the other had wear/thinning spots.  I made these for Christmas 2010, on the Singer 327.  At first I was going to re-knit the thumbs by hand...but then I remembered that I had used the glove calculator pattern and probably kept the print out!  I found the binder, and what I assumed was the pattern, on Saturday night and planned to get started bright and early on Sunday.  Of course, come Sunday, both girls wanted me to set them up with new knitting projects (including teaching Lucy how to do Magic Loop).  I did manage to get them done, though one thumb is a stitch or two smaller.

I always appreciate knowing that my knits are being used.  Wearing them out doesn't bother me.  I offer to repair when I can, or make more!  In this case, I used up another 5 grams of yarn!  Yay!  (Every little bit helps, especially since I just bought more!).

Yarn In:   9483gr
Yarn Out: 45gr + 6863gr = 6908gr
Balance: 2575gr  MORE brought IN then out
Costs: $486.12/347 days = $1.40/day

More Mittens

...it's really hard coming up with snappy titles about mittens :)

My brother and his girl were going to keep an eye on our house when we went on our family cruise in January.  Cheryl is a mitten girl; she wears a pair that a relative made for my brother when he was a KID, and I've made her a pair or two that weren't quite perfect.  So I wanted to try again.  This time, she picked out the yarn!

Yes, they are giant before felting.  And yes, that's my Christmas tree; picture was taken January 6 :)

 Cheryl says they could be a little smaller, but wants me to do it cause I scared her when I told her sometimes when I felt things they go from needing a bit more to being way too small, very quickly. 

You can see the density of the fabric now.  When I first  started knitting mitts, I couldn't really fall in love with most of them.  They were fine if you kept your hands in your pockets, but on a windy day, they were cold!  No matter how much wool content the fiber had, no matter how tight you made the gauge.  But with a light felting, there is a huge improvement in the functionality of the mittens.  You just don't want to use too thick of a yarn to start with.

Yarn In:  354gr
Yarn Out:  108gr + 333gr = 441gr
Balance:  87gr more used UP than brought in
Costs:  $19.85/64 days = $0.31/day