Knee Socks

I realized that I also had some knee socks that needed new photos.





These are the Dale of Norway Lillehammer socks knit in Nature Spun sport weight. I am still kicking myself for not knitting the cool Norwegian deities on the feet. I've worn them exactly once - for cross-country skiing back when we lived in Colorado.





These asymmetrical knee socks were knit with some naturally colored wool handspun yarn I bought on Ebay. I had just heard Elizabeth Zimmermann had died so I used charts I found in one of her books.

DH has worn these for cross-country skiing although I'm not sure they are the right size. I guess I have to make some more!

I hope to get a chance this week to photograph all my hand knit sweaters. The previous photos weren't that great and I hope to improve on them and get some more shots of special details.

On the other hand, perhaps I shouldn't bother as evidenced by these less-than-wonderful photographs of you-know-who.

Here's where I knit outside. I don't do it often because we have too little shade but today it wasn't too hot. I'm finishing up the second Navajo-inspired glove while drinking some herb tea. DH made these Adirondack chairs although he keeps giving them away. As you can see I don't let DH remove weeds because I love eating dandelion leaves in my salads. Plus there is the rabbit who especially enjoys the flowers.

Here is my latest glove-in-progress. (Yes, I'm aware that I can't seem to stop knitting gloves.) I used the design on a friend's Navajo rug for the chart inspiration and 6 colors of Palette. I think I'm going to add fringe on one side of the gauntlet cuff and possibly a duplicate stitch design on the back of the hand to add to the western theme.

BTW, if you look hard you can see Peaches the rabbit snoozing in her pet bed under the green table.

Petit Chou (Free Baby Knitting Pattern)

Here is my Petit Chou (little cream puff, pronounced "shoe").

*******************Corrections have been added to the T pattern*******************


I designed it as a newborn set. The baby will wear it when he or she first meets everyone, and the pieces will become family heirlooms. The project is quick, and simple, with the T being knit mostly in the round. There is minimum seaming. The decorative stitch, inspired by Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns is remarkably simple, and understated. The project is perfect for busy future Moms, Grandmas or friends to knit for a baby shower.
I hope you have as much fun and pleasure knitting it as I did.
As always, I do my best to avoid errors in the pattern, but feel free to leave comments if clarifications are needed.

Materials: Bouton D'Or, Mango, 2 balls Plume, 1 ball Peach (120 yrds each)
16" circular US 2, dpts US 2
Holder
2 yards ribbon
Gauge: 7 stitches/inch




PETIT CHOU SLIPPERS

Make 2.

With Plume cast on 7.
R1: With Plume,Knit
R2: With Plume, K1, purl till last stitch, K1
~~~~~~~~~R3: With Plume, K1f&b, knit to the last 2 stitches, K1f&b, K1
R4: With Plume, K1, purl, end K1
R5: With Peach, *sl1 wyib, sl1 wyif*. Repeat from * to *. End sl1 wyib
R6: With Peach, p1, *sl1 wyib, sl1 wyif*. Repeat from * to *
R7: With Plume, K1f&b, K1f&b, knit till last 3 stitches, K1f&b, k1f&b, K1
R8: Same as R4
R9: With Peach, *sl1 wyif, sl1 wyib*. Repeat from * to *, end sl1 wyif.
~~~~~~~~~R10: With Peach, carrying the yarn around the edge of your work, p1, *sl1 wyif, sl1 wyib*. Repeat from * to *.
R11: With Plume, K1f&b, K1f&b, knit to last 3 stitches, K1f&b, K1f&b, K1.
R12: Same as R4
R13: Same as R5
R14: Same as R6
R15: With Plume, knit
R16: Same as R4
R17: Same as R9
R18: Same as R10

You have now completed all increases and can continue knitting in pattern as follows:
Repeat rows 3 through 10 1 more time BUT DO NOT increase on R3 and R7, just knit.
~~~~~~~~~R3: With Plume, Knit
R4: With Plume, K1, purl, end K1
R5: With Peach, *sl1 wyib, sl1 wyif*. Repeat from * to *. End sl1 wyib
R6: With Peach, p1, *sl1 wyib, sl1 wyif*. Repeat from * to *
R7: With Plume, Knit
R8: Same as R4
R9: With Peach, *sl1 wyif, sl1 wyib*. Repeat from * to *, end sl1 wyif.
~~~~~~~~~R10: With Peach, carrying the yarn around the edge of your work, p1, *sl1 wyif, sl1 wyib*. Repeat from * to *.



You will now split the slipper into 2 parts while keeping the pattern.
R1: With Plume, Knit
R2: K1, P4, BO7, P4, K1
Continue working each side separately repeating rows 3 through 10 from above without increasing. Repeat the pattern a total of 3 more times on each side.

Once the two sides of the slipper are done, reattach plume to the right edge of you work.
K5, CO 7, K5.

You are back on R4 of the pattern. Conitnue in pattern but change R7 as follows: K1, K2tog, K2tog, knit to last 5 stitches, K2tog, K2tog, K1. Go through R10.
Next row: With Plume, K1, K2tog, K2tog, knit to last 5 stitches, K2tog, K2tog, K1.
Next row: With Plume, K1, purl, end K1.
Repeat last 2 rows with Plume one more time. BO.

Make the soles of the slippers as follows:

Peach is used for the entire sole.

Cast on 7 sts.
Knit 1 row.
Purl 1 row.
Next row: K1f&b, knit to last 2 stitches, K1f&b, K1.
Next row: Purl
Next row: K1f&b, K1f&b, knit to last 3 stitches, K1f&b, K1f&b, K1
Next row: Purl
Next row: K1f&b, K1f&b, knit to last 3 stitches, K1f&b, K1f&b, K1.
Next row: purl

Continue knitting the sole in st st, until it is 1/4" shorter than the top of the slipper.
Then continue as follows:
Next row: K1, K2tog, K2tog, knit to last 5 stitches, K2tog, K2tog, K1
Next row: Purl
Repeat last 2 rows one more time.
Knit 1 row.
Purl 1 row.
BO

On the top piece of the slipper, with Peach, pick up and knit 17 stitches, join round, and knit 2 rows in garter stitch, BO loosely.
Seam pieces together, weave in ends. If desired, weave a section of ribbon under the center stitch at the base of the picked up edge, and tie a bow.


PETIT CHOU T

With Peach cast on 100 stitches. Join round. Knit 4 rounds in garter stitch.
Switch to Plume, and in st st until piece measures a total of 4".
With Peach knit 2 rounds garter.
With Plume knit 2 rounds st st.
Eyelet round: *K8, K2tog, YO* Repeat from * to * using Plume.
Knit 2 rounds in st st with Plume.
With Peach Knit 2 rounds garter.
Knit 1 round with Plume.
Add one stitch in next round with Plume.
Transfer the 50 back stitches to a large holder.
Work front of the shirt in pattern, using R3 through R10 of the slipper pattern (without increases). You will be on R5 of the pattern.
~~~~~~~~~R3: With Plume knit
R4: With Plume, K1, purl, end K1
R5: With Peach, *sl1 wyib, sl1 wyif*. Repeat from * to *. End sl1 wyib
R6: With Peach, p1, *sl1 wyib, sl1 wyif*. Repeat from * to *
R7: With Plume,knit
R8: Same as R4
R9: With Peach, *sl1 wyif, sl1 wyib*. Repeat from * to *, end sl1 wyif.
~~~~~~~~~R10: With Peach, carrying the yarn around the edge of your work, p1, *sl1 wyif, sl1 wyib*. Repeat from * to *.

Knit a total of 4 pattern repeats.
Repeat R3.
Bo for neck as follows: K1, P20, BO 8, P20, K2tog.
Continue in pattern on each side of neck (you will be on 9), binding off 4 stitches at the beginning of row 4, and again on row 8. You will be working on 13 stitches.
Conitnue in pattern for 1" from last BO.
Make shoulder band using peach as follows:
Knit 2 rows garter.
Buttonhole row: K3, BO 2, K2, BO 2, K2
Next row: K3, CO 2, K3, CO 2, K3
Knit 2 rows garter.
BO loosely.

For the other side of the neck, the BOs will happen on the knit side on rows 3 and
7. You will need to cut an reattach the Peach yarn to work the pattern. Otherwise, proceed as above.

Pick up and Knit 48 stitches along the neck opening of the front piece with Peach, and Knit an additional 3 rows in garter stitch. BO loosely.

Put the back stitches back on the needles, and knitting with plume, knit in st st until back piece measures 3 1/2" from last Peach garter row. Bind off for neck as follows: K16, BO 18, K15.
Knit each side of the neck separately.
Purl one row.
Next row: BO 3, knit to end.
Purl 1 row.
Continue in st st until you are ready to knit the garter edge, which are positioned as for the front.
With Peach, knit 6 rows garter. BO.

For the other side of the neck, the BOs will be at the beginning of your knit rows.

Pick up and knit 40 stitches along the neck opening of the back side, with Peach, and knit an additional 3 rows in garter stitcth.

Sleeves.

Pin the shoulder pieces in place, matching them as closely as possible, with the buttonholes on top.
Starting at the center of the armpit, pick up and knit stitches along the entire armhole, making sure to go through both layers on the shoulders.
With Plume, pick up and knit 37 stitches, join round, and knit 3 rounds in st st.
Decrease round: K2tog, knit to the last 2 stitches, K2tog.
Knit in st st until sleeve is 3/4", switch to Peach, and Knit 4 rows in garter. BO loosely.
Repeat process on other side.

Weave in all ends, and weave a ribbon through the eyelet holes.


Pattern is for private use only, and may not be reproduced, or used for commercial purposes.

"Petit Chou" the Baby Outfit is Finished

Here is the new baby set "Petit Chou" (meaning cream puff, and pronouced shoe), finished, pressed, ready to be gift wrapped and sent all the way to Jerusalem, to meet my new little cousin.

The whole project takes a couple of days to knit, and is a wonderful baby shower gift. I will post the pattern as a free pattern tomorrow.

I spent the weekend giving up on things.

1. I gave up on the Fendi knock-off gloves I was knitting (on the left). Other than the cuff they just bored me silly and I couldn't figure out how to add more colorwork to keep my interest. I guess I need more color as well. So I've given up. I may use the chart again for another project.

2. The wonderful Selbustrikk cover mittens. The problem is that I can't find a single man who will wear these. They are going to be larger than the hands of the one guy I hoped they'd fit and I can't find another guy who would wear these mittens. I'll continue to see if I can find someone else to give them to.

3. My new Pony Pearls 5.75" metal reinforced dpns in sizes 2.25 and 2.75 mm. I bought these because the Inox/Prym glove needles I usually buy don't come in every size. Unfortunately these particular plastic-coated dpns have the worst tips ever - they are rough and coarse and constantly catch on or split the yarn. I will stick to using 7" dpns in that size no matter how clumsy they are for glove fingers. (I break bamboo and wood dpns in that size.) I may try to sand the tips to make them work better.

Baby Time

My cousin is expecting a 4th baby. At the news, I dropped everything I was working on, and started designing something for the baby. I love knitting the tiny little newborn clothes. I actually like knitting the newborn size, because I remember when I had my babies, and all I had to dress them were these gargantuan clothes in which they got lost. So for this little baby, I am knitting something newborn, out of cotton, because the baby will be born in July in Jerusalem. I chose the loveliest cotton, Mango, by Bouton D'or . Mango is a 50% cotton, 50% Modal, and is a fine gauge yarn perfect for delicate babies. This cotton is fabulous because it does not split as you knit. The colors I chose are Melon, and Plume (feather). I chose to knit slippers and a tiny T.

I am done with the slippers. I was carrying them in my hand on the train, going to Windsor Button for a matching ribbon, and every person that saw them stopped me to ask me about them. Maybe I should just have another baby so that I have an excuse to knit more of them! You know in all possible colorways... I am now working on the tiny T in the same colors, and stitch pattern.

I'll post both patterns to the blog as soon as they are ready. For the time being, here is a picture of the Mango delight.

Peace Gloves

I finally finished the second Peace Glove knit in Palette and 2.5 and 2.25 mm dpns. I made them to match the denim jacket I embroidered. I plan to make gloves to wear with each of my coats and jackets so I have two more pairs planned. Sorry about the photos but I had to use the flash as it has been gray and rainy here this week.




Today I sent $204.83 from booklet and pattern sales to the Colorado House Rabbit Society. Also, the lime green and purple socks are on hold because I can't find the right color of purple. This was hard for me to believe because I have a whole container of purple yarns. Instead I started another pair of gloves.

Sandia Hike

I should finish the second Peace glove tonight during the Red Sox/Tigers game. Then I have two more glove designs I want to start along with some socks in purple and lime green.

Here are some photos from a walk we took this weekend on a horse trail in the Sandias.



Solar-powered outhouses.



Words of Wisdom



Detail of alligator juniper



Cholla cactus - these have gorgeous hot pink blooms.

Socks, Socks, Socks...

I know it has been days since my last post. Birthdays have kept me busy knitting socks. My mother loved her Mother's Day slippers, I had also made a matching wash mitt for her. I had to take care of getting passports for 2 of the children. My parents are taking them to France for a month, and they are leaving today.
I am very much like a mother hen, constantly counting my brood, and I hate missing any of them. I am happy they get to visit our family, and see beautiful Normandy, but these trips are always a little hard for me.
This summer, however, I will be busy. I am in the final phases of preparing for the new business and I should be ready by the end of the week.
I told you the business would have everything to do with knitting. What I did not tell you is that it has everything to do with yarn, hand-dyed yarn in particular, and of course socks. This picture will give an idea of what is to come.
I got so busy that the rose garden socks were put on hold temporarily, and I still have to work on the Harry Potter socks...

So far you've seen a container with my Shetland yarns, a container with some vintage Nylamb baby/sock yarn, my sport weight collection (mainly Nature Spun) and one container with all the colors of Knitpicks' Palette.

Here are my sock yarns. I'm particularly excited by some almost fluorescent colors of Kroy I bought on sale a while ago - I plan to do some psychedelic colorwork socks soon. At right in the bag are a few skeins of Knitpicks' Gloss. The stitch definition on that yarn is terrific so I have a few textured patterns I will use with it, especially the lovely Step Dance socks featured on this page.



Here's my DK selection, mainly Heilo, old Patons Country Garden DK, and Knitpick's Merino Style DK (which is a bit thicker than other DK weights). I often consider giving these yarns away because I rarely use them but I do have a big pile of Dale of Norway patterns which use DK weight.



I figured out I have enough containers to rearrange my worsted weight yarns by color. I have Wool of the Andes, Peruvian Highland Wool, Cascade 220, and a bit of Nature Spun.



Organizing by colors is really helpful so I can figure out what colors I need or don't need. The red bag holds the Great American Aran Afghan squares and yarn which has been sadly neglected.



At the bottom of the red container you see some chunks of Irish Spring soap which I used for moth prevention. The smell is driving me nuts though so I may make my own herbal sachets instead.

We had an adventure-filled weekend.


Peaches took over poor Jack's bed on the futon.



I tried two new terrific recipes.


Vegetable and Tofu Lettuce Wraps w/Miso Sambal from Cooking Light (made into a salad)


Herb Salad Spring Rolls from Gourmet (with my own sauces)

And it even snowed a little bit.



Tomorrow I'll finish up the tour of my stash.

Here's the Selbu mitten in progress - sorry about the photo but I'm too lazy to take a better one today. I also should get a photo of Peaches - she has been sleeping on the futon all day. After 3 years of living with us I guess she has finally decided it was safe to go on the furniture.

Forget everything I said about an update to Stranded Color Knitting. Unfortunately I didn't save a lot of the photos (or the two hats) from 4 years ago. I did do an update but it was minimal with a few photos switching from B&W to color. Plus I added the photos from HERE and I added these links to the resource section:

Knitty’s Techniques with Theresa in Winter 2006 has an excellent discussion of stranded color knitting at http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/FEATwin06TT.html . Techniques with Theresa also has an informative article on working in yarn tails here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/FEATfall04TT.html

Philosopher’s Wool has a short video of their Two-Handed Color Knitting Method: http://www.philosopherswool.com/Pages/Streamingvideo.htm

KnittingHelp.com also has a short video on stranded color knitting: http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/advanced_techniques/

Youtube Video showing stranded color knitting:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lthgPvmkbkQ

Most importantly I re-charted the Norwegian star chart for the 2nd hat. The one in the booklet was inexplicably missing some of the grid lines in the bottom right. Please print this out and add to your booklets. I'm sorry about that. I do know one person managed to knit the hat even with the former chart.



Tomorrow I'll have a progress photo of the Selbustrikk mitten. It is a pattern designed for men and probably will be a bit large for any of the women on my Christmas knitting list. Fortunately I have a friend Brad who works at the Durango Mountain ski resort (formerly Purgatory) and wears anything wool I make, mittens or gloves, for skiing. I was quite surprised when he asked for these Nordic mittens when I was knitting them. DH wouldn't wear these in a million years.

I'm currently updating Stranded Color Knitting to add some color photos. When I first published it in 2003 there was no option for publishing booklets in color. Then I figured it would be too expensive but I think Lulu must have lowered their prices for color printing because the glove booklet was less than I estimated.

I'll be offline until mid-next week. Until then I'm leaving my two ferocious assistants in charge to guard the blog. You don't want to mess with them.

18" Doll Summer Fun Ensemble (Free Pattern)

Here is a lovely pattern for stylish 18" dolls. I had a lot of fun designing it, and it was so wonderful to see my little pixie's joy when I gave her the outfit for her doll. It fits an American Girl Doll perfectly. Kit, the American Girl Doll, is modeling it for us. The pattern is easy. Pants and shirt are knit mostly in the round. The ballerina shoes are felted. Simple crochet skills are used to edge the pieces. For those of you who do not want to crochet, you can pick up stitches along the edges and knit a couple of rows in garter stitch.



PANTS and SHIRT SET:

MATERIALS for both pants and shirt:
Frog tree cotton, US 5 needle dpts or circulars.
Gauge: 6 1/2 stitches per inch.

PANTS:

Pants are knit in st st except where otherwise noted.
Cast on 40 stitches. Join round. Knit 5 rounds.
Eyelet round: "K2, YO, K2TOG*. Repeat from * to *.
Knit 5 rounds. In this last round place a marker after 20 stitches.
Increase round: K1f&b, knit to the last 2 stitches before marker, K1f&b, K1, slip marker, K1f&b, knit to last 2 stitches before beginning of round k1f&b, K1.
Knit 5 rounds even.
Repeat increase round one more time.
Continue knitting even until leg is 4 1/2 inches.
Put first leg on holders, and knit a second leg.
When second leg is finished, knit second leg up to marker, knit first leg all the way around, then remaining stitches of second leg, and continue knitting in the round until the seat section of the pants is 3 1/2 inches high.
Decrease round: *K2TOG, K1* Repeat from * to* for one round.
Continue knitting in K1P1 rib until ribbed section is 1".
BO loosely. Weave in ends, close little hole at base of seat.
Single crochet 2 rounds around the bottom edge of the legs.
Insert a ribbon through the eyelets, and tie a bow.


SHIRT:

Night shirt is knit in sts st until otherwise noted.
Cast on 100 stitches. Join round. Knit even for 3 1/2 inches.
Decrease round: *K3, K2TOG* Repeat from * to * for 1 round.
K 1 round.
*K6, K2TOG* Repeat from * to * for 1 round.
K5 rounds
Eyelet round: *K5, YO, K2TOG* Repeat from * to * for one round.
Knit 10 rounds even.
Separate stitches into 2 groups of 35 stitches each. Put one set on holder. Work on second set.
BO 2 stitches at beginning of next 2 rows. You should be on a purl row, purl 1 row.
R1 (RS): K2, K2TOG knit till end of row, K2TOG, K2
R2 (WS): Purl
Repeat R1 and R2 twice.
K5 rows in st st.
Neck shaping:
K11, BO5, K11. Work each side of neck separately.
(RS): BO2, knit to end.
Continue in st st even until shoulder piece is 1 3/4".
BO loosely. Repeat same for other shoulder reversing shaping.
Place back stitches back on needle. Rejoin yarn.
BO 2 stitches at beginning of next 2 rows.
(RS): K2, K2TOG, K11, BO1, K11, K2TOG, K2.
Work each side separately.
Purl 1 row.
Knit to last 4 stitches, K2TOG, K2.
Knit until piece is 1 3/4" high.
BO 2 at the beginning of every right side row twice. Continue even for 1/2 ". BO.
Rejoin yarn for other side, and do same as above, reversing shaping.

Gently steam iron piece. Seam shoulders.

Sleeves: Pick up and knit 28 stitches. Join round and knit even for 1/2".
Knit 3 rows in K1 P1 rib. BO loosely.
Do same for second sleeve.
Single crochet 2 rows around bottom edge of shirt, and around neck and back opening. Sew little button on back, and crochet a little button loop.
Weave in all ends. Inserts ribbon through eyelet holes. Bow should be tied slightly off center.

FELTED BALLERINAS:
Materials: Pastaza
U 8 needles.
Gauge: 4 1/2 stitches per inch.

Make 2 slippers.
Slippers are knit in st st.

Sole:
Cast on 3. K 2 rows in st st.
Increase at beginning and end of every other row until you have 7 sts.
Knit even until piece is 1.8".
Increase at the beginning and end of next row, (9 stitches total).
Continue even until piece is 3.5".
Decrease: K1, K2TOG knit to last 3 stitches, K2TOG, K1.
Purl 1 row.
BO.

Top of shoe:
Cast on 7. K 1row. Purl 1 row.
Increase at beginning and end of every other row until you have 11 stitches total.
Knit even until piece is 1 1/2".
K5, BO, K5.
Work each side separately. Knit even until each side is long enough to reach to the center of the end of the bottom piece, following the edges of the bottom pieces. BO.
Seam slippers.
Add 2 rows of single crochet along the center edge of the slippers.
Felt slippers.
Shape and stuff slippers to shape. Let dry. Sew little bows on top of slippers.

Pattern is for personal use only, and may not be reproduced or used for commercial purposes. Copyright, Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer, 2007.

Peace Gloves in Red

These gloves are surprisingly fast to knit. I'm already planning a third pair in black. The hand colorwork will be black and one of the two multicolored skeins of yarn I own (something from Knitpicks' on sale) and then I'll try to match the colors with yarn from the stash for the cuff colorwork.

I'm running out of red so I've made an executive decision to knit the second glove and let the much slower Selbustrikk mittens wait until more red arrives. I also need to get back to work on some socks and I want to knit the hat on the cover of Stranded Color Knitting in better colors.

A long time ago I saw this quilter on tv. I can't recall her name but they went to her house and it was an explosion of color, a la Kaffe Fassett. Anyway, she said that she considered red a neutral color. She said that you could choose a group of colors that went together and add red and it would work.

I tried this concept with the Peace gloves. I chose a bunch of pastels and added red. The scanner isn't getting the red right - it is much darker in real life and there is a little more contrast in the colorwork on the cuff. I initially did the fingers in each of the pastels but it looked awful so I'm redoing them in red. I'll get better photos when I'm finished. I think these gloves will match my embroidered denim jacket quite well.

Knitting Archeology

I did get back to knitting the Rose Garden Socks yesterday, but along the way something else caught my attention. I really put things away in my room for the first time since we moved. I actually felt like I was an archeologist, digging through layers of history, and felt almost excited at the thought of unearthing a treasure! At one point, I saw the edge of a paper bag buried in the back of the closet. I dug, careful not to upset the content of the mystery bag. In it was an almost forgotten knitting project!

Before we moved, I had worked at designing an outfit for Skye's American Girl Doll, Kit. I knit the project with Frog Tree's Sport weight cotton in a cream color. The slippers were knit with a cream Pastaza by Cascade yarns and felted. The slippers were finished a while ago, but the outfit was not quite done. The pants needed to have the ends woven in, and the shirt needed to have its sleeves, and crochet edging.

So that's exactly what I did. I finished the project with little ribbons, in a beautiful lemongrass color. Where have I seen these colors?! Oh, yes, the Mother's Day Cotton Slippers! Once I get obsessed with a color, it shows up everywhere in my life! Let's just blame on the gorgeous New England spring.

I plan on making this pattern available as a free pattern, but I have to first review my Ancient Greek, as at the moment this is what my notes look like to me. Boy, do I love being an archeologist!
In the mean time you can enjoy the picture.