New Scarf: Lace Hearts

After making the scarf for my mom I went right into making another scarf.  Once again I used yarn remaining from the blanket I made for J’s nephew (Simply Soft Plum Wine).  The pattern I used can be found here.  However, I adjusted this pattern to my own liking.

First, I did not have the size needles that the pattern called for which does not bother me with scarves (I usually do not gauge at all for scarves), so I used size US 6 needles.  Second, the pattern calls for repeating the centers part 3 times, but I only repeated the pattern twice, creating three hearts as opposed to four hearts per row.

Combining these things made my scarf very wide, however, because I was using the remaining yarn from a previous project and the scarf was really wide, it was not nearly as long as I would’ve liked.  In fact, it was too short to be a regular scarf and I did NOT want to go out and buy more yarn. I decided to bind off leaving about a ½ yard of yarn at the end.  Then I decided to experiment with making an infinity scarf so I grabbed a needle, threaded the remaining thread, an attempted to sew the ends together.

Not too shabby!

However, in my opinion, the scarf does not look as nice as an infinity scarf and it is a little tight for an infinity scarf, but is still completely wearable.

What do you think?  Would you wear this scarf?

New Scarf: Lace ZigZag

As you can probably tell from other posts, I like to knit.  For me it is relaxing and a good way to feel productive during football season because I can work on it while we watch the game.

In the past year or so I joined Ravelry.com which is a social network for knitters and crocheters.  Recently I found myself browsing page after page of projects I'd love to try.  Fortunately you can add the patterns you find to a queue or favorites list to come back to.  Since I'm not in the mood to take on another big project right now (i.e. my blanket), I decided to knit a scarf or two then attempt mittens or a hat for myself.

The first scarf I decided to work on used yarn I already had from making J's nephew's blanket. I had a lot of leftover yarn but I decided to use the Simply Soft Berry Blue for this one.  The pattern is Zigzag Lace Scarf by Tamara Stone-Snyder.  My mom liked it so I decided to give it to her when it was complete.  The pattern has stitches I've never done before and calls for sewing two individual pieces together, but after youtubing some videos on how to do them I felt confident in my skills.

What the pattern looks like

Temporarily putting the one half of the scarf on a piece of yarn while I knit the other half.

Now that both halves are done I've place the stitches back on the empty needle.

Using a youtube video I taught myself to graft the two halves together.  You can barely see where the stitches went!

My only issue with this scarf (and most scarves that I make) is that it rolls inward.  I was told blocking would solve this problem, but unfortunately it went right bak to rolling when I unpinned it.  I've also been told that this means I knit too tightly, but I can not seem to get it to stop even when I knit loosely.

I'm a pretty fast knitter and once I start a project I like to work on it during my free time until I'm finished so this scarf took me four days to complete (my break at work and after work for a few hours) plus one additional day to block and wait for it to dry.  I still think it wouldn't take too long for a more novice knitter to complete though.

The pattern can be found at the link earlier in this post and is a free download.  I highly recommend it for someone looking to increase the difficulty of their knitting from beginning to intermediate because once you learn the stitches you'll be able to do so many other 'lace' looking scarves!!

Big Project Finally Complete

For the past couple of posts I've been telling you that I'm almost finished with a project that I've been working on for a while.  I'm happy to say that it is finally COMPLETE and I can share it with you.

A hand-knitted blanket!

I've been working on this blanket since January, but the second it got warm outside I stopped working on it.  When it starts to get chilly here in Jersey I almost immediately get in the mood to knit.  Yes, I realize that some people consider this to be an old lady hobby, but to be honest I could care less.  I find it relaxing and I feel accomplished when I finish a project.

This is not my first blanket (see below for others I have made), but it is the first blanket I've made for myself. 

This is the most tedious blanket I've ever done, even the most detailed knitting project I've done in general.  The pattern that I followed (for the most part) can be found at Free Knitting Pattern: Fireside Patchwork Afghan, but you may need to create an account before you can view the pattern.  

Since this is a blanket that I made for myself, I did not follow the pattern exactly, instead I adjusted things for my own liking.  

Things I did different from the pattern you'll find at the above link:

• I did not use Lion Brand Yarn or shades of brown.  Instead I went with Loops & Threads Impeccable Yarn (found at Michaels) and the colors Heather, Lavender, Amethyst, Chocolate and I believe the other purple was called grape (which can be found here except for the grape color).
• I did not check my gauge, nor did I block my squares.  This unfortunately was a problem when  I went to sew the squares together and had to fold some squares back to make them the appropriate size.
• I added a whole row and column to the original pattern (Only 4 x 5), which means I had to make more squares (10 more).  I created a new arrangement of squares that accounted for the extra row and column (this way there weren't two of the same square in one row or column if I could help it).  This made my blanket big, but cosy enough to use on the couch (roughly 47" by 70"). 
• I crocheted a border around each square and then crocheted the squares together instead of just hand sewing all of the blocks together.
• I also crocheted the border around the whole blanket instead of knitting.  Knitting it seemed time consuming and more confusing using the pattern instructions.
• The back of my blanket looked AWFUL.  I'm not very good at carrying yarn along so that it stays really close to the finished product (so there are a lot of gaps you can get fingers and toes stuck in).  I was going to back the entire thing in fleece, but after talking to my mom about it I decided to use flannel instead.  I went with a simple brown flannel because I want you to be looking at the part I knitted, not the flannel.

Backing the blanket with flannel was not as easy as I would've liked (because the yarn stretched and the flannel did not), but I'm happy with the outcome.  I did not sew the flannel to the edges of the blanket, rather the edge of the knitted squares.  This was part personal preference and part that I could not find flannel in a color I liked that was wide enough.  Also, as advised by my mom I sewed the corners of the squares to the flannel so it would not shift around.  I made little x's like the picture above so that they didn't look messy on the front or back of the blanket.

While I'm very happy with the overall product, I do have recommendations to those of you who decide to try this pattern:

• Test your gauge for each individual square for a more concise size for each square (my block #6 was WAY too big and my block #4 was too skinny)
• Block your squares.  I really think this would've paid off for me.
• Sew your flannel to the actual corners of the blanket (not the corners of the knitted part).  I believe that this is one of the reasons that my blanket seems to bubble instead of sit flat.
• Take your Time.  This project is time consuming, so if you start it try not to get frustrated with how long it takes or try to hurry through it because you may mess up some of the squares.  even though you may not be able to see it in some of these pictures, I have a lot of mistakes that I attribute to trying to speed through this project.

If you do decide to make this blanket or even scarves using the patterns from the blanket send them to me!   I'd love to see your creations!

Lazy Day

So last night was my official last day at the retail store I've been working at for the past two years.  It really didn't feel like I was truly leaving the store, maybe because it is possible I will go back after my internship or because I'll be seeing some of the girls Wednesday night because one of the girls is also leaving the store (but she's actually moving away).

I can't tell you how lucky I've been.  When I used to work at the swim club I worked with some really great people, in fact, some of my best friends.  When I left there and had to find a new job near school I really wondered how anywhere would live up to the fun times I had at the pool.  While working at the store blew...I mean seriously you think going from food industry to retail you'll deal with less picky people but they're even worse in retail, the people I worked with were fantastic.  A lot of employees came in and out of the store, but there were people that I worked with that I hope to know a long time from now, they are fantastic people.  I only hope I have more luck throughout my internship and hopefully the rest of my career.

Today is my only day off before the beginning of my internship.  The kids don't come in until the 7th, but we've got to get the classroom together before they come in.  So today I'm being lazy before the running around and keeping up with second graders begins.  Other than running over to the gym in a little bit I only intend on doing some reading and knitting the rest of the day.  Oh and making some pizza for dinner (yum yum yum).

Here are some pictures of the baby blanket I'm making for J's nephew that is due in January!

This is what it looked like in the beginning.

This is what the almost finished product looks like.

All I have left to do is weave in these ends.

What the front looks like.

What the back side looks like.

 Off to the gym!