Damn, Knit & Blast It

This was supposed to be a Valentine’s prezzie but I was a week late

Bad Susan.

For those of you who don’t know , there is a Playstation3 game called “LittleBigPlanet” whose main character is Sackboy – a cute knitted character.

I’ll show you the finished Sackboy so you know what I’m talking about…

It gets even better – the voice over is done by the scrumptious Stephen Fry -  a man I have immense affection for. (Mr Fry’s podcasts are a favourite of mine).

Ben adores this game.

I did try working out my own pattern but failed miserably. Then I saw that Simply Knitting’s Alan Dart pattern for Sackboy was available free here!!

The knitting wasn’t too hard – I had all the “bits” quite quickly…

Yes, that is a zip! Sewing the zip into the body was the most fiddly part – The pattern says to put glue over the back of the zip and then sew in but I found it easier to separate the zip, sew either side in then zip it up.

The eyes were the key – Fortunately I had some anorak type press studs in my sewing stash (yep – I have multiple stashes ) I think they worked

and he seems to be coming to life…

The sewing up took an age and was quite painstaking to get him right.

But it was worth it – Ben looks rather pleased with him!

Of course, I now have a naughty Sackboy running around my home…

Climbing…

Posing for the Camera…

Playing with Ben…

Playing himself in Little Big Planet…

And finally, when Sackboy is exhausted, pestering Thug so he can share his basket!

Oh! In case you’re wondering – Sackboy isn’t allowed on any trains with Ben….He can’t be trusted!

I’ve accidentally designed a cushion!

I’ve had a bit of a sore elbow – tendonitis probably.

A friend of mine suggested knitting with my right arm resting on a cushion , and having a project on thick needles handy to alternate with the fine Kidsilk Haze project. The fine finger movements of tiny metal needles and incredibly fine yarn were probably aggravating the tendonitits.

So I bought a cheap cushion pad and it helped while knitting the Kidsilk Haze (along with Ibuprofen, tubigrip on the elbow and some hot and cold compresses.)

Ben, who being male doesn’t understand the purpose of cushions, said, “I can stand having another cushion but couldn’t we buy a cover for it? It’s a bit ugly.”

Buy a cover? I had a much better idea!

I went stash-diving. I wanted something on big needles as a contrast to the Kidsilk Haze projects….

…I came up for air from my stash dive grasping a baggie of Rowan Ribbon twist. The brown had been used for the Judie Jacket, then subsequently frogged because it made my size 8 figure look like a overfed elephant – not quite the desired effect.  I have lots of Ribbon Twist and no project assigned to the yarn.

Here’s the yarn…

I also had two balls of grey Ribbon Twist left over for my willow jacket made way back in Feb 07. Hmmm….I have a beautiful warm handknit jacket I haven’t worn this year and it’s Brrrr-Freezy – Guess what I’m wearing to work tomorrow?

Just in case you’re too idle to click the willow link,  here’s a pic…

My sofa is choccie brown leather so the brown Ribbon Twist had to be the body of the cushion. Would grey work??? How to incorporate it?

I kinda launched straight in and decided to knit the Ribbon Twist on smaller needles than the recommended 12mm, I went for 10mm to give a denser fabric because my cushion pad was frankly, ugly and I didn’t want it showing through the stitches when it was leant on.

I decided the grey would go together, especially as both the grey and brown have a unifying cream ribbon in them.  The brown also has a grey ribbon…serendipity…

I decided on moss stitch for the bulk of the cushion – not a favourite stitch but on that gives good structure and texture. The grey, I wanted as a swirling cabled “Ribbon” snaking up the sea of brown moss stitch. I’d done an intarsia contrast cable as part of Ben’s Brooklyn Jacket years ago so I knew it was fiddly but possible…

Here’s what I threw together for the first side…

I was rather pleased!

The other side of the cushion took a little more thought….how so I get the cushion pad in and out of the cover?

I decided to knit two 3/4 length pieces, edged with a rib, and overlap them…
I sewed one side down properly and just tucked the other side underneath…Kinda like you tuck the flap in on an envelope when you don’t want to lick it – 30 seconds before you give the birthday card to someone in my case usually!

It came out great! look at this!!

That’s the side with the opening down the middle on my sofa.

I could stop blogging there and pretend I was a genius but I always feel I have to share the failures with you too.

I cuddled up on my lovely new cushion and put my weight on it….

It burst!

Yep, one sprawl and I was off to the button stash looking for remedial measures….

Fortunately I found four little matching brown beauties of buttons to save me. I really didn’t want a “big button statement” or anything uncomfortable to lean on.

I hadn’t made button holes but you could if you wanted to – in my experience, button holes in chunky yarns are very hard to make neat – you’re just as well off to poke the button through the stitch – which is what I did! (This also gives you flexibility when the cushion pad compresses over time)

So here it a  finished back view…

And the front

I call it my Chunky Twisted Ribbon Cushion.

Here’s a PDF of the pattern if you’d like to make a similar one (any chunky would work, not just ribbon twist!)

Click here to download Chunky Twisted Ribbon Cushion PDF Pattern

Enjoy!!

What do you knit for a very Geeky man (I say that affectionately) who has everything knitted he wants and a couple of items over that requirement?

“Nothing!” I hear you cry, “Knit  for yourself!”

Hmmmm…that might work but I’m a generous soul….some people even call me “pushy”…

“You need a lovely scarf now the weather is turning cold” says Susan, jealously remembering the lovely Alpaca scarf her friend Anita is making for her husband.

“No I don’t!” says Ben. “I’ll look like an pillock in a scarf and I’d probably loose it anyway – then you’d kill me.”

Hmm…he has a point… I would kill him if he lost a lovingly hand crafted scarf!

At this point Susan sulks – her generosity has been rejected.

Ben redeems himself…

“Honey…would you knit me something? I need a cover for my new Ipaq smartphone, PDA, gadgetty thing? ”

This is the beast requiring dressing..

Ben had exacting requirements – mainly based on the rejection of the commercially available cases for PDAs which are garish, franchised and double the size and weight of the carefully designed phone:-

• It must be stretchy and grip the phone.
• It must fit snugly.
• It must not be bulky.
• It must reach to the top of the phone but not enclose it.
• It must not have big seams.
• It must be plain and totally devoid of embellishment.
• It must be a “blokey” colour – preferably black.

Gulp – could I stand the excitement?

Hmmm. Black you say? I have some black Jaeger Siena…

After a couple of false starts, I ended up with a tube of K1, P1 rib in Jaeger Siena (Mercerised 4 ply cotton) on 2.5mm dpns. I used a longtail cast on (so it would be stretchy) and had decreased halfway down the tube so it was more “grippy at the base. I  carefully shaped the corners to match the phones gentle curves. I’d then grafted the bottom edge with Kitchener stitch.

This was it…

Inspiring huh?

Ben was really pleased! He used the “phone cosy” all the time (the best compliment) and even showed his colleagues. His geeky colleagues were impressed and even uttered the evil phrase that haunts us hand knitters, “You could sell these!” If they understood the cost in materials and time and skill they would never say that.

Then it went a bit wrong.

I  had made a blunder choosing cotton. Cotton doesn’t have much “memory”. When it stretches, it stays stretched. Ben’s phone cosy was getting saggy and baggy. Not the right look for the Geeky executive about town!

Ben looked at me imploringly (using techniques learnt from Thug and Mewsley). How could I refuse to make Mk2 Phone cosy?

This time I consulted my stash for a yarn that would be “sproingy” when knit into a rib. I also needed a blokey colour.

The winner of the stash trawl was a part ball of Rowan 4 ply soft (100% Merino wool) left over from making Eveleen in a very dark, bluey grey.

I decided this was the best excuse to use my new Lantern Moon 2.25mm Sox Stix to make the gauge a bit tighter. I also abandoned the “decrease halfway down” idea – it just looked bad and didn’t really help grip.

Here’s my final pattern:-

Materials

2.25mm dpns

1/4 ball Rowan 4 ply soft

Pattern

Cast on 52 stitches using long tail cast on.

Knit in the round in K1, P1 rib for 11cm.

Shape corners:

Next row: k2togtbl, K1,K2tog, K21,k2togtbl, K1,K2tog,K19 (48 st)

Next row: K1, P1 rib (matching knits and purls to existing rib)

Next row: k2togtbl, K1,K2tog, K19,k2togtbl, K1,K2tog,K17 (44st)

Next row: K1, P1 rib (matching knits and purls to existing rib)

Next row: k2togtbl, K1,K2tog, K17,k2togtbl, K1,K2tog,K15 (40st)

Divide remaining stitches between two needles with decreases at the ends and kitchener stitch together.

Darn in ends.

Want to see the finished beast?

Lovingly Kitchenered base?

“Half dressed” shot

Ben is really pleased !

The Earth Stripe Wrap (ESW) is coming along well. I’m into the third pattern repeat and, to be honest, its getting a bit boring now. Absolutely beautiful but I’m fed up with changing colours!

I’d show you a picture but it’s just more of the same…

When I got home from Yarncrawl2 with this scrummy Misti Alpaca Chunky I was easily distracted from ESW.

I hinted I had a project in mind didn’t I? Well, This is how it goes…

I bought a new jacket in Next, in the sale. It’s super configurable (only an IT person would say “configurable”!) with removable linings and removable hood, removable furry hood trim, zippy bits, buttony bits, dangly bits and so many pockets I don’t think I’ve found them all yet. It’s also in a shade of green I adore.

Here it is…

All that is missing from this jacket is the perfect scarf….

I found the Misti Alpaca site and this free pattern for a one skein, Ribs and Ruffles Scarf.

It was done in one evening!

It’s soft, warm, snuzzley and a perfect match to the green of the jacket.

The pattern starts and ends with 60 stitches but you decrease rapidly (that’s how you get the ruffles) down to 15 for the body of the scarf – it’s skinny but intended to be worn doubled. The body of the scarf is a slip stitch rib – very easy and quick.

The ruffles…

What a colour match huh? Not bad as I wasn’t wearing the jacket when I bought the yarn!!

Now Susan! Get on with ESW!

I was very good Friday!

I did all my household chores so the weekend would be free for more fun things like helping a friend clear brambles from her new allotment. Yep, I’m strange – I like that kinda thing!

After a hard day of chores I thought,

“I’ll sit in the garden, watch the washing dry and knit for an hour”

My current project (I tell you about it in my next post – honest!) needs close following from the pattern- not the thing for a mongy hour knitting in the garden.

What to knit that does not require thinking and is fun and portable enough for the garden…

I have recently tidied my stash and sorted out a bag of rather unpromising, homeless scraplettes destined for the bin…

So I took these and my “bobble stash”…

to make more Smoothie hats. (See this posting for details of what they are for and how addictive they are. )

I was rather pleased with a couple of hour’s work

OK – I did say one hour sitting in the garden but you know how it gets when you’re enjoying yourself

Here’s what I made…..

Stripes…

Ancient boucle from Twillieys (I still have the ball band – sold in ounces!)

Variations on a purple and white stripey theme…

A solidish one and a holey one…

The holey one is fun and all my knitterly friends who’ve see it grab it and want to know how it’s done -here’s the “pattern”

• Cast on 28st and do 2 rows of K1, P1 rib as usual.
• Row1:(K2tog,yrn) rep to end
• Row 2 (and all even rows): Purl
• Row 3: K1, (K2tog,yrn) rep to last st, K1
• Row 4: Purl
• Repeat the above 4 rows twice more.
• Row 13: (K2tog) rep to end
• Row 14: (P2tog) rep to end
• Sew it up and apply pompom!

And some luxurious kimono ribbony ones (the pink one is Pure Silk and Ribbon !)

It’s All Done!!!
I have finally finished these gloves after lots of frogging and swearing trying to get the second cuff right

They match the spangle scarf posted about here spangle-scarf-in-woven-cables and here spangle-scarf-done.

Since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by poking my fingers under the twists of cables and wondering how it had holes but wasn’t holey. After absent mindedly doing this to my gloves, I decided to thread some ribbon through to finish them off – I’m not sure if it’s too much? Whatdoyouthink???

From Knitting- WIP

…and here’s the complete, ribbon bedecked set…

From Knitting- WIP

I learnt a big lesson.

If you’re going to fiddle with the pattern on something that’s a pair, make proper notes when you’re doing the first one so the second one matches! I’m not a dim person (no really) but sometimes I do the stupidest things …

On my last post on these gloves, playing-with-spangle-gloves, I showed you how far I got before realising that the cuff was too small for my hand to get in the glove.

I got to the same point again, confidently whizzing round the rows, feeling chuffed with myself (N.B. Pride really does go before a fall – or at least a dropped stitch) when I noticed I didn’t have as many rows of twists in the cuff. Rip, rip, rip back to the cuff and added a few more rows…..then I noticed I’d missed two rows of stocking stitch before doing the first row of cables. You wouldn’t have thought it’d show but it screamed at me…rip, rip, rip. This mistake was in row 5 – I couldn’t pick up the stitches again – it fell apart, rip, rip. Start again from the cast on.

I think I’ve now knit the equivalent of 5 gloves to get one pair!

So, this is what I should have done first time around if you want a pair! (Sorry I can’t give you the whole pattern but copyright issues etc…)

Spangle Gloves

Copy of the Unisex glove pattern from One Skein

1.5 balls Rowan Soft Lux
4.5mm DPNs throughout.
Cable needle

Cast on 56 stitches using long tail cast on.
Work 4 rounds K2, P2 rib. Work 2 rounds knit.

Patt:

Row1: *C4B. Repeat from * to end of round.

Row 2-6: Knit

Row 7: K4, *C4F. Repeat from * to last 4 stitches of round. C4F by putting last 4 stitches of round on cable needle, knit first 4 stitches of next round, knit stitches from cable needle. (if you use a marker for your end of round it should be in the middle of these 8 stitches)

Row 8-12: Knit

Repeat these rows until the cuff is as long as you want stop after a cabley row (1 or 7) and continue from “Wrist decreases”- a friend said she like to see them as long glove….up to you! I did rows 1-12 then rows 1-7.

Wrist decreases

Knit 1 round

Decrease row: (K4, K2tog) repeat to end of round – should have 48 stitches.

Knit 1 round

Decrease again round: (K3, K2tog) repeat to end of round – must have 39 stitches for pattern to work – add or take a K2tog and double check stitches!!

***This is the point at which I just followed the unisex glove in One Skein*** Your next line of pattern to follow is “Thumb gusset”…Good luck!

Completed Knit Report

Name Spangle Gloves (to match Spangle Scarf)
Pattern Based on Unisex glove in One Skein – woven cables added to cuff
Yarn Rowan Soft Lux
Pattern problems Cables have very little give and pulled in much more than I anticipated so I had to knit the man’s size cuff and decrease rapidly at the wrist- my hands are tiny though. For normal hands it would pay to use a larger needle for the cuff – I used 4.5mm DPNs throughout.
Pattern modifications See text above….
Washing and wearing Not tried washing – quite thick but very warm to wear
Knit it again? Possibly
Difficulty Medium – 4 needles and a cable needle on such a small item took some mastering
Rating 3/5 (I’m still not entirely happy with the fit of the cuff)

After my horror at the colour run with Ben’s Brooklyn jacket I’m not enthused sewing it up. I usually sew up really fast because I’m excited to see the end result – bah.

To make myself feel better I have rewarded myself with a cheerful “easy” project I’ve been hankering after.

From Knitting- WIP

From Knitting- WIP

I saw a scarf in this pattern in a shop made with nasty acrylic that would have pilled in days. They wanted £25 for it!! I think the knit pattern may be called “Mock-Entrelac” or “Woven Cables”. It’s easy enough that after a good look at the shop scarf, I came home and worked out how to do it. I’ve made in in soft Lux that has a gold thread running through it – hence the “Spangle”!
Here’s a mini pattern if you want to one too…
Spangle Scarf Pattern

Needed:
3 balls (I think, based on usage so far!) of Rowan/RYC Soft Lux in Clover (update 18/1/06 – I actually used all of 4 balls!)
5.5mm needles
Cable needle

Abbreviations:

C4B = slip next 4 stitches onto cable needle and hold at the back of work, knit next 4 stitches then knit 4 from cable needle

C4F = slip next 4 stitches onto cable needle and hold at the front of work, knit next 4 stitches then knit 4 from cable needle

Rib:
Cast on 52 stitches (must be an odd multiple of 4 stitches – ie 4 x 13 or 4 x 15)

Row 1: K3 (P2, K2) repeat to last 3 stitches K3
Row 2: P3 (K2, P2)repeat to last 3 stitches P3

Repeat these two rows 10 more times, on last row of rib increase one stitch at either end.
(This gives you a one stitch selvedge at either side)

Woven Cable:

Row 1: Knit.
Row 2: Purl.
Row 3: K1, (C4B) repeat to last 5 stitches, K5.
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: Knit
Row 6: Purl
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: K5, (C4F) repeat to last 1 stitch, K1.
Row 10 – 14 as rows 4- 8

Repeat from Row 3 to desired length.

Repeat rib pattern, decreasing one stitch at either end on first row of rib pattern.

Cast off,darn in ends and wear!!