Pibling

The Pibling cowl is now live on Ravelry and Payhip! Get 25% OFF* when you purchase both the Pibling cowl and the coordinating Niefling hat, no coupon necessary!

*Discount only works on Ravelry. If that site is not accessible to you, I'm happy to work something out with you via email. If you've already bought the Nielfing hat through your Ravelry account, you'll get an even deeper discount on the Pibling cowl to sum up to $9US for both patterns.

Plain double knitting transitions effortlessly into basic brioche ribbing and back to double knitting again in this versatile, reversible cowl design. There are so many ways to style this cowl and hat set!

Pibling (noun): a gender neutral term for the sibling or sibling-in-law of one’s parent, such as an aunt, uncle, or non-binary equivalent

Video tutorials are included for the two-color Italian cast on, double knitting, brioche, and the tubular bind off, making this an excellent skill building project for the adventurous beginner!

SIZES
1 [2]

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Circumference, unstretched:
24 [30] inches / 60 [75] cm
Height:
9.5 inches / 24 cm
You are welcome to adjust the height and circumference to suit your preferences, but keep in mind that will alter the amount of yarn required.

GAUGE (after blocking)
16 sts/24 rounds = 4 in/10 cm in brioche rib
16 sts/29 rounds = 4 in/10 cm in double knitting
Each pair of double-knitted stitches counts as a single stitch.

MATERIALS
DK weight yarn in two contrasting colors:
160 [200] yds of each color, or
147 [183] m of each color
Shown in: Bashful Armadillo Fibers Merino DK [100% merino; 218 yds/200 m per 100g skein] in Jamaican Me Crazy (A) and We Got the Beet (B)
Since this cowl is reversible, it does not matter which color you call A and which you call B.
US #5/3.75mm needles, in a length slightly shorter than your cowl circumference
US #4/3.5mm needles (optional, for cast on)
Tapestry needle
Stitch marker

Buy the pattern now on Ravelry or Payhip!

Niefling

The Niefling hat is now live on Ravelry and Payhip!

Plain double knitting transitions effortlessly into basic brioche ribbing in this versatile, reversible hat design. How will you style yours? Light side or dark side? Slouchy or cuffed?

As the name may imply, this design was inspired by my own niece and nephews. It was born of a desire to cater to the whims of a fickle 5-year-old, a sullen 17-year-old, and all tastes in between. With 4 different ways to wear the same hat, everyone should be able to find a style that suits. Plus it’s sized for the entire family!

Video tutorials are included for the two-color Italian cast on, double knitting, and brioche, making this an excellent skill building project for the adventurous beginner!

The original samples were made with Merinolux DK from Barker Wool (formerly Chasing Rabbits Fiber Co.) in the Austin and Empower colorways, but if purple's not your thing, I have it on good authority that Austin's vibrant streaks of color would also pair well with other tonal colorways, such as Velvet, Clara, Crabapple, Tiger Lily, Staghorn, Olivine, Indigo, Gentle...

SIZES
1 [2, 3, 4, 5]
To fit, approximately:
preemie [baby, toddler, child, teen/adult]

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Circumference, unstretched:
10 [12, 14, 16, 18] inches
25 [30, 36, 41, 46] cm
To fit head circumference:
11-13 [13-16, 15-19, 17-21, 19-24] inches
28-33 [33-41, 38-48, 43-53, 48-61] cm
Shown in:
Size 5 on a 23 in/58 cm wooden hat form
Size 4 on an 18 in/46 cm upturned yarn bowl
Height, uncuffed:
5 [6.5, 8.25, 9.25, 10.5] inches
13 [17, 21, 23, 27] cm
You are welcome to adjust the height to suit your preferences, but keep in mind that may alter the amount of yarn required.

GAUGE (after blocking)
16 sts/24 rounds = 4 in/10 cm in brioche rib
16 sts/29 rounds = 4 in/10 cm in double knitting
Each pair of double-knitted stitches counts as a single stitch.

MATERIALS
DK weight yarn in two contrasting colors:
35 [55, 80, 100, 125] yds of each color, or
32 [50, 73, 91, 115] m of each color
Shown in: Barker Wool (formerly Chasing Rabbits Fiber Co) Merinolux DK [100% merino; 219 yds/200 m per 100g skein] in Austin (A) and Empower (B)
Since this hat is reversible, it does not matter which color you call A and which you call B.
US #5/3.75mm needles (your choice of short circular, two circulars, long circular for magic loop, and/or double-pointed needles)
US #4/3.5mm needles (optional, for cast on)
Tapestry needle
Stitch marker

Buy the pattern now on Ravelry or Payhip!

AlterKnit Stitch Dictionary: 200 Modern Knitting Motifs

I recently received a copy of Andrea Rangel's AlterKnit Stitch Dictionary to review, and I couldn't have been more excited to flip through its pages.

As a designer, I often rely on my collection of stitch dictionaries to spark ideas. Unlike those already on my shelves, this new book is a little off-beat, just like me! It's chock-full of two-color stranded motifs that range from science-y to silly, and everything in between. Looking for adorable animals, gorgeous geometrics, or priceless pop culture references? Look no further!

In the back, you'll find an index where all the patterns are sorted by stitch count for super-simple substitutions. Want to liven up a basic beanie? Say you're working with 120 stitches per round. Browse through Andrea's library of swatches for something with a 10-, 12-, 15-, 20-, or 24-stitch repeat, and then just plug it into your pattern. How easy is that?

Or maybe you don't have a specific garment in mind yet? That's cool too. Andrea has provided five classic designs, along with tips on how to swap out motifs, if you're so inclined. I chose to work up her Bikey Beanie, which she shows with either bicycles or hearts to give you an idea of how of it would look with other designs. I thought it would be cute to make a whole set of hats for my niece and nephews, in coordinating colors and varying motifs to suit each of their personalities. Let's meet the menagerie!

First, it was elephants for Eleanor. These precious, pastel pachyderms will be perfect for my niece, who is approaching the one-year mark. My family has extremely large heads, so I googled infant head sizes and found the 99th percentile for 12-month-olds is 19 inches - an exact match for the small size for this hat pattern. Worst case, she'll grow into it. Since the elephant chart's stitch count wasn't quite right for the hat’s stitch count, I simply cast on four fewer to get the right multiple. Then for the crown shaping I omitted four of the decreases in the first decrease round. Aren't these little fellas adorable, all linked trunk to tail?

The middle kid is a climber with a penchant for primates, so monkeys were the only logical conclusion. I know from gifted hats of Christmases past that the nephews' heads are now about the same size as my own, so I used the larger size of the pattern for the boys' beanies.

Finally, the soon-to-be 13-year-old nephew. What better way to win the heart of a adolescent boy than with Poopin' Pigs, am I right? Yeah, you read that right. Andrea provides plenty of giggles throughout her book with some her more off-the-wall designs that are at least 9 kinds of awesome. I think these squattin' swine are sure to please!

The yarn I used was Louet Gems Fingering Weight in Terra Cotta, Pewter, Fern Green, and Navy. I've found this line to be an excellent workhorse yarn, available in several truly lovely solid shades with the extra bonus of being machine washable!

For all three hats, I used a tubular cast on because I love how it looks with ribbing. In the sections of colorwork with large swaths of a single color, I locked my floats by twisting the two strands every two stitches because baby fingers.

Cheers to having three holiday gifts finished by October!

Whatcha Working On?

Colder weather always gets me in the mood to knit. Maybe it's the cozy wool in my hands. Maybe it's the excuse to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. Maybe it's the desire to bundle up in one-of-a-kind accessories when I do venture outdoors. For whatever reason though, I have been knitting a lot these last couple months.

First, I whipped up a quick Hitchhiker scarf from a couple skeins of Knit Picks Imagine in the Damsel colorway. This yarn was part of my very first Knit Picks order, meaning it's been in my stash for upwards of 6 years. I pretty much knit this pattern as is with no modifications, which is almost unheard of for me.

After that, I pulled out the yarn I brought back from our Hawaiian vacation a couple years ago. The grey is spun from alpacas native to the Big Island, and the green is cashmere that was hand-dyed in Hawaii. Together, they became a Howlcat - half cowl, half hat. It's a simple tube, made of two different colors and gauges of yarn that, when folded in certain ways...

...can be worn as a hat, inside or out...

...or as a cowl inside or out.

I made a couple modifications to this pattern. I increased the number of stitches when transitioning from grey to green to accommodate the smaller gauge than the pattern used. I also chose to work a hemmed edge, rather than a rolled one. I definitely prefer it with the green side inward against my skin and the grey side outward because, you know, cashmere.

And this past week, with a sudden urge to cast on something new, I decided to give double knitting a whirl. I've played around with it before, but never worked up an entire project with this technique. I chose the Trapper Cowl pattern and some Plymouth Galway Paint (color #803) and Lion Wool (#099 Winter White) from my stash.

I used Judy's magic cast on to create a tubular edge, and then I grafted the final stitches together so the bind off would match. I love the reversibility of the double knitting, as well as the thick, squishy fabric it creates.

So how about you? What projects have you started or completed recently? What new crafts/techniques have you tried?

Merry Mohawks and Baby Beanies

You may have noticed a different look to the blog this weekend. What can I say? I got bored. Blame it on the whole New Year thing. I decided to go for a more minimalist look. Plus, I nixed the left-hand side bar to make room to bigger pictures in the posts. Hope you like it!

Continuing to catch up on un-blogged holiday gifts, today brings you a triple play of adorable with my nephews and niece and their new hats.

The boys got festively colored mohawks. I worked each hat from the top down with the increases paired in such as way as to make an obvious line of stitches down the center front and center back. That made it super easy to keep the mohawk straight when it came time to attach all that fringe.

They're made of warm, worsted weight wool (Lion Brand Lion Wool in Scarlet), held double for a bulky gauge. For the mohawk, I used a loosely spun, single ply wool (Cascade Soft Spun in color #2851), making the strands stick to themselves a bit for a style-able mohawk, to a degree at least.

So much cooler than Santa hat, no?

The 3-month-old niece got a set of top-knotted toques, refashioned from a friend's out-grown (well, under-grown) pajamas and a shirt, all super soft jersey fabric.

I used this pattern as a guide and snipped the hat shape out of a paper bag. Then, instead of sewing a separate cuff like the original, I just laid my pattern piece along the bottom hem of each garment and cut through both layers of fabric.

With right sides facing, I pinned and stitched my hats together.

Then I flipped them each right-side-out and knotted the top. Tada!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the hats with an actual baby head in them, but trust me, it was cute.

Happy New Year!

This December may have been the craziest month ever. My husband's birthday, our 12th wedding anniversary, a graduation party for a friend who finished up her masters, a mad rush to complete Christmas crafts (which of course could not be blogged until after they were gifted), a trip back home for the holidays, a wedding, out of town guests, and to top it all off, a terrible case of the flu that had me on my ass for nigh two weeks. I'm spent! And now, life must return to normal (because I just might die if it doesn't).

The good news is I've got lots to share with you now that the presents have all been opened. But first! How about a little glimpse of my new favorite accessory?

That's right! I finally finished my Mini Mania Scarf!

At 18 inches wide and 76 inches long, it's really more of a shawl than a scarf. It's worked lengthwise in linen stitch, and I used up lots of my leftover sock yarn. I cut my yarn at the end of each row and knotted them every 6 rows for a built-in fringe. Casting on 600 stitches and working a total of 268 rows means that 160,800 stitches went into creating this behemoth. And with each row taking abut 30 minutes (20 minutes if I'm concentrating, 40 if I'm watching tv at the same time), that's 134 hours of my time wrapped around my shoulders. Worth it.

I decided to also create a matching headband/earwarmer/mini-cowl thingy. As I began to run out of each yarn, if I didn't have enough left for another 600-stitch row, I would work a couple 135-stitch rounds until that yarn was all gone. Finishing up at 109 rounds, we can add another 14,715 stitches to the total.

And at a mere 5 minutes per round, it only took me an additional 9 hours to make this guy. It ended up being about 6 inches wide and 18 stitches around, but it stretches quite a bit to fit around my ginormous noggin.

Altogether, I managed to clear 532 grams, or 2166 yards, of yarn out of my stash. And now my head and torso can stay oh-so-toasty all winter long.