15 Jan 2014

Knitted Totoro Mittens

So after knitting my scarf, I decided to just jump right in and get on to something more complicated. I had these Totoro Mittens in my Ravelry queue for a while. The problem was I didn't know how to knit in the round, how to use double-pointed knitting needles, how to do stranded colourwork, or how to follow a chart.

Never mind all that!

I made a couple of swatches and had to move up to 5mm needles to match the gauge, then stuck right in.

There are a few mistakes where I got confused following the chart, but the results are warm and adorable!




Well, that settles it. I can officially knit! You can see my Ravelry project here, but I didn't make any notes.

My next project is going to be a beaded cardigan I got from a book (Knitting Vintage).

Yet another item I won't be able to test properly until Winter.

10 Jan 2014

Finn-Esque Scarf

Behooooold, my first knitting project!

A stockinette scarf vaguely reminiscent of Finn from Adventure Time!


Perfect for this bright sunny weather. Haha.


The scarf is made in stockinette stitch which may not be the best kind of stitch for scarves. I also made it with three different kinds of yarn - 100% wool for the grey, 100% acrylic for the white, and the green is 70% acrylic and 30% milk protein. It feels like soft, liquid, amazing.



Also I don't think it's possible to take an interesting photo of a scarf. Plain scarves are pretty boring.

A Knitting Needle Holder

So I thought it was about time I learned to knit. Naturally I had to hoard knitting needles, and of course after that I had to make something to store them in. It's unseemly to have your knitting needles just lying about.

Based roughly on this knitting needle case tutorial, I created this thing!


I didn't like the way that the edges in the original tutorial were left unfinished, so after sewing the pockets to the back, I encompassed everything in another square of fabric and turned it, then top-stitched around the outside.

Since none of my needles matched I didn't want them sticking out the top, so I made sure the case was tall enough to cover them up, unlike the tutorial where the needles are pretty enough to be displayed. Blush.

I also spent about an hour on a couple of straps made from the same fabric, but they were too stiff to tie up. Instead, feeling thrifty, I sewed up a length of bias binding with white thread and called it a unique feature.


When it's bound up it looks like some sort of magical scroll!


Which is rather fitting when you check out these 5.5mm needles I picked up from an op shop. They are definitely wizard wands!


I also tied the needle gauge to one of the ties. pretty handy for checking the sizes of the needles.

I've actually already finished one amazing knitting project - a scarf! Wow! It doesn't even have tassels. But it deserves its own blog post as the first thing I knitted without holes all through it. I'm going to call it either the Adventure Time Scarf, or the Scarf of Finn, because...well, you'll see!