Cable Knit Hat

Posted on | March 15, 2010 | 10 Comments

I’m so proud of my new cable hat. I keep showing it off to Greg, “Touch it, isn’t so soft and amazing?” Conquering cables is a lot like mastering brioche. Once you get the hang of the process, it’s easy. When I first started knitting the cable hat I was really frustrated and had to go to my yarn shop multiple times for help. I kept loosing count or making knits into purls or vice versa.

I have my eye on trying a larger cable knit hat next. The cables are much larger and only have 4 or 5 twists in the whole hat. Above and below my hat and garter stitch scarf I made for my sister out of beautiful Baby Alpaca from Cascade Yarns.

p.s I know I look goofy and depressed in my hat photo but it hasn’t stopped raining here for three days.

cable hat and garter scarf Cable Knit Hat

Category: diy

DIY: Cable Knit Pot Holders

Posted on | March 15, 2010 | 3 Comments

I couldn’t stop myself from oohing and aahing over Jessica’s hand knit cable pot holders. So cute, classic, and nautical. Jessica is one of my old college roommates who is quite handy with the needles. Last year, when I discovered her adorable little pot holders I knew nothing about cables. I tried to convince her to make me a few when I got, “Katy they are soo easy, you can do it.” She gives me this a lot. Did I mention she’s a knitwear designer?

Flash forward a year later I finally finished up my first cable knit hat (more photos to follow). I’ve come to realize with practice how easy cables are to knit. Now that I can do simple cables my knitting day dreams have moved to pillows, throws, and dish towels. First, I have to conquer those cable knit pot holders. Jessica offered to share the pattern with me and all my lovely readers. Her tips below.

I use this yarn by Peach & Cream (Pisgah yarn & dying Co.). I found cones of it at Walmart…I think Ace Hardware carries it as well. It’s an unbleached cotton, color Ecru.

I like to knit them extra thick so I buy the 4/4 (100% cotton) size and knit with two ends on size 10 1/2 needles. Cotton will shrink/tighten up a bit after knitting. Once you knit cotton, always wash & tumble dry to allow the cotton to “bloom”. I think I generally knit them 9″ x 9″.

Here’s a rough pattern:
cast on 33 stitches
knit 5 rows 2×2 rib
middle section is set up as follows:
4 rows garter stitch (edges)
8 rows purl (reverse jersey),
9 rows knit (jersey for the 3×3x3 braid cable)
8 rows purl (reverse jersey)
4 rows garter stitch (edge)
cross the cable every 4th row
knit till you have 8 1/4″,
knit 5 rows of 2×2 rib
cast off and crochet the end into a loop
bury your ends & wash & tumble dry

Category: diy

Working On Cable Knit Hat

Posted on | February 25, 2010 | 10 Comments

I started two new knitting classes this week. We are working on the red cable knit hat and fingerless gloves shown in the photo above. I was off to a good start on my cable knit hat when I realized on row ten I dropped a stitch in the second row. Crap. I had to pull it all out and start over. I could have probably done a fix but my ribbing was too loose. I decided to switch to smaller needles and give it another go. I am working in the dark gray yarn to the right.

My fingerless gloves are going to be gorgeous. I picked out a marbled gray, brown and cream undyed baby alpaca from Cascade yarns. I’ll share more photos as I move along with my projects.

On the left is basic garter stitch scarf for my sister. I made a hat to match. Hopefully, I will get the scarf done for her birthday!

Since we are talking knitting. I’ve been eyeing this beautiful baby knit book by Debbie Bliss at my local yarn shop. Gorgeous. I want to make everything in big kids sizes. And one more link. I totally want to make fingerless gloves in a beautiful Jade color like I saw over at Brora.

Related Posts:
My First Knit Hat
Knitting A Pouf

Category: diy, textiles

Knitting A Pouf

Posted on | December 28, 2009 | 5 Comments

Here’s a fun project for those of you who have the week off. Why not try knitting up a pouf? Inspired by Christien Meindertsma’s Flocks Pouf (below) I found a link to make similar knitted poufs last night on Apartment Therapy. Pickles has shared online patterns for different sized poufs including knitted and crochets versions. Pickles version (above) is a variation of knit and purl. I kinda like it in just knit and that’s the only stitch I have in my knitting vocabulary at the moment. So cute for a kid-friendly home. Find the patterns and inspiration on pickles.no. Need more inspiration? Check out these crocheted poufs I found last winter, click here.

My First Knit Hat

Posted on | December 10, 2009 | 15 Comments

I just finished my first knit hat in the round! I can’t believe I actually did it. It took forever compared to the scarves I’ve made. Most of the hat had 88 stitches around on 8 point needles. One row took me about 9 minutes. My hands are achy and my fingertips hurt. Maybe I’ll try fingerless gloves next?

p.s. The hat is actually a nice gray not blue like the photo suggests. The sun was setting and I made Greg run outside to take my photo in front of the neighbor’s house. I only got one shot before he screamed it was too cold and ran back inside.

Related Posts:
Four scarves for Christmas

Category: diy, fashion

Working On Macaroni Snowflakes

Posted on | December 9, 2009 | 17 Comments

Over the weekend I worked on making some macaroni snowflakes. Crafty Stephanie from even*cleveland shared the diy last December on my blog. I didn’t use as much white paint on my snowflakes as Stephanie did. I kinda like the natural macaroni color showing through. The second photos shows me applying some glitter. Click here to find the full how to instructions.

Category: diy, holiday

Diy: Birch Bark Hearts

Posted on | December 8, 2009 | 7 Comments

I have a few more holiday diys to share. My wonderful crafty college friend Betsy was inspired by these woven paper hearts she spotted on Once Wed. She recreated the hearts using birch bark. Below her how to instructions. Thanks Betsy for sharing!

My mom and I used to make these when I was growing up in Maine. I am excited to now be making them with my son! The design is really simple, but using birch bark makes them special.

We collect the bark from already cut logs, or if it as already peeled off the trunk, so as not to hurt the living tree. Once we get the bark home we peel it into thinner layers. If the bark is dry and brittle and seems like it might break in the folding, then we soak it in a shallow pan of water until it softens up. We do the same thing with the innermost layers of bark which are sometimes stiffer and harder to fold. While that bark soaks we use our patterns to cut up the rest of our bark.

It is fun to match the two pieces—sometimes we make one side “inside out” for contrast. For the pieces that we soaked- we cut the pieces out of the wet bark, assemble the basket, and then press them under books (protecting the books from the damp bark with a dishtowel). Finally, we add handles so we can hang them from the tree. Usually the handle is just a thin strip of birch bark glued on the inside of the basket, but we sometimes use ribbon if we run out of bark.