katyelliott.com » diy

Cable Knit Hat

Katy Elliott — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:29:07 +0000

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.

DIY: Cable Knit Pot Holders

Katy Elliott — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:30:35 +0000

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

Working On Cable Knit Hat

Katy Elliott — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:45:01 +0000

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

Knitting A Pouf

Katy Elliott — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:36:47 +0000

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

Katy Elliott — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:43:23 +0000

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.

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Four scarves for Christmas

Working On Macaroni Snowflakes

Katy Elliott — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:13:47 +0000

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.

Diy: Birch Bark Hearts

Katy Elliott — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:59:55 +0000

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.

Diy: Icicle Chandelier

Katy Elliott — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:21:47 +0000

I have one more amazing project from Stephanie of even*cleveland to share. Did you check out her diy salt dough ornaments? Stephanie and I did a little barter. I sent her a really big photograph of seagrass I took this fall. In exchange, she created two beautiful diy holiday crafts posts for my blog. I love bartering! Be sure to check out even*cleveland for more great projects and inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing Stephanie!

This year, many of my friends have new babies in the crawling, grabbing, and toppling stage, and several of them have mentioned that they are at a loss for decorations that are kid-proof. I thought a holiday chandelier might be a nice compromise – everyone can admire it, but only grown ups can reach it!

1. Choose three graduated sizes of embroidery hoops- I used 3″, 6″ and 10″ hoops. Discard the outer ring with the screw adjustment, keeping only the plain inner band.

2. Choose your decoration. I used some crepe paper icicle border that I had on hand, but you could cut out or paper punch any frosty pattern you like onto crepe or regular paper. Wide ribbon would also work really well – I especially think a woven Nordic pattern would look great. The trick is to keep your decorations relatively light. You will need three pieces – one long enough to wrap around your widest band, one for the mid-size band, and one for the smallest.

3. Next, tie your hoops together. You want them to fall in graduated size from largest to smallest, and you want the vertical space between them to be just a little shorter than the length of your decoration. I used silver embroidery floss, and stating with the smallest hoop, tied the floss in four spots- at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. Centering the smallest hoop inside the middle hoop on a flat surface, I tied corresponding points on the middle hoop, and then on to the biggest hoop. At each stage, you need the lengths of floss to be exactly the same, or your chandelier will be crooked. To double check that they are hanging relatively evenly and positioned concentrically, I always hold them up in the air with the threads in my hand before I make any knots.

4. Once you have all three hoops tied together, take four long pieces of embroidery floss and tie them at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock on the biggest hoop. Holding these loosely in hand, adjust the length of the drop – this is the point at the top that the whole chandelier hangs from. Once you have it as long as you like, make a tight knot and trim the excess.

5. Ta – da! You have the frame of your chandelier. Now is the fun part – using pieces of double-stick tape, attach your crepe paper, paper cutouts, or ribbon to the hanging bands. I like using double stick tape because it is quick and light. You can also attach dangling pieces like pompoms or jingle bells, but remember that you will need to treat the whole thing like an algebraic equation – whatever gets added to one side has to be added to the other for balance. Fold and tape down the ends and voila! Finished!

Tomato Cushion Ornament

Katy Elliott — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:02:07 +0000

I always spot tomato pincushions at $1 stores and wonder what else I could use them for. How cute to turn them into ornaments! Vintage handmade versions are super sweet. Discovered via countryliving.com.

Diy: Salt Dough Ornaments

Katy Elliott — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:25:55 +0000

The holidays have officially begun. As we countdown to Christmas I’ll be sharing some of my favorite holiday decorations, crafts, and gift ideas. To start us off Bread Dough Ornaments from Stephanie of even*cleveland. So cute, I can’t wait to try. Thanks for sharing Stephanie!

p.s. want to purchase a salt dough ornament from Stephanie? Buy now at her etsy shop.

Salt dough ornaments are an easy holiday craft that everyone can do, and you can make them as simple or as complicated as you like. Properly stored, they last nearly forever.

Step 1. Make the dough
Put 1/2 cup table salt, 1/2 cup water, and 1 cup all-purpose flour into a mixer, and blend together until a sticky dough forms. If you want to experiment with color, you can substitute 1/2 cup of dark tea or coffee for the water. Make sure all of the flour is incorporated. Take the dough out, and knead for 7 to 10 minutes on a well-floured surface. Once it feels smooth and elastic, you are ready to start making ornaments. This amount of dough was enough to make six gnomes, two snowmen and eight snowflakes of different sizes. The recipe can easily be doubled, but be sure to keep any dough you are not using wrapped in plastic wrap, and work quickly – salt dough does not like to sit.

Step 2. Make the ornaments
Salt dough is extremely flexible and forgiving, so you can make ornaments from it in a variety of ways. For this batch, I rolled it out like sugar cookie dough until it was about 1/4″ thick, and then used my favorite cookie cutters – a gnome and some snowflakes – to make a variety of shapes.

For the gnomes, I used food coloring to dye some dough red for hats and jackets – this was EXTREMELY messy, so I would recommend wearing latex gloves if you mix in the color by hand, and rolling out any dyed dough between two sheets of wax paper to protect your counter and rolling pin. I then used a garlic press with some plain dough to make them shaggy beards. To attach extra pieces of dough decoration, rub a little water on the back of the piece you want to stick on, then gently press. You can make them as dimensional as you like.

Once the ornaments are formed, poke them with a bamboo skewer to make holes to hang them from. I decided to make my snowflakes into a garland, so they got poked twice, on opposite ends. Once you have the holes in, it is time to pop them in the oven. Essentially, you want to dry out all of the moisture in them, so they go in a 200 degree oven for 4-6 hours – you can even leave them in overnight. Once they are hardened, take them out and let them cool completely.

Step 3. Decorate and finish
One of the lovely things about these ornaments is that they can be finished in a variety of ways – they take kindly to paints and pens of all sort. For my gnomes, I drew on a pair of eyes with pencil, and left them as is. For my snowflakes, I decided to draw a variety of little swirling doodles on them with red pen, and then I strung them with butcher’s twine into a garland.

If you want your ornaments to last years and years, coat them with 3-4 very thin coats of polyurethane gloss varnish. Make sure to cover every exposed surface. This seals them and helps prevent moisture from getting in. Once they are sealed, you can deck them out with glitter if you like. Store them in a cool, dry place and you will enjoy them for years to come.

Happy holidays! Check out Stephanie’s blog for more crafts ideas and inspiration.