Monthly Review of Knitting

I know,  I know that one post per month roughly qualifies for blogging. More like: Monthly Review Of Things I Don’t Find Time to Blog As Often As I’d Like To. That’s a big title. Anywayz…

For the last two months my craft room was unreachable. I had no time or will to go in and unclutter the place. Instead I kept adding more things that were annoying me when I found them  at the rest of the house. All my sewing is done at the craft room but the craft-cutting table was full of so much unrelated clutter: hello kitty stuff I received from my friend in Japan, Miwa, a pile of old jeans I meant to recycle, buttons I had neglected to put back into storage, scraps of paper from making a card, glue, scissors, two unopened bags of yarn I compulsively bought during Christmas but never cared to open afterwards and a big bottle of Castor Oil! I was wondering too, like you do, why it was there in the first place, instead of its own place in the soapmaking supplies box. Then I remembered I have used it to oil my sewing machine with it just before abandoning the roomin its fate. I’ve read somewhere that castor oil is the best natural alternative for oiling a number of  machines. I hope it’s true.

Considering the state of my craft room, sewing was out of the question. The type of crafts I could choose was knitting and crochet. Which was good because I got to learn more knitting techniques. I’m getting quite good at it. Although slow. I really can’t undestand how people finish garments in a week.  I need at least a month for a garment and two weeks for a hat. I know practice makes perfect, but does it make faster at the same time?

Knitting project #1 : Scaruffle (ravelry link) with Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Candy Girl colorway

Easy, fast and cheap. Great one skein project for a single ball of Kidsilk Haze

Also great for emergency gift knitting.

Knitting project #2: Simple Beret with Gedifra Serano Novelty yarn.

I don’t like the majority of the novelty yarns. But there are a few, and one of them is Gedifra Serano that I love. Bad luck is they are usually very expensive.

This yarn is divinely soft and moss-like, that’s why I named this beret The Moss Beret. But beware fellow knitter, you can easily loose stitches because sometimes you can’t see what you knit behind the novelty.

That was the first hat I knitted using circular needles. And I had a newbie problem that noone mentions. What do you do when the stitches are decreased so much that the needles are too big for them? huh? i solved my problem with lots of cursing and improvisation. Then I learned about magic loop. I guess I could use DP needles too, but my knitting supplies are limited to a set of Harmony Knit Picks Interchangeable set for now.

Knitting project #3: Turban-like Hat with Katia Miski in Brown

Katia Miski is the favorite yarn of the moment. People underestimate how soft baby llamas can be. Well in this case softer than medium quality alpacas and cashmere. I highly recommend you try and find this yarn.

The pattern is from the japanese Hat Book. Here is the Ravelry link where you’ll find information and discussion about this pattern. All you basically need to know to do it is the brioche stitch.

(the brioche stitch)

And then decifer the instructions from Nihon Vogue which can be found in detail here. It seems harder than it is. Just remember that your final goal is to match the red line with the blue line and everything else will fall into place.

This has become my everyday hat. I even wear it indoors when I am cold. It fits perfectly, it’s not tight around the head, covers the ears and the lower back neck , is hot and and as soft as a kitty! But most of all I think it’s just SO cool.

 

The 75% syndrome or How it Took Me 4 months to finish a stole.

When it comes to crocheting (but I guess it comes to knitting too), I diagnosed myself recently with the 75% syndrome. Ravelry helped me figure it all out. You know, it has the feature to add a percent number to any project you are currently wip-ing. So I noticed that each time a project reached the 75% percent or around that number, I stopped it, put it on a shelf and started a new one. Then another. Then another.

Hm, a repeating pattern, I thought. But why am I doing such a thing? i tried to explain myself to myself and here’s what, I believe, happens.  You start a crochet/knitting project, excited, oh la la, the picture at the book looks awesome! Then you spend the first rows understanding and learning to repeat the pattern. That’s enjoyable. Once you do learn it, you can know go on and crochet/knit it without looking at the pattern. That’s enjoyable too. Right before you reach the 50%  it starts to get boring. but you say to yourself, come on we have to finish at least half of it. And you reach 60-65% slowly. But it gets more boring and then you are close to 75% which is very close to the 100%. You convince yourself that you don’t need much time to finish it. “If I need to, I can finish it in x number of days.” So you say. So let’s start a new project just to wipe the boredom away. And from that point on the syndrome repeats itself. And I start to squeeze my UFOs on a shelf I use for WIPs.

This is the story of the Pineapple Lacy Stole (ravelry link). And the Legwarmers, the armwarmers, the slippers and some tawashi in between. But it’s finally finished!

My mom saw me twice working on it and both times asked for it, so I gave in. I will go to my mom and not the original recipient.

The pattern is from the japanese crochet book: Let’s Knit Series: Crochet Lace, ISBN # 978-4-529-04342-7, no # 19

I used Habu Tsumugi A1 silk lace yarn. This is a very special yarn. Feels like cotton, it’s lace and has tweed details. It’s sturdy and strong and perfect for lacy designs that won’t feel like there’re ready to fall apart. Looks pretty and holds the stitching pattern and when looked upon closely it reveals it’s tsumugi beauty. Look how pretty it is.

I started this project late July/early August. It kept me company on hot nights out in the garden, it traveled with me at my September vacation, suffered months of loneliness due to my 75% syndrome and now it’s blocked and gift-wrapped, ready to give to mom for Christmas.

So…I’m curious, do you have a syndrome that haunts you and doesn’t let you finish your projects? What is it?

 

September is here and I wrote you a letter dress….

September is here. I’ve got to catch up with a month of heatwaves, stress, lack of vacation, swap mania and crochet. Officialy it’s the end of summer, unofficialy the weather is still hot here in Greece. In a few days I’ll be leaving for my 10 day vacation in a mountain region of central Greece.

Until then let’s write a small review for a small and adorable book full of zakka!.

This one features mainly crochet projects and a couple of knitting ones.  I’ve tried many of the items and they work up fast, they are perfect for a quick handmade gift to your loved ones. Last month I did some Ravelry swaps with handmade items and this little book from Ondori helped a lot. I also made something for me too, a happy orange cotton/linen hat. I love it!!!

1. Happy Summer Orange Hat, 2. Linen Coasters, 3. Small Box, 4. Olive Green Dishcloth, 5. small pouch, 6. Blocking, 7. yarn, 8. Linen Coasters, 9. Olive Green Dishcloth, 10. small pouch, 11. Happy Summer Orange Hat, 12. Linen Coasters, 13. small pouch

I told you I needed at least three variations of this dress. And luckily I found some time to sew the last dress for this summer. I used the same pattern from the japanese book “Dresses with Straight Stitches” (ISBN: 4309280196). I used a japanese cotton with letter print, I found at reprodepot.com.

Seeing this last picture reminded me of the new craft love-slash-fetish I got. Habu textiles yarn! Oh, the colors, the quality, the texture. Texture is something most yarn manufacturers forget. Or they add texture in the form of fugly novelty yarns. Habu yarns seem to have a texture dictated by the fiber not just for the sake of it. I could rant for rows and rows of blog space about habu yarns, but I won’t. I’ll just say this scarf is made with 3 skeins (28 gram each) of Aresco cotton tape yarn with black/mustard blotches.

(detail)

I have searched the internet and was not able to find a single crochet project made with Aresco yarn! So I decided to use a scarf crochet pattern for tape yarn I found in this book. Aresco yarn has these beautiful blotches of color and  creates a chunky 3D effect all by itself. I think this simple pattern was a good choice for it.

I shouldn’t forget my crocheted cat. He already took the plane to his new home somewhere in Alberta, Canada. Here are some photos the day before his departure where he is resting with one of my cats, Fulman. (pst, Fulman didn’t like him much and she was glad he went away…) Pattern is free from a japanese site, translated too. Found it via Ravelry, where it is very popular. link

 

Summer Crochet and Knit: Go The Japanese Way

Easy Knit Wardrode Spring / Summer (ISBN: 4529045234)

Let me tell you, I love this book. It features the most beatiful tops I’ve seen around. Items have elaborate design but yet simple. Subtle colors that help to enhance the stitch art.

I’ve already finished three projects from it and I have a goal of making all the projects from this one, even the knitted ones (and I don’t even knit). I love them all, not even one feels ugly or not right or just not for me. The book features many tops, mostly lace and openwork (4 knitting patterns and 4 crochet), a shawl, 4 bags/shopping bags, a light scarf, 2 hats.

(I love this hat!)

There are also patterns for a simple but pretty necklace plus crocheted flowers to adorn your bags and house.

Let me tell you, I love this book. It features the most beatiful tops I’ve seen around, items that have elaborate design but yet simple. The subtle colors help to enhance the stitch art.

As always the charts and the explanations are easy to follow. This one also has two fully photographed tutorials for two crochet items that will help you, if you’re a beginner (in crochet, in japanese, or in reading knit and crochet charts).

So here’s my two FOs:

the checkered shawl (in pink) (Ravelry link)

and the crochet shopping bag (a fav) (Ravelry link)

The only negative about this book is that it’s so good, that common designs featured in magazines and yarn brands will start to feel boring and you will not want to make them anymore. *sigh*

 

Hello Kitty Amigurumi

I’ll be honest. I’m crocheting for half a year now and I couldn’t understand what was the “thing” with amigurumi. I mean they are cute and technically challenging but why? Why make them, when you can make useful items? The answer came last week. I felt a bit wasted after completing four major crochet projects in the row (2 tops, a grocery bag and a shawl) and I wanted to crochet something small and fun and amusing. So I picked up the Hello Kitty amigurumi book (yes I had one even though I wasn’t sure I would make anything from it) and chose what seemed easy.

HK went for a walk around the garden

And then I understood why people get hooked on it. When you’re crafting a useless project, it’s like playing. It was like solving a small puzzle, like arranging lego, like fooling around with playmobils, like being a child again… I finished this particular hello kitty in two days time. She is my first amigurumi ever. She has some mistakes but who cares?

HK smells the beautiful mirabilis jalapa flowers

After I finished the assemply I was looking at her and giggling like the serious and responsible and grown up adult that I am. Even the boyfriend was giggling with me.  Then I took her for a walk around the garden to take some pictures. Finally, I found a place inside for her, where the cats can’t reach, to save the crocheted feline from a slow death caused by her fellow furry felines.

HK in the evening sun

A few words about the book now, right?

ISBN: 4387990325

I show this one at Saucylouise’s shop. It looks I haven’t spotted it on the japanese Amazon cause it had no featured image and i can’t read japanese titles. I said to myself: If you have to have just one amigurumi book it has to be this. Even if you never use it at least it will fulfill your Hello Kitty obsession. The sample pictures look good (unlike some dreadful crocheted Hello Kitties that scare the internets) and they actually are good.  I mean all the patterns are well designed, nicely illustrated, with complete instructions (they even have sample nose and eyes patterns for each project and tell you exactly where to place them to achieve an authentic hello kitty result). Unlike most of the japanese crochet books I’ve had so far, this one has handwritten instructions. Sometimes you can’t undestand what part you’re supposed to be making (leg, arm or ear) but you should jump into making the magic ring and follow the pattern and when you’re finished you’ll understand its purpose. And now some sample HK from inside:

the one I tried to make…

Hello Kitty Bee!!! A favorite. A must-made.

another cute one

a sample of the instructions.