My knitting and crochet goal…

Last year I said that I was going to crochet and knit every design from this japanese book:

And while I’m not good at keeping promises or craft goals or any goals in general,  somehow I’m keeping this up. The reason might be that it’s not a serious oath, neither something that fiddles with my everyday life and I don’t feel any pressure from it. Why do I bother with such a small goal? Well, my theory is that if I find what keeps me on completing it, then I might use the same mechanism for every abandoned goal, oath, promise (believe me, they’re so many) that I’ve had in the past and I might make them complete. Could it be that I find this particular goal easy to keep because it gives me pleasure? Could be…

Back to the book. This summer I’ve finished two more patterns from it. One for me and one for a friend. And they’re both made with the lovely Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy yarn in color 023. I love this yarn. First, it’s cool for summer, second, once washed it softens and drapes beautifully, and third, it comes in wonderful deep colors.Plus it looks like it will never be worn out or destroyed…

This time I made the front cover tunic for me. That was an excellent pattern, easy and fast! And you get a look that everyone you meet will compliment (and feel jealous if they can’t make it for themselves).

and look how cute the scalloped edges look:

The next object is one of the two hats of the book and I really believe my version came out cuter.  Here’s my friend modelling the gift:

I added a button to the crochet flower and also a pin on the back so that she can remove it and wear it somewhere else if she wants to.

And now that we’re talking about hats and this book I remembered I have actually knitted the second hat design on this book earlier this year. I made it for a Ravelry Swap prize and it’s already mailed to its new home in northern Europe.

I’ve made many changes to this pattern.  I omitted the visor and knitted ribbing at the end in order to make a simple beret.

I used undyed greek cotton that I dyed red after knitting. I think it came out quite nice and summer-y!

A reminder: all patterns can be found at the japanese book: Easy Knit Wardrode Spring / Summer (ISBN: 4529045234)

 

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.

 

iknit

This blog has seen better times. But there are times when life is too sad, hectic and stressful and the blog is one of the first things to go. It’s been so long that I’ve visited my dashboard since the last time that wordpress logged me out. But I’ve used that away time to learn a new craft.And that is always a good thing. Last year I learned how to crochet and that was enough. I said to myself: You’ll learn how to knit when there’s a need for it. When you’ll find a project that you can’t crochet. Because I need a strong motive if I’m going to learn a new skill. It’s hard work since I always teach myself and it takes time.

The story is that I found a crocheted cardigan that had ribbed waist, sleeves and collar. And it was the right time to grab a pair of needles and start practicing. I tried many styles and ways to hold the yarn and move around the needles and I finally found what was so annoying with my first attempts. It’s impossible for me to coordinate my moves with english knitting method, like I learned as a kid and like most people in my country knit. But when I  tried continental for the first time it was a revelation. I could be effective, fast and pain-free. English method makes my right hand hurt soooo much.

I used some scrap yarn for my first tries, because I didn’t want to practice on  my cardigan. This is my fourth try and the first succesful one:

Then it was time to move on to the real project.  It took a lot of time to finish because that’s when life became sad, hectic and stressful as mentioned above. But I did finish it last week. It’s a pattern from my new favorite knitting book by Ondori (again). The designer is called Asae Misono and the english title is KNIT.

It features 21 absolutely fabulous everyday-wearable knitting and crochet projects (mostly knitting though)  and they’re the kind of designs I would be determined to pay a lot of money to have them bought (if I could find them around). But since I can’t find and buy them, I’ll make them.  Maybe all someday, who knows.

My version of the no.4 project “cardigan” is right here:

I like the intentional long sleeves, the crochet pattern and especially the big collar. I also like that you can find many ways to wear it, looser, tighter,different pins to close it in the front. I was afraid after the first rows that the color would look a bit army-like, but it looks much more moss-like and I like it. I used Cascade Bollicine Etoile mohair/nylon blend that I bought on sale a year ago. It’s nice and soft and VERY warm. I love mohair. And good yarns on sale. And the collar. Oh, I already mentioned that:

Now, inevitably, I’m hooked on knitting. I know how to knit, purl, rib, increase, decrease, how to knit into forth and back, how to do a stitch called brioche and that’s all for now. After this cardigan I also knitted a scarf, a beret and a turban hat. I’m gonna show you in the next post. ok?

 

Knitting and crochet all-in-one converter

There are many conversion tables out there. I have them all, but still they won’t help me. I have metric hooks, japanese hooks and US ones too. I read US patterns, European patterns and mainly I follow charts from japanese knitting and crochet books. What I really needed (and couldn’t find anywhere) was  a table to help me link projects with yarn weight and hook size in all languages and lingos. There wasn’t any, so I made one for myself. And I thought I’d share one with you. I’m not an experienced knitter/crocheter, so this does the job for me. If, unlike me, you are experienced, it might seem useless. But who knows… Here it is anyway.

Example of use No1: I have a japanese pattern that calls for a 5/0 hook. I have a set of japanese crochet hooks and I don’t need to convert to metric. What I need is a link to the yarn I’m gonna need. I don’t read japanese symbols and I need help for that. Trial and error is too time-consuming for my limited amount of free time. So, before I made this table, I had to consult 2 different tables, first convert japanese hook to metric, then consult the yarn standards to see what yarn weight this hook typically calls for. Then I can go and order online or search through my stash for the yarn. The chart helps me solve the problem called “japanese hook to yarn weight” using only one piece of paper. Oh ok, I keep a pdf  at my computer desktop too.
Example of use No2: Then there is another very important use of my table. In my country people don’t call yarn by the yarn standards names. If you go to a LYS and ask for a worsted they will probably assume you entered the wrong kind of store. They just know the thin, the normal and the thick yarn. And the very thick one probably. Virtual sigh. So, all the information I get is the size of needles, suggested by the manufacturer, on the yarn label. Since I mostly crochet, this information is not very useful to me. But with the help of my chart I can convert the needle size to hook size and then to yarn weight and see if the particular yarn is suited for the japanese project I’m gonna crochet with a japanese hook. Too  confusing? Globalization, what can I say…
I’m sure there are more ways to use this conversion table. And I hope it helps you too.
I have printed it and I always take it with me when shopping for yarn, downtown Athens or online. I also keep it right next to me when I browse my japanese knitting books and I search for my next project. It helps me get an idea of what yarn I need and whether I have something in my stash or not. The chart doesn’t substitute a swatch of course, but it gives me something to start.

Here’s the all-in-one conversion table in pdf file.
Feel free to print it, share with friends and link to it. Just don’t make any profit out of it, as is.

(It’s the first time I’m making a pdf and uploading to the internet, so please  report any problems. Thanks.)