More Stashbuster Socks

So I used up some more of the sock yarn leftovers to knit up another pair of socks for my son. This pattern is also wonderful for using up the leftover yarns. I am thinking of using this stitch pattern again for a baby vest. My son is very appreciative of the socks and likes this pair best.

To round off the knitting projects for the year 2010, I finished another project I had started back in January. It is a pair of placemats. I will do a post about those once I take a picture.

Stashbuster Spirals

 This is an excellent pattern to use up the leftover sock yarns. I used up four different yarns to knit up this pair of socks for my son.

 

I knit these top-down. The stripes are so addictive, I had a hard time putting down these socks and so these got done pretty fast. And the fun I had knitting these, has made me cast on another pair, using some more sock yarn leftovers. This time, I will be trying another pattern.

A Little Vest

 I knit this vest for my daughter to use up the yarn leftover from my son's Steggie Hoodie and a ball of chenille I had in my stash. The pattern is my own, though I got the idea from a sewing magazine, a while back. It was an interesting little knit with more than a bit of finishing (as the chenille border is folded over and sewed into place).

 

  I am on to more knitting with leftovers. Next will be a pair of socks.

Ribbed Fingerless Gloves

Life has been kind of busy lately and I have not been able to knit much , but I did complete this simple pair of fingerless gloves for my husband. The pattern is Jacoby, a free pattern by Berroco. I added  ten rows for the thumb.These knit up quickly and I am glad I found perfect use for a lonely leftover yarn ball.

Blackrose Sock

These socks were a lot of fun. It took some time to determine the right size for my feet but after that it was hard to put these down. These are knit in Knit Picks Gloss (burgundy).I still have more than half of the second skein left over, enough for a pair of  Blackrose Wristlets, if I were so inclined.

Steggie

When this pattern came out in Knitty last year, I knew it was just perfect for my dinosaur-crazy son. Even though he has somewhat grown out of his obsession with dinosaur, he was still deeply interested when I decided to knit it recently. He has been deeply involved in the color choices. And he was so keenly watching its progress, I decided to work solely on this sweater in order to finish it fast. Besides the his obvious favorite in spines, he is thrilled with the hood as well. And you know what would have completed the awesomeness....a tail! LOL. 

   As for the actual knitting, it was a quick, easy knit. No special modifications except adding a few inches to the body and sleeve lengths. The yarn is good, sturdy Pakistani acrylic frogged from an pre-blogging era sweater for my husband, which ended up being too small.

Swish Pleated Skirt

Thus named, I finally wrote the pattern for the skirt modified from a vintage design and had it test knitted. It has gone up for sale at my ravelry store.

Swish Pleated Skirt is knit in rounds from bottom up in two colors.

Yarn weight:  Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

Gauge:  8 stitches and 12 rows = 2 inches in st st on 5 mm needles

Needle size: US 8 - 5.0 mm

Yardage: Approx 500(600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 900) yards MC(main color) and 150 (200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450) yards CC (contrasting color).

Sizes available: 2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14) years.

Finished measurements:
Hip: 22 (23.25, 25.5, 28.25, 29.25, 30.75, 32.25) inches.
Length: (easily modifiable)14 (16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26)inches.
Pattern Difficulty: advance beginner. Requires knowledge of knitting in round, slip st, k2tog, SKP, yo and I-cord.

A Baby Set

I knit this set of a baby sweater and hat for my cleaning lady's granddaughter. The hat pattern is Aviatrix Baby Hat. It is an excellent pattern, very quick to knit up and the short rows keep it interesting. The sweater pattern is Baby Boy 5 hour Sweater. I chose it because the purl ridges on the yoke went well with the ridges on the hat. To make them baby girlish, I embroidered some pink flowers (lazy daisy and french knot). It best thing about baby stuff is that these are so quick to make and so very cute.

Bamboo Wrap Cardigan

 I am back, with a finished project. After what felt like forever, the bamboo cardigan is finally done. It's taking so long might have been a combination of its being fingering weight, all plain stockinette st, a wrap style which meant more sts on the needle and that I had to frog it once. It is my own design (or lack thereof). I knit is top-down so I basically winged it as I went along. The yarn is MeiMei Bamboo.

It has turned out beautifully. It fits very nicely and bamboo gives it a wonderful drape and shine. And the color being one I wear often, I feel it will get used a lot. Only if we can have some winter already.

Shawl Update

It seems to be taking so long but it is growing. I manage to work for an hour on it on weekdays, if I am lucky.  Just about to finish the first repeat of the repeat section at this point:

 I am also working on a cardigan but it is no more than a pile of plain stockinette stitch at this point. SO a picture will have to wait till its finished.

Upcycled

My daughter had a embroidered top which was right-sized except for the length. It was too short to be wearable. So I decided to upcycle it with some cotton fabric that I had.

 

Basically, I sewed up a skirt and stitched it to the top. I think that made it into a very wearable casual dress.

Cubist Socks

So I managed to have a finished project this week, even if it is a pair of socks. These are my Cubist Socks in Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Painted (Make believe).

There are a couple of errors in the pattern, nothing crucial though. Firstly, the cuff chart is mistakenly mentioned as cable chart in the instructions. Secondly, after heel turning the st count is 66 not 72 as written. Even with these error, the socks were smooth sailing knitting experience once I had determined the right needle size for my feet. (The pattern does not have a lot of give, remember). And I love the FO.

Beginning of a Shawl

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on multiple projects thanks to a recent spate of cast-on-itis. One of these is the Rose Trellis Shawl. I am still at the first chart but the pattern is already taking form.

 

Of Cast-on-itis and a sock

Since Eid, I have been adding up new projects to my queue and casting on a few. I have started a cardigan, a shawl and a pair of socks. As is the case with working on many projects at a time, I have little to show in the way of progress, except for a finished sock:

The pattern is Cubist Socks. I am enjoying knitting it, despite the fact that I had to rip have a sock and re-knit the sock leg in one needle size larger. The original might have worked but the pattern has little give (as mentioned in the pattern)and stretched, the cubes bulge in odd ways. With the larger needles, that problem went away and I switched back to the smaller size beyond the heel. The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Hand-painted (Make Believe colorway). 

Hats

In a stash-busting move, I knitted a couple of hats for my kids. Worked on big needles (7.5mm) in super bulky yarns (which I got in a RAK some time back), these were quick and easy. The blue one is for my son and the yarn is Rowan Big Wool Tuft. The pink bonnet is for my daughter in Rowan Biggy Print.

 

Both were well-received and kids are already having fun playing dress-up with them

A Twirl Of Pleats

I just finished up a skirt for my daughter who wanted me to make something for her, especially after my last two knitting projects were for my niece. And now, my son wants to know when i will knit something for him. I guess I should be grateful that they appreciate my hand knits, alhamdolillah.
   Coming back to the skirt, I took the idea for it from a very old Patons pamphlet which my mother-in-law gave to me a while back. That pattern called for fingering weight yarn and the front and back panels were worked separately.

 I worked the maths to use Aran weight instead, and knit the skirt in round. Also, I added a drawstring for ease. It turned out quiet well and I am happy to get such a nice long length out of the yardage I had. The yarn is  from American Thread Company's Dawn Knitting Worsted which I got from a friend.

It turned out quiet well and I am happy to get such a nice long length out of the yardage I had. The yarn is  from American Thread Company's Dawn Knitting Worsted which I got from a friend.

Eid Mubarak

We had Eid yesterday. I have a mild respiratory infection these days so we turned in early on chaand raat (eve of Eid).However kids got to have their mehndi (henna tattoos).The automobile theme went strong for the second year in a row.

Eid day started early. It was a hot day (or maybe it was my febrile state).

After Eid prayers, we went visiting family and then had visitors in the evening. The festivities lasting late into the night. Kids had a good time playing and getting gifts and eidee (cash gifts).
I got my turn with henna last night.

We are taking it easy, resting off fatigue. And we are having some rain too, which cools off the temperature!
Hope everyone had a nice Eid!

Baby Dress And Bonnet

I have been working on another dress for my niece, with a matching bonnet. This is another gorgeous DROPS pattern. Armhole shaping instructions were a bit confusing on the pattern, but other than that, it was pretty straight forward. I knit size 12/18 months.My only modification was omitting the crochet edging at the bottom and sleeve cuffs. The yarn I used is Knit Picks Comfy fingering weight (color- flamingo).

Buttercup Bag

Despite being on a project diet for the month of Ramadan, I could not resist the chance of sewing up this bag, while I had my sewing machine out for the final haul on kids' Eid clothes. I had chanced on the pattern recently and I had just the right material for it- the fabric leftover from a recent sofa upholstering at our home. Rather than following the measurements in the pattern, I freehandedly cut out my pieces, quite a bit larger. As the fabric is quite sturdy, I opted for a simple cotton lining. I used a ribbon to line the strap. For the final snazz, I used over sized buttons as embellishment on both sides.

I think it turned out pretty well and it was fast ( the real fun of sewing ), done in one sitting!

Sunburst Cardigan

 So, it has been test knit and put up for sale at my ravelry store. It is the adult version of my earlier Sunburst Coat. I had a great set of test knitter for this one too and you can also see their FOs at the store.

Yarn weight:  Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

Gauge:  15.5 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in st st on 5 mm needles

Needle size:US 6 - 4.0 mm, US 8 - 5.0 mm

Yardage: 1000 - 1800 yards (914 - 1646 m)

Sizes available: 34(36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56) inches 

Finished Measurements:
Bust: 34(36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56) inches.
Length: 21.5 (21.75, 22, 22.75, 23, 23.25, 24, 24.25, 24.5, 25.25, 25.5, 25.75) inches.
Armhole/yoke depth: 8 (8.25, 8.5, 8.75, 9, 9.25, 9.5, 9.75, 10, 0.25, 10.5, 10.75) inches.
Body length: 13.5 (13.5,13.5, 14, 14, 14, 14.5, 14.5, 14.5, 15, 15,15) inches.
Sleeve length (to underarm): 17 (17, 17.5, 17.5, 18, 18, 18.5, 18.5, 19, 19, 19.5, 19.5) inches.
Includes charts for lace with written pattern instructions.

Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan will most probably be starting tomorrow for us, here in Pakistan. We will know in a cuople of hours whether the moon has been sighted or not.

This year Alhamdolillah, I feel I am better prepared than the last year. The groceries have been bought, laundry has been done. My daughter's Eid clothes are done. Shami kebabs, chicken cutlets etc have been made and frozen (which is a great deal, considering cooking is my least favorite job). Thanks to the recent house paint, my home is already de-cluttered and clean, mashaAllah. Now it is time for de-cluttering and cleaning  of the soul, inshaAllah.

I don't plan on knitting or  sewing this month, so the blog activity will be minimal, though I might do a post on my daughters Eid clothes and another when my pattern comes out.

May Allah make this blessed month beneficial for us all!

Help for Pakistan's Flood Victims

Heavy Monsoon rains lashing all over the country have brought in the worst flooding Pakistan has experienced in the last 80 years. Thousands have died, millions are left without shelter, food or drinking water. Infrastructure is destroyed, crops gone, infections brewing. The magnitude of the disaster is enormous and devastating.

A few months back, after the earthquake in Haiti, a fundraising campaign, Help for Haiti, was launched by theravelry designers who offered all or some percentage of income from their patterns sales to relief efforts. Thinking on the same lines, I have decided to donate all proceeds from sales of my patterns (meager though these may be) till the end of September, to the flood relief efforts here in Pakistan. 

And I am happy to report that others at ravelry are also thinking and doing something about it. We will have to wait and see if it can generate enough interest at ravelry to get up an official Help for Pakistan drive.

So if you are interested to help, you can check out my for-sale pattern on the left side bar, or at my ravelry store. You can also see other designers who are offering the patterns at the earlier link. Or if the patterns do not interest you, you can donate directly to charity which is working for the relief effort.

Rainbows

A few months ago, while buying some yarn from Knit Picks, I happened upon this colorway of Felici (Rainbow) and had to get a ball. I intended to make a pair of socks out of it for my daughter. Good thing I did, the colorway has sold out since then.

   So this week I finally started the socks and those being for a four year old, knit up quite fast. To spice things up, I decided to try my hand at entrelac. There were many beautiful entrelac sock projects at ravelry to inspire me. Even though it was my first entrelac project and I was not following any pattern, I was determined to do the heel and toes in entrelac.

 Heels were an easy affair but the toes required some frogging and reknitting. It turned out of a most vibrant pair of socks.

    The fun did not stop here as I still had some leftover yarn. So I knit up a simple kerchief too! So much fun with a small ball of yarn!

 

DROPS Baby Dress / Vest

I have been working on a baby vest / dress for my niece.The pattern is a free one from Garnstudios  DROPS design. The yarn I used is Knit Picks Comfy fingering weight (color- jelapeno). It is a lovely yarn, so soft and squishy. The project was great fun once the bottom ruffles were done-I was not exactly thrilled to do 420 sts on 2.5 mm needles for the ruffle.

  This vest reminds me of how baby projects can be so sweet and cute!

Muir

I had a knitting marathon yesterday to help me finish the Muir shawl I had been working on for so long. I am happy to finish it before the weekend. The pattern is fun to do, easy and by the second half, I had it memorized. I especially love the picots around the edges. There were a few modifications I did to the pattern. Because the yarn is on the heavier side of lace weight, I used larger sized needles, i.e 4.5 mm then recommended and worked 2 pattern repeats across rather than three.I did 14 repeats instead of 13 to get a longer shawl.

So here it is in the unblocked state, about 24 x 76 inches:

Here it is blocking:

 It turned out to be approximately 31 X 96 inches after blocking. The post blocking glory:

More Summer Sewing

I sewed another outfit for my daughter over the weekend. I'm still pretty amazed how smoothly it went. And turned out quite pretty too. The fabric is lawn again. Sorry for the poor picture quality, dying camera batteries and monsoon sky to blame.

A Bigger Crochet Project

So I have started a new crochet project and is bigger than the ones I've done for sometime. It will take many days or even a couple of months to get done as I will be working on my other WIPs at the same time. This is going to be a curtain for our little bathroom window.

Can you see the lilac sequins? The curtain will be worked up in panels, each getting joined to the previous on the last row. I think I will need about ten panels to cover the window. I am at the first one right now and even that is not done yet :)

Summer Sewing

Summer is the time when I get maximum usage out of my sewing machine. This year too, I sewed quite a few shalwar kameez suits for myself (not interesting enough to blog about). I am happy to note that while nowhere perfect, my sewing skills are surely improving. I also sewed up this dress for my daughter just before paint work started at our house.

The fabric is lawn which is our staple wear during summer, being very light and airy. I am planing on sewing another casual outfit for my daughter, inshaAllah, plus one glittery affair for Eid, inshaAllah.

Project Of A Different Kind

I stopped knitting a few days back. I even stored away my yarn and put away my WIPs.

It is not that I no longer wished to knit, infact I was (and am) quite keen to finish my muir shawl which is stuck at half-done.

But we are in the middle of getting our house repainted and everything is an utter chaos. Also, it is really hard work with all the emptying of closets, moving stuff around etc. And now that the interior portion of the house is done, cleaning part is killing off my time and energy. My domestic help has done the bunk for the whole time, but that is another depressing story.

But the things are lightening up now and we can actually imagine ourselves settling back into are routine in a few days, inshaAllah. For Now, I entertain myself my looking at my fresh and clean craft closet (You can all geuss where the post paint cleaning started, LOL).

Orzival Socks

My May's Sockdown entry, the Orzival Socks for my husband are done. The yarn is KP Essential kettle Dyed (Timber). The pattern was nice, interestingly detailed to keep away the boredom, yet not complicated. My husband picked the yarn and the pattern himself, and he loves the finished socks. Now that I have discovered the perfect item to knit for him, there will hopefully be many pairs of handmade socks in his future :).

Sunburst Strikes Again

This time around, it is in grown up size (for me) and is a bit cropped and sans the collar. The fit is just right and I am very happy with it. Yarn is garden variety Pakistani yarn, good acrylic but acrylic nonetheless. So, I am hoping this pattern will be even more flattering in nicer yarns.

Now I am hoping the tweak out the pattern and proceed to the test knit phase within a few days, inshaAllah. In case anyone is interested, I will be putting it up for test knit at the Free Pattern Testers group at ravelry.
Also I am open to suggestions regarding the name. It is an adult version of the Sunburst Coat and I want to come with a name that is distinct yet related to the original.

Nothing Much

I feel like I have nothing much to blog about at the moment. It seems my knitting speed is inversely proportional to the number of WIP (works in progress). And right now, all I can do is regularly cast on new projects while the old ones languish. So, I only have a couple of active WIPs to blog about.
The first one is the adult-sized Sunburst coat I started in March. It hibernated throughout spring, but I have got back to it now and am hoping to finish it soon. I am almost done with the body and will be starting on the sleeves soon, inshaAllah.

However those sleeves been on hold while I cast on for a pair of socks for my husband. The pattern is Orzival socks (a free ravelry download) and the yarn is KP Essential kettle Dyed in timber. I am almost done with the leg of the first sock.

After these, I have a shawl to finish and then a few other projects queued up for July. Let's hope I can keep up.