Major Knitter

Prepare to Dye!

Remember this sweater that I knit for Primogeniture for Christmas?  (Note - being modeled by Secundogeniture because he was available!)

I knit it in natural wool - because that's what I had on hand.  Primogeniture requested a charcoal gray sweater.  I asked for help in my Finish or Frog It Friday group on Ravelry and got a lot of suggestions.  My friend, upon realizing that this was my very first time dyeing a hand knit sweater directed me to the RIT dye videos.  It looked so easy, so that's what I did.

Supplies on hand:
6 gallons hot water
2 cups vinegar
Rubber gloves
1 bottle Rit dye
1 bottle Fit fixative
2 teaspoons dishwashing liquid
Sweater to be dyed
Sample knit swatch (with same wool as sweater) to test the dye

I carefully followed the instructions on the packaging and the video.  The sweater soaked in the dye for about 30 minutes (with constant stirring).  Then it soaked in the fixative for about another 30 minutes.  Then I rinsed it in cold water until the water ran clear.

I pressed out the excess water in the sink, blotted the very wet sweater in a large towel, then blocked it to the proper shape on my kitchen table.  Notice the swatch alongside the sweater.  I'll send that to my son to keep in the unfortunate event that the sweater requires mending down the road.

Now we wait a few days for this Forbes sweater to dry.  If you like this - please check out designer Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed.  

I can't wait for Primogeniture to try it on!

 

 

 

Finish or Frog it Friday - Where I Actually Frog Something

I love my Finish or Frog It group on Ravelry.  We support each other to either finish a project or even to frog it.  If you're new to knitting, frogging a project is when you rip it out (rip it, rippit, ribbit...) thus "frogging" it.  I haven't actually frogged anything in a very long time.  But since 2016 is the Year of the Purge, I spent Tuesday cleaning up my Knit Nook a bit.  I found a wayward chemo hat from 2004 that was still unfinished, still ugly, still not working and still on the needles.  It was such a pretty red yarn that I always thought I would finish it.  I was about to throw it away (because sometimes that is the answer) when I saw the yarn label.  It was the very same as the last two Rikke Hats I made in teal blue.  I immediately knew I had to salvage the yarn.  So I began to rip it out.

Duke and Otis helped me frog this old seed stitch hat project that was doomed from the start.  Sorry.  I love red - but you know it doesn't photograph well.

After I carefully frogged the project and wound the yarn around the backs of two chairs, I used a natural cotton to tie the hank together in 4 separate places to keep it together.  Duke was intensely curious about this.

"Mama - it looks like Ramen noodles, but it doesn't smell like food."

Two skeins, side-by-side, ready to be soaked and straightened so the yarn can be repurposed and knit into a new hat.

It always looks like too much gentle detergent - but the suds quickly dissipate.  I let the lovely red yarn soak for twenty minutes per skein. I only soaked one skein at a time to avoid tangling the two.

Here are the two finished hanks of yarn, nice and straight, drying on some kitchen cabinet hooks.  Normally I would add a very light weight to the end to help straighten the yarn, but this yarn didn't need it.  And you might notice it already grew quite a bit when it soaked.  In fact, it was too large a loop for my swift, so I had to put this around two chairs again and feed it by hand to my ball winder to make two lovely balls of yarn.

Yes it's a lot of work to repurpose yarn.  It's not arduous.  It doesn't require any real talent.  It only begs a little patience and order to give new life to old yarn.  Since I loved the weight and feel of the Adrienne Vittadini Martina from BF Sweater and the two recent Rikke Hats, I knew it was worth the effort.

There you have it. I hope you enjoyed this photutorial.  What yarn will you be repurposing next?

Felted Wreath Ornament Workshop

My knitting friends got together yesterday to repurpose our old sweaters into something new and exciting - Christmas ornaments!  We're getting ready a year ahead of time!

A few years ago we took our old cashmere sweaters and turned them into blankets and scarves.  I saved every last scrap of wasted material because I knew we could use it for something else.  

On a separate note, check out this cute mini wreath ornament Michelle got me a few years back - made entirely of repurposed felted sweaters.  How cute is this for the fiber artist in your life?

December 2014, my friend Carla was at the house and spotted this ornament on my tree and said "Jennifer, you've got to show me how to make these!" and the idea was planted.  I started collecting old sweaters.  I made a few thrift store runs looking for men's large or XL 100% wool or cashmere sweaters. The sweaters sat in a plastic bin for a year.  Then over the quiet of the holidays this year,  I washed and felted all of them.  I removed all the excess fuzz and pills.  I snipped them all into itty bitty squares (about 1.25 inch squares) and sorted them in plastic bags by color.  

During the past year I made a few futile attempts to order the right kind of wire.  I failed - twice.  Then this past December during a wreath making workshop at my Garden Club, I got the bright idea to use green florist wire. Bingo!  Now I was finally ready to schedule a Felting Workshop Sweatshop!

I set up a table with some plastic plates and all the colors of the felted sweater swatches.  I had room for eight people around my kitchen table.  I also provided the following supplies

Supplies:

• felted 1.25 in square sweater scraps
• scissors
• green 1/4 lb forest wire
• quarter inch ribbon - red, green, white, etc.
• needle & thread
• wire cutters
• beads (optional)
• roving & needle felting kit (optional)

Directions

Select about 50-100 felted squares in your preferred color scheme.

Cut a length of green florist wire approximately 18 inches long.  Roll one end into a loose coil to prevent the swatches from sliding off.  This will be undone at the end so be sure to keep it loose.

Simply thread the felted squares directly onto the florist wire. The end of the wire is sharp and you can easily poke it through the center of each felted swatch.

Continue until you can form into a circle and see a center opening - approximately 10" long.

Twist tie the ribbon together - being careful not to twist too tight or the wire will break.  Wait to trim ends of wire until after you have attached the bow.

Decorate with a ribbon bow on your wreath.  I prefer the 1/4 grosgrain ribbon.  Experiment with different types and use the one you like best.  You can use a simple two loop bow or a multi-faceted bow. Attach to the wreath using the ends of the wire.

OPTIONAL DECORATIONS:

• Use favorite colors (you’ll see a pink theme in these photos); team colors, all one color, white, etc.
• Add little colored felted balls for “berries” or sew (or glue) beads on for berries if you like.

I used the above glass beads that I had in my stash from years ago.  Originally I was going to sew them on, but then I though better of it and got my glue gun out and glued the larger beads onto a few wreaths to experiment.  The smaller beads in the tubes look like they'd be easier (and safer) to sew on than to burn my fingertips with my glue gun.

The finished wreath.  Originally we made a loop out of the green florist wire.  I thought I was OK with that.  But when I snapped a picture and tried to post it here - I thought it looked ugly. So I removed the pictures from this post; cut off the green wire loop; and added this gold ribbon instead. I think it gives it a more professional finish.

Experiment with different colors.  I think you'll like the variety.  I can imagine all white wreaths, sports team colored wreaths, multi-colored wreaths, and more.

How to Make a Felted Tea Cozy

I've recently switched my morning habit from coffee to tea.  Along the way I acquired this lovely teapot.  I decided if I was going to make the switch, I need to go all in and learn how to make a proper cup of tea.

I'm very good about filling it up with hot water to heat the teapot while I have the kettle on the stove.  This helps keep the tea hot longer.

But without a tea cozy (think of this as a sweater for your teapot), my second cup of tea wouldn't be hot enough.  Lo and behold I decided to make a tea cozy.  Of course, I was inspired by my knitting blogging buddy Rhonda the Stitching Nut's Felt-Tea Farm Tea Cozy which is more of a painting than a felted project.  It's so gorgeous it's been pinned on Pinterest about a gazillion times.  So I decided to felt a portrait on my tea cozy, too.

First up, I needed an actual tea cozy.  Rather than knit one and felt it, I took the short cut and bought a wool sweater at the Goodwill.  I threw it in the wash and it obediently shrank and felted to a nice thick felted wool.  For a basic pattern click on this tutorial by Simply Rurban.

I sewed my front and back together and gave it a go on my favorite teapot.  Yes - it's too big.  I knew that.  I actually planned that because I wanted to hem the bottom of the felt to give it a more stable base.

* Sorry about making a red cozy.  I know red stinks for photographing - but there you have it.

I rolled the hem twice and tested it to see if it would still fit my teapot.  Perfect!  Now I'm off to hem.

Trust me.  I know you can't see it, but I hemmed this and it created a nice thick base to support my tea cozy.  

I found my favorite picture of Wilma the Wonder Dog and printed it.  Then I cut out the actual part I wanted to needle felt in order to make my template.

I centered the template on the tea cozy base, inserted the foam pad (part of the needle felting kit) and pinned my template in place.  Now I was ready to begin needle felting!

I have two sets of roving samplers plus the multi needle felting tool which I use.  I found these on Amazon.  If you're new to needle felting, check out a few videos on YouTube.  I like THIS ONE.

Following the picture, I started with a base of natural white roving.  Then I added the fawn colored markings, and dark brown and black for the nose, mouth and eyes.  I added gray for shading and pink for her tongue.

To complete my tea cozy, I thought Wilma's portrait needed a dog bed.  Instead of the tan bed in the photo, I made this one green to provide some contrast color.  I used green and white yarns to cover a plastic loop; attached it to the top and had a wonderfully personalized tea cozy to ensure I will always have a perfect cup of tea.

Thank you Girly Girl.  You will always have a special place in my heart and soul.

Everybody Loves a Baby

There is some exciting news in my family.  My nephew & niece-in-law are expecting a baby.  It's the first baby of the next generation so we're all very excited.  I'm going to be home later this month so I suggested a baby shower.  

Thank goodness for Pinterest.  I was able to check out Jenna's pins for the new baby and get 1,001 ideas.  But you know how dangerous that can be. I tend to grab hold of an idea and run away with it.  

Jenna's main themes are Native American Indian and wolves.  While I thought about just sending out an electronic invitation, I thought - "That won't be so fun to leave in the baby book." so I got my arts and crafts on and created some invitations.  They don't sell them like this at Hallmark!

I Googled "Wolf howling at moon" and came up with several images.  With my paints, card stock and computer, I started painting howling wolves.

First I painted the base color with a white moon and wolf head.

Next I added a second layer of gray by adding ears and fur accents on the neck.

Then with some black paint I added the final touches of mouth, nose, eyes, accents and more fur.

Finally, I had a few dozen invitations complete with Jenna's very personalized theme and a quote I found by Googling "Native American Quotes and Sayings"

I can hardly wait for the fun to begin. 

 

Stocking Surgery

What do you do when you open up your box of Christmas decorations only to discover a family handknit heirloom is ruined.

You ask your favorite knitting friend to fix it.  I must confess... I don't even fix my own socks or knitting problems.  I get tons of requests to make fixes - but I just don't do them.  This was different because I totally appreciate a family heirloom.  Someone took a lot of time to make stockings for the whole family.  They're very old.  I can appreciate that sort of love... so I decided to tackle this project.

Start by creating a piece of "darning cardboard" with rounded edges that will fit snugly into the stocking.

With the cardboard inside the stocking, you can really focus on the damage done by this hole.  It also ensures that when you repair it that you are only sewing one side of the stocking. I know with my luck, I'd sew the stocking front and back together!

Being careful to catch the loops for each column of knitting, connect the loops from the top of the hole to the bottom of the hole.  You're creating some warp strings with these verticals strings.  Next you'll weave weft strings horizontally to create a woven patch to close the hole shut. 

 

Using the most similar yarn you can, knit a small patch - improvising the shape with decreases where necessary.  Notice how the patch is very similar to the patched up hole.

Place the knit swatch over the patched up hole. Using the tails from the swatch, neatly sew the swatch in place.

Ta Da!  The finished stocking looks pretty good.  It's not 100% perfect - as the brand new yarn is clean and bright - and not yellowed with age... but at least the stocking will survive for the next generation.

Merry Christmas to all - and to all a good night.


 

 

 

 

Repurposing Old Shirts

BF has lots of blue dress shirts.  Unfortunately, some of them are starting to die a slow death.  When I went to the quilt show last spring, I saw a quilt by one of the male designers that utilized old men's blue dress shirts.  

It made me want to do something with the old shirts.

So when BF brought me a shirt whose collar was frayed to the point beyond use... I decided to give my repurposing plan a try.

I snipped off the buttons, which will be used for my cross stitch Christmas ornaments...

 

I cut all the usable fabric of the shirt into sections.

I had quite a bit of fabric, nearly a dozen buttons, and scraps.  I felt like I had used as much of the fabric as possible.

I used my serger to sew the fabric into various little gift bags.

Fold back the band, iron and then sew it.

Turn the bags right-side out; thread the ribbons (also recycled from previous gifts) through the band, and tie knots.  Trim loose strings and the top of the ribbons.

Voilá - you have eight new drawstring gift bags out of one old shirt.  The best part of this is that the men in my life (BF and the boys) hate gift wrapping.  We joke that we reuse the same gift bag over and over.  Now people can have their choice of gift bags.

And Now, a Word from our Sponsors

OK - not really.  I don't have any sponsors.  But I had a contest just before Hurricane Irene struck and in all the frenzy of preparedness, didn't get a chance to announce the winner of the Vogue Knitting "Where is Major Knitter" contest.

The contest required that you tell me where you saw me in the Fall 2011 Vogue Knitting.

I wrote the names down on pieces of paper and let Wilma choose the winner.

Congratulations Beverly!  You're the winner of a skein of sock yarn in honor of my mention in the Sock-cess piece at the bottom of page 60.  It's small... but hey... it's Vogue Knitting.  I'm thrilled!

My sock tip is this:

I knit both socks at the same time, on two sets of needles, to avoid the Second Sock Syndrome.  Cast on for both socks.  Knit the cuff for one sock, then the other; continue in this way until you get to the toes.  The best part of working this way?  When you graft the toe shut on one sock, you immediately graft the toe shut on the second.  Also, if you vary from the pattern on one sock, you can easily remember to make the same variation on the second.

Beverly - please select your sock yarn from the three skeins pictured below.  I snapped the shot outside in sunlight to hopefully get the most accurate representation of the yarn.  As you know, I have Wilma, but live in a smoke-free home.

From left to right, your choices are:

1. Ty-Dy Sox in a brown, green and black colorway Color #1883, Lot #56
2. Sock Yarnista - Green, brown, pink, lavendar and cream colorway - "Winter Quince Blossom"
3. Mountain Colors Hand-Painted Yarn in a blue, green, purple colorway  - "Steelhead"

Beverly - please email me or leave me a comment with your mailing address and your yarn selection and I'll send you your prize.  Maybe during your acceptance speech, you'll leave us a comment with your favorite sock tip.

Congratulations to everyone and thanks for all your heartfelt congratulations!

 

 

How to Truss a Chicken

Julia Child knew a thing or two about chickens.  Check this YouTube video out.  You'll find that Ms. Child knew the different types of chickens and more importantly, she knew that a group of chickens was called a peep.  But did she know how to truss a chicken like I do?

After following the directions for knitting the Chicken Egg Cozies, leave a very long tail (about 10-12") at the top for sewing.

Fold the knitting in half and neatly sew the seams together being careful to only catch one stitch on each side.  

Weave in the loose ends.

Using a complementary color of felt, trace circles using a quarter for the beaks.

Cut out the circles, cut them in half, and fold them in thirds to create a cone for the beak.

Using thread the same color as the felt, overlap the circle in thirds and sew the cone.

Place the seam on the under side of the beak and sew the cone/beak to the body.  Weave in loose ends.

Using remnant pieces of fingering weight yarn in complementary colors, crochet the coxcomb according to the directions.  Weave in loose ends.

Using a hot glue gun, carefully attach googly eyes (one on each side).

Insert a plastic egg into your chicken and scare amaze your friends and family with your craziness craftiness.

You might want to limit the amount of yarn you purchase for making chickens as these little chickadees are very, very addictive.  BTW, I finished nine other chickens... but ran out of plastic eggs.  That should be a sign.

 

How To Build a Baby Bootie

Since the Christine's Stay-On Baby Booties came out different colors, I decided to knit a third and see which it matched so at least I'd have a pair.  When I finished the third, I looked at the remaining yarn and thought I just might be able to squeeze out a fourth - so I gave it a try.  

I also received many comments about the baby booties and one reader - Ruthie - mentioned that she had difficulty with this pattern.  Perhaps a pic-tutorial would help?

First step - and this is very important - use a set of 5 dpns.  Magic Loop, two circs, or 4 dpns will not work well for this pattern.  I'm not saying it's impossible, only that it won't work as well.

Using size 2 dpns, cast on 10 sts and knit 36 rows (18 ridges)

Using 3 more dpns, pick up 18 sts along the side of the bootie, 10 sts along the bottom, 18 sts along the other side.  Total 56 sts

Purl 4 rounds

Knit 4 rounds (very hard to see here)

Purl 4 rounds

Knit 4 rounds (again, very hard to see here)

Purl 4 rounds

Using short rows, knit across the front 10 sts following the pattern and knitting the 10th st on the needle with the 1st stitch on the side needle.  Purl across the front 10 sts following the pattern and purling the 10th sts on the needle with the 1st st on the opposite side needle.  Repeat until 40 sts remain.  End on a purl row.

Knit three rounds.  TIP:  When you knit the first round (40 sts) pick up a st in the gap between the front and the side of the bootie and k2tog to close the gap.  Do the same thing on the gap when you come around to the beginning.  This will close it up nicely.

Then knit the eyelet round:  Knit 2, YO, K2Tog.  

 
Knit 22 rounds for leg.  Bind off loosely.  Weave in loose ends.

 

Take a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper and fold it into quarters so it is approximately 2.75 inches long.  Roll it up and insert it into the baby bootie to help it retain its shape.

Using a crochet hook, make a single chain rope approximately 12-14 inches (or use a ribbon).  Lace this through the eyelet holes to finish your baby bootie. 

Ta-Da!  I now have four finished Baby Booties - and even with the differences in color due to the subtle variegation, I think I can put them together in such a way as to have two matching pairs.

OK - now are you casting on for a pair of Christine's Stay-On Baby Booties?