That is the bit of advice that someone should have given us befoer deep-frying the turkey. I knew there should be a bag of giblets somewhere, but we just couldn’t find them. Why don’t they just put them in the same hole as the turkey neck?
The season for colds and coughs is here. I can’t head out of my apartment without a package of tissues in my purse just in case. Inspired by craftapaloola’s tutorial that I read on whipup, I thought I would knit myself a cozy for my mini-pack of tissues. I’ve seen a bunch of adorable sewn cases and thought it was time for the knitters to represent. This project is also perfect for last minute Christmas or holiday gift. (For other quick Christmas gifts, check out my Manos Scarf pattern, and Coaster Pattern).
You will need a bit of worsted weight yarn and appropriately sized needles. I used some leftover Ejido from handpaintedyarn.com and size 7 needles - i think the pattern looks extra-nice with variegated yarn. You might want to scrounge up a button or clasp for extra cuteness.
Materials
About an ounce of worsted weight yarn.
Tapestry needle for sewing up edges
US #7 needles
Button
Sharp needle and thread for attaching the button
Crochet hook or double pointed needles for making button loop
Pattern Notes
The pattern is just a stitch pattern on a rectangle that is folded and sewn together. I added selvedge stitches to either side to make it easy to sew up int he end. The first stitch of every row is slipped as if to knit, and the last stitch of every row is purled. It is important to note that the selvedge stitches are slipped with the yarn in the back (knitwise), while the slipped stitches in the patterning are slipped with the yarn in the front (sl wyif).
Pattern
Cast on 26 stitches. I used a long-tail cast-on and it makes a nice decorative edge.
R1 and all WS rows: sl 1, purl remaining stitches.
R2: sl 1, *sl 3 wyif, k3* 4 times, p1
R4: sl 1, k1 * sl 3 wyif, k3* 3 times, sl 3 wyif, k2, p1
R6: sl 1, k2 *sl 3 wyif, k3* 3 times, sl 3 wyif, k1, p1
R8; sl 1, *k3, sl 3 wyif* 4 times, p1
R10: sl 1, sl 1 wyif, *k3, sl 3 wyif* 3 times, k3, sl 2 wyif, p1
R12: sl 1, sl 2 wyif *k3, sl 3 wyif* 3 times, k3, sl 1 wyif, p1
Repeat until cover is about 6.5 inches long, or desired length
Once your tissue cover is about 6.5 inches long, or long enough to wrap around your tissues, bind off. I like mine to have a bit of a tight fit, so that it will remain snug even as the tissues inside get used.
With the wrong side out, fold up the top and bottom to cover the tissues and hold in place with pins. The fold lines are indicated by dashed lines in the pattern schematic.
Sew up the edges. This is made much easier by the selvedge stitches, so even though they are a pain to remember, they are worth it. I also stitch about 1/2 inch along the two edges of the opening on the tissue cover. This helps secure the tissues inside.
Position and sew on the button. To make a loop for the button, either crochet a short chain, or knit a short i-cord, and attach to the edge of the opening.
The final step is to add tissues to your cover. The ones i bought open on the short edge, which is not cute, and not compatible with my cozy. I just took a pair of scissors and cut an opening along the long edge. Then I put them inside, and everything is complete.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.
http://www.girlontherocks.com/knit
I just spent all of my Christmas shopping money. On myself. The explaination requires a bit of a back story…. Many years ago when I was an undergradute in the Geology program at the University of Rochester I got to go on an amazing adventure. I spent a few summers in the Canadian Arctic helping one of the professors collect rock samples. I had/got to live in a tent and sleeping bag for the entire season. Before I could go, I had to purchase adequate outdoor gear so that I would survive the summer. Outdoor gear isn’t cheap, especially on the budget of a work-study college student. I think I spent every penny I had equipping myself to go. At the time, the Mountain Hardwear jacket i purchased was one of the most expensive things I ever bought myself. And I loved it. And that was the birth of my love for technical outerwear.
Yellow jacket in action
This love affair continued throughout college as I was constanly reading catalogs and doing a lot of camping. After moving to the bay area, I was excited to be in the heart of outdoor gear universe. Minutes from my house are a North Face outlet store, and REI, a Marmot store (that has killer sales), a Sierra Designs Warehouse (which has since moved) and a Mountain Harwear warehouse. And though the warehouse has a sale once or twice a year, they don’t have a store. but oh, the sale. I had stumbled across the sale in the past, but nothing compared to this weekend.
It was an early wake-up call from abby that broke the news: The Mountain Harwear sale was starting in 15 minutes. It was nothing like the previous sales I had been to there. There were tons of jackets, tents, and most of all, tons of people. I swear, the deals were even better than ever (nothing like getting a $100 jacket for $15). I shopped like I have never shopped before. I was after a tent and a new waterproof jacket. I got that covered about 3 times over. It was seriously the best shopping i have ever had, and I am certain that I will be bragging about my purcheses in future posts.
If I haven’t bored the crap out of you by talking about camping gear on my primarily crafty blog, click through the photo to see the details.
When I was in Melbourne, Australia a few months ago my friends and I made a trek out to Marta’s yarn store. It was a truly lovely place, full of Marta’s hand dyed yarns.
Marta was there to help us with our yarn selections and displayed infinite patience while we ran around her store like 6 year olds hopped up on Dr.pepper.
I picked up a center pull ball of about 8 ounces of Mohair boucle, dyed in a chocolately brown color.
yarn with a US 10 needle for scale
I just finished knitting it up into a scarf. I used 22 stitches across on size 10 needles and cranked along in garter stitch until I ran out of yarn. The yarn has such an interesting texture that the garter rows aren’t that visible in the finished scarf.
It was the first time that i have ever knit anything with a boucle yarn, and i am really satisfied with the feel of the finished object. It was a little tricky to knit with. Let’s just say that I am happy that I did not drop any stitches and have to look for them.
Larissa needed some volunteers to knit hats using her meathead pattern, and add a cute embellishment once complete. She suggested using Lamb’s Pride Bulky double stranded, so it is a quick knit. I couldn’t believe how perfect it was that she suggested using pink as one of the colors. The lamb’s pride that has been floating around in my stash is from my very first yarn dyeing attempt. I dyed it with kool-aid in shades of red and pink, and never really found the right project for it. i cast on, and before I knew it, i was done.
It was fun to watch the color change as I knit, and I kept wondering why i never thought of turning this bright yarn into a hat before. I have never knit on US 15 needles before; they are by far the biggest I have ever used. I rarely use bulky yarn, and I have never used it doubled. Everything about the hat just seemed so big. So i decided to make my embellishment a tiny hat. It is the opposite of the big hat in every way I could think of. It has no color, is fuzzy (knit in mohair), and was done in tiny needles. It has ribbing and decreases just like the big hat.
I had just enough yarn to keep me sweating that I might run out, but I made it. It fits my normal-sized head, but I don’t know how much i will wear it since I am not crazy about the point at the top.
I think I may have built up a little bit of good knitting karma. Just after announcing the winners in my contest, I found out that I am a winner. I won a skein of yarn from Yarn4Socks in a random drawing for Socktoberfest. Hooray! Thanks Yarn4Socks and thanks for organizing, Lolly. I chose a skein of Fleece Artist Merino in Hercules, something I have never seen in person but always wanted to try. it is sooooooo good lookin’.
I am lucky because this weekend I thrifted two of the cutest aprons ever.
(that second one doesn’t have a stain, I just got it a little wet)
I am lucky because i got a Mr. Juiceman Jr. at the el cerrito garage sale for $3 and now I can use it to grind up cheap delicious apples for my enjoyment.
I know - you are probably wondering when I am going to quit mention Mr. Juiceman Jr. Well, it’s going to be a while. I love him.
And finally, I feel lucky because I finally got my issue of Craft magazine. i am rationing its goodness.
oops. I am already on page 112. I’ll just start over after that. you should head over there and subscribe! At the very least you should check out the Craft blog. It’s as addictive as crack. And while you’re there you might find the final reason I feel lucky…. i was mentioned on their blog. cool. totally cool.
No one makes mixed tapes anymore. Everyone that I know has moved on to CD’s and iMixes. Most of my musical existence is entirely contained on my ipod.
In fact, when I wanted to find an audio cassette I had to trek myself out to my 13 year old car to dig around for one (it is a bit of a time capsule - with a cassette player). All of the tapes had made their way into the trunk, usurped by my FM transmitter and ipod and languishing in the sun in the back. But i did find one. I started eviscerating it.
And then i started knitting.
The theme for this month’s whiplash challenge is “Alt Craft” and i decided to focus on the ‘nontraditional materials used with traditional techniques’ aspect. I already knew that though I could post instructions for my project, I want mine to be entered in the design category.
Knitting with audio tape isn’t one of the most pleasureable knitting experiences (tips at the end of the post). First, I wanted to liken it to knitting with Red heart Acrylic… But a more evil ribbon form of the yarn that twists up. then i started to get the hang of it. The crackling and crunching of the tape, and the squeaking of it against the knitting needles is actually pretty cool if you think about how its job it is to make sound.
A few inches of garter stitch later, I was finished. I constructed a cozy for my ipod from the innards of an old audio tape. My old and new music together at last.
It knit up into a loose fabric and you can still see the ipod inside. the “fabric” is crackly and really really shiny. I can’t believe how shiny it is. I haven’t seen a metallic brown quite like it.
I added two buttons so it would look like an audio tape, and a loop closure that wraps around the button to keep the ipod snug inside.
If you are thinking about knitting with audio tape, here are some tips:
Reason #415 to buy a hamster: The hamster powered paper shredder. i could really use this. i could have a hamster shred paper for my other pets - my composting worms.
- #CraftCon 2008 is this weekend - I'll be there!
- #Has anyone tried "retro-clean"? It is a detergent for cleaning old linens. Sounds nice.
- #
