I didn’t bring any knitting needles with me so i crocheted this cozy during the superbowl. I added the ruffley edge so the boys would quit eyeing it. They kept looking so i added a flower. I still didn’t leave it unattended.

[Ravelry project page]

On an unrealted note, i was tagged by Hannah (ages ago) to show everyone my computer desktop. I took the capture and put it in my flickr, but never mentioned it here.

The background is a photo of Arizona where I was collecting rock samples a while ago. Click through to flickr to see the notes.

Want to share yours? Consider yourself tagged!

I already used it to take an Asian Pear to work, and it survived my bag without even a single bruise. [My Ravelry project page]

I found a few other projects that I plan to make to help me work through all of the cotton:

Re-usable swiffer cozy
I can’t believe I missed this when it was a whiplash entry… Green Mountain Mama modified the ballband dishcloth pattern to button on to her Swiffer. Since the cotton is machine washable, you don’t need to buy disposable swiffer cloths any more.

Photos from grnmtnmama’s flickr stream

Bath Puff
This one is for the crocheters out there… Instead of a weird plastic-y bath puff, how about a handmade cotton one? And if you choose your colors carefully, it might look a bit like a brain (which i find totally cool)…

Picture courtesy of Pania’s flickr stream

And there is also the old standby – Dishcloths. I like to make boring ones like the ones my mom used to buy in Amish country. But I am willing to try out something a little more exciting like round spirally ones.

Any way you look at it, my cotton stash will be shrinking.

*I’m not sure I ever officially mentioned that I am on Ravelry as girlontherocks (friend me and I’ll friend you back!). I’ve been on since june, but I was so impatient while on the waiting list. I was fully jealous of everyone that would blog about how they just got in. So I secretly vowed to not mention it here. But now since the wait is only a few days long, I’m okay to talk about it.

Doesn’t the photo look really artsy? That’s because I used my new $4 Kodak Duaflex II to take the picture. The technique is called “Through the Viewfinder” and you use a modern camera to take a picture of the image in the large viewfinder of the old Duaflex or similar cameras. I first noticed this technique through the Make blog, or Flickr, i can’t remember which. I’ve had my eye out for a suitable camera ever since, and I found one for only $4 this weekend. I just used a cardboard poster tube to support my old digital camera. No taping yet, but it would be nice to get rid of the light leaks.

• More info on the technique and apparatus construction here
• Flickr TTV group
• Here are all of my TTV shots so far

A Blanket for Debbie! Debbie has been in our knitting group for years, and when she announced that she was getting married, we wanted to make something for her. The idea of a blanket was tossed around and I vehemently opposed. I really hated seaming together the baby blanket that we knit as a gift a long time ago. Then Abby stepped up and took charge. After a few weeks of pumping Debbie for color and yarn information, we were knitting blue squares.

The blanket is made of Plymouth Encore (superwash wool acrylic blend) and is the combined knitting efforts of Abby, Carmen, Ingrid, Sarah, Sarah B, Wenonah, B, Gen, Mary and myself. The square pattern is from Fun Knits. We added a double crochet border, and Abby hand embroidered a tag. (Peek here if you want to see us piecing it together.)

I think she likes it!

A hat for me
This was supposed to be the hat that preventing me from catching my death while working in the lab early last month. Since I was in a big hurry to finish it and was concerned about running out of yarn, I started the decreases prematurely. Here i am modeling it while at work at about 2 in the morning. At the time, I thought it fit.

I decided to pick up the cast-on stitches at the bottom and knit some ribbing until I ran out of yarn. I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

Pattern: My own
The top is knit with a seeded rib pattern. The bottom band was picked up from the cast-on stitches and is knit with 2×2 rib. This construction made it so the bind-off row was at the bottom, and I was able to use a stretchy bind-off to finish.
Yarn: 50% wool, 50% silk, dyed by me.

I also finished my Knitpicks Emma Jacket, but I am a little disgusted with it (and don’t have any good pictures) so we’ll talk about that later.

Finally, the cutest FO is last

i bought some amigurumi patterns from Ana Paula’s etsy shop and completed a cactus just in time to give away as a housewarming plant (the kind you can’t kill). All of her patterns are cute cute cute. I made this one on no time from scrap acrylic. Highly recommended.

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

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.

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.

And much more in the spirit of Socktober than ripping out socks, I finished a pair of socks!

Pattern: my own; toe up; short row heel; 3×1 rib
Yarn: Socks that rock mediumweight in Carbon.

i think…. i guess it could actually be carbon dating. i can’t remember and i lost the ball band immediately. probably when i first brought it home and started rolling around in the big pile of new yarn. i lOVE knitting in the medium weight. The socks knit up quickly, and i don’t mind that the socks are a little thick. it is actually very useful since most of my shoes are too big and i need big socks to keep them on. and i know this probably isn’t new information to you, but man that yarn is nice. I have been coveting the new haul over at januaryone. Go look at it. I mean, does it get any better than that?

Downloadable pdf

Drip

By Karrie Weaver; karrie at girlontherocks.com

You know how sometimes at work you are pounding down coffee and pretending to get something done, but really you are daydreaming about knitting? This coaster is a way to add a little knitting to your cubicle so you always have a finished object to gaze at. It also makes a cozy home for your coffee or tea mug. Two strands of self-striping sock yarn create a mottled pattern, and the fringe finishes the pattern making it very much like a mini-rug for your mug. Make a single coaster as gift for a co-worker, or use up all your sock yarn scraps and make a set.

SIZE
One size fits most mugs.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
4 inches square (without fringe).

MATERIALS
I used leftover sock yarn of unknown origin, but a similar substitute would be:

Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multiringel [80% wool, 20% polyamide; 420m per 100g skein]; each coaster will use less than 100 m.

1 set US #1/2.25mm straight needles

notions required: 1 D/3.25mm Crochet Hook, scissors

GAUGE
This is such a quick project, and useful in so many sizes that it is almost easier to knit a coaster instead of a gauge swatch.
24 sts/48 rows = 4″ in garter stitch

PATTERN NOTES
This pattern uses two strands of sock yarn held together. If you use self-striping sock yarn and would like to preserve the original striping pattern, divide your yarn into two balls and match up the yarns at a color change. For a mottled effect, you can pull one strand from the outside and one strand from the inside of a center-pull ball. This method effectively reverses the striping pattern of one strand.

The shape of the coaster is created by a double decrease at the center of every other row where the center three stitches are decreased to one. The clean edge is the result of slipping the first stitch of every row, and purling the last stitch.

PATTERN
Using the long-tail cast on method CO 49 sts.
Row 1: sl 1, k22, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k22, p1. (47 sts)
Row 2 and all even rows: sl 1, knit until 1 st remains, p1.
Row 3: sl 1, k21, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k21, p1. (45 sts)
Row 5: sl 1, k20, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k20, p1. (43 sts)
Row 7: sl 1, k19, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k19, p1. (41 sts)
Row 9: sl 1, k18, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k18, p1. (39 sts)
Row 11: sl 1, k17, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k17, p1. (37 sts)
Row 13: sl 1, k16, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k16, p1. (35 sts)
Row 15: sl 1, k15, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k15, p1. (33 sts)
Row 17: sl 1, k14, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k14, p1. (31 sts)
Row 19: sl 1, k13, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k13, p1. (29 sts)
Row 21: sl 1, k12, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k12, p1. (27 sts)
Row 23: sl 1, k11, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k11, p1. (25 sts)
Row 25: sl 1, k10, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k10, p1. (23 sts)
Row 27: sl 1, k9, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k9, p1. (21 sts)
Row 29: sl 1, k8, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k8, p1. (19 sts)
Row 31: sl 1, k7, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k7, p1. (17 sts)
Row 33: sl 1, k6, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k6, p1. (15 sts)
Row 35: sl 1, k5, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k5, p1. (13 sts)
Row 37: sl 1, k4, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k4, p1. (11 sts)
Row 39: sl 1, k3, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k3, p1. (9 sts)
Row 41: sl 1, k2, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k2, p1. (7 sts)
Row 43: sl 1, k1, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k1, p1. (5 sts)
Row 45: sl 2, k2tog, psso, k1, p1. (3 sts rem)
Row 47: k2tog, psso (1 stitch remains)

Break yarn and pull through the single remaining stitch until tight.

FINISHING
Weave in ends.
Adding fringe: for additional help watch the video here
Each tassel of fringe is made with two strands of yarn, attached to the edge of the coaster with a crochet hook, and trimmed to an even length. Cut approximately 50 strands of yarn, each about 4.5 inches long. Take two strands held together and fold them in half to make a loop. Insert the crochet hook behind the selvage stitches at the end of the row, and then through the loop you have created. Pull the loop through and leave it on the crochet hook (the ends of the yarn should still be in your hand). Continuing to hold the yarn taut, wrap all of it around the crochet hook and pull it through the loop, attaching it to the edge of the coaster. Pull the strands taught. Repeat this along the side of the coaster. When you have placed fringe on two sides of the coaster, use scissors to trim it to an even length.