Tag: maine

As soon as we moved in to Camden, Maine for the winter, I found a little knitting and needlepoint shop in the village called Stitchery Square. I bought several skeins of Debbie Bliss alpaca silk double knit yarn (80% baby alpaca and 20% silk) in bright pink and made matching Mama and Baby scarves.

The scarves are knit in a 2×2 rib with US size #6 straight needles. For Baby’s, cast on 32 stitches, then knit 2, purl 2 till the end of the row. Repeat for each row until one skein of yarn is used up. Bind off. Easy does it!

Mama’s is similar, except I cast on 44 stitches. Knit 2, purl 2 till the end of the row and repeat. When one skein is used up, add a second skein of the same yarn, and bind off at the end of the second skein. The rib makes the scarf so soft and thick, very snugglicious!

I used the same yarn and 2×2 rib pattern, this time knitting in the round with double pointed needles, for making legwarmers for the little one, which actually wound up being pulled over snow boots to keep the snow from getting into the boots.

I also made myself a pair of arm warmers using the same Debbie Bliss alpaca silk yarn, the same 2×2 rib pattern with double-pointed needles.

For both my arm warmers and my little one’s legwarmers, I cast on 48 stitches, divided among three double pointed needles. With a fourth double pointed needle, I knit into the first stitch I cast on, forming a triangle. Knit 2, purl 2 around and around until the end of the skein. Bind off.

For Christmas, I made my mother-in-law a pair of these luxuriously soft armwarmers using Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran. Cashmerino Aran is thicker than Alpaca Silk, containing 55% merino wool, 33% microfiber and 12% cashmere. Knitting them in 2×2 rib pattern thickens the fabric even more, but the vertical lines are slimming.

For my mother-in-law’s arm warmers, I cast on 60 stitches, divided among three US size #8 double pointed needles. Knit 2, purl 2 all around till the skein is used up. Add the white Cashmerino Aran, knit 2, purl 2 for 3 rows, then bind off. The white cuffs give it that winter snow edge to finish the look.

I still had a lot of leftover Cashmerino Aran in white, so I made matching earwarmers for the little one and me. I based mine on the Head Huggers pattern in Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation, page 59, but left out the decorative flowers and leaves. I just wanted a simple and classic look, not too many floral frills. For the smaller earwarmer, I started out using the neckwarmer pattern, then just carried on as it made sense to fit my little girl.

These earwarmers are really warm. Sometimes I forget and leave them on while indoors, to keep my hair out of my face like a hairband. Before long I get a headache from being too warm.

One more project using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran is my 3-year-old’s mittens. I originally tried making up my own pattern, but failed miserably. Look at this pathetic-looking mitten on the right. At first I thought I’d make arm-warmers-cum-mittens, thin in the arm part, tapering off in the wrist, ribbed for elasticity. It was really a bad idea, but I just had to see it come to fruition before I realized I needed to humble myself and look to the master knitters for complicated projects like mittens.

Junior Knits has a pattern for mittens for 3-year-olds. In fact, you can see the pattern in its entirety in the “Search Inside” function for this book on Amazon. The pattern is called Nell mittens.

I modified it slightly by changing it from a button wrist to one that’s ribbed. I also decided to knit it in the round instead of using straight needles.

Using double pointed needles US size #7, I cast on 30 stitches, divided among 3 double pointed needles, and knit 3, purl 2 in the round for 15 rows. On rows 16 to 20, I knit all 30 stitches around.

From here, refer to the Nell mittens pattern, starting at “Shape thumb.” Instead of doing the purl rows, do knit rows since we are knitting in the round, except on the 7th row where one must follow the pattern exactly.

Happy knitting! Stay warm!!!

I mentioned to my husband once while passing the yarn aisle at a craft store that I had never knitted before. It was more of a wistful sigh than a real wish. At that time I was balancing working at home and taking care of a two-year-old. I had no time to pick up a new hobby.

Christmas 2006, my husband got me knitting books, various sizes of knitting needles and some yarn. I was so excited! As soon as the holiday season was over, I got to work learning how to knit.

I was horrible. My swatches looked like a wet hamster. My sweet man and my toddler rescued these unfortunate creations from the trash and wrapped them around naked troll dolls. When I finally got the hang of it, I finished my first knitted piece – a red scarf for the most amazing man in my life.

I have since learned how to purl, and how to mix knit and purl together to create ribbed, stockinette and every other combination the two could make. It’s been a great year. Here are some of the items I made:

Pompom Hat

Most commercially available yarns have an easy to follow pattern inside the label. This chunky acrylic yarn had a pattern for a pompom hat. I knitted it with straight needles and sewed the seam together all in one night.

It was really rewarding to have a finished project after just a couple of hours. This was my second knitting project, after the red scarf, and it gave me a chance to practice knit and purl. I also got a lot of compliments from grannies everywhere we went.

Pompom hats rock!

Space Invaders hat and tank top

The tank top is from the Mud Flap Girl Tank Top pattern on Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation, page 132, except I replaced the Mud Flap Girl design with the Space Invaders design.

I used Lion Brand 100% cotton yarn (black) and Lily Sugar ‘n Cream 100% cotton yarn (green) instead of the recommended wool/cotton blend. My swatch calculations were off, so the tank top actually fits too loose on me. I’m not too happy with my ratty crochet edging either, but I learned a lot and had fun, which is all that matters anyway.

The hat, I just made up as I went along, using the same Space Invaders design and the same 100% cotton yarn. I used straight needles and sewed the seams together.

Orange and green bikini

I made a few tiny modifications to the bikini pattern in Stitch ‘n Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook, page 224. The yarn the pattern recommends, Classic Elite Star, a 99% cotton and 1% lycra blend, is a discontinued line, so I could only get one skein each of orange and green from Ebay.

I made the neck straps thicker at 3 stitches, instead of the crocheted chain stitch the pattern called for.

I wore this bikini swimming all summer and it was great! Unlike nylon or polyester bikinis, this pair absorbed water more, so drying it on a clothesline took slightly longer than drying a synthetic fabric, but not by much. It was definitely dry after hanging it overnight.

Black hat with multi-color fuzz

Shortly after we came to Maine for the summer, I made this hat out of the Lion Brand Mystery yarn, Onyx Prism, which is acrylic and wool in black with multi-color fuzzies randomly interspersed. I did the whole hat in garter stitch, straight needles then sewed the seam. This hat is a lot of fun, almost like a granny hat.

Hammock Pillow

Jay wanted a pillow to take with him when he relaxes on the hammock outdoors, so I made him this technicolor hammock pillow with chunky yarn left over from making the pompom hat earlier in the year. Malaya helped me stuff it, and immediately after, wanted a pillow of her own.

Hoppy Hoppy

This is just a basic rectangular pillow knitted in Lion Brand Fancy Fur, Stormy Sea, a hairy polyester yarn. After I finished sewing the seams, Malaya helped (over)stuff the pillow and named it “Hoppy Hoppy,” the weasel.

I love that I can make something as simple and clunky as this hairy pillow and she can turn it into a fantastic creature just by the sheer strength of her imagination. She pets it, hugs it, talks to it and takes it places. It has become her all-time favorite furry pet and I couldn’t be happier!

Space Invaders Arm Warmers

More use for my stash of 100% cotton yarn and the same Space Invaders design pattern from my tank top and hat above.

I learned how to use double pointed needles on this project. It looks complicated, but once I got one row deep, it all went like clockwork. It’s simple enough to make without a pattern.

These arm warmers look awesome on her, too. They make her look like a little videogame geek. I love it!