Legacy Yarn: Hosuband

The yarn I had initially chosen for the hanging bags looked at me mournfully for a couple of days. This was legacy yarn from my sister, and I didn’t want to just put it away, since it was an odd weight - a super-bulky that doesn’t fluff out until the first time it's washed. This time I turned to Ravelry right away, and discovered someone who had used two skeins of this exact yarn for a toddler vest. Well, there you go, I thought, and whipped one out.

Needles: US 6 (4.00 mm)

Yarn: Ístex Hosuband in Dark Brown-Khaki, 1 skein

Pattern: Nikol Lohr's Pebble (the delightfully-named baby version of the Cobblestone Vest)

It used one skein.

More research ensued, and I found someone who had used one skein for a pair of mittens, using a pattern for convertible mittens/fingerless mitts, but just making plain mittens. I thought DH could use a pair of sturdy mittens. In a fascinating turn of events, I tried them on him at each stage of the pattern, and the pattern as written fit him exactly. I find this astonishing. I did make the cuffs longer, as I know he prefers them tucked down deeply into his coat sleeves. I figured I would line them, since this wool is pretty scratchy, but he likes them just fine as they are. He calls them choppers, a word from his childhood for the non-gloves worn to chop wood, as opposed to the gloves necessary to perform most farm chores.

Needles: US 6 (4.00 mm) and US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: Ístex Hosuband in Dark Brown-Khaki, 1 skein

Pattern: Paris B's Convertible Mittens, as made by Knaiterham

Three Bags Full

A friend who was temporarily bedridden asked for some hanging baskets to put beside their bed. I tried to just freehand crochet a shape that I thought would work, and quickly learned that I was using the wrong yarn and making the wrong shape. A quick search on Ravelry (WHY didn't I do that first???) to see what yarns others had used for baskets turned up the exact pattern I needed, and I had stash yarn that would do the trick.

I knit one up and checked that it was the right size

Then quickly knit up two more

And sent them off, where they are just what was needed.

Hooks: K (6.5 mm) and N/P (10 mm)
Yarn: Brunswick Windrush [discontinued], in Deep Blue Velvet and Snow, held double throughout
Pattern: Bekki Bjarnoll's Large Hanging Basket (English translation available on the Internet Archive)
Mods: I used the smaller hook for the single-crochets around the loop after the crab stitch

I would definitely use this pattern again. I'd like to try it in cotton or fabric/Zpagetti yarn.

Do-Over

A long, LONG time ago, while on vacation, I visited a yarn store that was going out of business and bought their entire remaining stock of Patons Canadiana in a colorway I thought my spouse would like. I knit it into a V-neck cardigan, mostly of Shaker Rib (knit across right side, p1, knit into the stitch below across wrong side). I followed a set of instructions for knitting various types and sizes of raglan sweaters. It quickly became his favorite sweater, but there was a problem.

Former yarn store, 2008
It is now a very lovingly restored family home
Google Streetview history

The button bands were knit in stockinette at the ends of rows as you went along, then folded in half and sewn in place. So of course, over time, they sagged. I knew what the problem was. I know now to pick up 3 out of 4, or 5 out of 6 stitches (depending on the yarn weight) for a knitted-on facing or button band.

Eventually, I couldn't stand the way the sweater looked, and I took it away from him, carefully removed the buttons, and ripped it back from the bottom up, to just about an inch after the raglan sleeves were split off and the body of the sweater begun.

I put the band stubs on holders. The original band still formed the V-neck and back collar, but that was okay. Then I re-knit the body of the sweater on the remaining stitches, purposely not knitting a selvedge stitch - I wanted no confusion from slipped stitches, knowing that I would be counting rows. When I got the sweater back to the length it had been before, I left it on the needle, and went back to the bands. It turned out I was picking them back up a little after the V-neck turned and proceeded straight down the front edges, a few rows after the first buttonhole. To make my math easier, I did the button band first. I knit in stockinette, with the center stitch slipped to make the fold nicer. And at the inside edge of every other row, on the knit side, I knit the last stitch together with an edge stitch of the body. After 2 attachment rows (so 4 rows in total), I skipped the next row on the body, the equivalent of picking up 4 out of 5 stitches. When it was the right length, I left it on the needle, and counted the rows. I also counted the buttons that had come off the sweater. A little math later, I marked where the buttons would go, and knew where to place the buttonholes on the other band.

I had planned to bind off straight across the bands and body, but once I had folded the bands to the inside and sewn them down, I wound up weaving the bottom edges of each band together and just binding off the body.

Much improved

I ran it through the wash hoping to ease the kinks of the re-knit yarn, with indifferent success, then sewed the buttons back on.