Walter

Many and Many a year ago, I crocheted a baby doll, simply because I thought the pattern was adorable.

I mean, look at those fingers! Those toes! That ear! The nose! The bellybutton!

He hung around, but the kids were all a little too old at that point, so he served mostly as decoration, and never went by anything but Baby. I never even got around to finding clothes for him.

Fast forward to this year, when I decided enough was enough and bought him two baby outfits. This process was slightly fraught, as, unlike a baby, he’s never going to grow into anything. But I got it right, and he’s even more adorable when dressed.

Then NKD asked if she could borrow him for her shift at the firehouse, since they have some new equipment for transporting infants and needed to practice buckling them in. He was a hit. The shift crew named him Walter, and treated him like an actual baby while they wrangled buckles. Mind you, he didn't wriggle like a baby, but at least they know how all the buckles and straps go now.

Leftovers That Outweigh the Original Project

Six years ago, I discovered a terrific little pattern for a braided cowl. Ordinarily I don't have much use for cowls, but this one was more like a Celtic or Egyptian collar, resting lightly on the shoulders and keeping you warm without restricting movement or falling off. I made two, one in bright colors for KD and one in darker jewel tones for myself.

Needle: US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Solids in Soft Blue, Persimmon, Lavender Blue, and Sage; Autumn Red, Pagoda, Chocolate, and Dark Sage

Pattern: Braid-It Bright, an absolute jewel of a pattern that is sadly no longer available online

The trouble was, each one used only 13 grams out of a 100-gram skein, leaving me with LOTS of acrylic leftovers in many colors. Clearly, blankets were the solution. I am coming to have a deep love for blankets made from little shapes.

I knit the pieces of the first separately and sewed them all together. I have no idea why I thought that was a good idea, but by the time I knit the second one, I was older and wiser, and knit them together as I went along, stopping to weave in the previous row's ends before starting the next.

Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: same colors as above, all that was left

Pattern: Vicki Mikulak's Knitted Hexagon Blankie

In between knitting up the first blanket and the second, I knit up a bunch of yarn my sister J gave me (leftovers from a striped scarf), this time exploring the fun of laying out the hexagons in the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilting pattern.

Needles: US 8 (5.00mm)

Yarn: Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn! in Soft Pink, Orchid, Soft Blue, Dark Raspberry, Hyacinth, Navy, Dark Country Blue, Light Sage, and Forest Green

Pattern: same as above

The End of the Blue and White

While I was on a roll of using up categories of stash, I decided acrylic leftovers were next. Decades ago I bought enough acrylic in blue and white to make a double-knit blanket. I discovered how labor-intensive double-knitting is, and also how much I loved knitting with non-acrylic. Various projects ate away at the blue and white stash, until finally I seemed to be down to the last couple of skeins.

First, I was seized with a desire to learn to crochet granny squares. I crocheted, backed, and stuffed a little 8x8 pillow so fast it was out of the house before I got a picture of it. I learned that granny squares are dead easy, suitable for watching tv, and slightly addictive. But also fairly useless, unless you like the finished product more than I do.

I had made a knit blue and white hat in Honeycomb Brioche, and had enough yarn for a scarf, although only enough white for the ends of the scarf. I had to remember what Honeycomb Brioche was called, and then remind myself how to do it. The middle portion is just straight brioche. I should probably point out that I am of the knit-below school of brioche, not the yarn-over school (the results seem to be indistinguishable).

 Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)

Yarn: Spinnerin Wintuk, long-discontinued

Pattern: Honey Comb Brioche, regular Brioche

Homespun Party

The annual round of medical appointments (all done, all is well) provided a venue for lots of calming garter stitch. I had recently unearthed my stash of Lion Brand Homespun, and I wanted it used up and gone, so I whipped out two scarves, a hat, and a baby blanket in quick succession.

Needles: US 11 (8.00 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in the gorgeous Pueblo colorway, now sadly discontinued, 103.6 yards/93 grams

Pattern: Lion Brand One Skein... Scarf, which is available via the Internet Archive, but I only used it to establish needle size and number of stitches; it's just knit every row

Recipient: KD

Needles: US 11 (8.00 mm) and US 10 (6.00 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Montana Sky, 1 skein (which meant enough for a hat as well)

Pattern: Scarf: same as above. Hat: cast on 84 sts, worked in garter stitch for a couple of inches, switched to stockinette until it was 6", decreased 5 times around every other row until 10 sts left, finished off. I was going to do the whole thing in garter, but it ate up too much yarn

Recipient: NKD

 

Needles: US 10 1/2 (6.5 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand homespun in Quartz, 3 skeins

Pattern: Margit Sage's Concentric Squares Baby Blanket

After all that, still one skein left over, so I made a little toy to go with the blanket (or not):

Needles: US 10 1/2 (6.5 mm)

Yarn: Lion Brand homespun in Quartz, less than 1 skein

Pattern: Lion Brand's Bunny Blanket Buddy

And now I am, finally, out of Homespun.

Third Time's the Charm

My third and probably final pair of Escalator Socks were made for DH in some lovely plum-colored yarn, and as an added bonus, perfectly match one of his shirts:

Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)

Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL, 2 skeins

Pattern: Sara Amorosoa's Escalator Socks

Mods: Shortened and squared-off the toe for a better custom fit, the advantage of non-surprise socks with the recipient right there for frequent try-ons.

I haven't made as many pairs of socks in this pattern as I have of the Hermione Everyday Socks (5 and counting), but it really does make a nice man's sock.

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.

Worth the Wait

In 2014, I bought this excellent book. It tells you absolutely everything you need to know about rugs made of braided roving, including how to make them yourself.

In 2015, I bought three giant balls of roving. I planned out how I wanted the colors to flow: 3 orange strands, then 2 orange/1 multi, 1 orange/2 multi, 3 multi, 2 multi/1 grey, 1 multi/2 grey, 3 grey. I made one giant braid, trying to keep the tension and width even, although the places where a new strand started were usually thicker than I would have liked.

Life intervened for a couple of years. Somewhere along the way I took The Braid up to the Felting Machine, and then made my only irretrievable error - I dried it slung over a clothesline without regard to whether or not the braid was twisted.

In 2020 I decided it was high time I sewed the rug together. I had purchased a set of waxed linen thread which happily contained both orange and grey. I carefully worked out the measurements for the first loop, and then discovered the book spelled that out for me. Never mind, it was reassuring that it matched what I figured out for myself.

I cut off the knots I had tied in the end of the braid before felting. I worked the first rounds three times, learning to "cap" the initial cut end, learning not to pull the thread too tight, and eventually learning that, because of the twisted felting, the rug was never going to lay completely flat. Trying to untwist the braid usually resulted in the rest of the rug twisting in the opposite direction. I also learned, towards the end, that I should have used up all the orange thread before switching to the grey -- 2 spools of thread was enough, but I had to go back and use the rest of the orange thread at the end. I wasn't about to go back just to fix the thread color.

Not bad for a first effort; would definitely try again. The recipient, who owns a felting needle, gets to finish off the grey cut end for me.

Christmas Project Number 7

One of the legacy yarns I acquired from my sister was a non-wool sock yarn -- a real find, since I know a few people who love hand-knit socks but struggle to wear wool. So onto my Christmas knitting list went a pair of socks made from this yarn. I chose Grumperina's classic pattern as the best way to show off the jacquard stripes.

Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)
Yarn: Loops & Thread Perfect Pair (acrylic/bamboo/polyester) in colorway Drive All Night, 318 yards
Pattern: Grumperina's Jaywalker

There was a tiny bit of yarn left over. I used a scale to estimate the yardage, then used the search function on Ravelry to find a use for it. What did we do before Ravelry? I had a lot more leftover or waste yarn, I suppose. I whipped out an adorable newborn hat in an afternoon, then cast around among my acquaintance and found a young woman about to be delivered of a daughter. Tucked the hat into the mail, daughter obligingly arrived just before the hat was delivered, and soon I had a modelling shot.

 

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm)
Yarn: Loops & Thread Perfect Pair (acrylic/bamboo/polyester) in colorway Drive All Night, 75 yards
Pattern: Julie Tarsha's Super Stretchy Baby Hat>
Mods: Not a fan of the knot-on-top hats, so finished it off with simple decreases

Christmas Project Number 6

In the midst of all my Christmas knitting this fall, I came across some legacy yarn and could not stop myself from casting on. It was already measured into two equal balls, and clearly meant to be socks. All I needed to do was find the perfect sock pattern to preserve the stripes, and use up every bit of the yarn, because it was too perfectly dyed to waste any of it.

I was inspired by this pattern. I soon realized I had enough yarn for a full sock and abandoned the instep ribbing and short length. But I kept the number of stitches and heel instructions (always fun to learn a new way to turn a heel). It took several tries, since the pattern was top-down, to use up all the yarn - you can't just keep making the foot longer, the extra has to go in the leg. I thought the second sock would fly by, and it did for the most part, right until I ran out of yarn just as it was time to weave the toe closed.

I had a length of yarn the right color still attached to the first sock, so I just threaded it onto a needle and wove the second sock closed.

I wound up with this much left over:

I can't tell you what yarn it is (no label), what it's made of (best guess: high-twist merino with some nylon), or who is responsible for the incredible dye job. My favorite bit is at the end of the rainbow, where one row's worth of yarn runs quickly through every color before starting the long repeats again.

I don't know who my sister had in mind when she bought the yarn, but her niece is enjoying the socks very much.

Christmas Project Number 5

I was looking for a project to use up some leftover acrylic worsted. As soon as I saw this pattern, I knew it would be perfect. I have a real soft spot for stuffies that don't require a lot of sewing together. And although the polar bear was adorable, I saw no reason it wouldn't do for a black bear. And I had the perfect recipient in mind.

I cast on in September.

Soon all four legs were stuffed and joined to the tummy section, and the body formed swiftly. Then I ran out of yarn and had to order another skein, which is mildly annoying since now I have leftover acrylic worsted again, but that's a problem for future me. At least I knew it would stand.

The new skein finally arrived and despite being a different dye lot, there wasn't a noticeable difference, so I proceeded to make the head. Then, on to the face -- and here things went seriously astray. I had a little black animal nose, which attached the same way safety eyes do. But it was out-of-proportion small to the eyes I had chosen, plus I put it in the wrong place. I got the eyes in the right spot, but there's some sculpting that goes on to form the muzzle and eyes, and by now I was completely off my game. The more I tweaked it, the worse it looked, in the tradition of some famous plastic surgeries. Finally I gave up and took everything apart back to the beginning of knitting the muzzle.

This time I opted for an embroidered nose, swapped for a slightly different eye size, and sculpted with a gentle hand.

Before

After (it's subtle)

I added the little ears and tail, and he was ready to present to the family's newest fan of Long Lake.

Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Mighty Stitch in Black
Pattern: Lorraine Pistorio's Polar Bear Cub (five stars, will probably make again)

Christmas Project Number 4

This fall I finally finished my Featherweight Cardigan. The yarn was an impulse buy many years ago, and it took a really long time to decide what to do with madly variegated laceweight silk yarn. This sweater was the answer, and I love it.

Needles: US 6 (4.00 mm)
Yarn: Neighborhood Fiber Co. Penthouse Silk Lace in Penthouse (discontinued)
Pattern: Hannah Fettig's Featherweight Cardigan

I wanted to make a silk scarf out of the leftover yarn, and I wanted to use all of the yarn I had left. I wanted to avoid lace, since the variegated colors would bury the lace pattern. But I didn't want to knit a plain scarf. I tried, repeatedly, to make Daniela Johannsenova's Frantiska, but I just couldn't do it. Silk is its own special problem.

By the time I had settled on a better pattern, it was too late to make any Christmas deadlines, so it's hibernating for now.

Christmas Project Number 3

 I made one of these last year, and it was such a hit and a delight to make that I decided to do it again.

Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)
Yarn: 4 grams of Knit Picks Palette in Camel Heather, 4 grams of Red Heart Baby Fingering in White
Pattern: Anna Hrachovec's Cat in a Bag, still totally delightful
Mods: I begin with a figure-8 cast on

It's obvious why I make these for people with cats, I just wish I knew how to help them find a spot where their cats won't destroy it.

Christmas Project Number 2

This pattern should look familiar. It's a really good pattern for a man's sock.

Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)
Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL in a dark grey heather (these yarns only have numbers for color names)
Pattern: Sara Amorosoa's Escalator Socks

You'd think that would be enough, but I really am about to cast on a third pair, in this yarn.