Sunday, February 3, 2013

All My Love Dishcloth

Whew, what a January!  Between all the craziness of my normal routine, I'm so excited to have started a new job this past month.    While I'm very happy with my decision to leave my past job, my knitting and designing time has been drastically cut (I had the amazing flexibility to knit and design when I wasn't busy which was a big chunk of my day!).  I'm really trying to knit as fast as I can after bedtime and on the weekends.  There are so many designs I came up with that I have charted...it's just a matter of sitting down to write the directions and knit them up.

As you all know by now, I love holidays and Valentine's Day is no exception.  Here's the first of two Valentine themed dishcloths.  I hope you enjoy it!  =)



All My Love Dishcloth

Supplies:
1 Skein Lily Sugar n Cream yarn
US #3/3.25mm needles
Yarn needle
(Finished size approximately 8” x 6”)

Instructions:

Cast on 43 sts

Row 1 (and all odd rows): K
Row 2: K
Row 4: K
Row 6: K
Row 8: K

Row 10: K
Row 12: K
Row 14: K9, P25, K9
Row 16: K8, P27, K8
Row 18: K7, P29, K7

Row 20: K6, P31, K6
Row 22: K5, P33, K5
Row 24: K4, P35, K4
Row 26: K4, P4, K2, P3, K2, P6, K1, P6, K2, P3, K2, P4, K4
Row 28: K4, P4, K2, P3, K2, P5, K3, P5, K2, P3, K2, P4, K4

Row 30: K4, P5, K2, P1, K2, P5, K5, P5, K2, P1, K2, P5, K4
Row 32: K4, P5, K5, P4, K7, P4, K5, P5, K4
Row 34: K4, P6, K3, P4, K9, P4, K3, P6, K4
Row 36: K4, P6, K3, P3, K11, P3, K3, P6, K4
Row 38: K4, P5, K5, P2, K11, P2, K5, P5, K4

Row 40: K4, P5, K2, P1, K2, P2, K11, P2, K2, P1, K2, P5, K4
Row 42: K4, P4, K2, P3, K2, P2, K4, P1, K4, P2, K2, P3, K2, P4, K4
Row 44: K4, P4, K2, P3, K2, P3, K2, P3, K2, P3, K2, P3, K2, P4, K4
Row 46: K4, P35, K4
Row 48: K5, P33, K5

Row 50: K6, P31, K6
Row 52: K7, P29, K7
Row 54: K8, P27, K8
Row 56: K9, P25, K9
Row 58: K

Row 60: K
Row 62: K
Row 64: K
Row 66: K
Row 68: K

Bind off.  Weave in ends and block.




Tuesday, January 8, 2013

First WIP of 2013

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and 2013 has found all of you healthy and well.  I know I've slacked on my posts during the month of December and there hasn't been a dishcloth pattern in what seems like forever.  I'm working on some Valentine themed cloths and hope to have at least one of them out in the next couple weeks.  In the meantime, I've found some fantastic scarf projects that I just had to share with you.

I found this "pattern" on Ravelry back in December and knew it had to be done immediately following Christmas knitting.  How fabulous is all this color?!


The pattern is called "My Favourite Things" Infinity Scarf and can be found here.  The term "pattern" is used loosely because this scarf is about creating something with all of YOUR favorite things.  The pattern does, however, give some basic fair isle motifs and helpful links with tutorials on provisional cast on, kitchener stitch and stranded knitting.

As the author has done, I'll be using Vanna's Choice yarn.  I've made more than a few runs to both Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics over the past few weeks (utilizing coupons, of course!) to compile these colors:

  • Beige
  • Magenta
  • Mustard
  • Eggplant
  • Rust
  • Kelly Green
  • Barley
  • Black
  • Sapphire
  • White
  • Cranberry
  • Aqua
  • Silver Grey

Even with 12 colors, it does take some planning to ensure that the colors are spaced far enough apart and the same color combinations are not used more than once (my own personal preference).

I've created some of my own charts, one of which is the palm tree chart below.  I have another I'm currently knitting, so I'll post that once I know that it works as I hope it will!

I've completed 3 charts so far, about 8".  I wish I had more time to work on this cowl...it's looking really fun!

The other scarf that has been a hot project on Ravelry is My Year In Temperatures scarf.  The idea is to use the daily temperatures from your town to create this scarf.  You only knit 2 rows a day, all year long.  I'm using the leftover stash yarn from My Favourite Things Cowl to make this.  I think can handle 2 rows a day and I'm really excited to see what the finished product will look like.  I have cast on 35 stitches and I will be knitting the scarf in seed stitch.  I think I'll post monthly updates on this one!