Another Meret Beret Completed

I've just completed another beret. I love this Dream in Color Classy yarn in Ruby River color. It's really a dream to knit with. No splitting and very springy yarn. I've come to realize that red is my color. The real color of the beret is in the last two pictures. I will be back to post live model shots of me wearing my berets.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you what the beret looks like mounted on a 11" dinner plate. I placed two sheets of paper towels between the plate and the beret to give it some body.



I take my mister and spray water over the entire hat. I used my hands and fingers to rearrange the lace pattern




Sitting on top of a can of diced tomatoes. This way the beret can dry quickly and evenly.



Happy Knitting!

Meret Beret - Completed

Another project completed. I've already CO for another beret. Love this pattern. I will be back to post pictures of me modeling my new beret (that will require some unusual photog skills).



Name of Pattern:
Meret Beret or Mystery Beret

Designed by:
Woolly Wormhead

Pattern/Garment Description:
This pattern was the “Mystery Beret for November 2008 (Ravelry). This pattern can be made more slouchy by knitting one or two extra lace repeats - one extra repeat will make a regular slouch beret, two extra repeats will make it really slouchy!

Size(s):
Sizes: S (18”), M (20”), and L (22”)
Finished sizes: S (16”), M (17.75”), and L (19.5”)

I knitted a size Large.

Yarns Used:
Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Denim Twist

I used slightly less than 1 skein of yarn.

Gauge:
18 sts/4 inches and 24 rows in Stockinette stitch

I was on gauge with #7 needles.

Knitting Tools Used:
Circular Needles: 16 inch in size 7 (CO and ribbing)
Circular Needles: 24 inch in size 7 (body of beret and start of decrease)
DPNs: size 7 (for decrease/knitting the crown)
Bent-tip tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Techniques I used:
M1
YO
S2KPO (slip one, knit two together, and pass over the slipped stitch)
SSK
K2tog
Ktbl

Changes I Made to the Pattern:
I added an extra lace pattern repeat to make the beret more slouchy. Total of 3 lace repeats were knitted.

What I Like About this Pattern:
It’s a quick and easy pattern. Enjoyed knitting the lace pattern of the body. The pattern came with different sizes and also had notes on making the beret more slouchy.

What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike.

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
Easy

Conclusion/Additional Comments:
I really enjoyed knitting this beret. Next version will be knitted in a solid color, so 1) I can see what I’m knitting and 2) to see the lace pattern better.



I’ve blocked the beret using an 11 inch dinner dish. I pulled the beret over the dinner dish, rearranging the center of the hat with the center of the plate. I also made sure not to stretch out the brim of my hat and let it relax over the center of the plate. I sprayed water from my mister over the hat to get it damp (top and underside of the plate). I sat the plate over a small can of diced tomatoes and let it dry overnight. You could also use a soup can as a prop. ;)



Next Projects
I’ve already cast on another version in a Ruby River color. I plan on knitting a 4 lace repeat to give this beret a really slouchy, slouchy look. Of course, I hope I have enough yarn.

On the Knitting Front

A quick post for today. I've finished my 2nd version of the Vintage Bubble Bag. I also completed my Meret Beret. Guess what??? I enjoy knitting slouchy hats!

I will post my review of the Beret in the next day or so. In the meantime, I've decided to knit another version. This time in a red rose color. I'm off to cast on....

For the folks in the US, have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Moving Right Along and On Schedule

I'm on schedule with some of my knitting gifts and have actually finished my projects early. Now, I can sit and relax and continue knitting my CPH and another VBB (vintage bubble bag).

I have to show you a multi-colored bowl I knitted using Plymouth Galway for the main color (heathered blue) and Noro Kureyon (#40) for the contrast colors:



So this floppy looking bowl...




...became this beautifully felted bowl



I ended up using all of the yarn I started with: 4 skeins of Galway (2-brown & 2-blue) and 1-1/2 skeins of Kureyon. This is a wonderful example of using up every bit of wool yarn.




I also finished another pair of Cozy House Socks for a gift. I used a lighter worsted weight yarn in Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Denim Twist color. I wanted to use a machine washable yarn for this gift. This lighter yarn made the socks smaller or snug, which is the fit/size I was after. The recipient of this gift wears a shoe size smaller than mine. Here's the 8" length sock (I really like how this yarn color knitted up):




New Upcoming Project:

I've been checking out slouchy berets/hats on Ravelry. I plan on knitting my first slouchy hat sometime in December.

Vintage Bubble Bag - Completed

I've already started knitting another Vintage Bubble Bag and thought I should get this review posted for the first version. So, here it is my Chianti Vintage Bubble Bag:



Name of Pattern:
Vintage Bubble Bag

Designed by:
Pursenalities - 20 Great Knitted and Felted Bags by Eva Wiechmann (book)

Pattern/Garment Description:
Taken from the book: This bubble bag reminds me of my mom's shopping bag - room and practical. This vintage look is very stylish right now, and although I used colors that are subtle, you can make yours wild and bold.

Size(s):
One Size

Yarns Used:
Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Chianti (burgundy) (18 sts/4 inches, #8, 190 yds) - wool/mohair
Noro Silk Garden in 282 (beautiful colors) (18 sts/4 inches, #8, 110 yds) - silk/mohair/wool

I used less than 2 skeins of Lamb's Pride and 2 skeins of Silk Garden.

The bag is knitted with one of each yarn type (double stranded).

Gauge:
Not necessary to get gauge

Knitting Tools Used:
Circulars: 24 inch in size 10.5 (top & i-cord straps)
Circulars: 24 inch in size 15 (bubble bag)
DPNs: size 15 (3 needle BO)

Techniques I used:
Joined and knitted in the round
Garter stitch in the round (knit one row, purl one row…so on)
Stockinette stitch in the round (knit all the rows)
3 needle BO
5 stitch i-cord
Felting

Changes I Made to the Pattern:
The only change I made to the pattern was to lengthen the straps by 6 inches. This turned out to be the right call, as I can wear the handbag over the shoulders.




What I Like About this Pattern:
Quick & easy project. Ability to use different yarns and different colors. Straps could be lengthened.

What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
Easy

Conclusion/Additional Comments:

I never really had an interest in felting a hand knitted project. I suppose I haven’t seen a felted project that caught my interest, until this project came along.

I first saw this felted bag at my LYS. A customer had brought in some knitted bags to be felted and then pulled a pretty black/multi color one that she had already felted. It was amazing to see this bag, before and after felting. I knew right away that I wanted a knit bag of my own.

The hardest part was trying to figure out which yarns to use and then what color combinations to use. Possibilities are endless. For this bag, I used similar colored yarns. I bought the Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Chianti (wine color) and came home to see what Noro yarn’s I had in my stash. The Silk Garden #282 was a perfect match.

It took about 4-5 hours to knit this bag and about 35 minutes to felt.

Another TNT pattern for me.


Before Felting Pictures:






Felting Process:

My LYS has a felting/agitating machine. I placed my bag in the machine. Added hot tap water, enough to cover my bag. Added a dime size amount of All liquid detergent (white bottle) and turned the machine on for 15 minutes for the initial agitation. Afterwards, I would check the bag by feeling the stitches/fabric. I set the machine for 10 more minutes and checked it again. I could still see the stitch definitions in the bag and the bag had shrunk. I set the timer for another 10 minutes and the bag came out perfectly. A felted fabric and nice size. I then placed the bag back into the machine with the soapy water and added a few drops of fabric softener to the water. I set the machine on 2 minutes, enough time for the soap bubbles to disintegrate. The fabric softener also gave the bag a nice scent.

The water had turned a nice light wine color and the machine had lots of fuzz/lint. I suppose that’s from the Lamb’s Pride yarn. I drained the machine into a bucket and used a fine mesh colander to scoop out any fuzz and lint.

The Lamb’s Pride had felted into a nice thick wool fabric with no stitch definitions. I understand that the Noro Silk Garden takes longer to felt. You can see some stitch definitions from the colorful Noro yarn. I like this effect.

NOTE: I am fortunate to have a LYS that has a special felting/agitating machine to felt my bag. I am certainly spoiled in this area. For those of you who will use a washing machine, your felting process, felting time and results will be different than what I’ve mentioned in this review.

Felted Bowl - Completed

Name of Pattern:
Felted Bowl

Designed by:
Leigh Radford for One Skein (book)

Pattern/Garment Description:
Taken from book: “I like colorful containers of every sort. Recently, I began making sturdy felted bowls and now have an assortment throughout my house. The bowls make colorful decorator accents and are ideal for organizing buttons, beads, yarn, keys, or other small objects that need a special place. I used a single color of yarn for each of the bowls...but imagine the fun you can have with stripes!”

Size(s):
Small (2.5”x17”) and Large (5.5”x18”) - height x circumference

I made the Large size bowl.

Yarns Used:
Plymouth Galway Highland Heather in 712-Brown: 210 yards/skein, 100% wool

I used two skeins and knitted with double stranded yarn

Gauge:
Not necessary

Knitting Tools Used:
Circular needles: 24 inch in size 13
DPNs: size 11
Bent tip tapestry needle (thread through the last few stitches and pull tightly)



Techniques I used:
Join and knit in the round
SSK
K2tog
Felting

Changes I Made to the Pattern:
No changes were made


What I Like About this Pattern:
Quick and easy knitting project


What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
Easy

Conclusion/Additional Comments:

I’ve been looking for man-ly type of gifts to knit for the upcoming Christmas holiday. Some of the men in my life live in a warm climate in the middle of winter. Wool scarves are frowned upon. So, I looked around and came across these functional felted bowls.

I’ve only had limited amount of knitting in the round skills and limited felting skills. I thought this would be a quick and easy knitting project, with a few challenges.

As I was knitting the bowl, it began to look more like knitting a hat (which I haven’t done one...yet). I ended up knitting 10 inches before starting the decreases for the base. I didn’t have #13 DPNs in my stash, so I ended up using my #11s for the decreases and finishing the base of the bowl. This unintentional change worked out fine.






I have to say this floppy looking bowl turned out to be a beautiful felted piece.




Felting Process:

My LYS has a felting/agitating machine. I placed my bowl in the machine. Added hot tap water, enough to cover my floppy bowl. I added a dime size amount of All liquid detergent (white bottle) and turned the machine on for 10 minutes for the initial agitation. Afterwards, I would check the bowl by feeling the stitches/fabric. The floppy bowl had shrunk considerable, but still felt floppy. I set the machine for 5 more minutes and checked it again. I could still see the stitch definitions in the bowl and it started to take the shape of a tall bowl. I set the timer for another 5 minutes and the bowl fabric was nice and thick. I could still see some ribbings of the stitches. I set the time for 3 minutes and let it agitate. I did another check and I could see I had a nice bowl. I then placed the bowl back into the machine with the soapy water and added a few drops of fabric softener to the water. I set the machine on 2 minutes, enough time for the soap bubbles to disintegrate. The fabric softener also made the bowl smell nice. This was a fascinating process to watch and experience.

The water had turned a nice light brown color and the machine had minimum amounts of fuzz/lint. I drained the machine into a bucket and used a fine mesh colander to scoop out any fuzz and lint.

The Galway had felted into a beautiful wool fabric.

NOTE: I am fortunate to have a LYS that has a special felting/agitating machine to felt my projects. I am certainly spoiled in this area. For those of you who will use a washing machine, your felting process, felting time and results will be different than what I’ve mentioned in this review.

Next Projects

I plan on knitting and felting several more bowls. For the next one, I plan on using blue yarn with a brightly colored Noro Kureyon yarn. I also plan on knitting the top rim/edge of the bowl in garter stitch and then the rest (base) in stockinette stitch.

A Chance to Felt...Knitting Projects and Other Things

I had the opportunity to felt my own knitting projects. My Vintage Bubble Bag and the Brown Bowl are drying. So far the Bag is taking 2 days to dry. My fault, I forgot to swap out the damp towels inside the bag for dry ones (overnight). I used small hand towels and stuffed them inside the bag to help shape the bag. I found a "lint shaver" at my local fabric store on sale for 50% off. I used it to shave the long pieces of lint/fuzz off the bag. The fuzz was not as bad as another felted bag I saw a few weeks ago.

The felted bowl came out beautiful! I wasn't too sure about felting with Plymouth Galway yarn, but I'm extremely happy with the results. I can now start knitting more bowls for gifts.



In the end, my bag took about 35 minutes to felt and the bowl took 25 minutes. I will be back to post a review for each of these items and my thoughts about felting.

CPH Status:
I've managed to work on CPH for a few hours. I'm getting ready to shape the front right neckline, do the decreases, and hopefully bind off the shoulders sometime tomorrow. I hope to start one of the sleeves this week.

On the Sewing Front:
I've been going through my pattern stash, looking for a needle case to sew. I'm in dire need to store my DPNs. I don't care to wrap them in rubber bands or dump them in a zippered case. I found a Butterick pattern that looks promising. It's for straight needles, but with some modifications I'm sure it will work to store my DPNs. Unfortunately, I can't start this sewing project until I finish my Christmas gifts. I'm hoping, maybe, Thanksgiving weekend I'll get to sew it.

Oh, I made a comment about being at my local fabric store and catching their 50% off notions sale. I also found a beautiful home dec remnant to make a simple tote bag to carry my knitting projects. That was also 50% off. I enjoy finding fantastic bargains.

I have a lot of projects to tackle as well as a lot of blogging to do over the next few days and weeks. Stay tuned!

Getting in Gear...Christmas Gifts

Christmas is right around the corner and I need to get myself into a fast knitting gear mode. Some of you have mentioned that I'm already a knitting machine. Thank you for the complement. :) Now I have to really crank it up a notch, if it's at all possible. My personal goal is to complete most of the gifts by the end of this month.

I've already casted on for a brown felted bowl. I'm using worsted weight yarn and knitting with two strands. I'm also knitting this project in the round, starting out with #13 - 24" circs and will start the decreases. I just realized I don't have #13 DPNs in my stash. I have #11s and #15s. I'm wondering if I should just use the #11s for the decreases and the bottom of the bowl. What do you think? The bowl will end up being felted. I'm not sure what it will look like going down a needle size. Anyways, do you realize how hard it is to find #13 DPNs???

I've started another cozy house socks. This time, I'm using a lighter worsted weight yarn to make the sock a bit more fitted. So far, it's working out nicely.

I have some other sewing projects in the works (tote bags, laundry bags, etc). I'm so glad I can knit and sew. With this combination, I should be able to get quite a bit done before the end of November.

Happy Knitting and Happy Sewing!

Another Project in the Works...Chianti

A few days ago, I started another small project called the Vintage Bubble Bag. Here it is still a WIP:



I've used two strands of yarn and knitted the bag in the round. I have been knitting the i-cord handles and I'm almost finished with the second handle. The next step is to attach the handles to the bag. Then I can felt it. I can't wait to see the end results.

I'm calling my bag Chianti. Named for the main color of yarn I'm using. I will be back in a few days with the results of my felted bag. Stay tuned!

Cozy House Socks - Completed

Wow! I'm really impressed with these socks. Can you believe I said that??? Still, I'm not a sock knitter. Don't get me wrong. There are just so many other things to knit and try out. Could I tackle another sock pattern? Sure! Now that I understand the structure of a hand knitted sock. ;)

I have to CO for another new small project that I'm anxious to start. Let me leave you with this post.


My first pair of socks! Wow...I could get used to taking these modeled pictures without wearing any makeup



Name of Pattern:
Cozy House Socks

Designed by:
Sue Dial for One Skein Wonders (book)

Pattern/Garment Description:
These cozy socks knit up fast and are an easy introduction to sock knitting. Pick a bulky worsted yarn and get busy. You can probably finish a pair this weekend.

I finished a pair within a weekend.

Size(s):
One size fits all

Yarns Used:
Bernat DenimStyle (70% Acrylic/30% Cotton) - 196 yards/skein - 18 sts/4 inches with #8 (label info)

This yarn has been in my stash for a few years. I used one skein and had a few yards left. What a wonderful way to use up this yarn.

Gauge:
18 sts/4 inches in St st with #7 needles

I had close gauge with #7s. I have to make a comment here. I've been noticing I don't get gauge with the yarns I purchase from Michael's (e.g. Lion Brand and Bernat and Patons). This is when I go by their yarn labels for the recommended needle size. I normally have to go down a needle size from what's suggested on the label.

On the other hand, when I do a swatch for the more expensive yarns from my LYS, I can actually get true gauge based on their yarn label recommendations (e.g. Debbie Bliss, Blue Sky Alpaca, Plymouth, Malabrigo, Berroco, Brown Sheep, Cascade, Noro, Sirdar, etc).

Interesting, huh?

Knitting Tools Used:
- Circular needles: 24 inch in size 7 for knitting the ribbing flat
- DPNs: size 7 for knitting the heel flap, shaping/turning the heel (short rows), heel gussets, foot, toe, and kitchener technique
- Bent tip tapestry needle (seaming ribbed cuff and weaving in ends)

Techniques I used:
- Knitting in the round with DPNs
- Short rows
- Picking up stitches around the heel
- Kitchener stitch for closing the toe area
- K2tog & SSK
- Seaming (the cuff)





Changes I Made to the Pattern:
No changes were made to the pattern. I recommend following the pattern verbatim.

What I Like About this Pattern:
It's a great pattern. Well written. Easy to knit sock pattern. My first pair!

This One Skein Wonder book is one of my favorites. When I got to the Kitchener stitch, the book referenced the glossary in the back to see how this stitch is worked.

What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
I rate this pattern as Easy/Intermediate. An Advanced Beginner with a lot of knitting experience could easily tackle this project.


Conclusion/Additional Comments:

I started out on circulars, knitting the ribbed cuff flat. Then I changed to 2 DPNs to knit the heel flap (flat & short rows). Once I started to pickup and knit the heel gussets, I added two more needles to the mix. Personally, I think this was a great way to introduce DPNs into this project and get a lot of practice. This knitting process is based on the pattern instructions. That's why I recommend you follow them and get the same wonderful results I received.


The ribbed cuff that needs to be sewn together


It took me awhile to get used to knitting with 4 DPNs. By the time I completed the first sock, I felt quite comfortable with the 4 needles. I plan on making a pair for hubby and of course, will have to make some pattern adjustments to accommodate his foot size.

This has become one of my TNT patterns for cozy socks to wear around the house. It was a quick and easy knit. My first sock took about 5 hours to knit. The second sock took about 3-1/2 hours to knit. Yes, I got into a knitting sock tempo.