Free Pattern: Simple Neck Warmer

7.00mm Pony bamboo straight knitting needles + 2 skeins Amuri 8 ply in Navy + 6 hours of alone time

Pattern:

CO 60st

*Knit till end of row, turn

K2 then purl till last 2st before end of row, K2, turn*

Rep. from * - *

Continue till desired length

Join both ends to make loop

Variation:

You can CO 120st and get more yarn to make the loop bigger and turn the neck warmer into a snood.

Single loop

Double loop

Worn double loop

Free Pattern: Kim Kardashian's Beanie

Free pattern youtube tutorial "Kim Kardashian's Beanie" on iKnits.  

There's a link to her written pattern on her youtube tutorial, which helped a lot in figuring out what to do.

 I used about 100gr of cashmere merino Zealana Yarn with 5mm Karbonz Knitpro knitting needles.

  

I'm liking the simpleness of the pattern, straight forward just follow each step and you'll be fine.
Yet to wear the beanie, but cuteness overload promised.

Free Pattern: The Owl (Dress) Pattern

The thing about crochet that my daughter always says is that it makes the wearer looks sexy.  That's why she's still opting to go with her plain T-shirt and leggings.

I have been wanting to find a great crochet dress pattern that is easy but not too easy that I became bored.

This owl (modified pineapple) pattern is just the solution for my need.

The person who made the pattern has a great youtube tutorial, although I did get lost from time to time, so I wrote down my own hack, especially for the underarm connection.  Instead of 23 chains, I made mine 33 chains.

My daughter did point out that after some time, I probably don't understand what I wrote.  So if you have any question, write me a comment and I'll see what I can remember.

 I used about 200gr of 30%Bamboo 70%Cotton yarn & 2.5mm Tulip hook.

The dress turned out more of a tunic.  A change to the pattern I'd like to make if I had enough yarn would be lengthening the sleeves.

Then I tried making a top for my daughter using the same type of yarn, about 100gr in ombre colour and a 3mm Knitpro Waves Aluminium Hook.

She doesn't wear blue, so I made another one in ombre yellow, about 100gr and I used a 2,5mm KnitPro Waves Aluminium Hook.

Given a bit more yarn in my stash, I lengthened the sleeves, stopping at the top part of the pineapple.

 As for the bottom part, I stopped at the eyes of the owl, since I was running out of yarn.

The verdict: Free pattern youtube tutorial helped a lot, but the crucial sleeves part need to be adjusted from case to case basis.

FREE PATTERN: Neck Warmer

Karbonz size 4.00 mm with 40cm cable

Only 1,5 balls needed (approx.150gr)

My favourite way to wear neck warmer

  
 

 Materials:
- 1 ball + around 20 gr (leftovers) Zealana Tui Chunky weight (70% Merino, 15% Cashmere, 15% Brushtail Possum)
- size 4.00mm circular knitting needles with 40cm cable
- 2 stitch markers

FREE PATTERN: Snuggles

There are some changes made to the pattern because I realised there's not enough yarn to make what the pattern called for.

I was also worried about the end result looking like a bib because of the split at the sides, so I decided to just work with what leftover yarn I have and just wing it at the end.
The result was the front side had 4 rows of garter and the back side only got 2 rows and the entire thing only stretches to about 30+cm.

One thing I like working with chunky weights is that you get to see result so quickly, it makes you want to do another and another and another.

Happy knitting :)

Arctic Ready Meditation Poncho

When a dear one asked me to make a poncho for meditation, I never thought it was going to be a "project".  I thought, oh yeah, ponchos, what could be so hard about it?  No sleeves, no collars,  no pockets, no zippers, sweet....

I used 24 balls Zealana Kauri worsted weight (60% fine NZ Merino, 30% Brushtail Possum, 10% Mulberry Silk) in Red Tuhi.
With 2 strands, I needed 6.00 mm circular KARBONZ Knit Pro Interchangeable Needles (yes they do feel supple and light, far from the generic one I used to have).

This is for a large size so, I started with connecting 2 cables of 40cm with the connector (this is the part that I hate most because sometimes they come undone, even after I fastened it with the fastener).  It makes me curious about the ADDI click system.

The pattern is worked from bottom up and very simple, that's why I added the cable in the middle to add some texture.  It's just garter at the bottom, garter for the sides with stockinette in the middle.  Then hood has to be worked back and forth and garter on it's sides.  Sew up the mid section of the hood together.
Then I added a little button with crochet hook and some chains to hook it up.

This is too big for me but in this soaring heat, only I would volunteer modelling it.

The back

The front

Some knitters opt not to work with possum yarn because they kill the animals to take the fur as oppose to just shearing them.  NZ do have a problem with possum as they are pests.  I just have a problem with the steep pricing they have for these yarns.

Alternate use when stored: plush pillow

The evidence

Helping NZ control pests a stitch at a time

Till next time Zealana yarn

FREE PATTERN: Tsubaki Cotton Hat & Cute Bolero

Tsubaki Cotton Hat & Cute Bolero

Free Pattern for hat: Tsubaki Cotton Hat

Free Pattern for bolero: Cute Bolero

Word of warning for the Tsubaki Cotton Hat: it's not an adult size pattern.  Perhaps my head is on the big side (58 cm circ.) and it is genetic?  The picture in the free pattern clearly shows an adult but I followed the pattern and it fits my daughter.

I used 2 strands of yarn for the hat but only the bamboo yarn for the bolero since I didn't want it to be too thick.
Hat used up 1 skein each, bolero used up almost 2 skeins.

Overall, the patterns were easy to follow, although some self adjustments were made when it came to the hat's brim and the pattern of the bolero.

Knitpro Crochet Hook 3mm

FREE PATTERN: Frilly Scarf

Materials:
- unknown brand of yarn, fingering weight, use 2 strands at once, 4 skeins of approximately 50g each.
- 5.00 mm crochet hook

Free Pattern: Frilly Scarf

The thing I love about this site is that the pattern is pretty much self explanatory with minimum words and some diagrams.

I did reworked the scarf twice (yes, painful, but it was a self fulfilling prophecy) because the yarn colour I had bought from the same batch was yielding different shade!
Lesson learnt: be careful when selecting a presumably same coloured yarn in a bag, check it thoroughly that they are the same shade!
Restarted again using the different shade worked together, instead of same shade worked together and ending up with different shade at the tip.

This is a surprise project for a friend, which is now missing in the mail since November 2013, just like the flight MH 370.
I hope whoever decided to retrieve this gift in the end, appreciates and love it as much as I loved making it.

FREE: Pattern- Two Tone Brimmed Beanie

For crown measurement 60cm (XL)

Materials:
- Bamboo Yarn (70% cotton, 30% bamboo yarn) 3 skeins of 50gr each (2 main colour, 1 contrasting colour)
- Crochet hook size 3mm
- Patience

Measure:
- Crown diameter
- Drop height to bottom of ear
- Desired brim width

Stitches needed:
- Chain = ch
- Single Crochet (on the magic ring if not doing chain for the first row) = sc
- Slip Stitch = ss
- Double Crochet = dc
- Front Post Double Crochet = fpdc
- Back Post Double Crochet = bpdc

Method:
- I followed "Basic Double Crochet hat with instructions on how to make a hat a great fit every time" (on her page, scroll down for free pdf file Bobwilson123)/ "Basic Beanie" (youtube video) for the crown, with a bit of modification.
Instead of chaining and joining the chain to form a circle at the beginning, I made a magic circle ("Crochet Geek" on youtube has an excellent library of these basic crochet technique) and made the needed stitches for the first row.
Here I made:
Row 1: 12 sc on the magic circle, ss to first stitch, 1 sc, ch 1 (instead of ch 3, do not count as stitch)
Row 2: increase row, 2 dc on each sc (total 24 dc), ss, 1 sc, ch 1
Row 3: *1 dc on first stitch, 2 dc on second stitch* repeat *to* (total 36 dc), ss, 1sc, ch 1
Row 4: *1 dc on first stitch, 1 dc on second stitch, 2 dc on third stitch* repeat *to*(total 48 dc), ss, 1sc, ch 1
Row 5: *1dc on first stitch, 1 dc on second stitch, 1 dc on third stitch, 2 dc on fourth stitch* repeat *to* (total 60 dc), ss, 1sc, ch 1
I continued the increasing pattern until Row 15 (total 180 dc), after ss, 1sc, ch 1, I start the cross stitch pattern.  This stitch pattern will only work with even numbered stitches.

- The pattern I used was the "Cross Stitch Hat" (on her page, scroll down for free pdf file Bobwilson123)/ "Cross Stitch Hat" (youtube video).
Here I made the cross stitch pattern from Row 16 to Row 31.
Since this is for the side of the head, no increase is made within this section, you should still end up with the same number of stitches you started with after you stop the increase round, i.e. I ended up with 180 stitches.

- The contrasting colour is added after you do the first fpdc at the start of the brim row.
Row 32: *main colour fpdc on first stitch, ss to join contrasting colour fpdc on second stitch* repeat *to*, take both yarn when ss, 1sc, ch 1
Row 33: *main colour bpdc on first stitch, contrasting colour bpdc on second stitch* repeat *to*, take both yarn when ss, 1sc, ch 1
I did 4 sets of repeat Row 32 to Row 33, do as many as you wish, depending on how wide you want the brim.

This is an extra large beanie and I used a fairly thin ply yarn hence the many rows and stitches.  If you are using an chunkier yarn, e.g. 8 ply onwards, you only need fewer stitches and rows.  The first row (the magic ring row) may only need 6 to 10 stitches.

Feel free to use this pattern but please refer it back to my url site.

Have fun :)

Tied Up for a While

I have been really tied up for a while, literally, tied up.

I am in this knot, deep.  Got it bad and here to stay.  Love the smiles I get when they have their finished product and the fact that I can do this anywhere, unbounded by where the sewing machine is, I'm loving it more.

Some are still work in progress due to lack of yarn.  Patience is really tested when the yarn will take a while to arrive.  I hate unfinished things.  

Thanks to Clare at bobwilson123 for her very good tutorials to start me up hooking.  

Here are some of the hats done with her patterns, the basic beanie and criss cross stitch.

Trying out working with 2 different coloured yarns