Tag: stashbusting

Posted in knitting

Friday Finish: Back to Stashbusting

Posted on by Laura Kate

And back to a favorite designer, Kate Davies, of KateDaviesDesign. This pattern for adult booties was included in her recent publication Margery Allingham’s Mysterious Knits, but it was also released individually on Ravelry.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slippers-bellew

The yarn I am using is from Ewetopia, a Christmas gift from my daughter. Ewetopia is a Wisconsin yarn maker headquartered in Viroqua. The fibers are mysterious, described by the maker simply as “it’s all good.” I used all but half an ounce of the generously sized ball.

Here is a view of the 3-needle bind-off, which closes the foot and circles the ankle.

The heavy-worsted two-ply yarn refused to give me gauge, even when knit with the size 4 needle. Consequently, I cast on 44 stitches instead of the 52 as instructed.

This decision required some minor adjustments as I went along. But I am an acolyte of the Elizabeth Zimmerman school of knitting. She reminds me that I am the boss of my own knitting, and need not be cowed into submission by a designer.

The resulting booties are a perfect fit for my size 6 1/2 feet. I expect to wear them while lounging, but not for any vigorous walking indoors. They slide smoothly across wooden floors. A fun game for the young, but not recommended for those of us with less than perfect bones.

Posted in knitting

Friday Finish – Baby Jacket from Stash Yarn

Posted on by Laura Kate

Even though the description on the pattern suggested that I would finish in 5 hours, I took my time. It actually took me five evenings to finish this project.

The pattern I used is by Franklin Habit:

https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/franklin/511695736/webp/fwf-61-threequarter-5hbj_small2.webp#jpg

Front view of jacket. I used a vintage button from my mother’s collection.

Back View

It really was a delightful knit. I am so thrilled that the yarn combination created an interesting and sturdy fabric. I held two yarns together to achieve the look.

Now there are two less balls of yarn in my stash. With the ball of yellow yarn remaining, I plan to knit some baby beanies.

Anyone out there in Blogville have some patterns to suggest?

Posted in knitting

Finished by Friday

Posted on by Laura Kate

In the past week, two events motivated the completion of this Mindless Knitting blanket, which I had cast on in January of this year.

  1. My friend gave me three skeins of neutral-hued acrylic yarn.
  2. I learned of a blanket donation program happening on Mother’s Day.

I chose a mid-tone gray skein and worked up the last stripe. It took one or two evenings to complete. The next evening, I continued with the gray, working a single crochet stitch into the bind off, then worked around the perimeter of the blanket, so that this somewhat improvised design had a more finished-looking edge.

Before I wove in the ends, I decided to give it a wash in my machine. Due to the variety of yarns used, (some were mystery fibers) I was skeptical about the Franken-blanket’s ability to withstand machine washing. And while it did shrink up in a minimal fashion, the washed blanket showed no felting or fuzzing. I dried it flat, then wove in the yarn ends. Here is the finished product, displayed on my guest bed.

I never got a final measurement before delivering the blanket to the church’s collection spot, but I would guess it was at least 44″ long and almost as wide. It will function quite well as a lap blanket for a mom, or even a mom and child.

This project used up most of my worsted weight acrylic. I mindfully returned the two unused yarns to my friend, who accepted the returns with good grace. This project used up a bit of her stash also, but maybe not so much as she had hoped. My stash still has some acrylic baby yarns in sport or fingering weight. I put them together in a project bag, and one day I will find a pattern that will Bust Them Down.

Posted in knitting

WIP Wednesday: Abstract Rainbow Blanket

Posted on by Laura Kate

This piece of knitting has been in the background of my life for about three months. It is going to be a lap blanket, fashioned in the style of a log cabin block and knitted out of stash skeins.

I’ve modeled my blanket after a Garn Studio Drops design called Abstract Rainbow

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/203-2-abstract-rainbow

The main difference between the actual pattern and my work is that I didn’t follow any instructions. I just improvised based on the look of the DROPS pattern.

So here I am so far:

I quickly used up all of my stash acrylics within the first four stripes. Stubbornly refusing to buy yarn, I cadged my friend into giving me some of her acrylic skeins in similar colorways. After using all the yarn she gave me, the blanket was still not big enough. I gritted my teeth and purchased one Hobby Lobby cream colored skein.

The blanket is now about 42 inches square and I am sitting here with the left-overs, pondering my next move.

My brain tells me that a crocheted border would allow all the leftovers to be worked in. But my gut is resisting this move. I can’t help myself; I have a prejudice against the craft of crochet.

Okay knitters, what would you do? And how big does a lap blanket have to be?