| Free Patterns |
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Sale Patterns |
- Phlox Socks - the Robyn's Nest June Sock Club
Pattern will be for sale as of October 1 2008
(You can email me or leave a comment and I will notify you when the pattern is available.)
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| I Want to Knit |
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| Tuesday, September 23, 2008 |
| kat-tun |
You people are good!  I can't believe it was guessed! And by two of you, no less! Good job! Yes, I actually knit a Japanese "boy band". During Secret Pal 12, my pal posted the following photo, with the explanation that it was a band she loved and she wished she could go see playing (they were in Japan at the time).
 Seeing those cute little cartoony figures reminded me of the Pocket Pal I'd knit for Jakob a loooong time ago (Ravelry link), and I had a brain-wave. I'd knit her her very own boy band!
I used the basic shape of the Pocket Pal design, and changed the colors/clothing to reflect the cartoon figures.
All the KAT-TUN members were knit with scraps of Anchor and DMC embroidery floss, and on size 2.5mm needles.
If I knit more Pocket Pals with floss I would go down to a 2.25mm or even a 2mm needle, as I found them a little loose when stuffing. However, I think my next batch would be with worsted weight yarn, to have larger toys for my kids to play with.
 AKANISHI JIN He was the first one I completed, and I realized belatedly that he should have long sleeves, and not short sleeves, as I accidentally knit.
 NAKAMARU YUICHIYou can barely tell, but I actually knit his pants in fair isle to get the plaid effect of the original.
 TANAKA KOKIIf I were to change the pattern, I would only work 2 rows of the white shirt, instead of 4. I find it wider than the illustration and it bugs me. You can't see it in this photo, but I actually used silver floss for the chain hanging around his waist.
 KAMENASHI KAZUYAI had fun with this one, although his hair left much to be desired. If you look closely, you can even see the fringe I embroidered below his leather jacket!
 TAGUCHI JUNNOSUKEI should have stuffed this one more, but misjudged how much I would actually need. Luckily he's so busy with his funky jacket and pink waist-scarf, that you can barely tell. UEDA TATSUYA I struggled with how to include the gauzy over-shirt this guy is wearing, but in the end I decided to omit it. My photo doesn't show it, but I did include the white patches on each shoulder.  Here's the back view of the 6. Please ignore the jog on the black & white striped shirt!
Here's the group shot with all 6 lined up in front of their respective cartoon icons. I am very pleased with how they turned out, but they weren't for me, after all...
Want to know what my secret pal thought? To see her reaction, and the cute box I sent them in, click here.
Labels: Akanishi Jin, FO, Kamenashi Kazuya, KAT-TUN, my patterns, Nakamaru Yuichi, Pocket Pals, secret pal 12, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya |
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:50 am   |
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| Monday, September 15, 2008 |
| strangeness |
I tried posting a few times on Saturday and for some reason I could read other Blogger blogs, but not connect to my own. Weird!
I just realized I never showed you the finished BSJ, nor my recent progress on the Pinwheel Blankie (which might actually end up finished this week!). I need to clear some room on my camera's memory card, but check this space for those photos very soon!Labels: Baby Surprise Jacket, FO, Pinwheel Blanket, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:22 pm |
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| Thursday, September 04, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 6 |
The finished pillow! Yay!
After finishing the front, I cast on for the back. The back was worked in 2 overlapping sections so that the pillow could come out easily for laundering/changing of the cover. My original intent was to leave it as is, but once seamed, the center of the back kept gaping, so I added a row of buttons. Had I had more time, and a proper plan in place, I might have sewn down a strip of Velcro instead.
 When it came time to join the front to the back I had been planning on working icord but since speed was still a factor (I had to mail it to Mary Maxim before the contest deadline) I chose the easiest and fastest way for me- single crochet. For fun I decided to use white around the blue areas, and blue around the white areas.
 And there you have it. One completed Hanukah Dreidel Pillow. Not a contest winner, but makes me proud enough to see it come out of my head and land on my couch.
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:41 am |
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| Thursday, August 28, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 5 |
We're almost there!
The next step was to use more Patons Brilliant, this time in a shiny gold color, to duplicate-stitch the dreidel game letters in the four corners of the pillow.
 Another closeup for you!
 I know I said this before, but it continued to amaze me how much the finished product looked like my original sketch and computer design. I know it *should* look like what I wanted, but to see such an accurate representation tickled me every time I'd lay them side-by-side.
Almost done now...
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:30 pm |
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| Wednesday, August 27, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 4 |
We're getting there, folks. Won't be long now!
Once the white "ridges" were complete, I did the letters on the dreidel itself.
 Another closeup. While the white ridges were done using the same yarn as for the background (Patons Shetland Chunky), the lettering was done using Patons Brilliant, a thinner, stiffer, metallic yarn.
 Because this was a contest submission we had to use yarns from the contest sponsors, including Patons, Bernat, Diamond and Kertzer.
I know I'm teasing this out instead of just showing a finished object and being done with it. Sorry to do that, but I can't show you what I'm actually working on as I am busy swatching for a few submissions I'd like to put out.
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:52 am |
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| Saturday, August 23, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 2 |
The next step for the Hanukah Dreidel Pillow was to do the shading on the dreidel itself. I used a dark orange shade and duplicate-stitched over the gold.
 In case you were wondering, I deliberately stuck with a white, blue and gold color theme. The Israeli flag's colors are blue and white, and I felt like the gold was a nice holiday addition. I didn't want to mix in too many other colors.
 Here's the closeup at this stage. There were one or two spots where I had to go back over a stitch a second time to get good coverage, but you really can't tell.
More coming soon!
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:00 am |
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| Wednesday, August 20, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 1 |
A few days ago I received my Hanukah Dreidel Pillow back in the mail. That was the entry I had submitted to the Mary Maxim design contest. Since I didn't win or place, the rights to the pattern stay with me, which means I can share it with you.
I decided to share a bit of my thoughs and my process on this pattern. I had a really hard time with the design. It wasn't coming up with an idea- I knew I was entering the "Knit or Crochet - Holiday Craft" section of the contest. I had a TON of ideas that I really, really liked. The problem? I really, really liked them.
See, I didn't realize until after I'd sent in my entry fee that were I to win or place, Mary Maxim would get the rights to the pattern. That means that if they were honorable, my name would appear somewhere on it as the actual designer...but other than the contest prize, I wouldn't get anything for the pattern, regardless of how popular it might prove to be.
This made designing tough- I wanted to submit something I was proud of, but at the same time I wanted to keep any "really good" ideas to myself, so if I were ever to knit them, I would get to keep the rights to them.
I knew I wanted to design something Hanukah-related. The majority of the holiday crafts in Mary Maxim are Christmas-themed (which may in part explain why I didn't place, lol) and I wanted to do something to help celebrate another religion. In the end I had the idea to work up a pillow cover with a dreidel on it.
My first step was to swatch. The navy yarn is Patons Shetland Chunky. (If you remember this post, you'll remember when I bought all the yarns I had considered using).
 Once I had my gauge calculated, I started testing some duplicate stitch and embroidery. I had originally planned on having some lettering on the pillow, and I wasn't sure which method would have provided better results. The yellow yarn used for the embroidery was more Shetland Chunky, and the red one is Patons Brilliant.
The pillow cover was worked in 3 sections (the front, and the 2 back halfs) that were seamed at the end. Here is a photo of the front in progress. The design for the front had a white background with a navy block in each corner.
 Once I had my gauge worked out I was able to properly plan the design. I printed off some knitters graph paper to my specific gauge (I like the template here) and started sketching.
I had an outline done by hand then switched to the computer to chart it out in Excel. I didn't care if my Excel chart was to scale, because I already knew that my drawing was to scale. (In other words, if my knitter's graph paper drawing to scale had the corner boxes be 30 sts by 40 rows, then I would color in 30 boxes by 40 boxes in my Excel spreadsheet, etc.) I didn't want to complicate my life by having too many dangling ends, so I broke the pattern down into sections. The background (white and navy) and the main dreidel color (gold) were knit using intarsia to have one flat background. Everything else in the image would be done in duplicate stitch. I forgot to take a photo of the original, plain background, but here you can see it after the first round of duplicate stitch. Just like in cross stitch, where you work a section of one color before switching to another, I did my pattern in layers. Also, knowing how duplicate stitch actually builds up the layers of fabric, I worked in order from the most recessed to the most forwards. So my plan was to start with the background shading, then do the dreidel shading, and last do the letters.
In this image you can see my printed Excel chart and the pillow front with the black shading done around the right and lower edges of the dreidel. (In the chart, the completed shadow sections are highighted in pink, but you can barely see it).  Here's a closeup. The duplicate stitch came out pretty even and had good coverage- that was what I was afraid of most, that the gold would show through. (Luckily, in planing ahead, I knew that other than the letters, I was working darker colors over light).
 I learned that I like my duplicate stitch better when I work from top to bottom, either in rows or columns. I'm not as crazy about the result when I tested it from bottom to top. I found that working top-down causes the stitches below the ones completed to close up any gaps, whereas when you work bottom-up you need to pierce the center of the stitch you just did then move away, possibly separating the stitch and allowing the base color to show through.
Coming soon - more on the Hanukah Dreidel Pillow...Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:46 pm |
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| Tuesday, July 01, 2008 |
| introducing...Phlox Socks |
It's July 1st, and with that comes two things...
1) It's Canada Day! (Happy Canada Day)
2) I get to show you the Phlox Socks. So...ta da!
 (size small shown above, size x-large shown below)  The Phlox Socks are the pattern I designed for the Robyn's Nest June Sock Club kit. They feature an optional lace cuff, a flower appliqué with a center bead, a short-row heel and ribbing that flows seamlessly into the lace design. (The ribbing is underneath the lace cuff- so you have the pretty outside and the functional inside). The pattern is written for sizes small through x-large (7.5"-9") but due to the stretchability of lace patterns, fits 8.25"-9.75" and may even fit larger. The yarn is from Biscotte & Cie ( etsy shop here) and is really soft, plus her yardage can't be beat! I knit one x-large sock and one small, and have enough yarn left over to knit a second x-large sock for a complete pair. The colorway is called Alexandrite in the pattern, but that specific color was exclusive to the sock club. The pattern calls for a 2.5 mm needle, and is written for both dpns and the Magic Loop method, with specific instructions for each methods when necessary.
 (optional flower appliqué with center bead)
Again, the pattern will only be available for sale as of October 1st, but if you email me (or send me a message through Ravelry) I'll put you on the mailing list with a reminder in October.
Labels: FO, my published patterns, Phlox Socks |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:44 pm |
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| and then there were four... |
Yes folks, another dishcloth has sprung forth from my needles. I feel like all I've done all week is knit ballband dishcloths- you'd almost never have known that I had my mom's retirement dinner on Wednesday, went to the West Island knitting meetup on Thursday, went for dinner with Yannick, Jakob, Maaike and her daughter on Friday...well, you *would* have known about that stuff if I'd posted better over the week. Sorry!
Friday after dinner Maaike and her daughter came over, and once the kids were in bed we popped in Meet the Spartans on DVD and knit and laughed. (Nothing is better than Kevin Sorbo's "whee" after a particularily amusing skipping dance to I Will Survive!) I cast on for this dishcloth and got through about half before going up to bed. Saturday I had off, so I managed to finish the cloth during Jakob's afternoon nap, while we watched Walk Hard. (It was cute, but Meet the Spartans was laugh-out-loud funnier).
 Same pattern, same yarns, different color. All the details are already up on Ravelry, but I'll post them here once the full gift basket is complete.
 Depending on how much time I have by Saturday, this 4 will be matched with 4 others. If I really run out of time, I'll split these 4 up into the two parts of the gift that I wanted to have dishcloths.
 We'd rented 2 more movies when returning the first 2, so Saturday night I got more knitting done during Beowulf. It was much more entertaining than I'd remembered from reading it in university...although I'd read the early English, 11th century (or whatever) version, not a funky modern version with a smoking-hot Grendel's mother and some major storyline changes. It was an odd feeling to keep thinking I was watching an extended cut-scene in a videogame, but it was a good movie, all and all.
I took the time to fix and finish Velvet Oblivion. First I made a small cut and unpicked the joining round of the black Boa border. Once it was detatched I made sure that the mask itself wasn't cupping- it wasn't. It was huge, but relatively flat. Good. Next I picked up over double the amount of stitches I'd picked up the first time. Instead of following the pattern, I picked up stitches as frequently as I could around. I knit 1 extra row with the Boa to add a little extra depth of the border since my mask was so much bigger than the finished size of the actual pattern. Once that was done I bound off with my fingers crossed. It worked- there was no more cupping.
 I haven't unpacked my black elastic I'd bought for this project years ago, and wanted to finish the pattern without waiting until the next day to run out to the store. I was afraid to attach a single tie and have the mask gape at the outside of the eyes or down on the cheeks, so I came up with (what I think is) a good idea. I took a really looooong length of yarn and folded it in half. I tied a knot about 7" down from the fold, leaving a skinny loop. I left that loop to be the tie, and sewed each of the other ends in a V shape to one side of the mask. I repeated it on the other side, and when I was done I had a mask that held nicely over the temple and near the cheek, with ties that joined together near the back of the head, with the loop after the knot being the length to tie the bow with. (Clear as mud?) The reason I'd tied the yarn in half before attaching it to the mask, as opposed to just tying lengths to each side, is so there would be no cut end of the yarn exposed that could fray over time. The yarn itself could wear out, but I think it would take longer than a cut end.
Labels: Ballband Dishcloth, FO, Velvet Oblivion |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:17 am |
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| Thursday, June 26, 2008 |
| yet more dishcloths |
On Tuesday night I finished the green & white dishcloth.
 You can see there is 1 tiny mistake where I forgot to slip the white stitch and accidentally knit it- but I like leaving a mistake in every project (except commissioned ones), so I'm not going to fix it.
 The back is pretty, in its own way. I wouldn't knit a sweater like this...but it's not horrible.
The same night I cast on for a pink & white one.
 I finished it tonight at the West Island Knits meetup.
 I couldn't get any knitting done last night because we had my mom's retirement dinner. It was a lovely night with good food and some really great speeches, but I was zonked by the time I got home, and after chatting with my friend Debbie (who had babysat for us) I just crashed and went right to bed.
I'm going to do one more in orange and white (so they all can clash, lol) then will move on to some other parts of this gift package. Then, if I have time before the party, I will do a few more of these in other colors. I have a CRAZY story to share, but it is a long post and I'm wiped, so I will head off to bed, and leave you in suspense until tomorrow... Labels: Ballband Dishcloth, FO |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:25 pm |
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| Monday, June 23, 2008 |
| the good, the bad and the ugly (long) |
Sorry for the radio silence, but I went to Toronto for the weekend and don't like to advertise on the blog that I'm going away. (Although I think I did mention that I was going away...I just didn't want to confirm "I'm leaving NOW").
Do you think it was overly optimistic to have packed this much yarn for one weekend?
 Asked me if I used even one-eighth of it. Go on, ask me.
My mom, our cousin Mona, Jakob and I left on Friday morning. I sat in the back with Jakob and finished Eden's Shrug. The photos I'd taken in the car came out awful, so here are some nicer ones that I took the next afternoon at my aunt's place (where we stayed).
 The shrug came out really cute! It was such a fast knit, and I love the fabric obtained by using the Cotton Look on slighty larger needles than normal. I was worried it looked HUGE for the 12 month size, but I tried it on Jakob and it was only a little loose, which is perfect. (No photos of my son in a pink bolero, sorry!)
 Here's the back view. You can almost tell how light and sheer this is if you look at where the back is lying on the fronts- you can just see through it. It is EXACTLY what I wanted to achieve and I'm really, really happy with how it turned out. Having finished the shrug and still having about an hour to go in the drive (I didn't knit the whole time- Jakob refused to sleep and I had to keep him distracted) I pulled out the yarn and pattern to knit the Velvet Oblivion ( Ravelry link) from Knitty. This was the first project I had ever bought yarn for that became stash, and it has been sitting in my stash since the summer of 2004 when the pattern came out. I'm putting together a gift package for my cousin's fiancé's bridal shower in 2 weeks, and I wanted to include a luxurious face mask. It is a PAIN to knit because I didn't realize my yarn was slightly thicker than the yarn called for in the patter, and the needle size is deliberately smaller to obtain a blackout fabric. Still, I was cruising along when IT happened:  See that missing spot on the upper right? I'd had to force the needle into one of the stitches and didn't realize that I'd actually torn the core thread that holds the chenille yarn together. I didn't realize it until 3 rows later when the ends worked their way free and I suddenly had a hole in the knitting. Had this been almost any other yarn I could have fixed it later, but trying to fix an aran-bulky weight yarn knit with 3.5mm needles in garter stitch with NO stitch definition was not my idea of something to do. I had no choice- I cut the yarn and started over.
At that point we arrived in Toronto. We had just enough time to wait for Mona to get picked up (she was visiting her daughter who recently moved to TO), change and leave for the out-of-towner's dinner. We were supposed to be there for 6:30. We only arrived in Toronto at 7:00. Whoops! Luckily almost everyone was still there when we strolled in around 7:45, and there was still food for us.
Go figure Jakob didn't nap all day, not a single time during the (took us) 7 hour drive. His usual bedtime is 7:15pm. Once we'd got him changed and back into the car to go to the dinner, it was 7:30. We hadn't made it 3 blocks before he fell asleep. The 10 minutes it took us to get to the dinner was enough to recharge his batteries, though, as he fell asleep when I tried to transfer him to the stroller I'd brought, and he kissed, flirted and charmed his way through the rest of the night.
By the time we got back to my aunt's house and were changing into pjs my dad and Yannick arrived. They'd come down together later in the evening so they could get a mostly-full day of work in. I put Jakob to bed then crashed myself.
Saturday we had to rush to get everyone up, dressed and fed so we could be at my cousin's Bar Mitzvah (the reason we'd driven down). We left the house at Jakob's usual morning-nap time, and he fell asleep en route. This time I had more luck and was able to transfer him to the stroller without waking him. He slept through the first hour of the services, and once he woke up Yannick took him into the lobby area to play for the next 2 hours. At that point we were all starving, and they opened up a lunch buffet.
By 1:30 we were on our way back to my aunt's house and it was right in time for Jakob's usual afternoon nap, so the plan was to put him down and I'd knit while my parents went to walk around Yonge street, and Yannick went for a drive to continue listening to the last Harry Potter book on CD. (Don't say anything- I haven't finished it yet!). The plan worked...for everyone but me. Jakob REFUSED to nap. I had decided a few months ago that even if he didn't nap, if we were home or at work and were able to stick to his usual schedule, then 2-4pm he'd be in his crib. It didn't matter if he cried or played, but he was staying in his crib until 4. He cried for about 20 minutes then started playing with his dolls and blanket, and I managed to get some knitting done on the Velvet Oblivion. I was worried that it looked too big, but it was hard to get it stretched out properly on the needles, so I decided to deal with it later. I was right about to join in the fun-fur yarn, when Jakob woke up.
 This is the look I got for trying to get his attention away from the remote he was after. I'd rearranged my aunt's couches and ottoman to make a safe play area, and we knit/played until it was time to get ready for the Bar Mitzvah party that evening. (The morning part was the services in synagogue, the night-time part was the big party with a 4-course meal, dj, casino setup, sweet table, etc).
While Yannick got himself ready I got Jakob dressed, then myself. Last-minute I decided that Jakob wasn't fully dressed without a funky hairdo.
You like? ;] We had been joking with the Bar Mitzvah boy's mom (my cousin) about how the invitations said "casually elegant", as a code for "no jeans". We decided that Jakob's faux-hawk would be just the right touch to throw the "casual" into his look. The night was a big success. Jakob fell asleep on the way to the party but woke up immediately when the car stopped and spent the rest of the night staring after the laser light displays. He was clearly exhausted but didn't make a single fuss, and charmed the waitresses by blowing them kisses all night. He was an absolute angel and we left as soon as we could to bring him home and put him to bed. On Sunday one of my other cousins was throwing a brunch for our close family, so while everyone else was getting ready, I set up the couch area for Jakob again and finished the Velvet Oblivion face mask. I'm not considering it a "finished object" yet, though.  Once it was off the needles, it had some serious flaws. Forgetting the fact that it is larger than normal, following the directions for the fun-fur part led to the entire outer edge being pulled in too tight (too few stitches to go around).  The result is this- a face mask that looks a lot more like a funky bra. I was going to completely start over, but I think I'll first start by undoing the Boa yarn and redoing it with enough stitches to avoid the cupping. If it looks good, albeit large, I'll keep it as is. If it still ends up crappy then I'll remake it and fudge the numbers to end up with a smaller result.
We went to the brunch where Jakob had a blast with his little cousins, then the three of us went to meet Eden. She was absolutely adorable and it was great to see her parents again. I really don't see them enough since they live so far away. When we left them it was time to hop on the 401 East and head home. The drive took about 7 hours again, but just as on the drive down, we stopped twice (it's usually about a 5 hour drive). Jakob did sleep for about an hour, but was up and crying the entire last 2 hour stretch of the drive. (Which was actually a good thing, because he was so exhausted that a diaper change and bottle was enough to knock him out once we got home). In the car I started and finished more of my cousin's bridal shower gift: a ballband dishcloth. (Ravelry link). Yes, the pattern has been published in the Mason/Dixon book, but I used the actual pattern from the Peaches 'n Cream website.  The yarn is Bernat Handicrafter Cotton.
 I plan on making a bunch of these in different colors as another part of the gift basket I'm putting together.
 Here's the back, for those of you who like that sort of thing.
Today Jakob had his first dentist appointment (all good!) then playgroup, then while he took his afternoon nap I did some much-needed cleaning around the house. Two of my siblings came over to play with him for a bit, then once he was down for the night I parked myself on the couch with Yannick and worked on the next dishcloth.
 This is where I stopped for the night. The Sage Green cotton was left over from the dishcloths I'd crocheted for Esther last year(?) and I just finished the ball. I have another ball in my stash with a different dye lot, but I'm really not concerned about a dishcloth being all matchy-matchy.
So that's it. A fun weekend away, although nothing beats coming home and being back in your house, with your schedule and routines. Some knitting was done, some turned out very well and some...let's not speak of it again until we see if it is fixable. And a son who was so perfectly behaved during the entire trip that we are really worried we're in for hell during his teenage years. No kid can be THIS perfect his whole life!
Labels: Ballband Dishcloth, Eden's Shrug, FO, Velvet Oblivion, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:28 pm |
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