I promised to do a hat for a friend, um... a while ago, and haven't gotten to it yet. I finally got some yarn for it though!
But, so many other projects need my attention. I have to finish a hat for the shop, and a hat for testing one of my own patterns. It's meant to be a for sale pattern on Rav, but I'm not so sure I want to bother continuing with that. I knew it'd be hard to establish myself, but I just think there are too many free patterns on Rav for people to bother buying from someone that they've never seen on knitty or in magazines.
But I still have designs in my head! There's a cloche hat design that wants attention (like a whiny five year old) and it's interesting enough that it's edging out the projects I should be doing.
Oh yeah, and I should be typing up the cryptic notes I scribbled for a pattern for the stocking I made for Devlin.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
links I like
http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/189
I don't think I'll ever understand it, but since I don't have time to study it now and I have stuff to do this morning, I have to save it for later.
Things I'm working on: A to-be-felted purse. I'm sort of swirling the two main colours with the Noro. It seemed like the thing to do. I found a skein of Noro without a speck of icky pink and it begged to be mixed with a light grey and dusky, eggplant-y purple. I've been obsessed with hats lately and so it's still about half finished. Hats. Lots of hats. I applied my Mimsy pattern to a cowl, but it rolls and that annoys me, so, perhaps a new cast on? Maybe just knit the thing like a scarf and kitchener it together?
I do have a cloche hat idea rattling around in my head. But I'm trying to ignore it.
I don't think I'll ever understand it, but since I don't have time to study it now and I have stuff to do this morning, I have to save it for later.
Things I'm working on: A to-be-felted purse. I'm sort of swirling the two main colours with the Noro. It seemed like the thing to do. I found a skein of Noro without a speck of icky pink and it begged to be mixed with a light grey and dusky, eggplant-y purple. I've been obsessed with hats lately and so it's still about half finished. Hats. Lots of hats. I applied my Mimsy pattern to a cowl, but it rolls and that annoys me, so, perhaps a new cast on? Maybe just knit the thing like a scarf and kitchener it together?
I do have a cloche hat idea rattling around in my head. But I'm trying to ignore it.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
procrastination
And it's nearly a month later and the patterns still aren't up for sale. Why? Because I always second guess myself. And because I can never stop tweaking a pattern.
The Vorpal Vortex got a brim tweak, which needed a math fix and then eventually a decrease fix - but only in stitch count and sections, not procedure. So that shouldn't be too difficult.
The Slithy Tove hat needed to be re-worked for worsted weight yarn. Which meant math overhaul on the whole thing. I thought I had the math worked out, only to be almost done with the brim section and realise that no, I didn't have enough stitches. Rip out, cast on, try again. It's going well now and when I get to the decrease section I need to write out what I'm doing, exactly, not just type up place notes and blithely continue knitting. (like I did for the last version)
Mimsy hat is ready to go though! So I did try to fling it up on Rav only to encounter problems with changing the store name and then a glitch during upload.
I would like to clone myself so that I have knitting minions, 'cos I can't knit two hats at the same time. feh.
The Caroline hat is done - except for weaving in a few ends and attaching the buttons. I'll do that today and she will likely be at the shop tonight. I never washed it though, have to tell her it needs that.
The Vorpal Vortex got a brim tweak, which needed a math fix and then eventually a decrease fix - but only in stitch count and sections, not procedure. So that shouldn't be too difficult.
The Slithy Tove hat needed to be re-worked for worsted weight yarn. Which meant math overhaul on the whole thing. I thought I had the math worked out, only to be almost done with the brim section and realise that no, I didn't have enough stitches. Rip out, cast on, try again. It's going well now and when I get to the decrease section I need to write out what I'm doing, exactly, not just type up place notes and blithely continue knitting. (like I did for the last version)
Mimsy hat is ready to go though! So I did try to fling it up on Rav only to encounter problems with changing the store name and then a glitch during upload.
I would like to clone myself so that I have knitting minions, 'cos I can't knit two hats at the same time. feh.
The Caroline hat is done - except for weaving in a few ends and attaching the buttons. I'll do that today and she will likely be at the shop tonight. I never washed it though, have to tell her it needs that.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Even more hats!
And these hat patterns may just find their way to Ravelry. Yes, I finished some of the other hats, but I never got pictures and still feel somehow that they're not worthy.
But working on Chuck's beret inspired me to make my own slouchy beret designs and made me revisit a stitch that I invented over a decade ago. At least I think I invented it, I've perused many stitch dictionaries since then and never found anything exactly like it. Some stitches look similar, but they have different methods than mine.
Originally I used the stitch in a project for my mother in law. An Easter basket using Re Heart acrylic. The stitch is really tight, with twisted stitches and stitches that are passed over other stitches and in that Red Heart yarn it came out so stiff it didn't need wires or inserts or anything. I wrote down lots of notes - this was before the internet and way before Ravelry and way before I had a local yarn shop with people who might want to recreate my patterns - but I guess since this was my creation I tried to keep some notes.
The stitch leans to the left a lot and so I've tried different techniques to mitigate that, but nothing seems to work. However, that was before I knew anything about blocking, so I imagine that blocking would help the left leaning bias problem.
Anyway. A few year ago while messing around with sock designs I tried making the stitch a bit lacier, but it made the sock twist around and that bugged me. After making the beret it occurred to me that my weird stitch would look good as a slouchy beret and so I tested it out with some leftover worsted wool. I liked it a lot and so used some really yummy merino wool and I am delighted with the hat design. I also used this stitch in a cowl neck-warmer type thing, although I think it'd look good in a longer, infinity scarf type thing. I want to do that design in several weights and offer that up as a pattern.
I also repurposed the Vortex Swag stitch as a slouchy beret. I used it in a brimmed hat, but I think it's better as a slouchy hat.
Everything has been washed and is drying and then I need to find a model and take pictures. feh.
But working on Chuck's beret inspired me to make my own slouchy beret designs and made me revisit a stitch that I invented over a decade ago. At least I think I invented it, I've perused many stitch dictionaries since then and never found anything exactly like it. Some stitches look similar, but they have different methods than mine.
Originally I used the stitch in a project for my mother in law. An Easter basket using Re Heart acrylic. The stitch is really tight, with twisted stitches and stitches that are passed over other stitches and in that Red Heart yarn it came out so stiff it didn't need wires or inserts or anything. I wrote down lots of notes - this was before the internet and way before Ravelry and way before I had a local yarn shop with people who might want to recreate my patterns - but I guess since this was my creation I tried to keep some notes.
The stitch leans to the left a lot and so I've tried different techniques to mitigate that, but nothing seems to work. However, that was before I knew anything about blocking, so I imagine that blocking would help the left leaning bias problem.
Anyway. A few year ago while messing around with sock designs I tried making the stitch a bit lacier, but it made the sock twist around and that bugged me. After making the beret it occurred to me that my weird stitch would look good as a slouchy beret and so I tested it out with some leftover worsted wool. I liked it a lot and so used some really yummy merino wool and I am delighted with the hat design. I also used this stitch in a cowl neck-warmer type thing, although I think it'd look good in a longer, infinity scarf type thing. I want to do that design in several weights and offer that up as a pattern.
I also repurposed the Vortex Swag stitch as a slouchy beret. I used it in a brimmed hat, but I think it's better as a slouchy hat.
Everything has been washed and is drying and then I need to find a model and take pictures. feh.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Oh, that's gonna bug me
It's done! But even in this crappy picture you can see that the back piece and the right sleeve have the same colour tones and the left sleeve is different. You can totally see where I joined on to finish the collar.
It makes me want to rip out the sleeve and the back piece and swap them. Except I'd very much like to wear it to the Knitter's Day Out event. Which means I just have to suck up and deal with how the colours wanted to be. *sigh*
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
I think I'm almost done
The shrug design has finally resolved itself and I'm just about to cast off on the last section. Then comes washing and blocking and drying and sewing it together.
Then comes the megasuperawesomefuntime of trying to decipher my pattern notes. And trying to resize it. I have figured out a way to measure the sides of the octagon without actually drawing it out, which helps a bit. Although not as much as I could hope for. I will still need to graph out those oh-so-complicated sleeves, so that I will be able to properly calculate what number of stitches should be in the the short rows. I hate graphing things.
The sleeves. Oh my, the sleeves. I am not entirely sure that many other people will be able to comprehend my instructions for the sleeves. It's not that I don't think people are incapable of doing them, if I can do them, anyone can. It's that I don't think I'm capable of giving proper, clear, concise, non-confusing instructions.
And do I try to submit it to a magazine or online thing or just fling it up on Rav? I really don't know.
Anyway. One last row to cast off.
Then comes the megasuperawesomefuntime of trying to decipher my pattern notes. And trying to resize it. I have figured out a way to measure the sides of the octagon without actually drawing it out, which helps a bit. Although not as much as I could hope for. I will still need to graph out those oh-so-complicated sleeves, so that I will be able to properly calculate what number of stitches should be in the the short rows. I hate graphing things.
The sleeves. Oh my, the sleeves. I am not entirely sure that many other people will be able to comprehend my instructions for the sleeves. It's not that I don't think people are incapable of doing them, if I can do them, anyone can. It's that I don't think I'm capable of giving proper, clear, concise, non-confusing instructions.
And do I try to submit it to a magazine or online thing or just fling it up on Rav? I really don't know.
Anyway. One last row to cast off.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
links I like
Yay! I found it!
I like this way of picking up sock gusset stitches. It is extremely fiddly, but it does create a nice edge. Whenever I pick up edge stitches I always get holes or long stitches and it bugs me.
I tried to explain this method to a fellow sock knitter at the yarn shop and couldn't quite remember how to do it. I also couldn't remember much about the video, except that it was a guy knitting the sock, he was Australian and I think he made the video to help his sister knit socks. I knew I found it on a thread on Ravelry, but it was months ago, possibly over winter, and I had very little hope of remembering which thread it was. So, I searched Ravelry discussions, but didn't find it and ended up searching youtube for 'how to pick up heel gusset stitches' and there it was!
Now I just have to get back into the habit of knitting socks!
I like this way of picking up sock gusset stitches. It is extremely fiddly, but it does create a nice edge. Whenever I pick up edge stitches I always get holes or long stitches and it bugs me.
I tried to explain this method to a fellow sock knitter at the yarn shop and couldn't quite remember how to do it. I also couldn't remember much about the video, except that it was a guy knitting the sock, he was Australian and I think he made the video to help his sister knit socks. I knew I found it on a thread on Ravelry, but it was months ago, possibly over winter, and I had very little hope of remembering which thread it was. So, I searched Ravelry discussions, but didn't find it and ended up searching youtube for 'how to pick up heel gusset stitches' and there it was!
Now I just have to get back into the habit of knitting socks!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
links I like
Last night I tried to explain to someone at the yarn shop how to pick up the purl bumps on a heel gusset and I totally failed. I know it was a video and I know I found it on a thread on Ravelry and I know the guy who did it was Australian, but I haven't a clue how to google for it.
And I generally use facebook or google+ to jot down notes as I'm designing things. But those posts can get lost on the shuffle and although many of my friends find my enthusiasm for knitting interesting and fun to read, I sometimes feel like I'm spamming them with crap they don't want to read.
So, I'm going to utlise this blog to store my knitting ideas and inspirations and whenever I find a web or video tutorial that I think it's helpful I'm going to link to it here.
Like this one: German short rows
I thought I had settled on using Japanese short rows (from nonaKnits) and I did like the way they looked but the pins are fiddly. The German short rows don't use pins and it looks pretty good.
Now I have to figure out how to write out what I'm doing. I can't just put that in the pattern, Now use German short rows to work the sleeves, go look at this video. I suppose I can mention where I found it - I did that for the hat pattern and my directions were merely 'for best results use a provisional cast on, I liked this one' But provisional cast ons are pretty basic, in my opinion. And people can trawl Ravelry or the internet to find out how to do them. And the hat didn't absolutely need a provisional cast on, it just gave slightly better results, in my opinion. But this sleeve *needs* short rows to accomplish this wonky angle.
I may need to take pictures for the pattern. I definitely need to write out some sort of instructions. Which won't be easy to do without practically plagiarising other websites - I mean, I'm getting this information off the internet! But I'm planning on selling this pattern, so how can I justify using someone else's information? Well, partially because I'm not getting info from just one source, I google a lot. And partially because my pattern will be the design as a whole.
And frankly I'm not so sure that selling patterns is the way to go for me. It's not going to make me enough money to justify having that stupid tax license, so, should I even bother keeping my patterns for sale?
Anyway. The point of this post was Links I Like, so I'll leave it at that :)
And I generally use facebook or google+ to jot down notes as I'm designing things. But those posts can get lost on the shuffle and although many of my friends find my enthusiasm for knitting interesting and fun to read, I sometimes feel like I'm spamming them with crap they don't want to read.
So, I'm going to utlise this blog to store my knitting ideas and inspirations and whenever I find a web or video tutorial that I think it's helpful I'm going to link to it here.
Like this one: German short rows
I thought I had settled on using Japanese short rows (from nonaKnits) and I did like the way they looked but the pins are fiddly. The German short rows don't use pins and it looks pretty good.
Now I have to figure out how to write out what I'm doing. I can't just put that in the pattern, Now use German short rows to work the sleeves, go look at this video. I suppose I can mention where I found it - I did that for the hat pattern and my directions were merely 'for best results use a provisional cast on, I liked this one' But provisional cast ons are pretty basic, in my opinion. And people can trawl Ravelry or the internet to find out how to do them. And the hat didn't absolutely need a provisional cast on, it just gave slightly better results, in my opinion. But this sleeve *needs* short rows to accomplish this wonky angle.
I may need to take pictures for the pattern. I definitely need to write out some sort of instructions. Which won't be easy to do without practically plagiarising other websites - I mean, I'm getting this information off the internet! But I'm planning on selling this pattern, so how can I justify using someone else's information? Well, partially because I'm not getting info from just one source, I google a lot. And partially because my pattern will be the design as a whole.
And frankly I'm not so sure that selling patterns is the way to go for me. It's not going to make me enough money to justify having that stupid tax license, so, should I even bother keeping my patterns for sale?
Anyway. The point of this post was Links I Like, so I'll leave it at that :)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
some things right, other things wrong
OK, so, Japanese short rows are the answer to my wonky angle problem BUT I did the math wrong, so, I have to rip out both sleeves to the cast off bit and start them over. Paying attention to how I do the short rows. I should get clips or at least try it with some bobby pins or something.
I almost had to knit it out first to catch on to my mistakes, so I'm not terribly upset at having to rip it out. Because I'm determined to make this a proper, size-able pattern and not just something that I I fling on and say I winged it.
And I had to pencil it out on the graph - I hate graphing it out! It won't need a graphed pattern for the final version, but I need to graph it out so I can check the math. *sigh*
Anyway. Even though I do have to rip it out I'm not going to to do that just yet, I want to take it to the yarn shop.
I am not going to take this project on vacation with me. I want more portable things like hats and probably that giant skein of cotton/rayon. I can put .pdf files on my Nook, so I can pop the patterns on there for the trip.
I almost had to knit it out first to catch on to my mistakes, so I'm not terribly upset at having to rip it out. Because I'm determined to make this a proper, size-able pattern and not just something that I I fling on and say I winged it.
And I had to pencil it out on the graph - I hate graphing it out! It won't need a graphed pattern for the final version, but I need to graph it out so I can check the math. *sigh*
Anyway. Even though I do have to rip it out I'm not going to to do that just yet, I want to take it to the yarn shop.
I am not going to take this project on vacation with me. I want more portable things like hats and probably that giant skein of cotton/rayon. I can put .pdf files on my Nook, so I can pop the patterns on there for the trip.
details, details. details
I really should have revisited the nonaknits site where I found out about Japanese short rows, because I really did the purl version wrong and ended up with strands on the purl side and loose, uneven stitches.
I am actually debating ripping it out to the cast off/back sleeve section, just so I can do the pinned short rows properly. And hopefully if I understand what I'm doing well enough then I can explain it well enough.
I am actually debating ripping it out to the cast off/back sleeve section, just so I can do the pinned short rows properly. And hopefully if I understand what I'm doing well enough then I can explain it well enough.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Too many design ideas!
Still working on the starflower jacket. I didn't go with the short rows angle idea because I though front flappy pieces would be nice too. And I thought I could do it sideways by just adding stitches to the bottom bit. It might look fine on a very thin girl, but alas, I am not that girl.
I think front flappy bits would work, but need to be worked from the bottom up or the top down and then pieced together. And I will likely work on that design some other time, but for now I really prefer the design as a shrug.
The Japanese short row technique worked really well for this. Although I didn't actually use the pins, I just used my left needle to pick up the purl bump and thus tighten up the stitch.
Making this pattern in different sizes is going to be a non-trivial problem. I may need to hire a tech knitter for help with actually writing this pattern because I don't know if I can convey my directions very well. People had problems with the hat pattern and I thought I was being clear and concise and that it was a simple pattern.
So, if I can't even do something that basic, I doubt my abilities to make this pattern understandable to anyone but me.
I think front flappy bits would work, but need to be worked from the bottom up or the top down and then pieced together. And I will likely work on that design some other time, but for now I really prefer the design as a shrug.
The Japanese short row technique worked really well for this. Although I didn't actually use the pins, I just used my left needle to pick up the purl bump and thus tighten up the stitch.
Making this pattern in different sizes is going to be a non-trivial problem. I may need to hire a tech knitter for help with actually writing this pattern because I don't know if I can convey my directions very well. People had problems with the hat pattern and I thought I was being clear and concise and that it was a simple pattern.
So, if I can't even do something that basic, I doubt my abilities to make this pattern understandable to anyone but me.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
solutions
I think short rows might be the answer to my weirdy triangle shape.
I test knit a bit in some other yarn which isn't quite the right gauge, but the angles look good. I think.
I test knit a bit in some other yarn which isn't quite the right gauge, but the angles look good. I think.
Sleeves
Years ago I made up this jacket/shrug thing with an octagon as the back piece. I just winged it, like always, 'cos back then I figured, who else but me would ever wear it? I created it a bit before Ravelry existed, so I didn't have access to design info or anything like that. It was all my Inner Designer. Who occasionally gets things wrong.
I did the sleeves wrong. I calculated from the wrong angle. No wonder it always lay wonky. The angle I created is actually warping and twisting the bottom/back point that the front is connected to.
So. I need to erase the pencil lines I did yesterday, print out a few more pages of graph paper and start in again.
I don't think I really have the proper brains to be a designer!
I did the sleeves wrong. I calculated from the wrong angle. No wonder it always lay wonky. The angle I created is actually warping and twisting the bottom/back point that the front is connected to.
So. I need to erase the pencil lines I did yesterday, print out a few more pages of graph paper and start in again.
I don't think I really have the proper brains to be a designer!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
knitting woes and musings
Last night when it finally got cool enough to knit I settled down for some telly and to hopefully finish that circle. OK, so it's really an octagon. It's going to be the back part of a jacket, but I need that done so that I can properly graph out sleeves. Well, I noticed some wonky lines in one section - seems I messed it up about 4 rows back. Which meant I had to tink all those rows. Because I don't have the talent of being able to rip out just a section and re-knit just a section. I really should learn how to do that! Why am I re-making a sweater I have already made? Because every time I wear people say, that's awesome, do you have a pattern? Why did I not make a pattern? Well, I made it somewhen around when Ravelry was created, so I figured no one but me would ever wear it, it didn't matter how I did it. Which is how I thought for twenty years.
I did write things down, I still have some of my old notebooks. But typically it was more of jotting down how many rows I did, or quick calculations for size, or the pattern I used in one section, rather than instructions for the project as a whole. Because I never believed that anybody other than me would make it. As for sizes, it was usually made to fit whatever person I intended to give it to. Could I have worked out the math for various sizes? Sure, but why would I, I was only making it for one person.
Ravelry didn't exist, the internet didn't exist, and I rarely liked patterns in magazines. So I made up my own. Why didn't I submit anything to knitting magazines? I think I thought those people were 'real designers', that they went to school and had a degree or something. And I rarely bought those magazines and so never read the fine print on whatever page asking for submissions.
I used to not really knit over summer and it took me a long time to do projects. Then I discovered that I really could do a large cabled-all-over sweater in about 3 months, when I thought it would take 3 years! The internet existed then, but only as a dialup. A few yarn shops existed, but never quite had the yarn I wanted to use. ACMoore had coupons, which was the only reason I really shopped there. And I still kept getting design ideas. Sometimes they worked out, but usually they didn't. I never minded, I'd just rip it out and start over. After all, it was only for me.
And then Glenda opened her shop and whenever I did something new she was ask if I could write the pattern and I thought, 'yeah, how hard can it be to just write down what you do?' And then Ravelry happened and there were all these fabulous patterns and I didn't have to think about or re-calculate or anything! So, I made other people's patterns for a while, but my inner designer just won't give up and so I'm back to doing my own designs. And writing them out, with various sizes. And making sure that the directions I write out are understandable to knitters with varying degrees of skill.
And I wish I had done this back when Rav first started up, I might have become an established designer. As it is now, I'm a goldfish in Lake Superior and no matter how cute my designs are I'm not going to get any recognition any time soon.
I'm going to have to advertise on Rav, but I think I should have a few more patterns up for sale first. Only I need to make the hats and take pictures and I don't have any good models near me. And I don't look good in hats or clothes. So I'm kinda stuck!
I did write things down, I still have some of my old notebooks. But typically it was more of jotting down how many rows I did, or quick calculations for size, or the pattern I used in one section, rather than instructions for the project as a whole. Because I never believed that anybody other than me would make it. As for sizes, it was usually made to fit whatever person I intended to give it to. Could I have worked out the math for various sizes? Sure, but why would I, I was only making it for one person.
Ravelry didn't exist, the internet didn't exist, and I rarely liked patterns in magazines. So I made up my own. Why didn't I submit anything to knitting magazines? I think I thought those people were 'real designers', that they went to school and had a degree or something. And I rarely bought those magazines and so never read the fine print on whatever page asking for submissions.
I used to not really knit over summer and it took me a long time to do projects. Then I discovered that I really could do a large cabled-all-over sweater in about 3 months, when I thought it would take 3 years! The internet existed then, but only as a dialup. A few yarn shops existed, but never quite had the yarn I wanted to use. ACMoore had coupons, which was the only reason I really shopped there. And I still kept getting design ideas. Sometimes they worked out, but usually they didn't. I never minded, I'd just rip it out and start over. After all, it was only for me.
And then Glenda opened her shop and whenever I did something new she was ask if I could write the pattern and I thought, 'yeah, how hard can it be to just write down what you do?' And then Ravelry happened and there were all these fabulous patterns and I didn't have to think about or re-calculate or anything! So, I made other people's patterns for a while, but my inner designer just won't give up and so I'm back to doing my own designs. And writing them out, with various sizes. And making sure that the directions I write out are understandable to knitters with varying degrees of skill.
And I wish I had done this back when Rav first started up, I might have become an established designer. As it is now, I'm a goldfish in Lake Superior and no matter how cute my designs are I'm not going to get any recognition any time soon.
I'm going to have to advertise on Rav, but I think I should have a few more patterns up for sale first. Only I need to make the hats and take pictures and I don't have any good models near me. And I don't look good in hats or clothes. So I'm kinda stuck!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sun hats
I wanted a cute little sun hat with ruffles and the Garland eyelet pattern. Ruffles gave me fits for a while, but I worked it out. Didn't like how it looked anyway, tried some other way, didn't like that, ended up with a version I do like. Had to rearrange the garland pattern for working in the round. Got to the decreases, only to decide I didn't like where the eyelets were placed and discover that I was doing the decreases wrong. Ripped it out, started the garland pattern up a bit higher, decided to add extra knit rows to help separate the eyelets from the purl rows (I think it looks better) and now I'm doing the decreases.
I think I can work out the math for various sizes. The intended recipient of this hat isn't even born yet!
I also think I am going to have to pay for some Ravelry advertisements, but I think I'll add some more hat patterns first. I have to work on the math for the Vortex Swag hat and this Garland Eyelet hat, so I can have the pattern in various sizes. I still have ideas lurking in my head too, so just call me The Mad Hatter!
I think I can work out the math for various sizes. The intended recipient of this hat isn't even born yet!
I also think I am going to have to pay for some Ravelry advertisements, but I think I'll add some more hat patterns first. I have to work on the math for the Vortex Swag hat and this Garland Eyelet hat, so I can have the pattern in various sizes. I still have ideas lurking in my head too, so just call me The Mad Hatter!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
More designs
I need to finish the starflower jacket design. But that back circle/octagon thingy bugged me, so I changed it, only the changes made it come out too big. So, ripped it back a bit, only to realise that it needed to change back even further, at the first design shift. So, that's ripped out, pattern is re-written and needs to be knitted so that I can work on the sleeves.
But I also have a ruffled sunhat design lurking in my brain. Tried to work on the math this morning only to have my brain just rebel and ended up going at it the long hard way, only to finally realise that it was actually so very easy to get the proper number of stitches. duh.
There are a truly massive number of stitches for one small hat, but they will get decreased, so that's not so bad. I hope it works out OK. If not I'll find some other hat on Ravelry and make that.
But, right now, the sun has gone down a bit, there's a lovely breeze out there and the weeds are invading my garden.
But I also have a ruffled sunhat design lurking in my brain. Tried to work on the math this morning only to have my brain just rebel and ended up going at it the long hard way, only to finally realise that it was actually so very easy to get the proper number of stitches. duh.
There are a truly massive number of stitches for one small hat, but they will get decreased, so that's not so bad. I hope it works out OK. If not I'll find some other hat on Ravelry and make that.
But, right now, the sun has gone down a bit, there's a lovely breeze out there and the weeds are invading my garden.
Monday, July 11, 2011
July knitting
I should be finishing the white hat, but I was slightly frustrated that I had to buy another skein, basically just to finish the bow. It's wool, so I'll be able to use it for felting or maybe I'll just get another skein of white and make another hat and put that on Etsy.
The Flapper Swag Hat is up for sale on Ravelry! It's been favourited a bit and queued up a few times, but no one's bought it yet. *sigh*
The Starflower jacket thingy beckoned to me. It also whined that it needed the mesh pattern rearranged, so that the points line up better. So, I'm trying something else there. The circular needle has a kink in it or something, 'cos it keeps feeling like it's twisted. It annoys me, but I can't do much about it until I start the sleeves. Or buy another set of size 7 needles.
Also have a baby-sized cotton sunhat design in my head. I want ruffled edges, an eyelet pattern on the hat, maybe try out the other decreases. Just need to get past the ruffles first. I don't want to use the long tailed cast on for 200+ stitches, but this crochet cast on is too loose. I guess I'll try the cable cast on.
Also very frustrated by technology lately!
The Flapper Swag Hat is up for sale on Ravelry! It's been favourited a bit and queued up a few times, but no one's bought it yet. *sigh*
The Starflower jacket thingy beckoned to me. It also whined that it needed the mesh pattern rearranged, so that the points line up better. So, I'm trying something else there. The circular needle has a kink in it or something, 'cos it keeps feeling like it's twisted. It annoys me, but I can't do much about it until I start the sleeves. Or buy another set of size 7 needles.
Also have a baby-sized cotton sunhat design in my head. I want ruffled edges, an eyelet pattern on the hat, maybe try out the other decreases. Just need to get past the ruffles first. I don't want to use the long tailed cast on for 200+ stitches, but this crochet cast on is too loose. I guess I'll try the cable cast on.
Also very frustrated by technology lately!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
So, I wanted to sell patterns
but apparently I need a PA tax license thingy. sigh. I hate filling out forms! Writing that pattern was hard enough! And yes, it's a cute hat, but is anybody really gonna buy it? OK, one person bought it. But am I really going to make anything to sustain a tax number? sheesh.
Maybe I can use it for Etsy and try and sell the finished hats. and things.
Maybe I can use it for Etsy and try and sell the finished hats. and things.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
design elements
So, I want the top of this cloche hat to just sort of close up, not swirl the decreases one way or the other. And I decided to do paired decreases right next to each other. Well, I love hoe K2tog looks and want to totally mirror that. It's not happening because I'm not decreasing every round. And so I tried slipping a stitch on the knit round. That gives the left leaning decrease line a nicely linear look, however, it looks different than the line of K2tog next to it. You can see the left line has longer stitches.
This annoys me.
So, there will be more ripping out of the hat in a bit, but I'm trying something first.
Nope, that didn't work either. I guess it will just have to be K2tog decreases.
This annoys me.
So, there will be more ripping out of the hat in a bit, but I'm trying something first.
Nope, that didn't work either. I guess it will just have to be K2tog decreases.
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