The motivation for learning how to knit was actually borne out of my desire to figure out how to do crochet entrelac properly. I thought learning how to knit it would help things along. So, once I had the basics of knit and purl down, I tried out knitting entrelac. I learned how to increase, and decrease, and how to pick up stitches (though, I’m not convinced I’m doing that right yet – entrelac should look like rectangles not trapezoids). I taught myself how to do cables and knit in the round and change colours, too.

With all of this knowledge, it’s only natural that my very first finished knitting project be…

Wait… garter stitch?

Yes, my first knitted item ended up being a Doctor Who scarf for my brother-in-law.

For those not familiar with this pattern, it is the knit stitch, worked over and over and over again until the scarf is freakishly long (and then you add tassels). (Specs: Vanna’s Choice yarn in Brick, Burgundy, Charcoal Grey, Beige, Toffee, Mustard, and Olive. 4mm circular needles)

Even though I had to go out into the main hall of our apartment building to get a picture that showed the length, the scarf did end up a bit shorter than the authentic one worn by Tom Baker (the fourth Doctor). It was supposed to be 20 feet long, but mine is only 14 feet. I do believe it’ll stretch out over time, though!

Come to think of it, taking pictures of this thing was quite a challenge. Usually to display scarves I employ the services of my trusty sidekick, Roopurt,

but…

In a neat turn of good luck, a few days after I finished the scarf, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee was launching her new book here in town. I, of course, brought the scarf to show her:

I think she was impressed. ^_^
(Also, I love that the people in line behind me are knitting while they wait to have their books signed!)

I happened to be at Michaels one day and noticed that Vanna’s Choice yarn had the perfect colours! Not knowing how much I’d need, I naturally over-bought… just in case.

And so I present to you: how to wing an R2D2 hat!

First, start with a sketch:

Next, decide how big around you want the hat to be. I figured 20″ would do the trick, so I did a foundation-dc row about that long, trying (successfully) to get a number of stitches that were evenly divisible by 12 (ended up with 60).

Now, I made the first hat working from the bottom up, then, now having the pattern, I made the next one working top down. (And then had to make a third one because the second one was too big for me and my abnormally large head).

The basic pattern is as follows (from top down) :
R1: 12 dc
R2: 24 dc
R3: 36 dc
R5: 48 dc
R6: 60 dc
All following rounds: 60 dc.

13 or 14 rounds should do it for a kid’s hat. For an adult, do some increases on R7, but take my advice: adding 6 more stitches is too many! :P

Basically, just plug the colours in as per the sketch!

The final step is to make that eye thingie… with black, do a round of 12dc. Then a round of *5dc, hdc, hdc* four times in blue and sew it on.

Of course, I had to make scarves to go with them!

They’re about 3.5 feet long… I think…

This one used post stitches (both dc and tr)

This one used back-loop-only dc stitches:

The green part worked out even better than I thought it would.

I started with a row of foundation dc stitches approximately 3 feet long. Then I did 5 dc stitches into the base of the last foundation dc, then did 1 dc stitch into the bottom of each foundation dc that followed until I had worked into all of them.

Next was a turning chain, 1dc in each stitch until the rounded end, where I did 2dc in each of the 6 stitches making up the rounded end. Then 1 dc in each stitch until the end.

Turning chain, 1dc in each stitch until the rounded end. Then *2dc, 1dc* 6 times to get around the end, then 1dc in each stitch.

Turning chain, 1dc in each stitch, *2dc, 1dc, 1dc* 6 times to get around the end, 1dc in each.

When I got to the flat end this time, I did ch1, then worked sc stitches along the flat edge, basically working 2 sc into the side of each dc, plus an extra one right in the centre.

I then switched to grey and made up the hilts as I went along. If you’re not comfortable with this, a nice, simple hilt could be made by working a dc in the back loop only into each stitch, for as many rows as you think look nice.

Rounded end:

I just love how well working into the bottom of the foundation stitches worked! I think it looks really smart. I’m going to have to use this technique again!

Check out the adorableness:

Then it was many:

Then it was suspiciously familiar:

A slight side-tracking into the joining method:

And now it’s revealed!

Before adding the handle:

And finished!

(well, maybe… I’m debating adding some blue along the tops of the hexes… we’ll see!)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my Settlers of Catan bag!

They each measure about 5″ from side to side. I’m thinking of joining them with sc stitches… I’ve never really liked the look of that joining method, but I’m going to give it another try, as whip-stitching them all together isn’t my idea of fun.

It’s NatCroMo; I’m supposed to have fun!

These blankets are going to charity:

(I should get a better picture of that purple one made at the show before I send it off…)

I’m going to make these three bigger and give them as Christmas gifts:

These are Christmas presents, and I’m keeping them as is:

And this one is MINE:

My current main project is a gift for someone who reads this blog, and I really don’t want to give the surprise away if I can help it, so pictures and updates will be made on Ravelry (where you need an account to see it). Don’t worry, once the Big Day has come and gone, I’ll post all of the gory details. ^_^

Now that BOB is over, I find myself with my own crafting time again, so I’m waffling around trying to decide what to do. I’ve joined a couple of swaps, I still need to make the June square in the CAL, and I’ve been itching to just make my way through my growing collection of motif books and make at least one of everything.

Of course, there’s still Christmas coming, and various birthdays left to think about. I’ve been hoping that Bernat Satin would go on sale for the last several months, but I haven’t seen it. If you do, could you please let me know? I’m planning on buying a LOT of it, not only because I’ll need it for some gifts, but also because it’s my go-to yarn for worsted weight acrylic and I’m starting to run low. It’s soft, works up well, and the colours are pretty nice.

Anticipated projects: at least one more Snowflake afghan, maybe the Hawaiian Flower afghan, more 3-way Tunisian, lots of hats and scarves, some geeky afghans, and of course, Dad’s Christmas present.

My work situation has changed and I suddenly find myself with a good chunk of crochet time. That time can only be spent working on a pattern I know really well, and that doesn’t have any tricky colour changes. The project I’ve been working on lately has recently become too large to do while I do my job, so I need a replacement project. For now, I’m prepping some scarves (doing the base chain and first row at home on several), and I’m thinking of doing some granny squares. Any thoughts on what else might work? Basically, anything I don’t have to look at too much, that can easily be done a couple of stitches at a time.

Finally, check out this Spiral Granny Square I made: click here.

I finished the 3-way Tunisian blanket:

For a better idea of the colour:

There’s been a lot of fighting over this one here in Fantastic Land, so I expect this one will go fast. If it doesn’t, there’s a line of people who want it. ^_-

I also *finally* finished the Tetris block pillows!

Raise your hand if you didn’t think we’d see this day! (Don’t be afraid, my hand is up too!)

If you’ve ever wanted to see what a partially finished Tetris block looks like, here you go:

It takes your breath away, doesn’t it?

Ok, back to work with me. I’m only a few rows away from finishing the last baby blanket, and I have important tags to attach and vital worrying to do.

While we wait for the BIG event to start, please join me in a heartfelt rendition of this traditional song:

Oh the weather outside is pretty
And I’m singing you this ditty,
So if you don’t want to feel pain,
Stop the rain, stop the rain, stop the rain!

Fingers crossed, people!

This was made using my standard round ripple pattern, though I didn’t have enough of either colour left to make the backwards-sc edging, so I did some slip stitches around instead. I just don’t like leaving those chains bare on the points!

I also finally got around to finishing the Settlers of Catan blanket:

I feel I must apologize for the indoor picture, but there just wasn’t any way to properly display this outside (which should make showing it at BOB interesting!)

At this point in the “prepping for BOB” game, I’m just finishing off projects I’ve started already, and not starting anything new. That means that we can expect to see one more baby blanket, a handful of pin cushions, and a couple more Tetris pieces. Depending on when I finish all of that, I *might* start another baby blanket; after all, I’m going to need SOMEthing to do while manning the table, right?

I’ve got the Settlers of Catan blanket all joined together. At least, I thought I did, until I went to take this picture (which shows the colours beautifully) :

(well, ok, it’s not that shiny in person…)

It turns out I missed joining the sides of two of the water hexes together. I’ll get that sorted out quickly, though.

Here is a picture of it on a queen-sized bed:

It measures about 5′6″ at its longest, and just under 5′ at its shortest.

Questions:

I tried sewing the number 3 on one of the “disks” and didn’t like how it turned out at all. How would you do it?

Secondly, do you think it needs a border? I’m learning towards adding one, but am unsure of whether that should be a size-adding border (probably a round of dc) or just something to finish it off (maybe some backwards sc). I might need to buy more yarn if I decide to put a border on, but I’ll have to do some stash diving first to be sure.

What do you think?

P.S. This is intended for sale at Big On Bloor. Unless I just can’t bear to part with it. ^_-

Let’s see, we’ve got several water hexes for the Catan blanket, to the left of those is some over-exposed light-coloured yarns that make up the border colour for the Catan blanket and that yellow broomstick lace blanket. At the back is a blue and yellow round ripple blanket that would be absolutely stunning if I hadn’t run out of blue with less than 2 rounds left to go. In front of it is a blanket kit that I bought two Christmases ago; it has butterflies on it, or would, if I ever get around to making it. In front of that is an almost-finished blue and green blanket that, when finished, will hopefully have enough blue left over to finish the stunning blanket mentioned above.

Somewhere in there is some light blue yarn waiting for a pattern, and some purple yarn destined to be striped. (The bag of rainbow ripple yarn is on the floor, and thus not pictured.)

^_^

Speaking of looking for a pattern, here’s a fun link: Crochet Poet’s Pattern Collection.

That’s my niece, Katie, I’m talking about, and I couldn’t be prouder! She recently had a birthday party with all of her friends, and they raised over $200. Then they set up a food and drink stand (I hear there were cupcakes!) where they raised another $100.

I’m amazed at what she’s accomplishing! If you feel like you’d like to contribute to her run, here is the link. You’ll find pictures of their efforts there, as well.

This isn’t her first stint at giving, she has also made a scarf for Mom’s sorority’s children’s charity work (it was yellow, her favourite colour, and made on a Knifty Knitter loom with Patons Melody yarn. I’m bursting, just bursting!)

In other news, here is my progress on the Catan blanket:

Tally:
3 brick – done
3 ore – 2/3 done
4 wood – 1/4 done
4 sheep – 2/4 done
4 grain – 2/4 done
1 desert
18 water

Ok, back to work for me!