pilotis knits

Historian Mittens: a preview

2009-08-22T09:32:00.001-07:00

Oh my gosh, I'm back and I'm knitting. I've been away from the blog for a while, but it's so hard to knit stuff in the summer. I'm thinking about fun summertime things, like swimming and picnics ( I did not much of either this summer, sadly), and I just can't get the urge to pick up my needles and do something.

However, I finally did something! I made some mittens (OK, fingerless gloves, but mittens sounds cuter) for my boyfriend. They're pretty basic, and I'm writing up a pattern, but you know me, so there may or may not be a pattern for this.

Spring Ahead Scarf - Pattern

2009-03-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

Springtime is just around the corner! The weather is getting warmer, the days are nice and sunny now. Soon, you'll be tossing aside your winter wool for something lighter. Why not try a light, air scarf made from a wool and cotton mix? Perfect for when the sunshine is a' shining, but that wind is still cold.

Yarn:

3 balls of Rowan Wool Cotton (clearly, I haven't finished my own scarf, so the amount might change slightly)

Needles:

size 6 straight needles, American

Pattern:

CO 40

R1: knit

R2: K2, YO, *S1-K2tog-PSSO, YO2, repeat from * 7 more times, S1-K2tog-PSSO, YO, K2

R3: P2, K1, *P2, Knit one twisted stitch, K1, repeat from *7 more times, P2, K1, P2

R4: K2, P2, *Slip 1, K1, Knit into slipped stitch, P2, repeat from *7 times, Slip 1, K1, Knit into slipped stitch, P1, K2

R5: P2, K1, *P2, K2, repeat from * 7 more times, P2, K1, P2

Repeat rows 2-5 until you have a scarf the desired length you want it. Finish on R2, knit the next row, then bind off. Weave in all edges.

Mistakes? Mishappens? Did I count wrong? Please! Post in the comments so I can work it out! Thanks!

Show me your skeins!

2009-03-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

Hello, Good Looking! My wonderful boyfriend bought me a gift certificate to to my favorite yarn store here in Philadelphia (Rosie's Yarn Cellar. It is packed to the gills with all kinds of yarn) for my birthday. The two shots above are my spoils from said certificate. I got two kinds of Rowan yarn. That yellow in the corner is the Rowan Wool Cotton (50% merino wool, 50% cotton). I'm planning on making all of that into a spring scarf for myself. I was thinking some kind of feather and fan pattern, but now I'm thinking about some kind of simple lace pattern so it's nice and airy.

That thick purple is the Cashsoft Aran (57% extra fine merino, 33% acrylic microfibre, 10% cashmere). It's seriously the softest yarn I have ever used. And I am using it! There used to be two skeins, but I've already knitted it up into something. Want to see a sneak peak? OK, here's a quick little photo. Yes, there will be another free pattern coming out of this! And I totally promise this time (yes, yes, I know I'm due on some beret patterns)!

Fingerless gloves! In a quick and easy lace pattern! Perfect for the winter into spring weather which should be around the corner sooner or later!

elf feet are neat

2009-02-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

I whipped these little booties up in one night! Look how cute they are! They are a great example of my 'sylvan' crafting style! And, if anyone who knows me in real life is reading this, stop worrying! They are not for my future bundle of joy; my womb is as empty as my plate after a pie eating contest (which would be very very empty). A wonderful couple I know is having a baby girl, and I just had to make something for them. The future-mommy is an artist and very whimsical herself, so I figured her future-baby needed to start her wardrobe off right!
If you want to knit these yourself, I took the pattern from the baby booties from Stitch N Bitch 2, and just knitted a few extra rows to make them booties. A little felting action (plus some needle felting) and you've got toadstool booties!

a word on crafting

2009-01-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

i am really taken by the word sylvan. any and every time i can use it, i do. it's just a sweet little word to describe the styles of crafting i like. it's earthy and woodsy and seems like i should have little gnomes playing against my toes at i knit.
above you'll see an example of my sylvan crafting. it's just a little mushroom that i whipped up. i'm thinking of making a few more and then arranging them as a center piece for my coffee table for the summer.
cute?

christmas gifts and winter crafting

2008-12-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

Nothing makes me feel crafty than chilly weather. I just want to stay inside and create something in my (very very cold) apartment, with a nice cup of hot tea and maybe (OK, definitely) some cookies. Lucky for me, the few days before Christmas was nice and chilly, so I could get a good amount of crafting done. So, let's end 2008 with a bang and overwhelm this post with some photos!

Here we have the tea and the crafts as talked about above! They're mittens from the selbuvotter book everyone loves. I used fancy shmancy Norwegian wool (a departure from my normal o-wool for mittens) and tiny size 1 needles. My fingers ached a little, but it was so worth it. They came out wonderful and my grandma (g-ma as i like to call her) loved them!

Crafty drinking! I made up a big bottle of cordial to warm us up during the wintery months. You can find the recipe in my flickr set right here.

Let's finish up with these coasters. Made not by me, but by my mom. A great use for all that christmas fabric everyone buys two days after the holiday and then forgets about. They're cute, simple, and not over powering like some christmasy things I've seen (have you ever been to the Christmas Tree Store? That place looks like Santa and Jack Frost vomited all over the New Years Baby).

autumn knits

2008-11-27T07:52:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is some place they want to be, enjoying family, friends, or maybe just some microwaved turkey and Tivo'd episodes of Pushing Daisies (I love that show! It's so sweet and cute and clever, like an adorable puppy).

Today, I'm thankful for taking an early train to New Jersey to spend the day with family (and boyfriend). I am also thankful for my parents having some high speed internet so I can finally update some knitting projects.

For this autumn, I knitted myself a pair of fingerless gloves (well, they have fingers, just short ones) from a Purl Bee pattern. I went cheap, and picked up some Rowan wool instead of using cashmere. Also, because I knit giant loopy stitches, I used much tinier needles (0 for the cuff, 2 for the body, 1 for the finger ribbing). They turned out so cute, I made a matching scarf (not pictured....yet).

Look how cute they are just sitting there! I loved the Purl Bee colors so much, I was glad Rowan had the same colors available in their wool yarn. I should have taken an up close picture of the buttons, which were also cute. They came from a large bag of buttons I picked up at a thrift store (for about $2, i think). It was filled with so many vintage buttons (and I do mean vintage, there were a lot of mother of pearl buttons that were handmade).

craft wish list

2008-11-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

here a list of things I want to craft up this coming winter (gosh, we're on winter already??)

1. Fruit and Herbal winter cordial
2. Felted Mushrooms from The Purl Bee
3. Norwegian socks from Folk Socks
4. Maybe more mushroom themed things....
5. Christmas cookies
6. Mittens (even if I said I never wanted to knit them again)
7. That adorable felted wool lamb from Martha Stewart magazine

Also, isn't weird everyone loves that word 'fraulein' now? When i first learned it in German class (waaay back in 7th grade), I thought it was the worst word ever to describe a woman. Now, everyone finds it so cute and adorable (but only in lower case). Even I'm beginning to think it's cute! I should have taken German instead of all those French classes I suffered through (I could never handle all those s's being silent).

the issue with crafty blogs..

2008-11-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

For the .2 people that might actually read this, I am writing to say, "I'm sorry."
Clearly, I suck at blogging. I can't even squeak out a post a month, how lazy pants is that? The problem is, if I don't have photographs of my knits and crafts, I feel like you (the reader) would just be bored with me. Hell, I know that if I see a blog with no pictures, I'm sailing my browser someplace else.
So again, I appologize for being a sucky blog writer. And I will try and get something posted before 2009.

2008-06-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

OK, so I lied about the beret's. Maybe one day they will come out of hiding and be posted. At least one should, right?

anyway, to entertain you, here's a case I hand-sewed for my DS lite:

Adorable!

the promise of berets in springtime

2008-04-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Is springtime one word or two? It should be one, at least in my opinion.

Well, anyway, here is my promise to you! Before Summer offically starts and you have to hide all your warm knits, I will give to you to quick and wonderful beret patterns. Both lace, both upsettingly easy to knit (seriously, i knit both in a weekend). One is a wonderful cotton, the other is a kicky alpaca.

Also, check out my sick new digs at the as yet undeveloped blog right here.

let's hear it for mittens!

2008-02-04T18:38:00.001-08:00

I was on a mitten kick for a while, and I think I've finally got it out of my system. To start with, I cruised through Helloyarn's Squirrel and Oak mittens. Now, I'm a loose knitter. I normally need to go down two or three sizes in needles for anything that I knit, but with these mittens, I acutally had to add stitches to make it almost wide enough for my hands. Maybe I just have giant man hands and I never new about it? But regardless, these mittens were cute and fun to knit, and a good pattern to learn norwegian knit styles with. Of course, after knitting these, I just needed to make my own mittens. Now, I didn't think I was up to making my own crazy Norwegian pattern, so I had to do a bit of searching to find something I could work with. Lucky for me, I found these Selbu patterns for free from the Pine Cone Lodge. I used the Værhorns-rosa and created this pretty mitten:

I used the same cuff style as the Helloyarn mittens (and you can't tell, but the same back pattern as well). They came out adorable, and when I have some sunlight around, I'll take some more photos to prove to you how lovely they are!

Inspiring!

2008-01-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

found via craftzine:

If you're a nutjob fan of anthropologie like me, then you would really like to know that their headquarters are just as adorable and fun as their stores. Normally, I would think that just like any corporation, their main offices are boring and dull and filled with faxes and office-y people.
But, this article from Metropolis proves me wrong! (Metropolis, by the way, is an amazing design/architecture magazine)

This is a link to the PDF, it's really worth the read as well as just looking at the photos.

PS: my favorite parts? the wall of buttons! I want to do that in my future craft room!

Excuse Me Coasters - Pattern

2008-01-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend is in love with his coffee table. It's a huge heavy monster with a slate top, which has suffered several chips from various hot and cold beverages placed upon. To protect it, and to stop getting mournful looks from my boyfriend everytime I put a cup of tea down, I whipped up some coasters.

These are simple crocheted coasters. Really, the perfect project to work on when you want something easy breasy.

Yarn:
Any cotton worseted weight. It's important to use cotton, because of my little ironing trick that you'll see later on

Hook:
I used a vintage size 4 hook.

Pattern:
Ch 4, sl st in first ch to form ring
Round 1: Ch 3, 9 dc in ring. Join with a sl st in top of ch 3. Turn.
Round 2: Ch 3, 2 dc in each dc around - 20 dc. Join. Turn each round.
Round 3: Ch 3, *dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc, repeat from * to end - 30 dc.
Round 4: Ch 3, *dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc, repeat from * to end- 4o dc. Join and end off.

Now, to get them nice and flat, I use starch spray and an iron. Depending on what brand you buy, the basic instructions are this: Turn your iron onto the steam setting for cotton. Spray each side of the coaster and let them soak up the starch for a minute. Then, press each side with the iron for about twenty seconds. Depending on how much you sprayed them, the coasters might still be a little wet after ironing. That's OK! Just let them sit or press them again with the iron.

meh.

2007-12-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

Frogged the squirrel mittens. Re-casted on with an additional eight stitches. Got to the decreases, messed them up. Have to frog again.

These mittens are really becoming a labor of love.

Squirrel and Oak Mittens - In and Out of Progress

2007-12-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

So here I am, actually knitting these coveted mittens. In case you don't know, these are the Squirrel and Oak mittens by Helloyarn. I have always loved these from afar, but was completely afraid of the complex pattern that is Norwegian knits. However, after gaining some courage, I decided to dive into it and give it a go.

Surprisingly, they are actually rather easy, once you get a handle on the two balls of yarn.

But, after getting about halfway done, I realized they are much too small. Apparently, I have giant man hands that refuse to fit into adorable mittens. This may be because that I A) never checked the gauge, and B) am using size two needles when they call for size three. So it looks like I'm going to frog the entire thing (blegh), and cast on eight extra stitches.

I have a feeling that knitting in two colors is 100% easier than frogging two colors.

One Day Beret - Pattern

2007-12-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Could this pattern be any easier? I called it One Day Beret, but it really only takes about an hour or so. It's a perfect pattern for new knitters to cut their teeth on circular needles.

Yarn:
Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick

Needles:
Size 13 Circular Needles 16"

Pattern:
CO 40
PM, Join

Row 1-3: Knit 2, Purl 2

Row4: Knit
Repeat Row 4 twelve times

Decreases!

Row 1: *knit 9, k2tog, repeat from * to the end (You will have decreased a total of 5 times)
Row 2: *knit 8, k2tog, repeat from * to the end
Row 3: *knit 7, k2tog, repeat from *to the end
Row 4: *knit 6, k2tog, repeat from * to the end
Row 5: *knit 5, k2tog, repeat from * to the end
Row 6: *knit 4, k2tog, repeat from * to the end
Row 7, *knit 3, k2tog, repeat from * to the end

Cut yarn, leaving a 10" tail. Using a large needle, thread the tail through the remaining stitches, and pull tight. Thread the ends and, tada! you've got a quick, One Day Beret!!!

Stuffing the stash

2007-09-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

During weekend trip to New York with my Mister for a wedding, I decided that I needed to pick up a few things from Purl Soho.

So here are my new goodies! O-wool (www.owool.com), which is wooooonderful feeling organic sock yarn that I just want to eat up, and BLUE SKY NEEDLES! I bought the size ones, because, sadly, they were out of my all time favorite size twos. But maybe, with this ones, I'll finally knit the cuffs of my socks properly in a lower needle?

The o-wool is in a rust color, which is almost the color in the photo (pesky digital cameras). I really wanted to pick up more, but the other colors offered were too....pastel for me. Especially this time of year, when all I can think of is dark plaids and thick, natural wool color socks. Mmmmm, so cozy. With the weather getting cooler, I can start really knitting some socks! I just need to find the right pattern for this new wool....back to Ravelry it seems!

Sock Blockers and other commerce dreams

2007-09-06T07:05:00.001-07:00

The problem with knitting is that now that is has become popular (very, very popular) there is too much stuff to buy. When I first started knitting, I had my choice between metal needles or plastic needles. I could get acrylic yarn, or a wool blend. I lived near a Treasure Island and a Jo-ann Fabrics (the later, I worked at most of my high school years), and that was all the carried. No fancy yarns, not nice needles.

Now, there's hundred of wonderful amazing things you can buy, even in Jo-ann Fabrics! Bamboo needles! Merino wools! Adorable Clover accessories (those little sweater point protectors? Too cute for words, so I had to get them)! Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful that people are actually designing goods for knitting, and making accessories aesthetically pleasing. I love it. The only problem is my bank account moans with pain every time I find something I need (really really need).

Right now, I'm coveting the following items

Sock blockers. I would love the knee-sock size, but look how cute the pug dog one is!

Blue Sky Needles. They're just so lovely, with the little tin they come in, and that rich wood.

Fitted Knits, by Stefanie Japel. This book has two things I love in it: raglan sweaters and close fits. I never buy knitting books, but I can't seem to find this in my library anyway.

Maybe in a paycheck or two, I will splurge on some of these things....or maybe, I'll just convince my boyfriend I need a present?

Besides lusting over knitting goods, I've finished a Foxtrot Knee-sock, and will have the pattern up sometime next week!

foxtrot kneesocks

2007-09-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

One of my first knits for the fall! These fellas are based off of golf socks from the 1920's-1930's. That big ribbed cuff will fold over to make the socks extra secure. When I work out all the kinks, the pattern will be available, for free, on this blog.
I working with alpaca yarn that I picked up on a vacation to San Juan Island, Seattle (one of the many small islands in Puget Sound). There's actually several alpaca farms in that area, and lucky for me, we were staying on the island where you can buy the yarn, and then walk right up to the alpaca that supplied the fiber!

This little guy looks like the right color for my skein (another thing I love working with, uncolored natural fiber). As you can see, he just got his haircut too.

And here are some of the littlest alpacas ever! This fuzzy little love is only a week old! The young alpacas are much more curious that the adults and this little guy wandered right up too me to say hello

meet me at the corner of knit and crochet

2007-08-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

I've been accepted to Ravelry!

And I'm located right here!

towards a new knitting blog

2007-08-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Knitting is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light!

This is yet another new knitting blog hitting the market. It will be updated sporadically, and littered with photos of finished knitting projects, projects in progress, yarn stash goodness, and covetted supplies. Also to be included: FREE patterns, written by me.