Birthday

I celebrated a big birthday recently.  It felt good to celebrate, too--I made it!  Jim and I celebrated with a nice supper and then birthday cake.  On Sunday Ben and Jim had an open house for me.  It was so nice to visit with friends and neighbors--and another delicious birthday cake!  I got a Fitbit from Ben and a 15-inch Cricket Loom with a stand from Jim.  I did a small weaving and will warp the loom today.  Photos to come...

Cricket Loom--just going on another path down the rabbit hole.

Jim had me wear the baseball shirt Ben and I had made for him in April.  The decorations were inside and outside the house. 

It also feels good to finish class samples.  The first is a child sized double knit ear flap hat in Pure Wool Worsted by Rowan and Liberty Wool by Cascade.  The pattern is sized for newborn to adult XL, and proceeds from the pattern go to charity.  The P Chullo hat is a free pattern with alphabet charts for the body and ear flaps.  One can fit a message into the 168-stitches around the body of the hat.  The original pattern calls for ten colors, and I am working the sample in five colors.  I made it through the first row of my message--fingers crossed that I stay on track!  Above the message there is a chart for a gryphon and a fox and the crown has waves and a snake, which I will change to a sheep.

One hat.

Another hat--two in one!

The FO (finished object) for the week is L'Enveloppe by Sally Melville.  I am teaching a class, which started out as a one to one and grew to include two other instructors and another student.  It is a project that is not difficult to knit, quick to knit, and looks wonderful on every body type.  Deciphering the pattern can be a challenge.  I made some notes on my Ravelry project page and Sally has a thread for L'Enveloppe help on her Ravelry group page.  We all agree that there will be more L'Enveloppes in our wardrobe!  The weather has turned cool and this will be a good week to  wear it.

Noro Yutzen yarn was the perfect choice.

A shape folded in half, one short seam is sewed on the long side to make a sleeve.

On the other side of the sleeve, stitches are picked up and then the side is knit with short rows.

Another fun project is Wavelength, a scarf that reminds me of giant rickrack.  I am working this in Anzula Dreamy, 75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Silk--a dreamy yarn!  The colors are brown (Sexy) and yellow-green (Temperance).  

Start with one chevron and then keep adding one chevron to each end.  The contrast
colors show off the texture nicely.

Seeing double!

The current WIP is a double-knit hot pad.  The pattern called for cotton, but I have lots of Ella Rae wool in lovely colors.  Double knitting is knitting two sides at the same time.  My scarf was the first project worked in the technique.  The project is not large, however, when working double knitting it is good to remember that one is working two projects.  The talented designer of the pattern is Wendy from Running Jack Knits.

This photo shows the right side of the knitting (looking at the chart rows are knitted left to right).  Forty cast-on stitches are doubled to 80.  Each stitch on the chart is read as two stitches--knit on one side and purl on the other side.  I hold my yarns as I do for stranded/Fair Isle knitting, continental (pick) in my left hand and English (throw) in my right hand.  Yarns can be held in one hand, also.  Either way the yarn is held the knitter must be mindful of not twisting the yarns (except on the first stitch of each row).  

Shown is the opposite side.  The chart is read from right to left.  Once the pattern begins to show, reading the chart becomes easier.  

Looking closely at the fabric, the purl stitches show in between the knit stitches.

I have a class coming up very soon November 18 and 25, using this pattern.  I hope you will give double knitting a try.  This would be a nice hostess gift for the holidays.  Perhaps design a different motif...happy knitting!