More mitts!

So my niece Jordan has been wearing her mitt's almost 24/7.  A backup pair was requested stat!

The reason I am making this post, while I like to show off my work is actually to show an alteration I did to the Toddler Lace Fingerless Mitts pattern.  Now I knew the pattern would have stretch to it, but her mitt's stretched out a bit to large so I adjusted for that this time.  As well as her mitt's lace row seemed to twist down towards her thumbs, which isnt a big deal you can easily readjust them. I thought I could fix that as well so they wouldn't need adjusting.

So the changes I made this time around will make the mitt's 1/2 inch to 1 inch smaller. It will still have a lot of stretch but should fit smaller hands/wrists better.  Since the changes make these smaller I would say they are fit for a 2-4 year olds.  OH and the yarn she picked out is RH Boutique, Candied.

Changes made-
R1- Ch 23, HDC 21
R2- (ch 2 turning chain) HDC 21
R 3-5 as written in pattern
R 6- (ch 2 turning chain) HDC in first sc, HDC 3 in chain space, (HDC 4 in chain space) repeat across, ending with HDC in last sc.
R7-15-(ch 2 turning chain) HDC 21
R 16- as written in pattern for R 19

Now the mitt shown in these photos still needs the top and bottom trim done, but I think I am going to change that up.
I will try to do a shell repeat and see if it causes any loss of stretch if it doesnt I will update this post with the pattern for it. If it does I will see if I can not figure out an other cute finish so they are not just sc across the top/bottom.

UPDATE: Cuff round, works well with this adaptation (even number of rows).  So starting at the join, yarn over then work into the bottom of that row on the edge, working 5 hdc, then slip stitch into the bottom edge of the next row repeating all the way around.  This gave me 6 shell's.

Finished while at the gaming table

Toddler Lace Fingerless Mitts [Pattern]

Toddler Lace Fingerless Mitts

I made a pair of fingerless mitt's for a commission and I did the pass off today, my sister plan's on delivering them for me tomorrow.  Only at the pass off my niece asked if they where an other gift for her.  

So she suckered me into making a 3 year old toddler version of the mitt's just for her, the ones I cant seem to stop making.

This pattern is sized for my 3 year old niece whose wide's part of her hand is 5 1/2 inches round.  Like with the adult pattern is is very easy to adjust smaller or bigger by adding/subtracting rows or going up/down a crochet hook.

These where made with Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable, using a size F 3.75mm crochet hook. 

As with all my patterns feel free to use them to make items to sell just credit me as the designer.  Feel free to drop a donation off at my pay pal if you love the pattern and want to help support me writing more.

Get your Mitts on these Mitts

Aparently my Fingerless Lace mitts are a hit.  

 I got an other request for a pair this time with the theme of purple. 

 I used RHU in Dragonfly color for these.  It has some gorgeous purple, to lavender, to teal, with just a touch of  green.  

Since the gloves are made reverse of each other its difficult to make the mitts match but I hope I got them close enough and she likes them.

 

So I tried something new...

I know christmas just happened, but I wanted to work on a gift and mini gift I am hoping the christmas recipients love.  Besides its never to early to start making gifts for christmas/birthdays.  I lump them together because we have at least 6 people who have birthdays at the end of the year.

So the something new, I jumped on the band wagon and tried arm knitting.  I mostly went with arm knitting because my large knitting needles where still a bit to small for the Ginormous yarn I was working with. 
I just worked in stockinette stitch (sks knitting back and forth) because I have not picked up knitting needles (to knit) in over a year so I was a bit rusty and also trying something on a larger scale.

I know who I am giving this gift to (so long as I dont forget about it!!!) and they wanted something like it.  I myself am not a fan of arm knitting, it worked up super fast but was hard to keep it consistent because my arms are not 100% the same size so the loops that got pushed farther up my arm got all streched out while the ones by my wrist where tighter.  This is an issue I could most likely fix if I worked more arm knitting but unless I am requested to I think I will stick to crochet.  It makes a net like texture when stretched out but makes a nice chunky style fabric unstretched.  There was more then enough yarn on here to make a extra large adult sized infinity scarf and a smaller kid sized infinity scarf.   The downside to the yarn I used is its very hard to hide the tale as its a very loose roving with a small bit of twist and cord plyed.

If you know how to knit its pretty easy to just pick up.  I wound up trying 3 different cast on methods as I did not like how Long-Tail Cast-On and Loop Cast-On looked and felt.  I wound up using the knitting cast on, I would suggest if you have not arm knit before practice casting on a few times till you like how it feels.
 I am almost interested in seeing if I could do a mock arm Tunisian crochet next, I know I would run into the same issue of maintaining stitch size using my arm.  But that is a idea for an other day.
 For those intrested -
 Knit cast on 10 st (adult) or 6 st (kid)
Work back and forth in knit stitch till you get the desired length you want.
 I spend maybe 30 to 40 minutes working up both scarf's, and I would call myself an intermediate knitter, who is a bit rusty in her knitting skills.

It is never to early to start hooking for christmas, well maybe if you unwrap a gift of yarn and a hook and start hooking while you still have gifts to open.

Orange Twist

This hat 'pattern' has been shared all over facebook which means the requests for it have started.

Since the original pattern is not written or even charted this was a bit of a task for me.  It was all in Russian, with a video or photos of each row as it was worked.  If you want to attempt this pattern click here.  I wish I had a better way of showing off this hat but it is to small for my styrofoam head that I typicly use to show off hat's.
I started and frogged this hat 3 times while trying to fallow the photos then the video.

What I did--
Starting chain of each row counts as first half double crochet stitch.  Each row will end with a slst into the first stitch (the 3rd chain in your starting chain).
Stitchs I used- hdc (half double crochet), fphdc (front post half double crochet), slst (slip stitch), BLO (back loop only), inc (increase), sk (skip).   (~~) Repeat, means to repeat the directions inside the () all the way around.  Always skip over the chain space it doesn't count as a stitch.
 
R1- Work into a magic ring, Ch 3, hdc 11 (12 st counting chain)
R2- Ch 3 counts as first hdc and chain space, (fphdc, ch 1) repeat -12 stitches and 12 spaces
R3- Ch 3, fphdc into first stitch, ch 1 (hdc and fphdc in next stitch, ch 1)
R4-Ch 4 counts as first hdc and ch 1, (fphdc around fphdc, ch 1, hdc in hdc, ch 1) repeat
R5-Ch 3, hdc in first st (creating an increase), (ch 1, fphdc, ch 1, 2 hdc in next hdc) repeat
R6-Ch 3, hdc in first st (creating an increase), hdc in next st (ch 1, fphdc, ch 1, hdc inc, hdc) repeat
R7- Ch 3, hdc in first st (creating an increase), hdc 2, (ch 1, fphdc, ch 1, hdc inc, hdc 2) repeat (You should have a cluster of 4 hdc, between each chain fphdc ch)

Since I was making this hat for a baby 0-3 months old I stopped working my increases here as it was 4 inch radius which with my hat method means r*pi=c so  4*pi= ~12 to ~13 inches around (r=radius c=circumference pi=3.14).  If you need to make it bigger keep working the increase till the radius is the size you need for your circumference. 

R8/18- Ch 3, hdc in first stitch, hdc 2, sk last stitch, (ch 1, fphdc, ch 1, hdc inc, hdc 2, sk last stitch) repeat.


Work brim-

R19- Ch 3(counts as first fphdc), blo hdc, (fphdc, blo hdc) repeat around chain spaces now count as 1 stitch so work into them.
R 20- Ch 3 fphdc around previous rows ch 3 (ch 3 at beging of row no longer counts as a stitch from here out),  blo hdc,  [(fphdc,blo hdc) 3x then work a fphdc hdc fphdc around the next fphdc] repeat around.

R21- Ch 3, (fphdc in fphdc, blo hdc in each blo hdc) repeat

R22- Ch 3, (fphdc in fphdc, blo hdc in each blo hdc) repeat  

Finish off and weave in your ends!  If you need a longer hat just  work more of the straight rows(8/18).

My rose was a simple roll up rose.
 Ch 30, in the 3rd chain from hook work 2 dc, (skip st, ch 1, dc 2) repeat across ending with a single dc in last chain.  Chain 1 sc in first ch sp, (dc 4 between next set of dc, sc in ch sp) repeat across.  Then roll the flower up stitching across as you work so it doesn't unravel.
The leaves where a chain 8, sc, hdc, dc 3, hdc, sc across both sides. I made 3 and sewed them onto the bottom of the flower before stitching the flower to the hat just above the brim.

Sometimes we fail...

 So I put a sneak WIP shot of this up on my facebook page  on Saturday.

I was aiming for a adult style owl hat.  Drawing inspiration from some of the hat's I have already done, and from some of Helen Rodels work as well as real owls.

While I like how the facial disc sections came out and had that deep brow to ear tuff look the rest of the hat just didnt work up like I saw it in my head.

A lot of planning and work goes into my projects and some times they just do not turn out the way I envisioned.   So a weeks worth of work and pattern writing/adapting/adjusting was 4 hours of me unraveling my work tonight.

The biggest issue I ran across was the forehead section, and the feathers.  Getting the right stitch count and keeping it with increasing and shaping took some work.  I was not able to get the shape I wanted out of it, and it some how came out much smaller then planned.

I just wanted to share this with some of you.  Even I have a hard time with crocheting some times, and that is ok.  I frogged it and at some point after I go over my notes I will start it back up again.

I was able to save all the yarn that went into the feather section but the facial dics and forehead will be scrapped as they are sewn togethere VERY well.

Frogging fuzzy yarn is a pain, but here's a trick- when your pulling the stitch out, pull towards the bottom of the stitch while pinching the next stitch over.  It will be harder for the fuzzy yarn to snarl or tangle on itself.  Also keep snips near by, and don't be afraid to cut some fuzz if it snarls up.

Some times It will help to step away from a project that can  be frustrating you.  So when you come back you see it with fresh eyes and might notice where you can change something or where you went wrong.

I figured I don't normally show when I fail on a pattern I am working on so I hope by talking about it it helps someone else out who's working on something and its just not working.

Ending on a positive note, I love how the facial disc and edging work looked!

A gift

My husband went out to pick up some groceries the other night and came back with a suprise gift for me.

Its a hanging shoe rack for the back of a door.  I was so confused till he got it all set up left the room and came back with yarn.

 I have managed to stuff it with about 1/6 of my Christmas/Anniversary haul of yarn.  Mostly the chroma, and the yarn I got while we where celebrating our 10th anniversary. 

Almost each pocket has 2 skeins or Hank's in them.  They are deep enough you can find a skein of RedHeart in them but I opted for my more colorful yarns.

Off hand what is in the photo left to right, top to bottom-

Top row- Herriot (baby alpaca dark gray), silk on the top row (dont know the brands offhand).
2nd row- Chroma, Pegasu and Carnival, I wound up with 4 balls of Carnival so I need to think of something creative to do with it.
3rd row- Chroma again for the whole row, Vermont, Wildflower (looks alot like vermont), Sugar Cookie, and Hollyhock
 4th row-Lorna's Lace (Midway), Herriot (light gray), Impulse, Patons Silk Bamboo
5th row-Lastly in the bottom pocket which is LARGE I put my 2 skeins of Baby Alpaca Grande which is a stunning midnight blue.  I might adjust and put something else in these pockets as the B.A.G. barely fills it, I might put my spare work case or my Tunisian hooks.

I might even be able to hang my scarf's on the side, it depends on the cat's temperament if she decides they are a dangling play thing I wont be able to keep them there.

Commision Merman set

This merman tail, crown, and trident where so fun to work up.  The trident will be a photo prop only as it is made with wires inside to keep its shape; but the tail is a working blanket that the babe that was requested large enough for him to grow into and last him threw toddler-hood.       

I love how the teal and brown pooled on this peice it reminds me of the Mandarin Fish
              
Since Bernat was not interested in my design, when I have the spare time I will type up a PDF to upload for you guys.  Just debating on if there is any interest in the Trident & Crown set to add it as well or not bother.