Knit a glamorous evening bag from scrap yarn

This week we've been making projects from yarn scraps from the blogs we did in 2016 with Universal Yarns. I've saved the best -- and scrappiest -- project for last.

So far this week, we've made a Cowl by Chance, learned to adjust a pattern for a different weight of yarn, and how to elevate our knitting by paying attention to details such as edges and cast ons.

In November, I did a review with Rozetti Cotton Gold yarn. This unique yarn is "spangled" with evenly spaced sequins on a fine strand of cotton yarn.

Hmmm. What could one do with scraps of this stuff?

The project that week was a shawl, which used nearly all three balls of the off-white and silver, and about 10g of the blue.

I decided to combine it with some black double knitting acrylic I had left over from an afghan (I had almost 100g of that), and make not one, but two evening bags.

My humble leftovers: about 95g of black acrylic, 90 grams of blue, and a whopping 15g (about half an ounce) of off-white

Pattern (makes 1 bag)

finished measurements: 8" x 5" [20 x 13cm] (9½" x 5¾" [24 x 14.5cm])

yarn

60g black, double knitting yarn (will make either bag)
15 (90)g Rozetti Cotton Gold

needles

size 5 [3.75mm] straight needles

other

½ yd or m satin or coat lining
½ yd or m decorating weight (heavy) interfacing
1½ yd [1.2m] black cord (optional)
magnetic purse closure 

gauge: 25 sts to 4" [10cm] over stocking stitch

Notes: Directions are given for smaller size, directions for larger size are given in (brackets)

With black, cast on 48 (56) sts using the cable/ Canadian cast on.

Beg with a k row, work in stockinette st until work measures 4¼"  (5") [11 (12.5)cm] , ending with a k row.

Bottom turning ridge: k across.

Beg with a k row, work stockinette st for 5" (5¼") [12.5 (13)cm]  from turning ridge, ending with with a K row.

Top turning ridge: k across.

Beg with a k row, work 3¼" [8cm] (4rows) stockinette st. Break black. Join 2 strands of Cotton Gold and work in garter st for 2½" (6") [6.5 (15)cm].

Small size only: join black and, with RS facing, work in stockinette st for 3¼"  [8cm].

Both sizes: Cast off.

The finished knitting, large bag on the left, small bag on the right

Carefully measure the width of the back of the bag (my small bag is 8" [20cm] and my large bag is 9¼" [23.5cm] ) (uncurl that stockinette stitch!)

 

Carefully measure the depth from the cast on edge (bottom in photo) to the second turning ridge (my small bag was 9½" [24cm] and the large bag was 11" [28cm].

 

Small bag 8" x 9½" [20 x 24cm]
Large bag 9¼" x 11" [23.5 x 28cm]

 

Cut lining ¼" larger than your bag's measurements.

 

Cut interfacing ¼" [5cm] smaller than your bag's measurements.

 

Optional pocket (both sizes): Cut a piece of lining 5" x 8" [23 x 20cm] and a piece of interfacing 4½" x 3½" [11 x 9cm].

 

Center the interfacing on the wrong side of the lining fabric and the pocket interfacing on the the top half of the wrong side of the pocket lining, and bond them, using the manufacturer's directions.

Interfacing ready to bond to lining fabric

Fold pocket piece right sides together, and stitch from fold to bottom of pocket. Turn corner, and stitch in an inch or so, back stitching the threads at both ends of the stitching. Repeat for other side. Turn pocket right side out, pushing out corners. Press under opening (which will become the bottom of the pocket), and top stitch to close it.

 

Center pocket horizontally on one half of the right side of the lining, with the bottom of the pocket about ½" away from the center fold of the purse lining. Pin securely in place and top stitch pocket into place.

Pocket in position to stitch in place. The stitching will be made in a "U" shape around the left, bottom, and right sides of the pocket piece.

Fold purse lining right sides together, and stitch down side seams, with a ¼" seam allowance. Press down a hem of ¼" around the remaining opening, and top stitch.

 

Lining is complete. 

The finished lining, with sewn in pocket and top stitched hem

Bag assembly: Weave in all ends. Turn cast on edge up to the second turning ridge and sew front of bag to back of bag.

 

Fold top flap back and mark (with pins or stitch markers) where the magnetic closure will go.

Positioning the magnetic clasp

Attach the closure following the manufacturer's directions. 

 

For small bag, sew cast off edge to the row above the turning ridge. For large bag, sew cast off edge to the blue bumps from the first row above the turning ridge.

Detail of the stitching for the blue clutch's top flap

Turn the flap down and mark (with pins or stitch markers) where other half of the closure will go on the front of the bag. Attach the closure as above.

 

Cut cord for the straps to desired length plus 2" [5cm] on each side. Position the cord so it will be hidden by the lining at the back of the bag. Stitch each end into the bag with black thread. 

                             

Slide the lining into the bag so the pocket is at the back of the bag. With black thread, sew the lining to the knitting.

The clasp attached to the body of the bag, and the lining slid into place, ready for stitching in. Remember to add the shoulder cord, if you're planning one!

Enjoy your hand made evening clutch. No one will guess that it was made with scraps of yarn and a few bits!

The finished knitted bags (top) and the store-bought fabric clutch that inspired them!

2 tips to elevate your scrap yarn project to a professional level

Just because we're working with yarn scraps, there's no reason for our knitting to look amateurish. Today I’m going to give you two tips to elevate your knitting to a professional level.

This week, we've been working with yarn scraps from last year's reviews of Universal Yarns. On Tuesday, we made a soft, fluffy cowl, and yesterday, we adapted a different cowl pattern to make it with a different yarn.

Today’s yarn selection is Deluxe Dk Tweed Superwash, a nice, soft 90% wool, whose acrylic and viscose content comes from the flecks incorporated into the yarn to make it a tweed.

Our 'orphaned' ball of Deluxe Dk Tweed Superwash will be turned into something useful when it grows up!

In searching for a pattern, I went to the Universal Yarn website, but kept coming up empty. I have full ball – 284 yds/ 259m / 100g – of Deluxe Dk Tweed. While this may not seem like a true scrap of yarn, knitters often have an extra ball-and-a-bit remaining after finishing a sweater. This will easily make a hat, but I burned my bridge with hats last year when I made more than a dozen hats for charity. I don't want to see a hat pattern for another year or two. If you want to make a hat, 100g of double knitting/ DK will be plenty for almost all patterns. It should also be enough to make a pair of mitts. There are numerous patterns on the Universal Yarn website for any of these items.

I could pull out my "box of bits" to stretch out the yarn. The walnut brown of the Deluxe Dk Tweed is a good main color, to “anchor” the bits.

A number of the colors in this box of scraps would complement our single ball of Deluxe Dk Tweed Superwash

There were patterns for DK yarn I could just cast on and knit -- the Reune mitts, long fingerless mitts that cover much of the forearm, and the Paprika Seed Cowl. The short version of the Splatter Lace Cowl would also work. But, I wanted a challenge to knit, and something that would provide a teaching element. I considered the Cozy Snood, as it is made of Fisherman Rib, but, I only have enough yarn to make about 8" of it’s 13" width.

I settled on the Flint Ridge Scarf. It requires two balls of yarn, but it’s 72" long plus a fringe, so I should get just over 36" of length – enough for a man’s scarf . I showed the picture to my guy, and asked him if he thought the open areas were too lacy. When he said no, I saw my green light.

 

Elevating your cast on

A lot of people use one cast on for all their knitting. I most commonly use one of three, depending on what I’m doing.

I use a ribbed long-tail cast on when the pattern begins with ribbing.

If I won't see the cast on edge (when I’ll be enclosing the cast on into a seam), or when I’m going to jump right into stockinette stitch in the round, I use a knitted on or cable cast on.

When a pattern starts with garter stitch worked back-and-forth (as this pattern does), I use the long tail cast on. Here's why:

Either the knitted or cable cast on creates knit "bumps" on the back of the work. At the end of the cast on, we don't turn the work: the stitches are formed on the left needle, and we knit from them. Knitting that first row forms a second row of "bumps" on one side of the work, the same way it happens in stockinette st.

A long tail cast on "builds" the stitches onto the right hand needle. The bumps also form at the back of the work, however, when we turn the work, those bumps end up at the front of the work, and the first row of knitting creates a more natural ridge of garter stitch.

If I continue knitting with the purple yarn -- cast on with a cable cast on -- I will get two rows of bumps across the back of the work. But, the brown yarn, which was cast on with the long tail method, has been turned to work the first row, and when I knit that row, it will look closer to garter stitch, because the bumps are at the front of the work.

The photo on the left is the cable cast on. On the right is the long tail cast on, The long tail cast on takes the garter stitch border right to the edge of the scarf.

Elevating your edges

Once the lower garter stitch border is complete, we need to consider those garter stitch edges. These little blighters have a natural tendency to curl to the purl side of the work when they're adjacent to stockinette stitch, reverse stockinette stitch, or cables. 

This scarf was blocked severely to get it to lay flat for its completion photo (left). As soon as it is worn, it curls back up again! (right)

Why does this happen, and what can we do about it?

In relation to stockinette stitch, garter stitch spreads out horizontally, and compresses vertically. It makes a neat edge, which is why designers choose it. Designers, however, rarely write a solution for the curling issue into their patterns. Why? because it breaks the "flow" of the written pattern.

My solution is to choose an interim number of rows, and make short rows at the edges to 'build up" the garter stitch to approximate the height of the knitting in the middle. Two rows of garter stitch take up less height than the height of two rows of stockinette stitch. Adding short rows at intervals helps to keep the garter stitch edge from drawing in so much that it pulls toward the purl side of the work.

These two samples were knitted to the same specifications, on the same day, with the same yarn and needles. The only differences were the cast ons and the addition of short rows on the edges. The sample on the left was knit according to the chart, and the sample on the right had short rows added to the edges at every cable cross (every 8 rows). The result of this subtle difference is very clear!

You can get quite scientific about this by referring to your tension swatch, measuring the number of garter stitch ridges and center panel rows, and working with the data. Or, you can extend your tension swatch to experiment.

I always make sure I add short rows at regularly-spaced intervals. Short rows usually show, but when done at regular intervals, they either blend in with the rest of the work or appear as a design element. Like many cable patterns, the Flint Ridge Scarf pattern helps us out, because we can do the short rows at the cable rows, which makes them much less noticeable. And, these cables have an 8 row repeat, which should be just enough to minimize the curling. I make a note on my pattern or chart where I want to add my short rows (SR).

I always make notes on my patterns. I've inserted "SR" in both the text and on the chart to show where I want to make my short rows. Note, too, that I've also indicated the cast on I used. If I ever want to make this pattern again, I'll know how to get the same result!

Employing my two tricks to my Deluxe Dk Tweed yarn is already showing promising results. It will be a perfect piece to wear with my woolen winter car coat!

You may think that these “tweaks” I’m making are fussy, but I’ve been knitting for over 50 years. I’ve learned that these small tweaks elevate your knitting to a professional-looking level. I hope you find them useful in your knitting life!

You've GOT to come back for tomorrow's post to see my last scrap yarn project -- you won't believe it's made of all scraps.

How to adjust a simple cowl pattern for a different yarn

This week we're having some fun with several of the Universal Yarns that were featured in KNITmuch in 2016.

Yesterday's post, knit a cowl by chance with Bamboo Bloom yarn. Today, we're going to work with Classic Shades Metallic. Charles Voth reviewed this yarn in his August 2016 KNITmuch posts.

One of the questions I'm asked most often at Canadian Guild of Knitters is how to adjust a pattern for a different yarn. I found a pattern I liked in a collection of quick cowls -- a free download from the Universal Yarn website, the Get to the Point Cowl.

The Get to the Point Cowl pattern is written for a chunky yarn, but our yarn is Aran weight.

Problem is, this pattern is written for Classic Shades Frenzy, and I have Classic Shades Metallic. Oh, they sound close enough, but Frenzy is a chunky weight yarn with a recommended tension of 13 sts and 17 rows to 4" [10cm] on 10.5 [6.5mm] needles. Classic Shades Metallic, on the other hand, is an Aran weight yarn with a recommended tension of 18 sts and 24 rows to 4" [10cm]. 

The next wrinkle is that the pattern calls for size 11 [8mm] needles, and the pattern tension is 12 sts and 18 rows to 4" [10cm]!  How are we going to make our yarn fit?

 

Let's look at what we know.

 

Frenzy recommends size 10 [6.5mm] needles, but the pattern uses size 11 [8mm] needles. So, the pattern uses two sizes larger than the recommended needle size. Going up two sizes for the Classic Shades Metallic recommended needles (size 8 [5mm]) is a good place to start swatching.

 

Two sizes larger is size 9 [6mm]. I make a swatch, and discover that my tension is 16 sts to 4" [10cm]. At this point, I stop and feel the fabric. I ask myself if I'm happy with it -- is it too soft and drapery? Is it too stiff to be comfortable around my neck? If I'm NOT happy, I'll change needle sizes, going up or down one size, and try again until I AM happy.

I must have knocked my ruler when taking this photo -- ordinarily it would run evenly across the row.

Now, the pattern's tension is 12 sts to 4", and my tension is 16 sts to 4". Armed with this information, we can proceed with our mathematics.

 

There are several ways you can go about this; you can work with ratios, or percentages, or just head out in blind faith. I tend to stay away from the last option.

 

Ratios scare most people, but when it comes to knitting, it's usually just simple division and multiplication. In our example, the numbers are fairly easy. 12:16 is really a 3:4 ratio, which means that for every three sts in the pattern, I'm going to need to have 4 sts on my needle.

 

To apply this, the pattern says to cast on 120 sts. If I take 120, divide by three and multiply by 4, I find that I need 160 sts for my tension. I get the same result if I take 120, divide it by 12, and multiply it by 16. (Go ahead -- try it.) I call this number our "base" or "literal" number.

 

To use percentages, we find out what the percentage 16 is of 12. 16 divided by 12 is 1.33333, or 133%. I can take this number, and multiply my cast on sts (120) by 1.33333, and get a result of 159.9996, which we would naturally round up to 160. What do you know? I got the same result!

 

However: we also have to consider the pattern multiple. Our pattern has six points, and it's worked in the round, so we need to have a multiple of six to make our repeats work out. If we don't, we're going to have a wider or skinnier wedge at some point in our round.

 

Our result of 160 sts divides into 6 26 times, with a leftover of 4 -- when you do this on a calculator, the result comes up as 160 ÷ 6 = 26.66667. Here, you have two options: round up or round down. I've found that it is often the best practice to round up -- usually we want a bit more goodness when we're knitting. 

 

The first round of pattern says *k17, sl2-k1-p2sso; rep from * to end. Our repeat tells us there are 20 sts in each repeat (17 + 2 slipped sts + the knit 1)

 

So, 162 sts is 6 x 27, but wait -- the pattern has an even number of sts in each repeat. Our pattern uses double decreases, so if I have an odd number of sts in the repeat now, I'll still have an odd number of decreases when I get to the collar. Now, for a cowl, I don't see that this will make a lot of difference, but you might run into applications -- a cardigan knit from the top down for example -- when you'll need to have all the sections split off with an appropriate number of sts. 

 

I want a slightly fuller piece, so I'm going to do both -- round up, and start each section with 28 sts. Remember, our "literal" number of stitches is 160. When I round up, I've got 162 sts, and, when I add another stitch to each repeat (6 sts), I'm up to 168 sts, 8 more sts than our "literal" number. Our tension is 16 sts to 4", so, adding 8 sts to the bottom or our piece means adds 2" to the bottom width of the piece! In a cowl, this isn't a big deal, but, if this was a sweater sleeve, it could really affect the fit.

 

You'll notice I haven't mentioned the row gauge at all. Again, because this is a cowl, it's not especially important. In fact, row gauge tends to "fall into place" in most patterns with the exception of color stranding and cable pieces, where you might need a motif to align with a certain height.

Now we are "armed" with everything we need to adjust our pattern: 6mm needles, 16 sts to 4", and two balls of yarn. Add a stitch marker and a pen, and let's do this!

 

Here's how I'd mark up my pattern (I might make a copy of it first, and nowadays I always use an erasable pen, so I can erase any errors).

 

Here's how I would mark up my pattern to this point:

When substituting yarn, good note taking is important -- the day may come when you want to make another one of these!

In the top section, I note the changes I've made in yarn, needle size, and gauge. I do this so I can repeat it down the road if I like the results.

 

In reading over my pattern, I discovered that the beginning of the round "moves" during the decrease ("pointy") section, because of the double decrease at the end of the round. So, putting a stitch marker right on the needle isn't going to be terribly practical. Instead, I'll use the safety pin or split ring kind, putting it right into the fabric to give me a visual reminder of the end of my round. To remind myself of this in the future, I added a note about this under the pattern notes.

Any of these stitch markers can be linked right into the knitted fabric to provide visual reference

Time to cast on and start following my "new" pattern. Go ahead and do Rounds 1-4 yourself.

 

One word of caution: because you want your cowl to fan out over your shoulder, make sure you cast on loosely! You can ensure a loose cast on with this tip: hold a smaller needle - size 2 or 3 or so [3mm], alongside your knitting needle, and cast your sts on over both needles.

To make a loose cast on, hold a second, much smaller, double pointed needle alongside your cast on needle. Allow the sts to slide off the end of the smaller needle as you make the cast on -- at that point it's the same thing as the stitches sliding down onto the cable of the circular needle.

The stitch markers are placed, and I've completed the first repeat of Round 4

Once I have the first round done, I can start placing my markers. Ordinarily, I only use markers at the beginning of the round, unless I'm doing a complex lace pattern. For the rest of my decreases, I "read" my knitting. Once my first decreases are done, I can see where they were made for all the subsequent ones. When I do use stitch markers all around, I reserve one color (usually green) for the beginning of my round (green means go!). 

 

When I'm using markers to denote double decreases, I link the marker right into the "V" of the decrease.

So we've worked our way through round 4. It's time to think about a couple more things: 

1. Do I have enough rounds of garter stitch for the edge to lay flat under my coat?

2. How many stitches am I going to need at the neck to get that nice, rolled cowl?

 

As to 1:

I have two garter stitch ridges (which in circular knitting are knit 1 round, purl 1 round). In a chunky yarn, this might be sufficient for my piece to lay flat, but in a finer yarn, I think I'd like another ridge, maybe 2.

 

So, for Round 5, instead of knitting it, I'm going to do the same thing I did at Round 3, taking out two more purl sts in each repeat. My Round 5 will read: P23, k1; rep from * to end.

I will work round 6 as written (with my k st adjustments), then modify round 7 to: P21, k1; rep from * to end. Then I will work that little stockinette stitch section you see in the photo in denim blue.

As to 2:

For the neck, tje pattern says there are 72 stitches. How many will I need? Well, I can take 72, divide by 12 and multiply by 16, or I can divide by 3 and multiply by 4. Either way, I will come to a result of 96.

 

At the end of Round 8, I have 118 stitches, 24 more than 96. So, I need to do two more decrease rounds, an easy fix; all I have to do is repeat Rounds 8 and 9 twice more, working the appropriate number of stitches between the decreases on Round 8.

 

So, once I have my neck stitches, I need to modify Round 1 of the neck to read "* p15, k1; rep from * to end", to complete the modifications to my pattern.

The finished pattern edits to take your cowl from a chunky yarn to an Aran weight

I'm going to leave you with this thought: 96 stitches at this tension is more than enough to make a hat. If you want your cowl to be a little closer fitting, how will you go about this?

 

(True confession: I did take my neckline in a bit. At 2" into the 8" of neck, I decreased 12 sts to 84 sts, then worked 3" more. Then, I increased back to 96 sts for the next 3 inches, and added another 12 sts to work the garter stitch edge. Why did I do this? So that I would get a softer roll at the top, and so the garter stitch edge would flare back out a little and not pull in as it does in the photo.)

Happy result. I had to tear out about half of my tension swatch to finish this piece, so it took just about 98 grams of yarn. The "sparkle" is SO subtle, but it's great for everyday wear!

Knit a cowl by chance with Bamboo Bloom yarn

This week we're working with leftovers from Universal Yarn reviews that were done during 2016. Yesterday we took stock of those yarns, and today, we're going to work with Bamboo Bloom by Universal Yarn.

 

In February, 2016, Charles Voth did a yarn review of Universal Yarn's Bamboo Bloom yarn.  Bamboo Bloom is made up of 48% Bamboo rayon with 8% acrylic, twisted with 44% wool roving. Rice, the color Charles tested, is a soft mix of petal pink and barely-white called Rice.

Soft pink wool "blooms" and smooth off white bamboo rayon and acrylic make up Bamboo Bloom

Yarns such as Bamboo Bloom have so much texture, it's not really practical to add more in the form of eyelets and slipped stitches. But knitting plain-old-plain-old can get a little monotonous for knitters who like a little challenge. Plus, when working in the round, stockinette stitch tends to curl. Solutions for alleviating this include working some rows in knit, some in purl (like Quaker stitch, that creates purl ridges on both sides) or doing a wide (3 x 3 or larger) ribbing, which makes the pattern reversible.

 

In Charles' posts, later in the week, he made a cowl based on the numbers in his birthdate. He chose a number of stitches to cast on that was deliberately not a multiple of his number, so that the knits and purls would be staggered at the beginning and end of the rounds.

 

Reading his post made me think of a scarf I knitted years ago, which was based on the roll of the dice. The pattern was made of six yarns, and two dice. You assigned a number to each yarn, then rolled the dice. The first die told which yarn to use for the row, and the second which stitch to knit (1 and 4 were knit, 2 and 5 were purl, and 3 and 6 were k1, p1 rib). I decided to adapt these two techniques to make a cowl-by-chance.

 

Here's what I need:

All you need to complete this project is the yarn, a circular needle, a pair of dice, and a stitch marker!

The recommended needle size for Bamboo Bloom is 9 [5.5mm]. Universal Yarn has a pattern on its website for a One Side Cowl (a moebius project) that uses 10.5 [6.5mm] needles, but this is a bit loose for my taste. Still, I want it a little looser, so I'm opting for size 10 [6mm] needles.

 

Charles cast on 100 sts for his cowl, but I'm using a size smaller needle, so I'm going to want more stitches. Charles chose his number because none of his multiples would divide into it. He worked just past the end of the round before moving onto his next instruction. I like this idea, so I want to pick a number that won't possibly divide evenly into the numbers 2 through 12.

 

113, 127 and 131 are three prime numbers over 100 that might work for this project, but I think 113 would be a little shy of the number of stitches I want, so I'm going to work with 131. (A prime number is one that doesn't have an exact divisor.)

 

If you want to have a more symmetrical piece, you can use 120 stitches. 120 divides evenly into almost every combination (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12).  For 7, 9, and 11, you could add a purl stitch onto the end of the last repeat of a roll or 7 and omit the last purl stitch on a round of a roll of 11. A 9 roll is the only stickler -- 9 x 13 equals only 117 sts, so that would require some creative insertions. Another alternative would be to simply re-roll if the roll turned up a 7, 9, or 11.

 

Because I'm going to have a yarn end to weave in, I'm not going to join in the round right away -- I will knit a few rows in garter stitch, then join in the round. This is a great tip for beginning knitters, because it makes it easier to see that the work doesn't twist when you join it.

 

Another thing I do to maximize the use of my scrap yarn (and I do this a lot), is to weigh the ball of yarn at the start of the cast on, and again after I have knitted my border. My yarn ball weighed 71 grams before I cast on my first stitch and 54g once I was ready to begin knitting the body of the cowl. Therefore, I used 17g of yarn -- roughly ⅔ of an ounce -- in the bottom border. From this, I estimate that I'll need an ounce of yarn (28g) to finish off the work, as a cast off uses a fair bit more yarn than a cast on.

 

Once I have several ridges of garter stitch, I add a stitch marker, then proceed working in the round.

 

For each round, I roll the dice. The pattern is going to be a rib, so the left die tells me knit ___ and the right die tells me purl ___.

My first roll was 3 on the left and 5 on the right, so my first round will be k3, p5.

My first roll was knit 3, purl 5 (above). At the end of the round, I worked to the last stitch of the round and, because nothing divides into 131, there were a few stitches left of my last k3, p5 repeat. I slipped the st marker and finished that repeat. 

 

Here's why: If I stop at the round marker, and start a new repeat there, there will be a column of knit stitches in at least the first stitch of every round. Working past the end of the round makes sure that there will be a variety of knit and purl stitches at the beginning and end of each round. It also ensures that occasionally a round will naturally conclude at the stitch marker right at the end of a repeat.

 

Next, I rolled the dice to get a new combination of knits and purls for the next round, and for all of the rounds in the body of the cowl.

 

At the top, I ended the last repeat at the stitch marker, leaving out the last few stitches of the repeat, and, working back and forth, knitted 5 rows of garter stitch. Then, I bound off my piece, using a loose bind off.

The random knit-and-purl combinations create texture in the finished cowl

PATTERN

materials

150g Universal Yarn Bamboo Bloom

US 10 [6mm] circular knitting knitting needle 16 or 24" [40-60cm]

two dice

stitch marker

sewing needle 

scissors

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Bottom border: Cast on 131 sts. Knit 6 rows in garter stitch.

 

Body: Roll the dice. Make sure your border is not twisted around the cable or needle tips. Place a marker, then *knit the number of sts on the left-most die, and purl the number of sts on the right-most die; rep from * around. At the end of the round, slip the marker and continue with the remaining sts of the repeat.

Remaining rounds: Roll the dice, *knit the number of sts on the left-most die, and purl the number of sts on the right-most die; rep from * until the work measures 8 or 9" [20 to 23cm] from the cast on edge. On the last round, work to the stitch marker, omitting the last few sts of the kp repeat.

 

Top Border: k next round to marker. Turn work and remove marker. Working in rows, k 5 rows. Cast off all sts.

 

Finishing: Weave in all ends, using the cast on and cast off yarn tails to sew up the edges of the garter st borders.

The finished cowl makes a nice, light accessory to a dark coat

Scrap yarn challenge - can she do knit?

I make no bones about using up all my scraps, and I love a challenge. If you check out the Spring, 2017 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread (when it comes out), you'll get a better idea of which I speak.

Once I had my article written for that issue (and it practically wrote itself), I was issued another challenge: to take the left over Universal Yarn from 2016 blog posts and make stuff with them.

This is going to be fun, so follow me on this week-long journey to get ideas you can use to use up yarn scraps!

This is the contents of the package I received by mail:

So much to do! My challenge is to take these different Universal Yarns and turn them into fun-to-do projects. Let's go!

Let's determine what we have: 

98.5g of the green/purple/blue sockweight, which is Naked Sock, which was reviewed by Charles Voth in December (link to Dec. 19 post) will go nicely with the

89.0g of variegated reds, which is Allegro, also reviewed by Charles that same week in December. Both these yarns work with size 2 [2.75mm] needles.

Allegro, left, and Naked Sock

The light purple and variegated purple/ pink/ white look like a match, and I have

103g of the purple and

62.5g of the variegated.

I'm pretty sure these balls are Uptown DK

There's enough of this soft pink to make something frothy for a winter coat.

There are a total of 252g of the Bamboo Bloom, rice colorway, size 9 [5.5mm] needles.

The metallic fleck in Classic Shades Metallic is quite subtle.

200g of the Classic Shades Metallic, in the Festivale colorway, size 8 [5mm] needles

The dark brown color of this ball of Deluxe DK Tweed would make a manly project!

100g of the Deluxe DK tweed Superwash. The color is Walnut, and the recommended needles are 6 [4mm].

Java is a 100% hemp yarn. Hemp has natural anti-bacterial qualities, and it dries faster than cotton, which makes it ideal for kitchen and bathroom use.

100g of the Fibra Natura Java hemp in Purple Crush, with recommended 6 [4mm] needles -- pretty sure I know what I'm going to make from this!

Oooh! TWO skeins of a very soft, lofty, chunky wool yarn in natural fleece colors. I'm feeling something Fair Isle coming on!

100g each of the Deluxe Chunky 100% wool, which is beautifully soft, and calls for size 9 [5.5mm] needles.

The two balls of Rozetti Cotton Gold in the foreground are leftovers from my blog posts in November. I have great plans for them that involve the black acrylic double-knitting in the background, also leftover from another project -- two, actually!

There are 35g of the blue Rozetti, for which I definitely have plans! There's a scant 5g of the off-white and the black, but that's enough to do something similar!

Now, we only have four days left in the week, but I've got enough scraps for eight projects. Whatever will I do?

KNITmuch Giveaway 087: Teen Knitting Club - Chill Out and Knit

Enter now for your chance to win this new giveaway!

Get the teens in your life knitting with 35 easy patterns designed for them. Also includes unique embellishments to personalize projects, one-day "instant gratification" projects, a guide to selecting yarn and accessories, top ten problems and how to solve them, starting a knitting club, and more.

 

Title: Teen Knitting Club: Chill Out and Knit

Authors: Jennifer Wenger, Carol Abrams and Maureen Lasher

Publisher: Artisan Books

ISBN: 9781579652449

 

Contest ends at 11PM on January 22nd...get your entries in NOW!

 

Congratulations to Charice W, winner of KNITmuch Giveaway 084: Naked Sock and Saki Bamboo Yarn, plus Rainbow Wood knitting needles.

Teen Knitting Club: Chill Out and Knit

How to Enter the KNITmuch Giveaway Contest

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