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Everyday Knitting Project Photo Dump
December 8, 2016: All of these I finished well before Christmas, but I am in the midst of Christmas posting and don’t want to lump that many together, so the Christmas ones will be first.
I knitted this L’Enveloppe for Mom. I want to knit one for me, but I’m very particular about what type and color of yarn I want.
I knitted this Standing Stones Cowl for me. I got it as an e-book with another cowl with a discount provided to readers of Ginny Shellar’s blog.
I used a garter ridge chevron stitch from a knitting book in the round for this cowl that was a birthday gift.
This is another birthday gift, and I think that it is cute, but don’t buy any pattern for it. I bought a pattern (and I think there was a cheaper pattern!) for this because I thought the top is knit in the round and was more intricate than it was. Don’t buy, you can figure out how to make it yourself; I should’ve known that because so many posted the same pattern. The top is a diagonal garter ridge or diagonal rib rectangle that you seam and gather. I bet you could knit it in the round in some way and have more professional finish (you need the cherry to cover the heavily gathered top in this case). I shouldn’t have had to pay $5 for that; its legal to charge, but its unethical. I should have known better; I feel cheated.I’ve had copyrights and patents in two classes this semester (after the first I went through and removed all photos that weren’t mine from the blog). Any work is automatically copyrighted, but what that means is that the actual physical work or wording cannot be copied; the design or idea or pose or plot can be (can you imagine how few books there would be otherwise? lol). So the physical pattern cannot be scanned, typed out, etc. So, a person’s particular rendering of an unorignal idea is protected but not the idea. For good reason, many ideas aren’t that unique and could be created by many people simultaneously. Like this one.Patents are far more serious; they are to protect serious innovation. Patents have many requirements and must be registered. I highly doubt any knitting pattern will be patented (I don’t know if any would even qualify) and any detailed, original design will be super hard to copy anyway. And no patent would ever protect something as unorignal as this.I didn’t want to pay for the Holden pattern because it wasn’t original enough in my mind (it isn’t), but I couldn’t find the plain pattern stitch (I did find a scarf with it) until after I purchased it, and figuring out the pattern stitch for a shawl is beyond my interest-skill balance (actually, it might not be that hard), so I am less dissatisfied with that purchase, but I need to be careful. Most patterns are around $5 and you can buy a book with several liked patterns for less than a few Ravelry patterns. And many of the patterns for sale aren’t intricate enough even in books and knitting magazines to be worthy of a purchase. Make sure you look really hard for free and try it yourself if it isn’t a complicated pattern or you could spend a ton of money for little creativity. Only really intricate lace designs or unique patterns (like the first listed) are really worth it. Others are somewhat worth it if they do a lot of the calculations for you or you could not find the stitches (like the first cowl). -
Christmas Knitting
I forgot to take a photo of the $1 gift; it was a cream version of the twist headband in this post. The beret is this pattern, and I love it as it looks like a real beret instead of a beanie when worn. I’m going to use it as a base for all other berets I make because it is the only true beret I’ve done. Also, I blocked it with the opening on the bottom of the plate and drew it up tighter with yarn stitched around, and this may have helped with the shape a bit. I think that mine looked better than the photos on the pattern page, so don’t be worried to try it.
The pink shawl is my third Holden, and my first attempt at knitting with beads (I improvising the number and placement). The photos do not do the crystals justice. This was for my grandmother.
The L’Enveloppe was for my sister, and I didn’t do the decreases correct (I think the seed stitch version instructions were confusing, if not wrong in keeping the pattern, so I improvised it to my detriment), so it is far longer than the pattern. Now, because of the asymmetrical nature, I don’t think it looks wrong, but I thought I would note this for anyone who might try the pattern.
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Yarn Along
I am linking up here again.
I actually finished this book yesterday. Wow. Read it, but prepare to feel the horror. The descriptions are not graphic, but between the style of writing, cruelties mentioned, my previous WWII college classes, and my imagination, I really got the feel of cringing fear. I still don’t think it is Book Thief level in my liking, but as for understanding the spirit of fear in WWII, I think it is far more accurate. (Yet another reminder, that most Americans, even the British also, really don’t understand the horror of events in which we are only partially involved; we are so insulated. The war was not on home soil, and the wars fought on U.S soil did not destroy daily life for the entire nation). Quite unlike the rather silly Code Name Verity. Mentioning hard things does not evoke the proper tones, the touch of horror the protected and pampered need to feel.Anyway, I am working on Standing Stones Cowl in fingering. I bought two patterns with a reader’s discount offered via Ginny Sheller’s blog several months ago. I have finished knitting another medium size accessory, but I still have some finishing work to do, perhaps blocking. I finished a scarf except for buttons, but I want to wait until I get the “perfect” ones before I picture it. One of my mom’s friends had preemie, so I knit a preemie hat (that one is not pictured), and then a baby shower at church caused me to knit a regular baby hat, so I decided I would start stocking up on small baby knits. The cream one below was for the shower, the top two are preemies, and the bottom is for a normal baby. I would like to add socks, headbands, and booties to my stock as well.
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Katniss Cowl
Well, I finally finished my sister’s cowl that I promised like a year or so ago. I left out the triangle piece because it did not fit after I sewed the rest of it together. When I showed my mom my accessory and the original, she liked mine better, but I am not super thrilled with it. Of course maybe it will fit my sister better than me. And rustic has never been my look anyway.
I found photos of the back of the original as well.Here is an article regarding the original which costumers hand wove rather than knit.
I used tutorials/patterns including this, this, and this for the top cording. I am left-handed, so I found this part somewhat difficult. I did only two rows rather than three and mine ended up too short in length. I should have done that part last.
I used a couple tutorials for herringbone, and here is one (for this stitch I needed some videos).
This is the pattern I used for the body. I think I did a little extra on the top piece and I decreased two stitches every knit row (slip 3, rather than the usual 2, knit decrease and leave one on left needle as before) for the second piece.
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Yarn Along
I actually have 7 projects on the needles. I dread the casting on and counting, so I decided to cast on quite a few projects and put some aside for later. Shown above is a Katniss cowl for my sister.I am re-reading N.D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards trilogy. I love them, and I have forgotten them enough to enjoy the re-read nicely. I also finished his newest novel, Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle, this week. My other recent reads include the rest of The Giver trilogy (I liked Messenger and Son best, Jonas is annoying when he is older) and several Patricia St. John stories.Oh, and I finally finished that baby blanket. I am thrilled to be done. I really need to plan size and time and pattern more carefully because this really burned me out, and I wasn’t pleased with it aesthetically, too boring and common.
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Yarn Along
I am linking up here.
I am knitting the Spruce Cowl, and reading an A.A. Milne mystery from this list of little known mysteries.
