In the Weeds

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Nine colors in this one! That’s a record for my designs. I went about designing a hat that looked organized yet somewhat jumbled to get the “weeds” effect. I’ve been using that flower motif a lot in my designs and adding little swirlies.

Because I get tired of knitting plain ribbing I’ve been doing corrugated ribbings for my hats. It’s interesting to knit plus I can put colors in there that balance out the whole color scheme to give it symmetry.

I took a picture of the inside of this hat right before I began to weave in the ends. I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about weaving in the color changes as you go. (Especially since there are nine colors in this hat!)

There are several ways to change colors as you go. I do not weave in the first inch or two because those little ends would show hanging out of the cap. They yarns ends from the ribbing are woven in and up to hide the tails. This picture shows how long I leave the little ends when I am working in a color. It’s better to be too long and trimmed later verses too short where they don’t hold.

My method for weaving in ends is for people who knit colorwork with both hands. I knit along as usual with the dominate color (usually lighter color) in my left and the background color in my right (usually dark). With my left I “pick” and with my right I “throw”.

Weaving in ends as you go is essentially like trapping floats for every stitch.

When I get to 6-8 stitches before a new color is introduced I switch both working yarns to my right hand. I put the new color in my left hand and work the right hand like it’s trapping floats on every other stitch. When I get to the new color in the chart, I put the color that I’m no longer using in my left hand and the two working colors in my right hand. Now again I work like I’m trappy floats for 6-8 stitches. So your right hand is still working the colors in pattern and the left hand is holding the yarn that you no longer use so it is woven into the back of the work. After you’ve secured the unused color down over 6-8 stitches, cut if off leaving about an inch. After that I switch back to 2-handed knitting until I get to the next color change.

OK so that’s the written version of how I weave in ends as I go. There are already lots of youtube videos on this and I don’t think I could make anything better than what’s already out there. If this idea is new to you I’d try it out on a hat or cowl first. And on that note, here’s my most recent FREE hat pattern:

in-the-weeds-hatDownload

Bella Bella Mittens

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So this is how these mittens got named after a place I didn’t go to: While driving down from Alaska, we did a stop in Terrace BC. We tried to get a ferry ride to Campbell Island and were put on a waitlist. We didn’t get a ticket. We were so tired of driving that we chose not to do the long drive to Bella Bella either. However, I was working on a mitten pattern at the time that I called “Bella”. Once I had internet I checked and found out that that name was already used for a mitten pattern. I was attached to the word and didn’t want to change it so I started calling them Bella Bella Mittens.

All of the mittens I designed this summer have a checkerboard pattern for the palm and thumbs. I got obsessed with this feature. I love the way the yarns you are working with on the “pattern” side turn get carried around to make a sturdy fabric on the palm. This is probably more fun for people who knit like me with 2 strands. I hold the dominate color in my left hand and the background color in my right hand. I also weave in the yarns as I go which I highly recommend learning how to do if you don’t already know. Those 2 techniques make knitting these checkerboard palms fun.

I’ve written up the pattern to share with anyone who wants to make Bella Bella mittens. Here’s the Free Pattern to download:

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Knitting in Alaska

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We have been home for a few weeks now and I’m putting together some of the patterns I designed while on our road trip through Alaska. As usual, I mostly made mittens. I went on a Latvian Braid kick and made 5 pairs with that feature. Several of these will be written up into patterns to share with everyone.

The first pair that I’m sharing is Pretty Please Mittens. The Fair Isle-like design is all on the front of the mitten and the palm and thumbs are a checkerboard pattern. The main color is Asphalt (dark gray) and there’s one line of Orange in each repeat that really pops out.

If you like these mittens and you want to hear about other patterns that I’m putting out this coming fall, subscribe to my email list by clicking in the lower right corner where it says “Follow”. You can also follow me on Instagram and see the patterns a few days before they are published.

Here’s the FREE pattern for Pretty Please Mittens:

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Foreign Accents Hat

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There are many colors in my yarn collection that I consider “accent” colors. Yellow, orange, red, and bright peach are a few colors I rarely use. This time, however, I used them all at once. Except for the dark gray color, the rest of the palette for this hat is BRIGHT. This is how I came up with the hat I call Foreign Accents.

For me personally, this is the best fitting hat that I’ve made. I used smaller needles (size 2) for the corrugated ribbing which makes the hat fit nicely. I used my balloon trick for blocking: soak the hat, squish out the water, fit the hat over a balloon that measures 1 inch less in diameter than your head. Let it dry like that.

I’ve written up the pattern and I’m sharing it here for anyone who would like to make it. My advice for knitters using this pattern is to learn to weave in your color changes as you go. There’s lots of ways to do this and the internet is full of tutorials. I know we all have different techniques that accomplish the same task, that’s why it’s only a suggestion. Maybe there’s a person who LIKES to weave in all the ends at the end of a project, but that’s not me.

Here’s the FREE pattern for Foreign Accents Hat:

foreign-accentsDownload

Designing while Traveling

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Greetings from Alaska! We’ve got gray skies, rain, and endless daylight!

I had such grand ideas about how I would travel this summer and keep writing patterns. Well, I have been traveling and I have been knitting but I have not had an internet connection! I planned ahead and switched to knitting software that doesn’t need the internet. At home I was using Stitchfiddle which is web-based. In the trailer I use Stitchmastery software. We have solar power so I’m able to use the computer to design any time that I want. As for blogging or posting patterns, that hasn’t actually happened since we’ve been traveling in Alaska.

It turns out that I’m having fun designing and knitting winter accessories now. When I get home in the fall I will post the patterns that I think are the most interesting. In the mean time I will send this sample back to the drawing board to re-work the color before making the whole mitten.

Desert Home Hat

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A while back I went hiking in the Valley of Fire State Park here in Nevada. Afterwards I tried to pick out some yarn colors that reminded me of the unique rock that I had seen. I was looking on-line for a vibrant coral that leaned towards orange. The closest thing I could find was “Kumquat” by Knit Picks. I ordered it and when it arrived I wasn’t sure how to use such a bright color in my designs. So it sat in my basket for half a year.

During one of my crazy moments when I was sitting on the floor grouping balls of yarn into color combinations, I figured out what to do with “Kumquat”.

Mixed in with rust, yellow, brown, and turquoise, “Kumquat” found it’s home. From there I designed this beanie. I’ve written up the pattern to share. Here’s the Free Pattern for Desert Home Hat.

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Rock Climbing Hat

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You may know that I love wool and knitting but rock climbing is also at the top of my list. My local craig is Lime Kiln Canyon in Northern Arizona. I live in Nevada but I’m right on the boarder of Arizona and I’m a stone’s throw from Utah. We chose this place to live because it’s close to all our favorite rock climbing areas. We get really great weather here this time of year but if it’s a little cold a nice wool cap will make the hike up to the craig comfortable. But enough about climbing! Let’s talk knitting!

I designed these hats as a way to use up small amounts of yarn. Quick draws and ropes come in all kinds of bright colors so I thought it would be fun to put together a pattern that used up these tiny bright scraps. I used fingering weight 100% wool yarns by Knit Picks.

The first hat I made for myself and I used my favorite dark blue color as the base. After I made my husband a dark green hat I decided it was a slightly better color combination so I used his for the creation of the actual pattern that I wrote. Of course if you make this hat you can use any colors you like.

Here’s the Free Pattern for Rock Climbing Hat. Enjoy!

rock-climbing-hatDownload

Pickleball Hat

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My hobbies of knit pattern designing and pickleball have bumped into each other. I had wanted to make a pickleball hat for a while and this idea finally came into my head. The challenge was the color yellow. I’m not a big fan of bright yellow so I had to work in other colors that I do like.

I wrote up the pattern and I’m posting it here for free. If you make it please send me a photo or post on Ravelry. Enjoy!

pickball-hat-updatedDownload

Joy

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It may seem strange that I’d call these dark moody mittens “Joy” but I love deep dark colors. I’m quite happy with a lap full yarn and 5 little sticks (and a cup of strong coffee). Making these brought me joy.

Like the last few mittens that I’ve designed, I used the most simple seeding pattern for the palms and thumbs–alternating one light stitch and one dark stitch throughout.

Although the pattern has only 2 colors per row, it does change colors enough that it might be wise to weave in the ends as you go. This is how I knit and I know that it makes the yardage count on the low end. If you knit with the technique of weaving in all the tails of the color changes at the end of the project you will need the amount that is in the upper end of the range. For example, if the pattern says “Seude (CC2) 33-37 yards”, you’d want to err on the side of the greater amount if you leave tails as you knit. That being said, I think it’s worth learning how to weave in ends as you go. Using that technique will allow you to use less yarn, not have to manage all the strings as you go, and in the end not have so much work to do to finish the project.

Here’s the Free Pattern for Joy Mittens. Enjoy!

joy-mittensDownload

Temptation Mittens

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How many different colors do I want to put into a design? Often I make mittens (or hats or socks) with just 2 colors. It’s quite fun to just knit along not having to change colors as I go. Sometimes I do want the kind of patterns that involve multiple colors. That’s how I came up with Temptation Mittens. With 3 dark shades and 2 light shades, these mittens kept me entertained. I chose colors that I don’t usually see together. I used fingering weight yarns from the Knit Picks Palette line. They are called Caper, Ash, Silver, Lichen and Hazelnut.

I use to think that the palms of the mittens needed to be fancy but after making lots of mittens I started appreciating this really plain type of seeding stitch. It’s made by alternating light and dark using what ever strands you were working with on the front of the mitten. My pattern has this charted out for you but once you get the system down you don’t really need to look at the pattern when knitting the palms.

Here’s the Free Pattern for Temptation Mittens.

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