Softly Cabled Cowl

I have a weakness for alpaca yarn, and this cowl came about as a soft, fluffy, and warm wrap for my sister in law this Christmas. I might have to buy more yarn and make one for myself!

The cowl is shown looped around the neck only once. However, it's long enough to be doubled for a different look or for extra warmth around the face.

Softly Cabled Cowl (knitting pattern)

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky, 2 skeins (216 yards total)
Needles: Size 11 double points or 16-inch cable needle
Gauge: 15 stitches and 16 rows = 4 inches in stockinette
(note: I used all but about 3 yards of the yarn, so if you up the gauge, plan on fewer repeats or buy a third skein).

- Using a provisional method, cast on 48 stitches.
- Place marker, and join to knit in the round.
- Knit 7 rounds.
- Cable row: *K4, place 4 stitches on cable needle and hold to back, K4, K4 from cable needle. Repeat from * 3 times more.
- Knit 14 rounds.
- On the 15th round, repeat cable row.
- Repeat these 15 rows 9 times.
- After completing the 9th cable row, knit 7 rounds.
- (At this point the cowl should measure about 34 inches in length.)
- Undo the provisional cast on and join the cowl in a continuous loop using the kitchener stitch.

Monkeys!

This summer I went a little bananas over Mary Ann Stephens "Sleepy Monkey Blanket." Although it's designed as a small stroller blanket (about 20 x 20 in.) I sized it up to make a full baby blanket for my friend's daughter. Finished size was about 46 x 30.

The process began with fair isle monkeys, knit in the round. This took me from early July through early October.


Here I'm machine sewing the blanket on either side of where I'm about to cut open the steek.


Every knitter knows that this is the scary part--going at your knitting with scissors. Yikes!


This was one of the more challenging objects I've ever blocked. The geometric nature of the monkeys made it very obvious if any portion of the blanket was stretched more than another. I ended up pinning each row of monkeys, using a yard stick to align the diamond motifs between the monkey's ears. I think it took several hours to get it all right.

Next step was to pick up and knit the border. It was a lot of hurry up and wait, as my grandpa would have said. I felt like I was really close to completion having finished the main panel, but in terms of area, knitting the border was like knitting half of the blanket over again! That's what happens when you have 10-12 linear feet of knitting. I had my eyes on the finish line and neglected to photograph it with the border in process. Below you can also see the pink cotton lining, which is tufted with small purple yarn ties and is attached to the knitted front with a blanket stitch.

Finally, voila, a very happy monkey blanket for baby Violet.

iPhone Cozy Knitting Pattern

iPhone cozy
Originally uploaded by knitscapade

I stood in line to get my iPhone 4 on the first day they were released (because I'd dropped and broken my old first-gen model). I was terrified that I'd break the new one--in all its glass-fronted and glass-backed glory--so I whipped up this cute and very protective case. I'm proud, er embarrassed, to say that it's survived at least one fall onto concrete.

iPhone Cozy (knitting pattern)

Approx 100-200 yards of Cascade 220
Size 9 double-pointed needles
Size 8 double-pointed needles
Gauge: 16 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette

Note: the yarn is worked double stranded, so you may prefer to have two skeins of the yarn. The pattern doesn't use a lot of yardage, so this is also a great way to use up scrap yarn.

- Cast on 20 stitches with your larger needles.
- Place marker and join to knit in the round.
- Knit 8 rounds.

- OPTIONAL thumb hole to be able to answer your phone while it remains in the case. If you don't want the thumb hole, skip to ** below.
- K3, Cast off 4, K13 (you've now completed the round)
- K3, cable cast on 4, K13 (you've now completed the second round and closed the hole.

** Continue knitting another 20 rounds (30 total)
- On the next round, switch to the smaller needles and begin knitting in K1, P1 rib.
- Knit 10 rows of rib.
- Bind off in pattern.
- Stitch the bottom closed and weave in ends.

The cozy is reversible.

- VARIATIONS
This cozy will fit all iPhone models. It is pretty snug, so it will conform to the shape of your device. To adapt for the iPod Touch, knit four fewer rows before starting the ribbed collar.

Finally: the reveal

Ok, so I finished the table in April, but I also had to paint the china cabinet, finish my wall art, and make time to get satisfyingly beautiful photographs. No easy task when the best light is always during the day when I'm working. So finally, after way too long, here is our dining room table. Finished dimensions are H: 30 x W: 36 x L: 88. As you can see it seats eight.

Charming wedding decor

I cannot take any credit for this (well, just a wee bit for helping to tie some of the fishing line), but I just had to share this sweet decor from my brother's wedding on July 10.

It's a few dozen embroidery hoops with different fabrics in the wedding colors. It provided the backdrop for the head table.

Updating an old mirror

Long time no post! We've been doing a lot of house updates, including painting our foyer. After debating color for more than a year, the room has finally gone from Pale Avocado to Wet Concrete. But more on that later.

The painting made me rethink this old mirror, which I bought at an estate sale for my first college apartment (gulp!--more than a decade ago). Anyway, C and I have never really loved the gilded frame, and the new paint color (smoky purpley gray) just wasn't playing nicely with the gold. So, I decided to paint it matte black.

This thing is a massive sandwich of glass, backing board etc. so I just masked off the mirror with painter's tape.



If you want to spray paint, I highly recommend sandable automotive primer. It's much easier to work with than spray enamel (doesn't drip as easily, dries fast) and you can sand between coats for a super flawless finish. Here's our mirror after a couple of coats of black primer.



Peel off the tape...



And voila!

The end in sight

Favorite Photo Friday # 4

I know this is the first one I've participated in. I'll try to do better. Nothing says spring to me like the March Bank at Winterthur. I took this shot in 2008.

Woodworking continues

I've always been a girl who needs a deadline to get things done. Best way to make sure the house gets clean? Plan a party. Best way to finish a dining room table? Plan a dinner party for 22! So, April 9 is our deadline, and work continues at near furious pace.

This weekend we:
Determined the final width and trimmed the bread board ends of the tabletop (photo shows before the cutting).

Drilled holes through the tongues / grooves (which will be pinned with walnut dowels)

Cut all the mortise and tenons for the legs / skirt.



Sanded, ad nauseum.


Since I failed to update, last weekend we:

Cut the grooves in the bread-board ends with my dad's router.
Cut the tongues on the long center boards with the dado blade on the table saw.
Sawed the glued-up legs to 2 1/2 in. thickness, and cut them to length.

In another medium

I know this is supposed to be a blog about my knitting, and occasionally my sewing. But, sometimes a girl ventures into another medium and doesn't want to start a new blog. So, this is an update on our dining room table. Medium: cherry and walnut. Craft: woodworking.

About a year and a half ago, I bought my friend's wood working tools when he moved out of the country and sold his house. With the tools came some HUGE pieces of lumber which I've always intended to turn into a dining room table to replace our $25 IKEA special that DH has had since college.


One impediment was the fact that the wood was too big to plane in our shop. So, on MLK day, my brother and transported the lumber to a professional's shop to get it ready for the next steps.





My challenge with this particular lumber has always been to design a table using what I've got: one plank that is 18 inches by 12 feet, and another that is 12 inches by 12 feet. The other criteria is that it has to seat eight and work with our existing dining room chairs.




After much deliberation, I'm happy to unveil the design. Now I just have to build the darn thing :)

Has binding. Is blocked.

I thought I'd post a little update with this weekend's progress. I improvised a binding with overlapped edges that I've deemed to be an acceptable substitute for the mitered binding that I didn't want to figure out. I'm so happy with how much the yarn relaxed after blocking.

Adventures in Fair Isle

I've been working on a fair isle pillow for awhile now, and I finally cut the steek this weekend. Eek! Now I just need to finish the binding, block, and make the backing (probably a piece of chocolate brown linen).

After cutting, my pillow cover measures about 18 inches square. The full-scale blanket pattern called for 5 repeats across and 5 repeats high. This is only 2 repeats by 1.5 repeats! So, if knitting an entire fair isle blanket is as daunting to you as it was to me, I'd recommend making a pillow. Heck, it only took me 7 months to get this far. I don't even want to know how long it would take me to make a blanket at that rate.

Snow storm

I can't complain about this morning's record snowfall (a full 21 inches measured at 9:00 a.m. in both our front and back yards)! It gave me an excuse to spend a good part of the morning with my knitting, and my fair isle throw pillow is now well on its way (pics of that soon).

Forcing it

I bought some beautiful Malabrigo chunky yarn in "Pearl" with visions of big lovely cables in my head. I've knit about 6 inches of two cable scarves and am about to frog for the second time. I think this yarn is just so darn lovely that it wants nothing more than a k1p1 rib so it can just show off its fluffy semi-solid gloriousness.

I think I need to stop forcing cables and save them for a more boring yarn that needs a pick me up.