amigurumi and friends

a friend of mine was SO ESSITED by the prospect of creating an adorable creature out of yarn that she requested lessons. this knittenninja, of course, was willing to help out with such a thing. provided, of course, that there was a bottle of wine and a really bad movie. in this case, step up 2.

i have no idea what happened in the movie. NONE. however at the end of several hours of mind numbing music and entanglement in yarn, we came up with these little guys.

apparently they were inspired by the movie and got a litte rough. first my friend's pig stepped up.



then my one armed tree swung into action.



the movie was probably more exciting, but i had more fun with the yarn.

Afghan

i've always irrationally disliked the word afghan. there is no particular reason for this, other than the fact that it refers to something that is clearly a blanket.



i found myself overcoming this prejudice because of some awesome yarn that i found at a dollar store. so i bought all i could carry and brought it home to figure out a pattern.

i wound up using:

row 1: k all
row 2: p all
row 3: * k2tog 3 times, * k1 yo six times, * k2tog 3 times, repeat to end of row
row 4: k all



essentially, this pattern involves one row of effort out of every four. and in that row, you make everything smaller 6 times, make it wider 6 times, later, rinse, and repeat until you run out of room. i would HIGHLY recomment using stitch markers to keep your sanity. my blanket involved casting on 144 stitches. so i placed a marker every 24 stitches, or every 4 groups of 6. this helps to catch mistakes early on.

it was super easy to do, but took forever. i left all the supplies at someone else's place and made it whenever we watched a movie together. a great long term project for when you're looking for something to keep your hands busy that you are in no rush to finish. now ok one last closeup.



now. . . for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

amigurumi

so recently i was playing around on etsy and came across some adorable little crocheted bunnies. apparently there is a whole japanese art dedicated to the craft of crocheting adorable little creatures. so i took it upon myself to give it a shot.



like it?

more fishes

remember the fish blanket i was making for a friend's yet to be born child? the child is here! and so, shortly after, is the blanket.



this blanket was SO MUCH FUN. the fish themselves took some attention. i tend not to be one for overly complicated (read: change every row) sort of patterns, but this one was totally worth it. mainly because it reminded me of that escher picture.







so the fish themselves weren't so bad. i mean, they took a while, but once you knew what they were supposed to look like following the pattern wasn't so hard. what was a challenge was stitching them together.



for some reason i have been irrationally against crochet. knitting, i convinced myself, is a man's art. but crochet is for sissies. i suppose it was something about using one needle instead of two.
anyways, i managed to overcome my fear of crochet for this blanket, because it was just that awesome.



and now. . . for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

sweater

so as a christmas gift i was supposed to make a sweater. as these things tend to go, i didn't finish it in time.

trying to find a simple sweater pattern for a guy is really hard. they all have crazy cables or are weirdly shaped. it was tough. but after diligent searching i came across this online sweater pattern generator. there are a couple of different styles. i was most intrigued by the top-down NO SEAMS version.

i used knitpicks wool of the andes with size 8 needles. in general i followed the pattern, but made a few changes. the collar i knit straight, which gave it a roll neck. the waist was done the same way. also on the sleeves i stopped decreasing about 2/3 of the way down to leave a little bit more give. the waist flairs a little bit more than i would like. next time i might throw in a few ribs or make some darts via decreases to try to keep that a bit tighter. i suppose now i understand that this is why sweaters tend to be gathered at a ribbed waist, but i still do not love the look.



i particularly like how the raglan sleeves are made. they are done with four pairs of increases that do not physically connect two pieces of fabric, but make it look as if they do.

fishes

so i decided to make a fish blanket for a friend's yet to be born child. here's a sample fish. i figured that i could make about three fish with one skein of worsted weight on size 8s.

braided christmas scarf

last year for christmas i made my mother a scarf. but the yarn i used was too thick and the needles a bit too small. this resulted in a scarf that was a bit too thick to be worn practically. pretty, though.

so my mother let me know that she liked my dad's scarf way more. it was the cables i think that did it. so this year i decided to up the ante and make a braided scarf.



to avoid undue bulk on this one, i used worsted weight yarn with size 9 needles, where usually i would use a 7. it helped keep the stitches a little airier where the cabling would normally make the scarf denser. i can't find a link to the pattern, but it is basically two braids with a ladder stitch in the middle and a slip stitch rib separating them.

this one went over much better. :)

hat & warmers

wristwarmers are all well and good. and i've made quite a few. but they are way more often with matching accessories. or, perhaps, as matching accessories? like this crazy seussian hat.









the hat is a simple 2x1 rib in wool yarn on size 10 needles. near the top there was not quite enough yarn for anything else, but too much to just throw out. so i decided to add a bit of whimsy. the bit at the top is a 4 stitch i-cord. keeping up the stripe was a bit complicated and took a bit of attention. i'm not quite sure how i did it, but rest assured that it is possible. oh, and that clearly had to be topped off with a tassel.

now for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

warmers

it's been a while, but i've still been knitting. it is slightly less fun dealing with wool when the weather is as sweat-inducing as it has been lately, but i keep on keepin' on. here are some wrist warmers that i finished up a ways back...





no ratings, just the pictures. thought i might be missed?

greenjock

here is a lovely jockstrap in hunter green. i think i've got the pattern down pretty well at this point. and the recipients, they still love 'em. :)

another case in point

i realized that i never took a picture of another case i made. for my glasses. it's a cute little cabled thing. i made it on size 7s holding two strands of cotton yarn together. i thought this would keep the wire frames from poking out. i was quite mistaken. but it's neat nonetheless.







i'll write up the pattern upon request, but for now sit happy knowing it is a lot of cabley goodness knit with cotton yarn, two strands held together, on size 7 needles.

itty bitty blue hat

i liked the idea of the one cable hat. so i made another one. in blue. but i accidentally started decreasing at row 26 instead of 36. so it is very very tiny. oops!





but tiny is cute, right?

taggin'

no, this isn't the coolness that is knit graffiti. it's little taggy things i made for a few things that may someday be sold? since there are a lot i made the pictures smaller. as always, click for a hugemongous version.

so very very warm

if you've seen me in person over the past month you are probably aware that there has been interest in my warmers. commercial interest no less. this excited the ninja greatly. and with this impetus he set forth to make... a helluva lot of warmers.



the ones with the stripes are reversible, and the others aren't.



since there are a half dozen pairs in all, i won't post a separate entry for each one. except where noted, they are done on size 9 needles with mauch chunky yarn. they are 24 stitches in circumference and either a 1x1 or 2x1 rib.









these puppies aren't reversible, but have a lovely little cable effect going on. i think that makes them a tad on the classy side.



these guys are acrylic, done on size 10s. not reversible. but crazy furry.



and now for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

note: the high difficulty is due only to mass production. momma always said if i tried hard i could do anything. now i am my own slave labor.

warm extremities

it's still a little chilly out, right? that means warm headgear.



for you and your basketball. this a roll brim done on size 9s, 72 stitches in circumference. there are 6 decreases done with evenly distributed k2togs starting on row 31.







now for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

another birthday, another jockstrap

this time in masculine pink.



and now one from the side.



it's been a little while, but i think i've still got the hang of it. :)

case in point

my mother was complaining that she didn't have a case for her camera. and heard that i could make them. clearly it followed that she requested one. so one morning, before my dad and sister came into the city for chinese new year, i popped in hackers, broke out my needles, and made a little case. in just under two hours. here she is: size 7 needles, midweight cotton yarn. i cast 20 stitches onto two needles. i knit my way across once, leaving the other needle in the loops. (this is not fun.) then i knit back across the stationary needle, and worked in the round. three rows per color, until i reached the size of the camera. next i bound off one half (using both colors held together). on the other half, worked flat, i knit two together at the beginning of every third row to create a flap that can be tucked in. (the time crunch made figuring out a button a bit too challenging.) totally cute, right? and now for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

andes candes

i always loved the holidays as a kid because we got to eat andes candies. now, they probably existed during other parts of the year, but i was never privvy to this knowledge. what i did know is that they are very very delicious. much like this hat.



a quick knit. maunch chunky yarn on size 10 needles. cast on 24 stitches to each of three needles. k20, p1, k2, p1. do this twice. switch colors. knit a total of 36 rows. the decreases are done between the ribs, starting with k2tog, k8, k2tog, k8, p1, 2, p1. three times. then k2tog, k7, k2tog, k7, p1, 2, p1. three times. and keep going until you have only two stitches between each rib. (6 on each needle). then k2tog, p1, k2tog, p1. draw the end through all open loops and tie off.

and now for the ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

green beanie

i had some leftover yarn from the blanket. so i made a little green ribbed beanie. size 10 needles, acrylic/wool yarn.



72 stitches in diameter, 2x1 rib. i did 12 decreases with k2togs starting on the 30th row, and it just fits. no folding up the brim, though. i think that 6 decreases per row works out a bit better.



i think i will be able to find someone else this hat looks cuter on. is it you?



ratings:

DIFFICULTY:
AWESOMENESS:

funwarmers

so the ninja may start knitting. (not so shocking) professionally. (shocking!!) apparently philadelphia is cold. and stylish. cold + need for style = need for knittenninja! so some wristwarmers were shipped out via a friend. said friend took some photos. and here they are... lovely, ain't they? i have been working on crazy amounts of hats and warmers to go out as well. i should hopefully have a goodly amount done shortly so that i can post 'em for ya. until then. take care. and remember...today's mistake is tomorrow's good story. or something.