Knitting project #15 - Cluster puff hat

When I was in Finland recently I was taught how to crochet. Whenever I'd tried it in the past I'd gotten stuck at the end of the first row, no idea how to double back to do subsequent rows.

But now I have the power, the mad leet crochet skillz.

So I made a Cluster puff hat.

I guess it looks a little bit gay, but I was kinda going for the twenty-something stoner look.

Here's a wee vieo that shows you how to make it.

**UPDATE**
Whilst it may look like there's a ghostly figure of an elderly person praying on a chair behind me, I took this photo when I was on my own in my flat in an former old-people's home. Its probably just the way my laundry's heaped up on the chair, rather than an actual ghost caught on camera.

Knitting project #14 - pink scarf for my attractive young ladyfriend

As started last September, I've now finished the pink scarf I was knitting for my attractive young ladyfriend. Although, its less pink, than bacon coloured.


I've knitted it as a load of wide rows rather than being really long, much in the same way that Idleberry did a scarf for me in the old mid-decade Glasgow knitting explosion.

Although, I misjudged how many stitches I could fit on my needles and ended up with a freakishly long scarf, its a 10 footer I reckon.

I dropped a stitch or two somewhere in the middle but the ladyfriend doesn't mind, and I can't see to find them now. It took about four ball of yarn, no idea what type of yarn it is, just from a big cheap bag from a car boot sale.

Size 2 knitting needles, I think they're about 8mm, could be 7mm.

Eep, it took me about nine months, ten minutes a day, so at minimum wage, it would cost about £300 if I were to try selling it.

Knitting project #12 - Knitting with carrier bags - the conclusion

Ye gads, it was months ago, the end of May when I started it, and admittedly I finished the thing a few weeks back and it's been collecting dust in my heap of detritus next to my desk, but I feel I ought to share it with you.

This is my bag knitted from carrier bags:-

I currently use it to store my knitting stuff. Sadly the handle isn't attached very well, I've looped it through itself on the green side so its pretty secure, but on the blue side, it going to come undo if ever I use the handle.

It looks nice though. Here's the view of one side.

And here's the view of the other side:-

The orange is Sainsburys carrier bag, and the white is Tescos. For the noisy side I just alternated between Sainsburys and Tescos when making the yarn (as documented in the other blogpost), for the expanses of orange and white, well, you can figure out what I did there. I just never had large quantities of each colour available at any one time.

The blue and green handle and edges were made using bags from the corner shop, at some point in the last three months they changed from green to blue, the blue is slightly thinner than the green and so makes a weaker 'yarn'. Ah weel.

Its surprisingly stretchy and springy, but I wouldn't want to try making clothes out of carrier bags, and I reckon if it ever gets wet, it'll start growing fungus or something.

My next knitting project is a pink scarf for my attractive young ladyfriend, photos coming soon.

Knitting project #12 - Knitting with carrier bags

I am no stranger to carrier bag knitting, but past attempted have all involved tying whole bags together, which is adequate for making hammocks or rugs, but not so good for more conventional knitting. So other techniques are required.

Here's my step by step guide to knitting with plastic carrier bags.

I use ones from Sainsburys, they say on that to reuse them, I am. They also say there are made from 50% recycled material. Whatever I knit will be from 100% recycled material.

To turn them into 'yarn' first pull them through your hands to make them crumpled into long thin things, handles at one end, cul-de-sac at the other.

Now use scissors to cut them widthways into 1 incg chunks to make lots of crumpled rings. You can chuck away the cul-de-sac end and the handles end. I can't think of any use for these bits.

Now unfold all the rings that you've just cut. Some of them might have split, chuck away the broken ones. There's probably a really neat use for reject bits of cut up carrier bags, I dunno what it is.

Now join all the loops together, where you loop one ring into another them pull it back through itself. You're smart, you can figure it out. Don't pull it too tight mind, its not going to be going anywhere so it doesn't need to be really small knot.

That's you done with the 'yarn', I guess you can roll it into a ball or something. And then its just a case of knitting as usual.

I think I'm going to make a shopping bag of some description. I'm using 7mm needles bought for 20p from a charity shop in Burnham-on-Crouch, in the past I've bought very cheap knitting needles from Oxfam shops and very expensive needles from John Lewis, whatever meet your price point I guess.

For this shopping bag I casted on 40 stitches, its probably a wee bit too wide. I did a trial run of 16 stitches and that looked less than half of the size I wanted. Suck it and see, and try again. I'm doing that knitting thing where its just row after row of purls rather then knit one purl one.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Knitting project #10 - The larger blackberry beret

Knitting project #10 - The larger blackberry beret
Originally uploaded by manc_ill_kid

In the photie I am pulling my Cats On Fire face.

Chicks will love me.

So this is my second attempt at knitting a blackberry beret, its a bit wider this time, and looks more beret-shaped than my first attempt last month.

It does however, have a hole in the top cos I'm not sure how to finish it off properly. Hopefully it will never rain when you wear this hat, otherwise you will have a very small damp patch where the rain comes in.

I hope that one day I'll find out how to finish it off properly or like I'll get some graph paper and figure it out. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, rather than starting at the rim and working to the hub, I should be starting at the hub and working outwards to the rim.

Gah.

As long as I work in a process of continuous improvement, everything will be okay.

More of my knitting photies on flickr here

Thanks

Knitting project #9 - The blackberry beret

My Blackberry
Originally uploaded by manc_ill_kid

Inspired by this photie from Obo-Bobo, I thought I'd make my own.

I had to buy some 5mm 40cm circular needley things, and tried to find a pattern off of t'internet. Your basic trinity / popcorn / blackberry stitch in the round goes like this:-

Trinity/Blackberry Stitch pattern (worked in the round on a multiple of 4 sts):
row 1 (WS) - *(k1, p1, k1) into same st; p3tog;* rep from *.
row 2 - knit.
row 3 - *p3tog; (k1, p1, k1) into same st;* rep from *.
row 4 - knit

There's about 34 trinity stitch 'berry's in the round, and I reckon its going to be a bit tight when I'm finished.

Also, I'm not very sure how to decrease the round, like at what point in the 'berry' development.

Still, for a first attempt, I think its going fine.

Could really do with 6mm circular needley things, and maybe thicker yarn, but I bought a monster ball of this dark blue stuff at a car boot sale for 50p so it'll have to do.

Knitting project #8 - The scarf

I finished knitting my scarf thing. Its about 3'6" long and 5" wide with a cool checkered knit and perl pattern. There's probly a special knitting name for it, but I don't know.

More stats:-

345 rows
28 stitches on each row
9660 stitches in total

Used three skeins of yarn

Material cost
£2.99 X 3 = £8.97
(£0.00093 per stitch)

About 90 seconds per row : 31050 seconds : About 9 hours of labour

Labour cost
£5.73 X 9 = £51.57

So if you're a fan of the Minimum Wage this scarf will cost you about £60

And if your some kind of heartless oppresser of the worker, it'll cost you around £10.

To be honest there are a couple of mistakes in the knitting as a result of easily distracted late night drunken knits on the London Underground and snipping off the trailing ends of casting off a little too close to the knot.

Anyhoo, it'll be on ebay soon.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Carrier Bag knitting (second attempt)

Carrier Bag knitting ( second attempt)
Originally uploaded by manc_ill_kid

Time to give up on this year's attempt at knitting a hammock out of carrier bags. It looked like a heap of rubbish in the corner of my room and was just tiny bit embarrassing.

I like the colours in this one, the green, orange and blue could have made a neat picture or something if I'd planned it better.

Then again, I never quite got the hang of doing pictures in knitting and I only ever started it to out-twee the crafty ladies on bowlie.

Here's last year's attempt for comparison

Last year's was longer, and I think I still remembered how to knit and pearl in alternative lines, this time round, that knowledge had been lost.

Anyhoo, I'm going to consign this one to the bin now unless someone makes and offer for it. I'll accept anything from my Amazon Wishlist.