Sea Urchin Mitts (aka Garter Rib Fingerless Mittens)

I was commissioned to make "something" from a single skein of Mini Mochi yarn.  Hmmm.....  In spite of the plethora of patterns out there, nothing appealed.  I wanted something simple, since the yarn is variegated and wouldn't work well with most stitch patterns.  I wanted something easy, since I am lazy.  The yarn is fingering weight and there's not much of it.  Furthermore, it's a single ply yarn and can't take a lot of abuse, either in the knitting or the wearing.

I came up with these garter stitch rib mitts, complete with thumb gusset.  The recipient liked them a lot.  Someone saw them and gave me another skein of Mini Mochi, and I made a second pair.

We noticed that these look good whether they're worn right-side out or right-side in.  The texture reminds us of sea urchins, and thus we are informally calling these the Sea Urchin Mitts.

Sea Urchin mitts (right side out)

I plan to make some from a thicker yarn that isn't Mini Mochi.  I can probably use the same number of stitches for a looser fit.  And of course it is entirely easy to reduce the number of stitches.

Because this is my own pattern, loosely inspired by many existing patterns but my own nonetheless, I am sharing what I did.  I might add this to Ravelry at some point.  I might even turn it into a pdf or a free Ravelry download.  But for now, I'm offering it on my blog.  Do with it what you will.  Well, anything except taking credit for this pattern and/or selling the pattern.


Sea Urchin Mitts (garter rib fingerless mittens)


Yarn:  one 50-gram skein of fingering/sock weight yarn.  I used Mini Mochi, but any sock weight yarn will do.  You'll use about 2/3 to 3/4 of the skein.

Needles:  Uh.....  Use something a size larger than you would for socks.  You don't need an extra-tight gauge.  These mitts fit snugly but with plenty of stretch to them.  The approximate gauge is 7 stitches per inch, but a bit tighter or looser than that is fine.  Feel free to use dpns, magic loop, 2 circulars, whatever.

Both mitts are identical.

Garter Rib stitch pattern

round 1:  *k2, p1*
round 2:  k

Pattern

Cast on 48 stitches.  Join, being careful not to twist.  Work in garter rib until the mitts are 3" or desired length to gusset.  (I did 36 rounds, which was slightly more than 3".  The rounds are easy to count because all you need to do is count the purl bumps in the garter rib.  So I did 18 purl bumps.)

Start the thumb gusset.  I did the thumb gussets at the beginning of the round because it is easy.  I did k2, p1, then did the increases around the second purl column of the round.

I like to use M1L and M1R instead of the other way around to give a better definition to the thumb gusset.  If you prefer the other way, don't let me stop you.  I did the make-one increase where you put your needle in the running yarn between two stitches and then knit or purl into the back of it.  You are of course free to use whatever kind of increase you like.

Round 1 of gusset:  k2, p1, k2, place a marker, M1L, p1, M1R, place a marker, continue in the k2,p1 pattern to the end of the round.

Round 2 (and all even rounds) of gusset:  k

Round 3: work in pattern to the marker, M1L, k1, p1, k1 M1R, continue in pattern to the end of the round

Round 5:  work to marker, M1L, k2, p1, k2, M1R, continue to end of round.  Notice that the increases in this round are purl stitches, and that will happen every third increase round.

Round 7: work to marker, M1L, p1, k2, p1, k2, p1, M1R, continue to end of round

etc., until you have 17 stitches for the gusset (17 stitches between the markers), ending on a k2.p1 round.

If you are using thicker yarn, working for a larger hand, etc., you may want to do more or fewer stitches for the thumb gusset.  This is a pretty customizable pattern.

Anyway...

On the next round (an all-knit round), put the 17 thumb stitches on a holder, cast on 1 stitch over the gap, and keep knitting to finish the round.  You can remove the markers while you're at it.

Continue in the garter rib pattern for another 2" to 2.5" or desired length, then cast off on a knit round.  (I did 24 rounds or 12 purl bumps for one pair, and 28 rounds or 14 purl bumps for the other.)

For the thumb, pick up the 17 stitches from the stitch holder, the cast-on stitch from the hand, plus one stitch from each corner (20 stitches).  This will be a knit round, luckily.

On the next round, a k2, p1 pattern round, decrease away the corner stitches  (I did ssk, p1, k2tog around the stitch that was cast-on, if that makes sense).  Continue in pattern for 1" to 1.5" or desired length of thumb, then cast off on a knit round.  (I did 8 rounds or 4 purl bumps for one pair, 10 rounds or 5 purl bumps for the other)

If you finish the ends neatly, these end up looking good no matter which side is the outside.

For the brown pair, each mitt was almost exactly one full color repeat.  The blue/purple/green pair had a longer color repeat.  I guess the variegation is a bit different from color to color!  I made them a bit longer than the first pair.  It's really easy to adjust that sort of thing.

The mitts are wearing well so far.  The top of the hand is showing a slight tendency to curl.  I didn't block them, so it's quite possible that blocking will take care of the problem.

And at some point, I will fight with Blogger to get the silly photos to show up where I want them to!

I will be correcting errors and typos in the pattern as I find them.  I may also someday give adjustments for those who want to use thicker yarns.  I have done DK-weight fingerless mitts that also have 48 stitches, and found that the ribbing of the mitts helps them fit pretty well.  But I have to check it out for myself!

Sea Urchin Mitts (right side out)

I may well give a more generic form of this pattern someday.  I like to work from templates or recipes rather than fixed numbers.  This is a 3-stitch, 2-round stitch pattern.  Really, it's not at all hard to adjust sizes in this garter rib pattern.  It's also easy to adjust the garter rib stitch pattern -- k3, p1 or k2, p1 or other variations.  But I like this one for now.

Sea Urchin Mitts (wrong side out)

A few words on needle size, gauge, and all those other things

I was asked in a comment about needle size for patterns, and in particular, for the ribbed mitten pattern I posted about a month ago.

The simple answer is that for a yarn (or yarn combo) that knits up to a gauge of about 3 st/in, a needle size of 9-11 (5.5 mm to 8 mm) is the usual recommendation.

The longer answer is that it depends.

I am a very loose knitter, especially compare to the standard charts of recommended needle sizes.  So a size that works for me won't work for everyone else.  Thus I hesitate to recommend a needle size when I write out my patterns.

Also, I don't usually specify a yarn.  I might use handspun, or some ancient stuff from the leftovers bin, or something where the ball band was lost years ago.  I might strand two or more yarns together.  And so on.  I do try to give a general gauge and/or a finished item size that you might want to keep in mind.  Where possible, I try to work in measurements (knit until item is X inches long) rather than gauge (work X rows).  I also try to give a sense of how accurate your gauge needs to be.

Most of my patterns are more in the nature of concepts and methods, basic generic plans that work for a range of yarns and that can easily be customized to be larger or smaller based on gauge and personal preference.

For myself, I usually try out a chosen yarn with a likely-looking needle.  If I like the fabric, it's good to go.  I do a rough gauge check, a few simple calculations, and then cast on.

For small items, the item itself is the full gauge swatch.  Evaluate after an inch or two.  Do you still like the fabric?  Does the item fit?  If yes, keep going.  If not, you haven't lost much time, and you've learned something that will make the next attempt better.

For small items, small differences in gauge do not matter much.  For large items, they matter a lot.  For larger items, say a sweater, I might start with a sleeve instead of the body.  Or I'll go top-down.  That way, I can evaluate fairly quickly and make adjustments if necessary without always having to unravel and start over.

I don't know if that helps any.

If you are a new knitter, try the ribbed mittens (or the wristers) with a yarn or yarn combo that falls in the chunky/bulky range and a #10.5 needle.  If you don't have a #10.5 needle, try a #11 or a #9.  Evaluate after an inch or two and change needle size if you don't like how it looks or fit.  With 24 stitches per round, this goes fast.  You're not losing a lot of time if your first attempt isn't working out.

If you are a somewhat more experienced knitter, eyeball the yarn or yarn combo and pick a likely-looking needle size to start out with.

My approach to gauge and swatching is somewhat more relaxed than some people's approach.  Sometimes one really does need to be excruciatingly careful about making gauge swatches, washing them, and then evaluating before committing to the actual project. Sometimes one can be more cavalier, casting on and then seeing what happens, knowing that minor variations aren't going to change the outcome all that much.  With experience, one learns which approach is best suited to which projects and yarns.  Even then, mistakes sometimes get made.  Which, of course, is how one gains experience.  What's that old saying?  "Good judgment comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgment."  Live and learn.  And have fun knitting your way to wisdom.

Wribbit (Easy Ribbed Mittens)

A while back, as in several years ago, I posted my House Pattern for quickly-knitted fingerless mitts, aka Wrapid Wristers.  In that post, I alluded to a mitten variation.  Here is the more formal pattern for those mittens.

These are 24-stitch mittens.  They are made from bulky yarn, or two or more strand of thinner yarn, at a gauge of about 3.5 stitches per inch in 1x1 ribbing.  Actually, anything from about 3-4 stitches per inch ought to work.  Don't worry too much about gauge or swatching.  Use the first few inches of these mittens as your gauge swatch.  If they don't fit right or you don't like the fabric you're getting, unravel and try again.  If you do like it, then you're good to go -- keep on knitting!

Since k1p1 ribbing is very stretchy, these mittens need no shaping.  They fit a variety of hand sizes.  If you need them to be a bit bigger or smaller, you can either change your gauge or you can add/subtract a few stitches (a multiple of 2 stitches, so the ribbing pattern remains the same).

I'm not sure about yarn requirements.  100g ought to be about right, give or take a bit.  I often use leftovers and oddballs and bits of handspun, combining 2 strands to get a nice thick mitten fabric.


Wribbits (easy ribbed mittens)


Cast on 24 stitches.  Join, and *k1, p1* for approximately 5 to 5.5".  (this is a 1x1 ribbing pattern)  This gets you to the web of the thumb.  So, if you like longer cuffs for your mittens or you have long hands, knit for longer than 5.5"

On the next round, put 3 stitches on a holder.  I usually put stitches #13-15 on the holder.  These stitches are a (k,p,k).  However, you can put any 3 stitches on a holder.  Cast on 3 stitches over the gap and continue in the k1p1 rib for another 5" or so, or however long your hand is.

Now it is time for a quick decrease to finish the mitten tops.  On each of the next two rounds, *SSK* around.  This gets you down to 6 stitches.  Cut the yarn, run it through the stitches, pull it snug and finish off.  (You are doing SSK instead of K2tog to keep the knit stitches on top of the purl stitches for the first round of decreases.  If you have a strong preference for the k2tog decrease, then knit the first stitch of that first round before starting all the k2tog decreases.  That first stitch will end up getting incorporated into the last decrease of the round.)

For the thumb, pick up stitches from the 3-stitch cast-on, the 3 stitches on the holder, plus one stitch on each side at the gap.  Keep it in the k1p1 rib pattern.  (the stitches at the gap help you stay in pattern)  You should have 8 stitches on your needle.  Do *k1,p1* rib until the thumb is about 2.5-3" long, or however long your thumb is.  On the next round, *SSK*.  This leaves you with 4 stitches.  Finish them off as above.

Make another mitten for your other hand.  Both mittens are the same and can be worn on either hand.  The ribbing stretches and clings as necessary to go around the curves of your wrist and your palm.  If you are careful about how you hide the yarn ends, these mittens are also reversible, should you care.

Checking in for 2013

It's been a while since I last put up a post on this blog.  Over a year, in fact.

A comment on my previous post asked me to add the pattern for the Oregon Chillwarmer vest to Ravelry's database.  So I did.

I will add the rest of the patterns to Ravelry's database over the next few weeks or months.  I'll also try to corral older designs posted elsewhere on the 'net that have made it into Ravelry and elsewhere.  If and when I get sufficiently ambitious, I'll try to make pdf files and upload them as free Ravelry downloads to make it easier for people to find them.  I know my designs are fairly simple and not awesomely gorgeous or innovative.  But I find it gratifying that some people find them useful or interesting.  Thank you.

Here is where you will find the designs listed in Ravelry's pattern database:

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/jp-underground

My mother's vest aka Oregon Chillwarmer

It's been a long time since I've added anything to this blog!  It's been a busy year.  I have some down time this summer, and thus got inspired to add another of my old patterns to this blog.

I used to live in the Pacific Northwest.  It gets cool there as soon as the sun goes down.  My mother, who lived in the southern US, used to get chilly in the evenings.  She asked me to knit her a vest to wear when she was visiting me.

So I did.

She wore it whenever she visited.  It looked great on her.  It kept her warm and cozy, wrapped in love.  She is gone now, but I still have the vest.  The color does not suit me, so I rarely wear it.

The pattern is my own.  It is very simple.  Here it is.



My Mother's Vest aka Oregon Chillwarmer

The yarn I used is Fingerlakes Unspun Pencil Roving, which runs about 2200 yards per pound.  It comes (came?) in wheels of about 4-7 oz each.  I used one wheel and a small part of a second wheel.  My guess is that's about 700 yards, give or take a bit.  I don't know if it is still being made.  When used as a knitting yarn, it is very soft and fluffy.  Most patterns call for using 2 strands at 4 st/in (stockinette).  I used one strand as if it were a DK/worsted weight yarn.

The stitch pattern I used is brioche rib.  I knit it very loosely to give a lacy, drapey fabric.  Well, not too lacy.

Brioche rib stitch pattern

preparatory row:  *yo, slip 1, k1*
All other rows:  *yo, slip 1, k2tog (the yo and sl 1 of the previous row)

My gauge in garter stitch was about 4 st/in.  My gauge in brioche rib was about 3 to 3.5 stitches per inch and about 10 rows per inch.  It is a very stretchy fabric, which is why I was not too careful about my gauge measurement

In the pattern, I will refer to row sets, each of which is 2 rows.  Just as in garter stitch, where one counts ridges, it is easier in brioche rib to count row sets.


I made the vest with about a 40-45" circumference so it would fit comfortably over other clothes.  The armholes are similarly wide, so it will be comfortable over clothing.  I didn't actually know what my mother's measurements were.  I took a wild guess, trying to err on the generous side.  It fit, so apparently it was a good enough estimate.

It is made in one piece, all flat knitting (back and forth) except for the armholes.  It is a cardigan-vest that buttons up the front.  I made it very simple so I didn't have to deal with any shaping in the brioche rib.  Therefore, it has square-set sleeves and a simple square for raising the back of the neck vs the front.
I forget exactly how I decided that 128 stitches was the right number to use as my base number.  It probably was a convenient number for divvying up the vest into front and back, and was probably close enough or stretchy enough for the circumference.




The actual knitting:

Cast on 128 stitches (loosely, of course).  Do 140 rows (70 row sets) of brioche rib, about 14" (or desired length to underarms).

Then, do one of the fronts on 28 stitches, leaving the rest of the vest body on some kind of holder.  Work 80 rows (40 row sets).  Put the first 10 stitches on a holder at the end of the last row.  (i.e., the 10 stitches at the front edge of the vest)  Do 10 more row sets (i.e. 20 rows).  Put the remaining stitches on a holder.

Work the other front at the other side of the vest, reversing the shaping.  Start from the inside edge to stay in pattern.

Do the center back on the middle 56 stitches.  There will be 8 stitches for each underarm.  Put those stitches on holders as you work the back.  Knit 50 row sets (100 rows) for the center back.  You can work a few more row sets if you want to raise the back of the neck a little bit more compared to the front.

Do a 3-needle bind-off at each shoulder, leaving the middle 20 stitches of the center back on a holder.  I almost certainly bound off in a way that made sense for the stitch pattern, though it is not recorded explicitly in my old notes.

So, that's the body.

Now for the borders and bands, all in garter stitch.  I started with the center fronts and neck.

On the right side of the fabric, pick up and knit about 109 stitches per side (one stitch per loop after the first loop) and 60 on the collar.

1 (wrong side):  Knit back, decreasing to 4 stitches for every 5 you picked up.  (*k3, k2tog* works well).  I ended up with about 89 stitches per side, and 48 on the top.

2, 4, and 8 (right side): knit

3, 5, 7, and 9: K, increasing 1 stitch at the top of each front band at the 2nd stitch (i.e. M1, k1 or k1, M1).  I am reading my notes here and not quite sure what I meant by the "2nd stitch".  Basically, you want the garter stitch band to go around the corner from the front to the collar area.

6:  Buttonhole row:  place buttonholes evenly along the front, however many buttonholes you want and whichever side you want (or both sides).  I did (yo, k2tog) for each buttonhole.

10:  Bind off in purl on the right side.

Then, do a garter stitch band for each armhole.

On the right side, pick up and knit about 110 stitches.

1.  Join, and in the round, purl.  Decrease to 4 stitches for every 5 you picked up (*p3, p2tog*).

2 and 4: knit

3 and 5: purl

6: Bind off in purl.

Hide any yarn ends, attach buttons, and wear.  It is reversible except for the shoulder seams and of course the buttons.  One could put buttons on both sides.  For the shoulder seam, consider it a design element, or put embroidery over it, or use some other kind of bind-off or grafting.  It's not ugly, just obvious.

Hopefully, if I ever make this again, this will be enough for me to re-create it.

I have a schematic of this vest.  It should allow for customization for just about any circumference and length and probably stitch pattern, too.

Here is the schematic, rather crudely transferred to the computer from my notes.

You can see a small representation of what the vest looks like on the bottom right of the schematic.  It's about 14" from the bottom to the armhole, and about 10" from the bottom of the armhole to the shoulders.  The armholes are indeed triangular and the neck square, but the elasticity of knitting (i.e., the garter stitch bands) totally softens it all into nice curves.

I suspect that the schematic and divisibility of all numbers were based somewhat on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomtem jacket.  But it could also be because I didn't want to deal with shaping in brioche rib, and thus kept it as simple as possible.  It's only slightly more complicated than a drop-shoulder pattern of plain rectangles.

Anyway, here it is, preserved for posterity.  Someday I'll make it again, or make something similar using the same basic shape.

The Knit-in-the-Dark/Bedside/Dishcloth Shawl

I have this urge to write out some of my old patterns so I can find them in one place. Thus, this old pattern of mine for a simple triangular shawl. As far as I can tell, I first posted it to the knitted-lace list back in 1998, though it's possible it went to the old knitlist a few years before that. I've probably shared it around since then.

At the time, I needed some mindless stress relief. I had some yarn I didn't know what to do with -- maybe not quite enough for a sweater, but a pretty good pile in spite of that. I needed something soothing that could be knit in the dark if necessary. Something that could be knit while sitting with a sick relative, in a hospital, at an airport, at a boring meeting... Well, you get the idea.

Thus, the dishcloth shawl. It's not an original idea, of course. It's a very, very old concept. It is based on the classic garter-stitch dishcloth, except that one never decreases the triangle back down into a square (if you do, and you certainly can, you'll end up with a very nice square shawl). This plan for a simple triangular garter stitch shawl is published in many places, each time with a bit of a twist. One of the famous internet shawls of this type is the Truly Tasha shawl (also known as the Tasha Tudor shawl) by Nancy Bush, for example. My version of this shawl is as simple as I could make it, since I needed something as simple as possible.

I've knit many of these over the years. They're dull, which is absolutely soothing when the rest of your life is suffering from an excess of non-dullness. They're warm if you knit them from thick yarn, which I usually do.

The Dishcloth Shawl (also known as the knit-in-the-dark shawl or the bedside shawl)

Pick some likely yarn and needles. It's a shawl -- who cares about gauge? You can unravel and try again with a different yarn/needle combo after a few inches if you don't like your initial choice.

Cast on 5 stitches.  (Lately I've been casting on 3 instead.  No matter -- it's all the same.)

All rows: knit 2, yarnover, knit to end.

When the shawl is big enough, or you're almost out of yarn, or you're bored and can't stand it any longer, cast off.

That's it.

The only attention you need to pay to this shawl is that yarnover for the third stitch of the row. After that, you can zone out for the rest of the row. If you have enough attention to spare, you can double-check at the end of the row to make sure you're knitting into a yarnover in the third stitch from the end. If it's missing, create it on the fly by picking up the running thread between the second and third stitches and knitting that. If you miss a few yarnovers here and there, no one will notice.

I usually slip the first stitch of each row for my selvedge, but it's certainly not necessary if you don't want to.

What you end up with is a garter stitch triangle with an eyelet running up the two sides. It starts at the tip and gets bigger and bigger, deeper and wider, with each row. The first hundred or so rows go fairly quickly. After you get past about 200 rows, each row starts to seem endless. I usually call it quits well before 300 rows.

If you're feeling ambitious, you can do a row of *yo, k2tog* a few rows before you cast off in order to match the eyelets along the other sides. Or you can add fringe when you're done. Or you can add a lace edging. Or you can put in an interesting eyelet pattern as you knit the thing -- an occasional row of *yo, k2tog* would be both simple and lovely, for example. Or you can change yarns, knit colorful stripes, or anything else you can imagine.

Or you can simply knit, keeping your fingers busy while your mind is otherwise occupied. That's what I usually do.

I still have several of these around the house. The next time I drag out the camera, I'll take a photo to share.

---------------

I've finished my Orenburg honeycomb lace scarf. I'll try to get a photo at some point. I've started some fingerless mitts for my offspring using a pattern in the Fall 2010 Knitscene. It's not the most clearly-written pattern in existence, but it is attractive enough to be worth reading between the lines. I'll post my thoughts if/when they get done.

The next lace project may be a lace scarf pattern from an old issue of Interweave Knits. I'd probably use the leftovers from that long-ago cable and lace rectangular stole I did. We shall see.

I'm also starting the dithering process on the next sweater. I'm thinking a gansey. But I often think that. I'm swatching some ideas with the yarn I'm thinking of using. The yarn is handspun, brown, somewhat fuzzy. So, if it becomes a gansey, the patterns must be simple enough to show up in a somewhat fuzzy yarn. I can still use a gansey construction even if I don't include fancy texture patterns. Garter and reverse stockinette both show up well.

A friend on a list mentioned the Elizabeth Zimmermann Adult Surprise Sweater. Hmmm.... I have a pile of yarn -- pencil roving, actually -- that might work for this. However, the yarn requirements are daunting. Do I really need 2000 yards? And, if so, do I have 2000 yards of anything? One of these years, I'd like to make one using EZ's method of using every little bit of odds and ends from the leftovers basket.

I could stand to start another dishcloth shawl. I should go stash-diving to see what I have that needs to get used up.

And that's enough dithering for me for one day!

Orenburg Honeycomb Lace Scarf

I'm not quite finished with the scarf. It's longer than I am tall, but I still have half a skein of yarn left! Soon I'll call it quits anyway, then finish it. I'll give it a bit of blocking even though it looks quite good without any at all.

My inspiration for this was a pattern in the May/June 2010 issue of Piecework. The article is called, "An Orenburg Honeycomb Lace Scarf to Knit" by Galina Khmeleva.

She writes, "I discovered a lovely Honeycomb scarf for sale that a former student had knitted; I was so impressed with it that I purchased it for display purposes. The resulting demand for the written pattern for this scarf was enormous, so I immediately got to work to produce it."

The scarf in Piecework is more of a rectangular wrap than a scarf. Its finished dimensions are approximately 20" x 70", and then fringe is added to make it even longer! It is, of course, gorgeous. The pattern is pure Orenburg honeycomb stitch, as described in the article and in her books on Orenberg lace, with a border of garter stitch. It is made from a fine merino/silk laceweight yarn. The pattern is given in chart form only.

I wanted something a bit more humble. Thus, I went back to the basic version implied by Galin Khmeleva's words -- that image of the honeycomb lace scarf knit by a student trying to understand this basic motif of the Orenburg lace-knitting vocabulary.

Here is my version. As usual, I am rather vague about many of the details. My scarf is knit in the honeycomb pattern motif with a narrow border of garter stitch. I will provide the theory; you decide how to apply it to your yarn and your own personal scarf preferences.

My yarn is a very fuzzy mohair blend, 70% kid mohair and 30% acrylic. It runs 167 meters (183 yds) per 50 grams. It's about sock weight or slightly thicker for those of you who care about these things. By the time I give up, I'll have used about one and a half balls of yarn. My scarf will be about 7.5 to 8 inches wide and probably close to 6 feet long. The stitch pattern is remarkably open -- the scarf is more air than yarn! I love the fuzz of the mohair and how it looks with the pale aura of frizziness over the holes.

So, pick your yarn. Pick a needle size that's a few sizes larger than you would normally use for that weight of yarn. I won't tell you my needle size because I am a loose knitter and my needle choice won't necessarily be the same as yours. The first few inches of the scarf can serve as your gauge swatch. If your lace is too tight or too loose, if your scarf is too narrow or too wide, then unravel and start again.

I chose garter stitch for my border. I'm using 3 stitches on each side, and 6 rows (3 ridges) at the beginning and the end. You, of course, may make your border wider or narrower, or may choose seed stitch or something else besides garter stitch. For the selvedges, I am slipping the first stitch of each row as if to purl, with the yarn in front.

The openwork portion of the scarf consists of the Orenburg version of honeycomb lace. This is a garter-based lace stitch and looks pretty much the same on both sides. I've mostly seen it charted rather than written out. That's fine. When I started knitting it, though, I realized that the written version seems so much easier to follow than the charted version!

Orenburg honeycomb lace motif (over a multiple of four stitches)

rows 1 and 2: *k2, yo, k2tog*
rows 3 and 4: k4, *yo, k2tog, k2*

That's it! Rows 3 and 4 are just like 1 and 2, except that they are offset by 2 stitches. If you'd like, you can think of rows 3 and 4 as: k2, *k2, yo, k2tog*, k2. (I don't know if that helps you understand or just confuses you. If you're confused, simply forget I mentioned it, and just do the pattern above.)

If you can count to 4, you can knit this pattern. You do need to keep track of which row you are on, which is sometimes harder than you might think.

For your scarf, you will need a multiple of four stitches, plus the border stitches on each side. For my scarf, I chose 20 stitches for the center and 3 stitches on each side, for a total of 26 stitches. Hmmm, that means I'm getting about 4 stitches per inch before any blocking, not that it matters.

Orenburg Honeycomb Lace Scarf Pattern

Cast on 26 stitches. Knit 6 rows then start the pattern.

Rows 1 and 2: slip first stitch as if to purl with yarn in front, k2, *k2, yo, k2tog*, end k3.
Rows 3 and 4: slip first stitch as if to purl with yarn in front, k2, k4, *yo, k2tog, k2*, end k3.

When your scarf is long enough or you're just about out of yarn, k 6 rows and bind off. Block it if you'd like, then wear it.

I'll probably add a photo of the finished scarf after it's completed and blocked.

Generic Ribbed Hat (pattern, sort of)

Hats. I've been thinking about hats.

I won't bore you with all my musings just yet. However, I will note that they are excellent projects for using up small quantities of stash yarns, especially when you're not sure if you have quite enough for a pair (of socks, mittens, wristers, etc.). Hats make good travel knitting. They are fun to knit for quick gifts. And they are a classic for many of the charity-knitting projects out there.

Given that, I thought I'd share one of my standard no-pattern hats that I've been making lately. Some of them are photographed here.

I started making these hats because I had all these small skeins of handspun yarn in my stash. Many were dyeing experiments, or small quantities of variegated roving that had somehow made a home in my fiber stash. The handspun yarn batches were all roughly 2 ounces, give or take a bit. All were variegated, though most of the variegation was fairly subtle.

Hey, I like dyeing and spinning that kind of stuff. Only later do I wonder what to do with all the one-bobbin's worth of variegated yarn skeins that I end up with.

Anyway, I ended up knitting a bunch of hats. Since I wasn't in the mood for extensive planning and swatching, I made them simple.

Yes, this is a very basic ribbed hat. It requires no real swatching, just some vague idea of what your gauge might end up being. It's very elastic, and thus will fit a variety of head sizes. It's long enough to have a folded-up brim, which I find essential in a winter hat. The length of the brim doesn't really matter -- it depends entirely on how much yarn you end up using, plus the head size and preference of the wearer.

Given the flexibility of the pattern, it's a good one for charity knitting, and for stockpiling in case you unexpectedly need a hat for a gift or for a guest.


Generic Ribbed Hat

If you already have a good ribbed hat pattern, you probably won't be interested in this. If you don't, here's the way to do it. You don't need a pattern, just a basic template or recipe.

Pick some yarn. You'll need roughly 2 ounces. A little more is fine, a little less will work, too. Pick any kind of yarn you want -- solid, variegated, thick-and-thin, whatever. Feel free to strand two or more kinds of yarn together. I tend to do that for my thinner handspun, since I wanted these hats to be fairly quick knits. You can also change yarns every now and then if you like doing that sort of thing.

I have found that a single 50g ball of yarn may or may not be enough. It depends on the yardage, which of course depends on the yarn thickness. You may end up with a rather short hat.

Pick an appropriate circular needle. Have a rough idea of what your gauge is going to be. I usually go for worsted weight, more or less -- anything from Aran to DK weight, usually working up at 4.5 stitches per inch (for the Aran weight) to 5.5 stitches per inch (for the DK weight).

Cast on about 20" worth of stitches, rounded to a multiple of 4. Calculate this by using your gauge estimate; it may be anywhere from about 80 to 120 stitches unless you're working with fingering weight or finer yarn. When I cast on, I don't fret if I end up casting on a few more or less as long as I have a multiple of 4. Hats can vary in size from about 18" to 22", depending on the head size of the recipient. Anyway, these hats are stretchy.

Join the cast-on and start ribbing -- *k2, p2*, ad infinitum.

As the hat grows longer, you can measure your actual gauge and thus confirm that the hat will fit. If you're using 2 strands or variegated or textured yarn, you can decide if you like the fabric. If you don't like the fabric or you think the hat will be too small or too big, unravel and start over. It was a gauge swatch, no big deal. You should also confirm that you're making a tube. It's annoying to accidentally put a twist into your knitting, but definitely better to realize your mistake sooner rather than later.

Eventually, you will be near the end of your yarn, or perhaps your patience. It's time to decrease the top of the hat and finish it.

I do different kinds of decrease patterns, depending on how long the hat is and how much yarn I have left. If I'm low on yarn and the hat is fairly small, I do very few decrease rounds, as few as two or three. If the hat is longer and I have more yarn, I might stretch it out over 6-10 rounds.

The fastest decrease is to do a round of *k2tog, p2tog*, followed by a round of *ssk*, and then rounds of *k2tog* until you're down to 12 or fewer stitches. This will make a very gathered-looking top, but it fits well.

If you have a bit more yarn, do a round of *k2tog, p2tog*, followed by a round of *k1, p1*, then a round of *ssk*, then a plain round of knitting, then *k2tog* until you're down to the last few stitches. You can separate some or all of the *k2tog* rounds by a round of plain knitting if you prefer.

The longest method is to do a round of *k2, p2tog*, followed by a round (or rounds) of *k2, p1*. Then, do a round of *k2tog, p1* (or *ssk, p1*), followed by a round (or rounds) of *k1, p1*. Then, do a round of *ssk*, followed by a round or two of plain knitting. Finally, do rounds of *k2tog*, separated by plain rounds or not as you wish, until you're down to those last few stitches.

To finish off, run the yarn end through those last few stitches, pull snug, and hide all ends.

If you're the kind of person who likes pompoms or I-cord or tassels, by all means go ahead and add them to your hat.

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This isn't the only kind of generic hat I knit. I tend to use these kinds of mental templates for basic hat structures, plugging in various kinds of stitch or color patterns as the mood strikes. I tend to do that with most other knitted items, too. I suspect that many knitters are similar in their approach to basic hats, mittens, scarves, sweaters, socks, etc.

The Spot-Dyed Chevron Lace Scarf (with a pattern)

It's been a busy week, too busy to post anything here. I won't bore everyone with the details. We did get our first substantial snowfall, about a foot of it. I was too busy trying to drive in it to be able to revel in all its lovely wool-wearing potential.

Not much of interest is occurring in my fiber-ish projects. Things are progressing. I have no photos of the in-progress stuff, nor would they be of much interest if I did have any.

So, I'll share the saga of a previous project, complete with a pattern and a chart.

Chevron Lace Scarf



The above photo is a scarf I made a few years ago. It's seen a fair amount of use, since it is warm, soft, and more attractive in real life than in the photo. The photo makes the scarf look more blue than it really is.

A friend of mine sent me a couple of ounces of merino roving. It was spot-dyed, to use her terminology. At the end of a fun dyeing session, she'd dripped the last few dye leftovers on this blob of roving. The roving ended up being a mix of various shades of purple, pink, and aqua, with much of it still being white.

I spun it on my spindle and then self-plied it for a variegated 2-ply yarn. I like the way it turned out. It has semi-long stretches of each color, with the variegation providing even more shading. I don't remember the exact yardage or how much it weighed, but I think I had about 2 ounces and roughly two hundred yards of roughly sport-weight yarn.

I didn't have very much yarn, and it was variegated. What to make with it?

I decided on a scarf, using some kind of scalloped pattern. A non-scalloped pattern would have looked too stripey, in my opinion. I like lace, so lace it was. As long as the increases were offset from the decreases, I'd get scalloping.

I could have chosen something like Feather and Fan. But I decided on this chevron lace pattern instead. It's easy, with little counting involved. There's only one pattern row, followed by a plain return row.

It turned out well, in my opinion. The stretches of each color interact well with the pattern. I like the way the different colors transition into each other, and I like the randomness of the striping. Since I didn't have tons of yarn, it's a rather small scarf. It is still adequate for my needs.

What did I learn from this project? A few things:

White is an under-appreciated color, especially in a variegated mix. I have to keep reminding myself of that whenever I haul out the dyepots.

Merino is soft against my neck. It spins differently from some of the other kinds of wool I had been spinning at the time. Its fibers are relatively short. It feels cottony, for lack of a better word. It has a very matte luster. It really sproings up when the yarn twist is set.

Scalloped lace patterns really do work quite nicely with variegated yarn, depending on the length of the variegation.

This was a very good travel project. It's hard to get lost in a pattern with only one simple pattern row! It would be a good beginner lace project, too.

I probably did learn more than that, but those are the things I remember.


The Written Pattern

You can choose any yarn you like. It doesn't have to be variegated. This particular pattern does happen to work well with variegated yarns as long as the length of each color is long enough to form stripes instead of spots. I don't know how it would work with very short color lengths; you'll have to try it and see for yourself

If you'd like to change yarns every now and then, this pattern would work very well with stripes of different colors and/or textures.

Choose a needle size that goes with your yarn. You should probably do some informal swatching to figure out what kind of fabric you like. You also want to see how many repeats of the stitch pattern you want. I was very conscious of my limited quantity of yarn, so I made a narrow and not very long scarf. Yours can be as wide and as long as you wish.

You will be knitting back and forth, i.e., flat knitting. I use circular needles for everything. You can, of course, use straight needles.

Cast on a multiple of 10 stitches, plus 3. I used 43 stitches for my scarf.

For all rows, slip the first stitch of the row as if to purl, with the yarn in front. Knit the last stitch of the row through the back loop.

Knit 2 rows.

Then start the chevron lace pattern. It's a 2-row pattern. The chart is below, if you'd rather work from a chart than from text.

Row 1: slip 1 stitch as if to purl with yarn in front, k2tog, *k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, S2KP2*, ending with k3, yo k1, yo, k3, SSK, k-tbl.

Row 2: purl (except for the edge stitches, as described above)

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until the scarf is long enough or you're almost out of yarn, finishing with row 2. Purl two more rows. Bind off purl-wise on the right side.

Block it. It doesn't need too much. The edges have a slight tendency to curl, since I didn't bother with a garter stitch border on the sides. Get your scarf thoroughly damp and lay it out flat to dry, gently manipulating it to get the lace pattern and the edges to look right.

My abbreviations:

k is knit. p is purl. yo is yarnover. k2tog is knit 2 together. SSK is the left-leaning decrease -- slip two stitches knitwise, one at a time, then stick them back on the left needle and knit them together through the back loops. If you prefer another left-leaning decrease, go ahead and substitute it. S2KP2 is a double decrease -- slip 2 stitches knitwise (together), then k1, then pass the 2 slipped stitches over. You can substitute a different double decrease if you'd rather. k-tbl is knit through the back loop, i.e. a twisted knit stitch. The stuff between the *'s is to be repeated as many times as needed.

Variations

If you are feeling ambitious, you can change the lace pattern a bit. Instead of k3's, do k2's or k5's or whatever. Big whoop, right? There are a bunch of other possible changes, but then you start transitioning into other well-known lace patterns with their own well-known names. Heck, even the chevron lace name is only one of several names this stitch pattern is known by.

You can do this as a garter-stitch lace if you like that texture better. Knit all the wrong-side rows instead of purling them. Or knit an occasional wrong-side row instead of purling, similar to some of the standard feather-and-fan variations.

You can do more rows of garter stitch before starting the lace. You can add a garter stitch border if you'd like. Or add rows with eyelets before and after. Or use your imagination!

If you make it wider and choose the yarn appropriately, you can call it a wrap or a rectangular shawl or even an afghan.

The Pattern Chart

Here is the chart for the lace pattern. I didn't show the 2 garter stitch rows at the ends, of course.

I seem to have charted it as if it was a circular pattern instead of a flat pattern, not that it really matters. Just remember that row 2 is a wrong-side row, and thus you'll purl the stitches instead of knitting them (so they look like knit stitches from the front). You'll also go from left to right on the chart, whereas row 1 (the right-side row) goes from right to left.

I also see that I didn't define the double-decrease symbol. It's the one at the left end of the 10-stitch pattern repeat in row 1. I did them as a vertical double decrease (slip 2 knitwise at the same time, knit 1, pass the slipped stitches over). It will look fine if you'd rather substitute some other double decrease.

This is my first time trying to upload a chart to this blog. It was more of a hassle than I expected! I'll have to work on that...

Meet the WIPs: The Traveling Project (plus a scarf pattern)

Not everything I do is a doily or even lace.

The photo on the left is my current traveling project. It's a scarf. It's perfect for boring meetings and waiting in traffic and long phone calls and so on.

I'm using some yarn from the stash. As you may be able to tell from the photo, it's a variegated yarn with short color repeats. I've tried using it in several other projects, but was never quite satisfied with how it was turning out. I think I like the way this looks so far.

The scarf is about two feet long now. After I use one skein of the yarn, I'll have a better idea about the final length. If I think it's going to be too long or too short, I'll unravel and start over, making it wider or narrower as needed. Hey, it's travel knitting -- so what if I get to knit part of it twice? It will be even better the next time.

After almost all the yarn is used up, the scarf will be done.

The pattern? It's a plain old diagonal garter stitch.


Diagonal Garter Stitch Scarf

Pick some suitable yarn. You'll want a few hundred yards, depending on your preferred scarf size (length and width) and on the yarn you're using. This particular scarf is going to be close to 400 yards long and made from a DK to worsted weight yarn, because that's what I've got. There's no need to use variegated yarn, of course.

Pick a needle size to match the yarn. It's a scarf; who cares about the gauge? You will want a suitable fabric, though, not too stiff and not too sleazy. (Sounds like what you'd look for in a date, right?)

Cast on 3 stitches.

First row: Increase at the beginning and end of the row, knitting all the stitches between.
Second row: Knit.

The increase can be any type, as long as you are consistent. I'm using a "make 1" increase done by the backwards loop method, one stitch in from the edge.

So, my pattern row goes something like: knit 1, make 1, knit to last stitch, make 1, knit 1.

In retrospect, I probably should have increased in the very first and very last stitches, by doing a (knit in front and back of stitch). My way looks nice, but requires a smidgen of thinking, not good if you're looking for pure mindless travel knitting. On the other hand, it's much easier to correct occasional stitch count problems when you're not working with the edge stitches.

Anyway.

Increase at the beginning and end of the pattern row until you think the scarf is wide enough. The width is the edge measurement of your knitting. End with a plain row. You may end up with 27 stitches; you may have 47. It doesn't matter as long as you like it.

Now, you're going to increase at the beginning of the pattern row and decrease at the end of it. The plain rows will remain the same: knit. In my scarf, I am doing a k2tog one stitch before the end.

First row: increase at beginning of row, knit across, decrease at end of row.
Second row: knit

You will soon notice that a long rectangle is starting to form, with the garter stitch forming diagonal ridges when compared to the rectangle. The corner of the rectangle formed where you changed from increasing to decreasing.

Every now and then, do a stitch count to make sure you're not losing or adding the occasional stitch. It's easy enough to do, alas. If you do have a problem, take care of it discreetly. No one will notice if your scarf has a slight problem with stitch counts every now and then.

When the scarf is long enough, or you're almost out of yarn or patience, it's time to finish off.

First row: decrease at beginning of row, knit across, decrease at end of row.
Second row: knit across.

When you're down to 3 stitches, cast off.

If you want to change the dimensions of the scarf a bit, block it. Get it wet and lay it out on a towel. You can pull it a bit longer and narrower, or shorter and wider. Not much, but a bit. Let the scarf dry in its new dimensions.


Variations and comments

There are similar patterns all over the net and in books.

Increase and decrease variations

One variation is the simple one I mentioned earlier: use a different increase or decrease than the one I chose.

You can use yarnovers for a lacy look. If you do that, you'll need to decrease two stitches at the decrease side of the scarf. k2tog, yo, k2tog is traditional, but you can choose something like yo, k3tog instead (or k3tog, yo).

Another easy variation: Put the increases and decreases in a different spot in your scarf, at the edges or two stitches in from the end or whatever makes you happy.

Borders

This leads to a third idea: have a border of one stitch, and use something else in the middle.

In other words, have a 3 to 5 stitch border all around, done in garter stitch or seed stitch or something like that. After you do the border, do the increase, then switch to something totally different such as stockinette. Then do the other border with its decrease.

Selvedge stitches

I didn't discuss what to do with your edge stitch at all. Do whatever you want, as long as you're consistent. It's another area where playing around can have interesting effects. I knitted all of my edge stitches.

Width variations

Maybe you want to change the width every now and then. If so, it can be done by changing increases to decreases (or vice versa), or omitting the increase or decrease you'd normally do. I have no idea what this might look like, but it could be interesting. Stair-step scarf, anyone?

Stitch patterns and stripes

Of course one can do this scarf in some totally different stitch pattern such as seed stitch or ribbing or moss or a lace stitch or cables. Or different colored stripes. Or both.

For some of the stitch patterns, it looks good to have a rectangle. It makes the scarf seem more inscrutable. For other patterns, I personally think it looks better to have the scarf be a parallelogram.

Parallelogram scarf

The parallelogram variation is dead simple. You skip the portions of the pattern where you increase and decrease at both ends. Instead, you cast on enough stitches for the whole width of the scarf. Increase at one end while decreasing at the other. Cast off when finished.

Really mindless diagonal scarf

Another variation, which might lend itself better to pure mindless knitting, is to do something at the beginning of every single row. For this variation, you either increase or decrease at the beginning of the row (depending which side of the scarf you're on), and then knit all the way to the end.

There are times when no-brainer knitting is what I need. I like good travel knitting projects that fulfill this requirement. A perfect no-brainer project is something that needs about 2 seconds of attention every now and then, with little or no counting or attention needed at any other time. I'll no doubt introduce a few more of my stress-relief, stash-busting, no-brainer projects and patterns in the future.

The hat variation

I've seen versions of this used to make hats. You can use the rectangular method or the parallelogram variation. You can use any pattern stitch you'd like, though I've mostly seen garter, seed stitch, and a k2p2 rib used for it.

Cast on the stitches, wide enough to form the hat plus its brim. Knit a length until it's long enough to go around your head. Cast off. Sew the cast-on to the cast-off edge. You can, of course, use a provisional cast-on and graft the beginning to the end. If you do that, use the parallelogram variation. You can also use a three-needle bind-off if it's compatible with your stitch pattern.

After the beginning is sewn to the end, gather one of the edges to form the top of the hat. You can add a pompom or tassel if you think that sort of thing looks good. Then fold up the other edge as a brim. Hat is completed.

The other relatives

Many of you will have recognized the scarf's close relatives: the diagonal dishcloth pattern and the simple triangle scarf/shawl. The classic diagonal dishcloth is so well known that I'll probably never discuss it. Someday I will go into the simple triangle shawl, another of my no-brainer staples. There are patterns for both all over the net and in plenty of books and magazines in case you want a plain pattern with no digressions and/or you don't want to wait for my long, digression-filled version.