Brooches and pins are so great; just slap them on anything plain and instant pow. Following Heather Bailey's excellent little yo-yo tutorial over here, I whipped up one of these with some scrap fabric. Again, it was really all just a pretense to use a favorite vintage button. I winged a loopy ric-rac thing and viola, a new accoutrement.

With the new IK out there's been some talk of the samples being a bit on the monochromatic side. Now one of the things I love about knitting is you can choose nearly Any color there is for your piece but I understand some may find it hard to visualize. So for the heck of it, I did a little playing around in Photoshop with the photo for my design Mirabella.

I think I'm leaning towards a red one, yum.

Posted by Jen at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Sometimes, things just seem to stumble into place.

I had recently received this vintage yarn along with some other coordinating funky yellows at a Destash Night at a local knit group. Now I love what I affectionately call "hideous colors"- muddy, rather 70's inspired greens and yellows. I just do. So when this yarn was offered up to a less-than-enthusiastic reception I jumped on it. I have several skeins in two similar shades and was immediately thinking of some kind of subtle yoked colorwork.
That weekend however I happened upon a new coat in ridiculously bright yellow and could not be parted from it at the store. Upon coming home I realized it perfectly matched some of the new yarn. Obviously a portion as a matching accessory was Ment To Be.

So a-pattern-hunting I went on Ravelry, needing something a little different, a little funky, a little retro. The Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap had long been a pattern I wanted to try and seemed an ideal match.

This is such a fun and ingenious pattern, that perfect balance of interesting enough to not be boring but not so tedious it becomes frustrating. You also never work more than 36 stitches for any one row, so it feels like fast progress! First glance (or 2nd, or 3rd) at the pattern however probably leaves many unclear on visualizing it's construction (myself included.) So here's a shot of it with the knitting completed, laid (relatively) flat before seaming. Roll over the image to see the direction of knitting.

^Roll over me

Pattern: Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap, by Head Huggers
Yarn: Lana Moro Ali (1 1/4 balls, approx. 120 yds); 70% wool & mohair, 30% acrylic
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
Modifications: Not much, went down a needle size to get gauge and bound off in pattern. I made a little matching brooch with my favorite and Simplest Flower Ever Pattern. I'm always exorbitantly thrilled when I can scour through my vintage button collection and use one, as I did here for the center.

Posted by Jen at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

Here's a little quick double knit project for fun - reversible heart rings!

With just a smidgen of yarn, and a few stitches you can knock these babies out in no time, great for a little Valentine's Day exchange. A little more info on how the technique of double knitting works can be found in the beginning of this post.

Or if your heart is feeling a little more black...

Finished Sizes
Small (Regular) [approx ring sizes 4 (6)]
Materials
Crochet Cotton Size 10 or something similar weight; 2 contrasting colors. Needles: US Size 0 (2mm) or smaller (samples worked on 0000). Notions: Sewing needle.
Gauge
10 sts = 1” in Double Knit Stockinette Stitch.
Abbreviations
See Yarn Standards Abbreviations.

DIRECTIONS
With both yarns held together, create a slip knot and place it on the needle. Using the working strand of each color, hold yarn in usual manner for long-tail cast on. CO 17 (20) sts (NOT including the slip knot) starting with 1 regular cast on, then one Purl or Reverse Long Tail cast-on, alternating between the two. Tutorial for the Purl Long Tail Cast-On can be found here. Slide slip knot off the needle. [Alternate CO: Braided Cast-On].

Note: At the beginning of each row, take the working strand of the 2nd color on the needle and twist it under and over the other strand. This will neatly join the edges.

Turn work, designate the first color on the needle as MC (Main Color) and second color as CC (Contrast Color).
Row 1: *With both colors held in back, k1 in MC, bring both strands to front, p1 in CC; rep from *.
Row 2: *With both colors held in back, k1 in CC, bring both strands to front, p1 in MC; rep from *.

While continuing to repeat Rows 1-2, work 16 sts [8 pairs] (20 sts [10 pairs]) and then start working chart. On the chart each square represents two sts. For the RS, the st on the near side fabric, knit in the color shown, and then p the corresponding st in the color not show. For the WS do the reverse.
After completing the chart repeat Rows 1-2 once. BO row: With both colors held in back, k1 in MC, *bring both strands to front, p1 in CC, slip first st on right needle over other two sts and off the needle, bring both strands to back, k1 in MC, slip first st on right needle over other two sts and off the needle; rep from *.

FINISHING
Weave in all ends. With one strand of yarn seam together edges.
See more PieKnits patterns this way >>

HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Posted by Jen at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Sometimes (especially after a lot of ripping, er, design work) it's nice to just sit down with a fun easy pattern and fly along. Enter Juliet. This one has been in my queue since it came out; it's such a great layering piece. Now that we've had a real warm snap here (78 today!), I can easily start thinking of all the fun spring wear. Even though here in Texas we only take a dip in the winterish weather instead of a marathon swim, the feel of coming Spring still makes we want to twirl around.

Of course I know the true reason for the temperate weather is I just got a new coat that I'm totally in love with and thus it promptly got too warm to wear it. :) I know we'll have cooler weather before the inevitable summer heat wave and so I had to also immediately cast-on for a matching hat. I mean obviously.

A big thank you goes out to Frida, Andrea, and Carrie for awarding pieKnits a 'You Make Me Smile' award! I love discovering new blogs through these so here's a little list in no particular order.

TECHknitting
Knititude
Knotty Mouse
six one seven
Ysolda
Physicsknits
The Joy of the Joy of Cooking

Posted by Jen at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)