Multi Purpose I-Cord

No, it's not the latest product from Apple.  It's a tube which is knitted in round and used in many different ways in the knitted/crochet projects.

Purl Bee has a clear tutorial on how to knit an I-Cord. Check it out here!

I guess my Pinterest-addiction is no longer a secret by now.  There's so many creative projects I just don't know which to start!

This bracelet was an inspiration from Pinterest as well!

Using the super easy I- Cord!  And this is the tutorial on how to tie the woggle knot.

Simple and pretty! 

I've also made a necklace using the i-cord and a pendant!

What would you make using the i-cord? Go on, get creative!

Arleen

I finished 2 tops recently.  The pattern's name is Arleen and it's free on Ravelry.

One for my princess.

 And the other for me!

And I got these beautiful buttons from Lyanwood on Etsy. 

I'm getting more confident in knitting tops! ^.^

Winding a Center-Pull Ball of Yarn by Hand!

I'm sure for those of you who knit or crochet, you must have experienced this frustration before.  After spending days on a project, you realized that you need to take it apart and re-do it, or you have lumps of left over yarns from previous projects and they're just all tangled up and lumpy together with the rest of their left over friends....

You know what? I found the great solution to these!  Thanks to the kind people at Lion Brand, organizing yarns is no longer a headache! (sorry this sounds so "commercial"! : p) Not only that, now you can wind your own center-pull yarn ball every time you get your new yarn, the ball will not roll or tumble around so much coz it's pulled from the center!

Go on now! Click on the link and learn this new trick!

http://blog.lionbrand.com/2012/07/13/keep-yarn-organized-learn-how-to-wind-a-center-pull-ball-by-hand/

After winding my first one, I realised that this could be made easier with a slight twist or two.

Make a slip knot and hook it onto a fairly good size crochet needle. (I use a 4mm one.)

Then I held the crochet needle together with another good size knitting needle (I use a 5mm.)...

And then I wrap the yarn around both needles.

Making criss cross with the yarn around both needles now and then....

Imagine you're wrapping the yarn around a ball...

Keep wrapping your yarn, put on sometime good on tv or listen to the radio... However, doing this and trying to chase your 2 year-old to stuff dinner down his throat is not such a good idea... =.="

Once your yarn is almost done, tuck the remaining tail (the one which you have been using to wrap around) secure under a few rounds of yarn.  Then I pull out the knitting needle first.  Then I pull out the crochet needle with the slip knot carefully, making sure that I don't get other yarns on my way out.  

And I don't pull the yarn (with the slip knot) all the way out, I left the beginning end still tuck inside the ball, so when I need to use it I just need to pull it out.

Alternatively, you can cut a piece of straw so it fits your crochet needle, like this.

If you use the straw then there is no need to use the knitting needle, you can start wrapping away with the crochet needle in the straw and pulling the slip knot over will be a breeze later!

There you have it! Easy isn't it? Now bring out all your left over yarns and happy wrapping!

My First Sweater!

I have been wanting to knit a sweater for a long time now but was intimidated by the "complexity" of the patterns and measurements (yeah, you probably know by now that I really suck big time in anything that has to do with calculations...). After some consideration, I finally pluck up courage to attempt to knit my first sweater - a Pippi Långström (Pippi Longstocking) inspired sweater for my prince number 3.  The pattern was adapted from here (you'll need a Ravelry account to log in), except that I up-sized it to fit my 4-year old.

And I think it turned out quite alright! The yarn I used was Fuga and it felt kinda prickly when I was knitting, but after washed and blocked, it is no longer prickly and surprisingly kinda soft.

Now I can't wait to try more sweaters with different details!

Another Shawl?!

Yup! Knitted another shawl  from one of my favorite designer, Kirsten Kapur.  It has a little lace knitting, which makes an otherwise simple knit, not so boring.

Sorry for the unblocked finished project, so lazy to do blocking!

Another picture to show you the picot edging.

However, even though I knitted size M, it is only enough to go round my neck once and tie a simple knot, or fasten it with a brooch - more like a shawlette, guess my gauge is a little off... will knit this again someday and maybe increase the stitches to have it longer.

Beanies

Finally I got around to posting the completed beanie I made for hubby! It took me so long to do this, winter has actually turned into spring! (However, spring time in Sweden is a very confusing period... at least I think so.  Warm and sunny this week, minus zero and snowing next week....)

So here it is!

And with the left over yarn, I knitted a beanie for our 4-year old, who requested specially for "owls".

And since these 2 beanies are double knitted, they are both wearable on both sides.

Have you been crafting lately? ^.^

My Own Design!

Hubby has been bugging me about knitting him something because all I knit are for my kids.  So I came up with a simple design to knit a hat for him...

It's still a WIP, will post the finished project once I'm done.  Hopefully soon!

My Second Cladonia Shawl!

This shawl is so easy to knit, it's like my de-stress knitting project!  I started this while waiting for the new yarns for the Gryffindor-inspired mittens to arrive (so was annoyed to find out that the yarns weren't enough to finish the project!).   This one is for my princess and she specifically asked for purple, so I used baby pink, lavender and purple for the edging.

Pardon me for the bad lighting (It's winter now, so daylight is like gold! It was so short, it passed after I was done with the laundry.....) and the quality of the photo (well, I can't afford a new camera with sophisticated functions...). Right, I admit, I'm not a photographer!  The purple looks like blue! Arggghhh....!  But trust me, the shawl looks pretty! It really does!

Gryffindor-inspired Mittens

Here they are! A pair of Gryffindor-inspired mittens for the eldest prince, who is a real Harry Potter addict.

It is, again a double-knitted project because of the increased warmth factor.  And if he ever gets sick of this side, he can just flip them over to show the opposite side!

(Ok, if you spot the mistake I made on the opposite side, please just keep it to yourself yeah? : p)

Double Knitted Totoro Mittens

I wanted to try double knitting technique so I decided to knit a pair of mittens for my 4-year old.  I found a great pattern on Ravelry (you need to set up a login account to access this pattern but if you're a knitter or crocheter, you really should sign up coz there are so many interesting patterns available and even forum if you need to know more about a certain topic/technique, what a great place!)

My first attempt was not so good.  It might look pretty alright from outside....

.... from the front....

..... and the back....

..... but inside was wrong! It was supposed to be the knitted side on the inside as well but as you can see from here.... it was very "purl-ed".... =.="

So I learnt from the mistakes made, and mind you, it was quite a lot, I made my first pair of double knitted mittens!  And I wasn't the least afraid to flip over one of them to show you that I've done it correctly!

Ok, maybe not totally correct coz the yarns were wrapped wrongly in some areas and the decreases are not done properly and those horribly done kitchener stitch... but after agonizing for 2 weeks, yeah that's how slow I was in knitting these! I think I'm allowed to be proud of myself for a short while!

I agree that grey was a better color for Totoro but I only had a small amount of it which was just enough to make 1 mitten, so I used green instead which I think looks ok, or maybe it's because I'm so used to it now!

Double knitting means that you're knitting 2 fabrics at the same time, which makes the mittens thicker.  However, these mittens are more suitable for autumn in Sweden, since we all know how tough winter can gets.  The happy 4-year old wore these mittens and accompanied us to go groceries shopping today and they do keep his little hands warm since winter is late this year.

We had a green Christmas this year which is very weird.  Sitting home where it's warm and toasty and the sun shining outside, green grass and birds singing, for a moment I thought it was summer! Has the weather God decided to skip winter and launch straight to summer?!

Enough ranting about the weather, on to my next project - Fair Isle knitting!!

Saving her modesty!

Remember this post? Well, Barbie has been wearing her tunic for some time now and every time I looked at her I would tell myself,"Man, she really needs to put on something more!"

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore so I cast on again to knit her something to cover up those legs!

Well, it does look alright.  Except that....

her bum is still hanging out in the freezing cold! Arggggghhhh! I tell myself that it doesn't matter since this part doesn't show when her tunic is pulled down.  So I left it as it is.  But it's like having a small splinter under my skin and I just cannot get it out of my head.  I know the "hanging-for-their-dear-life-on-half-the-bum" kinda pants is very popular among teens but they're not allowed in our family!

So I have no choice but to take them off, and have them back on my knitting needles again.....*sigh*

After a few more rounds of knitting and muttering under my breath,"Who has got a figure like this?"  "It's just impossible to make anything fit properly!"  "Bet she must suffer from some sort of chronic pain."  "Her waist is so small, it's totally disproportional!"  "Her figure is just abnormal!"  (Yeah, I suppose I was annoyed.... *rolling my eyes*) I ended up with this.

Ok, the waist line doesn't fit her waist but who cares? At least now she's decent!

And when I pulled down the tunic.....

yeah, you can't tell the difference.... =.="

Cladonia Shawl

Remember this WIP?

Now it's finally done! Woohoo! My very first shawl!

I really need to make more time to take a proper picture.... but trust me this shawl looks great! (Even though I used some left over yarn, and ended up having to buy more of this "left over" yarn... 

>.<") 

This is a purchased pattern from Ravelry by a designer named Kirsten Kapur.  I have another of her shawl pattern which I can't wait to cast on! But I really need to finish mittens for my 4-yr old princess, double-knitting is soooooo confusing! But this will come as a new post once I'm done. ^.^

This was very fun to knit and the instruction are clear and easy to understand.  This will not be the last one coz princess has already ordered one in lavendar/purple! :D  And I think this will make a wonderful and warming gift as well.  I just wish that I can have more time to knit...  It is tricky to be very accurate with the stitches when I have a 2 yr-old who needs my attention every 10 seconds.  And since there is a lace pattern at the end of the shawl, I need to focus and concentrate more (you know, counting stitches and stuff) and there had been many times when I was in deep concentration, a 2 yr-old decided to jump on me and in the process causing many stitches to drop (OMG!)! And after picking up the dropped stitches (or at least I tried, I gave up counting after some time, it'll never be the same number as what was stated on the pattern ever again.... *sob*), I totally forgot where I was in the pattern.... =.="

Before I get the chance to block this, my princess has already worn it to school =.=".  I think I'll just spray water and iron it gently.  I have a 2-yr old running around everywhere and I don't want to risk the possible injuries he'll sustain if I leave a big piece of shawl to dry, pinned down to shape in lots of PINS!

Any knitters out there who has the same problem blocking their finished works properly with small kids running around? Any tips to share? 

Barbie ready for winter!

Thank you to my dear friend Lina, who pointed me to this awesome website Sticka till Barbie, which means "Knitting for Barbie" in Swedish.  My princess and I were drooling over all the pretty clothing and accessories and having a conversation that went something like this....

Princess: "Mommy, can you make this one?"

Mommy: "No.... too complicated."

Princess: "How about this one?"

Mommy: "Too complicated."

Princess: "This one then?"

Mommy: "Too complicated."
........

This went on for awhile, to the point when I thought that I shouldn't teach my girl to admit defeat without trying, so we agreed on pattern no. 382 and I told her that I'd try my best and we'd see how it turns out.  And it turned out pretty ok! ^.^

Except that it was just a little bit too short..... well, I want to bring out Barbie's super long legs.... ok ok I learnt my lesson to not be so lazy and measure stuff instead of just "eyeball-ing" them.... :P

Hmm.... maybe I can knit a pair of wrist warmers and some thigh-high boots/socks for her to compensate...

iPod Cosy

Just another idea I have been thinking about for awhile now....

Can you tell what it's for? (Ok, pretend you didn't read the title of this post yeah?)

It's for the iPod shuffle or nano! What? Again? Well.... I have no idea why I'm always thinking about the iPod... maybe it's because the older kids are using them quite often? :P

And I made an extra pocket for the earphones!

I've knitted an i-cord (nothing to do with Apple I swear!) so it can be worn around the neck.

Looking at the last picture now I can see several areas where I can do it differently.... oh well, time to finish my WIP and probably revisit this again later! ^.^

WIP (Work-In-Progress)

Like all crafters who cannot settle with having just one project on hand, I usually have about 2 going on at the same time.  I started this one when I was knitting the hats for the kids...

Can you guess what this is? (ok, there is no prize for making the correct guess but it's fun!)  Now I'm waiting for more yarns to arrive to continue.  

Not sure how this will turn out, will update again once it's completed, stay tune! ^.^

Winter is coming!

Last year during the winter, I knitted a hat for my princess....

And in the beginning of autumn this year, I knitted more....

Seems like I have problem stopping with just one! :P

iPod Shuffle Cuffs

2 of the bigger kids received en iPod Shuffle each on their birthday last year. Since then, they've been walking around carrying the tiny thing either in their hands or in their pockets. When I saw that, my creative lightbulb (a really small one!) lit up and I made this!

A cuff for the wrist with a small bag...

...especially dedicated to put the tiny iPod Shuffle!
And it keeps the wrist warm! (well, kinda..)

And of course I made two!


And on to the next project...

Fingerless Gloves!

After the socks, I was itching to do more knitting and at the request of my princess, a pair of fingerless gloves are born!

And she loves it!
And it seems like I have problem stopping at a pair.... :P