Pattern Update: Say It Loud

I have updated the Say It Loud Pattern in the original post, available here: http://knitosphere.blogspot.com/2011/06/say-it-loud-free-pattern.html

I am also in the process of updating all of the pattern links that are along the side so that they redirect to the original pattern post or to the Ravelry pattern page.

I'm actually having a bit of fun updating these patterns, as many of them I haven't looked at in years. :)

Patterns

Just a quick notification that I'm in the process of updating the patterns here. Somewhere along the way all of the patterns that I had posted disappeared from where I had them posted on adobe. Stay tuned - I'll get them replaced in early 2014! Thank you to those who messaged me on Ravelry about this. I don't maintain this blog much any more, so it is much appreciated!

Say It Loud - FREE PATTERN

One of my friends is recently out of the closet - and when I say out I mean VERY out. When I stumbled across this rainbow yarn, I knew I had to get it to make something for her to show her pride. I decided on a pair of mitts so that she can say it loud, say it proud.

Even without the rainbow yarn, this star stitch pattern makes a lovely look for both variegated and single color yarns. Knit Picks Imagination substitutes perfectly for this pattern, as would any fingering weight yarn.

If you are on Ravelry you can also access this pattern through a Ravelry free download here:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/say-it-loud 

Say It Loud

by Shannon Mulhall Simonelli
Developed Spring 2011
***UPDATED APRIL 2014***

MATERIALS

Rainbow mitts:

Moonlight and Laughter [Fingering Superwash, 75% Merino, 25% Bamboo; 435 yd per 3.5 oz skein]; color: Rainbow to the Stars; less than 0.5 skein

Blue mitts:
Knit Picks Imagination [fingering, 50% superwash Merino Wool, 25% Superfine Alpaca, 25% Nylon; 219 yards per 50 grams]; color: Looking Glass; less than 0.5 skein

1 set US #5/3.5mm straight needles
1 set US #4 straight needles
Tapestry needle
Stitch markers
Stitch holder

GAUGE
25 sts = 3" in pattern

PATTERN NOTES
Star Stitch (worked over 3 sts)
k3tog, leaving sts on left needle, yo, k3tog

For a tutorial on how to do the Star stitch check out here: http://youtu.be/7v--kWsw1ng
The tutorial shows the stitch done on the purl side rather than the knit side, but gives you the basic idea of how it is done.

This pattern is knit flat. The placement of the star pattern varies by 2 sts ever 2 rows. Except on the palm, there is an extra st at the beginning and end of each row for the seam to be sewn. The thumb is worked back and forth in short rows.

PATTERN
Using smaller needles, Co 65 sts, Work 5 rows of ribbing as follows:

Rows 1, 3, & 5: k1, p1* rep to last st, k1
Rows 2& 4: *p1, k1* rep to last st, p1

**The original 2011 pattern called for a slightly fancier rib, Which you are welcome to use instead of k1, p1. It is as follows:
Rows 1, 3, & 5: k1 *k2, p1, k1, p1* rep to last st, k1
Rows 2& 4: p1 *k1, p1, k1, p2* rep to last st, p1

Row 6: (ws) switch to larger needles, p all sts

Row 7: *k1 star,* to last st, k1
Row 8: p all sts
Row 9: k3 *star, k1* to last 3 sts, k3
Row 10: p all sts

Repeat rows 7 – 10 until you have reached approximately 6.5 in (or desired length) having finished a row 10

Thumb
Row 1: (rs) work as above in row 9 across 44 sts, pm, turn.
Row 2 :(ws) purl across 22 sts, pm, turn.

At this point there should be 21 sts to left of markers, 22 sts btwn markers, 22 sts to right of markers.

The thumb will be worked in short rows across these 18 sts as follows:
Row 3: *k1, star* to 2 sts before m, k2, turn.
Row 4: p to m, turn.
Row 5: k3, *star, k1* to last 3 sts, star. Turn
Row 6: p to m, turn.
Row 7-9: *k1, p1* across, turn

Bo thumb stitches purlwise loosely. Cut, leaving enough tail to sew the thumb seam. Sew seam along thumb. You will need to sew this seam before continuing knitting in order to have a place to pick up additional stitches for the palm.

Palm
With the rs facing, pu 6 sts across the thumb and continue to work across the row as set. (49 sts)
Row 1: p all
Row 2: k3, *star, k1* rep to last 2 sts, k2
Row 3: p all
Row 4: *k1, star* rep to last st, k1
Row 5: p all

As set, the mitts should end on or around the knuckles. If you would like a longer palm rep these 4 rows an additional time.

Switch to smaller needles, work as follows:
Rows 1, 3, & 5: *k1, p1* rep to last st, k1
Rows 2 & 4: *p1, k1* rep to last st, p1

bo loosely. Cut yarn with a long tail, sew seam.

Repeat for second glove.

FINISHING
Weave in ends, wash and block.

Derby Love FREE PATTERN

I’ve recently started up with the local roller derby team. Inspired by our fantastic new jerseys, I wanted to make a hat that would show my love for derby, while coordinating with the jerseys (as well as hiding post-bout helmet hair!). This pattern is done in NOtown Roller Derby colors, but naturally can be adapted to any color scheme of your choosing.
This pattern is knit flat because it uses a combination of fair isle and intarsia techniques. There are 3 different versions - the first is a regular beanie style and has two skates, one placed on either side of the head, the second is also a regular beanie style with a single skate on the front, and the third uses a 3 needle bind off and has some funky tassels on it.

Click here for free ravelry download: Derby Love Pattern

If you are on Ravelry you can also access all of my patterns through Ravelry free download.

Almost there!

I'm getting closer to finished with my new Roller Derby hat pattern - I have a few test knitters lined up and then I'll be posting it here as a free pattern.

Here's a picture of newer version:



I swear, this roller derby is becoming a dangerous obsession, but one that appear to cross over nicely with my knitting. I banged out these super fast legwarmers in a day, which I'm going to wear for (squeal!) my first derby photo shoot this week.



Bulky yarn, giant size 15 needles, 2 by 2 rib, minimal color changes and no decreasing. Easy-peasy!

Knit Still Happens

Oh blog, how I have forsaken you! Sure, at first it was a forced knitting hiatus, but then it just became laziness on my part. I did manage to get a few projects pumped out in the mean time, so to catch up...

I actually did a couple of these Morning Walk Headbands. They make great quick knits and you can get a couple out of a single skein of bulky. It also helps that they are in fashion right now (so I'm told by my 15 year old sister).



Of course I had to make a little cap for my new nephew, who joined our brood in December.



I finished up Skylar's Easy Baby Cardigan which I made out of the leftovers from my Twist & Shout Sweater. When she's 16 she's gonna hate that we were ever matching, but for now, she doesn't complain...much.




I also managed to bang out a pair of Maple Leaf Mittens for my Canadian friend, but forgot to snap a picture before she left to visit family.

Ooh oooh, and last night I happened to meet Sabrina, the amazing local spinner of Anzula yarns, which I had used to make Skylar's first Sweater. She's super sweet and I liked her in an instant. Even more amazing is that she remembered me from Ravelry and extended an invite to join her in her shop or at a knitting meet-up any time. Swoon!

But what has really been keeping me away is a new obsession...roller derby. I started skating with the local league in November, and now I'm drafted to one of their home teams and full on hooked on the sport. So naturally, looking for a little balance, I decided I should try to unite my two obsessions. I've already made several changes to the charts (on this one the wheels are way too big for my liking) but here's a sneak peak of the first prototype I've been working on:



It will probably take a little while to get the pattern to where I'm satisfied enough to post it and on top of that I went ahead and signed up for another swap, which means I'll be working on this on the side instead of primarily. Either way but I'm hoping to still be able to refining this pattern so I can get it posted here within a month or so.

Shut Down!

I'm on a forced knitting hiatus right now, and I'm not happy about it one bit!

Ok, so that's a little dramatic, but I've been having a major flare up of my tendinitis and going to physical therapy, where they are telling me that if I want it to heal, I need to relax it as much as possible. Since I can't avoid signing or typing at work and something's gotta give, the answer to that is "no knitting." Which naturally I take as, "Do some knitting, but be sure to take an anti-inflammatory before, only knit for a measly 1/2 hour per day, and then afterward ice it and put on the splint."

Sigh. I try to be a good patient.

Ugly Hats for a Good Cause

Every year my work is a partial sponsor/coordinator for an all day holiday celebration, called Silent Sleigh, for the local Deaf kids. A lot of hands go into the preparation for this day in which countless kids get to socialize with their Deaf peers from all of the local school districts, watch performances all in sign, and best of all, tell a signing Santa in their own langauge what they want for Christmas without the use of an interpreter (and actually have him understand!).

Last week at my works community center there was a group of 5 Deaf/hard of hearing women hard at work at their sewing machines. When I inquired further, I discovered that they were making a slew of hats, so that every kid in attendance at the Silent Sleigh would be able to wear and take home their own holiday hat.

Since one of the virtues that I want to instill in my daughter is that of volunteerism and the best way to teach this is by example, when I saw this group of ladies sewing away at 100 plus hats, I knew that I had to lend a hand. I mentioned that I had a sewing machine at home and the ability to sew a (sorta straight) seam and they were more than happy to have my assistance.

I was sent home with a stack of neon green felt, thread, and some quick instructions how to sew it up. I was surprised that even with my novice abilities I was about to whip out 10 hats in only about 2 weekend nap times (so like a total of 2.5 hours).

Here's the final product:



Sure, they're an ugly color, but I'm certain that in the spirit of the holidays these kids will wear their hats with Joy as they carol in sign language and anxiously tell St. Nick their christmas wishes.

It Is What It Is, Flaws and All

As I had previously mentioned, I finished up the lovely Summit Shawl, only to discover a major flaw about halfway back. I contemplated for mere seconds whether I should rip it all the way back to the error, but seeing as that would have meant undoing nearly 500 yards of work I just couldn’t make myself do it.

Here’s the blocked picture of it... can you find the error?

How about now?

At some point in the middle of knitting I accidentally switched the direction I was going, creating a larger hole and two branches out of one. You’ll also note the circle on the bottom left – that’s where for some reason I decided to simply go back the other direction, rather than making the outer loop.

The thing of the matter is, I can’t help but still love the final product. Sure, I can see (and unabashedly point out) its flaws, but its overall beauty shines through regardless. I know that the recipient of this shawl won’t be sitting down to analyze my work and will admire it for what it is, not for what it isn’t.

Civetta Legwarmers - FREE PATTERN

I’m not the kind of girl who wears legwarmers, so it had never occurred to me to make some, until a friend asked specifically for a pair. As often happens, I couldn’t find a pattern that I particularly liked for this recipient, so I went to the drawing board. I hope you have as much fun knitting these little owls as I did! These were originally designed as legwarmers, however they can also be worn as gauntlets.

Click here for Free Ravelry Download: Civetta Pattern

Knit Know How = Fast Gifts

One of the good things about being a knitter (with a sizable stash) is that when you look at the calendar and see that you have a baby shower to go to and no moolah to spare for a gift, it's not to hard to whip up something quick and cute.

Skylar graciously modeled this boy version of the Cadence Baby Hat which took me only two lazy nights of knitting to bang out.



And by graciously, I mean she let me snap photos for all of 30 seconds before deciding that it was way to hot to keep wearing this beanie.

Knitters Pop Up in the Funniest Places

One of the little joys of knitting in public is that every now and then other knitters and crocheters will approach and break the monotony of the "wow, I've always wanted to learn to knit but..." conversations, and actually engage you in a real knitting conversation.

I was at an interpreting workshop yesterday (which was phenomenal - if you're a sign language interpreter and ever have an opportunity to go to an Austin Andrews workshop, DO NOT pass on it!). While I love the learning I get while I go to these professional trainings, I also can't bear the idea of sitting for 6 hours without a pair of needles clicking away in my hands so, as always, I was knitting to my hearts content. During a break, one of the other attendees approached me and not only was she a knitter, she was also on Ravelry, had the exact pattern I was working on in her queue, and her current WIP hidden away in her bag. The cherry on top? We also had the exact same glasses. Neat!

In the too-short break we got to admire each other WIPs and engage in a discussion of how I could have improved upon the decrease of the Coffee Tunic that I had started back in January (and have just now picked up again after I don't know how many months). And then of course that evening I logged into Ravelry to get a glimpse of her other works. Gotta love that!

Oh blog, how I have mistreated you...

...but I swear the neglect has its reasons! I've been working on two original patterns, the first drafts of which are knitted up and awaiting revisions. I also manage to finish up the awesome (and sometimes tedious) Summit Shawl. Unfortunately, as I was binding off I discovered a major mistake at about the mid section of the shawl. Did I frog it back? You better believe your britches I didn't! Ha, if you think I'm going to watch as I unravel countless hours of knitting, you gotta be out of your freakin' mind!

Coming soon...

• pictures and discussion of the summit shawl
• patterns for leg warmers and (yes, my new favorite) mitts
• a quick peak at the adorable LYS I visited while in Vermont last week

happy knitting!

Baratto - FREE PATTERN

These mitts developed out of my husband’s request for a crocheted hacky sack. I don’t crochet very well at all, so I turned to my knitting group where a barter was arranged: two hacky sacks for a pair of mitts.

At the same time I found myself obsessed with diagonal stripes - Hats, scarves, you name it, any time I picked up a pair of knitting needles I was yielding similar results, diagonal stripes. It was really no surprise that when I went to knit some mitts this pattern developed out of my diagonal obsession.

Baratto is a fast knit and makes a great last-minute gift project, especially for those knitters (like myself) who like instant gratification projects.

Pattern available through a Free Ravelry Download: Baratto

Say it Loud, Say it Proud!

A friend of my is recently out and when I say out I mean VERY out. So when I stumbled across this vibrant yarn from Moonlight and Laughter I knew that I had to get it and make something for her to show off her pride.





Over the past few weeks I've been playing around with making a pair of mitts with this awesome rainbow yarn so that she can say it loud, say it proud. I've definitely found a good stitch pattern to show off the colors but I've had a few false starts with my gauge being off. Now I'm back on a roll again and moving along although since it's an original pattern it's slower going than normal. As always, depending on the results I may share it with the world.

I've also decided to self-publish the other mitts pattern of mine that was rejected by Knitty. I've just got a few more edits to do and am hoping to be able to post it by next week.

Sipal-oops!

One of my off-and-on-again projects this year has been the Sipalu Bag by Knit Picks. I got the kit a while back and was somewhat daunted to see just how many different balls of yarn the project contained.

Once I dove into it, however, I quickly found my fair isle rhythm and started moving along on it - perhaps a bit to fast. One of my biggest knitting rules is that I regularly need to stop and admire my work, for two reasons. One, sometimes I just need to take a moment to sit back and admire my handiwork. Two, in the course of admiring you also have the opportunity to check for mistakes. and naturally, in the course of doing so, I discovered this:



Yup, rookie mistake - I twisted my stitches when joining in the round and didn't even notice. so I naturally did what any knitter in the same situation would do. I yelled, "Ahhhhh!" in exasperation, then threw it back into my knitting bag to be ignored for about a month.



Once I was done sulking and glaring at my project bag I was able to make it to the somewhat cathartic stage of acceptance and began frogging. Riiiipppitt...Riiiipppitt!


Now I'm back on track and have finished half of the bag. For a brief moment I entertained the idea of just doing a single color on the backside instead of the full colorwork again, but then my vanity and love of fair isle won out. Don't get me wrong, it's still my favorite fair weather project and may take me the better part of the year to finish, but I figure that it's reasonable to expect that (barring no further mistakes) I can gradually finish it by the end of the year.

It Itches

I picked up a late birthday present for myself last weekend:



Knitters, if you’re not familiar with the Panopticon, go visit Franklin and Dolores for a while, I’m sure you’ll fall in love like I did!

No So Much Success...

Yesterday I received a very nice rejection letter for my submission to Knitty. I am okay with it. For me it was a good practice in going through the steps toward submission and just another experience under my belt - that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Now I'm trying to decide whether I want to just self publish here or take the time to reformat and submit to Knit Picks Independent Partnership Design Program. we'll see...

Also, I totally missed out on the June Phat Fiber Box. For some reason I didn't get the notification email, so I need to check in with Phat Fiber and see what happened. I'm actually more excited for the July theme any way: Seaweed, Ships and Scallywags. That seems up my alley!

Phat Fiber

I've just stumble upon a neat fiber site: Phat Fiber. It's self described as "a mystery box of awesome samples for the yarn and fiber enthusiast in us all. With a focus on the independent artisan, this box is a super grass-roots treat for the senses."

The more I search around and learned about the Phat Fiber box, the more I want one - Apparently it's a total competition every month to even purchase one of these mystery boxes, so much so that the Sheepshape Spinning blog made a tutorial complete with screen shots.

Oh it's on. I'm going to aim for one of the June boxes, as soon as they notify me that they are available. What's that? You say that it's silly because I wouldn't actually need all that unspun fiber since I lack any sort of spinning skills? Ah, well, if I am one of the luck ducks who actually gets a June box then I am taking that as a sign that it's time to figure out how to use that cute little drop spindle my mom brought back from Alaska last year (spinners, don't worry, I'm not planning on starting with the raw fleece that is pictured - that'll just have to keep sitting patiently!).



The other neat thing that Phat Fiber does is regular giveaways on their blog. Seriously, all I have to do is look at the items you're promoting and make a comment about them to be entered to win. Hell, that seems too easy!

Uninspired

I'm feeling totally uninspired by my knitting right now. Sure, I keep working on the projects I have laying around, but they are all bigger or more intricate projects - Coffee Tunic, Summit Shawl, and Sipalu Bag - and are taking me foooorrrreeeevvveeerrrr to complete. Normally at this point I'd be distracted by a cute hat or pair of mitts, but even that's not happening. I gotta face it, 90 degree heat is not conducive to knitting. Period.

The heat is, however, inspiring me to small fits of green-thumbery in our little container garden out back (because there's no way I'm planting edibles in the same ground where my dog pees).



Well...okay... I'm more of a black thumb who like planting stuff who's married to a green thumb who remembers to water stuff, but mainly because he's out back every hour smoking a cigarette anyway. Either way, it's a good deal, really, and is yielding some delicious herbs (basil, sage, rosemary), yellow tomatoes, cute little strawberries, jalapenos that are too hot for whities like us to eat, garlic that's nearly ready for harvesting, some squash plants which I'm hoping will someday do more than sprawl, and finally some hearty flowers.








And I was even inspired by the suggestion in Martha F-ing Stewart's magazine (don't judge, you wouldn't be able to turn down a year's free subscription either!) of a succulent planter for arid regions and made this little cutie to sit out front of our home.



Thank goodness it will only need water every month or so, because I know (from experience) that I won't remember to bring a watering can out front regularly.