Ron Socks

Okay, maybe I should just admit this upfront: I am a big Harry Potter fan. I love everything from the books to the movies to the merchandise. You could take a piece of crap, slap a Harry Potter logo on it, and I would want to buy it. Harry Potter coffee mug? Sure! Harry Potter clock? Okay! Harry Potter sock yarn? Yes please!


Luckily, my lack of endless financial resources is balanced out by the fact that I'm slightly disappointed in the sock yarn's offered colorways. The only one that even resembles its character is 'Ron', and don't even get me started on the fact that there is no 'Hermoine' colorway. So I was able to execute a little self control before I broke down and finally bought the Ron colorway.


Despite the fact that these colors scream "RON!" to me, I'm still not mad about this yarn. The finished socks needed a little extra something to make them special or else they would just be mildly ugly. So, taking a page out of Mrs. Weasley's knitting book, I decided to embroider little R's on the cuffs.


The resulting socks are not mildly ugly, they're just pretty dorky. And I'm okay with that. It is one more pair of wool socks to get me through the Wisconsin Winter, and one more reminder that I have to wait an extra 8 months for the next Harry Potter movie. I hate you Warner Brothers...

Craftacular

I started thinking about the c-word this week. I'm usually a strict no-c*******s-before-thanksgiving kind of person, but, as I usually make some of my gifts, I need to plan ahead. Considering I was knitting socks for my parents in September last year, I think that I am doing pretty well this time around.

Anyway, it was craft week over at casa Briney Deep. I won't be knitting a lot of gifts this year, so I was testing out a couple other crafty ideas I found around the net.


The first idea that I am madly in love with is homemade notepads. I swear that everyone I know is going to get one of these in their stocking this year. It was a small investment to buy the padding compound, but I'll get a least a hundred of these super cute pads out of it. I've got a bunch of great ideas for these little guys.


And for the lucky few who are getting knitted gifts, these fabric labels will let them know they were hand knit by me. A simple combination of twill tape and printable, iron-on transfers, these labels were much less expensive than other custom labels I have seen. And I'm really happy with the look that my pinking sheers gave the edges.

Next week, it's back to knitting!

Back to Beading

Beading was my thing as a kid. I remember taking summer school art classes in beading and eventually making at least a hundred different necklaces before my enthusiasm for this craft dwindled. So I was pleasantly surprise when my DH got me some beads for my birthday. (I actually ruined his original idea by buying a set of martini glasses two weeks before my special day. Oops!)


The beads were dark green, shaped like little tildes, and there were just enough of them to make a necklace. So after a little trip to JoAnn's and a dig through my craft closet, I came up with all of the supplies necessary to make this:


Making this necklace reminded me of how much I loved this hobby and how many beads I still have, squirreled away in the closet. Perhaps one day, after I am out of grad school, I will get back to beading.

Mithril Shawl, Finished

If I missed some of the subtlety of my Mithril shawl in the first post about it, this picture should show it a little better.


I just love how this shawl turned out. It worked up surprisingly quickly and the pattern shows very well after a quick overnight blocking.


The only issue I had with this shawl was that it turned out much too long after blocking. I had originally used about 1.5 skeins of KnitPicks Shimmer, but frogging the extra half a skein resulted in a much better length. Now I have a whole extra skein to make a second shawl!

Free Pattern: Bike Helmet Earmuffs

People bike year-round in Madison, Wisconsin. And while I refuse to bike in any sort of snow, it is very likely that I will meet with cold weather as I bike to work in October and November. My husband was the first to state that his ears were getting cold while biking, giving me the look that clearly said, “I’m sure that you can fix this by knitting me something.” So I set to work making him a liner for his bike helmet; something that would cover his ears, integrate into the straps, and, most importantly, stay in place. After a couple hours of knitting, I’m delighted to share the result with you!


And if you are interested in knitting your own ear-warmer, I've written up some pithy instructions below:

BIKE HELMET EARMUFFS

Gauge: 20 st/28 rows = 4 inches in stockinette
Needles: Set of 5 US#7/4.5mm dpns
Materials: 1 ball Knitpicks Swish Worsted [Superwash Merino Wool, 110 yds per 50 grm ball] in Dark Navy


Pattern:

Cast on 12 st. Join to work in the round, being careful not to twist.

*K1, P1* for a total of 4 rounds.

Divide stitches evenly onto 4 needles.

Round 1: *K1, M1, K to end of needle. K to last stitch on second needle, M1, K1.* Repeat ** for needles 3 and 4.
Round 2 & 3: K even.

Repeat these three rounds seven more times until you have 44 stitches, ending with round 3.

Work 4 rounds in *K1, P1* ribbing.

Cast off 22 st.

Continue to work *K1, P1* rib back and forth with the other half of stitches for 10.5 inches, or whatever fits your helmet/head.

Cast on 22 st on the same side of your knitting as you cast of the previous stitches. Divide stitches evenly over 4 needles. Join to work in the round, being careful not to twist.

Work 4 rounds in *K1,P1* ribbing.

Round 5 & 6: K even.
Round 7: *SSK, K to end of needle. K to second to last stitch on second needle, K2tog.* Repeat ** for needles 3 and 4.

Repeat these three rounds seven more times until there are 12 stitches.

*K1, P1* for 4 rounds.

Cast off. Weave in ends.


Questions or errata? Contact me at brineydeepdesigns_at_gmail_dot_com!


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Mithril Shawl

If I embarrassed myself in my last post due to the long delay between finishing and photographing/blogging about my February Lady Sweater, I'm going to try to make up for it here. Today I'm posting about an actual work in progress!


The pattern is the Crocus Bud Shawl and I am making it with the dreamy alpaca-silk blend, Knit Picks Shimmer in the Cumulus colorway. The yarn is hand-painted in a subtle mix of grays--some lighter, some darker, a tint of brown here, a touch of icy blue there. I just love the resulting combination of the beautifully simple crochet pattern with this gorgeous yarn! I can't help but think of Mithril, of which Tolkien saud:

"[The shirt] was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver."

Light and delicate, beautiful and subtle, all made into a clothe of many loops and chains. Thus the Mithril shawl.

(And don't you just love the corner of my arm the photo, as I attempted to stretch out the lace to show the pattern?)

Fall Photo-Op

Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny day, that I dragged my DH outside to take pictures of a few finished objects. First up, my February Lady Sweater (which is the adult version of EZ's famous February Baby Sweater):


I'm a little embarrassed to say that this sweater has been finished since July and has been waiting 3 months for me to take photos! My version is made out of Knit Picks Alpaca Silk in Olive, which I thoroughly enjoyed knitting with. Between the pattern, yarn, and color, I'm going to give this sweater two thumbs up!


Next up are the Pembrokeshire Pathways socks. These are knit out of Kraemer Yarns' Jeannie, which is a thinner, undyed sock yarn that I simply love. Knit up on size 1 needles, these socks are so comfortable! However, the experience of knitting these, as well as my Snicket socks, has made me swear off knitting cabled socks for a long time. DPNs and cable needles just do not mix.


Conspicuously absent from the photo shoot is DH's raglan sweater. I have blocked it twice now, and it has still come out too long! I might be forced to rip out some of the body and reknit the hem. This is the project that will simply never end! Arg!