HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing

VK cable lace cardi
Project details on Ravelry

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

There's rain in the forecast (thank goodness!) so I'm wearing something to keep me warm and cozy.


Scrunchable Scarf in Malabrigo

Fresh new knitting, but not yet

New projects to cast on!

Thanks so much to Spinnity for the pattern and the yarn--I'm looking forward to starting these gloves.


Beth Brown-Reinsel's Sanquhar Glove pattern
with Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Fingering in Musket & Shaela

These colors of Elemental Affects yarn are not dyed, they're naturally colored--they're sheep colored! lol

The other new project will be


Elsebeth Lavold's Pretzel Cable Cardi from Vogue Knitting Fall 2008
with di.Ve' Zenith in Port from WEBS

But before I start either of them, I've got a list of projects that need to be addressed. The gloves and sweater will be my reward for finishing most (if not all) of these:

• A pattern and knitting. The pattern is 80% along and the knitting is close to finished. Deadline: Stitches West
  
• A new sock pattern and knitting for... not sure where this will be submitted, it depends on when it's finished. This design is going through its final iterations.
  
• 50/50 Merino Tencel : 2 singles ready for plying.
  
• Stitches West homework. Just a bit of ribbing.
  
• Sipalu Bag: The reverse st st bit at the top of the bag is flaring out, even after blocking. It needs to be ripped out and re-knit on smaller needles. I'd like to start (maybe even finish) knitting the strap before starting a new project.
  
• Aguona Laptop Bag: Needs a zipper, maybe lining, and sewing up in general.

My goal is to finish the first 4 on the list before starting a new project. If I get through all 6, so much the better.

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing


Mars Mission socks
Project details on Ravelry

Hey, unless all you're carrying is YARN...

The great thing about using a DVR is being able to skip over commercials like this one.

Hey Denis (and Ford), so what if all I'm carrying is yarn?! Don't underestimate the size of the stash or the purchasing power of a fiber fanatic.

Yarn Estimates

An anonymous commenter asked,

About how much yarn is needed to knit a 2-year old child`s sweater with average yarn(4-ply, worsted weight...not special, kind of usual thick)????? How many ounces about? And about how many yards?

There are a number of references that can help answer the question.

1) The Knitter's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements by Ann Budd is a laminated pamphlet with yardage estimates for sweaters, vests, mittens, gloves, socks, scarves, tams, and hats for sizes from baby to large adult.

2) Search for patterns that are similar to what you're interested in making and see how many yards are required.

3) Online estimators--here's a sampling of search results.

• With Yarn in Front Yarn Yardage Estimator
  
• Elizabeth's Fiber & Yarn Store Yarn Estimates
  
• Alpaca Direct Yarn Estimator
  
• knittingfool.com Yarn Yardage Estimator
  

Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements shows that a sweater for a 2 year old, 26" finished chest circumference with a gauge of 5 st/inch, would require approximately 582 yards or 532 meters.

A typical worsted weight yarn like Cascade 220 or Patons Classic Wool Merino has about 220 yds per 100 gms / 3.53 ounces. 582 yds would be about 9.4 ounces or 3 skeins of yarn.

You may need more depending on the stitch pattern, but this should give you an idea of how big the ballpark is.

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing


Scrunchable Scarf in Malabrigo

and


Zigzag Lace socks

First FO(s) of 2009

When I was at the fabric store buying the lining materials for the Sipalu bag, I made the mistake of going to the yarn section... you know, just to see if anything in their limited selection was on sale.

Sugar 'n Cream was just under $2/ball and I saw one ball in a new color series I hadn't seen before, Culinary Colors. (Huh. That's interesting. The Lily site doesn't show the Culinary Colors line. It must be really new--or really old.)

Anyway, the combination of color & price forced me (yes, forced me) to buy some kitchen cotton.

That day I cast on and finished a couple of dishcloths. I used the same st pattern as the Scrunchable Scarf.


Scrunchable for dishes
Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm & US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream Culinary Colors
How much?: 1 skein = 150.0 yards (137.2m) = 2 dishcloths
Colorway: Wooded Moss

Don't you like how the colors travel diagonally and create a plaid effect? I saw the same thing in the holiday scarfs and thought it was very cool.

It's coming together

The Sipalu bag is coming together nicely.




Sipalu Bag

I bought lining material, interfacing, and notions yesterday. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to make the lining and what I'm going to do for a handle... and then execute!

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday! What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing

Mosaic socks
Project details on Ravelry

Happy New Year!