So Many Ideas - A Royal Jacket

I live in town where there are groups of knitters who enjoy getting together to knit.   How fortunate for me cause I love to knit.  I knit a lot, probably more then I should.  I also love to design kids garments, but I haven't been designing much recently. There are many ideas running around in my head and I finally completed a swing jacket pattern last week.  At our last meeting "show and tell" I shared the swing jacket and everyone loved it, except someone wished it had been designed for a little boy.  I did not want to disappoint, so I got to work on a boy's version.  

Same lapel collar, but a few changes:  full raglan increase,  added a stitch pattern to the body. double breasted and box shaping.

What do you think?  

This is the Royal Jacket for Kids

and I think it's lovely for boys or girls  

on Ravelry 

Adventure in knitting---Learning new techniques

Went to Beverly's Fabric and Craft shop the other day, with the intention of just picking up fabric for a project I'm working on.  I did find the fabric and it was exactly what I needed, but since I had some free time I figured walking around the store would be fun.  So I found this tiny skein of yarn, so cute. Just enough to make a pair of baby socks.  Could not resist...........

I usually knit socks toe up, two at a time but since the project was so tiny thought that 4 or 5 double points would be best...and of course out of the thousands ( maybe hundreds) of needles I own, I did not have the correct size.   So I needed to order needles..I like knit picks, so knit picks it was.


After casting on and knitting the ribbed cuff, I researched heels on You Tube.  Watched the Japanese short row, German Short row and finally found this Short row method that worked beautifully for this fine yarn. Here it is from Knitting Blooms    https://youtu.be/0Os1aDRdI_w

Kitchener Stitch is a great way to finish the toe and Guess What I found a knitted Kitchener Stitch and loved the way it worked.   Much easier to me and definitely a smooth outcome for such a tiny sock.   https://youtu.be/-S9v-pEiu-M

A Little Swing Jacket

There are so many designs running around inside my head....

 and I love to knit them, but to get it written down is a chore.   I've created formulas, read about writing patterns, taken classes on the subject,  written patterns and had them tech edited before,  but it just seems that I need to be in the right frame of mind for all of it to click.    It takes time: constructing it, engineering the process, figuring out the math and then editing the work.    

I designed and knit this pattern years ago, but never finished writing it all out...

So last week I picked the draft up and started knitting and writing again.  Today the pattern is complete and was just posted on Ravelry (ElizSCKnits) and Love Knitting....

Pattern on Ravelry  Elizscknits

This is knit top down and in the round.  No seams and very little weaving in of yarn tails. 

Sleeve stitches on a stitch holder or yarn

Dividing the sections of the yoke

Knitting the body and adding the swing

 

 

 After knitting the body and seed stitch hem, it's time to knit the sleeves in the round using two circular needles.   Here I have transfered the sleeve stitches from the holder to a circular a needle and picked up three (3) stitches at the underarm.    The Sleeve will be knit in the round.

Underarm stitches

So it came apart in the wash......

I guess the gentle cycle on my washing machine is not that gentle.   This is The Purl Bee's Cap Sleeve Lattice Top from Purl Soho.     It was constructed a couple of years ago and now it's being reknit...finished the front lattice portion and now have the back to complete... stay tuned...

Color Changes in Crochet

Changing colors in Crochet  

Make sure to place your last color strand to the front of the work before taking the next stitch.

Rainbow at the end of June

I saw this and just had to have it.   

Well it was a fabric quilt, but I decided that I would rather have it as a crocheted Baby Afghan.    After much trial, error, ripping out and restitching I am finally satisfied with the result.  

Rainbow Heart Love on Ravelry

This piece is done using alternating rows of cluster stitch and half double crochet.   

A bit of texture and lots of color.   The pattern includes stitch charts and written instructions (color chart too).

My intention was to make this a corner to corner design but I found that with the number of color changes within each row, hiding floats (strands of yarn) was a challenge and I was not happy with the look on the back.  This is a reversible blanket.  

 This piece is crocheted side to side so you are only working with three colors at a time.   

You can get this patten at my  Ravelry shop   

How To: Changing colors, hiding the float and setting up for the color change in the next row.

The key to hiding floats is to set up the dropped color yarn so that it is in the correct location when you pick it up on the next row.    Notice that it is important to pick up the new color yarn on the last stitch of the first color.   

On cluster row-

1.     On the last dc of the cluster, pick up new color and pull through the last two (2) loops on hook.  

      Always bring the color yarn you are changing from (white yarn in photo) to the front of your work.   Place it on top of new color yarn strand and below the tip of your hook. 

Skip 2 stitches,  Single Crochet 

White yarn will be anchored to the front, when you make the next stitch, a single crochet. 

 This yarn will be properly placed for pick up on the return row. 

Notice the white yarn is hanging in the front.

Yarn over, pull through, yarn over and pull through 2 loops. The White yarn is anchored to the front.  

Changing Colors on a Half Double Crochet Stitch

hdc- yo, insert hook, yo draw up st,  3 loops on hook.  Pick up new color, yo and draw through 3 loops 

Ravelry shop