Calorimetry

My friend Dorothy knit this pattern called Calorimetry from the Knitty website and I loved it so I thought I'd try it. There has been a lot of blogging about this pattern. It's definitely not sized right as it calls for casting on 120 stitches with a gauge of 5 stitches per inch. That would measure 24 inches! Upon reading the various blog postings about this project, I decided to swatch the yarn to check the gauge. The gauge on the pattern indicates 5 stitches per inch in 2 x 2 rib slightly stretched. I used Noro Kureyon and size 7 needles which gauged to 4.5 stitches per inch. I only knit 20 stitches in 2 x 2 rib for about 5 rows to get the gauge. I've found a great new gadget which measures gauge.
You place the gauge on the knitting and use the slider to measure off 10 stitches. The slider points to a number indicating the number of stitches per inch.

I decided to cast on 88 stitches for my calorimetry which I figured would measure 19 - 20 inches when finished. I followed the rest of the instructions on the pattern, knitting the number of rows indicated and it turned out perfectly!


I purchased a skein of Taos yarn to knit another one. This is an earth toned wool with twists of other colors which should be a different effect than the self striping colors of the Noro.

This project would be a great gift! It knits quickly and everyone seems to love it!

Old Projects

It seems that my projects fall into 2 categories: those that I haven't finished knitting and those in which the knitting is completed but must be blocked or stitched together. I finially finished one of those this week. I knit this shrug from the Interweave Knits website collection of staff shrugs in the summer of 2005. For whatever reason I just never got around to stitching the 2 arm seams. This one is called the Minimalist Ribbon Shrug and it is knit on Size 10.5 and 11 needles in Colinette Giotto. I believe the colourway is called Windfall.

I love Giotto. It just has a lovely sheen and gorgeous texture.

There are a couple more shrugs in that collection on my to do list!

Scarf Frenzy

Before the hat craze, I went through a scarf frenzy. I did a nice ribbed scarf for the red scarf project in Patons Shetland Chunky using the free pattern from Classic Elite yarns called the Sinful Ribbed Scarf.

I also made a red scarf for myself using Ironstone's Showstopper yarn. This yarn is a triple stranded yarn which is actually comprised of 3 different yarns: a mohair, an eyelash and a metallic. I had made Ems a pink one using garter stitch--8 stitches wide on size 15 needles. Hers was a pink one with irridescent strands in it. One skein of that yarn is huge and the scarf, which was quite long, only used a half of a skein. I ended up combining the remaining yarn with a plain merino in muted pink to make her a roll brim hat. Here is a photo of my scarf with was also knit on size 15 needles using seed stitch.

My all time favorite scarf pattern is Jen's Sensational Scarf which was a free pattern that I picked up at Woolrich and Co. , a fabulous little yarn shop in Cambridge MA. The pattern called for 2 skeins of Trendsetter Dune yarn which I happened to have on hand. I used 3 skeins for the earthtone scarf because I wanted a really long one! The ivory scarf used exactly 2 skeins.

The pattern for this scarf is as follows:

Jen's Sensational Scarf

Yarn: Trendsetter Dune yarn, 2 skeins or some other multistrand mohair type of yarn
Needles: Size 15

Pattern is over 3 stitches.

Cast on 23 stitches.

Row 1: K1, *K1, YO, K2tog, Repeat from * ending with K1

Repeat this row to desired length.

For the flounce on the white scarf:

At end of scarf, Knit 2 rows.
Next row: Knit in front and back of every stitch.
Next row: Knit. Next row: Knit in front and back of every stitch.
Next row: Bind off.
For the other end of the scarf: Pick up 23 stitches and follow the above instructions.


The next scarf I tackle will by Lucy Neatby's Sea Lettuce Scarf. Right now I need to do some birthday gifts and finish a sweater!

Mokey Update

Ems came by today and showed me more photos of Mokey, AKA Cosmo, Mocha. She insists that he loves his hoodie and that he keeps it on! Apparently he knows how to take it off and only does so when he wants to bathe!

My Favorite!

The strawberry hat is my favorite! It is sized for 6 months so I reduced the number of stitches by 8, used dk weight yarn instead of worsted and size 6 needles. I wanted Greggie to model it, but cats aren't known for being fond of hats so I had to use Tiny Tears once again!

Novelty Baby Hats

I love Ann Norling patterns! The Elf hat and Acorn hat are sized for newborns so I reduced the number of stitches by 8 (which is the pattern repeat) and used smaller needles. The jury's still out on the acorn. It's okay, but I don't love it!

Baby Hats!

In an effort to do some charity work, I decided to make some preemie hats. The first one is from the Hip Knit Hats book I mentioned in the last post. The pattern is for an adult size hat which is knit in bulky yarn on size 10.5 or 11 needles. I used aran weight Cashmerino by Debbie Bliss and size 7 needles which reduced the hat to the perfect size! I inadvertently forgot the ridges of garter stitch which were supposed to be at the brim, so I just folded the brim up. I love the top knot. My preemie hats are modelled by none other than Tiny Tears since I don't have a preemie lying around the house!

More Hats!

More about hats! I bought a fabulous book called Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Caron. The book has a lot of info about felting hats and adding embellishments. If you decide to purchase this book, be sure to look up the author's website which is listed in the book as there are a lot of errors. You will find a page of "errata" on the website. It ended up as 3 printed pages! I wrote the corrections in my book so that I don't have to worry about pulling out a separate piece of paper.
One thing that I like is that the hats in this book are knit from the top down. It took me a while to figure out the cast on directions--you cast on 6 stitches and make increases--but I like the way it works. If you tend to bind off tightly, you may want to use a size larger needle to bind off with so that the hat has enough stretch.
I've made 3 hats from this book so far. One is just a bulky knit beanie. I used a thick thin bulky yarn which was similar to Colinette's Point 5 and I added more rows of ribbing. I can't remember off hand what the had was called but it was a pretty basic design. My favorite hat is the Bobble hat which was knit with Manos A Uraguay yarn. This was one of the patterns with the errors so I'm glad that I corrected those before starting!

I'm drowning in hats!

I thought I would start out with all my Christmas projects. Hats were a big item on my knitting agenda this season. Unfortunately I didn't photograph some of them! I made two London Beanies using the free pattern I found online. I really like this pattern for its versatility. I made a plain one without stripes for my husband using Patons Merino in the denim blue twist. I got more creative with my son's hat. I knit the hat in black Paton's Merino then duplicate stitched his fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega) letters in white on the front of the hat. There's a neat site with knitting graph paper that you create according to the gauge you are knitting. It makes planning intarsia designs so much simpler. I'm going to do another fraternity hat in royal blue with gold letters but I will knit the letters into the hat this time!

Welcome to my blog!

I just set this blog up tonight. I have been knitting like a fiend since before Christmas. I'll post some photos this weekend when I get the chance! In the meantime, enjoy the photo of Cosmo wearing his new hoodie. My daughter made it for him this week!