the Dude no longer abides

Last year, you may or may not remember, I designed a Dude sweater from scratch mainly for my brother for his birthday (Sept). For a first attempt at designing a sweater, I must admit, not bad. But, truthfully, not as movie accurate as I could've hoped.

Just as luck would have it, after literally years of looking for a dude sweater to buy or for free, exactly 7 days after I posted my pattern online and for sale (& 4 days after my brother's birthday), someone had designed a much better Dude sweater, more movie accurate than mine, and in a better variety of sizes.

To be honest, I was both heartbroken and a little jealous. But truthfully, nothing more. Had I simply known to wait for 3 more months, I could've used her pattern to knit her version for my brother for xmas.

Sales for my pattern did fairly well I must admit. No complaints really, as far as I know. Although I did have ppl that needed a bit of clarification on certain parts of my design, those who admited that clarification was needed, I did my best to help, and as far as I know, those were made without a hitch.

Sadly though the two projects completed on ravelry of my design weren't pleased, and for different reasons. In part, I believe, had to do with later realizing that they could've saved the purchase price to go with the free design, which is understandable. In part for other reasons, but I'm sure that was a good one.

I do admire the quality of the free pattern though, and anyone who is willing to give a project as detailed as a lace shawl or adult sized sweater as a free pattern, in itself, is fairly awesome & generous. :) The FO's of her design all look really great, and I look forward to get a crack at it eventually, although I think I'll avoid the work of sewing on a zipper the next time and go with a button-up version instead!

handspun scarf finished

The yarn I spun a while ago is now a scarf, finally! I've been meaning to post this pic a while back, when I actually did finish it, but better late than never. I'll be adding fringe to it eventually.

a sweater makes headlines

Just follow this link to the story ... it's not a knitting thing but it's a sweater thing so it's kind of a knitting thing. :)

from handspun to scarf

A few months ago I finished spinning this ball of yarn and I finally cast on a seed stitch scarf with it.

The weather's starting to cool off, and I'm realizing I need some more wintery clothes! Not that I don't already have a zillion scarves, hats, and mittens, but one can never have too many.

This will be my very first project that I've knit with a handspun ball of yarn, and even better, a ball of yarn I've spun myself! Pictures to come soon!

bacon & chocolate... mmmmm ;)

It has truthfully never occured to me to mix bacon and chocolate together, but I happen to stumble upon a few chocolate fudge recipes that actually have bacon in them... and I went from "Ew, that's gross" to "Wait a sec, that just might work!"

I got some merkins milk chocolate wafers, mixed it with half a square of bittesweet baker's chocolate, melted it and dunked these strips of bacon (this happen to be regular, unsalted bacon) and... it tastes awesome.

I've no idea how healthy it is, probaby not very. But it's wicked. I dare you to try it, especially if you're weirded out by the idea.

knitted wrapping paper find! woot!

I love that I found this wrapping paper at Michael's the other day - I've been searching for something like this for ages. There was paper in fair isle as well, but I'm such a fan of cabled fabric that I decided to stick with these!

Now I can't wait for the holidays to come around so I can put these to good use!

mini knitting movie video

I absolutely love this video... give it a watch if you haven't seen it yet! It's an animated knitting video which has been around for a while, but it's absolutely adorable and kinda funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZjMWLqJvM

I can't seem to figure out how to upload video into blog posts... but just follow the link!

yum... hand-dyed indigo yarn

~ before ~

I've been itching to find indigo yarn for a while now, but everything that I came across seemed a bit too 'purple' to me... so I tried my hand at dying my own. All I had access to was some leftover knit picks wool of andes bulky in 'bare', and a bunch of food colouring. So, earlier this week I put it all to good use:

~ after ~



~ during ~

The actual colour of the yarn is closer to indigo than what it shows in the picture, and I love how it turned out. Now I just have to figure out a good pattern to use it all up in! I'lll probably make a cabled scarf of some kind - can't go wrong with scarves, and can't have too many of them either!

kids with unique names

I've been in the ravelry posting forums and etsy chat frequently, and I've noticed lately a lot of people venting about names being given to children; specifically complaining about 'original' and 'unique' names, and how strange they are.

Well, get over it.

I love unique names. In fact, the more unique the better. The idea that kids are going to wind up developing a complex because of their name, is rediculous. If a child is given confidence, it won't make a lick of difference what their name happens to be.

Frequently kids are taught to be unique, to be individuals, and to not fall into peer pressures and follow a crowd. Why does that not apply to their names as well? Why do they have to be one of five Brian's or Shawn's or Kelly's that's in their class?

Quite frankly, I felt bad for kids in my younger classes who had to be refered to as Beth A. and Beth B., or Adam H. and Adam K., because it was tough enough to tell them apart because they were stuck with the same name. Even when I was 17 and spent the summer working up north, there were 4 girls with the same name, who wound up having to go by different names, which was confusing at first for them. Simply because they were stuck with such common names.

Now, truthfully, there's nothing wrong with a common name either. But please, adults, whether you're parents or not, quit bitching about a kid given a name that's not the 'norm'. If that kid is going to develop a complex about their name, it's not because they brought it onto themselves, it's because of people like you weirding them out because they're a bit more unique.

Pick your battles. A kid's name is not that big of a deal. I actually applaud any parent who gives their child any sense of individuality.

loopy cables bottle cozy

Materials: worsted weight yarn, approx 25g; 4mm (US 6) dpn's - set of 5; cable needle; stitch marker

note: use a set of dpn's one size smaller than what's recommended on the label, to make a slightly tighter fabric

Tension (on label-recommended needles) : 20sts = 4"; with 1 size smaller needles needed for this pattern: 22sts = 4" in stockinette stitch

(I used Paton's Classic Wool Tweeds to make my cozy, and tension was based using this yarn)

terms used in this pattern:
k - knit
p - purl
k2tog - knit two together
k2togtbl - knit two together through back loop
dpn - double pointed needles

Cable Pattern: (worked over 8 sts)

Row 1: p2, place 2 sts on cable needle & hold back, k2, k2 from cable needle, p2

Row 2: p2, k4, p2

Row 3: p1, place 1 st on cable needle & hold back, k2, p1 from cable needle, place next 2 sts on cable needle & hold in front, p1, k2 from cable needle, p1

Row 4: p1, k2, p2, k2, p1

Row 5: place 1 st on cable needle &; hold back, k2, p1 from cable needle,p2, place next 2 sts on cable needle & hold in front, p1, k2 from cable needle

Row 6: k2, p4, k2

Row 7: k2, p4, k2

Row 8: k2, p4, k2

Row 9: place 2 sts on cable needle & hold in front, p1, k2 from cable needle, p2, place 1 st on cable needle & hold back, k2, p1 from cable needle

Row 10: p1, k2, p2, k2, p1

Row 11: p1, place 2 sts on cable needle & hold in front, p1, k2 from cable needle, place 1 st on cable needle & hold back, k2, p1 from cable needle, p1
Row 12: p2, k4, p2

On one dpn, CO 6. *M1, K1* across. (12sts)

Divide between 4 dpn's & knit in the round.

Row 1: *(K1, M1) K1* around.

Row 2: *K2, (K1, M1)* around.

Continue in this fashion, increasing by 1 stitch at the beginning or end of each dpn until you have 48 sts. This forms the bottom of the cozy.

For body of the cozy:
Row 1: *k2, p1, work row 7 of cable, p1* around
Row 2: *k2, p1, work row 8 of cable, p1* around

Continue in this fashion, working in pattern and incorprating rows 9-12 of cable pattern, then rows 1-12 twice, then rows 1-6 once more.

first decrease:

next row: *k2tog, p1, work row 7 of cable, p1* around

next row: *k1, p1, work row 8 of cable, p1* around

Continue this last row in pattern and incorporte rows 9-12 respectively.

to finish:

row 1: *k1, p1, k1, p1, place 2 sts on cable needle & hold back, k2, k2 from cable needle, p1, k1, p1* around

row 2: *k1, p1, k1, p1, k4, p1, k1, p1* around

row 3: *k1, p1, k1, place 1 st on cable needle & hold back, k2, p1 from cable needle, place next 2 sts on cable needle & hold in front, p1, k2 from cable needle, k1, p1* around

row 4: *k1, p1, k2tog, k1, p2, k1, k2togtbl, p1* around (36 sts)

rows 5 & 6: *k1, p1, k2, p2, k2, p1* around

Cast off (bind off) loosely in pattern, break yarn, tie and weave in ends.

© 2010 by Sabrina Thompson - original design and pictures. Please do not sell pattern or materials made thereof, or copy my pictures. Pattern cannot be distributed for sale, or as a 'free pattern' promotional tool for selling yarn or knitting supplies. If posting Finished Items on personal blogs, please link back to this blog and pattern, thanks. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. If you have any questions or concerns about this or any other of my patterns, please contact me by posting your questions in the comments, I'll address them a.s.a.p.!