Lee Does Stuff

My Knittn’ Kitten Project! Plus a couple of other things…

It’s time for my Kitten project! Lined Zippered Knit Coin Pouches! Closed:

And opened:

They use a variety of different crafty materials and tools, all available at Knittn’ Kitten!

The specific materials I used for each of my 2 examples (not showing: zippers, sewing+knitting needles):

I had fun combining knitting and hand sewing together in this project, and seeing the different pouch types you can get from different gauges.

I played around with some freeform wool embroidery on my first pouch, and tried out a small version of Diane’s woven appliqué idea! So fun!!

This isn’t exactly a quick project, with all the hand sewing (at least not for me!) but it’s so satisfying when it’s finished and looks all neat, with the bias tape and lining. Use them for coins, crafty bits, or whatever else you can stick in there…

So locals, head over to the Kitten this week for the free project sheet! Yay!

In other local Portland news, there’s a rad event happening on Friday at The Woods – An Evening of DIY, with Julie Sabatier, of the awesome Destination DIY! The event will include (copied from the Woods’ site)

live demonstrations and interviews about how to make radio, how to make a terrarium and how to make bacon. Delicious sweet and savory treats will be served. A silent auction will include many fine items to enhance your DIY projects or spark a new one. The show will be book-ended by performances from musician Leviethan and musicians/visual artists Billygoat, who will show off their gorgeous stop-motion animation and give us a window into how they do what they do themselves.

Sounds fun!!

And one other thing worth checking out – this one’s for everybody – 6 of my favorite craft designers just released a collaborative ebook! Crafty Tree Trimmings features projects by Diane Gilleland, Susan Beal, Linda Permann, Kayte Terry, Betz White, and Patricia Zapata, each with their own personal crafting style! I love the idea of a collaborative self-publishing project! From Diane’s blog post:

We also wanted to create a truly indie publishing effort – one that would delight crafters, do some good in our community, and compensate each contributor for her work. It might seem odd, saying that one of our goals was to get paid. But it’s a fact: a whole lot of traditional print publishing these days is based on people contributing projects for free. I’m really proud to show that it can be done differently.

Heck yeah!! I think fair compensation is a major issue in our field – in knit/crochet designing, tutorial writing, selling things we make, etc – and finding new, independent ways of making a living doing these things, without having to sign unfair contracts or do hours of work for nothing, is freaking fantastic! And, on top of all the awesomeness of the book, they are donating a percentage of each sale to Project Linus, which “collects handmade blankets for children who are suffering from illness or trauma, or otherwise in need.” Don’t these crafters rock so hard? Yes. This ebook is totally inspiring me to try some kind of group self-publishing… maybe in 2010.

Halloween ’09!

Find me?!

How about there? Here’s a harder one…

What a fun costume!! The only problem with it was that I felt bad for the other members of my group, since I got all the silly comments and stuff! Such as “I found you!” and the more clever “Hey I’ve been looking for you all night!” and the weird “Waldo” said kind of like an insult while walking by. It was great when our friends Kate and Kit were meeting us at Beulahland and they had to search through the crowd to find Waldo!

I did put a few hours of valuable knitting time into making the hat, and Pete and I spent a huge chunk of our day off at the freakin’ mall trying to find a red+white striped shirt, which was totally worth it to be Waldo, but it would have been a boring costume without my buddies as the Waldo world townspeople!

Pete found a grey+black striped sweater and wore my Mary Tyler Moore striped+pompommed hat and his piano scarf to be a stripey Waldo nemesis type guy; Star wore red+white striped socks and gloves, a red+white polka dotted shirt, and a white hat to throw off the viewer; and Caitlin+Patrick provided more hats and stripes in the scene.

And then Kit joined in as Woody the cowboy to add to the picture! And awesome Kate (who was Amelia Earhart) took the photos!! Yay, thanks Kate!

So there’s me as Waldo – simple costume, but not easy to find a shirt like that!! Ended up with a hoodie (folded the hood under) from this weird store called GenX on 82nd. Knit the hat from recycled cotton (improvised design – 2×2 ribbed brim, then stockinette, works well as a slouchy hat with brim unfolded), and the glasses are “nerd glasses” from the Halloween section at Value Village, with the lenses popped out. (Downside of the costume – couldn’t see too well all night without my real glasses!) Plus Pete’s cane from when he hurt his knee, a backpack to complete the look, and I tried to keep my bangs swished to the side all night to look like his!

Our night might have been a little silly (our Halloweens usually end up that way) but I’d say the group costume was a total success! Yay!

Oh hey, did you know that Waldo is a spinner?!

So that was our Halloween group night, but now I need to move backwards to Halloween afternoon at Twisted! Fun times!

I came to the event just as they were finishing the web, sadly, armed with my unneeded wheel and alpaca. The web was rad though!

And I got to help hang it up in the corner, so at least I was able to contribute something to the project! Then I spun a bunch of dirty alpaca, straight from the fleece, just for fun!

I got to meet Jimbo and Inga and Jimbo’s giant crochet hook! Carved from a solid log of wood, it’s heavy and smooth and rad!!

And then, for some crazy but awesome reason, Jimbo decided to give me one of his hand carved nostepinnes that he’d brought for prizes! So beautiful!! (More photos in my flickr – it’s so photogenic!!)

When I got home, I wanted to try it out right away, of course! So I found a nostepinne how-to on a blog (Fiber Fool), which I glanced over quickly then proceeded to not really follow the steps when I stepped away from the computer to try it out. It was fun, but a bit of advice: when trying a new fiber winding technique for the first time, don’t use a freshly spun fuzzy alpaca single!

I stopped at this point and wound it into a hank, with much tangling, but no breaking! Anyway, here’s my alpaca skein (174 yards) before washing – it’s pretty much bright white fiber, with the off-whiteness being the dust. Spinning straight from the dirty fleece is fun!! (With alpaca, not wool, because alpaca doesn’t have the greasy/waxy lanolin that wool has.) It’s soaking in its 3rd soapy water bowl now, with lots of rinsing between soaks, so it’ll be nice and clean by the time I’m done, don’t worry!

So yeah, fun Halloween!! Thanks Twisted for your awesomeness!!

Pincushions, cheap+easy scarflet, and Halloween fun!

Thing #1: It’s Susan Beal’s week for a Knittn’ Kitten project!

From Susan’s blog post:

This is an ultra-simple, very customizable little pincushion project — very easy and quick to make. If you buy a half-yard of a cotton print and a half-yard of corduroy at the Kitten you can make 44 of them, believe it or not!

So Portlanders, stop by the Kitten for the project sheet, vintage fabric, and some buttons, yay!

Thing #2: I contributed an old tutorial I did (originally in CraftStylish) to Dollar Store Crafts – this scarflet uses just a $1 scarf with fringe (from Dollar Tree), some buttons (which you probably have on hand), and no sewing (except sewing on the buttons). Easy, cheap, and full of creative possibility!

And lastly, Portlanders, this crazy event is happening at Twisted this weekend! I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work, but I do know I’m going to be there!! With my wheel and a bunch of alpaca for spinning, yeah! I’m planning on spending Saturday there, probably in costume, hope to see you there!

And speaking of Halloween… anyone excited about their costumes? I am! I’ll keep it a surprise for now, till we have good photos to show, but I’ll give you a hint – the idea came from my Threadbanger costumes roundup, and also, it’s a group costume! I sure do love Halloween for all of its craftyness!

Fingerless Mitts part 3: Knit Gradient Mitts!

Now for part 3 of my Fingerless Mitts Times 3 tutorials from Craft: 10! Knit Gradient Mitts! It’s written as more of a how-to than a normal knitting pattern, with step-by-step instructions and photos to go with them! I made it into a free PDF – download it directly here or head over to ravelry to add it to your library – and I’m pasting it all right here as well…. enjoy!

This is a fantastic project for beginner knitters bored with scarves – just don’t be scared off by the double pointed needles, which are very easy to use once you get the hang of them. By knitting in the round with DPNs, you only need to know the knit stitch (no purling) and there will be no seams to sew.

Pattern is for sizes Small[Medium, Large]. Pictured are small and large.
(Small will fit kids or women with smallish hands, medium is for most women, and large is for most men.)

Materials:

Set of size US 11 double pointed needles
30[35, 40] yards each of two colors of bulky yarn, or multiple strands of finer yarn held together (2 strands chunky, 3 strands worsted, 4 strands DK/sport weight)
Tapestry/yarn needle

Gauge is about 3 stitches per inch (un-stretched).

Step 1: Cast-On.
Cast-On 18[21, 24] stitches around 3 double pointed needles with Color 1 (C1), so there will be 6[7, 8] stitches on each needle (pictured below, left – with multiple strands of yarn held together to equal a bulky yarn weight).

Step 2: Knit up to the thumbhole.
2a. Join in a circle and knit 5 rows in the round with C1, then knit one row with the second yarn color (C2). Switch back to C1, with the tail end of C2 over C1 working yarn from left to right, and the working end of C2 over C1 from right to left (pictured below, right). Bringing the new yarn underneath and over the old when changing colors prevents holes at the seam.

2b. Following the chart below for color changes, knit up to the C2 stripe that includes the thumbhole. Carry the yarn up across the stripes without tension, and bring the new yarn over the old with each change. Knit the first stitch of each new stripe a bit more loosely than the rest to allow for stretch at the seam. (pictured below – how the color change seam should look when turned inside out.)

Step 3: Make the thumbhole.
3a. Knit the first 2 rows of the 5 row C2 stripe normally. On the third row, bind off 4[5, 6] stitches in the center of the first needle for the left-hand mitt, the third needle for the right-hand mitt (pictured below, left).

3b. Knit around to the hole, then cast back on those 4[5, 6] stitches using a single cast-on (also called wrap cast-on or loop cast-on) (pictured below, right). Cast on the thumbhole stitches tightly, since they will become looser when you knit into them. Finish knitting that row, and knit the last row of the C2 stripe normally.

Step 4: Finish and repeat.
4a. Finish knitting the mitt in color pattern up to the top, then bind off (pictured below, left). Bind off not too tightly, but also not too loosely to prevent curling.

4b. Tie off and weave in the ends. (pictured below, right)

4c. Repeat all steps for the second mitt.

Tutorial and photos by Lee Meredith, 2009.
For personal use only.
Originally published in Craft: magazine issue 10.

October leethal quick knits club

It’s been over a week since I mailed out the October leethal quick knits club packages, so it’s time to show them off! I was so excited about putting this one together, with its costumes theme!

So that’s an example of a whole package above, and I’ll start with the patterns, since those are the most fun part! The 15 yard pattern – Old Timey Moustache (with sideburns)!

From the note to members: I went there, I totally caved into the moustache trend, I know. I had to though, knowing a knit moustache would be such a perfect 10-15 yard project, and wanting a costume-themed October club, I just couldn’t resist!

I designed it so it can be worn with or without glasses to help hold it on, as you can see below:

And pattern #2 – Superhero (or Supervillain) Mask!

It’s garter stitch, asymmetrical, and uses a weird short rows method that I made up (I’m sure it’s been used by others, but I’ve never seen it) for the eyeholes.

Also designed to wear alone or over glasses:

The dyed yarn started as solid grey unraveled sweater, which was overdyed with shades of orange, making a variegated grey to reddish brown. The special thing about this yarn is its fabulously soft fiber content – 40% wool, 30% rayon, 20% angora, 10% cashmere (recycled from an Abercrombie and Fitch sweater). A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall:

The bulky weight spun yarn is a blend of 6 different fall-y colors – a yellow wool (recycled from a DKNY 100% wool sweater), 2 different 100% cotton sweater yarns (orange and green), a mystery lace weight orange yarn (maybe wool), and 2 threads (green and light orange); all spun together with tension switching between the different yarns, for a fun, uneven look. Seeds May Fall:

The fun extra was a pair of recycled socks cuffs, or wristwarmers, or fingerless ninja mitts by snipping little holes in the tops for thumbs. They’ll go great with any superhero costume!! I thought about making them into ninja mitts myself, but I wanted members to decide if they want them to just be cuffs, or if they want to cut up some other old socks and make multi-sock mitts, or do any other fun embellishments!

Since both costumes can be worn with glasses to hold them on, I included an awesome pair of costume glasses. Plus a little monster puppet as a bonus Halloween gift! Lastly, each member got 3 pieces of 2-sided tape to help secure the sideburns and ‘stache in place.

Ok, that was October! I’m starting work on November now, which will be a little extra special since there’s no December club – you have till Nov 1st to sign up!

Fingerless Mitts parts 1+2: Recycled Sock Mitts!

Remember the Fingerless Mitts Times 3 project I had in Craft: 10 back in February? Well, now that it’s getting colder, I want to share the tutorials with all of you do stuff! readers! I’m dividing the 3 mitt types into 2 parts, because the first 2 go together – the 2 different recycled sock mitts, shown together below. So I’m just going to cut and paste my original article/tutorial, which was edited and cut down a bit to fit in the magazine… here we go!

I always have cold hands, but being a crafter, photographer, all-around doer of stuff, I feel trapped when my fingers are covered, so fingerless mitts are the perfect solution! Way back in my early knitting years, when I feared patterns and loved fat yarn and quick knits, I developed my super easy, fingerless, shapeless, fat and squishy “ninja mitts,” as I’ve always called them. Then when I dove into recycled crafting I cut up some old socks and came up with a couple versions of sock mitts – which are warmer than you’d think, and super comfortable! All the mitt designs are great for finger mobility, can be pulled up over balled fists for extra warmth, or can be taken off the thumb and pushed back onto wrists for eating or added dexterity. Once you make yourself a pair or three, with all that mitt agility, you will indeed feel like a ninja!

Version 1: No-Sew Sock Mitts

Materials

1 Pair of socks that won’t unravel easily
Scissors
Optional sewing machine or embellishing materials

Step 1: First Cut.
Cut the first sock straight across the ankle, just above the heel (above, left).

Step 2: Cut the Thumbhole.
Try on the footless sock with the end that was the top at your thumb and check where you want the thumbhole to be. For mitts that will keep your hands warmer, put the thumbhole down further from the top; for mitts just meant for wrist-warming, the hole can be closer to the top. Make a small cut – smaller than you think it should be – then try on the mitt to see if you need to make it bigger (below). Make small snips until it fits comfortably.

Step 3: Repeat for second mitt.
Hold the first mitt up to the second sock and repeat the two cuts to match (above, right). If the socks have noticeable seams, keep them on opposite sides of the thumbholes on the two mitts.

Step 4: Optional sewing or embellishment.
4a. This is the “no-sew” version, so this step is completely optional, but if you want to use a pair of socks that will unravel, you can sew a zig zag stitch around the bottoms and thumbholes of each mitt to prevent that from happening (below). If you decide to sew around the mitts to prevent unraveling, it’ll create a cute ruffled edge.

4b. If you want to dress up your mitts, you can add some decorative buttons, stitching, or other embellishments – be creative! (below)

Version 2: Multi-Sock Mitts

Materials

2 or more pairs of socks with similar thickness and stretchiness
Scissors
Sewing machine with zig zag stitch

I’m showing you how to make a basic 2-sock pair of mitts, but you can use the same concepts to take pieces from several socks and make a crazier set. You can even use the leftover feet from version 1 and incorporate them into some multi-sock mitts!

Step 1: Cut up socks.
Cut each of the socks into 2 or 3 loops, cutting straight across the ankle just above the heel, somewhere in the middle of the ankle, and if the foot is not too worn, cut just below the heel and above the toe. The loops do not need to be the same width, but each sock should be cut symmetrically to its mate. (below) The heels and toes can be tossed in your scrap fabric stash, or the trash. (side note: I made that “diagram” in like 3 seconds because I was under the impression that Craft’s illustrator would re-do it, but they printed mine! I was a little bit horrified when I saw it printed, but now I laugh about it…)

Step 2: Design your mitts.
Put the loops in order, switching between the two different patterns. Your mitts will look best if you use the tops of one pair for the tops of the mitts, and the tops of the other pair for the bottoms. (below, left) If one pair of socks is a bit bigger or stretchier than the other, use that one for the bottoms of the mitts.

Step 3: Sew them up.
3a. Turn the loop second from the bottom inside out and put it over the bottom loop, with the top edges aligned (below, right).

3b. Use a zig zag stitch to sew the loops together around the edge (below, left). The stitching will make a ruffled edge, especially on thinner, stretchier types of socks.
3c. Repeat sewing each loop until the top one (below, right). The fabric will stretch a bit when sewing, but try not to stretch it too much.

Step 4: Create the thumbhole.
Sew the last loop on the same as the others, but leave a hole about 1-1.5 inches wide for the thumbhole. Be sure to lock the ends of this stitch well by sewing back and forth several times since there will be tension on this stitch at the thumb (below, right). If you want to make your mitts extra neat, sew a zig zag stitch around the thumbhole edges.

There you go! I wear these multi-sock mitts all the time! They are warmer than you might think, perfect for autumn days or cool evenings – and easy to take off the thumbs and pull down around wrists as wristwarmers when you don’t want your hands covered. Love them! Coming later this week, part 3: Knit Gradient Mitts!

This week at the Kitten

Just want to let locals know about this week’s Knittn’ Kitten project – by Christine Blystone, of Flapper Girl Creations – super cute cupcake patches! Christine says:

This tutorial features easy-to-follow instructions and full scale pattern (no resizing is necessary!) to make your own iron-on cupcake patches from felt! The finished patch measures 3.5″ high from the top of the cherry to the bottom of the cup, and 3″ across at the widest point. The tutorial also includes instructions on how to attach the patch to your garment.

So head in to the Kitten to get your free project sheet and all the crafty goodies you need to make some cupcakes!

[I have a tutorial blog post coming very soon, just so you know!]

Book Review: Reversible Knitting

I was super lucky to get my hands on a review copy of Lynne Barr’s new book – Reversible Knitting – so my kind of knitting book! I loveloveLOVE it!! The first half is “50 Brand-New, Groundbreaking Stitch Patterns” which are all reversible in some way, either identical on both sides, or different but attractive on both sides. As you can see, the swatches are beautifully photographed to show side A and B:

The pattern types are divided into: faux crochet, rows within rows, openwork, divide & combine, picked up, and double knit.

Now I do not normally enjoy swatching (or even do it unless I really have to) but this book makes me want to swatch, swatch, swatch, just to try out all the crazy cool looking patterns!

There are clear charts as needed…

…and photo how-tos for hard to understand techniques (as well as a whole section on special techniques at the end).

Then the second half is (amazing!) reversible designs, which are by Lynne Barr and 12 other designers, including Cat Bordhi, Teva Durham, Wenlan Chia, Norah Gaughan, Véronik Avery….

One of my favorites is this sweater by Wenlan Chia – Winding Path – which can be worn right-side up, upside down, right-side out, or inside out! Rad!

And this hat (Incognita) by Bonnie Desroches is so me! Love it!

The other hat, Flip Your Lid by Eric Robinson, can be worn 4 different ways!

I really love both of the dresses – Geometric Dress by Teva Durham and Folded Mini Dress by Lynne Barr – but I think they’d only look good on super skinny model-body type women, sigh… Fun to drool over the knit design though!

I also really love both sock/slipper designs which you can see pictured on the back cover image and on the designs page above. There are a bunch more sweaters too, and some scarves, and more – 20 designs total, all super cool! This book rocks, seriously!

Slowly getting back on track…

Well hello there! This week has been totally nuts, getting the club packages made up and sent out this afternoon, with 2 other deadlines the same day, and Pete’s parents in town all week… So, I was able to get one of the projects done last weekend, then I worked on the club late into the nights while squeezing in trips to OMSI and the Museum of Contemporary Craft, seeing Sarah Vowell at Powell’s, trivia at Zach’s, and oh-so-much delicious Portland food!! Oh and I helped out with Twisted inventory for 7 hours on Monday (which was, um, kind of a surprisingly fun break for my brain, really)! It was a fun kind of busy, for sure, but I’m happy to have a bit of time now to catch up on blogging, knitting, and working on getting my studio in order (finally)!

A few exciting things have been happening with Game Knitting – some rad blog mentions/reviews (and, and) and a super awesome podcast mention (more than just a mention actually) on Hoxton Handmade’s Electric Sheep podcast! It’s a great podcast, which I’m so happy to have now discovered, so I’m superduper honored to have been talked about! And thank you so much everyone for all the comments!

There are a couple of active Game Knitting threads going on in the leethal ravelry group – there’s the general Game Knitting topic, and there’s a Game Lists topic in which knitters are sharing their lists for the tv shows they are playing to! Fun!! Guttersnipe thought of a brilliant idea of working 2 different game patterns in the same piece, using one list or type of occurrence for one game pattern, and a different list/type for the other – in her case, playing to a hockey game and when something happens with team A, make the switch with one game pattern, and team B for the other pattern. Genius!

In local news – if you are a newish knitters, scared to attempt my Skoodlet pattern because of the provisional cast-on, short rows, seaming, buttonholes, math, you may be interested in my Skoodlet class happening at Twisted on Oct 25th and Nov 1st.

And other Twisted news – if you like my Ocean Breezes hat and are sad you can’t get the pattern for a year, you can sign up now for 2010’s Single Skein Club! This is not just for locals – they’ll ship anywhere in the US (possibly further, you can call and ask). Twisted is a fabulous shop, and the club is super fun, with patterns by local designers and a different skein of yarn to match every other month, all year long!

Lastly, the new Knittn’ Kitten project for this week is by Joey Groendes, of Addie Pearl. Joey says:

This project is one of the very first things I ever made using felt. I realized that I could make my own templates and ANYTHING could be sewn together! I chose this project because it is very simple and anyone can make their own purse/bag. Knitt’n Kitten is packed with items that can be utilized to make a Halloween cat/devil bag. I believe I whipped out a quick single crochet chain for the strap, but you could use cord or rick rack or add beads to the crochet chain to make it fancy.

Head over to the Kitten for the free project sheet!

Ok that’s it for tonight. I’ve been finishing this post while watching 30 Rock, which is such a good show that it’s taken me 2 episodes to plug in the pictures! One of my many favorite quotes: “Why are you wearing a tux?” “It’s after 6. What am I, a farmer?”

New hat pattern! Plus new project!

Don’t get too excited, this one is just for Twisted Single Skein Club members for now, but I’m excited to finally get to show you anyway! I designed this hat – Ocean Breezes (rav link) – for Twisted many months ago and it’s been so hard to keep it so secret! It will be for sale to all through Twisted in 2010, then I’ll be able to start selling it in a year, so I’ll let you know when it’s available!

I designed it as a big, slouchy beret-style, then the test knitter knit it up in a tighter gauge, resulting in a smaller, cloche-style, which turned out super cute! (Modeled by Twisted co-owner Emily!) And either size hat is adjustable to any size with button placement – speaking of buttons, do you love those fish buttons as much as I do? They totally inspired the hat design… the yarn in that colorway, plus the discovery of those buttons, and tah-dah! Ocean hat! I knit up my first prototype (which is much bigger and a little different) in some hand-dyed green yarn, and I made another one in the same yarn but a different color (dark reddish brown) – haven’t taken photos of those yet, but I love them both!

And, if you’re here in PDX, be sure to make it over to Knittn’ Kitten this week, for the new free project by Sister Diane! Diane says:

I wanted to do a little project that makes a simple, useful gift you can make for pretty much anyone on your list. The patchwork process is very easy – even if you’ve never done any patchwork, you can do this. Then, all you need are some inexpensive cotton dishtowels from your variety or dollar store.

I got to see the samples in person when I was in on Saturday (to gather supplies for my upcoming project!) – so cute!

Something excited for the rest of you… it’s been revealed that we are going to be compiling all of these Kitten projects into an ebook for everyone in November! So that’ll be rad!

Ok that’s it for today! Back to spinning recycled yarn with me!