toppers or top down

Hats.

Yes this is all about hats. I knit a lot of hats, a great way to use up scraps and they are quick, particularly the newborn sizes.

I've been asked to share the patterns and so I shall. Already the Umbilical Cord hat pattern is up, and the Snail beanie has a rough pattern guide for you as some people couldn't wait. Full patterns featuring different weights and sizes will be up soon. There will also be brimmed sun hats and a Mr Squiggle Hat.
The snail hats are based on hats my grandmother did. If you are familiar with the pin-wheel patterns floating around, well all it is is this pattern turned into a beanie or sun hat.

And yes, knit these, sell these, knit them for charity.

The Snail Beanie hat pattern also features photos on how to do a looped cast on for beginning with a circle and not getting those HUGE holes.

chasing tails

That's what it seems i've been doing for the past few months.
The lead-up to crimbo is always mad in this house. There are birthdays as well, deadline sewing and knitting and getting stuff done in advance for the paid job.

So a quick look see at one of the latest projects and I'll be back soon with lots of goodies, from things that have been found in the PO Box to goodies scattered around the web.


This is the Fish Hat (dead or alive) from knitty. It is chasing and trying to eat a newborn sized hat. I've sat down with a calculator and worked out the maths for a newborn, 6mto 12m and a toddler size as well.
Here is the pattern for the newborn one. enjoy.

secret knitting

At the moment I'm doing some secret knitting.
The secret is all to do with the Got You Covered swap over on Ravelry where each swap participant offers up two wishes: Something to cover the body, something to cover an object.
Most offered up the need for scarves or cuffs, a hat or three and arm-wrist warmers, while the objects range from hot water bottles to mp3 player covers, coffee and mug warmers and the like. It was supposed to be a smallish knit and a few goodies, to a maximum of around $30 plus postage.
A few scallywags have listed the desire for socks (!!!!) but fortunately my assigned swap parter was playing within the rules and asked for a _____. So I'm knitting away, trying to get it done by the weekend so I can get back to my Lady February Sweater which was stalled by the need to whip up a jumper for the snow.

So instead of a pic of knitting today I give you . . .



A strand of ivy. This was knitted from a jumper I recycled. It was handwash wool which was first knitted up, dyed with food colouring and then felted down.
The main part of the vine was knitted double with, from memory, eight stitches for the I-cord. The secondary tendrils were picked up from the main vine and knitted with a single yarn into a four stitch I-cord. The leaves were then knitted from the main strand.
Then I dyed it up using food colouring, using the tutorial I wrote for Yarn magazine so many years ago. What I'm going to do with I have no idea. It just hangs from the top of a book shelf.

buttons and more buttons

I am a horder, I am the granddaughter of a horder.
I've posted glimpses of her chenille, but my Nanna also had buttons, lots of buttons and I have some of them. I also have some of mine, which means a healthy load of buttons.

But the other day after playing with them I headed off to do a google to see what I could do with them.

There were lots of necklaces but nothing exactly like I wanted, so I've mixed up those tutorials to get what I wanted. Try it, it is easy.

You need:
Buttons - vintage, those with holes and those that are shanked.
24 gauge jewelry wire
Clasps and those squishy jewelry making thingos.
Pliers and wire cutters

Cut about 60cm of wire.

Arrange a row of buttons on the table in front of you, starting with the middle button and working one each side outwards.
You can pick a huge button for this middle button (the pale blue button with the red and yellow little buttons on top in the photo above) or do a beautiful layer, with smaller buttons on top of larger ones. Build out the necklace in front of you, playing with sizes and colours. It works well to make the end buttons, those that will be around the back of your neck smaller than those at the front which are placed in the middle of your design.

Take the wire and thread through the middle button from the back to the front, pulling the button down to the middle of the wire. Holding the wire tight against the back of the button, grab the threaded wire and bend it so that it is at a 90 degree angle to the wire. If you are going to have a layered button, slip on the other buttons.

Then take the wire back into the button, threading it through the other hole to the back of the button. Using pliers, pull the wire as tightly as possible so that the wire sits flush on the front of the button. (see the botton photograph to see what it should look like at the back of the button)

Now repeat this until all the buttons are placed. I usually do one from one side of the middle button, then do the button for the other side, working back and forth until all are strung.

You don't have to have buttons all the way around, you can stop when you like.

Finish off with a loop and clasp at the back.

If you are using shanked buttons thread the wire through, then bend back and go through again, pulling the wire tight. Then bend back again, pulling the wire tight but made sure it lays on the other side of the shank. It's like a wire figure of eight and it holds the button firmly in place, it won't swing around on the wire and will also sit properly on the necklace.

Bracelets are the same, but I don't bother with working from the middle, I just pop the first button on, leaving a 5cm tail for the clasp.

You will always want to add quite a few extra centimetres to the wire compared to the finished necklace or bracelet length as all that going up through buttons and around and around shanks uses up wire.

Now enjoy. If you click here you will find another Nanna inspired tutorial.



AND OPPS: As we lost internets for a while here at home, Zgal has decided to stretch out the bangle competition (work out a great selling name for her knitting needle bangles and you could win one of three bangles, posted anywhere). So leave a comment or send me an email with some funky names for the bangles. So far there have been some rippers but it is my duty as a mother to present her with an eye popping list that will keep her quiet for a few hours while she works through it.