basket weave scarf

Basket Weave Scarf

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basket weave scarf

So remember way back in November when I started to knit a basket weave scarf for my husband? Well I FINALLY finished it! Just in time for this 90 degree and humid weather we’re having. So my husband will have to wait a few months to wear it but I’m very happy to have finally finished it.

Here’s what happened. I don’t enjoy long projects so I started knitting it in November worked on it for maybe two weeks and put it away. Then a few weeks ago I was sorting my yarn when I found this unfinished project sitting at the bottom of basket. I decided it was time I got back at it. I’m very happy with the results. The pattern is just nice enough to give it some visual interest without being overbearing. I love it. Now I need to tackle some other unfinished projects.

It ended up being  about 5½ inches wide x 6 feet long.

basket weave scarf

basket weave scarf


knitted belt

Knit Belt, How to Slip Stitch

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knit belt

I decided to make the Artisan Belt in the Chick with Sticks knitting book. I’ve never had a knit belt before. It was my first time slipping stitches. I was a little nervous about it because although there was a picture of it I wasn’t sure how it would work. But it gave it a nice almost braided looking border, using Crystal Palace Yarn. I used attach 1” D rings as my belt closure.

– To slip stitch all you do it put the needle through the loop, in either knit or purl stitch fashion whatever the directions say, without wrapping yarn around the needle first. So you’re literally slipping the stitch onto the needle.

knit belt

Start by pulling the thread to the front of the project

knit belt

Then take the needle through the front of the stitch like you’re going to do a purl stitch.

knit belt

Push stitch on to needle WITHOUT actually doing the purl stitch

– To attach the D rings, simply fold fabric over the straight part of the D ring and stitch closed. The package the rings come in should also have instructions on it.

knitted beltOverall I’m really happy with my knit belt. It’s really just an accessory, not for actually holding up pants. But that is just fine with me. I think it’s a nice addition to my wardrobe and it was a fun, easy and quick project to complete.

 


cross stitch heart

Cross Stitch Heart Pattern

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Cross Stitch Heart

I was thinking about Valentine’s Day and realized I didn’t have a cross stitch heart pattern. I wanted it to be like something I use to draw in junior high, you know, the heart with my love’s and I’s initials in it. Then I thought about Rusty and how he is part of this family, so I put half a paw peeking out over the top of the heart.

cross stitch heart

Pattern

 

 

 

The pattern didn’t turn out the greatest when I scanned it because I pretty much beat it to death while I was completing the stitching, taking it everywhere with me. Next time I’ll scan it before I start the stitching. Lesson learned.

 

 

 

 

 

cross stitch heart

Stitching the paw print was a pain in my rear. Even though I had my pattern the squares are so tiny that it would have benefited me and the pattern to make it a bit bigger if I want to stitch this heart again.

 

I really need graph paper with smaller squares so I can make bigger patterns. This tiny heart reminds me of a Pound Puppy patch! I don’t know what I’ll do with it now that the stitching is complete, maybe I will put it on a stuffed animal and then watch the Pound Puppies.


fingerless gloves

Simple Knit Men’s Fingerless Gloves Pattern

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Homemade presents are the best presents in my opinion because you know the person really thought about the gift and put some time into it. Also, I enjoy making gifts for people too so it’s a win win.

I needed to get a gift for a friend and decided on fingerless gloves. I have a pair and love them.  I have also decided to make a pair of fingerless gloves for my dad because he uses a cane and these will allow him to keep his hands warm and still have the ability to grip the cane. For my friend’s gloves, I decided on a 100% baby alpaca chunky yarn in gray because it’s so soft and warm. It’s also just my favorite yarn to knit and gray goes with everything.

easy pattern/ how I did it:

  1. cast on 32
  2. k2 p2
  3. continue pattern until it reaches desired length  I made mine about 8 inches because I wanted the glove to go all the way under the coat sleeve so no skin was exposed
  4. cast off in the k2 p2 pattern
  5. fold in half lengthwise and whip stitch up the side leaving an opening for your thumb about an inch down from the top

Then you have great fingerless gloves for the late fall and winter!

This pattern can easily be adjusted for men and women. Just reduce or increase the stitches by the pattern of 4 stitches (k2p2)

fingerless gloves

action shot


mushroom

Simple Cross Stitch Patterns made from an App

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I mentioned previously that I found an app for iPhone and iPad. It’s basically pixel art transferred to cross stitch patterns. I did make some simple cross stitch patterns. But, the app doesn’t allow for half stitch, back stitch or knots. It is fun to play with and see just how difficult it is to create a pattern. I’m posting pictures of the ones I made. They are very basic and the graph space doesn’t expand to be a very large canvas. For some reason, some of the patterns I could save with the graph behind it, as a .pdf.  Other patterns, the program had issues with and had me save as an image file resulting in no chart. All in all the program is fun to play with and to get a basic idea of pattern making but it’s not for serious pattern makers. Now I know what I’ll be doing to pass the time when I ride the T.

simple cross stitch pattern

 

simple cross stitch pattern

Key

background in Mario Brothers

background in Mario Brothers

 

mushroom

 


pattern

Cross Stitch Chevron iPhone Case

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As mentioned before, I was cross stitching a chevron patterned iPhone case. It’s finished and I LOVE it! Isn’t it beautiful?

chevron iphone

 

I decided to do the chevron pattern in white, turquoise and 3 different shades of grey.

I was going to do all of the grey stripes in the metallic thread but I decided it would be too much shine for me and I find metallic thread to be a pain in the you know what to work with. But I like the way there’s just a little bit of shine. I wanted to find a grey that was just the matte version of the metallic and I knew I had some in my tangled ball of thread left over from other projects. There are two shades because the lighting in my apartment is bad and I didn’t realize they were two different shades until I was in natural light and had already stitched using both colors. But I am really thrilled with how it turned out. The variations add just enough personality without being too loud. I find it to be perfect for me.


Chevron Cross Stitch Case Iphone 4 Pattern

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I ordered a cross stitch cover from ThinkGeek! I am so excited to have a chevron cross stitched phone case. The case actually came with three colors of thread, needle and some patterns and the company has more case patterns at Leese Design. Just go to the bottom right of the page and click the red “chart” box. There are a lot of patterns to choose from but most were of certain themes/holidays and I wanted something to that didn’t look out of place throughout the year. I decided to create a chevron stripe pattern because I’m kind of obsessed with them at the moment. I didn’t know which way I wanted the stripes to go so I found some blank graph paper at Better Cross Stitch Patterns website, and started coloring. These are the two I made.

 

chevron cross stitch iphone horizontalvertical chevron cross stitch

Black and white versions

b&w horizontalvertical black and white

I don’t have the little camera hole in the upper left corner on the patterns because I figured it’d be pretty simple to omit it. Now I need to decide which pattern to use!

 


Basket Weave Pattern Knit Scarf

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My next project was a basket weave pattern scarf for my husband. I’m using a crimson color wool yarn on size 8 needles. The pattern I decided on was:

  • Cast on 30
  • Knit 5 Purl 5 for 5 rows
  • Purl 5 Knit 5 for 5 rows
  • Repeat until it’s long enough
  • Bind off

It is a skinny scarf for a man but the basket weave pattern is very nice because it gives the scarf texture without being girly.  I think it will be good when it’s really cold so he can bundle up with it.

I don’t know when I’ll finish but hopefully it’ll be soon so I can post a picture.

rusty, basket weave pattern

This is Rusty hard at work making sure my yarn ball doesn’t roll off of the couch while I’m knitting.

 Finally finished in June!


rock climbing

Rock Climbing Cross Stitch

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Over the weekend I cross stitched Joshua’s rock climbing ornament. I made a few adjustments to the rock climbing man/pattern. Here is my rock climbing cross stitch.

rock climbing cross stitch

naked rock climbing man?

I asked Joshua what color he wanted his rope and belt to be, and his response was “I want to rock climb naked” :/ So the little guy is naked and without equipment.  I guess that means he’s bouldering and not rock climbing.

with background

background done

At this point it looks like a “It’s a Boy!” announcement to me.

I put a border to help curb that look.

with border

One last step, I backstitched around the rock climbing man the same color as the border.

rock climbing cross stitch

finished

Joshua’s guy is complete! Well, the stitching part anyways.

 

 


background complete

Paw Print, How to Cross Stitch

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After I drew my paw print pattern I got to stitching! Here’s how to cross stitch. First I’ll go a little backwards with photos of doing the cross stitch with a border I’m putting around it. But a starting note, remember, is that there is no knot at the end of the thread, you simply leave about an inch on the back side of the fabric.

step 1

take the needle through to the front side of the canvas from the bottom hole

step 2

pull through and go to the next row over, up and to the right diagonally, pull needle all the way through to the back of the canvas

step 3

next go to the hole directly underneath the hole in the previous step and pull the needle through to the right side of the fabric

step 4

after you’ve done another diagonal stitch, go to the hole underneath the one previously used and pull needle through to the right side of the fabric

step 5

now go up and diagonal to the left

step 5

now go up and diagonal to the left

step 6

the first X is complete and now repeat

step 7

go diagonal again to complete the second X

In my pattern I have a lot of half squares which could be confusing. But really it either means a half of stitch, literally a half of a stitch where the needle goes through the center of the square making the diagonal half of it’s usual length.

with green

Pattern Complete

This is the pattern complete! But I needed a way to finish it, make it actually look complete. So I decided to make a border around it.

green

It still quite wasn’t what I hoped so I added another border.

red and green

almost complete

That looks much better to me, so now I’m going to fill it in with a cream colored thread to leave no square unstitched.

background complete

background is filled in

To finish the stitching part of this I decided to backstitch around the paw print to highlight it. This is easier, I think, than back stitching in sewing because it has the holes to put your needles in to make your stitches the same length and it is often used as a finishing stitch in cross stitch.

Stitching is Finished!

I put a pencil next to it to give a size reference. Now I need to figure out how to turn this into an ornament.