I’m back! After much hoo-ha with the holidays, I’ve finally finished a knitting project. It’s the very-popular Bainbridge Scarf, but my pet name for it is the Origami Scarf. As you can see, I’ve found many ways to fold it into different shapes.

The simplicity of it is its beauty. Construction was easy: make a tube and attach a couple of ties. A little difference with the original on Ravelry: I did a picot cast-on and picot bind-off.

And yes, in keeping with my rule, the stitch is a reversible pattern. And a simple one at that: in the round, knit one row, and every alternate is knit one/purl one.

I used a lovely alpaca wool called Baby Twist. So soft! And it drapes very nicely.

For the man in my life, I knit up some manly fingerless gloves. He loves them!
And they’re manly because they’re very plain. No fussy details.

I used dark chocolate brown wool, from my stash of Lanett baby wool.

The inspiration came from an old Beehive magazine.
Here’s what the original looks like:

Instructions for original:

And here are my VERY modified gloves:

Instructions for my Manly Fingerless Gloves:

Gauge: 31 stitches for 10 cm/4inches
Needles: 2.5 mm

Cast on 60 stitches in the round and do some ribbing.

I decided not to do the pattern and just stuck to plain stockinette stitching.

Four rows later, start the thumb gusset. The increases are made between a couple of purl stitches, so they’re easy to find in the next row without resorting to markers.

So: P2, increase 1 stitch, K1, increase 1 stitch, P2.
Make 3 rows, without forgetting to continue making P2s.
Increase again, after and before each P2. Make 3 rows.

Continue until you get 19 stitches between the Purl stitches.
Put the 19 stitches on hold.

Continue knitting in the round.
In the first row, cast on 4 stitches between the P2s.

Knit 15 rows total, but make the first 3 rows in purl stitching between the P2s.
The last 12 rows are all in stockinette stitch.

See the detail for the thumb gusset:
(I liked the effect of the “P2s” because it makes two very distinct lines around the thumb.)

Before starting the fingers, slip the half-made glove on your man’s hand and check if you need to knit more rows before starting the first finger.

Fingers for right glove:

First finger, knit the first 5 stitches and place all but the last 14 stitches on hold on a thread. Cast on 1 stitch, and divide the 20 stitches on 3 needles. Knit about 14 rows before casting off loosely. Get him to try the glove again to see if it reaches his knuckle. Then cast off loosely.
Second finger, pick up and knit 3 stitches off the side of the first finger. Knit 7 stitches off the thread, cast on 3 stitches and knit the last 7 stitches on the thread. Divide on 3 needles and knit up for same amount of rows as the first finger.
Third finger, pick up and knit 3 stitches off the side of the second finger. Knit 7 stitches off the thread, cast on 3 stitches and knit the last 6 stitches on the thread. Divide on 3 needles and knit up for same amount of rows as the first finger.
Last finger, pick up and knit 3 stitches off the side of the third finger. Knit remaining 14 stitches on the thread. Join the 17 stitches in a round. This one is shorter than the others. I made about 11 rows. Keep checking on your man’s hands.

To make the thumb: pick up 4 stitches at the base of the thumb and knit up the 19 stitches on hold in the round. Knit as many rows as you need and cast off loosely.

Left glove is made exactly as the right glove, until you get to the fingers.

Fingers for left glove:
Knit first 3 stitches off first needle onto the end of the third needle.
First finger, knit first 19 stitches. Slip remaining stitches on thread, then cast on 1 stitch. Divide on 3 needles and knit in the round. Finish other fingers exactly as the Right Glove.

Comments:

The only thing I would do differently is make a shorter thumb gusset. The next time, I’ll knit 2 rows between increases instead of 3, especially if I’d make this for a woman.

Hey ladies! Here are my foxy fingerless mitts, inspired from a pattern in Louisa Harding’s Knitting Little Luxuries.

As per usual, I completely ignore the gauge, the suggested yarn, and many of the instructions.

First, I knit it in the round, even the thumb gussets. Like I’ve said before, I hate seaming.
Second, I doubled up on angora from Cottage Craft in order to get the gauge correctly.
Third, I used larger needles to make the picot edges. It flounces better that way.

Check out my latest creation for my soon-to-be-mommy friend. Cute! I love making baby hats. You can use up left-over wool, it’s done in a couple of days and the moms go nuts over it.

I used remnants of basic Lanett baby wool I had in my basket and knit whatever pattern came to mind. I had no idea where I was going with it until the end.

Instructions: Start with a knit-1, pearl-1 rib (124 stitches) for 8cm, then after about 4.5 cm of pattern, decrease every second row. After I pulled the yarn through the last stitches, I decided to used the leftover wool gathered at the top to crochet little curlie-cues instead of the typical pom-pom ending.

To make the curlie-cues: make a slip knot and crochet a chain of about 20 stitches, then starting in the third to last stich, crochet 4 trebles in each chain stitch until you reach the top of the hat again.

The bootees are a classic on the web. See this post dating back to 1995. Quite simply the best, easiest and most versatile pattern I have ever found.

Here are step-by-step instructions with photos. See how easy?

Here are some very warm mittens I made myself last winter. The little “bubbles” create a corrugated pattern inside the mitten, good for trapping in warmth and keeping your fingers toasty.

The inspiration came from a free knitting pattern posted by Maggiknits, which she picked up from two ladies in Nova Scotia. Hers are very pretty! I just changed mine a little: I continued the pattern with smaller bubbles to the top of the hand and also continued the pattern on the thumb. It worked out nicely, but I think the thumb sticks out strangely. Sure it looks weird, but the extra thickness on the thumb matches the rest of the hand and feels warmer.

This little bolero is very similar to the Butterfly Shrug I posted a couple of weeks ago. However, there’s a different way of wrapping from front to back, creating a more angular frontpiece. Plus the collar is cute! Again, I think this little piece has the potential to be a lot more. Once I’ve deconstructed the Butterfly Shrug (still working on it!), I’ll give this one a try too.

So I gave that 1950s pattern a try. It looked simple enough, but once I started following the pattern I had to do a lot of guess-work. I used the cheapest wool I had, very hard, scratchy material, but stiff enough to act as a model. It wasn’t the exact gauge either. I’m really just doing it to experiment. Well, this is what came out of a few days of knitting and guessing:

As you can see, it’s just half of the shrug. Apparently, the other side is the same and it’s seamed up in the back. Hmmmm… Don’t see it yet. The neck band is still confusing me. See what I mean, when I seam up the shoulder?

I’ll let you know how the other half goes. Maybe when I jigsaw them together, it will work out.

This piece looks so classy, it transcends fashion. Ultimate simplicity!

And it just occurred to me that I never posted the sizes for body measurements. Today’s size 8 is not the same as yesteryear.

Entourage
Hilarious take on Hollywood. Ari is the most arrogant and lovable character!

Ari Gold: Lloyd, pack up all my files. Pile everything you see into a box. Everything! You see a used condom, an executioner’s mask, and a goddamn spiked paddle… don’t think, just pack that bitch. Chop suey!

True Blood
Fangtasia??? Romance with a biting sense of humour…

Flight of the Conchords
Check out these Kiwi songbirds: Bowie Tribute, Mermaids, Frodo

Is it a surprise that my top three knitting books are all from Elizabeth Zimmerman?