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Blog Week Day 5: Something a Bit Different 5kcbwday5

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You know what I’ve never done? A knitting photo tutorial. I use them all the time, and I love blogs that have them, but I’ve never taken the time to do a clear sequence of photos that show a technique.

Below is my first-ever knitting photo tutorial. It’s the Daisy Pattern I used in my Daisy Cloche and Daisy Mittens. It can be a little tricky to work, and I’ve had a few questions about it, so I thought it would be perfect for a tutorial.

Warning: photo heavy post ahead (but I bet you guessed that!).

DAISY STITCH TUTORIAL

Round 1: To begin, I cast on a number of stitches for a swatch and purled the first row as it states in the pattern (note: the Daisy Cloche and Mittens are worked in the round, but I worked my swatch flat. The technique is the same–just ignore the extra strands behind the swatch).

Daisy 1Round 2: The next step says to k1, then k the next stitch, wrapping yarn three times around the needle instead of one.

Daisy 2

Daisy 3 Daisy 4See the three wraps around the right-hand needle where you would usually have only one? Don’t worry if it looks messy–that will be fixed later.

Work four more stitches like this:Daisy 5Continue along the rest of the stitches in this manner, working a knit stitch between each group of five triple-wrapped stitches. Here’s what it should look like when you’re done:

Daisy 6Round 3: Now the fun begins! Start by purling the first stitch:Daisy 7Now slip the first triple-wrapped stitch from the left hand needle to the right hand needle, letting the extra loops drop off so the stitch gets elongated. It should look like this:Daisy 8

Daisy 9Repeat for the next four stitches. Here’s what it should look like when you’re done with all five:

Daisy 11Now we’re going to begin the wrap. First, take the working yarn and move it behind the elongated stitches, through the middle of the needles:

Daisy 12Then slip the five elongated stitches back to the left hand needle, bringing the yarn around the front and through the middle of the two needles again:

Daisy 13Daisy 14Repeat these steps by slipping the yarn back to the right hand needle, wrapping the yarn around a second time, and slipping them back to the left hand needle again. When you’re done, you should have two wraps of yarn around the bundle of elongated stitches and it should look like this (pull the wraps snugly so they cinch the sts together):

Daisy 15Repeat these steps (including the purl stitch between bundles) the whole way across your stitches.

Daisy 16

Daisy 17

Here’s what the row should look like when you’re done. See how the pattern creates the nice scalloped edge?

Daisy 18Rounds 4 and 5: These are simple enough: knit one round, then purl one round. Here’s what it looks like when you’re done:

Daisy 19Notice that the wraps are a little off-center. That’s okay–all you have to do is push them up with your finger (they’ll stay where you put them):

Daisy 20Voilà: the finished Daisy Pattern!

Daisy 21

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Color Lovers

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Today’s topic asks bloggers to talk about their love or confusion of color. It’s funny–only a few years ago, I would have said that I always, always gravitated toward rich jewel tones, especially blue, purple, and green, and rarely knit with anything else. A quick look through my Ravelry projects proves it:

project collage

I figured this trend would continue when I started designing last year. After all, I’m the one who gets to pick the colors I want to knit with, right? Oddly enough, though, I’ve found myself using more neutrals and dark, muted tones than before. Having to think about the styling and wearability of the piece changes things.

Here’s a snapshot of some of my designs that proves it:

Designs in neutrals

Of course, I also have these, so maybe I haven’t gone as far from blue and green jewel tones as I could have, heh:

green-blue designs

A look through my yarn cabinet also shows a weakness for impulse yarn purchases in blue, green, and purple:

yarn cabinet 1

yarn cabinet 2

WIP basket

My WIP basket

 

swatch pile

The current swatch pile

I’m going to continue attempting to branch out, color-wise, but I’m not sure how much luck I’ll have with all this yumminess calling to me. I think if I could only knit from Madelinetosh jewel-tones for the rest of my life, I’d be perfectly happy.

FO Friday: Daisy Cloche and Mittens

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I have two FOs to show off today–and they’re both new designs!

Here are my Daisy Cloche and matching Daisy Mittens:

Daisy Cloche and Mittens

The specs:

Pattern: my own–in testing now, planning for a release in about a week

Yarn: Cascade Ecological wool held double, left over from the Neverending Christmas Stockings of 2011

Needles: Size US #11 circular and DPNs (which I had to go out and buy… I’d never used any DPNs bigger than US #10 before!

Notes: These quick projects were EXACTLY what I needed after the three-week exclusivity of my Bevin Pullover. My hands loved the switch from DK weight cotton/linen to super-bulky, squishy wool! And the hat and mittens came together with astonishing speed… I think I spent about 8 hrs on both, and that includes writing up the patterns afterward!

Now to go mess with Photoshop Actions and get the pictures exactly as I want them, hehe…