New pattern: INSULATE! mittens

I designed some Dalek mittens to go with my hat. :)
You can download the pattern for free on Ravelry: INSULATE! mittens



I used the same yarn as for my INSULATE! hat, which is '8ply Pure Wool Naturals' from Little Wool Company, in the shades 'Papa' (a greyish brown) and 'Pumice' (oatmeal). I still have over half of each 200g ball left, even after making a hat and a pair of mittens. This yarn is great for colourwork - it's fuzzy enough that the strands on the wrong side felt down slightly with wear, and its 2ply structure helps with stitch definition.

The thumbs are knit plain, with the Dalek's 'weapons' (the famous egg-beater and plunger) completed afterwards in duplicate stitch. Doing stranded colourwork in such a small circumference would be fiddly, so duplicate stitch to the rescue! For an extra touch of whimsy, I added a little heart above each 'weapon' - they could be omitted or replaced with laser beams if you prefer your Daleks evil.


A few helpful links:

The best thing about my new mittens? Epic Dalek battles... teehee... ;)

Heatwave


It's been hot lately. A 'record heatwave' in fact. We're nearing the end (at last) of a run of ten days of over 32°C highs, and I'm pretty fed up. But icewater foot-baths and cold drinks have been helping, and I've been trying to distract myself with crafts while it's been too hot to go out.

I came across this excellent idea for making a scarf with 'random' stripes:
My Year in Temperatures by Kristen Cooper. It's a garter stitch scarf, with the different coloured stripes representing different temperatures over the course of a year. Naturally, I felt the need to jazz up the garter stitch a bit...

Mid-January (cast-on edge at the bottom) to March 9th (top).

I find it helpful to have a system of some sort for making random-looking stripes. A nature-related system like this one is especially good for giving a nice ebb and flow of colours.

I'm knitting this scarf for Willie, to record his year from one birthday to the next, in the maximum daily temperatures for wherever he happens to be. So far I’ve knit from mid-January to last Saturday, using temperature data for Melbourne from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology site. I'm knitting two rows (one garter ridge) to represent each day.

I chose a 4ply blend of cotton, angora, merino, and cashmere called 'shiny cotton', which I ordered as a skein set from ColourMart. The colours map to temperatures in 5° increments:

I haven't had occasion to use colours E or F yet...

I cast on 77 stitches using the long-tail method, on 4mm needles. This covers six repeats of 12 stitches, plus 17 stitches in total for the edges. This is the stitch pattern I settled on, which looks cool on both sides:

Garter zigzag stitch
RS rows: k2, k2tog, * k4, m1R, k1, m1L, k4, s2k1psso, * k4, m1R, k1, m1L, k4, ssk, k2.
WS rows: knit all.

Eyelet rows (for the 1st of each month)
RS: k2, k2tog, * (yo, k2tog)x2, yo, k, yo, (ssk, yo)x2, s2k1psso, * (yo, k2tog)x2, yo, k1, yo, (ssk, yo)x2, ssk, k2.
WS: knit all.

If you prefer to work from a chart (I do!):

(click to enlarge)

You can see the eyelet row here, marking March 1st.

I really need to learn a method for weaving in or hiding the ends as I knit, like this one: No loose ends. Otherwise I'll have a big job ahead of me!

I expect my brain will come back online once things cool down a bit, then I can try learning a new trick. ;)

New pattern: INSULATE! hat

My geek-tastic new hat pattern is now available - and it's free! INSULATE!


The Dalek design is quite stylised, so that it works as a purely geometric design too. I'm looking forward to wearing it out and about and seeing who spots the Daleks. ;)


For the colourwork, I've used stranding (or fairisle) technique for some rounds and mosaic (or slip-stitch) technique for the rest, to avoid having too many long floats on the inside. Using a combination of the the two also makes it a quicker knit than if it were all stranded.

For the stranded rounds, I used my newly-acquired two-handed stranding technique, which I'm getting more and more comfortable with. I made a larger one of these for Willie, with a variegated yarn for the Daleks and a solid colour for the background, which worked really well. I still need to catch him so I can take a photo of it!

The yarn I used is Little Wool Company '8ply Pure Wool Naturals', in the colours 'Papa' and 'Pumice'. It's undyed and subtly heathered, and really softens up after a warm wash. After blocking the finished hat, I can wear it next to my skin perfectly comfortably.


I also have a matching pair of mittens planned... :)