Author Archives: affiknity

Baby's Day Out Hat

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I wanted a good summer hat for my baby, one whose brim would stay stiff and actually be useful in protecting the eyes from the harsh sun. After looking through the patterns available, I decided to come up with my own. The result is Baby’s Day Out Hat. After uploading the project on Ravelry, I had many requests for the pattern, so I decided to write it down and make it available online.

Click on either the link or the PDF icon to download the pattern. Hope you enjoy knitting this hat and hope it is useful for your baby.

Baby’s Day Out

Hats off

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I had not done colorwork before, so wanted to try my hand at it. One look at my aunt-made baby vest, I just had to do fair isle. The technique results in an eye-catching, colorful knitted item which looks complicating to knit, but in fact is too easy.

I adapted the colorwork chart of David\’s hat for my baby hat. Fair isle is addictive. You just can\’t stop after knitting one row. You complete one row and at stare the beautiful pattern emerging and want to knit more to see how things turn out. I enjoyed it so much that I want to knit something big using fair isle.

Another hat I made was part of test knitting. The pattern looked too cute to resist. Melissa has created a beautiful pattern using simple techniques like slipped stitches and cables. The twists that go around the hat look very attractive.

Both hats made in round using our standard acrylic 4-ply yarn and 3.00 mm needles.

Gifts Galore

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This post is too delayed. I was (and still am) busy with my little kiddo and I just don’t know how time flies. I wake up in the morning to the cries of my kid and before I know it, it is time to bed. Sigh, where are those days when I could knit and knit without any worries?

Coming back to the point, my friends and family have given hand-made gifts to my son over the past few months. I should have blogged about them earlier, but didn’t find the time. My sincere apologies. Better late than never, huh?

This sweater is a gift from my Aunt. I didn’t know she was a knitter until I saw this. And when I did, my mouth was wide open for a few minutes. I was wondering about how difficult it must have been to knit this, but she says ‘Oh, it’s nothing’. This sweater gave me the inspiration and courage to try my first fair isle project, but that’s a different story. The sweater fits well and my son looks like a serious, no nonsense  grandpa when he wears this. The colors are kind of grandpa-ish, don’t you think? I love this sweater nevertheless. The colors add a bit of variety and give me the much needed break from baby colors. My aunt has given me some quilts and embroidered stuff which I will blog about later.

This sweater is from Rima. The sweater is so soft and cuddly. She intentionally made it bigger so that it will be useful for next winter. The yarn is so fine and squishy. What more, this is Rima’s own creation. That is so awesome, isn’t it? I wish I could crochet. I would make this right at this moment.

These two are from Sanhita. The sweater is bigger and will fit next winter. I love the sweater’s colors. This blanket is so gorgeous! When she made this blanket, I left a comment on her project page expressing my appreciation. Little did I know that it will come my way. Everything about this blanket is lovely. The yarn, the colors and the pattern and more importantly Sanhita’s gesture. I can’t tell you how proud I am to have this for my baby. I used it every single day during winter and can’t wait for next winter to come. I get raised eyebrows whenever I use this blanket. And the obvious question that follows, ‘Did you make this?’ I wish I had, but I can’t even imagine myself making anything like this.

Thank you so much Rima and Sanhita. These gifts mean a lot to me. A lot of effort and time have gone into knitting these and it is greatly appreciated. These gifts are well received and will be well used.

PS: My aunt is not computer literate, so I will thank her in person.

Baby Blanket

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After knitting booties, socks, hats and sweaters, it was time to knit a baby blanket. I started making Tetris blanket but had to frog it. It was time to search for a new pattern again. After scanning through all the patterns on Ravelry (thanks to advanced search feature, it is so so useful), I decided I will have to make up my own. For some reason or the other, I didn’t like any of the readily available patterns. I liked the honeycomb stitch pattern of Sarah’s Honeycomb vest. A swatch turned out well, so the stitch pattern for my blanket was finalized. I decided to do a seed stitch border because I thought it would go well with the honeycomb pattern. Yarn was bought at Surya Emporium, Commercial Street. They have the widest range of 8-ply yarns. A swatch or two, a little bit of math and I had all the stuff required to knit up the blanket.

It took me a month to knit this blanket. I did knit some baby stuff in between, so I knit the blanket on and off. The pattern stitch was easy to remember, only two cable rows in one repeat and most importantly, the cable is easy enough to knit without using cable needles. Knitting Help’s video was really helpful. Now that I finally managed to learn swapping stitches without using cable needles, I don’t want to knit cables in any other way.

Ravelry Project: My Honeycomb Blanket

Pattern: As Sweet As Honey Baby Blanket

The finished blanket measures 29″ x 35″ and it turned out well. I love the texture and the color is perfect for this stitch pattern. There is one small complaint, though. The honeycomb stitch is elastic where as seed stitch is not. So, the blanket is wider at the edges and it looks a bit out of shape. I should have cast on lesser number of stitches for the border and should have increased for the honeycomb pattern. Or else, I should have opted for an elastic border, may be ribbing. I will keep that in mind, but for now I can’t stop ogling at the blanket.

Sock knitting

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I have been knitting only baby stuff these days. Continuing with the theme, I wanted to knit a baby cardigan. I received some sock yarn as gifts from Ravelers. We really don’t need socks in this part of the world, so I wanted to knit something else with the sock yarn. Guro’s Twinkle vintage baby cardigan pattern uses sock yarn, so was ideal for stash busting. It is also seamless, so that was another plus point.

I used Knitpicks Memories, Redwood Forest colorway, which was a gift from Jean. The pattern can be used as a template for a yoke cardigan. The body can be knit in plain stockinette or you can use any lace pattern of your own. I knit the vintage lace pattern given in the patterns page for the body. It turned out well but it is not clearly visible because of the multi-colored yarn. It would have looked better in a single colored yarn. I tried knitting the sleeves also in this pattern, but didn’t like the way it looked. Moreover, I thought the cardigan looked cuter without the sleeves, so I chopped them off. The cardigan now has a capped sleeves look which I hope is practical and actually looks like capped sleeves on the baby.
After the sweater was done, I was left with almost a whole ball of yarn. It was time for knitting baby socks. Judy’s Infant socks pattern looked good to me. I hadn’t knit socks before, so I wanted something simple and easy. The pattern is clear, but doesn’t explain the technical details like turning the heel, gusset and instep etc. I followed the Silver’s Sock tutorials which made it easier to follow the pattern. The first sock was done in less than an hour. Thankfully, I escaped from the second sock syndrome and finished the second sock in no time. The second sock is a bit smaller than the first one and I have no idea why. It is still a puzzle for me because at every step, I had the right number of stitch count and row count. Just a matter of gauge, may be?

Knitting socks was fun. After knitting the first sock, there was a feeling of satisfaction and achievement. Knitting socks is like nothing else – you have to knit socks at least once. The technicalities involved – the way you make the heel and then turn it, the way you join this longer heel with the rest of the sock and then knit as one entity – this is almost like magic. I am in awe of the knitter who came up with knitting socks seamlessly. I must say knitters are the smartest people on earth. Whoever said knitting is for old women didn’t know anything about knitting socks.

A special gift from a special friend

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Things are not going that well with me. I started working on the Tetris baby blanket. I had finished more than 100 rows when I noticed I had goofed up. It kept nagging me and I decided to tink back and correct the mistake. Only when I started tinking that I realized tinking and intarsia is a very dangerous combination. A handful of working yarns, twisted yarns where colors change, tangled yarn and so many loose ends – I ended up tinking more than I intended. What I am left with now is a blanket with 40 odd rows, a big ball of tangled yarn and a heartbreak. I don’t have the heart to look at the blanket, so I have hidden it. I am going to start with a new baby blanket pattern for now and will worry about this failed Tetris blanket later.

Okay, let us look at some positive things. My Ravelry friend, Preeti, ordered the book Knitter’s Almanac twice by mistake and asked me if I wanted a copy. I didn’t have that book in my collection and who doesn’t want a EZ book, right? So she decided to send me this book all the way from Dubai. The package arrived last week. I knew she was going to send me that book in the package but what surprised me were the other things!

There is the book, of course. A self retracting measuring tape, a pack of body lotion etc. in a lovely lavender fragrance and a cute card. What is not in the photo is a pack of Hershey’s kisses. The reason it is not in the photo is because err… I ate all of them! I have an excuse, I have a craving, you see. Thank so much Preeti, you are an angel! How did you know I was craving for chocolates?

Phildar copacabana in such lovely colors. I love the texture of this yarn. It is papery and so soft.

The best of all is this one. Can you see the cute footprints? The photo doesn’t do justice! It was so sweet of Preeti to think of making this for me. It is such a nice gesture.

After the disastrous Tetris blanket, this gift was a great help in lifting my spirits. Preeti, thank you so much for such a nice and touching gift.

Knitters' meetup and knitting update

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I am now fully convinced that knitters do exist in real. After interacting with knitters  only online, I had begun to wonder whether knitters are a species which exist only virtually. Only my eyes have been trained to read knitting related words, so it was a thrilling experience to actually ‘hear’ words like Ravelry, stockinette stitch and blocking. Wow, what an experience it was.

We met at M G Road and spent some time in Hard Rock Cafe. We were a bunch of chatty knitters who loved to talk about everything under the sun – from Obama, BJP and RSS to ghost writing and pets. And of course, lot of knitting stuff too. Rima had gifts for all of us – a bag full of lovely yarn. I have been ogling at it ever since she gave it to me. I am looking forward to more such meetups!

Continuing with knitting baby stuff, I made this cute baby kimono. I loved it the moment I saw the pattern. I had some pink 6-ply acrylic yarn I bought from Raja Market. The pattern calls for 100 gms of 8-ply yarn. I had a little more than 100 gms, so I assumed it should be fine. Boy, was I wrong!

By the time I reached the sleeve separation part, I had used up half of my yarn stock. That is when I realized I am going to run short of yarn. Luckily, I had some candy floss pink yarn in the same guage and I decided to use that. I haven’t really done color work earlier, so this was a great opportunity to learn a new skill. After some head scratching and calculation, I decided to alternate 6 rows in both colors.

It was not easy to do color work, especially the sleeves. I did not want to have too many loose ends to weave in, so I decided not to cut and rejoin but to carry it up (I think that is what it is called). I don’t know if that was the best thing to do! The yarns loved to get tangled up and I had a tough time untangling them.

The only problem I have with this kimono is the neck edge. It does not have a garter stitch border and hence is curling up. I am taking expert advice from Rima and Sanhita on doing a crochet edge to fix this problem.

Looking back at the knitting experience and the finished sweater, I am glad I ran out of yarn. The kimono would have looked plain and boring in one color. I think this is the best knitting I have done so far. The individual V’s of stockinette stitch are clearly visible (which I couldn’t achieve earlier) and the kimono has a ‘proper’ finished look. The kimono is already a hit among my cousins and I am expecting requests from them very soon!

Next up is Tetris baby blanket. This is the first time I am doing intarsia and I hope I can manage it.

DIY: Yarn Swift

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My knitting “hobby” is slowly becoming a full time activity. What that means is a box full of overflowing yarns, needles in all possible shapes and sizes. What it also means is sore wrists from winding all those yards and yards of yarns into balls. When I can’t order yarn from US, ordering a yarn swift is totally out of the question. The yarn winding pain is felt more by my husband because he volunteers (no, really he does) to do it. I bought a bag full of yarn and also received RAK packages, so more winding for him. He anticipated how will wrists will feel in the coming days and set out to make a yarn swift for himself.

He looked at pictures of the actual swift, the DIY ideas and then he knew what to do.

What you need:

Two aluminium cloth hangers
Adhesive/Insulation tape
An empty bottle
That’s it!

What to do:

Straighten out the hangers so that they turn into straight rods. Each rod will be around 37 inches long. Approximately at the center you bend each rod so that there is a circle at the center and two end of the rods at 90 degrees. Each arm should be 13.5 inches. Now you have two pieces which look like this:

You place both the pieces so that the circles coincide and you have the four arms meet at right angles. Secure with adhesive tape. Your basic structure is ready.

You bend each arm in a Z shape. At 5 inches from the end, bend the rod until the angle is 50 degrees. At 2.5 inches from the end, you bend the arm again in the opposite direction to get a Z shape. Like this:

You mount this on a bottle (filled with water) and it is all ready to use. See it being used here:

The result:

I thought the swift will be wobbly, but it is surprisingly stable and the rotation is smooth. My husband is mighty happy with this one. His eyes are set on a niddy noddy which he agrees is more complicated than a swift.

Disclaimer: No, the yarn swift is not capable of turning a pink yarn into a grey one.

What a wonderful surprise

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Who doesn’t like surprises? And what if the surprise package contains colorful, soft and yummy yarn? Even better, right?

Ravelry has a Random Act of Kindness (RAK) group dedicated for just that – RAK. You post your wish list (knitting related and otherwise) for others to see. If someone is able to and willing to fulfill your wish, they will contact you for your address and send it across.

My wish list was simple – all I had asked for is yarn – any kind, any amount. I can only get acrylic yarn here and I am dying to try out some different kind. I was lucky enough to get offers from 6 people! The best part is I don’t know what kind of yarn they have picked out for me.

The first of the lot arrived yesterday. It was a wonderful surprise from LoneStarNeedler. When I opened the box, I screamed with joy. She has picked out a variety of yarn and has even included patterns for them. How sweet!

My first sock yarn and what beautiful colors! I so wanted to try knitting socks.

Sugar ‘n Cream cotton yarn. Included are two patterns for dishcloths. This the first time I touched cotton yarn and it is so lovely.

Enough yarn to make Surprise Baby Jacket. So thoughtful of her to pick out the pattern and then collect the necessary yarn! The paper in the background is the pattern. I love the colors. It is going to be one beautiful baby sweater.

Nothing like receiving a personal, handwritten note along with a lovely card.

LoneStarNeedler, I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful gift. I always dreamt of knitting with ‘real’ yarn and you made my dream come true. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Bamboozled headband

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After thoroughly enjoying Calorimetry, I decided to knit another headband. I wanted to knit something for my nieces-in-law and headband was the best – knits fast and it is useful for girls. I chose Bamboozled because it has cables and I wanted to try knitting cables.

Bamboozled comes with a chart and instructions. I wanted to learn a new skill (reading charts) so I tried that first. For every stitch, I would see the symbol, then see the glossary to see what the symbol means, then figure out whether I am on RS or WS and then knit that stitch. Phew! I tried knitting a few rows using the chart, but I was taking ages to knit a single row. When I realized I am going to be knitting this headband for the rest of the year if I use the chart, I switched to instructions.

Knitting cables is stressful. I would knit a few rows and then realize I goofed up somewhere and start all over again. That’s when I realized the importance of lifelines. They are exactly that – lifelines!  After I started using lifelines, I hardly made any mistake. Isn’t there a Murphy law that says: it doesn’t rain when you take the umbrella with you, but always does when you don’t take it.

In the knitting world, cable and lace projects have high regards. To be considered a real knitter, one has to attempt cables and laces at least once. This headband was my first step into the cable world. If you ask me, I don’t know what is the big deal about cables. Yeah, they are fun to knit, but stressful too. It needs my complete concentration, so I can’t knit cables while watching TV or when I am multitasking. I knit to relieve my stress, but this project actually aggravated it. Also, I didn’t especially like the end product either. When I look at a cable sweater, I don’t go weak in my knees like some knitters do. I don’t mind knitting a cable project again, but I don’t think I like wearing it. I think I am weird!