Category Archives: circular knitting

Pattern Release: Pebble Hat and Cowl

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It rarely happens that I see a stitch on Pinterest and I fall in love with it at first sight. And I get so obsessed with it that I go on to design a thing or two using that stitch. That happened with the Pebble stitch.

I don’t know what this stitch is called or if it even has a name, but I named it Pebble Stitch because of the pebbly texture this creates. The stitch looks attractive and looks non-knit and that is what intrigued me. It is a simple 2-row stitch pattern which seems difficult to knit at first, but with practice, goes like a breeze.

Pebble Hat & Cowl celebrates the beauty of this stitch by keeping it minimal and simple. Pebble Hat uses a deep ribbed brim and let the Pebble Stitch be the hero in the body of the hat. Pebble Cowl uses i-cord edge to keep the hem simple and neat and let the Pebble Stitch shine.

Pebble Hat & Cowl are available at 20% off with coupon code “PEBBLE20” (CAPS and no double quotes). Sale ends 25 April.

Expression Fiber Arts team is also offering you a generous 15% off on Bountiful colorway with coupon code “bountiful15” (no double quotes). Head over to their website to buy this gorgeous colorway now! Discount available all through end of April.

Pebble Hat and Pebble Cowl
Yarn: Expression Fiber Arts Superwash Merino Silk Pearlescent Worsted
in Bountiful colorway

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New Pattern: Anahi Hat

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It has been ages since I published a pattern and what better way to make a comeback than with Knotions magazine. Jody is a pleasure to work with and the working model which Knotions follows is so convenient for international designers like me. I see many collaborations with Knotions in the future for myself.

© Edsger Studio for Knotions Magazine

Anahi Hat is a beautifully textured hat, with cables all over. The meandering cables make this hat look way more complicated than it actually is. It is knit in round, from the brim up and is a quick knit, owing to the use of worsted weight yarn and the addictive cables.

The pattern comes in one size, which should give you a finished circumference of 20″.

© Edsger Studio for Knotions Magazine

 

Link to Free Pattern: Anahi Hat on Knotions
Ravelry Pattern: Anahi Hat
Yarn Suggested: Cascade 220, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted

FO: Cap Sleeve Lattice Top

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While I was spring cleaning my room the other day, I opened the cupboard which holds my yarn stash. No, I had no intention of spring cleaning this part of my room – I only planned to pet the yarn and keep it back. And as I was doing this, I realized I was wearing an acrylic hand-knit top, made ages ago. And the irony was evident – I was living in mediocre quality yarn (I love acrylic, would never call it inferior) while my softest yarn was locked away in a cupboard, wasting away. That was the time I decided to knit up some of my good yarn and actually wear them. This FO is the first outcome of that decision.

Knit Picks Shine Sport is one of the initial yarn purchases I made. I planned to knit this up into a tee or a shawl, but had kept it stashed away in a corner. Searched on Rav for FOs which people have made using this yarn and Purl Soho’s Cap Sleeve Lattice Top caught my attention. Pattern is free (unplanned bonus!) and a quick glance through it strengthened my resolve. A voice in my head kept repeating “bottom up knitting”, but I ignored it.

A quick swatch confirmed that the yarn and pattern are suitable for each other and thus I cast on. The never ending, mindless stockinette was both a boon and a bane. I loved the mindless knitting when I had to attend work related calls and I could knit away to glory without spending any brain cells on this. At times, the monotonous work got me so bored that I would shove it away for days together. The longer I knit, the longer it felt it would take for me to finish this. I also suspected some negative elves sneaking into my room at night and unraveling all my knitting. How can the tee not be done already!!??

One fine night (after a pulled an all nighter to get this darn thing over with), I was finally done with stockinette section. Compared to this, the lace section was a breeze. I was done in no time.

Thanks to my yarn choice, the lace portion was too long compared to the body, so I had to do some quick fixing there. I folded the extra fabric under the sleeve and stitched it in place. This does not show on the RS at all, so I am all good.

Remember the voice which kept saying “bottom up”? It became stronger when I realized the tee is too long than intended. It was a good 3″ long – have no idea how. End of every day, before I hung up my knitting, I would try the top and ensure it wasn’t longer than I wanted and yet, I ended up with 3 extra inches. Yes, my dear voice, “bottom up” issue it is.

If it was top down, it was as easy as unraveling the cast off end and frogging the 3 inches and casting off again. But this is bottom up. How do you even unravel the cast on edge? I did some quick fixing here too, since I had planned to wear this for my holiday at Yercaud the next day. I folded the extra fabric underneath and stitched it shut using the same yarn. This actually worked well since the thick fabric edge kept the tee in place.

I can’t live with this for sure, so need to figure out a way to fix the length.

Next time I hear my voice say “bottom up”, I am going to listen to it.

I made a lot of mods. Knit this in round to avoid seam, made the neck opening smaller and so on. All details on my Ravelry Project.

 

 

 

New Pattern: Dyvest

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Dyvest is a unisex vest with an attractive cable stitch pattern down the front. The Y-shaped staghorn cable divides into a similar half-staghorn stitch on either side of the V-neck, hence the name Dyvest.

Ravelry Pattern: Dyvest by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Bessie May Nettle in Coal colorway
[Aran/10 Ply; 70% Wool; 30% Plant Fiber; 87 yards/50 gms]
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm

The staghorn and half-staghorn are simple to knit with just 3 rows of cable and plain wrong side rows. Both cables are charted and written instructions are also provided.


The vest is knit bottom-up in round  until the armholes and then the fronts and back are knit flat. The shoulders are joined using three needle bind-off. Armbands and neckbands are knit after picking up stitches.

Gauge:
16 sts x 22 rows = 4″ in Stockinette Stitch
20 sts x 20 rows = 3.5″ in Staghorn Cable stitch pattern

Sizing:
Finished Chest Measurement:
17.5 [19.5, 21.5, 23.5] [25.5, 27.5, 29.5] inches
Vest is intended to be worn with 1-2″ of positive ease.

I knit the prototype using Bessie May Nettle, which is a blend of wool and plant fiber. This is the first time I worked with a plant fiber and I was blown away by the stitch definition – the cables are neat and crisp. I had to work on the fronts a dozen times, so I can vouch for ‘froggability’ of the yarn too, boys is it sturdy. With the main color as dark grey and the light grey heather, Coal colorway is an excellent choice for men’s and boys’ knits.

New Patterns: Punto Cowl & Hat

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I am very happy to announce the release of Punto Cowl & Hat patterns which are released as part of Malabrigo Quickies. From Malabrigo Yarns website: Quickies are small, fast projects which require only one or two skeins of yarn. You could knit a small cowl and a hat in one skein each of MC and CC yarn. These patterns can be bought individually or as an ebook.

While I love variegated yarns,  I don’t like how muddy they look when used with cables or lace. I am not a big fan of pooling in stockinette stitch either, so the obvious step was to pair it with a plain yarn and make something colorful with it. Punto stitch pattern (as I would like to call it) is knit with one yarn per row (no carrying the other yarn) and the colorful CC yarn shows up as little specks or dots against the MC yarn.

Punto Cowl comes in 3 sizes. Small: 20 inches wide, a snug fit around your neck, Medium: 28 inches wide, a loose, comfortable fit around your neck and Long: 44 inches wide, where the cowl can be worn doubled up. All sizes are 8 inches high. Width and height can be easily modified by working more repeats of the stitch pattern.

Punto Hat comes in 4 sizes. S [M, L, XL]: 18 [20, 22, 24] inches. These are the finished sizes. Choose the size which give you no ease or an inch of negative ease.

Punto Hat
Punto Cowl

Punto ebook
Yarns Suggested: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Natural Colorway
Malabrigo Seleccion Privada in Code B Colorway
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm

New Pattern: Texo Pullover

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Texo (Latin word Texo for ‘weave, twine together’) is a take on the traditional crewneck pullover with a cabled pouch added for extra warmth for the hands. The cabled pouch adds interest and texture to the otherwise plain pullover. The i-cord edges on the pouch give it a neat finishing touch. The top-down seamless construction makes this an ideal pullover to try it on as you go and also to modify the body and sleeves length.

Ravelry Pattern: Texo Pullover by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Knit Picks Swish DK
Needle Size: US #5 3.75 mm for the body
US #7 4.5 mm for the cable pouch

New Pattern: Filo

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FILO are FIngerless GLOves with a simple and attractive all-over colowork pattern. FILO keep a toddler’s hands warm, leaving the fingers free for the child’s busy exploration. These unisex fingerless gloves are ideal for knitters who want to attempt colorwork since every row is knit with a single color. These are great stash busters to use up the left over sock yarn from other projects.

Ravelry Pattern: Filo by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Knit Picks Palette
Needle Size: US #3 3.25 mm

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.

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.

iPod cover knit in round

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This was my first project on double pointed needles. I got the basic pattern idea on the net (Can’t find the site now). It was a simple rectangle in a single color.

I learnt knitting on dpns from Knitting Help.  Amy’s video on dpns is very very helpful. It’s clear and easy enough to understand for a newbie like me.

After knitting a few rows, I got a hang of it. I thought a rectangle in the same color would be boring, so added two rows of a contrast color to spice it up a bit.  Result: a warm, cosy cover for my shining iPod.

I used this for a few days. I used to keep the iPod and the earphones together and my iPod was getting scratches because of this. So, I added a pouch to the rectangle. What you see is this version.

I want to add a flap with a button or Velcro.  This will make the cover complete.