Gratis Knits: Summer 2008

Hello friends. I'd like to introduce you to a lovely woman by the name of...

well to enhance her burgeoning fame, let us now call her:

Fabulous Farrah.(bling bling)
How I wish I had the mad-skills to make little diamond-dust sparkles erupt as you read her name. I can only manage a meager (bling bling).

Fabulous Farrah (bling bling), designed the Basket Weave Baby Hat for the wee ones of the world. Her original design was created out of Cascade 220 (my personal favorite work-horse yarn) but Fyberduck and I found the hat is just as elastic (great for growing noggins) in Rowan's All Season's Cotton.


For those not familiar with the blog, each quarter we in blog-land will rifle through submissions from you and post a free pattern to our readers (all two of you). In return the person whose submission was chosen receives (drumroll):

An Authentic Knit Purl gift card loaded (with our meager budget) to the hilt with gauranteed real, fifty American dollars!


That's right friends. No Samoleans, Whozits, Manants, or homemade coupons for free foot massages here. Real money to buy yarn.


That kind of added purchase power is like a drug. It makes people giddy with happiness. So much so that they are moving so fast they are blurry in photographs.


Also included is street cred folks. Without it (as we all know) you can't "throw down" in a Westside Story-esque Knit-off. People won't have documented proof of your mad skills, yo dawg!

Congratulations Fabulous Farrah(bling bling)!
Without further ado:

Basket Weave Baby Hat
By Farrah Weinert(bling bling)

Size:
Infant (Toddler)
[14” (16”) head circumference]

Yarn:
1 ball each of 2 colors of Rowan Cotton Purelife (100% Organic Cotton, 120m / 131y per 50g ball)
Colors shown: 986 (grey), 981 (white)

Supplies:
2 circular needles Size 3.25mm/ US3 (16”, 20”, or 24” will work) OR
Set of 5 3.25mm/ US3 DPNs
Tapestry needle

Gauge:
36 sts & 32 rows = 4” in “Basket Weave Pattern” (after blocking)
24 sts & 32 rows = 4” in st st

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K2, P2 Rib: (multiple of 4 sts)
Every rnd: *K2, P2* around.

Basket Weave Pattern: (multiple of 12 sts)

Rnds 1 & 2: (K10, P2) around
Rnds 3 & 4: (K2, P6, K2, P2) around
Rnds 5 & 6: (K10, P2) around
Rnds 7 & 8: (K4, P2, K6) around
Rnds 9 & 10: ([P2, K2] twice, P4) around
Rnds 11 & 12: (K4, P2, K6) around

Abbreviations:

MC Main color
CC Contrast color
DPN Double-pointed needle
CO Cast on
K Knit
P Purl
Sts Stitches
Rnd Round
K2tog Knit 2 sts together

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Brim:
With MC and first needle, CO 84 sts. Divide evenly between needles and join in rnd being careful not to twist sts.
Work in “K2, P2 Rib” for 1” (1 ½)”. [For a brim that folds up, work in rib for 2 ½” (3)”.]

Hat Body:
Work in Basket Weave Pattern” for 2”.
Change to CC and continue in pattern for 1”.

Crown Shaping:

Rnd 1: (K12, K2tog) around
Rnds 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12: K around
Rnd 3: (K11, K2tog) around
Rnd 5: (K10, K2tog) around
Rnd 7: (K9, K2tog) around
Rnd 9: (K8, K2tog) around
Rnd 11: (K7, K2tog) around
Rnd 13: (K6, K2tog) around
Rnd 14: (K5, K2tog) around
Rnd 15: (K4, K2tog) around
Rnd 16: (K3, K2tog) around
Rnd 17: (K2, K2tog) around
Rnd 18: (K1, K2tog) around
Rnd 19: K2tog around

Finishing:
Break yarn, leaving a 10” tail. Using the tapestry needle, draw tail through the remaining sts. Draw tight and weave in ends. Block lightly.

Little Bundle of Joy

I have a child.

Well, actually its not a child in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, its an entity with its own unique personality, moods, and thoughts irrespective of my own. It occasionally throws a fit, has problems in the middle of the night, does something rude to a customer, etc,etc.

I didn't actually "give birth" either. I inherited it, or was saddled with it depending upon which day you ask me. So I guess in some regards, I'm the nanny to our little bundle of joy: website.

Website and I are in the middle of "redesigning", a process similar to preparing for entry into a Manhattan prep-school. The process includes rephotographing yarns, transforming them from mug shots to glamor shots:










It also means my new office mate, "3M", is coding fast and furious trying to keep ahead of the random tantrums Website throws. He's like the child psychologist in this whole adventure.

Fyberduck and I are also developing promotional elements for the web as well. This would be the "dump-little-two-year-old-Maddison-into-music-and-dance-classes-so-we-can show-our-development-range" type of activities anxious parents succum to. So far the promotion includes our Sock club and Gratis Knits. However, I'd like to introduce our loyal readers (both of you) to our latest idea: a SKIF knit-a-long (KAL).

I've been a fan of the design line from SKIF since I first saw "The Matrix". As I watched the movie, I imagined a fashionable world filled with ankle-length black coats, form-fitting pleather, and heeled boots. Of course that really doesn't make the best post-apocolyptic "lounge about the ship" wear, so simple yet stylish knits are a must as well. Something with visual interest yet simple construction. Not too simple mind you. Something that evokes an image of a world traveler: designs that seem familiar but not like anything you've seen before. Designs like those from SKIF. Check out some of the pretty from SKIF's website:














Now, I tend to be a Burgerville kind of knitter. Good quality, relatively inexpensive fast-food (but in this case knitting). Socks, baby wear, hats, and scarves are the bulk of my knitting projects. I've knit my share of sweaters too, but the stash-beast is mostly made up of sock-weight yarns and knitting a sweater on a size one needle is more like a six-course meal knitting job.

The lovely thing about the SKIF patterns are they use multiple fine-guage yarns held together in construction. The effect creates a customized tweed fabric. Very yummy.

I am giddy with the thought of using the remnants of skeins left to languish in the stash-beast. The yarns are probably less than 30 yards each, but the yardage was just enough to keep me believing I would use them in a color-work project. Now they have a definate home.










I love the idea of unisex designs too. My Secret Gay Husband is trying to decide which design to knit.


















The official date for the KAL to begin is Tuesday, July 1st. Progress postings will commence thoughout the month in Blogland and we'll end Thursday, July 31st... maybe with a cat-walk at Sip and Stitch? (Sick, but that's the kind of disease we spread here.)

Muffin Top

In the midst of putting together July's newsletter, tech editing the Summer Gratis Knits pattern, and updating the website, The Blogger -

(Shown above, being camera-shy, with the final draft of the new Gratis Knits)

- and I realized something terrible...

We hadn't updated The Blog in over a month.

We're overdue several articles, we know - True Plies about Habu Fique and Rowan Cotton Purelife, gossip from TNNA, No Mean Feet updates - but there's one item we've been intending to bribe our readers with for some time.

A free pattern for the Muffin Cap I made with that Fleece Artist Blue-faced Leicester roving, circa April . Several members of the staff clearly had fun trying on the second cap I made with this pattern:

Sooo, in order to whet your appetite for the next Gratis Knits, below's a free pattern (written by moi and edited by The Blogger). Until our next update, look for the new Gratis Knits (and an exciting KAL announcement) next week!

~*~*~

A Very Basic Muffin Cap
by Sara Morris

Sizes
S (M, L)
Head circumference: 18 (20, 22)”

Materials

• 1 (1, 1) skein Fleece Artist BFL Aran
• US 9 (5.5mm) DPNs, set of 5.
• US 9 (5.5mm) circular needle, 16" long
• US 7 (4.5mm) circular needle, 16" long
• Stitch markers
• Tapestry needle

Gauge:
16 sts & 20 rows = 4” in St st

Abbreviations:

CO Cast on
Kf&b Knit into front and back of st
PM Place marker
Rnd round
St stitch
K knit
SM slip marker
Dec decrease
K2tog knit 2 together (dec one st)
BO bind off

~*~*~

Pip:
Using DPNs, CO 4 sts. Work in i-cord for 4 rows.

Crown increases:
Rnd 1: Kf&b every st (8 sts), PM to indicate start of rnd. Switch to knitting in the rnd by placing 2 sts on each of 4 needles.
Rnd 2: Kf&b every st (16 sts).
Rnd 3: K around.
Rnd 4: *K1, kf&b, PM* around (24 sts).
Rnd 5: K around.
Rnd 6: *K to 1 st before marker, kf&b, SM* across rnd (32 sts). (Note: when there are too many sts to fit on the DPNs, switch to larger circular needle)
Repeat Rnds 5 – 6 another 10 (11, 12) times, until there are 112 (120, 128) sts.

Body:
Continue to knit in the rnd, as established, for another 2 (2.5, 3)”. On last stockinette row, dec 4 (0, 2) sts evenly across for 108 (120, 126) sts.

Brim:
Prep rnd: Using smaller circular needle, *K1, k2tog* around for a total of 72 (80, 84) sts.
Rows 1 – 5: *K1, p1* around.
Row 6: work *K1, p1* BO.

Finishing:
Weave in ends and cinch in pip at top. Block the cap flat, smoothing out the decreases and body. Wear in cool weather!