Swatch! Swatch! Swatch! What can I do with them all??

Last month we discussed what to do with just a few swatches.  This month let's talk more about this.
Four is a great number of swatches and can be so very versatile.  What ideas can you come up with?  Here are things I came up with or have seen online over the years.

1. Book mark:  Like last month use thread.  Seam 3 as before.  Crochet with a tiny hook around the edges, starting in the center of one of the short sides.  When you meet back up with the edging, chain for 6 - 9 inches and go around the last square.  Now you have a dangle.  Keep the dangle for a fancy swatch!
2. Dishcloth:  Using cotton, create 4 swatches or granny squares.  Coordinate the patterns or colors.  Seam them in the shape of a square and edge or not as desired.  
3. Pillow cover:  Do you have a square sofa cushion that is worn on one side?  Create a dishcloth using yarns that work with your décor and in a size that will fit your pillow.
4. Hot water bottle cover:  Use your favorite yarns.  Make 4 squares that are about 8 inches.  Seam into a square, then fold in half.  Seam one short end and the long side.  Add a tie woven through the other short end.  Slide the hot water bottle in, fill and cinch closed.
5. Eyeglass case:  Use non scratchy yarns.  Seam together to create a two layer thick tube.  Seam one short side.  Add a clasp to the other end if desired.
6. Doll blanket:  Depending on the size of the doll, seam the swatches together in a square shape.  The swatches should be a little more than the width of the doll.  This way the doll can stay warm.
7. Hot mat:  Need a larger mat to protect the table?  Platters for the holiday turkey, goose or ham require a larger hot mat/trivet than is generally available.  For this you will need to use cotton or wool yarn and several layers of felt.  Make your swatches 6 - 10 inches square.  Seam 2 together for each side.  Layer together with the felt in the center.  Seam or crochet around the outer edge.  Don't use acrylic yarn as it can melt depending on how hot your platter, pan, or baking dish is.

Review :: Bee Count An Android App

This is a stitch count/row counter with the ability to keep track of pattern repeats, stitch repeats.  New projects can be added.  New items can be added to existing projects.

**WARNING**

Be sure to SAVE your additions, editing, changes before downsizing to answer your phone, if used on your phone, or check time or anything else.  If you don't, you will lose whatever you put in.

I found this out the hard way.  I went to answer a local call only to find it was a telemarketing call and that I lost my additions to my new project.

A Year of Stitches week 7

Week 7

Knit stitch

Crochet stitch

This is a relative of the stitch from week 6.  In week 6 the bump was more vertical.  Week 7 will be horizontal.

Ch 21.
R1:  sc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across.
R2:  ch 1, sc in first st, *sk 1, trtr in next st,  sc in skipped st working behind the trtr,  ch1, sc in next st. Rep from the * to the end, ending with sc in the last st.
R3:  ch 1, sc in first st, * sk 1, trtr in next st,  sc in skipped st working in front of trtr, ch 1, sc in next st. Rep from the * to the end.  The last 2sts are sc.

Repeat R2 and R3 for desired length.

Knit stitch

I  came across this stitch pattern and am enthralled.   It is simplicity.  It works with any number of stitches.  Who doesn't love that.  It's almost enough to be a welt.

Double garter stitch

Cast on 20 stitches.

R1: knit
R2: purl
R3: purl
R4: knit

Repeat these 4 rows to the desired length.

Knit & Crochet Before the Yarn

Have you ever stopped to consider your yarn?  What is it?  How did it get into this usable form that we love?

Yarn, whether it's animal based, plant based, or petroleum based, is made of fiber that are spun. They are all treated roughly the same after a certain point.  

Animal based yarns are almost always made from the hair that is combed from, cut from or shed by the animal in question.  The only exception I can come up with is silk which is from silk worms.  The part used is the cocoon.  All animal fibers must be cleaned from veg matter.  Veg matter is bits of twigs, weeds, seeds and any other plant matter that becomes stuck in the hair as well as more unsavory items which we won't go into.  This last part is usually cut off in a process called skirting.

Plant based are actual parts of the plant.  I have not done much with plant fibers on the processing side.  I have done quite a bit with cotton on the knit, crochet, sewing and quilting sides. I'm working with linen and hemp.  I'd like to try other plant fibers but finding them locally is not so easy.  The plants are prepared according to their type which varies due to the part of the plant used.

The petroleum based yarns might have been originally mixed in test tubes but they are now mixed in vats.  These are designed to mimic various plant or animal yarn characteristics. The chemicals are mixed and fibers are created.

Now is the time when all varieties are treated the same, more or less.  The fibers or hairs are combed as needed to align them all nice and neat.  Now depending on the final yarn you are looking for, the fibers are separated into smaller and smaller sections (called pre-drafting, I think) and twist them.  This is spinning.  It can be done by drop spindle, foot powered spinning wheel or electric spinning wheel or in a commercial setting on huge machines that do multiple strands at a time.  The twisted fiber is wrapped on the shaft of the drop spindle or onto a bobbin on the spinning wheel.  This is called a singles.  Yes with an s.  Multiple singles are still called singles.  I don't know why.  I'm a beginner and have not asked all my questions yet to my teacher.  However, the twist creates friction on the fibers helping them to not just float apart.  To create even stronger yarn the singles can be combined with more singles and then they become plies.  Plies are twisted together in the opposite direction of the singles twist.  This makes the yarn stronger and helps prevent breaking.

So, in addition to purchasing new yarn or reclaiming yarn from finished garments that don't fit or flatter you, you can create your own from fibers from animals and plants.  The petroleum based fibers are not available to the home spinner, that I have found.  I don't know if we'd want to spin them if they were.  But I don't know that for sure.  All I can say is I wouldn't want to utilize them. 

A Year of Stitches week 6

Week 6 of a year in stitches series and I'm brought to a movie reference. I'm a fan of Sean Connery movies.  I was watching "A Hunt for the Red October ".  Way back in the 80s, many knitters were enamored with Alex Baldwin's sweater .

So to that end, the basics of the sweater.

Cast on a multiple of 8.  All the cuffing of the sweater is 2x2 ribbing.

Cast on 24.

R1-4: * k2, p2.  Repeat to the end.
R5: * k6, p2.  Repeat to the end.
R6: * k2, p6.  Repeat to the end.
Repeat these 2 rows until the piece measures 3.25 inches.
Now repeat R1-4. Bind off in pattern.

The original sweater was done in natural wool in sport weight.  The pattern for this sweater an be found at
www.woolworks.org/patterns/jackryan.txt

Crochet stitches

This is a multiple of 2 plus 1 stitches.

Ch 26.

R1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, * dtr in next st,  sc in next st.  Repeat from *to the end. Turn.
R2: ch 1, sc in each st.  Turn.
R3: ch 1, sc, * sc in next st, dtr in next st.  Repeat to the last 2 sts, sc in last 2 sts.
R4: rep R4.
R5: ch 1, * sc, dtr. Repeat from * to the end,  end with sc.

Repeat R2 - R5 for desired length. Then repeat R2.

This produces a loopy fabric with lots of texture

A Year of Stitches week 5

Back to the stitches.

Week 5 knit

This is a multiple of 10 stitches.   I have a parallelogram knit and purl stitch. It looks best done in a multitude of the stitch multiple.

Cast on 30 or any other multiple of 10.

R1: RS :: * k5, p5. Repeat from * to the end.
R2: WS :: k4, * p5, k5. Repeat from * to the end, ending k1
R3: p2, * k5, p5. Repeat from * to the end, ending p3.
R4:  k2, * p5, k5. Repeat from *to the end, ending k3
R5:  p4, * k5, p5.  Repeat from *to the end, ending p1.
R6: * p5, k5. Repeat from * to the end.
Repeat these 6 rows to the desired length.

Crochet week 5

This is a multiple of 5 stitches plus 4.  This is a lacy shell stitch using double crochet and chain stitches.

For the swatch, ch 24.

R1:  dc in 5th ch from hook (counts as dc, ch 1), * sk 4 ch, in the next st (dc, ch 1) 3x, dc. Repeat from *to the end, ending with dc, ch 1, dc in top of ch 3.  Turn.
R2: ch 4, * in center ch 1 space of next  shell,  (dc, ch 1) 3x dc. Repeat from * to the end,  ending dc, ch 1, dc in top of last dc

Repeat R2 for desired size.

My latest distraction

A new granddaughter is coming.  She's due in April.  What's a grandma to do?  Knit and crochet and embroider of course.

This is a baby surprise jacket hopefully done in time.  I'm on the last of the decreases.  I'm using red heart super saver in pink camo on size 4.5mm circular needles. I think this looks more like a rose bush my mom had when I was a child.  

Also in the works is a fleece blanket embroidered with butterflies.  A bib I will be embroidering with owls. A fleece jacket I'm planning more butterflies for.