Knitting and Toddlers

I know some of you will understand from first hand experience. Other people will empathize. 

Currently I am packing up my house to move. Circumstances dictate this move. However,  my husband has packed all (or what he thought was all) of my yarn. From the various rooms and closets comes more.  

Our home also houses our son and his daughter.  The packing and boxes make for a very unsettled toddler. We adults understand that and try to accommodate her. 

Thus when we found a cake or bernat blanket stripes with knitting and needles that you as escaped being boxed up, I just let it be. It has a beginning of a blanket for said granddaughter. She likes to touch and play with everything she sees,  like all little ones. I was not afraid of her handling it.  I did have some concerns when she tasted the wood needles. She doesn't need splinters. 

This yarn doesn't run. It needs a lot of encouragement. The needle removal happened two days ago. I have not had time to put them back in the blanket. When I tried to get the needles she didn't want to give them up. The more I asked the more she wavered between the evil little look that says I know exactly what I'm doing and the cranky child crying no because Mimi is supposed to be knitting and the boxes that are everywhere are more than she can handle. 

I have a feeling it will get boxed up with more yarn found in one of the bedrooms. As for our little granddaughter, stories and songs and her "babies" will suffice until the move is complete and I can finish this project. 

She will learn she is loved no matter where we are.  

October is National Domestic Violence Month

Domestic violence affects more people than we know. It affects women and children primarily.   We can't overlook the men either.  Domestic Violence knows no boundaries.  It crosses all social norms, economic layers, genders.  

The violence takes four basic forms, physical,  mental/emotional,  sexual  and neglect.   It serves to strip a person of their dignity and self respect.  It causes physical wounds large and small. It causes mental and emotional wounds that persist as long as the person is alive.

A way to help the victims is to give them the courage and capability to make choices. Offer your services to the local domestic violence service. What do you do well? It's possible that for security and privacy the offer will be refused.  Don't take it personally.  See what needs you can fill. Most people who land in the DVI do so without basic necessities due to having to leave in a hurry.  Clothes to suit the season can be met by knitting and crocheting or purchasing things.  Use current fashionable colors or neutrals that can work with a wide range of color choices.   Clothes to fit a variety of jobs are very useful and welcome. Perhaps cleaning out some of your gently used items can help.

One of the things I like to offer is a fashionable accessory.  I offer a variety of warm hat, scarf, and mitten or glove sets.  I also like to offer a scarf that can be used to dress up some basic clothes for those in professional jobs.

Here is a hat idea that can fit a child or adult.

CO 60 using a double strand of worsted weight or a strand of bulky weight (5) yarn on a size 10 1/2US 16 inch circular needle.  PM before joining to work in the round.

Rd 1:  * K 2nd st on left needle, do not remove, k 1st st on left needle, remove both.  P2.  Rep from * to marker.
Rd 2:  * k2, p2.  Rep from around. 

Rep Rd 1 & 2 until there are 7 inches.

  *k2, p2tog.  Rep from * around.  K2, p1 for 2 rds. * k2tog, p1.  rep from * around.  K1, p1 for 2 rds.  k2tog around.  Divide remaining stitches in thirds and work each section in 5 inches of Icord.  Braid or leave separated. 

A fashionable scarf/cowl can be a fine accessory to cover a neckline that might be a little too low or to add warmth or hide bruising from prying eyes that don't need to know the intimate details of a person's life.

I like the South bay shawlette from Lion Brand yarn.  

https://m.lionbrand.com/item/313137313331

I also like this simple one. It can use any weight yarn and the hook you usually use or a size bigger. 

Have you ever.....

I know, I know. That's a very leading question.  But it was sparked by a desire to use up all the yardage for a blanket. 

You may or may not know about the math that can be used to figure out how much to keep for the binding off process.   I am not in a good place to do that math. Numbers are not my friend right now. So I thought about it as I went about life.

My idea is to knit until I get just a couple of inches left.  I will then take a crochet hook and starting with the next stitch, pull the second stitch through the first. I will repeat the process to the last stitch with a couple of inches of tail. Then I will invisibly join and see the ends down.

In my mind this should work just like a regular plain bind off.  It should not pull the edge tight.

OK I tried it.  It worked great. The only thing I did not do was sew down the ends. This crochet hook method took longer than a regular bind off but not much.

However the edge did pull in and was tight. I don't think this will be a problem on finer knits. But the size 13 needles and one and a half stitches to the inch definitely need a more stretchy bind off.

An Update and a pattern

So much has happened in my corner of the world. 

Early April saw me teaching during a festival of the arts to 8th grade students.  I may have said about this event previously.  The students were a joy.  I will be looking forward to this next year.

April also saw my older son and daughter in law home for a visit over Easter.  They got to relax and we got to spend time together as a family, something that happens too infrequently.  Looking for ideas for their next visit has been fun in the few free minutes I have.

No sooner did they leave to go back home than my younger son moved home again and brought his daughter.  Good thing he did it at the time he did as he was on the verge of being hospitalized with strep.  Round the clock rest, antibiotics, and care were the order of the day.  Having a baby in the house again has been a joy, good for a waistline, and just plain fun.  Ok the floors could stand a mopping more often, but that is a small price to pay.

We've had quite a few trials and tribulations with my mother in law recently.  As an aging woman, who is too stubborn  for her own good, she brings some of her issues on herself but most are just results of aging.  She is exceptionally lucky that she didn't break anything during her falls.  Some of the issues we (as a family) have been able to rectify.  Others will take some retraining.

My church's festival was in early June.  Due to an elderly congregation, there are few to do the heavy lifting of the festival.  There's more than one type of heavy lifting.  We have a rehabilitation facility we can call for the literal heavy lifting.  The heavy lifting of chairing the various festival parts is just falling by the wayside.  Those who have done it for decades are mostly unable any longer.  But for all that, this year's festival was a success.  The other churches had good weather so I have high hopes they also had successful festivals.

Recently (ok 3 or 4 years ago), we found a muzzle loading faire.  This is designed for those who do reenactments of the 1700s to mid 1800s.  Some of the people build their own weapon.  Some of the people make their own clothes and all the other accoutrements of the era.  As this is a destination type event, some of the ladies decided to do a ladies in waiting group.  Here the ladies and children learn the crafts of day to day living.  Things like weaving, spinning, open fire cooking, and more esoteric like needlepoint and tatting and ice cream making without a churn are the order of the day.  This year I taught foundation piecing and straw weaving.  Always a fun activity.  The straw weaving is like inkle loom weaving except larger scale and designed for kids.

Immediately after this was my knitting guild's retreat for summer.  Sadly I didn't get to attend.  My family experienced a loss.  My husband's uncle died.  It was not totally unexpected but still a devastation.  Thankfully the retreat could go on without me.

Finally, I have figured out early what to do for my grandchildren for Christmas.  This is a struggle most years.  Each child will get a hand knit blanket.  I was helped along by a good sale at my local Joann's.  The sale was on Bernat Blanket yarn.  That will help with the time element and the fact that I have 5 beautiful grandbabies (ok some are in elementary school).  Each one will be different and individualized.  The first one is center out.  I'm on the 2nd ball.  I have a gauge of 1.5 sts per inch and 2.5 rows per inch.

The basic pattern for a simple square blanket.

size 13 circular needles.

Cast on 8 stitches with a magic circle.

K 1 rd, pm after every 2nd st.  Make the first corner where you start the round different.
Kfb around.
K1 rd.
* Kfb, k2, kfb, sl m.  Rep from *
**K 1 rd.
*Kfb, to last st before marker, kfb, sl m.  Rep from *.

Rep from ** until you reach the size desired or you run out of yarn.  Bind off loosely.

Weave in ends.  Sew fast with a needle and thread if you are using the same yarn as I am.  The ends will worm through with use.

Joining granny squares

Recently I have had a chance to do a really thorough perusal of part of my studio. I had help moving a majority of stuff to another room.  For that I'm grateful.  Yarn skein by skein isn't heavy.   Yarn in tubs and cubbies are enormously heavy.   But in my moving and opening every bag,  box,  containers of who knew what, I found a bunch of granny squares. I even remember being given the squares.   

Three dozen are shades of blue with red(ish) centers. Another dozen and a half are not that size and are done in shades of brown.  Still another dozen and a half are again not the same as the other two sizes, nor are they shades of any one color.  These ones are mixed centers with a round of tan. 

I'm using the blue squares and a granny join with a light silvery blue yarn from Lion Brand Vanna's Choice.  I laid the squares out in a rectangular shape. 

Being a right handed crocheter,  I started on the right side with a standing double crochet in the right top corner of the bottom row of squares. I then went to the bottom right corner of the square just above and worked 3 double crochets.  I moved back to the first square and worked 3 more double crochet in the first chain one space.  Back to the top square and 3 double crochet stitches in the chain one space. 

I continue across the rows moving back and forth. When the end of the row is reached, a single double crochet in the top row bottom left corner. 

When all the rows are done going from side to side, I'll turn it 90* and repeat. At the junction a slip stitch between the two groups of 3 double crochets will keep it tidy. 

I plan to add more granny squares around the outside edges equally.   The goal for this is to go to a homeless shelter. 

Teddy Bears for Babies

Years ago a women's magazine had craft projects that were good sellers for bazaars.  They might have been at one time but not any more. I was a very young knitter looking through my mother's magazines. This is when patterns were still a part of the regular line up of features. 

One of the things that stuck with me over the decades was the cat/bear/bunny stuffed animal. I always wanted to make a bunch of them for my future children and for sale. It turned out, selling them for a profit was next to impossible. Being young and not having a large extended family, it was considered strange to make them for children that might never be.

The animals have the same basic body and head until you get to the ears.  Sew across the corners or add triangles or tubes to differentiate.  However,  I've been dissatisfied with it for a long time. The first issue I have with it is the loose gauge.  Size 8 US needles and worsted weight yarn is fine and dandy for a sweater.  It is not fine for stuffed toys.  The fluff stuffed inside shows through or worse migrates out.  The next issue I have is the lack of neck.  The original pattern has 1x1 ribbing for the neck for a few rows. Stuff these with any amount of firmness and the neck expands.  The pattern countered with a ribbon tied around the neck.  This becomes a choking hazard for very young children and just doesn't work well.  Another issue is the attachment for the arms.  They are just sewn on in the approximate location of the shoulders.

What do I like about it??   Quite a lot actually.  The pattern is so memorable that decades later I can tell you the basic pattern.  It seamed up the inside of each leg, then seam up the middle of the back of the body and head and across the top of the head and ears. It's also worked in garter stitch  for the most part, if you want.  It's easy enough to adapt the legs to wear pants or shorts,  the arms to long sleeves or short. I even worked it out for a dress.  I would do the arms as a 4 needle bind off instead of sewing them, but that is more not wanting to sew them on die to laziness.

The reason I am revisiting the pattern is because of my granddaughter who lives local to me.  We see her quite a bit more than any of the other kids.  She needs toys to play with at Nana and grandpa's house.  I'm in favor of kids having to use their imaginations.   I am also a firm believer that soft toys should be soft. That's not really what I found at the local stores.  

So let's get started.

I suggest worsted weight yarn or bulky weight yarn 1 skein of each color you intend to use, body color,  pants color,  shirt color.  If you don't want your animals wearing clothes, make it 1 color.  Use needles half the size normally used for this yarn. I'm using US 7 or 4.5mm with bulky weight yarn. You can use smooth yarn or textured,  just not eyelash or similar yarn. 

For each leg,  cast on 16 sts. Knit 10 rows.  Is it wearing pants?  Change color, knit 12 rows in stockinette stitch or 22 rows in garter. If this toy isn't wearing pants, k 22 rows.  If this animal is wearing shorts,  you determine where the shorts start, change color and work until you have the correct number of rows.  Make 2 legs.

To start the body,  work across both legs in the same color and stitch as the top of the legs. Knit 5 rows of stockinette stitch or 8 rows of garter stitch. Is it wearing a shirt?  Change to the shirt color and k 11 rows stockinette stitch or 20 rows of garter stitch.  If it's not dressed,  continue with body color and stitch.

Shoulders to neck.  Continue with body color and stitch,  k 5, k2tog,  k 2, k2tog,  k10,  k2tog,  k 2, k2tog,  k5.  Continue with body Color and stitch,  k4,  k2tog,  k2,  k2tog,   k8,  k2tog, k2,  k2tog,  k4.

Neck to head.   Change to the main animal color if needed. K4,  kfb,  k2,  kfb,  k8,  kfb,  k2,  kfb,  k4. Turn, k5,  kfb, k2,  kfb,  k10,  kfb,  k2,  kfb,  k5.

Head.   K 10 Row. 

Ears. Bear  K 7 rows.  Bind off.

Cat.   K 10, turn, * k2tog,  k4,  k2tog,   turn,  k2tog, k2,  k2tog,  turn,  k2tog,  k2tog.  Bind off.  ** With right side facing, attach yarn to stitch next to the ear, k to the end.  Repeat from * to **.

Bunny.   K 10, turn,  * **k5,  turn, repeat ** 6 times,  k2tog,  k1,  k2tog.  Bind off. *+.  With right side facing,  repeat * to *+.

Seam and stuff. Fold legs in half lengthwise.  Sew  across the foot and up the inseam. Repeat for the second leg.  Stuff the legs.

Sew up the center back and head.  Stuff the body before the head is seamed.  Stuff the head before seaming for ears.

Sew across the top of the head and each ear. Stuff the ears before the final closure.

For bear, sew diagonally to "cut off" each corner at the top of the head 4 rows (2 ridges if garter stitch) down and 4 stitches in from the edge.

For Arms.  Repeat the leg instructions to the last 2 rows. K1,  k2tog, k3, (k2tog)2x, k3 , k2tog,  k1, turn,  k1, k2tog, k1, (k2tog) 2x,  k1,  k2tog k1, substitute shirt color for pants for color.   Determine if you want long or short sleeves.  Fold in half to match leg.  Seam across hand and up the arm.  Stuff to same firmness of body.  Seam shoulder. Sew to the body just below the first row of decreases on each side.

Update to the Masters

At long last, I am finished with my swatches.  I am finished with the written portions.

I had sent in the whole portfolio.  My first reviews came back.  There were a few that needed redoing.  There were many that needed the finishing redone.  I had taken finishing techniques from various decades of books in my library of books.  What was considered acceptable in one time period isn't in the next.  It's amazing how many different ways there have been in the last hundred years to weave ends, seam, even work the stitches.  On a working vacation I redid all that were required to be redone.   The newest way to finish is to make the ends disappear.

I sent in the corrections.  There is one overlying theme that I discovered about my crocheting.  It has become a problem as I get older.  Perhaps it is also one for you.  I have trouble following a written pattern when the lines of text are close together.  My eyes jump over lines.  They are perhaps helped along by the bifocals I wear.

There are several methods I can use to fix this.  If I don't fix it, none of my patterns will be right.

1.  I can (and do) rewrite each row in larger letters and spaced further apart.
2.  I can read aloud each row as I execute.
3.  I can chart on graph paper the written directions.
4.  I can use 1 line width highlighter tape and put it every other row.
5.  I can use a chart keeper of some sort to underline each line of text in the row.
6.  I can and do compare my work with the picture of the object.  Most have a finished object picture.
7.  I can count my stitches and for the few patterns that have a final stitch count per row, compare mine to the pattern.