Vampire Knits

I'm giving myself a challenge.  I want to knit my way through the pattern book, Vampire Knits. By no means is this a new book, but I have had it for a few years and have pined over so many of the projects in that book that I HAVE to knit more from it.

 

Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller was copywritten in 2010, so 3 years ago, this book came out about the time Twilight and all of that was the rage.  It is cleverly written with vampire folklore, quizzes related to dark characters like werewolves and vampires with each project having a very calculated name with a brief summary of why it was chosen.  This is a story, not just a book of patterns and pictures.

 

I have actually already knitted from this book.  My Shapehifter Shrug is from this book.

• Shapeshifter Shrug - Part 1
• Shapeshifter Shrug - Part 2
• Shapeshifter Shrug - Part 3  

 

 

 

In that pic, I'm wearing it like Little Red Riding Hood, but it shows how cool the weaved pattern looks.  Here is a pic from the book:

 

 

I am going to do a count down with the ones from the book that I want to make.  The count down will be from the one I love the most down through the book, but it does not mean that I will knit them in that order.  I can't predict what I will be feeling like when it comes time to knit, so I will go with the flow and knit out of order as the mood strikes.

 

Here is my Top 9 (I already knitting one, so it really is a Top 10 list...)

 

Lore Hoodie

 

I have been in love with this project for-ev-ver.  This is what I should have knitting first, but I always talked myself out of it because it was a sweater with a hood that is not very Florida-like, calling for 100% wool.  Well, screw it!  I am going to knit this one with a more Florida-friendly yarn, like a cotton-acrylic or acrylic-wool blend.  My local knit shop has a yarn that I see each and every time I go in there and it screams, "Lore Hoodie!" at me.  I cannot resist much longer!  Help! 

 

Sidhe Shrug

 

This shrug is something that is a bit more practical for Florida.  Just two arms, with all the A/C around here, wearing tank-tops and spaghetti straps makes these shrugs a necessity!

 

The Black Veil

 

This scarf is so pretty!  One of it's features is these picots all the way around the edge.  I have attempted to knit this a few times now, but cannot seem to have the correct gauge/correct weight of yarn.  I do not know why I am not getting gauge, but I will just break down and buy the yarn it calls for and the guessing will be over. 

 

Vampire Diary Protector

 

This is not practical for me, but I love it so!  It makes me want to keep a journal, but I'm not going to fool myself, I won't write in it.  I should make it big enough so that it covers a 3-ring-binder that I place my printed patterns in.  That is much bigger than this book, though.  I will have to see about what it can go on before I take the plunge and cast-on.

 

Under the Cover of Midnight Hooded Cowl

 

No, she is not a conjoined twin.  Ha!  This is even more unpractical in Florida than the Lore Hoodie.  I may have to knit this as a gift for a Northener, or I use it when I make my annual trek to Mass to visit my family.  It would beat having a scarf and a hat. I love the cables and how snuggly it looks.  If it was knit with an alpaca blend...I would die for it!  Just Maybe...

 

Pulse Protectors

 

I really like the fingerless gloves better than the throat cover (cowl).  Cables are so striking with yarn that had great stitch definition, that you just want to wear them...even if it doesn't go with your shorts and tank-top.  Alas, most likely this will be a gift.  I cannot really see myself wearing them around here, but one day out of the year.  That won't stop me from knitting them, though!

 

Rampage Fishnet Gloves

 

I attempted this project back when I bought this book.  I ordered the special yarn with elastic in it and everything.  I could not even cast-on!  I think that I was trying to do too many things: A new cast-on, elastic yarn, in the round, and trying Magic Loop.  Too much!!!  I may revisit this again, these are really cool.  They are like evening glove length and then you weave a red ribbon at the end.  Very dramatic.

 

Werewolf Hat

 

This is a felted hat with ears.  How cute is this!?  I clearly will never wear it, but it is so hard to resist the temptation of knitting it!  Maybe I can give it as a gift to a kid, just knit it smaller.  I know there are some Team Jacob's on my Christmas list!

 

Glamour Earrings

 

These are like dripping blood.  I would have to go to the bead store and see what they have, but maybe I could just loosely use this pattern as a guide, because the odds of me finding these beads are very slim.  This looks like a simple project; it calls for DMC thread.  Oh boy, do I have embroidery thread...3 cases of it.

 

That concludes my Top 9 list of pattern projects in the Vampire Knits book.  I can't say that this will be an easy feat or that I will stick to only knitting these projects.  I have magazine subscriptions and I fall in love so easily with every pattern that it will be hard to stay on-track.

 

No way will I knit any of these items quickly.  Quickly and knit do not belong in the same sentence when it is pertaining to me and knitting.  I love the craft, but I'm just not that fast with it.  I wonder how long it will take me to knit all 9 of these projects???  Let the counting begin...



Off-the-Shoulder T-shirt

This project was inspired by my enthusiasm for UFC and a particular MMA fighter, Georges St-Pierre (GSP).  Yes, it is true and I do not hide it, I like watching cage fighting!  Atypical for a knitter and sewer to enjoy a little violence?  Maybe, but just be sure that you can never judge a book by its cover!  Ha, ha.

If you do not know much about UFC, it stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship and it is a fighting association and MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts which is a collective term for various styles of martial arts, such as Greco-Roman wrestling, judo, boxing and jujitsu (many more, but you get the idea) combined together to make one sport.

Now, the point of this project is to honor my favorite fighter, GSP.  He is from Montreal, Canada and has been fighting in UFC since 2004.  He is currently the Welterweight champion and every fight he fights, is to defend his title.  In short, he rocks!

Ohh la la!

Anyway, enough ogling over him and back to the project.  Last Saturday night on Pay-Per-View he fought against Jake Shields and he defended his title (although, admittedly, it was a bit boring, but still a good show).  So I wanted to make something with the letters "GSP" on it.  I have been liking the off-the-shoulder style that is retro-ing back from the Flashdance days.

So, I went to a thrift store in Tampa and bought a red t-shirt for $1.50.  With this t-shirt I cut the edges off and trimmed the neckline.


Chopped!


Now, something to keep in mind when you trim the neck to be off-the-shoulder: trim little by little.  Start with trimming the neckline midway on the shoulder (halfway between the neck and the sleeve seam on the shoulder), following the curve of the neck.  Try it on then adjust the one shoulder you want to hang off gradually.  You can cut too much.  You might want to try it on a junk t-shirt first.

For my lettering, I went online and pulled up an alphabet in a font that I envisioned.  It didn't want it to be too fancy because I have to cut them out with scissors.  Once I chose my font, I increased the zoom on the screen to 400%.  I took some tissue paper (not just for gift-wrapping!) and pencil and traced the letter from my computer onto the tissue.  I did this for a G, S, P and a fleur-de-lis.  Since he is French-Canadian and he has a fleur-de-lis tattoo on his calf, I figured I'd go with it.

Trace letters to use as a cutting guide

Once all the letters and symbol were traced, I took a junk t-shirt and pinned the tissue-paper letter to the t-shirt.  I will sew these letters onto the front of the red t-shirt.

Gimme a G!  Go GSP!

I cut along the penciled letter and then repeated it for the other letters and my symbol.  Once they were all cut out I arranged them in different ways to see what would look best.  I just chose the simplest layout.

That fleur-de-lis was a pain to cut out!

I placed the G on the red t-shirt first and pinned it.  I wanted it to look like a varsity jersey with the letters curling after washing to give it a broken-in look.


I sewed just on the inside of the perimeter of the letter

I sewed each letter and the symbol as in my original lay-out and viola!  Fini!


J'aime GSP!

I was still in my pj's when I completed this, so I will model without showing my head (trust me, my hair was a mess)!


Bed shirt or can I wear it in public?


Not sure if I will wear it out anywhere, but it is comfortable and girlie.  Now, does it look like an 8th grade Home Ec project...Yes.  Do I love it anyway...Yes!  I am considering Be-Dazzling it, but not sure.  I will post-script a new pic if I ever get around to it!