Knitting for Charity

It is that time of year where I am sewing and knitting for charity.  The company that I work for participates in the American Cancer Society, Relay For Life event each year.  We start fundraising in October, leading up to the event in April.

The way I have chosen to raise money is to do clothing mending, sewing challenges and knitting coffee cup cozies (or bottle cozies), however you want to use them.

I wrote previously about the coffee cup cozies in these posts:

• Coffee Cup Cozies
• More Coffee Cup Cozies

I have knitted up about 20 or more of them and sold about 15 of them!  I started out knitting them sort of plain, with the self-striping yarns, to keep it simple.  Well, if you know me at all, then you know I can never keep something simple.  I started making cables and making them in sport team colors with horizontal stripes.

If you would like you very own, custom knitted cozy, please email me at moxiebrown25@yahoo.com.  The price of the cozies are $5, but if you are out-of-town, then $6 (to cover the cost of shipping).  You choose your color(s), style & size!

If you would like to donate to a great cause, please go to my Relay Homepage! 

Tampa Bay Rays

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Seattle Seahawks & Denver Broncos

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Pink & White Stripes

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Zebra for Carcinoid Cancer

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Ministripes for Small Cups

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Mini Cables in a Solid Color

 

I'm having a great time knitting these up.  They are great on your coffee cup, water bottle or glass bottle!  Let me know what you like!!  Help support a great cause!

 

Thank you to those that have supported me and bought a cozy already! :-)



Ruby Shoulders

Our work holiday party was this month, January.  My friend gifted me a cute maroon velvet skirt and black sequins tank top.  I want to wear this to the holiday party.  I know that the air conditioning will be on or the night air may be cool.  I wanted to knit up the Sidhe Shrug from Vampire Knits pattern book.  I wrote about my challenge in this post as #2:

• Vampire Knits

My challenge is to knit my way through that book.  I love that book!  Anyway, I went to the yarn shop to get yarn for this project, but giving the fact that I was only just starting the week of Christmas, it was unlikely that I would knit a lacy long-sleeved shrug in a few weeks.

Instead, I bought a unique hank of yarn that is a combo of several different novelty yarns tied end-to end to make this one hank.

This is Alp Dazzle (Mixed Content), hand tied yarn by Feza yarns.  This yarn is made in Turkey.  This is not cheap yarn, but since one skein will make one decent sized shawl, I bought it.  I figured, the outfit was free, my shoes were free (had credit at the store, so no money spent), so, to spend money on this yarn, I felt okay with it.

Vince was a good sport and held the yarn while I balled it up.  The shop owner told me that the ball winder does not do a good job winding this yarn.  I will take her word for it and just ball it.  Even though Vince was not convinced that it could not be wound on the winder. 

I am using size 13 circ needles.  The pattern is simply, cast-on 20 stitches (if you want a triangle point, only cast-on 3 sts.  Knit each row (garter).  At the beginning of each row, increase by 1 (Make 1).  The shawl will grow and grow.  Knit until you run out of yarn.  Simple!

I started it as a rounded edge and I did not like it.  I unraveled it and made it a triangle.  It is very eclectic.  I did this much watching movies with Vince one evening.  I needed an easy project that would work up fast.  

This is the completed shawl.  It self-stripes, you just knit and it does all the work!

 A few samples of how different, but alike each yarn type is.  Comes out very elegant.

Here is me at the holiday party, trying to be a model...I really should not quit my day job...

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The shawl was a big hit and it came in handy under the chilly weather we have been having.  Thank you, Crystal, for a super-cute outfit.  That was a big hit, too! 



Ice Cream Cozies

For the ladies at work, I wanted to knit them all an ice cream cozy.  I had previously knitted one and gave to my friend and she loved it!  Here is that post:

• Ben Ice Cream Cozy

I have 6 ladies at work and I assume they all love ice cream.  Perfect!  I started out by buying a bunch a different, vibrant colors of yarn at Joann's:

 

I chose Deborah Norville's Everyday Soft Worsted (100% Acrylic).  The colors I went with were, clock-wise from top:

• Electric Green
• Aubergine (Purple)
• Baby Yellow
• Wild Blue
• Neon Pink
• Snow White

Here are the finished cozies:

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Once I was done knitting those, I decided to make 2 more, one each for Vince's daughters:

 

 

 

When I gave my work friends their cozy, I also had a cooler full of pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  They each got to pick out their flavor.  I will do the same for Vince's daughters.

 

I do still owe the friend I originally knitted one up for at least one more.  She has two daughters, so, I will probably knit up two more.  These make the best gifts!

 

What is your favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream??  Share your thoughts in the comments!

 

Mine is Chunky Monkey (Phish Food is a close second) :-)





More Coffee Cup Cozies

I have knitted a total of 7 coffee cup cozies for the Relay for Life Charity I spoke about in an earlier post:

• Coffee Cup Cozies

Here are some of the other finished ones:

I thought this one was going to look a bit dated, 1980's or something, but I really like it.  I has a nice stretch to it.  I held two different strands together.

 

I tried doing a horizontal cable and the cable pattern was too elongated for my liking.  Eh, not so much on this one.  I can definitely can improve this design.

This is my second attempt at cables and I really like it!  This is actually a cable made without a cable needle.  Very clever, I will not reveal the secret stitch just yet.  This is one of my favorites.  Since it is cabled, I can charge a little more for it.

I have made a few of this style already.  This one is cotton self-striping yarn that I had in my stash.  Each one will stripe a bit different.  It has an ombre look to it.  Very chic.

I had a yard sale a few weeks ago and here is me modeling my coffee cup cozie:

I was totally working it!

 

I bought one ball of yarn to knit more with (I will use the rest of the yarn from my stash).  It was Bernat Mosaic in Psychadelic (100% acrylic):

 

 

How cool is that?!  I think they were emulating Noro yarns, which have extremely vivid, saturated colors.  I made one with this and each one will end up looking completely different due so the vast color differences in the skein.

 

 

I made two cozies from the rainbow yarn and here is the other one:

So, they will have completely different colors.  Neat-o!

A fellow Relay for Life crafter let be use some of her Red Heart Super Saver to knit some up.  At first I poo-pooed the Red Heart, but they came out really neat.

This one is also Red Heart.  Excellent elastic memory, I do have to admit.  How fun!:

The last one I have made, then I will see how they sell, is a another cabled one:

I'm taking orders!  Let me know what idea you have for my next Relay for Life craft project!

Fetching Fingerless Gloves

I finally started and finished a project in the same month (of the same year)!  Hooray!

I knitted a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend as a birthday gift.  She lives in Mass, so she may actually use these when it gets nippy out.

The project is called Fetching from Cheryl Niamath.  I got the pattern from Knitty.com.  Fetching are fingerless gloves that have a few row of cables around the wrist and on the knuckle.

The yarn I decided to use was Sheep(ish) from Vickie Howell for Caron.  I will have to be honest here:  I really do not like this yarn.  For this purpose, it was not the best yarn choice.  While knitting it kept splitting and there is not much of a twist or wind to it, so it was not the best for cables.  Please forgive my photography, I took most of these at night with the flash on.

The color I chose was Gun Metal(ish), which is a very dark gray.  I will admit they have such great colors to choose from, very vivid and saturated.  I knitted the gloves with a size 6.

I needed double pointed needles (dp), a cable hook (the U looking thing), a marker, darning needle and a row counter. 

While I was casting on, the yarn broke.  Ugh!

For dps, you cast on the required number of stitches, then with the other dps, transfer over several stitches, then with the 3rd dp, again.  You should have split up all the stitches so there are about the same number on each dp.  The first round is the most critical, because you must be careful that you do not have the stitches twisted.  If twisted, you will be knitting a Mobius and you don't want that.

I will then knit the gloves in the round.  Dps are good to use when you have a small number of stitches, but need it in the round.  This will have no seams (yea!) and just a few strands to weave in at the end.

In this pic, I am knitting some cables.  They will be around the wrist and arm.  To cable, you take your cable hook and slip 2 sts onto it.  Hold it in the back or the front (depending on which way it is going to twist) and knit the next sts on the main needle.  Then take the cable hook and knit from that hook.  You now have the start of a cable.  Then you knit in pattern (knit the knits and purl the purls) until the cable row again.  Really, it is easy.

Another feature I want to show you is the thumb.  I was instructed to take waste yarn (a different yarn and color than the yarn you are using) and knit with that as the main yarn for 7 sts, then transfer them back to the left needle and knit them again, but dropping the waste yarn and knit with the main yarn again.

You will have something like this, with the waste yarn showing.  I will carefully unstitch the waste yarn, revealing live stitches.  I will immediately place the live stitches onto two double points.

Slowly unstitch each one and place onto the needle.

I will now knit this little opening in the round to make the thumb.

 

I finished by cabling around the knuckle and loosely bound off with a picot bind-off.  It created little bumps along the edge.  These did not come out as fabulous as I had hoped.  I don't know if I can really blame the yarn entirely, though.  Maybe if I adjusted how much I knit after the cable on the knuckle, or if my hands are too small for these gloves.

They have been sent off to my friend.  Hopefully they will fit her better or look better on her.

I'm sure she will be able to use them on the next blustery New England day.  Enjoy!

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...