Fingerless opera gloves

When I wondered whether or not to start a knitting blog, I seriously worried that I won't have enough projects to write about.  I shouldn't have.  Turns out I have an ever-shifting though never-shortening queue of FOs to present.  There are three or four designs from before the blog was born that I would like to show you, but how am I to do this when I also have a permanent backlog of at least two recent works?

Oh boy, I wish all my problems were of this caliber... :)  Anyway, here's another fresh creation:  fingerless opera gloves.

Made to order, they were practically built around the future owner's hand.  Some ripping was inevitable, but not too much and once the first glove was finished, it was a matter of simple copying to complete the pair.  A satisfying little design, with the result turning out even better than I expected.

I wanted a really snug fit, so the gloves are crocheted in the round only from fingers to wrist, higher up I worked flat, adding snap fasteners along the edges.  Very sophisticated.

You can't exactly see the opening on pictures, and this is because this time I managed to push the unpleasant duty of photographing my FO onto somebody else.  My victim helpful friend is skilled in the art of taking nice snaps, with pretty props etc., but not a yarnoholic herself so construction details that I find really clever did not catch her eye (or lens).  Since I'm not turning this design into a publishable pattern, I figure it's ok if my pics are little vague.

PATTERN:

I really liked these gloves on Etsy*, so I borrowed the stitch and improvised my own construction.  Does this make the pattern mine?  I'm not quite sure.  What do you think, guys? 

* I was going to post a link here to the specific listing, but I can't find it anymore even though I trawled through ALL crochet lace gloves on the site.   It must have been sold, or de-listed.  Instead, here's a link to the original picture reposted elsewhere.  

Finished! - Mayabee, or Once More With Feeling

Just one last toddler knit and I'm done for a while.  That is, the string of July birthdays is over, but it looks like there are a few commissions headed my way so I'd better not call it a day before the sun sets... 

Anyway, here's my toddler pullover no. 2, Mayabee.

I'm quite proud of it, you know?  It turned out even prettier than I ever thought it would.  Textured fabric is quite decorative in itself, braids on sleeves and all, but it's the hood that really makes the piece this time. 

It was my first time knitting a hood and I was a little anxious.  No need - hoods are easy!  I loosely followed an excellent tutorial found here, improvised a little and voila!  My hood even has a pompom...

...and a tiny lacy pattern where I had to increase for depth. 

The best news of all, Mayabee fits its owner almost perfectly (sleeves could be a little wider towards the shoulder, but I'll correct for this if/when I publish the pattern).  It looks adorable on the little girl it went to;  I might convince the parents to lend me a shot or two for the blog.  Check back in a while :)

PATTERN:

My own. 

It is sized for a one year old, but one of the commissions mentioned above is for a two year old version.  I'm not confident enough of my pattern-writing skills just yet, but please let me know if you would like to see instructions for Mayabee released into the world :).

Finished! - Verca

As mentioned before, July is a Month of Small Knits for me.  Another soon-to-be birthday girl, another toddler garment.  This time a pullover, named after the future owner.

The pattern is really simple, no armhole shaping and only a few gentle decreases on sleeves.  I'm sure even a complete beginner will fly through it with no difficulty.

Pieces are worked separately on straight 5 mm needles and stitched up afterwards.  I used acrylic self-striping yarn, DK weight.  By pure chance I achieved colour symmetry - stripes on front and back are a perfect match, sleeves identical.

Both front and back are worked in a neat, square grid stitch, with a garter stitch border.  Back is a bit wider than the front, hence the trapezoid neckline.  Sleeves are simple stockinette with border to match the body.

Surprise, surprise, I've finished the sweater off with crochet flowers.  Yes, I know, it gets monotonous.  I am through with the crochet flower binge though and you won't be seeing them here for another while. 

Neck opening is edged with a simple crochet stitch, with a button added on each side.

As you can see, my puppy is always eager to assist in the photo shoot!

One more toddler knit coming soon:  a textured hoodie for a one year old. 

PATTERN:

My own (with the exception of crochet flowers). 

The Verca pullover will be gifted away in another week or so and if it turns out that I achieved a reasonable fit, I will share the pattern here, for free.

Quick knits - Crochet Football

With the World Cup final only days away (and wasn't that a mighty trash that Germany treated Brazil to today!), I feel I'm just in time to present my new-ish creation:

A quick knit, planned as a back-up present in case Poppy Girl didn't fit, it took only two days to crochet.  Made entirely from acrylic DK yarn, it is composed of 20 hexagons and 12 smaller pentagons, stretched over a shop-bought rubber ball.  Initially I planned to fill the ball with toy stuffing instead, but I would never achieve such neat tension, and now it bounces, too!

One more picture, this time taken with borrowed, ultra high resolution camera:

Despite my efforts, colours came out a bit funny on all my pics for which I apologise.  In reality, the ball is a combination of very warm shades of yellow and brown (think: sunflowers), accented with bright red thread.

It was enthusiastically received by the Birthday Girl, along with Poppy Girl, which fitted just fine.  BTW, I DID fix those curling shoulder straps in the end.  It took a bit over an hour and I did not enjoy the process much, but I feel it saved the knit.  The devil's in the detail!

One more thing:  apparently, if you are two, footballs are really cool to sit on and I have a picture to prove it :)

PATTERN:

Found online, here.  It is written in Russian, but includes a schematic so it can be worked with even if you can't read the language.

Quick knits - Mary Jane slippers

Sometimes crafting is an inspired creative frenzy, at other times it's strictly practical. 

Ryanair is not known for generosity*, so when my new favourite model, W., arrived to stay with us, she carried only limited amount of luggage.  Slippers, deemed essential post factum, stayed at home.

We seldom entertain, so we don't have a stash of guest slippers waiting at the ready.  I could, of course, drive twenty kilometres to a nearest shonky shop and buy something made in China, but I chose a different approach. 

I dug up my trusty crochet hook and after only a day, these were ready:

Custom made, so they fit perfectly.  Colour, pattern, every detail - exactly as requested by the future owner. Money spent:  zero, because I used odds and ends from my stash.  Petrol burned - none.

It might be a little thing, but this small victory against consumerism really made me happy.

To tell you the truth, I like them so much that although I am not a slipper person, I will probably whip up a pair for myself at some stage :)

PATTERN:

Found online, here.  A fantastic, step-by-step tutorial included, so big thanks to the author.

* If you haven't yet seen this video about joys of flying Ryanair, watch it NOW.  Hilarious!

Finished! - Poppy Girl

Knits are happening so fast around here these days that I don't even have time to show them as WIPs before they become finished objects. 

Here's one I'm really proud of - Poppy Girl. 

There are few children in my life but those that are somehow connected to me were all born in July, so June is a month of baby knits.  My niece is turning two in a few weeks and I had been brainstorming about something pretty for her since May.  I hope Poppy Girl will be just the thing - if, that is, it fits!

I sneakily measured the soon-to-be birthday girl so I shouldn't be too far off mark.  Just in case, I worked the top part in rib to make it stretch extra wide.

Poppy Girl is knitted from bottom up on circular needles.  I used extra elastic bind off technique (really worth checking out) and instantly cancelled any benefits it gave me by adding not-so-elastic crocheted edging *sigh...*. 

Do you recognise the flowers?  I fell in love with this simple but effective design and now I'm adding them to (almost) all of my knits. 

I am absolutely smitten by the flowers-on-lattice combination:

Each flower is stitched on, first the centre with yellow thread and then petals with red.  It took ages (ekhm...  two days...), but the effect is worth it -  flowers lie nice and flat and I dare say they will survive washing, too.  It may not look so great on the wrong side but hey, nothing's perfect.

Speaking of not perfect, my Poppy Girl has one serious snag.  When adding crocheted edging around shoulder straps, I made too few stitches and the whole thing curls up no matter what I do to keep it flat.

I might yet rip the edging off and re-crochet it, because I feel this curling really spoils the effect.  I might.  We'll see.

PATTERN:

My own, except for crochet flowers (found here). 

Positive ease

One thing that I keep forgetting about is that positive ease is good.  Unless you have a perfect, gymmed up body, positive ease is ALWAYS better than zero ease.  Case to prove the point?  Here you go. 

My partner's Mum, W., is staying with us this month and since she is about two dress sizes smaller than me, I lost no time in coaxing her to model for me.  Right after she put Negativium on I knew that it's going to stay hers.

On me, Negativium looks just about right.  If I remember to hold my belly in and not to slouch, everything's fine, more or less. 

When W. puts it on, she instantly looks stunning.  The word here is EFFORTLESS. 

Positive ease, that's the key.

In my defense, I had only limited amount of yarn for this design, so I had to be stingy with any extra fabric. 

To tell you the truth, parting with Negativium didn't actually break my heart.  I bought the yarn because I found a bargain too good to pass by and colours are not exactly mine.  Plus, earning brownie points with (almost) mother-in-law is always a good thing :).

By the way, this time I managed to get a good shot from the back.  Just in case you wondered why the pattern is called Negativium...

In other news, here's my puppy (she's nine months old, so technically still a puppy) sleeping on three paws for a pillow.  I should've added a dog-shaming message saying I ATE THE FLOOR...