FO Friday: Tips Off

A little while ago, I spun some yarn. As I mentioned, my youngest son laid claim to the yarn almost immediately. “Mom,” he said, “you never did make me those gloves with no fingers like you said you would.”  Way to lay on the guilt, kid!  🙂  On the other hand, it worked …

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Project: Tips Off

Pattern: improvised

Yarn: my very own handspun

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I used the Fried Chicken thumb increases as a starting point, and I tried doing the fingers with an increase row right before the fingers (rather than casting on and picking up stitches between the fingers.  Mixed results on the latter — I’m not convinced it’s easier or better than the usual way.

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Julian has been wearing these night and day — so already they are a bit worn.  It makes me so happy when something I make is well-loved.

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FO Friday: Happy Feet DK Child’s Sweater

This week I’m featuring another of my pattern sample projects for Plymouth Yarns: a child’s sweater made from DK-weight sock yarn.  The professional model is an adorable blond girl … but of course before I sent it out I had to take a home-photo on my slightly-too-large youngest boy — he was cooperative, if slightly silly.  Please ignore his desperate need for a haircut!

Project: Happy Feet Sample Knit

Pattern: Cabled Sweater

Designer: Plymouth Yarn Design Stuido

Available: ask your LYS

Yarn: Happy Feet DK (color 61)

This was a fast & easy project — basic shaping and making-up, and the all-over cabled rib pattern looks great and is fun to knit. I’m a huge fan of Happy Feet DK, but you MUST wash & block a swatch with this yarn — it opens up and softens considerably with washing.  Before washing and blocking the sweater, the fabric was tight and hard — almost crunchy.  After washing and blocking, it was soft and had a nice give, lovely to touch.

New Pattern Release: Rapunzel

Introducing my latest pattern: Rapunzel! This simple girl’s top is designing with color-changing or self-striping yarn in mind, but will work with both plain and variegated colorways. It can be worn alone, or layered over a shirt in cooler weather.

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Pattern: Rapunzel

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: for $1.99 at Knit Picks

Yarn: Knit Picks Chroma Fingering

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Inspiration: I swatched for this pattern using Felici Sport, a great self-striping yarn.  I wanted to show off the striping with a wide horizontal band, then work downwards.  When KP accepted the pattern, they offered me the new Chroma yarn … I could NOT resist. I just love how it turned out.  I used mostly-stockinette throughout, to highlight the color changes, with an itty bitty braid to add interest.  As I worked, I was reminded of Rapunzel letting down her braid … just like the off-center braid on the top, hence the name.

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Design/Skills Needed: Rapunzel is worked top-down, beginning with a large cabled bandeau that is worked sideways from a provisional cast-on and then joined in a circle. Stitches are picked up from the bottom edge of the cable, and the rest of the body is worked in the round. The bottom edge is finished with a simple ruffle. The straps are also mini versions of the main braid, with ruffled outer edges.

I would be delighted to answer any questions or help any knitters working on this project.

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/remcat/5536426944/&#8221; title=”1549 Rapunzel top by WoofBC, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5051/5536426944_a6234321f0.jpg&#8221; width=”375″ height=”500″ alt=”1549 Rapunzel top” /></a>