Finally! Lattice Headband!

I've been working on a new pattern for a headband with travelling cables.  There were more kinks in the pattern than anticipated (it's taken me since April to get it to work out how I wanted it to!) but I am absolutely thrilled to report that I have successfully made my first ready-to-go Lattice Headband.  Katie M. commissioned this headband back before graduation in May so hopefully she's happy with the teal & feather grey combo she picked out. :-)

Made from 100% Peruvian highland wool in Teal and Feather Grey

I'll be making more so there will soon be some available for sale in my Etsy shop for $20 + shipping.  This style headband is a little more expensive than the Swirly Headband because it uses A LOT more yarn and takes me quite a bit longer to make.

Cozy! Keep warm with a Lattice Headband!

I am planning to write this pattern up, make it into a PDF and also have it available for sale on Ravelry and possibly in my Etsy store as well.  It can be a bit time consuming... travelling cables are like that, but I think the time is well-spent.

What are travelling cables, you ask?  When you think of a cable in knitting, you probably think of something like this fisherman's sweater pictured on the right. Those cables run vertically.  They are made by taking stitches off of your needle just before you are about to knit them, holding those stitches either in front or in back of your project, knitting the next needles, and then putting the other stitches back on the needles and knitting those.  This creates a cable or a twist in the fabric.  Cables aren't particularly stretchy, but they are very warm and create interesting textures.  You can see that there are individual cables or twists in the fabric that run lengthwise along the fisherman's sweater.  The ones on the sleeve of this sweater are your basic cable that just twists every so often... [p1, k4, p1* rep 4 rows, on the fifth row, p1, slip 2 hold in front, k2, replace 2, k2, p1... repeat whole sequence]

A travelling cable, on the other hand, is a cable that does not go straight up and down the garment.  Rather than the knit stitches staying in the same place on the garment, going vertically and twisting over or under each other every so often, a travelling cable 'moves' either left or right every single row.  This means that instead of having those nice vertical columns of fancy cables, you have a cable that veers wildly to the left or to the right.  Because you have to move the stitches every single row, they take a lot more time to create a garment using them, but you can create some interesting designs.  For instance, in the Lattice Headband, I made a trellis pattern.  In the Verhi Terhi mitts (pictured on the left), you can see how the cable (it looks just like a raised ridge) goes diagonally across the mitten.

In other news, I've got some cooking updates! First: my first recipe! Check out my Baked Shrimp Scampi. It's a conglomeration of a bunch of different scampi recipes... I just picked out the parts that I liked best (butter, garlic) and left out the ones I didn't (rosemary). I made this recipe for dinner last night and I am pleased to say that there weren't any leftovers or unhappy diners.

I'm also about to try to make some freezer jam with some of the strawberries from the festival! Wish me luck!

Headbands and Interviews

Kim S. will be happy to hear that I've finished her headbands!
Pictures can be seen below and they are also on display in my Etsy shop!
If you're interested in commissioning a headband (these colors, other colors, another design?), send me an email at knittinsmitten@gmail.com.

"Emerald City & White" (top) and "Aporto & White" (bottoms)

Ready to ship!

I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done recently because of the move-in (significant progress has been made, but still not there yet... I'm getting a little worn out from all the organizing) and because I've been looking for a job. Since I'm starting my master's program this September in library and information science, I've been trying to find jobs that are applicable to my studies and future career. I haven't been looking for very long, but I already wish I could just show up and get an interview. I'm tired of typing in the same information about my employment and academic history into those online forms that only let you have 50 characters to describe your skills and responsibilities. 

I do have two interviews pending (one is tomorrow at 11am!) for "big girl" jobs (one with an online retailer and one with a property management company) and have one job offer from a clothing store in the Bellevue Square mall. Depending on how things work out, I might try to do one full-time job and one part-time job over the summer until my classes start and then drop the part-time job. We'll see how things work out though; 40 hours a week might be more exhausting than I anticipate. When they say they offer vacation, they mean paid vacation, right?

Swirly Headband in "Sami"

My freshman roommate (well, one of them... I had two!) Sami just commissioned and bought this headband. It's the same Swirly Headband, but she wanted it in teal and off-white... and here it is!

Sami P. sporting her lovely new Swirly Headband

Made in 100% Peruvian wool.

Latest headband sold! Swirly Headband in "Sami" color scheme (teal and off-white).

Want your own? Email me at knittinsmitten@gmail.com

Cabled Trellis Headband - The Newest Work in Progress

Made using 100% Peruvian wool.
Want your own? Check my Etsy shop or email me at knittinsmitten@gmail.com

As you can see in the photo, this headband is still a work in progress; it's still on the needles! I'm just too excited about it to wait any longer. The pattern -- written by me! look for a PDF available soon -- features travelling cables. Normal cables, less adventurous ones that just stay at home, run vertically and twist every so often. Travelling cables, on the other hand, 'move' every single row. That's why I was able to create this trellis design; every row the brown yarn moved one or two stitches to the right or to the left.

Because of the cables, this headband isn't as stretchy, so I've had to do some alterations on my standard headband pattern to make sure it fits an average sized head. I've got it figured out and it will be available for sale in my Etsy shop soon!

I've been reading Thornyhold by Mary Stewart and her beautiful descriptions of Geillis's boarding school and the house she inherits inspired me. I really want to put a cute knitted pink rose on this (so much floral imagery in the book!)... but I worry that it will be too busy. What I'm going to do is knit the flower and takes pictures of the headband with and without it and have the flower be optional.

Wellness update: I know have hayfever on top of "Whitman College Crud". Best week ever. Bleh.

Swirly Headband in "Huskies" (Commissioned)

Swirly Headband in "Huskies"

Model: Liz H.

Hooray!!  This is my first sale from my Etsy store!  This Swirly Headband was commissioned and has been sold.  If you want a headband just like this one (or in different colors or with a different design... I'm flexible!), click here to send me an email or send me a message from my Etsy store!

This headband was completely hand knitted using a technique called Fair Isle, or stranded colorwork.  Two strands of yarn are used at the same time, in this case purple and yellow, with the color not being used carried along the back of the project.  When you want purple to show up, you hold the yellow one steady along the back and knit with the purple yarn.  When you want yellow to show up, you just switch so purple is not being used and do the same thing again.  Traditionally, this method was used to make garments extra warm (twice as much yarn) and the Swirly Headband in "Huskies" is no exception!

Approximately 9.5" wide and 3" tall.

This headband is made from 100% Peruvian highland wool and has been treated with Cascade Yarn's superwash.  The headband is completely lined; this means that there aren't any strings from the color work to get caught on things and so it is twice as warm: a guarantee to keep your ears nice and toasty while cheering on your favorite football team or talking a walk in cool weather.

Model: Liz H.

Dimensions (measure flat as shown on bench)
width: approximately 9.5"
height: approximately 3"
This headband fits an average sized head.

Interested in this headband in other colors?  Check it out in "Yakima" (below) or send me an email at knittinsmitten@gmail.com and we'll talk about other color options.

   

Questions from readers!
Q: Have you done your homework?
A: Most of it... I'm mostly studying for orals (this Friday!!!) and working on Peasblossom when I need a break. When I start reading the same sentence multiple times because I haven't actually read the words, that's when I take a break. But now it's back to public sculptures in the 1960's!