K's Guitar Strap

 This is a fun guitar strap to weave.  The technique is Baltic style band weaving, and the band pattern is in the Inkle Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon.  

 Pick-up band weaving was traditional in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.  Bands were used as trim for clothing and to tie clothing.  Apron strings, bonnet ties, and hair bands could be colorful woven bands.  Bands were used to hang articles up and to tie bags closed.

The pick-up pattern is easy to weave by moving the pattern threads up or down.  Each pattern thread is surrounded by 2 background threads, and the pattern thread is thicker or double the weight of the background threads.  The weft thread matches the background threads because it can show on the band when you drop pattern threads.

 I'm using 3/2 weaving cotton with doubled pattern threads.  To finish the band, I'll sew on leather ends, available from A Spinner Weaver.  I added borders onto the pattern design to increase the width to 2".

I'm really enjoying weaving this colorful guitar strap for K. 

 A Quick Project:  A Guitar Strap

It's fun to weave a guitar strap as a gift, especially for a granddaughter who will be taking guitar in her first year of high school.

So, I chose some fun colors:  purple, pink, yellow, and a bit of green, and found an online inkle loom generator to make my own pattern.  I'm using 3/2 weaving cotton, 77 threads.

                                 My Pattern using Purple, Pink, Yellow, and Green

                                                     Pattern Color Order

I love my Schacht inkle loom--it's very easy to warp and weave.  The inkle loom generator prints out the colors in order to warp the loom.  I use 5/2 cotton for my heddles, and I heddle one thread, unheddle the next, etc.  The inkle loom is a 2 shaft loom, which makes plain weave, unless you are using a pick-up pattern.
 

                                                        Beginning to Warp the Loom

It takes awhile to warp the loom, but the weaving is quite quick.
                                            

                                                   The Warped Loom, Ready to Weave

To begin, I put small sticks into the warp.  This gives me something steady to weave against to provide a firm surface. 

                                            Inserting Sticks into each Shed for 4 Picks

Next I weave a pick with my weft thread, which matches the outside thread color.  In the next shed, I place a needle with the needle top facing the tail of the weft thread.  Take the weft thread through this next shed also, leaving a small loop, and then place the tail thread into the needle, and pull it through to the other side.  

This will bury the tail thread.  I like to take it also through the loop of the weft thread.  Now pull each thread in opposite directions until the strap is the measurement you'd like it to be.  You shouldn't see any weft thread peeking through, and each warp thread should be nicely lined up.  I am making my strap 2" wide.  I have 77 threads in my warp.  Be sure to consistently check the width of the weaving to try to keep it uniform.

                                                         Making the Guitar Strap 2" Wide.

Here's what the weaving looks like in progress.  I will make the strap 60" wide and finish it with leather ends that I ordered from A Spinner Weaver. 
                                           

                                                        The Guitar Strap in Progress

This is a very quick and easy project.  I'll post a picture when the guitar strap is finished.

Pretty Cable Hat

I love this pattern--it's easy and so warm.  It's called Jason's Cashmere Hat by Melissa Thomson.  I used Blackberry Ridge worsted weight yarn, Fisherman Medium Weight, 4 ply, 250 yards/skein, 100% wool, 1 skein.  I purchased the wool at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival.

I cast on another repeat of the pattern.  Cast on 108 stitches using German Twisted Cast on and then k2,p2 rib for 4 inches on size 5 needles.  Then switch to size 7 needles.  

My finished length is approximately 8" long.  I love this pretty hat! 

My notes: 4 cable crosses plus rows 5-10 = 6 3/4” long with ribbing turned up. Start decreases. After round 7: do a round of (k2, P1) around to add a little more length.
After row 9 = 18 stitches. Do another round of decreases: k2tog. around. 9 stitches remain.
Finished length about 8” long.

Wood Hollow Cable Hat

Another pretty cable hat pattern is Wood Hollow Hat by Kirsten Kapur.  I used Encore worsted weight yarn and size 6 needles for the pink hat.  This hat is for a child.

I cast on 106 stitches and twisted rib for 12 rounds: K1tbl, P1. Next time I would also decrease the needle size to bring the ribbing in a little more.  Then I increased to 126 stitches.

I did 3 repeats only of the cable pattern because the hat is for a child.  I aimed for 8" long when finished.

I also knit the hat in purple Encore yarn.  Encore is 75% acrylic, 25% wool, for easy care and warmth.

I used size 6 needles for the ribbing, and size 8 for the hat to make this one hat larger.  I cast on 104 stitches with German Twisted Cast on, and k2,p2 ribbing, 10 rounds.  Change to size 8 needles and increase one stitch to 105 stitches.

I did three rounds of the cable pattern and decreases as per pattern.  It turned out approximately 8.5" long.  I love the large fluffy pompoms.

I love this warm hat, and it looks so pretty on N!

My notes:

Notes

Left Twist: Knit into the back of the 2nd stitch.  Then swing around and knit into the front of the first stitch as usual.   Take both stitches off the needle.
Right Twist:  Knit into the front of the 2nd stitch, then the front of the first stitch.  Take both off the needles.  I used this one. 
 A different version of Right Twist: K2tog but don’t take off the needles. Knit the first stitch again, and then take both off the needles. I think the first one looks a little neater.

Gingerbread Hat--Love this Pattern

I love this Gingerbread Hat pattern by Angela Whisnant.  It's an easy pattern with very pretty results.

It has a simple 6-stitch cable with a little 6-stitch garter stitch pattern between the cables.  I used worsted weight Plymouth Encore yarn and size 5 needles for the ribbing and size 7 needles for the hat.  I cast on 96 stitches with the German Twisted Cast on.  Encore yarn is 75% acrylic, 24% wool. 

I love the big fluffy pompom.  To attach it, I sewed two strands of size 10 crochet cotton halfway through the pompom, making 4 strands.  I held a button on the inside of the hat, took each strand of crochet cotton through one hole of the button, and tied the strands all together into a knot.  Make sure to tie them tightly to hold the pompom securely onto the hat.  The pompom can be cut off when the hat is washed and then tied back onto the hat.

N loves her hat, and she looks so pretty in it!  We love warm hats!

My notes:  Encore pinkish yarn. Cast on 96 stitches with size 5 needles. K2, P2 rib for 8 rounds. Switch to size 7 needles.
6 repeats = 6 1/2 inches long approx. p1, k4, p1;p1, k1, p2, k1, p1.  Knit rows added between decreases between first 2 rounds and after 2nd round. .*SSK, K2, K2tog, P1, K4, P1 Repeat from * around.  *S2KP, K1, P1, K1, P2tog, K1, P1 Repeat from * around.  5. k2tog, p1, k1, k2tog, p1. 7. k1, P1, k2tog, p1. 8 knit around. 9. k2tog, k1, p1. 10. k2 tog. around.
So, decreases were changed and slower and some knit rounds between decrease rounds were added. So, hat finished at about 8” long, which was perfect for her. I used the sl1, k2tog, psso as my double decrease.

My Phoenix Afghan

I'm making some headway on the Phoenix Afghan.  It's a challenging pattern with each round different from the rest--lots of counting of stitches.  My daughter and I decided to work on our afghans together. 

The pattern is by Hooked on Sunshine.  We had started by taking part in their Crochet Along, which was almost over when we started.  It was fun seeing everyone's projects as they progressed with their afghans.

I'm using a size H hook and Red Heart with Love and Red Heart Super Saver yarns in lots of different colors. 

The pattern has about 11 parts, but I don't want my afghan to be really big.  So, I think I will stop after Part 9.

I'm really enjoying working on this afghan!  I hope to finish it soon between some other projects! 

Christy's Afghan

I love this crochet afghan pattern.  It's so easy and looks beautiful in coordinating colors.  The pattern is called Feather and Fan Baby Blanket Crochet Pattern by Alexis Middleton, but of course you can make it in any size.

I'm using Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red, Bone, and Light Country Blue.  I'm using a size H crochet hook.  I chose the size H hook instead of a smaller hook to make it more lacey.

Each end of the afghan will have stripes of Autumn Red, Bone, Light Blue, Bone, Autumn Red, and the center section of the afghan will be bone.  The ends will be approximately 18.5" (x2 = 37"), so the center will be about 25-28 inches, depending on how long I want to make it.  I may do a border all around in the bone color, which will add a little length.  (Each stripe of 4 shells is about 3.5" tall.)

Across the afghan, I need an uneven number of repeats, and I wanted to increase the size of the afghan to approximately 45" across.  So, there are 17 stitches in each repeat x 11 repeats = 187 stitches to begin.  I used the foundation single crochet stitch to begin the first row.

I really like using the foundation single crochet to begin an afghan if possible.  It makes such a nice edge to the afghan.

The pattern says to *skip one sc, dc in the next sc, repeat from * 6 times, skip one sc, 5 dc in the next 2 scs.  Make sure to have 7 DCs between the shells.  (So, the first one, plus 6 more times.)

I'm really enjoying crocheting this afghan.  I love this pattern--I used this pattern for my granddaughter's afghan in an earlier post, too.

My notes:  4 shell stripes tall = 3.5" approximately.  Each end section:  I used about 3/4 skein of Autumn red.