Thursday, January 28, 2021

J's Sterling Silver Byzantine Rose Bracelet

 I love making chain maille bracelets, especially Byzantine bracelets and variations of Byzantine.  The design is so beautiful and fun to make.


This bracelet is called Byzantine Rose, and it is made out of sterling silver rings.  I used a sterling lobster clasp with an adjustable chain.


The sterling rings are 16 gauge, 4.5 mm and 7 mm.  I really love how it turned out.


My notes:  1 oz. 4.5 mm 16 g.  1/2 oz. 7 mm, 16 g rings.  One whole segment Byzantine separated by a rose.  6 roses, 7 byzantine segments. Oval Lobster SS 16.8.  5 rings, adjustable.  About 7 5/8" - 8 1/2" finished.  

Silver 4.5 mm 16 g. 22 per inch in Byzantine.  Byzantine rose:  14 rings byzantine per inch  Flower, 3 rings per flower.  Smaller byzantine 18 g. 3.5 mm= 28 rings per inch.   2, 2, 2 rings, then flip.  Flower, then 2,2,2, flip. 

K's Harry Potter Mittens

 K loves her Harry Potter Mittens!  The pattern is Expecto Patronum!  Mittens by Dianna Walla.  She loves the Harry Potter books and movies.

There are many very long floats in the stranded knitting, so I made a few changes. In addition, her hands weren't as long, so I had to take 3 rounds off the top of the mittens and 4 rows off the bottom of the thumb.  Some mitten patterns are easier to adjust, based on the design since you don't want to cut off too much of the picture.


I used Knit Picks Palette wool yarn and size 2.25 mm (US 1) needles.  Instead of the colorwork cuff, I knit a rib cuff of k2, p2 to help keep out the cold weather.


This is a fun pattern to knit!  


My notes:

Palette yarn in red and black.  Needles 2.25 (US1).  Cast on 60 stitches with Norwegian cast on.  Cuff k2, p2 ribbing for 2 1/4" then knit one row and increase 2 stitches.

Thumb, row 25, 13 stitches to scrap yarn.  Cast on in pattern with backward loop, 13 stitches.  Thumb gusset 2 5/8" - 2 3/4" long, ok.  Pick up one stitch in each corner in black--framing stitches.  K's thumb, 2 1/2" long, so about 22-23 rows.  So start on row 5.  Make sure pattern matches to thumb.

Gauge per pattern:  9 stitches/inch, 10 r/inch.  Mine:  8.75-8.9 stitches per inch.  About 8.9 rows per inch.  I added some contrast stitches to reduce some of the long floats. 

2.75" = 24 rows then thumb.  Gusset length is fine.

K's hand is 7 1/2" long, 2 1/4" long thumb.  Take out 3 rows at the top of mitten, so had to lose a bit of the trees at the top.  Last decrease at top:  sl1, K2tog, psso.

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

 K's Guitar Strap Finished Pics

I realized I never put my finished pictures of K's Guitar Strap here.  I made it in her school colors of red, black, and white.  It was a very fun project.  Baltic pick-up weaving is easy, and the results are beautiful.  

I used size 3 Crochet Cotton.  The leather ends are from A Spinner Weaver.


I really enjoyed making this for K!