Rationalizing away a madwoman’s needs

Oh hi there. It’s been a while since we last chatted. I’ve been meaning to rectify that…

I can’t rightly tell you about one of the things I’m knitting, because it’s not done. I can tell you that I’m fully intending on buying 7,000 yards of yarn in a few weeks, though!

Why?

Oh, ok. I guess I can fill you in.

I’ve gone insane: I’ve decided that my life simply isn’t complete without a 9X7 foot knitted TARDIS blanket to cozy up under. This is so much of a desire of mine that I’m fully rationalizing the fact that I can totally spend 150 dollars on the yarn and needles for this blanket AND I won’t be altering the pattern. It will be a full 9 feet long by 7 feet wide.

Here’s a little bit about me: I’m 5’4″. That means this blanket will be a good 3.5 feet longer than I am tall. Oh and it’ll be a foot and a half wider than I am tall. This blanket would be big enough to fit on a California King bed. I have no words.

The pattern for this blanket was free on Rav. I nearly piddled myself when I saw that it was indeed free and I promptly downloaded the pattern and set to figuring out how to print it without wanting to die of trying to figure out how to read a fully colorworked pattern that would NOT fit on just one page.

The pattern prints out to be 19 pages long. 19!!! That means every single little row will have to include me flipping the page 19 times! Painters tape will be my best friend when it comes to changing to a new row. I’m also anticipating one row to take me forever. ALSO I have to teach myself how to do colorwork while Purling. Trust me when I say that the option of knitting this piece in the round and steeking (cutting the fabric when done)  has not left my mind.

Finally, I’ll be backing it with gray fleece because I have a ton of it and it needs to go to a good home and there’s no way I’m going to want to weave in the billions of ends I’m going to have, so I’ll back it and reinforce it and it will be beauteous.

Now, onto the more important things before starting this mad project:

I have to finish Clapotis.

I’ve been working on the Clap since February and I’m only about 70 percent done. Once I finish the third skein I’ll start decreasing, but I still have about 90 yards left on the third skein and I really don’t want to be knitting the damn thing anymore.

I hate it.

I HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT!

I’m working on many other projects so Clap has gone by the wayside, but I have to finish her by the end of the month before I can start on the TARDIS blanket.

I also have to finish a lap blanket for me that I started around my birthday. I began knitting this blanket because I had three skeins of Cascade Eco + wool that I didn’t know what to do with and I wanted something instant that I could just put on my lap and knit or curl up under because I tend to run cold at night while watching TV. I finished one skein of the wool rather quickly, resulting in 5 squares, in which I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish a blanket because I would be one measly square short. My Carolina Homespun handspun will match the bare color I’m doing as a compliment rather well so I’ve decided to knit a square out of that.

However, I’ve been stalled on the bare skein since getting half-way through one square. I told myself I have to finish the blanket and seam it together and do the applied i-cord edging on it before I’m allowed to start the TARDIS blanket. I figured it would be bad to have two blankets going on at the same time, so I’m not going to. This project is completely mindless so I’m going to just knit while on lunch at work and hopefully it’ll complete itself. And then I’ll put it together and enjoy the crap out of it for as long as I can before moving onto another warm project.

Work has worn me out. I usually don’t get home until dinnertime and I’m usually too tired to either eat dinner or knit so I pretty much lay down and zonk out for most of the night. Then I finally get up and do some knitting but get bored because who wouldn’t get bored with a ton of Garterstitch and that’s it.

Amy Pond-The Pandorica Opens

It’s long overdue that I wrote the pattern for this scarf. Amy is seriously so beautiful and warm and awesome and about 30 other synonyms for how great this scarf is and people on the Doctor Who boards on Ravelry have been asking about it constantly so I wrote the pattern for this scarf.

I’m a huge Doctor who fan and, in the final two episodes of Series 5, Amy Pond was wearing this gorgeous and super long cabled scarf. After staring at the photo for days on end, I finally figure out the perfect cable for this scarf.  Amy was a labor of love but it’s so warm and really makes a statement when it’s done.

Hardware:

5 skeins Cascade 220 wool in cherry red. You can also use the superwash version but it costs more.  The yarn is held double in this pattern.

Size 11 needles

Stitch Markers- Optional

Terms:

C12F- Slip 6 stitches onto cable needle, place it away from your body. Knit 6 stitches. Knit 6 stitches from your cable needle.

C12B- Slip 6 stitches onto cable needle, bring toward your body. Knit 6 stitches. Knit 6 stitches from your cable needle.

Cast on 32 stitches

Link (Horseshoe) Cable: 16 row repeat

A traditional Link cable is only 8 rows, but this pattern is lengthened because the original has a very ambiguous pattern. There is also a Garter border on this scarf which will curl to the back when worn.

Rows 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15: (RS) K4, P24, K4

Row 2: K4, C12F, C12B, K4

Rows 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16: K

Repeat this pattern until the entire piece wraps around your neck once and reaches your knees without the fringe.

Fringe:

The fringe is about six inches long so take your yarn held double and pull out a foot-length of yarn then pull it through the bottom stitches.

This scarf needs to be blocked and laid flat so it won’t completely curl into a circle. This scarf will be VERY heavy when wet and takes a couple days to dry completely if you wet-block it. When you lay it out, give it some bunching space so it stays cushy and fluffy when it dries.

There is also a .pdf here Amy Pond-The Pandorica Opens2 NOTE: I WILL BE UPDATING THIS LINK TONIGHT BECAUSE THE CABLE PATTERN WAS WRONG. PLEASE READ ABOVE OR PRINT OUT THIS POST AND YOU’LL HAVE THE CORRECT PATTERN.

Today features a day of pattern making so here’s the first one! I’ll have another posted this afternoon because I feel bad about not posting in so long!

GO PACKERS!

Amanda’s first pattern

I’m sitting at work– babysitting the office– and I’m really bored so I wrote up the pattern for my basic mittens- these ones are made with the KnitPicks Andean Treasure alpaca.

I thought I’d share the pattern with all of you!

I decided to write out the pattern for my mittens because they’re so easy and I felt selfish for keeping them all to myself. This pattern can be used for BOTH mittens since the thumb gusset goes to the side of the mitten, rather than in the hand piece. These mittens also feature the squared-off top that I use to finish.

Hardware:Size 5 DPNs and/or Circular needle(s)

Worsted weight or two strands of DK/Sport/Fingering weight yarn

Tapestry needle

Scrap yarn/DPN for thumb stitches

Techniques you need to know:

Knit, Purl, Increase, Decrease, Knitting in the round

CO 36 sts

If you want, join in the round, being careful not to twist stitches. For those of you like me, turn your knitting.

K1P1 rib for 16 rows or until desired cuff-length

If you decided not to knit in the round, join knitting in the round either on DPNs, two circular needles or using Magic Loop method. The mittens shown were made using Magic Loop.

Knit two rounds

THUMB GUSSET

Round 3- K1, M1, K2, M1, knit rest of round

Rounds 4, 5- Knit

Round 6- K1, M1, K4, M1, knit rest of round

Rounds 7, 8- Knit

Round 9 K1, M1, K6, M1, knit rest of round

Rounds 10,11- Knit

Round 12- K1, M1, K8, M1, knit rest of round

Rounds 13, 14- Knit

Round 15- K1, M1, K10, M1, knit rest of round

Rounds 16, 17- Knit

At the beginning of next round, slip 12 sts onto spare needle/scrap yarn.  Continue knitting past the thumb stitches.

Knit ALL rounds until mitten fits comfortably over your index finger. This is usually 4-5 inches but if you have longer hands, definitely continue until you feel comfortable with the length.

FINISHING

Split all sts onto two DPNs, evenly over two circulars/magic loop sides. You should have 18 sts on each needle.

K2tog on the first two and last two stitches of each needle. Repeat 3 times

With remaining sts (you should have 14 sts on each needle left), use a tapestry needle to thread yarn through live sts alternating between each needle) Turn work, skipping the first stitch thread yarn through sts again to reinforce. If you’d like, turn and thread it through again, being sure to skip the first stitch. Thread extra yarn to the inside of the mitten.

FINISHING THE THUMB

Split the 12 sts of the thumb onto three DPNs. Pick up a stitch on each side of the gusset on the inside of the hand. 14 sts

Knit in the round until piece fits comfortably over your thumb.

FINISHING

K2tog until end- 7 sts.

Thread yarn through live sts- pull tight to close. To reinforce, thread yarn through sts again. Thread extra yarn through top of thumb to the inside of the mitten.

Weave in ALL ends (CO row, Thumb gusset, top of thumb, top of mitten) and wear!

Here’s a copy of the .pdf for your personal use:

Stupid Easy Mitttens by Amanda Throm