Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Knitting

  • My Favorite Knitting and Food Podcasts

    I recently got an IPod and have spent the past several weeks familiarizing myself with podcasts.  Perhaps it’s not surprising, but I find myself downloading and listening to knitting podcasts at a greater frequency than other podcasts and music choices.  Because I seem to be listening to knitting podcasts everyday during my work commutes, I thought it would be fun to share my favorite podcasts to date:

    • KnitPicks:  The KnitPicks yarn, needles and book online company now has a great knitting podcast.  I’ve listened to all of the podcasts to date and find them extremely relaxing and interesting.  I especially like the "Knitter who Loved Books"  segment of each podcast because it really makes me consider picking up books that I previously disregarded because of their titles, covers, laziness or other silly reason.
    • Cast On:  LOVE this podcast.  Brenda Dayne is really fun, interesting and has great discussions about knitting, Wales and life.  This might be my favorite podcast to date.
    • KCRW’s Good Food:  One of my former L.A.-based friends who is a total foodie highly recommended this podcast.  I finally downloaded it a few weeks ago, and although it is pretty regionally-focused on Southern California, there are just a lot of great general discussions about food that make this podcast valuable to any lover of good food.  I’ve already learned that I should stew my own chickpeas to make hummus instead of using canned chickpeas (it’s a recipe I hope to try soon) and the evolution of wine drinking in America.

    I have checked out a few more podcasts, but these three are definitely my favorites.  I hope you check them out, and I also hope that folks will send me their top podcast recommendations.

  • Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival

    Midwest_fiber_and_folk_art_festival

    It’s great to be back in the Midwest — especially because of all of the fiber festivals that happen in the summer.  On Saturday, July 21, 2007, Andy and I went to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival.  I found out about the festival only 2 or 3 days in advance, so I was happy that it was only an hour’s drive from Chicago, in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  The weather was perfect — about 80 degrees and sunny and they had a decent amount of standard summer fair-type food in the event Beer Tent.

    Although this festival had much fewer yarn options than the larger fiber festivals in the country (e.g. Maryland and New York), it had a lot to offer over 4-5 tents, including some vendors that I don’t think I had seen at some of the other festivals throughout the country.  There was also a really friendly feeling from the organizers of the festival and the folk singers added a nice touch to the Beer Tent/food area.

    I bought two skeins of the same alpaca yarn — natural brown and black alpaca fibers twisted together into at a fingering weight.  If you would like to purchase some of this great alpaca from a family-owned and operated farm in Indiana, visit http://www.frontierfibermill.com/index.htm.  Andy picked out this yarn for a pair of gloves he would like me to knit him this fall.

    Brown_black_alpaca_for_andy_gloves

    I also bought a great bag from Bridget, who designs for Biggie, her company in Grayslake, Illinois.  I’d recommend this fair to any Chicago-area knitter — especially if the weather is as good as it was this year!

    Madhu_at_midwest_fiber_and_folk_art

  • Fabulous Fingerless Mitts for Kara

    At school this past fall, I participated in a public interest auction for the Initiative for Public Interest Law at Yale.  I auctioned off two custom hand-knit items:  a scarf, mittens and/or hat.  I was very excited that a few people bid on the items and the winner was a great person, Kara, who I had not previously met.  Kara actually knew exactly what she wanted knit — she already had found patterns on the internet!  So that made my job much easier because all we had to do was go yarn shopping.  We ended up going to the Janet Kemp Fine Yarns and Needlework in Stratford, CT — a great small shop that I highly recommend.

    The first item I made Kara is this pair of fingerless mitts, based on a pair worn by Rose, one of the main characters in the new BBC version of Doctor Who.  I got the pattern from Christina Slattery’s website at:  http://www.christinaslattery.com/rosepattern.pdf.  The project turned out really well:

    Kara_fingerless_mitts_modeled

    I used about 1 1/4 balls of Plymouth Baby Alpaca DK on size 5 dpns.

    I hope Kara enjoys them when she gets them!

    Kara_fingerless_mitts

  • 2007 Connecticut Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival

    On Saturday April 28, 2007, Andy and I went to the Connecticut Sheep Breeders’ Association Sheel, Wool and Fiber Festival at the Tolland Agricultural Center in Vernon, CT (http://www.ctsheep.org).   There was great weather that morning, but we didn’t spend too much time at the festival because it much smaller than the NY Sheep and Wool Festival that we went to in the fall of 2006 and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that I went to in spring 2006.   I would recommend that you only take the time to attend if you are in CT the last Saturday in April — it’s not really worth the drive from out-of-state because of the limited yarn, raw fibers and supplies available.

    The only purchase I made was of some recycled silk yarn from Nepal, which although generally not a unique find these days, was directly purchased by the seller from the producers in Nepal.  The seller had posted that she pays a fair trade price for the recycled silk yarn, and because she has visited the facility herself and directly imports from the producers in Nepal, that the workers are receiving a fair wage for their work.  Although I could not verify this, it seems better to buy this type of yarn from her than from the LYS.  Here is a picture of the two skeins I picked up — each are 3.5 ounces and 15-20 yards per ounce:

    Ct_sheep_wool_fiber_festival_2007_2

    I am looking forward to working something up with these skeins — please do email me if you have any suggestions!  If you are interested in getting some of this yarn, please check out www.thecooperage.com.

  • Two-Tone Fingerless Mitts — Good Way to Leftover Yarn!

    Every winter I tell myself I am going to make myself a new pair of mittens, and I usually don’t do it OR I make the mittens only to lose one of them which leaves me effectively mittenless for the rest of winter.  This winter was no exception — I didn’t make any mittens until March, ironically while in Chicago for spring break.

    I discovered that this is a fantastic way to use leftover yarn — I used a small amount of the grey Plymouth skein I used for my mother’s sweater and the leftover light green yarn from Nick’s hat.   

    And the best part — this pattern works for both average size women and men’s hands.   The pattern follows the picture below.

    Madhu_two_tone_fingerless_mitts_sid   

    Measurements: 

    • 7.5 inches long
    • 4 inches wide at the widest point — the thumb area; 2.5 inches wide at the bottom cuff and the top cuff is 3 inches wide.

    Yarn (Any worsted weight will work): 

    • Plymouth Encore Worsted Yarn in Charcoal Grey (the color may be slightly different from what I used because I bought this yarn 7 years ago, so the colors may have slightly changed)
    • Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in Sage

    Needles:  4 size 5 dpns

    Gauge:  5.5 stitches per inch

    Pattern:

    • Cast on 36 stitches, divide evenly on 3 dpns.  Connect the last cast on stitch and the first stitch of the new row to create a round.
    • Rows 1-14:  k2p2
    • Rows 15-18: k straight (stockinette)
    • Row 19:  k18, m2, k18
    • Rows 20-22:  k straight (stockinette)
    • Row 23:  k18, m1, k2, m1, k18
    • Row 24:  k straight
    • Row 25: k19, m1, k2, m1, k19
    • Rows 26-28: k straight (stockinette)
    • Row 29: k19, bo4, k19
    • Row 30: k19, turn work, cast on 4 using knitted cast on*, turn work, k19
    • Row 31: k straight
    • Row 32: k18, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k18
    • Row 33: k straight
    • Row 34: k17, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k17
    • Row 35: k straight
    • Row 36: k16, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k16
    • Rows 37-46: k straight (stockinette)
    • Rows 47-50: k2p2
    • Row 51:  Bind off in pattern

    *See Nancie Wiseman’s The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques for details if confused.

  • Lightweight, Stylish and Simple Winter Hats — Knit in the Round

    Andy and I went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in October 2006, and one of the two yarns that I bought was a fantastic light brown baby alpaca from the very nice men from A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca Co./Red Maple Sportswear Co.   They usually don’t sell yarn, just finished products, but for the Festival, they brought down an expanded range of products.   I feel very lucky that Andy pointed out this fiber and wanted me to use it to make his hat.

    After making Andy’s hat, I ended up making another hat for myself because Andy’s was so soft, lightweight and stylish.   I will probably make another hat for myself because my original hat was stolen only a week after I finished it.   So there are two variations of the pattern you will find below — one for men and one for women.   The woman’s hat details are in the ( ). 

    AND, using this pattern is a great way to learn how crochet — I used books and the internet to teach myself how to crochet to make the border of the hat.

    Men’s Hat:

    Andys_baby_alpaca_hat

    Women’s Hat:

    Madhus_stolen_baby_alpaca_hat

    The men’s finished measurements after blocking are:  9.75 inches wide by 8.75 inches tall

    The women’s finished measurements after blocking are: 9 inches wide by 7.5 inches tall

    Needles:  5 size 5 dpns, 1 size D-3 crochet hook

    Yarn:  DK Weight Alpaca, unfortunately yards needed is unknown.

    Gauge:  5.5 inches/stitch

    Pattern:

    • Cast on 107 (100) stitches using a contrast yarn and provisional cast-on
    • Divide stitches on 4 dpns, and connect the first and last stitches to create a round
    • Knit 5.5 (4) inches in stockinette stitch (which would be all knit rows because this hat is knit in the round).
    • Start top shaping by k2tog every 10 stitches.
    • Knit the next row straight with no decreases.
    • Then k2t0g every 9 stitches followed by a straight row. 
    • Continue this pattern repeat until every stitch in the row is a k2tog.
    • Then cut yarn with 4 inches remaining, pull the yarn through the remaining stitches, and sew the end in.
    • Then go back to the bottom of the hat to work the hat border.
    • Remove the provisional cast on, and put the stitches back onto the 4 dpns.
    • From there, work a single crochet across each of the stitches for 4 (5) rows or until the hat edge lays flat or until you have your desired border.

    I have to also put out a big thank you to Nancie Wiseman and her book The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques because without it, I would not have had the idea to use a single crochet border to get the stockinette edging to lay flat.  And in general, if you don’t have this book, you must pick it up — it’s save you a lot of time on your knitting projects!

  • Simple Cableknit Scarf for My Sister

    I bought some clearance super-soft English cotton at School Products in New York City a few years ago with the determination to make my vegan sister some socks for her to wear about the house.  As the years past though, I ended up deciding this past fall to instead make a scarf for my sister, especially given how many vegan sock yarns are available on the market now.

    I ended up designing a very simple cableknit scarf to help keep my sister warm in the Michigan winters.  This would be a great project for a first-time cableknit project.  The pattern for this scarf follows the picture below:

    Mallikas_cableknit_scarf

    Here’s how you can make this scarf using a heavier worsted weight yarn of your choice:

    I made this scarf 6 inches wide and maybe 3.5 feet long (I usually keep knitting until I find the scarf length "look goods").

    Cast on 29 stitches

    Row 1:  K2, P4, K6, P5, K6, P4, K2

    Row 2: P2, K4, P6, K5, P6, K4, P2

    Row 3:  Repeat Row 1

    Row 4: Repeat Row 2

    Row 5: K2, P4, C3B, P5, C3F, P4, K2

    Row 6:  Repeat Row 2

    Repeat these six rows to create this very basic cableknit pattern.

  • 2006 New York Sheep and Wool Festival Outing

    This past weekend, on October 21, Andy and I went to the 2006 New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY.  Check out the website for the annual fair at www.sheepandwool.com

    Andy_sheep_and_wool_festival

    For those of you who haven’t been to any Sheep and Wool or Fiber Festivals yet, there is a full range of activities for literally everyone in the family.  There are petting zoos for children, as well as sheep, alpaca, and llama exhibits for those that have been entered into the various animal competitions.  There are also sheep-herding demonstrations — unfortunately I did not have the time to check one out at this Sheep and Wool Festival, but I did when I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in the spring.  And of course, the best part….yarn and fiber vendors from all over the country! 

    [Oh yeah, and if you are meat-inclined (which I am not), there is also generally a lot of fresh-cooked lamb and other meats.]

    I have to admit though that I found the NY festival to be a lot more limited in selection than the MD festival, especially because the NY festival seemed to have a lot of non-knitting related goods including weaving materials and a TON of finished products which aren’t that helpful for one who likes to make their own finished products. 

    But, I did buy two different types of yarn.  The first was a skein of some simple brown baby alpaca wool for making Andy a soft winter hat.  The second was some super-light weight lace yarn (a merino and tencel blend) to make a lace-weight shawl in the classic Orenburg style.  I also bought a book "The Gossamer Webs Design Collection" to assist me in learning this new style of knitting.   For more information about the lace-weight yarn and the Orenburg style of knitting, check out the vendor I bought those products from:  www.skaska.com.

    Hopefully, I’ll start work on both the hat and scarf soon so you’ll be able to check out the full experience of the 2006 NY Sheep and Wool Festival.

    And as Andy remarked at the festival, "These sheep aren’t up to any good!"

    Sheep_upto_no_good