I am calling this finished project (yay finished!) the “Polka Dot Glitch”. It is double knit with “Fiesta!” and “Fade to Black” variegated hand-dyed fingering weight yarns by Bashful Armadillo.
I used size 2 circular needles and graphed the polka dots before I started. I cast on 288 stitches (144 of each color) with markers every 24 stitches. I found this cast on easiest to deal with, and these Kitchner stitch instructions for casting off.
When I need to swatch my yarn work, I make the tiny sample of stitches the size of my youngest’s doll blankets. I get the data and she gets more throws for her doll house.
I needed to practice the Kitchner stitch to finish off a double knit project, so made a swatch.
Making the doll blanket to practice the stitch was a good decision. I messed up the first couple passes, but by the end had the rhythm down and knew about how tight my stitches needed to be.
Kitchner stitches are used to make a seamless graft between two pieces of knitting. It is usually done on two needles, but I found this video that shows the variations needed to work off one needle, for double knit items. Fabulous.
My rainbow scarf has been languishing next to my chair at home. The problem is that I can’t stop in the middle of a row, and with brioche knitting each row requires two passes to complete. At home I am frequently required to lay down my craft for a pet or kid urgency, and I am really uncomfortable stopping mid row on this piece. So it is time for a move. I have bravely put the pool noodle holder into a project bag and moved the project to the car. I was quite surprised not only how well the section of pool noodle fits in the bag, but that the whole assembly works well as a car-rider-line project. Now we’ll see how progress goes getting attention for an hour a day, five days a week!
I first discovered button hole elastic in clothes purchased for my kids. This ingenious addition to the inside waist of pants helps harried parents tighten the waist band of their offspring’s pants without resorting to a belt, which is particularly important during the bathroom independence revolution. I purchased some for my stash, and have used it to adjust clothing, for mask elastic (during the cloth mask years), and now to hold together a rolled mat. Sewing a button on both ends of the elastic allows an adjustable way to secure the roll, and the elastic between acts as a carrying handle.
I would put forth that button elastic deserves a place in any crafter’s stash, along with hot glue and duct tape.
The picture above was taken the day after we put the new rope basket (see yesterday’s post) in the snake cage. He did investigate it, but in doing so knocked off the lid and squished the basket. The basket is semi-flexible, but doesn’t make a good hide if the lid is off. Hm. I decided to add a hinge and latch.
I had a premade rope frog (latch) in my stash that has been stashed for a couple generations. I sewed it on the basket. To make the hinge I just sewed one side of the lid to the basket, since the sides are flexible. As I was sewing, Izzy the cat decided that she would try out the basket on my lap. She didn’t fit.
This has become quite the fancy snake basket. Well, currently it is just a basket. The snake has yet to curl up in it, but it survived a night in the cage without collapsing, so we’ll see if he takes to it. At least it is washable if he decides we just gave him a second bathroom.
Critters and Craft 