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People have been asking me for the pattern I used for my DS cases. It was my own pattern and I never really got around to writing it out until maybe a month ago. As I was figuring out what I did I decided I'd like to add a flap to the top as a closure to make sure the DS stayed in its lovely case. Sadly, I couldn't come up with one I loved so I'll just have to share the basic sock pattern for now. I don't think I'll have time to really develop a decent flap until after the holidays. Enjoy!
Cabled DS Lite Case
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted
Needles: 4 DPNs in US 8
Gauge: ... umm.... ^_^
Key:
CF3: Slip next 3 sts onto cable needle purl wise and hold cable needle in front of work, K3, P1, K3 off the cable needle
Pattern Round
Needle 1: K2, P1, K3, P1, K3, P1
Needle 2: K2, P1, K3, P1, K3, P1, K2, P1
Needle 3: K3, P1, K3, P1, K2, P1, K3, P1, K3, P1
The condensed version: [K2, P1, (K3, P1)x2]x4
Cable Round
Needle 1: K2, P1, CF3, P1
Needle 2: K2, P1, CF3, P1, K2, P1
Needle 3: CF3, P1, K2, P1, CF3, P1
The condensed version: [K2, P1, (CF3, P1)x2]x4
The Pattern:
CO 44 stitches divide on to 3 DPNs
1st needle: 11 sts
2nd needle: 14 sts
3rd needle: 19 sts
The stitches are divided this way to allow for easier cabling. Feel free to divide the needles as you see appropriate.
Join into a circle and begin pattern:
Rounds 1 & 2: Pattern Round
Main cable pattern:
Rounds 3 - 8: Pattern Round
Round 9: Cable Round
Repeat rounds 3-9 four more times.
Round 38-43: Pattern Round
Round 44: Knit
Divide stitches evenly onto two needles and graft shut.
Weave in ends.
I find that if you turn your DS case completely inside out and pull out the grafted corners as far as they can go and then flip it right side out it'll leave you with nicely shaped corners.
A flap can be added by picking up stitches along the CO edge.
The original green DS case I made actually had an even 3x1 ribbing. I found that it was too loose so I tightened up some areas and that's how I came up with the crazy 2x1, (3x1)2 ribbing.
It's been a while since my last yarny pictures. ... right? I have some now though. =)
This evening we will start out with my Coach knock-off scarf.
Recap...
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky in 3 lovely colors, 1 skein each
Pattern: Misty Chunky Ribs & Ruffles, sans ruffles.
Needles: Size 13 Clovers
CO: 27... I think
Finished Length: ~91 inches
I ended up wearing it today. ^_^ While it shed profusely as I knit it, wearing it was a different story. The scarf seemed like it would just explode into millions of separate fibers at the slightest gust of wind, but, it stayed in tact and I have zero alpaca hairs on my sweater. Strange how that works. The scarf itself though is getting a bit fuzzy, but, it still looks good. My biggest worry now is that the ribbing won't hold (alpaca is definitely not the most elastic yarn) and I'll end up with a fairly flat scarf. I guess it would still be pretty cool though.
Overall, this isn't exactly the Coach scarf I saw... although my memories have since clouded over and I swear my exact Coach knock-off was hanging on the rack "on sale" for $200+ at the Coach outlet... Hmm. Yeah, next time the medium brown will be more camel and I'll use cashmere. ^_^ For now, I'm quite satisfied.
My second bit of yarny goodness is my Beau sweater in Malabrigo Olive.
I'm still working on the first piece... the back. The ribbing is actually making it pinch in a lot, which shouldn't be a problem once I block and seam it to the front. I feel like it's taking forever though. I'm almost through 2 balls of Malabrigo and I only purchased 7. Let's hope it's enough.
It becomes more and more difficult for me to work on the sweater. I usually knit at night, in front of my laptop while catching up on my shows... I'll definitely have to blog about my shows 'cause there are A LOT. So, I'll knit a few rows on my sweater as the show starts, and then I'll just put it down and finish the rest of 40 minutes without knitting. I think part of the problem with the sweater is that, me, being the stubborn straight-needle-only knitter that I am decided to pick up the longest needles I could find... and, now they just get in the way. This makes knitting quite the chore. I may have to switch to circulars for the front and see if that makes me knit harder. I'm also still quite worried that my gauge is all off, but, we shall see.
On Ravelry I started a "Malabrigo Junkies" group... I think I mentioned this already. Well, to build community and camaraderie I held a little contest with Malabrigo as prizes. Basically you just had to tell the story of how you met Malabrigo and that entered you into the random drawing. Originally I planned to award the winners with Mmmm from my stash, but, things changed, and I hadn't bought yarn in like over a week so I drove over to Fishbed and purchased some.
This is for the 1st prize winner. One of her favorite colors was hot pink--she mentioned that in in her profile--another great use for Ravelry. I figured Shocking Pink would be a great choice.
For 2nd prize we have a skein of Verde Adriana. It's strange that I ended up choosing colors I've already knit with. ^_^ During my browsing the awesome owner of the Fishbed Knitting mentioned that she had a few more bags of Malabrigo that she had not yet put out (she just moved into a new store). I went through them and came upon this beauty:
Mmm. Whale's Road. A fairly variegated blue. I love it. This was originally going to be the color going to the 1st prize winner... but, I couldn't resist it. Of course, I have no patterns in mind, but, I love it just the same.
Oh, sweater. I finished the shoulders and the neck back on Saturday. I tried it on and it fit pretty well. Since then I've been working on all of the finishing. So far I've put in EZ's phony seams on the arms and grafted the under arms to the body. I added a hem on one wrist and started on the other.
orange hems!
I decided I'd just go with st st and a hem for the neck, I basted it down last night when I realized I didn't decrease after the turn. o_O Now it flares out so I'm definitely going to have to rip back a few rows and re-knit.
neck! fix yourself!
I hope to be done in a few more days.
On Saturday I went to the Renegade street fair with Danielle and Moy. Right when we got in I saw two huge knitting needles in the window of a store. It was Nina. I've read a few reviews from local knitters about Nina and they turned out to be pretty accurate. The store is definitely not your grandmother's knitting shop. It's very clean and modern. They yarn is well laid out and organized. It's small, but, uses its space well. A few reviews mentioned that staff was a bit snobby but I had fine service. As a guy, when I'm in a new yarn store I usually hear, "Are you purchasing a gift?" or "Who are you buying yarn for?" But, here at Nina I was asked, "What will you be knitting?" Good stuff.
I ended up buying two balls of Rowan's Little Big Wool. It was on sale. =)
I think I'll be knitting a better Anthropologie-inspired Capelet.
The fair was cool, not really what I expected. I was thinking the crowd would be similar to the crowd at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair... or even Stitches Midwest, but, the shoppers here were younger, more diverse, and in equal amounts of men and women. Very cool. Sadly, my only purchases were a few pins/buttons made of cloth.
The rest of Saturday consisted of hours upon hours of knitting with Danielle and Moy. I was finishing up my shoulders and neck, Danielle was working on a test mitten, and Moy was working on an adult-sized baby booty for herself. ^_^ I love yarn.
So, last week I mentioned my hunt for Hand Maiden Sea Silk. I brought Kevin along with me to Knitche, the yarn store/coffee shop, and I found it... sadly, this beautiful, unique sea silk was almost $40! Definitely out of my budget at the moment. I did end up getting my hands on some Malabrigo.
That color is Shocking Pink, soon to be a DS Lite case for Anne and Lora.
This one is actually Malabrigo Gruesa. A thick and thin yarn. I have mixed feelings towards thick and thin yarn but for some reason this one called out to me. It said, "We can make cables look really funky!" Because it actually spoke words I decided to buy it. Soon it will be a DS Lite case for Sunmi. ^_^ Hmm, I think I'll have to publish my pattern somewhere.
Mmm, this was an impulse buy. I can't resist the colors! This one is Mariposa. It's mainly spring and sea greens mixed with yellow-ish greens and dashes of light blue, purples and browns. I think Mariposa will be sitting in my stash for now until I come up with something awesome to knit her into.
Now it's back to my sweater.
Knit hard!
