Camera Battles

I’ve been very frustrated lately trying to get a clear picture of my knitting projects to post… well, that and getting a shot of my cat Sheldon that doesn’t look like a moving blur, as he seems to think the sight of the camera being aimed at him is an invitation to immediately hop in my lap and lick my nose.

So, I finally bit the bullet, raided this month’s grocery budget, and went hunting a new electronic camera to replace my old, barely functional piece of cheap junk. I found a good deal on an Olympus FE-20 with a useful macro function and stabilizer right before Polaris Con this past week-end, and so promised myself lots of nice pics of this year’s Masquerade costumes. I also frantically designed and knit up a fuzzy camera case for my purse since the salesperson told me modern cameras are extremely fragile and shouldn’t be kept loose with all the usual crap in a big, full handbag.

I tend to joke that Murphy of Murphy’s Law is stalking me, because, if anything can go wrong around me, it will. It certainly did when it came to the new camera.

To start with, I read the first part of the camera instructions while knitting the camera case, which I finished assembling about two hours before heading out the door to the con. Reading the rest of the instructions during the first panel of the day on Saturday, I discovered an instruction that I personally think should have been at the very beginning of the booklet – you need to charge the battery for at least five hours before using the camera for the first time, even if the camera was shipped with a partially charged battery. Well, at least I had been smart enough to bring the charger with me. What I hadn’t been smart enough to do was distinguish between the electric cable and TV connection cable. [Sigh.] So, no lovely Masquerade or TV star pictures this year.

Once home, I located the proper cable for the battery charger, figured out how to pry the battery out of its wedged-in death-hold on the camera, and gave it a full charge. Then I took several pictures of a couple of my knitting projects while trying to make the pamphlet’s user instructions make sense. I even chased Sheldon around the apartment and got a couple of shots that weren’t blurs or half a cat face and a tongue licking the camera lens. All that was left was to download the pictures to the computer where I could see them full size and determine if they were acceptable quality. This should have been simple, because according to the pamphlet, all I had to do was plug in the furnished USB cable and the camera would turn on and the computer would see it as an external drive. Everything seems to connect properly, but the camera does not turn on… and there’s absolutely nothing in the trouble-shooting directions of what to do if that happens. [Double sigh.]

So, tomorrow I call the Help Desk. Hopefully they will have an answer and I can start downloading. I’ve got lots of on-going knitting projects that I want to upload to this blog once I get them on my computer. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on lately… well, besides trying to get the blasted camera to work!

Baby's Joy Cap

When a friend told me she was about to become a great aunt, I quickly volunteered to whip up a baby cap for her. At my age (don’t ask), I don’t know many folks with little ones to knit for, so this was an excuse to pull out my trusty set of Knifty Knitter looms and pounce on the smallest one, used for making caps for newborns and small babies. I find it wonderfully restful to sit and watch TV while creating a cunning little cap in no time flat and with very little effort or thought. Yes, this type of French knitting (also called "looming") is that easy.

I've used the little blue Knifty Knitter loom and the cap-making instructions that come with it to make a number of baby caps already, but this time I wanted to experiment a little. I'd seen something called the "double stitch" on a number of looming websites, so I decided to try that, otherwise I followed the pattern exactly as set out in the pamphlet. Double stitching consists of wrapping the pegs three times instead of twice, then lifting the bottom loop over the top two. This produces a tighter, thicker knit.

The yarn I used was a remnant from my stash – Zeller’s Baby sayelle in a variegated colour called Baby’s Joy. I could not find any references to this specific colourway anywhere on the net, so I am assuming it is no longer in production. I acquired it a long time ago for a crocheted edging project that I never finished and then forgot about.

I loved the multi-coloured stippling of the finished product, but it still felt a little incomplete when I looked at it. I don't like adding handmade pompoms to baby caps because I find that the cut yarns can come apart too easily if the baby tugs on it. Then I thought of the pattern for a knit bow that I obtained as part of a pattern for knitting slippers. So, I knit up a bow (using 3.25 mm needles), and that turned out to be the perfect finishing touch.

Quick and Easy Is Good

I get bored easily, so I like knitting projects projects that are quick and easy... but still provide a bit of a challenge... or at least something new. Sometimes it's just trying to knit a charted design I've never tried before, like the dishcloth I just finished using Barbara Breiter's free butterfly pattern. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream Swimming Pool 100% cotton and 4.5mm needles (the pattern actually calls for 5mm needles, but I prefer my dishcloths slightly denser). It took me approximately four hours to do. but that's because (1) I'm a slow knitter and (2) I tend to knit while watching television and thus get distracted easily.

There's enough yarn remaining that, by combining it with leftover Swimming Pool yarn from another dishcloth project, I'll probably be able to get still another small dishcloth out of it... or maybe a couple of mitered coasters.

Demonic Thoughts Tuque -- my first pattern

Free pattern (for personal use only).

This tuque (Canadian variation on the word "toque" for knitted hat) doesn't actually cause the wearer to indulge in evil thoughts. The name comes from the design's inspiration, the television show Supernatural, where one of the main characters, Dean Winchester, has been to Hell and back and is now caught in a battle between Hell (thus the colour red) and Heaven (feather decoration for the angels).

This hat is incredibly simple to make, but looks quite impressive because of the richness of the boa texture of the brim and the unusual feather decoration.

Technique: French Knitting, also known as loom knitting or spooling

Sizes: Small adult (with instructions between brackets for large adult)

Materials:

• Knifty Knitter Round Loom -- green for small-adult size or yellow for large-adult size
• Knifty Knitter Hook
• 1 ball Bernat Boa Cardinal eyelash yarn
• 1 ball Red Heart Classic Cherry Red worsted-weight acrylic yarn
• Tapestry needle
• Two leather laces with feathers attached. I used the laces and feathers from barrettes after detaching the barrettes.
  

Instructions:

Step 1: Using a strand each of the boa and the worsted-weight yarn held together, e-wrap the loom twice counter-clockwise. There will be two loops on each peg when you are done.

Step 2: Using the hook that came with the loom kit, lift the bottom loop on each peg over the top loop and over the peg. When you have completed the entire circle, you will have one row of loops remaining on the pegs. Push these loops to the bottom of the pegs.

Step 3: E-wrap the loom. You should now have two loops on each peg once again.

Step 4: Repeat Step 2.

Continue repeating Steps 3 and 4 until your knitting measures 5 inches (6 inches) long. There should be only one loop on each peg at this point.

Step 5: Cut the boa strand, leaving a 7-8 inch tail, which you will weave in later. Do not cut the worsted-weight yarn.

Step 6: Pull your knitting through the inside of the loom to access the beginning edge. Place each loop from the originating row over its corresponding peg (hint: start by placing the loop to the right of the original loose yarn over the peg to the right of the outer tie-off peg and continue around the circle counter-clockwise until you have two loops on each peg -- the bottom loop being from the last row you knit and the top loop being from the edge).

Step 7: Lift the bottom loop over the top loop and over the peg. When you have completed the entire circle, you will have one row of loops remaining on your pegs, and the bottom and top of your knitting will have been knit together to form a double-thick brim.

Step 8: Add a second strand of worsted-weight yarn to the original strand of worsted-weight yarn (remember, it was the boa yarn that you cut off) and kit the remainder of the tuque with the two strands of worsted-weight held together.

Continue repeating Steps 3 and 4 until your knitting measures 6 inches (7.5 inches) beyond the brim. There should be only one loop on each peg at this point. Cut your yarn (both strands), leaving 7-8 inch tails.

Step 9: Thread your tapestry needle with a 2- to 2.5-foot length of the worsted-weight yarn. Sew through each loop on the pegs, from bottom to top of the peg. When all loops have been sewn through, join the ends of the sewing yarn with a slip knot.

Step 10: Using the hook, lift all the loops off the pegs. They will now be strung on the yarn you sewed through them with the tapestry needle.

Step 11: Turn the hat inside out. Pull the two ends of the sewing yarn together to gather the material for the top of the hat. Before you have completely closed the top, slip through the opening the ends of the leather laces with the feathers attached (the feathers and 2-4 inches of lace should be on the finished outside, while the ends of the laces should be inside and should be long enough to tie into the tails of your yarn). I like to leave the outside laces different lengths to add visual interest to the finished product.

Step 12: Tighten the sewing yarn until the hole at the top of the hat is completely closed and tie off with a square knot. Then tie one end of the sewing yarn to one of the tails of wrapping yarn with a square knot. Tie the other end of the sewing yarn to the other tail of wrapping yarn. Now, tie the ends of the leather laces to the yarn tails with square knots.

Step 13: Cut the ends of all the yarn tails approximately one inch from the knots. Optionally, you can weave all the tails into the knitting instead of cutting, but I find that it's easier just to leave the short, cut strands as they are on the inside the tuque and cannot be seen.

Step 14: With the tapestry needle, weave in the tails of yarn on the inside of the tuque where the brim joins the top of the hat.

Step 15: Turn your hat right-side-out, and your project is complete.

© 2009-07-01 N0Nightowl