Rowan's Superhero Cape

Here is a superhero cape I knitted for my daughter. I just made up the pattern on the fly. It's stockingette with a seed border to prevent curling. The ties are picked up from the top edge and done in garter. I think it's too wide across the top and doesn't have enough taper to it. Something to fix for next time. 

Little Luchador

KThis little luchador was a gift for my nephew upon his birth. There are little jingly bells in his hands, and the cape is sewed on so it doesn't come loose in little hands. Pattern is from Rebecca Danger's "50 Yards of Fun," and the yarn is Knit Picks Dishie. 

Some old projects

A little bird for a friend's daughter. 

An angry squid for my nephew. 

An Arsenal ski hat for my brother. 

A unicorn for a friend's daughter. 

A baby blanket for a friend's daughter. 

A Mario hat for this little cutie. 

Bowling pin set

Just finished knitting this cute set of bowling pins and bowling ball for my niece. It was my husband's idea to make the scared faces, and I think it makes the pins so much cuter. This was about 20-25 hours of work. 

Yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Sport in various colors, double stranded. Pattern for pins and ball is from "50 Yards Of Fun" by Rebecca Danger. 

There isn't anything in the bottom to make the pins stand up, no plastic or beanbag or anything, so it can sometimes be difficult to make the pins stay upright. But they can't be too weighed down or they won't fall over when hit with a knitted bowling ball, so it's a toss up. We will see how my niece and daughter, who will be there for the unveiling and will certainly also want to play with them, like these. I expect they will end up being used for something other than bowling. 

Unicorn

Here's a cute little unicorn toy. Yarn is Knit Picks Dishie, double stranded to make a bigger final product. Size 8 DPNs. Pattern is from Rebecca Danger's book "50 Yards of Fun." This took me 3 days, about 7-9 hours of work. 

Hawk Girl

HawkGirl, knit with Knit Picks Dishie in various colors with felt details. Pattern by me. This was around 40 hours of work. 

I'm really proud of this toy. It's the first major toy project I've done without a pattern. I tried writing one up, but there were a few places that I could knit how I wanted it to go but I couldn't figure out how to write it down, which was strange. And I was pressed for time since this was for a birthday gift for a 4-year-old. 

Faux Heather Baby Blanket

This baby blanket looks really fancy, but it's remarkably simple.  And the pattern is easily modified to fit whatever size you want the finished blanket to be.  Play around with different colors for a different look.

Here's what I used for this blanket:

Materials

All yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Sport, which is a cotton/acrylic blend, so it's machine wash and dry, perfect for baby and kid projects.  The yarn is super soft, too.

3 skeins Whisker (Gray)

1 skein Fairy Tale (Mauve-ish)

1 skein Zinnia (Bright Pink)

1 skein Lady Slipper (Purple)

1 skein Flamingo (Light Pink)

Size 10 circular needles used as straight needles. 

Tapestry needle for weaving yarn ends.

Gauge: 14 sts and 19 rows over ST stitch using two strands of yarn held together.

Seed stitch

(Work over an even number of stitches)

Row 1 (RS) *K1, P1; rep from * to end.

Row 2 K the purl sts and P the knit sts.  Repeat Row 2 for seed stitch.

Pattern

CO 100 stitches with two strands of MC held together.

With two strands of MC, work 8 rows in seed stitch.  End on a WS row.

Next row (RS): Work first 6 stitches in seed stitch, knit to last 6 stitches, work last 6 stitches in seed stitch.

Next row (WS): Work first 6 stitches in seed stitch, purl to last 6 stitches, work last 6 stitches in seed stitch.

Repeat last two rows for pattern.

Continue with MC until blanket measures 5" from cast-on edge.  End with a WS row.

Break one strand of MC and join one strand of color A.  Continue in pattern until piece measures 10" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.

Break A and join color B.  Continue in pattern until piece measures 15" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.

Break B and join color C.  Continue in pattern until piece measures 20" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.

Break C and join color D.  Continue in pattern until piece measures 25" from cast-on edge, end with a WS row.

Break D and join MC, using two strands of MC again.  Count how many rows your first MC section had.  (Mine had 26 rows.)  Continue in pattern, working last 8 rows as seed stitch.  Bind off stitches in seed pattern.

How to modify the pattern

Do a gauge swatch.  Count how many stitches and rows you knit in a 4" square.  Divide that number by 4, and that's how many stitches (horizontal) and rows (vertical) you have per inch.  Decide how wide and tall you want your blanket to be.  Cast on appropriate amount of stitches to reach desired width.  For example, if I have 4 stitches per inch and I want my blanket to be 30 inches wide, I would cast on 120 stitches.

For height, this blanket has 6 stripes, so just make each stripe the same number of rows.  If I want my blanket to be 30 inches high, I need each stripe to be 5 inches.  If my gauge gave me 5 rows per inch, then I need 25 rows per stripe.  Feel free to play with this number a row or two.  It's better to end on a WS row, so an even number of rows works best.

Important Notes

The heathered look of this blanket comes from knitting with two strands of yarn held together.  You can use any weight yarn you want, really.  Just make sure you knit a gauge and go from there.  For a nice loose weave, use a needle at the large end of the suggested needle size for your yarn.  Double that needle range for double stranding.  For example, sport yarn calls for needles 3-5.  For a loose double stranding, use a size 10.  For a tighter weave, use a smaller needle.  This yarn has a nice drape when it's loosely knit.

Stitches are wider than rows, so to make the seed stitch border even, knit X stitches and X+2 rows in seed.  For example, I used 6 stitches and 8 rows in seed for this blanket border.

Glossary

ST = Stockingette

CO = Cast on

MC = Main color

WS = Wrong side

RS = Right side

Happy knitting!