Muffler cum cap : warm and soft

I had been busy planning to come to Berlin and in my real hurry to pack unpack and prepare there was time to knit, but not to blog.

This time, my cousin and his wife from US got me LION brand homespun wool in a lovely meadow color. I decided to knit a muffler cap, like the one I saw in mussorie. It is knit in two pieces, three sections.

Section one : all rows front and back in knit.

This piece is a 70 inch long muffler with 20-25 sticthes ( for a very thick wool) thinner yarns may need more. The width of the muffler is only 5- 5 1/2 inches so it can wrap around the neck nicely.

Tip: if thick wools are done in knit one side purl the other, (st stitch) it curls up, so use garter stitch for keeping the muffler flat.

After the 70 inches long muffler, knit a flat piece with 35 to 40 stitches again in garter stitch but make it about 12- 14 inches. I measured mine around my head like a head band up to my neck over both my ears to form a "pallu."

Fold this in half and from the side of the knitted piece pick up as many stitches as there are rows and knit them in circles to make the back of the head piece. Knit for about 6 to 10 rounds and reduce the stitches as for cap knit two together one row then knit and kit two together and then knit another row. Finally bind off the last 10-14 stitches.

I know it sounds complicated but looking at the pictures will give you a good idea.


Center the head piece to the muffler and stitch it along the bottom of the cap . I added fancy fur tassles and also some to the hood to make it look like a fur cap!








Tip : First time knitters! Do use a different contrast colored wool ( I used green for this )to stitch your garments loosely. Check if everything is okay then stitch neatly using same colored wool. That way if the piece is inside out or not rightly placed, you will find it easy to cut off the coloured wool without cutting the knitting.

Happy winter!

Question's answer

A query I forgot to answer.

1. I wanted to ask you a question, I have this pattern from the US for a newborn baby cardigan which I want to make for a friend's son, it says use US size 8 needles. What size would they be in Indian size and also, approx what thickness of yarn does one need for that?

thanks!

From K

Mansi replies:

US Size *8 is actually a 5mm needle. Its UK size 6 so what we get as double wool should do. Use two strands of the normal wool to get the thick chunky effect for a cardigan. Avoid the baby soft wool that you get in small packs of 6 or 12, the yarn may be too thin. To put a border for this you may need UK size 8.The main body is knitted in size 6 UK.

This needle size fits most patterns with double wool. ( Double wool in India has 4 strings of yarn) The US double wool is very different.

By the way I haven't been kind to the colourful baby wool in the market. As one of my friends said they are very colorful and you can try your creative knitting with them. Mobile purses or coasters or telephone covers. Use needle UK size 10 or 12 for a fabric like effect.

My Next project is a scarf that can be buttoned on the neck. Its a two color scarf and I shall try my skill at using two colours!

knit leg warmers

Sorry to be late with this update but after moving house, I am scheduled for a Europe trip this winter and have been knitting away to help keep me warm. I made a special trip to Dehradun and got real wool balls for adult knitting not (baby wool) and my mittens are being knit . They cost around 50Rs a ball and are really wool-marked. People in India may never need all that warm wool so continue to celebrate acrylic. You get wool shops in Paltan bazzar there so if you travel there or know someone you can get them to mail you some wool.

Good news from Lion brand wools' website, all thier own patterns are free. Newbies from India, please donot mess with patterns without doing a gauge patch. None of those chunky yarns are available here!

The other news is that I found a knitting enthusiast who has taken on knitting a coat sweater in a month. I am helping her with the pattern and will be sharing all the tips we come up with as time goes.

The first being, to bind off from the start, unless specified, always

K1, K2 pass second stitch over the first.

---------

To bind off from the middle ( like a Raglan shaping) Knit 2 together and bind off the last stitch by passing yarn through stitch.

or

If you are good enogh to try ,

you can k1, k2 the pass first stictch over second. ( this is tough to understand and may be I will post a video soon.)

Ankle warmers are tube- like and are to be worn above ankle socks and keep the ankle to knee area warm. These are pink and purple and look very bulky but they are certainly warm. I finished all my purple and pink wool.

TIP: To make your knitted fabric elastic you use ribbing: K2 p2 or K1P1. Row 1

and p2k2 or p1k1 at the back respectively.

Double yarn for bulk or colour!

Just finished another muffler. Stopped knitting to move house and now I am ready.

Most of us in India get really good wool but mostly acrylic and mostly single strand. You can find patterns that say hold "two starnds together" and they look nice. In the US, I found wool that was already made of two wool strands together, and so was wound up like a single wool.

Here are some tips~

To create some patterns that we find on the net we need to hold two woolen yarns together and knit. Try needle number 4 or 5 uk and knit loose.try a cap or a muffler first till you get familiar with holding the yarn. If you use contrast colours it looks really nice, like an unusual wool.

The most common mistake is to forget you have to knit two strands together. Practice with different coloured wool as you know you have a strand of each colour in each stitch. Also don't knit three stitches together. The mistake can cost us by creating extra stitches or decreasing our count.

It also helps to count more often, not a job to do while listening to someone talk!!!

Dont try to roll a ball with two strands it gets confusing. Instead roll two balls and join the yarn as you knit along. Take a Look at the photos.

Its a good idea to knot the two strand ends loosely to gether and pull the woolen strands taut together. If one wool is loose and the other tight it creates problems. Try using similar wool of different colours in the beginning.

Before you try a pattern do take time to knit a tension swatch. Even if you are the most expert knitter you cannot estimate wool-use across countries. Most of the patterns as we know come off the net or from Books from US or UK. The double wool that I bought for example suddenly thinned into a thin brown line and patchy pattern, unlike the pretty lion brand scarf I was seeing on the net.

For the expert and the resourceful:

http://www.knittersreview.com/article_how_to.asp?article=/review/profile/010830_a.asp

unless anyone else got the new wool from vardaman knits, its hard to achieve texture, so Indian knitters try the colour and the bulk hints.

Thanks to all those who are writing in. I will put up pictures double knitted pink/ purple scarf asap.

The Knitting Meet In Bangalore

I have three blog readers and a couple of friends ready now. Hoping to take off the event in July third or fourth week in Bangalore. Just finalising date, time and place! Get your needles ready! we are going to knit bengalooru!

bengaluru knits

I am planning a knitting meet in a public park after june. Some nice gazebos in cubbon park Bangalore would be nice. I atleast know three people who would turn up. If you would like to join in Bengaloru knits event to share tips and knit together for sometime do leave your comments or email me. I am willing to start you off on knit projects but you have to get your own material. 

Parents , please this is not a child care class or one more thing to keep your child managed. So knitting fans only.

This took me a year! This celtic dog birth sampler counted cross stitch dogged me but now that its done, its off to be framed and gifted to the baby next week in time for its first birthday!

Baby Cap

I have lots of unfinished knitting projects . Recently I quickly used my circular needle to do up this baby cap for a gift

 It was easy I just cast on 54 stitches and knitted in Stocking St. All knit in the double wool purple yarn in size 8UK. Then I shifted to the fun yarn ( from the connoor wool shop)and also moved to size 6 after 2 inches of all knit, I then did this:

knit 4 reduce 1 by knitting two together and knit four and so on.

 (The Important thing to remember in circular knitting is to mark your row beginning with a knit marker. We can make knit markers easily in India by modifying our cheap earring hoops into a circle using pliers. Just make sure that the earing doesn't catch the yarn. Beady earrings are good, I found out.)

After one row I again knitted an inch and then carried out the reduction row. Then I went on knitting till the whole length was about a bit more than 5 inches. Then using a smaller yarn and a needle I caught all the loops from the needle and ties them up and tucked the knot in . I always weave in the extra yarn and never chop it off to the end. It took me about three - four hours of intermittent knitting.

Its a baby cap for newborn to 6 months. It may be a bit big for the new born. But the baby will grow into it.

Its still scarf and cap Knitting time.

 In honour of arne naes, the deep ecologist, I inagurated my new fashion knit cap and muffler on ignite 2 bangalore 09.

 Its a simple knit in the blue yarn brought from thailand by by freind annu.

 If you look closely you can see abutterfly clip on the cap. Its a shiny hair clip that I attached to the cap to make it prettier.

The next project will take a longer time as i am finishing the cable vest started long ago (seen half done in the earlier blog)

 also progress gets slower on knitting when my Phd speedens up!