Tag Archives: contest

Egg Pattern Winners

I finished the eggs!

eggsinthebasket

Yes, there were six colors in the kit.

Ellie and I have been taking turns hiding them in different rooms for the other one to find. In fact, the yellow egg is hidden so very very well in my bedroom that neither of us can find it.

There were so many of you interested in happy chickens and knitted eggs, that I decided that a dozen patterns was a more appropriate number for an egg-related giveaway. The random number generator has selected:

18 – kathy b
12 – celestinw
6 – Ruth
27 – Katie
21 – Cathy B
24 – Sophie
22 – Coralee
28 – Cassie
2 – Kimberly
30 – John
4 – Susan
10 – Donna B.

It took me FOREVER to get all of those sent! If you didn’t receive a pattern by way of a Ravelry gift and should have, please let me know and I’ll fix it. The random number generator seems to favor folks with the initial ‘B’. Just a tip for the next giveaway.

Y’all best get to knitting, winners – it’s a good thing these are quick like a bunny!

Knit Two Things, Maybe Get Some Candy

I know I said I would have three techniques for you to try, but I only have two. I’ve opted not to use my New Idea (cast on 20, divide them alternating between two needles, go on from there) because the stitches are loose unless you twist them as you knit them. The twisted stitches look interesting, and I might use this idea for something else, but it won’t work here.

I’ve got a toe-up cast on and my favorite knitting trick for you to try. If you want to participate, please try both and then leave a comment that tells me:
a) Which written instructions are the easiest to follow.
b) Which method is the easiest to accomplish.
c) Which technique was more fun.
d) Which you think is better-looking or anything else you discovered or thought of that might be helpful.

To participate, you’ll need a set of four double pointed needles and some scrap yarn.

I estimate that this little exercise will take you less than 20 minutes. If you spend much more time than that figuring these out, I need to try something different. Every opinion is valuable and I want to hear them all! However, if you’ve never tried either of these techniques before, yay! I am especially interested in fresh eyes and fingers. I’m not sure why I am reluctant to tell you what toy part we’re working on, but I am going to go with my gut here and keep it a secret.

Everyone who leaves a participating comment will be entered to win a drawing for my favorite hands-free (thus knitting-friendly) treats:
One dozen lollipops from This Charming Candy!
You pick the flavor, I’ll place the order and have them sent straight to your door or P.O. Box. I strongly recommend the salted caramel, but no pressure. Make sure you leave a valid email with your comment so I can get in touch with you!

Are you ready to get started? Let’s begin with a cast-on commonly used by toe-up sock knitters. It’s not Judy’s Magic Cast-On. While this one was really clever and looked good, it took me way too long to ‘get’. Completely worth it if I planned to make several pairs of toe-up socks, but not for this project. I got the Figure 8 on the first try so that’s what we’re testing.

Test Piece One: Figure 8 Cast-On on DPNs
Grab yourself a couple double pointed needles and hold them side-by-side in your left hand. I found it helpful to tie the tail of the yarn to one needle to give you an anchor to start with. If you choose to do this, count that as one of your stitches.

held together

Pretend that is tied to just one needle.

Begin to wind your yarn around the two needles in a Figure 8.

around the top

Wrap up around the top needle…

around the bottom

…between the needles and down around the bottom one.

Keep going until you have 10 loops around each needle. If you spread out the stitches, they should alternate like footprints.

footsteps

Check to make sure that the yarn is wrapped back and forth between the needles.

Grab another double pointed needle and knit all the stitches on Needle 1. Note: One of these needles will have the stitches on ‘backwards.’ When you identify that needle, just be sure to knit those stitches through the back loop. I haven’t done enough research to figure out if this is the second needle every time or if it depends on which needle you start with. If you’ve got some insight, please share?

right

My first needle was right.

Knit the stitches on Needle 2.

wrong

These were backwards for me.

I found that dividing the stitches was easier if I knit another round with the stitches on two needles. Please tell me if your mileage varies.

Knit the first 6 stitches from Needle 1. With a fresh needle, knit the last 4 stitches from Needle 1 and continue across the gap (turn the corner) knitting the first 4 stitches from Needle 2 onto the same needle. With a fresh needle, knit the last six stitches from Needle 2. Your stitches will now be divided onto three double pointed needles as 6-8-6. Continue to work in the round as expected. Rounds begin and on the side.

one is done

Really blurry, but you can see how the flat end looks.

To finish the sample piece, knit 4 rounds evenly. Break the yarn and run the tail through the live stitches so they don’t unravel. There is no need to draw them up or secure the tail.

Test Piece Two: Emily’s Favorite Trick for a Flat Bottom

Using two double pointed needles as straight needles, cast on 20 stitches.

20

With me so far?

Next: *K1, S1 repeat from * to end of row.
Repeat this row seven more times.

puffy

Looks like it is wrong side out? That’s because it is wrong side out.

Now be brave. Take your piece.

from the top

Deep breath…

Pull out the needle. Don’t panic. You’ve created a little pocket with all that slipping and knitting. Gently pull the sides apart to open it up.

open wide

If you’ve done it right, it will open right up.

Now carefully slide one double pointed needle through the 10 stitches on the top edge of the pocket.

scoop them all back up

Just scoop them all back up.

And then do the same thing with another double pointed needle and the 10 stitches opposite row.

all better

You’ll feel better once all the stitches are back on the needles.

Now flip the piece inside out so that the smooth side of the stockinette is on the outside.

voila

Surprise!

To divide the stitches onto three DPNs: Knit six stitches. With a fresh needle, knit the last 4 stitches from Needle 1 and continue across the gap (turn the corner) knitting the first 4 stitches from Needle 2 onto the same needle. With a fresh needle, knit the last six stitches from Needle 2. Your stitches will now be divided onto three double pointed needles as 6-8-6. Continue to work in the round as expected. Rounds begin and on the side.

done

There you go!

It is very likely that your gauge will change from the *K1, S1* portion of the knitting to when you switch to stockinette in the round. That is just fine for my purposes and might be preferable! To finish the sample piece, knit 1 round evenly. Break the yarn and run the tail through the live stitches so they don’t unravel. There is no need to draw them up or secure the tail.

You’re all finished! I’ll leave comments on this post open through Friday evening. If you’ve got free time like I’ve got free time, it will take you that long to get around to it.

Thanks very much for your time and patience!

WAIT! Beth suggested the Middle Eastern Cast-On! It’s easy peasy and the stitches aren’t ever backwards! If you’ve got another minute, would you go take a look?

You’re the One

lucky ducky

Rubber Duckie for a fun customer.

Don’t miss out on your chance to win your own Yarn Miracle Itty Bitty Exclusive! There is still time to enter and win (and by enter, I mean leave a comment) an Itty Bitty Bunny in cashmere on the Natural Kids Blog.

He’s not a toy, he’s a pocket companion. Or a cubical watchdog. Or a belated Valentine (contest closes on Saturday). Go here and leave a comment and I’ll show you some knitting that isn’t a toy. I’ve got some around here somewhere.

Saturday Giveaway: ME ME ME

Every Saturday, the Natural Kids Team (it’s an Etsy thing) gives away something created by a team member. Today’s giveaway is sponsored by Yarn Miracle.

love bunny!

Cupcake wrapper not included. Unless you really want it.

An Itty Bitty Cashmere Bunny! He’s tiny. He’s sweet. He’ll be just in time for Valentine’s Day if you live in the US. Hurry over there and leave your comments for a chance to win – entries will be accepted all week!

Sunshine

Ellie and I won a giveaway at Sewn Natural in July (I say that like July was such a long time ago). Turns out “2” really is our lucky number!

sunny sunny sunny

A Sun Stacker from Imagination Kids! I have coveted this forever.

Technically, I won it. So it’s mine. But I’ll let Ellie play with it.

sunstacker rearranged

Especially if she keeps doing stuff like this:

peek a boo

I’m sure William Henry Peg will drive into the sunset any day now.

Thanks to both Jen and Erin for putting sunshine in our day.

Halfway Winner

If you haven’t taken a look at the wonderful collection of dish cloth links in the comments of this post, you really should. Even though the Ball Band pattern is the obvious crowd favorite, there are many listed that were new to me! Including Wishy Washy Fishy Tawashi from Amanda that may be my most favorite of all time. The name alone makes me want to knit one, the picture makes me want to knit half a dozen.

But I won’t make you wait any longer…

The winner of our little half way contest will receive two balls of cotton, a pattern book and a set of 7″ US6 bamboo needles from Chiao Goo. Joan is responsible for the wealth of needles to be used as Dish Rag Tag prizes this year! I’ll tell you more about them when I get a minute to test drive a pair.

halfwayprize

The Random Number Generator has picked 26! Comment 26 belongs to Felicia! She had this to say about patterns:

When nothing in the knitting basket is going right, I usually whip out a ballband. But that’s been done to death before me! I also have done my fair share of Four Corners – but for the life of me, I can’t remember the blog I got it from. Did you see the pics from the hot pad swap? Amazing – and in single layers, would all make fantastic dishcloths!

I know this pattern well. I knit ten of them as starter dish rags for the Original Dish Rag Tag. Abigail (the Four Corners’ author and one of my favorite knitters) knit the the other ten. Abigail’s Four Corners Dishcloth can be found here.

Guess what? I just received an Etsy convo that the 2nd Place Team Prizes are ready! Just wait until you see them!

Three, a Kitty and a Surprise Drawing

drtthatsthree.jpg

That’s three squares of twelve.

hotfudgekitty.jpg

And a Hot Fudge Kitty for my shop.

drtsurprise.jpg

Surprise! It’s Panda Sock!

When the RubySapphire* folks saw that I had used their Panda Sock Yarn (60% merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon and a whopping 430 yards of it) for the Ballband pattern, they sent some along to share!

I asked the Magical Random Number Generator for its opinion on the subject and it told me 17! Starting with the first person who bought the pattern and counting up towards the present on my Ravelry sales sheet, 17 was pinkknitting! Tiffany, there is some great Panda Sock ready to hop in the mail to you! On Tuesday. Since this is Labor Day Weekend. Is the anticipation killing you?

*my hands down favorite dye shop of all time just wait until you see the first place team prize