Boutique Ribbons Scarf

Posted on by dirtylittlepigsoaps

A few months back I was at the store and noticed the Red Heart Boutique Ribbons in the clearance section. I found a color that caught my eye and decided I needed a new scarf. I already made a similar scarf using the Sashay Yarn, I figured this would be neat. The pattern on the label says to cast on 11 stitches and then knit, I decided to do 6. Honestly it all depends on how wide you want the scarf.

What you will need:

  • 1 ball of Red Heart Boutique Ribbons (I used Laguna)
  • A set of US 8 (5 mm) knitting kneedles
  • Something to keep your yarn flat (I used a toilet paper roll, see below)

To start, remove the packaging and un fold the yarn. You will notice it is tied into bundles. Undo the strings that hold the bundles together. Then transfer the yarn to your toilet paper roll, or whatever you choose to use. A paper towel roll might be better. Make sure the yarn is laying flat, you don’t want it to be twisted. There will be some knots where they connected two ends (annoying), just keep them as flat as possible.

Once your yarn is ready, cast on the desired amount of stitches (I did 6). The top of the yarn with the holes is where you will be knitting. To cast on, simply weave the yarn onto the needle, skipping a hole each time. Can you see how it “snakes” in the photo below? The nice thing about this yarn is that you don’t have to worry about securing the ends, just start knitting.

After you have cast on your stitches you will start knitting each row until you are through the entire ball of yarn.

To knit you will place your kneedle (right) through the front to the back of the first loop. As shown below.

Then you will take your yarn and loop it onto the right needle (see below), then pull it through the loop and off the left kneedle. That’s it. I alternated skipping holes in the yarn each time; you can skip a hole each time, or knit directly into the next hole. It is completely up to you.

This is what it looks like after a few rows, it has a nice ruffled look.

Here is one of those knots I mentioned before, ugly isn’t it?

Just knit through it. Honestly, you won’t notice it unless you are looking for it. There is one in the middle of the work in the photo below, it blends in really well.

Once you are at the end, bind off and pull the remaining tail through and knot it if you are able. Here is my finished product. The scarf ended up being a little bit thinner than I wanted, but it’s still cute and wearable. This project took me 2.5 weeks to finish. I worked on it 1 or 2 nights a week. It is a fairly quick project if you want to knock it out in 1 day.

There are a lot of video tutorials out there for this type of scarf. I would recommend watching one, it never hurts to see the process in action.

These scarves are fun, I will end up making more eventually. Let me know what you think. Have you made a scarf like this? 

DLP





Heffalumps Are Pink

Posted on by dirtylittlepigsoaps

I recently decided to try my hand at making amigurumi, or as I understand it, cute miniature animals. I found a pattern for an elephant and I knew I had to make it. The pattern can be found HERE; be sure to check out her other great patterns while you are there.

Everything in the pattern is pretty straight forward, but I had to look up some of the crochet stitches as a refresher. I did make a few changes to the pattern to accommodate my skill level. I am self taught, so there are some aspects of crochet that I just don’t understand. Luckily for me I have a great resource as many of the ladies at church are avid crocheters. This pattern took me 7 days to complete, I worked on it a few hours each evening.

I made this “elephant” for my friend’s new baby that is due at the end of the month. The gender is a surprise so I wanted to go with something…neutral. You could say the color I picked is pink, I see some orange in there though. 

So without further adieu, here is my “elephant.”

I used:

  • Caron Simply Soft yarn in “Persimmon”
  • hook size 3.5mm
  • A tapestry needle
  • Black embroidery thread
  • A paper clip
  • Fiber fill

Day 1:

Chain 9, going well so farR1 completeThe pattern through R4Day 2: nothing! Some work friends came over for game night. We played Left for Dead 2 on the XBox 360. Don’t worry, we got the garden knome to the helicopter.

Day 3:

Through R15. I went ahead and weaved in the tail from the beginning. I also learned that when you crochet you are supposed to insert the hook through both loops, not the back. Oh well, It doesn’t appear to make a difference. Day 4:

Through R25, I used the paper clip as my marker.Through R30, this is the tab for the trunk. (Pretty sure I messed up here, but I went with it)The pattern calls for safety eyes, I don’t trust them, so I embroidered the eyes. Oh and guess what? The baby came early and its a GIRL! So I added eyelashes to the eyes.I ended the night by making the leg chains. Neat huh?Day 5:

Legs A and B. Here is where I changed the pattern, it worked better for me to work the rows backwards, i.e. right to left. If I did it the way the pattern read I had legs with the backs of the stitches out and it didn’t flow. Day 6:

Legs C and DAnd the trunkDay 7:

I made both ears, the tail and the belly. I did not add the fabric to the ears, maybe next time. I chose to go ahead and connect the ears and tail before I stuffed it because I hate knots on the outside. I realize you shouldn’t need knots if you weave the ends the right way, I’m not convinced.Here is the finished product. I really like the crooked ears, to me the “imperfections” make it much more unique. My husband (let’s call him Man) informed me that Heffalumps are pink, not elephants. So here we have it: Little Miss Avi’s Heffalump.I hope you enjoyed my first adventure in the art of amigurumi. Be sure to go check out the pattern to make your very own elephant or heffalump. 

DLP