Free Pattern: Aaron's Hitchhiker Necktie

Aaron is my bank teller.  Last summer when he found out I had a yarn store he asked me whether I could knit a necktie?  I said yes but did not commit to the project until his coworkers asked me if I would make it for his birthday.  Aaron's Colleagues at the Orenco Umqua bank picked out the Lilliput sock yarn in the color Puppy love (He did really ask for pink). I did the pattern and knitting.  The result is this necktie that you too can make for a special guy.  In addition I put in a little Homage to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as the cast on number is 42 .  You can get the pattern on the Blacksheep Woolshed Blog.

Needles: size 1 (2.25mm), 40” circ. For magic loop Yarn: 1 skein (approx. 300 yds) fingering weight.  Cast on: 42 stitches

  

This tie was knit in a seed stitch pattern It is important however to create a row of knit stitches on either side of your tie so it will lay flat.

Set up Round : k 1, p 1 10 times (total 20 stitches), pm, k1, k1, p1 10 times (total 20 stitches), pm, k1.

Position your knitting so that each pair of markers is in the middle of each needles (10 stitches, m, 10 stitches (this saves lost markers and forgotten knit stitches).

Round 1:  p1, k1 repeat to marker, sm, k1. Return to p1, k 1 until end of needle. Needle 2:  P1, k1 to marker, sm,  k1. Return to p1, k1 until end of needle.

Round 2: Needle 1: k1, p1 repeat 5 times, sm, k1, k1, p 1 until end of needle. Needle 2: k1, p1 repeat five times, sm, p1 k1 repeat 5 times. Repeat rows 2 and 3 until the tie measures approx.  18 inches. 

Decreases rounds:  Needle 1: k1, p1 repeat to marker, sm k2tog, p1, k1 until end of needle. Needle 2:  K1, p1 repeat to marker sm, k2tog, p1, k1 until end of needle.

This is a list of the total number of stitches remaining needle after each decrease round. (40, 38, 36, 34, 32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 22, 20 st remain).

*Repeat rounds 1-2  5 times (total 10 rounds),

Repeat Decrease Round.  **

Repeat from * to ** until 20 stitches remain on your needles.

With these remaining 20 stitches knit rounds 1 and 2 until entire necktie measures approx.  82 inches. Block and wear.

The Summer July 4th Recipe.

          Happy U.S. Independence Day!

I am not a cook by any means but over the years when asked to bring a food dish to a friends or to a party these two recipes are my goto items.  Neither are particularly healthy however they are fun!

Frog Eye Salad:

I got this off the side of a pasta box and then have never been able to find the brand again.  This blogpost is being written for that reason.  I usually keep this recipe in an old Shredded wheat recipe box   I saved up UPC symbols for as a child and got in the mail.  I got to thinking however that if I were to become ill or something I want to have some of these important recipes written down somewhere other than in the place where I know it is.  In fact-it did take quite a bit of digging in that "I know where it is" place to find!  Here are two important recipes.

Frog Eye Salad:

8 oz uncooked Acine de Pepe pasta
8 oz vanilla yogurt
12 oz non-fat dairy whipped topping (I would rather use whipped cream but I just do not think it would hold up the same).
1/2 t cinnamon
11 oz can drained mandarin orange slices
20oz can pineable chunks (I prefer tidbits)
1 cup mini-marshmallows
1 cup red grapes sliced into halves.

Cook the pasta on the stove to just slightly al dente (follow the box directions).  Drain and set aside.
In a large bowl (I mean large).  Mix together the whipped cream, yogurt and cinnamon.  Add all of the remaining ingredients mixing well.  cover your bowl and put it into the refrigerator.  This can be made the day of your party but it works much better after a night in the fridge.

Grandmas Potato Salad (With Tina adjustments) This recipe is a bit harder to write as it is completely in my head and honed by practice.  I will attempt to write it down here but feel free to adjust proportions

Boil 6 medium-large sized white potatoes (only cook these until just done-or slightly firm)  We do not want them mushing apart while we attempt to cube them.
Boil 5 eggs. and allow to cool

In a large bowl (I mean large)  mix in 3/4-1 cup of mayo., 1 Tablespoon yellow mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper.  Set aside.

Chop up finely 1 shallot, 6 sweet pickles.
Chop the cooled and peeled eggs into pieces roughly the size of your little fingernail.

Using a paring knife slide off the now loose potato skins and discard them.
chop the potatoes into just smaller than 1 inch cubes (uniformity is not a goal though).

drop the pickles and shallots into the large bowl and mix,  Add the potatoes and eggs and mix again.  Test your salad.  Is it too dry?  start by adding 1/4 cup of pickle juice.  If it is still to dry start adjusting with serving spoon dollops of mayonnaise.  Finally taste for salt and pepper balance.  If it needs more add it and stir.  This can be served on the same day but also benefits from a night in the fridge.

I am about to make both of these on Wednesday to take to a friend/family July 4th celebration.  Let me know if you try one or the other of them and how they turn out.



Happy Independence day Everyone!!

Free Pattern! Simple Striped Summer Hats.

Although these hats were written for baby/toddlers there is no reason they can not be sized for any head!  The key is a loose fitting shape with a small shade enhancing brim.  The reason I picked baby hats is that I am on a bit of a baby knitting/crochet jag right now.  No..I do not have any grand-babies on the way but it does seem that many of the Blacksheep knitting family are either getting ready to have their own new babies or grand-babies.  These are fairly quick to make so have some fun with them!

Knitted Version:

Yarn:  Cascade Pima Fine.  Pick whatever shades you like! Two skeins will knit two hats.

Needles:  Size 5 circular long enough for magic loop.

Sizes: made for sizes 0-3 mo, 3-6, 6-12.  Just keep adding stitches if you want bigger versions of the hat.

Gauge:  .

Cast on 71 (81, 91) I used a long tail cast on method.  In order to get a smooth join in the round slip your last cast on stitch onto your working needle, pm, knit two together.  You should now have 70 (80,90) stitches. 

Rows 1-10: Knit (about 2 inches)

Row 11: Purl one round.

Rows 12-22: Knit

Row 23: fold your work along the purl row.  Knit around but each stitch should go through the current row and a stitch from along the cast on edge (this gives you a tidy two layers of knitting.

Row 24-26: knit around

Rows 27-31: change colors to make your first stripe.  There are lots of techniques to make these jogless you can check out on the web.  I used the slip one technique.

Rows 32-36: Using the main color again knit.

Rows 37-40: Using contrasting color knit

Rows 40-54: Using the main color knit.

Row 55: knit 9, k2tog repeat around.

Row 56: knit 8, k2to repeat around.

Continue decreasing in this manner until you have approx. 4 stitches on your needle.  Cut your yarn and using a darning needle thread the end through your live stitches and secure them.  Hide your ends.  You can add embroidery, crochet or buttons for embellishment.

Crochet version:

Yarn: Two skeins Cascade Pima Fine in any two colors you like.  You should get two hats with opposite stripe colors.

To Begin: Chain 2. In second chain from hook sc 10. Join these into the round.

Round 2: Place a marker to track each round. SC two in each stitch below (20 total).

Round 3-until hat diameter is large enough to fit your desired head.  Sc around with increases.  There are many formulas for making the crown of a hat.  I have found that none of these work well for me.  Instead I crochet in a free form manner with mostly 1 sc in each space but adding two sc to spaces periodically so that the growing circle remains flat.  I check frequently by laying my work down and making sure it does not ruffle or cups up at the edges.

Crown to first stripe:  sc in each stitch until your work hits the top of the wearers ears.  During this time I create a slight flair by gradually adding 6 extra sc into the work (two sc into one space three times over two rows. 

Stripe Rows 1-4: Change to contrasting color and crochet four rounds.  Add 2 increases during these rows. 

Stripe Rows 5-9: Change back to the main color. Also include two increases.

Stripe Rows 10-14: Change to contrasting color crochet.  Increase two stitches over the four rows.

Start Brim: SC one rows in main color. Sc around.  Include 6 increases spaced out evenly in this round. 

Finish Brim: sc until brim measures 1inch. 

Turning round: sc in the back loop

Brim Hem: sc for one inch.

Fold hem along line made by the crochet in the back loop. Turn your work. Hooking each stitch through the had at the row formed by the lowest stripe and the hem edge sc.  Repeat around until a folded hem if formed.  Embellish if desired.

Studio Donegal

When I last posted we were on the airplane headed to Ireland. Finally Here are the photos!

Steeking update:  That steeking did not go well.  I am not sure I am wholly happy with the sweater yet. After my little taking of scissors and a first attempt to build a steek sandwhich was a failure I put the sweater in my bag and left it there for a good two weeks.  Finally a couple of days after Christmas I pushed myself to make some progress.  I will get back to the topic later.

Ireland:  We landed in Cork to a very stormy and foggy dusk.  You might be wondering why we chose to fly into Cork so far away from our Kilcar destination.  I have friends in Cork and planned a couple of nights with them on our way back to the UK.  Thus chose Cork as our entrance and exit airport.  

David made the trip possible.  Not only was he my driver but he took all of the photos!  With him on photography duty I had the opportunity to listen to Tristan tell me all about the yarn making, weaving and Kilcar area.  Honestly if David had not been on the job I am sure there would hardly be any photos for you to see!

We drove from Cork up to Athlone Where we stayed in an aging but quaint hotel that was once a masonic lodge.  Although we really saw nothing of the countryside on the road as it was dark we did smell what we later discovered was the smell of peat fires.  While we stopped for gasoline we saw piles of peat bricks for sale.  Peat really does smell nice in a fire.  

As David and I were both jet-lagged we were up and ready to get on the road by 4:30 am.  we drove further north to Donegal city by day break.  The roads were small and there was very little freeway driving.  We stopped into a coffee shop for breakfast and a walk around the village.  This was a photo of a particularly lovely pub across the street from the cafe.

Finally we were ready to head to Kilcar for our meeting with Tristan and to see Studio Donegal and the  Donegal Tweed Mill.  As there are so many photos I am going to break this bit up into two posts.  This first one will include the photos from Studio Donegal.  Studio Donegal is a small but powerful mix of a business located just off the main street in the small village of Kilcar.  The building is quite large but with hidden treasures that Tristan and his parents before him have created into a lovely business.  When you walk into Studio Donegal you might think it is just a little gift shop.  Two rooms are filled with knitwear, woven blankets, tweed clothing and yarn.

 The front of Studio Donegal.  The shop is located in the lower level, Tristan's office area and the area where are yarn ships from is located in the upper front right windows.  upstairs through the left windows are where clothing design takes place.  The weavers do their work in the back of the building on the second floor.  Down in the basement Tristan has put together a lovely spinning mill from surplus or out of use equipment that he has put back into working use.

Sadly David did not get any good shots of Tristan but I found one on the Studio Donegal Webpage.

A sweet little hat made from the Snow Shade of Soft Donegal Tweed.

Who doesn't love a v necked cable sweater?  It does look great with the woven tweed flat cap.

These hats are knitted from the homespun yarns we carry.  Each skein of yarn is unique and made from area sheep and spun in the mill onsite.

Nice warm knitted socks.

David and I got to watch one of the weavers work on a throw very like this one.  They called the pattern zebra.

A wall of Aran tweed yarn.

Tristan said that these are the are the reason Studio Donegal started milling the homespun yarn.  These gloves show the lovely long stripe variation of the yarn and are long wearing.

A woven scarf.

Tristan has put together a nice group of clothing designers, seamstresses and commercial sewing equipment to produce jackets like this.

The hand mechanized multi-harness looms were fascinating to see.  Four looms filled the space.  If you would like to have your own guided tour of the shop, spinning and weaving you can watch a video created by Studio Donegal here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2JObK-fT

The Mill Area: A carding machine sat off in one corner of the basement. Wool went in and nice lengths of roving came out.

The machines below took washed wool and turned it into narrow strips of roving ready to go into the spinning machines. Uncarded fleece went into the line, was carded once and then carded again at right angles.  The machine then divided a wide band of wool batt it into narrow strips. These strips of pre-yarn were then agitated back and forth in such a way that they became slightly felted.  the resulting 'cheese wheels' of pencil roving looked very knitable even at this stage.

The fleece goes into the machine at this end

Wheels turn while the fleece is carded twice and then divided into narrow strips

Those narrow strips look like yarn but they are not twisted yet. They were wrapped onto rollers and agitated back and forth to slightly felt each narrow band.  At the top you can see early small cheese wheels of this roving being rolled up.



The cheese wheels (they are lined up along the tubes at th top of this spinning machine) were then twisted into single ply yarn on the spinning machines bobbins.

I am hand spinning a finished a piece of roving into a length of yarn.  When I was done I had a bunch of lengths of finger spun yarn in my skirt pockets.

The photo below is a warping machine.  lengths or yarn are reeled on in preparation for the weaving looms upstairs.