Pattern #1 Chain-Link Scarf

Hello everyone, it is Brittany! I finally have a break from concert preparations (I had four concerts this December) and can take some time to relax. On some of my time off I would like to share some of my recent knitting projects.

Today, I am going to talk about the chain-link scarf. This scarf is rather simple and fun to make. One thing I really like about this pattern is that it is made by width instead of height. For some reason I feel like scarves like this go much faster. I am not sure why, but it just works well.



This pattern is very simple and the scarf knits up quickly. I would agree that this is a quick knit, however, you have to make it thiner than the pattern calls for. I do NOT like super thick scarves. They just fit awkwardly and they take too long to knit. Instead of making this 7 chain-links wide I made it just 3 chain-links wide. As you can see in the picture below it fits nicely and is still wide enough to cover your neck. (I have a rather long neck and you can see it covers mine.)



I did not find any mistakes in this pattern and I would recommend it to anyone.

Yarn Choice: Cascade 220 Paints - #9847 (Montego Bay), Cascade 220 - #8909 (Raspberry)

As always you can see more pictures of this project and other projects at my flickr account. Have a great day!

Brittany

Pattern #56 Flip Top Mittens

Hello Everybody It is Em!

As the days before Christmas keep on getting smaller, we are currently knitting our fingers off!  Brittany just finished two scarves (and they look so cool!) Stay tuned for her blog entries about these fab scarves!

Our goal for us to knit 5 patterns before New Years is going along well.  I am almost done with the Lion Scarf, I'm also making the twisted rib hat (for an Xmas Gift, so it will be finished by the 25th) and Brittany has one more project to make.  We promise we are working very hard to achieve our goal!  For now, we are trying to write about some of our projects that we finished before we started our blog.  One of those projects is the Flip Top Mittens.

I really did not care for this pattern.  I have a different pattern that I use for flip-top mittens that I absolutely love!  I have made that pattern quite a few times and I never had any issues with them.

When I started this pattern, I was very shocked to see that the wrist pattern was not a normal rib pattern.  I was too much in love with ribbing to try this pattern.  However, many people on Rav stated that this was their favorite part! So now I feel like I missed out on something special.  The pattern is easy just some Yo's and ssk's.

This pattern was just not for me.  And that's okay.  You might have better luck knitting with this pattern.   I found the instructions to be unclear and unnatural for me.  I suggest to still give them a try and let me know how they worked for you!!!   The reviews on this pattern are mixed on Raverly.  Many people changed the top of the mittens because they had a hard time working with the pattern.  There are others that said they loved the pattern and it came easily to them.

The biggest thing I found was making the top of the mittens.  I felt that the part that covered the bottoms of the fingers was not enough space.  Plus this pattern doesn't have you knit down on the mitten, so the popup covers part of the actual mitten.  Once the popup part hit the mitten it stopped.  That causes fingers to pop out.  In my mitten, I picked up stitches and ribbed down for about 2 inches and then added a button so Chelsea could seal the flap shut.

She choose pink...good color;)

The seal would then not have any holes, unlike the original pattern.  This way part of the mitten and the popup part overlap, which lacked in the original pattern.

Since I didn't knit down enough...I still had one hole.  Chelsea had a pinkie that wouldn't stay in the mitten.  You can see in this picture that some of the flap that is supposed to cover up the mitten is sticking up.

 

Therefore, I had to have Chelsea wear the mittens and seal the hole shut.  It worked out very well.  Next time, I would make the ribbing part 3 inches instead of just two! Nevertheless, I was able to make them work for my dear old pal Chelsea.  She loved the mittens! She said they were very warm!

For those who are curious, I used Nashua Granite Yarn.  (Sorry Cascade, she wanted grey and this was in my stash!) The yarn worked up beautifully!

As always, happy knitting!

Em

Pattern #12 Cables & Wraps Scarf

Hello Everybody it is Em!

I wanted to talk about the Cables & Wraps Scarf today!

This is a project that I started and restarted a few times. This was one of my first projects in the 60 Quick Knits Book. That's right...I started this particular scarf not in 2011 when we started our goal...but in 2009, way before Brittany had the book! (Actually, I have no idea if she had the book at this point.)

So why has it taken me this long to write about this pattern? Well, the reason is very simple. I have started and frogged this scarf quite a few times. First my yarn was too thin. I used a sport weight yarn and it was taking FOREVER. So I changed the yarn. Second time was my own darn fault. I didn't store my knitting in a good place and the project kept falling off the needle.

The third time I made the scarf, I found this particular pattern to be difficult. I worked on this scarf while I was on my housekeeping job, therefore I got distracted too easily. Plus, all of the rows are extremely similar, so I would start reading one row and then move to the next row.

So, now a year later, I frogged it AGAIN and used the proper worsted weight Cascade 220 yarn. I have been able to knit this scarf more than 2 inches ever since!

I purposely used a lighter color so everybody can see the complicated pattern. I feel if I am going to take this much time working on this pattern, then I must make sure that everybody can see it. I found a misfit skein of Cascade 220 Heathers sitting at my local yarn shop and decided it needed to be made into this awesome scarf.

The downside to finding this misfit yarn is that I realized that I am going to need 2 skeins of this yarn! I assumed that all the 60 Quick Knit projects that had only one color only took one skein... and you know what the old saying goes about assuming. So now I am on a quest to find more of this yarn! I also don't even know the original color of this yarn. It's a beautiful off-white heather tone. I am going to make an educated guess that the number of this yarn is 9600. I will have to figure that out soon! If I can't find it,  I might do a two-colored scarf like Brittany did for the Wave Scarf (Pattern #11)

As for errors... there seems to be one that I have found. This might not make complete sense unless you have the book in front of you. Bear with me please! On Row 3 you are increasing stitches to make the ovals. These ovals are a total of 7 stitches. In order to increase these stitches, you are supposed to knit into the next stitch. On Row 3 you currently have 5 stitches in the oval part of the scarf. You K2, K into the next stitch, K2. Row 4 has you knitting all 7 of those oval stitches... but according to my math teacher, the calculator, and my own pen and paper: 2+2+2=6 not 7. This means that we need to increase an extra stitch within the five original stitches.

In conclusion: it should be written like this
Row 3: P1, *k2, inc in next st, inc in next st, k1, p2, k1tbl, p2, sl 3wyif, p2, k1 tbl, p2: rep from *once more, end K2, inc in next st, inc in next st, k1, p1

Row 4: k1, p7....etc...

This scarf is a lot of fun to make. The pattern really isn't that complicated once you have done enough repeats. This scarf does take a while to finish, but it is worth the time put into it! I cannot wait to see mine finished!!! Hopefully I will overcome all the issues I'm having with finding the second ball of yarn to go with it!

Em

December 9 - Progress Update

As normal you will see an update of how many projects we have completed, started, or are still waiting to be started. If a project is still waiting it may have a name next to it. Some may not because a few of them we are going to decide on later. As in previous update posts if the project name is colored pink it is in progress by Brittany and if colored green it is in progress by Em. If the project name is colored and crossed out that means it is completed. We will also have Pattern Entries linked next to each project as we update the blog with our evaluations and input on each pattern.

As of December 8, 2011:
39/60 Projects - Completed
12/60 Projects - Works In Progess
9/60 Projects - Waiting to be Started

Pattern #1 Chain-Link Scarf- Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #2 Cable Brim Tam - Project Entry

Pattern #3 Waffle Mittens - Project Entry

Pattern #4 Puppy Mittens - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #5 Tweed Watch Cap - Project Entry

Pattern #6 Tied Rectangle Wrap (Brittany)

Pattern #7 Embroidered Mittens - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #8 Lion Scarf

Pattern #9 Monkey Hat (Em)

Pattern #10 Diagonal Stripes Hat - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #11 Wave Scarf - Project Entry

Pattern #12 Cables & Wraps Scarf - In Progress Update Coming Soon!

Pattern #13 Ribbed Wristers - In Progress Project Entry

Pattern #14 Zigzag Scarf

Pattern #15 Striped Bobbled Hat (Brittany)

Pattern #16 Ribbed Bonnet

Pattern #17 Plaid Mittens - Project Entry

Pattern #18 Striped Graduated Scarf - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #19 Twisted Toque - Project Entry

Pattern #20 Textured Triple-Stripe Scarf (both)

Pattern #21 Birdcage Mittens

Pattern #22 Bobbles & Cables Cap - Project Entry

Pattern #23 Smocked Fingerless Mitts - Project Entry

Pattern #24 Mitered Scarf - Project Entry

Pattern #25 Ribbed Keyhole Scarf - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #26 Basketweave Scarf - Project Entry

Pattern #27 Scalloped-Edge Beanie - Project Entry

Pattern #28 Reverse Stockinette Mittens - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #29 Cupcake Hat

Pattern #30 Eyelet Scarf

Pattern #31 Garter-Ridged Hat (Brittany)

Pattern #32 Garter-Stitch Neck Wrap - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #33 Pocket Cap - Project Entry

Pattern #34 Checkered Mittens - Project Entry

Pattern #35 Textured Tam - Project Entry

Pattern #36 Leaf Scarf - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #37 Mock Cable Wristers - In Progress Project Entry Completed Project Entry

Pattern #38 Garter-Ridged Scarf - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #39 Cables & Stripes Mittens - Project Entry

Pattern #40 Tweed Mittens - Project Entry

Pattern #41 Pocket Scarf - Project Entry

Pattern #42 Ribbed Pillbox - Project Entry

Pattern #43 Octopus Mittens (Brittany)

Pattern #44 Tasseled Topper - Project Entry

Pattern #45 Bunny Mittens - Project Entry

Pattern #46 Leaf-Lace Gauntlets - In Progress Project Entry

Pattern #47 Striped & Ruffled Wrap (both)

Pattern #48 Starfish Hat - Project Entry

Pattern #49 Slip-Stitched Hat - Project Entry

Pattern #50 Ruffled Scarf - Project Entry = Coming Soon!

Pattern #51 Cabled-Cuff Mittens - In Progress Project Entry Completed Project Entry

Pattern #52 Cabled Scarf Hat - In Progress Project Entry Completed Project Entry

Pattern #53 Two-Color Slip-Stitched Hat - Project Entry

Pattern #54 Twisted-Rib Hat (Em)

Pattern #55 Triple-Cable Scarf (Em)

Pattern #56 Flip-Top Mittens - Project Entry = Coming Soon

Pattern #57 Drop-Stitch Neck Wrap

Pattern #58 Spotted Fair Isle Mittens

Pattern #59 Hugs & Kisses Mittens - In Progress Project Entry Completed Project Entry

Pattern #60 Scandinavian Mittens

The Copper Llama

Hi everyone! It is Brittany. I have actually finished 2 projects from 60 Quick Knits yesterday. I also almost finished a whole extra project today! However, I am not going to talk about those projects just yet. Instead, I'm wanted to tell you about the great yarn shop Em and I visited today.



Em and I drove about 40 minutes from my apartment this morning to get some amazing Cascade yarns. Our friend Zoe had told us about this yarn shop that had a variety of Cascade yarns. Em and I had talked about going there for a while, but we never did. When a Ravelry knit-a-long for the Cabled Ski Cap (60 More Quick Knits) came along I needed some Cascade Sports Weight. The Copper Llama seemed the perfect place to go.



The Copper Llama is a beautiful yarn shop with a wide variety of Cascade 220 yarn. They do not exclusively sell Cascade, but they had brands of Cascade neither Em or myself had ever heard of. Not only was it great to see all the colors and kinds, but the yarn shop itself was so unique. It is attached a little farm where you can see llamas. The yarn shop has a log cabin feeling and the owner was wonderful. She offered us tea almost the second we got there and she even put up with us talking about teaching.

Em and I definitely had a lot of fun shopping there and you can look forward to future posts about the projects we created with out new yarn! :)

Hope you all have a great day!
Brittany