Knitted Fingerless Glove For Moi And A Knitted Cowl For Someone With A Tiny Neck

You all know how I struggle with knitting. If sewing is my English Language, then knitting is my second language - Chinese! I won't bore you with tales of my struggle learning Chinese. (It's so hard!)

I really want to get better at knitting and I told myself I would give knitting plenty of attention this year. Since the new year, I've been knitting on and off. I kinda forgot how to knit and purl so I made something very basic to practise the stitches. Who said it's like riding a bike?

Me knitting the glove in front of my messy computer space

For this fingerless glove, I did not create a swatch. To be honest, I've never made swatches before, not even for crochet. It's probably because I've not made anything that needed to fit. So I guesstimate the number of stitches for the glove which is not a good idea really. But I have beginner's luck. Somehow, the glove fits me. I only made one because I live in Singapore and it's too hot to wear such things. So this is just for practice. The glove was made in a flat rectangle and later the sides are seamed together. Oh, I discovered I hate seaming knitted sides.

I'm trying very hard to go beyond something flat and rectangular. I have a few circular knitting needles and I've never learnt to use them. I made this thingy - can I call it an Infinity Scarf? Let's call it a cowl. I used the leftover yarn from the glove on my circular knitting needles. First time doing it in the round! I think I joined correctly. It wasn't quite as hard as I imagined.

The one thing I wondered about as I was knitting this scarf was - what happens when you want to knit something with a huge circumference. Does it mean you have to find a circular needle of that dimension? Since I have no need for a woollen cowl, I made a very small one and Yoko is modelling it.

Yoko is an unfortunate Shibajuku doll which I purchased a year ago and must henceforth live her life modelling my makes. She is a big head doll with extremely tiny neck. Perfect for my imperfect makes. (check out her cat stocking)

It's only the 2nd week of 2018 and I've already made a bit of progress in my knitting. In the past, I often gave up on my knitting projects because I dropped the stitches or made mistakes. Every time I made a mistake, I ripped out everything and started all over again. So tedious. This time round, I tried my best to fix my mistakes. Like if I drop a stitch, I put it back. Sometimes (most times) I put it back wrongly but I carry on. One other big improvement in my knitting is I stopped using my toes to help me grip the yarn. I totally rely on my left hand now. I have a very unenthusiastic left hand but I'm slowly coaxing it to cooperate.

Oh, I discovered there's something called double pointed needles. By discovered, I mean "oh hello, you exist". I haven't quite understood how they work but I will go buy myself some and worry about how to use them later on.

I used less than one skein of this yarn for these two projects. The yarn was already in my knitting stash. I'm not kidding. I have a knitting stash. So happy to use something I own!

So what did you make this year?

Linktree Instagram

Hey,

I think I'm late to the party but recently I went to switch the link to my Instagram profile from my Etsy shop to my blog and I discovered people have been merrily using linktree which allows you multiple links to wherever you want them to go. This is what happens when I stay too long in my cave!

Don't know what I'm talking about? You know how stingy Instagram is about linking to a url? You have just that one link allowed in your profile. That's the one.

Well some people don't need more than one url link like if you have a landing page which you can customize to whatever you want? Or you're a regular gal who instagrams for fun? For me, I occasionally lazily promote my bag patterns or blog posts and what linktree does is perfect for me.

This is my linktree link page. I provide 5 links which in my opinion is too many! I think 3 is a good number. You may know that I'm a bit superstitious about using numbers. During my craft market days, I used to display my goods grouped in odd numbers. So I applied the same (unproven) "logic" in my 5 links. Originally, I only wanted to provide 4 links but 4 is a big no. Not only is 4 an even number, four means "die" in Chinese so that's why I added "Sewing Tutorials" to make 5. Well, that was a bit TMI into my crazy brain.

I'm using linktree's FREE plan which allows you limited changes to the colour and I don't know how many links in total I'm allowed but believe me, less is more. There's a Pro option which gives breakdown of link traffic, scheduled links timed with posts and other customisation.

I think as long as linktree is free and doesn't start to put ads on my links, I'll use it. What are you using?

Broomstick Crochet Lace Bracelets

A couple of days ago, I bravely opened the drawers where I keep my stash of craft supplies. I'm a bit ashamed of these drawers because here's where I "hide" my impulse purchases of something shiny. Do you have such "secret" drawers?

Every now and then, I see something on the internet and I tell myself: I need that! And next thing you know, you've made payment and that darn thing arrives in your mail box. Then months pass. Years. And that thing you so needed continues to sit in your drawer of shame.

End of last year (hey, that was just a few days ago!) I told myself I have got to start learning to use some of my secret craft supplies. I fished out something weird looking and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was. Fortunately the packaging was still intact. The weird thing turns out to be a hairpin lace loom. Do I need a hairpin lace loom? What the hell was I thinking? I blame you - Instagram flash sale! Anyway, I decided to google hairpin lace loom to you know, make something. While going through various links and tutes, I somehow found myself looking at broomstick crochet lace. I don't know how it happened but suddenly broomstick crochet lace became more attractive to me. Plus, I have a couple of broomsticks in my kitchen. So no need to buy additional supply. Win win.

I watched a few youtube videos here and here. The second video comes in 3 parts. Anyway, it turns out you don't need a broomstick. You may use it (and if you do, please send me a pic) but there are other options like a huge knitting needle. The purpose of the broomstick is to form loops. So all you need is a tube like object of appropriate circumference.

 

For my first try, I used a wooden spatula. I decided I don't need a huge knitting needle. (I saved money!) My crochet needle was 4 or 5mm.

This was my first try. I used single crochet (US). The ends are seamed together like regular crochet.

Fyi, once the loops are formed, you can remove the spatula or whatever you are using. It's a lot easier to work your single crochets or whatever stitch you are using without the spatula in your face. This bracelet took 10 minutes to make. Of course I spent at least an hour watching videos before starting. I used very little yarn. In fact this was leftover from another project and I managed to use it all up. Another win win.

I kinda like the look of the broomstick crochet lace that I made the exact same thing in thinner black yarn with some glitter yarn mixed in. The idea sounded better in my head. I was thinking of making a sparkling crochet lace bracelet for the next time I go to the disco. Unfortunately, the single crochets didn't show up very well.

For the black disco crochet lace bracelet and the teal one I'm showing above, I used a marker pen as my broomstick since the yarn is thinner and I don't want such big loops.

What do you think of the teal broomstick crochet lace bracelet? (Do ignore my wrinkly old hand) I love the teal version. Having learnt from my disco bracelet mistake, I used double crochet(US) for this one. The stitches show up better don't they? In case you're wondering, I used a Lizbeth Ocean Teal Size 3 thread. It's not stretchy (Egyptian cotton) which is why I can't make the bracelet as fitted as I wanted.

I've reserved a book from the library on Broomstick Lace Crochet and when it arrives at my branch library, I'll go through it and see if there's anything else I can make. I would love to make something small and doesn't use up much yarn or time. I know still haven't learnt to use my hairpin lace loom but I'll give it another shot, maybe next week. Hopefully nothing shiny catches my eye again!