Merry Christmas! ChemKnits Stocking Knitting Patterns Summary

When I was taking a picture of my hand knit stockings on the fireplace, I realized that I have never made a summary post of the designs I created for my family.

These designs are very special to me.  I created our first stockings after Keith and I got engaged.  My stocking has two sides, my maiden initials (RFR) on one side and my married initials on the other (RFB).  I only ever used my stocking for one Christmas as RFR, but it was nice to have the stocking transition to my new name along with me.  

Coordinating Stocking Patterns:

• RFR/RFB Stocking - Featuring a snowflake, and a chart inspired by hemaglobin. 
• KAB Stocking - Featuring a dinosaur playing guitar and space invaders. 
• Baby LAB Stocking - Featuring a dinosaur, turtles, and tie fighters.  
• Indy's Puppy Stocking - Featuring a dog sihulouette, fire hydrants, and a name in a dog bone. 
• Baby REB Stocking - Featuring a penguin family and a star

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I wish all of you warmth and fluffy fiber to snuggle with. #christmas #stickings #ChemKnitsDesigns #freeknittingpattern

A post shared by ChemKnits Blog (@chemknits) on Dec 24, 2017 at 8:03am PST

I will be back with many more posts for the ChemKnits blog in 2018.  I have SO MANY PROJECTS that I still need to write up.  Not to mention all of the awesome Dyepot Weekly videos.  Thank you for all of your support for the last (almost!) 9 years.  I cannot wait to see where the next year will bring us.

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope everyone has a winter season filled with warmth, light, and lots of squishy yarn.  

A Fox Cowl

When the chunky Failynn Fox Cowl pattern crossed my path, I knew that I needed to make it.  (There is a crochet version, too!  Flint Fox Cowl.)  It is constructed out of super bulky yarn which meant it would be a fast project PLUS it was super adorable.

I made the toddler size and used KnitPicks Tuff Puff yarn in hand dyed by me orange (340 g, 150 yards), white (13 g, 6 yards) and black (26 g, 12 yards).  I dyed 4 balls (~400 yards) of the white tuff puff before starting this project since there wasn't a suitably foxy orange available at the time.  The nice thing about creating food coloring dyeing tutorials in my kitchen is that when a color I need is back ordered I try to create my own!

For the first time Lucky helped me wind the yarn into balls.  He kept winding the yarn and saying "I'm making a fox hat!"  If only a little crank was all it took!

The pattern is well written and this fun hooded cowl comes in multiple sizes.  I made one adjustment to the pattern.  After the last cowl decrease round I knit 22 sts and started doing the hood back and forth rows there.  This way the round beginning with the stripe would be on the back of the hood, not front and center.

I started using felted joins to add new balls of yarn after I realized that i would have ends to weave in near the edge of the hood.

While the hood was in progress I tried it on Lucky.  The hood measured 9.5" on the stockinette and I had knit 33 or 34 rows.  This seemed super short and I thought i would need to knit to the child size 12 inches, but then I tried it on him again a few rows later and it looked like it would close okay.  In the end I knit 43 rows that measured 11.5" before closing off the hood.

I love a project where I can try it on the intended recipient during the construction.  There was very little worry about it being too small!  (However, I was nervous about running out of yarn.  This is one of the downsides of using a custom hand dyed colorway!)  Lucky was so excited to put on his hood that he started howling, even without the ears.  

On the ears, I changed some of the decreases to SSk or P2tog-TBL where applicable so the decreases would be symmetric on either side of the ear.

I wasn't sure what the two rounds of SC crochet would add around the edge of the  hood but it really finished it off nicely. I think I have one ENORMOUS crochet hook somewhere, but the only hook I had on hand is a Size K, not the M recommended in the pattern.  I just made sure to keep my SC's really loose on the edge of the hood and around the ears.

By the time I finally knit and finished this hat it was springtime, there were very few cold days left. I think it might still fit Lucky another year (he wore the same hat for the third winter in a row this year) but if not then Rowdy will be able to wear it.  

Lucky has requested that I make him an elephant hat.  I will wait until the end of the summer before I start his new hat for next winter to make sure that he still wants to be an elephant.  

Lucky was so tiny when I knit him his first fox hat!  Even after wearing this for almost a whole winter the hat was in great shape for Rowdy to use this year.  

Also featured in this photo are the birthday shirts I made for Lucky and Rowdy this year.  I can't believe how much they've grown even since taking these photos just a few months ago!  

Celebrate Equality Wristbands

It was a proud day in college in 2004 when Massachusetts recognized same-sex marriage.  It was even more exciting in 2015 when the verdict in Obergefell v. Hodges was announced, indicating that same-sex marriage is guaranteed by the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th amendment.  While one big milestone has been reached, there are still laws in many states that allow discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender expression in cases of employment, housing, providing service and more.  To say that this is a huge problem is an understatement.

June is LGBTQ Pride Month. There are marches all over the country to celebrate Pride.  This year I felt a need to do more than just type my words of support to the LGBTQ community.  I wanted to create something with my hands to express my support.  The Celebrate Equality Wristbands come in two colorways, a rainbow to represent the Gay Pride Flag and stripes of Blue, Pink and White to represent the Trans Pride Flag.

Materials

• Yarn - Each wristband weighs under 10 grams and used less than 19 yards of yarn total.  I rounded up to the nearest full gram.
• Gay Pride: 6 colors of 100% cotton aran weight yarn.  Sample knit with Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran in Red (Pillar Red; 2 g, 4 yards), Orange (Blood Orange; 2 g, 3 yards), Yellow (Buttercup Yellow; 2 g, 3 yards), Green (Lime Green; 2 g, 3 yards), Blue (Sky Blue; 2 g, 3 yards) and Purple (Rich Mauve; 2 g, 4 yards). 
• Trans Pride:  3 colors of 100% cotton aran weight yarn.  Sample knit with Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran in Pale Pink (Candyfloss Pink; 3 g, 6 yards), Pale Blue (Duck Egg Blue; ) and White (Paper White; 2 g, 3 yards).  
• Knitting Needles - Size 6 (4.0 mm) DPN's or circular needles long enough for the magic loop.  
• Gauge - 15 sts/3" stockinette 
• Finished Size - approximately 2" wide and 7" around. 

In May, Love Knitting contacted me to see if I would be interested in trying some of their yarns.  I was about to place an order for rainbow cotton yarns to make this Pride project.  When I asked the Love Knitting representative if they would be interested in partnering with some of my Pride Month projects, they said "As a company, and as individuals, we have a very strong ethic of believing in and standing up for equality and we're not shy to support your projects!"  I am super happy to support and promote a company that supports equality!  Love Knitting carries a huge selection of popular brands of yarns in addition to some of their own exclusive lines.  They also carry patterns and other knitting and crafting supplies.

100% cotton isn't very stretchy, so I wanted to create a pretty ribbed pattern for these wristbands.  I created twisted stitches by knitting through the back loop (k-tbl).   This would give the finished object some stretch but also be slightly elevated from a standard ribbing pattern.

Abbreviations used in this pattern

• K-tbl - Knit through the back loop
• P - purl
• sts - stitches

Celebrate Equality Wristbands Knitting Pattern  Sizing Note: The pattern is a repeat of 2 stitches.  You can adjust the size by casting on more or fewer stitches, just make sure you use an even number.  

• Twisted Ribbing Pattern: *K-tbl, P1* around
• For the Gay Pride Stripes: 
• Cast on 40 sts in Red.  Join to knit in the round.  
• Knit 2 rounds in the twisted ribbing pattern:  *K-tbl, P1* around
• Switch to Orange and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds. 
• Switch to Yellow and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds.
• Switch to Green and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds.
• Switch to Blue and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds.
• Switch to Purple and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds.
• Bind off in pattern.  The linked video shows an example how to bind off following a 2x2 ribbing pattern.  For these wristbands, K-tbl, P1, pass the first stitch over the next.  K-tbl, pass one stitch over to bind off a second stitch.  Continue following the ribbing pattern until all stitches are bound off.  
• For the Trans Pride Stripes: 

• Cast on 40 sts in pale blue.  Join to knit in the round.
• Knit 3 rounds in the twisted ribbing pattern:  *K-tbl, P1* around
• Switch to pink and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds.  
• Switch to white and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds. 
• Switch to pink and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 3 rounds.  
• Switch to pale blue and follow the twisted ribbing pattern for 4 rounds.
• Bind off in pattern.  The linked video shows an example how to bind off following a 2x2 ribbing pattern.  For these wristbands, K-tbl, P1, pass the first stitch over the next.  K-tbl, pass one stitch over to bind off a second stitch.  Continue following the ribbing pattern until all stitches are bound off.  
• Weave in all loose ends.  Enjoy your Celebrate Equality Wristbands.

 

Sizing Notes: 
My wrist is small, around 6.25" around.  If I were to create a wristband with 32 stitches (my gauge is 5 sts/inch) then it would stretch out completely and be a struggle to get over my hand.  I cast on 40 stitches to give myself a loose fit that was easy to slip on and off.  

Pride parades are a lot of fun.  There is more to being an ally than showing up to a parade or adding a rainbow to your profile picture.  Stand up for members of our communities.  Call your representatives (I like 5calls.org for sample scripts for a huge number of issues), show up at town halls, and tell our elected officials that we stand for equality and we stand against discrimination.  Contact your school boards and education committees to support students in your community.

I have some other projects I hope to create for Pride Month.  Stay tuned!

Love Knitting sent me the PaintBox Yarns Cotton Aran yarn for free to try.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  

Celebrate Equality Wristbands Knitting Pattern © 2017 ChemKnits & Rebecca Roush Brown.  This pattern is available for free via www.ChemKnits.com for your personal or charity use.  You are not to copy or distribute this pattern without the permission of the publisher, ChemKnits.

Crochet Dinosaur Appliques for Party Hats

Back before Rowdy's first birthday I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do for his birthday photoshoot.  I decided to keep many of the details similar to Lucky's cake smash, but Rowdy was going to have a Dinosaur birthday party.

I still had some of the crochet applique whale birthday hats that I made for Lucky's first birthday.  I was able to make these hats using the same color yarn as the turtle butt diaper cover Lucky wore for the smash cake.  The yarn colors were on backorder at KnitPicks and I didn't have time to wait, so I decided to try to match the colors with some food coloring.

Each miniskein I dyed was 6 g of worsted weight wool.  There was more than enough yarn for me to complete 6 applique dinosaurs.  

The Bronto and Steggy the Dino-Rawrs Applique crochet pattern is absolutey darling.  I love that the pattern includes step by step picture instructions in additional to the written pattern.  This made it really easy to understand the placement of the stitches.  

The dinosaurs needed some blocking but they look so much like the sihoulettes of the species they represent!  The instructions for fastening off were particularly fantastic.  It was one of the cleanest projects I've ever finished.  I'm going to change how I fasten off from now on!

Before blocking

Blocking the dinos

The finished dinosaur appliques are perfect.  I know that so much thought went into these designs and I really appreciate that they are so small and simple to create.  

I loved the sparkles at the top of Lucky's 3rd birthday party hats, so I decided that I would create rainbow garland pompoms.  I didn't have enough yarn to create yarn pompoms like I did for Lucky's first birthday.  I purchased a couple of garlands with this project in mind.

As much as I love the stars, with the bigger garland you can almost see lime green in there.

First, I cut a 6" piece of tinsel and stripped an inch of the sparkles from either end (to expose the wire.)  

Next, I folded the garland in half and twisted the ends together to form the bobble.  If the bobble looks too rounded give it a twist in the middle to make it more pom-pom-y.

Finally, I inserted some ribbon into the end of the wire so that I could easily hold the pompom in position on the hat when I glued everything together.  (My hands aren't small enough to grip the wire inside the hat and my glue gun can't reach all the way to the top, either.)

I had all of the pieces ready to go so now it was time to assemble the hats.  

I used some hot glue (on the inside!) and the ribbon closure to attach the tinsel pompoms to the top of the hats.  

I love the applique stegosauruses, but since they are two color they don't quite have enough contrast on the hats.  I really wanted to make sure I had two opposite hats for the photo shoot.  Ulimately, I decided to use just the long neck sauropods on the hats.  Keith and I ended up pinning the crochet stegosauruses to our shirts for the party so they didn't go to waste!  

I love the rainbow sparkles at the top of the hat.  I think that the dinosaur complements the colors in the bobble wonderfully even if there is no lime green.  

Soon I will share the pictures from Rowdy's first birthday photoshoot, hopefully before Rowdy turns 2!  I love being a crafty mom, but it takes way less time to create the projects than it does to edit the images and finish up the posts.  I plan to go big for the kids' first birthday parties but to hold back a bit for future birthdays.  Stay tuned for many more dinosaur crafting projects!