Cleaning the House in 40 Minutes a Day? Or: How Running Made Me a Better Housekeeper.

Behold, the sparkling clean trash can of day 2!

My history with housekeeping has been a long and messy one (ha!). I've never been the greatest housekeeper, though the months we were selling our house, I really kicked it up a notch and pulled through, but BOY was that a lot of work.  I've typically been terrible at following schedules, so all the fly lady stuff never really worked for me.  Especially since her #1 focus seems to be waking up each day and shining your sink.  I just don't care if my sink sparkles, as long as it's not disgusting, I guess. 

I recently stumbled on this thirty day cleaning schedule from Apartment Therapy.  Well, to be honest, I ran across the kitchen one, first.  Twenty minutes per day?  That feels doable!  I decided to start the kitchen cleaning schedule on June 1.  I'm thinking I'm going to do both, though, I just need to catch up on the house cleaning schedule by spending a little extra time today.

This brings me to my first problem: I'm terrible at following schedules (at least, when no one else is specifically counting on me for it).  Here's the thing, though.  After following my half-marathon training plan, following a cleaning plan actually feels like it's no big deal.  I think I can commit to 30 days, and I honestly think I'll be pleased enough with the results that I'll want *WANT* to continue. 

Let's hear it for learning discipline!  This gives me hope of managing to get myself on some kind of homeschooling schedule.

Bumble Bee: A Free Knitting Pattern

 

For some reason, knitting for boys always feels difficult to me.  My boys aren't into sports teams and little boys don't seem to care much about the craftsmanship in lovely cabled hats.  They want pictures of their favorite things. They want snips and snails. If only I loved doing intarsia, so they could have all the things!

I set out on this hat pattern with the plan of making it reminiscent enough of a bumble bee for my son's approval, but also cozy and warm enough to satisfy my tastes.  For toddlers I strongly prefer earflap hats with ties so that it stays put and keeps little ears warm.  I also included instructions for just making a typical no-earflap style for both the toddler and kid sizes.  Knitted in a super bulky weight yarn, this hat knits up quickly, just in time for holiday giving.

I have linked to the techniques I used for increases and decreases.

Bumble Bee Hat

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky 1 skein of "wild mustard" colorway and one skein of "onyx".  Keep in mind that this is actually a super bulky weight yarn, if using a substitution.

Needles: 10 1/2 circular needles or size for appropriate gauge.  I use 40 inch and magic loop method, but you could use 16 in and dpns for the top, if you prefer.  TAKE TIME TO CHECK YOUR GAUGE.

Gauge: 15 stitches and 21 rows per 4 inches in circular stockinette

Sizes: Toddler (Child)

(for non-earflap style, skip the instructions for the earflap and start  in appropriate section marked with ***)

Earflaps: Starting with black yarn, CO 5 (for both sizes)

   row 1: K across

   row 2 (and every even row): P across

   row 3: K1, M1L, K to last stitch, M1R, K1 (7 stitches)

   row 5: increase as row 3 (9 stitches)

   row 7: FOR CHILD SIZE ONLY increase once more as row 3, you should now have 11 stitches.  For toddler size, K across.

Continue in stockinette stitch until earflap measures 2 (2 1/2) inches, ending with an even (purl) row.  Cut yarn and place all stitches on a stitch holder.  Work second earflap as first, but DO NOT cut yarn.  Knit back across.  Using knitted cast on, cast on 24(26) stitches, knit across other earflap (from stitch holder), then cast on 14 (16) more.  You should now have 56 (64) stitches.  Join, being careful not to twist, and marking beginning of round.  Knit 1 1/2 inches from front brim.

***  for non-earflap-style hat, start here, if doing earflap hat, ignore the portion between the *:  Cast on 56 (64 stitches) using black yarn, then join, being careful not to twist.  Work k2 p2 rib for until work is 1 1/2 in long.**

Switch to yellow yarn.  You will be working three (four) yellow stripes (and  consequently two (three) black stripes).  Each needs to be 3 rounds wide.  Please keep in mind color changes every three rounds while working the next steps.  I should have used a jog-less jog but didn't.  You can see where the change-over is on the hat.  I'm pleased with it anyway (and so is my son... though ecstatic might be more accurate for how he feels about it) but you may prefer to use one.  After last yellow stripe, remember to cut the yarn so you can weave it in.

Work until hat is 4 1/2 (4 3/4) inches from the front brim.  Work one round.

Next rnd: *K5(6), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (48(56) stitches remain)

K next two rounds.

Next rnd: *K4(5), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (40(48) stitches)

K next two rounds.

Next round: *K3(4), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (32(40) stitches)

K one round

Next round: *K2(3), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (24(32) stitches)

K one round

Next round *K1(2), K2tog. Repeat from * around (16(24) stitches)

CHILD SIZE ONLY: knit one round then next round *K1, K2tog repeat from * around (16 stitches) t

Stinger:

Both sizes should now have 16 stitches.  The rest of the instructions for the hat are the same for both sizes (except the finishing).

Knit two rounds.

Next round: *K2tog.  Repeat from * around (8 stitches remain)

Knit two more rounds.

Next round: *K2tog.  Repeat from * around (4 stitches remain)

Knit two more rounds, then cut yarn and pull through all stitches.

Finishing: (earflap style only) Pick up 68 (76) stitches spread evenly around entire brim and around earflaps.  Cast off.  Weave in ends.

For ties, I used the twisted cord method:  I took a long length of yarn (I didn't cut it from the skein until I had made the cord), maybe 2 ft or so, and folded it back so it was 4 ft of yarn forming a loop that I would be twisted together.  I didn't do multiple like in the linked video because I didn't want it too thick, especially since the yarn is so thick already.  I twisted the "loop" end while holding tight to the end of the yarn and where it was folded back to until it was twisting up on itself.  Instead of tying off at this point as in the linked video, I used a crochet hook to pull the loop end through the bottom of the earflap, and folded the twisted portion in half and held the loop end and the other end together.  Then I just held it up and let the hat spin until it was well twisted then tied it off.  Repeat on the other side trying to make them the same length.

As an alternative, you could just do a simple braided tie or an i-cord tie. 

Happy knitting!

Oliver's Christmas Spider Hat: a free pattern

I had decided to knit hats and mittens from the luscious Malabrigo Worsted I picked up for 20% off at my local yarn shop during their annual birthday sale. I had finished my daughter's and planned to embroider little flowers on her hat, but couldn't come up with a good (easy/beginner) embellishment for a boy's hat. Friends gave me ideas like stars and rocket ships, sailboats, etc... but I wasn't exactly sure how I'd do that, and I wasn't sure that Oliver would be into it.

Then the concept of bugs came up, and it reminded me that I had seen patterns for bobble spiders out there. I ran across this pattern for Spider Socks using that lovely spider. I realized that considering the hat I was making was on size 9 needles the gauge alone probably won't allow me to put the big spider pattern on a toddler hat, but her teeny spiders were perfect! Sadly, they were written for knitting from the top-down, but my hat was going from the bottom up. So I came up with a slightly different pattern for the spider and spread it over the course of the hat.




Soooo... here's my version of the spider, worked on reverse stockinette:

Worked in multiples of 9 stitches, in the round.

Round 1 & 2: Purl
Round 3, 5, 7, and 9: P1, slip 7 with yarn in front (be careful to leave it loose enough that you can attach it to your spider which will be on round 10, these will form the legs) P1.
Round 4 & 6: Purl
Round 8: P4, K1, P4
Round 10: P4, work bobble [knit in front of loop, knit in back of loop, knit in front of loop, knit in back of loop, knit in front of loop so that there are now 5 stitches in the bobble. Turn project around and purl across the 5 bobble stitches. Turn work and knit the 5 bobble stitches together through back of loop.] take the 4 slipped sections from rounds 3, 5, 7, and 9 and put them BEHIND the bobble, so that the bobble looks like the spider's body and the legs appear to come from it. P across.

Round 11 and as far above as you like: P4, K1, P4

I decided to do my spiders at various heights, to make it more interesting.

Sparkle: Beaded Holiday Placemats (a free knitting pattern)

I've been trying to come up with things to make for family for christmas. I had an idea for some nice placemats that were simple, but still dressed up a little for the holidays. Here's what I came up with:

Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Ultrasoft in Imperial Red
Needles: size 6
Gauge: 20 stitches per 4 inches
Beads: use a bead that has a large enough hole to get the beads onto the worsted weight yarn. The beads I used were the large sized glass beeds from beader's paradise (I found them at JoAnn fabrics)

PB (Place Beads): bring yarn to front of work, slide bead as close to last worked stitch as possible, slip next stitch while holding bead in front of it, so that the slipped stitch is behind the bead. Bring yarn back to back of work to begin next stitch.



Pattern for Placemat:

Thread 25 beads onto the yarn (BEFORE CASTING ON!!)
Cast on 80 stitches.
Work 6 rows of seed stitch (K1P1 across for a row, next row K1P1)

Row 1 (right side): work seed stitch in first 5 stitches, Knit to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch in last 5 stitches
Row 2 and every wrong side row: work seed stitch across first 5 stitches, Purl across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Row 3: work seed stitch in pattern for the first 5 stitches, knit 6, PB, knit across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Row 5: same as row 3
Row 7: work seed stitch across first 5 stitches, K3, PB, K2, PB, K2, PB, work across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Row 9: work seed stitch in first 5 stitches, K4, PB, K1, PB, K1, PB, knit across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Row 11: Work seed stitch in first 5 stitches, K5, PB, K1, PB, knit across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Row 13: Work seed stitch in first 5 stitches, K2, [PB, K1] 4 times, PB, knit across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Row 15: work as row 11
Row 17: work as row 9
Row 19: work as row 7
Row 21: work as row 3
Row 23: work as row 3
Row 25: Work seed stitch in first 5 stitches, K across to last 5 stitches, work seed stitch to end.
Continue working as row 25 until work measures 11 inches.
Work 6 rows of seed stitch. Bind off in pattern. Weave in ends.



Measurements: Finished placemat measures 16 inches by 12 inches.

Baby Hat

One of my friends did her own rendition of this hat pattern, which I got to see when we were at a playdate. OH SO CUTE!! So of course, I set out to try out my own rendition (she didn't give me the website, I had to search it out). The pattern is translated from a Norwegian pattern, and I don't know about you, but I've never even *seen* a 2.5mm circular needle (I believe that's a 1 1/2 size, US). And of course, I wanted to knit it right away instead of waiting until I got a chance to go to a yarn shop, so I had to go with what I had. I *do* have a size 3 circular needle, which I figured I could use and get a fairly small gauge, and the Patons Classic Wool Merino comfortably knits to a pretty small gauge, so I decided to go with that from my stash. The gauge in the pattern is 28 stitches to 10 cm (about 4 inches), so instead I wound up with 24 stitches per 4 inches with the combo I used. I wanted to make a 12 month size hat, so I calculated out how many inches it would be using their gauge and then used that to decide to cast on109 stitches. That puts the in between straight stockingette sections at 16 stitches instead of 18 or 19.

Ok, I'm off to knit. I'll let you know how it goes!

Braidy

I saw the new Gap Donegal Scarf and decided I LOVE it. But... I don't want to buy it, because to just have it isn't enough, even though it's being sold at a reasonable price for a hand-knit scarf, and in a month or two I could buy it on a lovely deep discount. I want to KNIT it. I want to do it myself. I HAVE TO!! It's a fairly simple pattern, and it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Doesn't it look cool? That's the Gap pic... hope it's ok if I use that. If not, here's the link I'll post mine when it's done.


Here's my pattern for it, I'm calling it Braidy. It won't be exactly the same because I believe they used a worsted weight yarn, and 6x1 rib which you might consider, too, adjusting your cables and needle size according , but....





Braidy:

Yarn: wool ease "chunky" I used the "charcoal" colorway.

Needles: Size 11 straights (8.0 mm) (or size needed to obtain gauge - or at least be close)

Gauge: 14st =4 inches in 4x1 rib

BTW... please let me know if you use this pattern... I'm curious if anyone will :)

4x1 rib:
Row 1 - p1 *k4, p1 repeat from *
Row 2 - k1 *p4, k1 repeat from *

Cable sequence :
Row 1: p1, k4p1, k4p1 slip next 5 stitches onto cable needle hold to front of work, k4p1, K4P1 from cable needle. work remainder of row in 4x1 rib.
Rows 2 - 6: Work in 4x1 rib starting w/row 2
Row7: p1 k4 p1, *slip next 5 stitches onto cable needle and hold to back of work, K4P1, K4P1 from cable needle. repeat from * once more, K4P1
Rows 8-12: work in 4x1 rib starting w/ row 2
Row 13: p1, *slip next 5 stitches onto cable needle hold to front of work, k4p1, K4P1 from cable needle. repeat from * twice more.
Rows 14-18: work in 4x1 rib starting w/ row 2
Row 19: work as row 7
Rows 20-24: work in 4x1 rib starting w/ row 2
Row 25: work as row 1


Pattern:
CO 31 stitches.
Work 4x1 rib for 12 inches, then work cable sequence.
Work 4x1 rib again for 3 feet (or 36 inches, if you prefer) , then work cable sequence again.
Work 12 inches of 4x1 rib then bind off rib-wise.

I'm only through the first cable sequence right now but I'll post the picture of my finished object when I get a chance. Enjoy!

More pics:
I'd like to add that I checked out the original gap version (which is for women, and a bit daintier than the one I made) and it's definitely made from worsted, but has the same 4x1 rib. If you're making it for a woman, you might prefer to use a worsted weight yarn, although it'll take an extra skein of it, I suspect. You might also make it a bit shorter, depending on how long you like your scarf, but the one I made was intended for a man.