Per Orla

Per Orla, Ballband Detail

Per Orla, Leaf Detail

This was my first foray into the much-loved ballband pattern by the Mason Dixon ladies. I didn’t have any trouble making the slipped stitches line up; I’m either that awesome of a knitter or I’m that awesome of a knitter. Jury’s out I guess.

I used PurlBee’s applied icord instructions for the trim.

You can find the pattern here.

And you can queue it on Ravelry here:

Clinton

Clinton by Berroco. Uses 8 skeins of Vintage, and I’m pretty sure you can squeeze two cowls out of the 8 skeins.

Calm Cowl

Calm Cowl, a free pattern I found on Ravelry. Knit up with 1.5 skeins of Berroco Vintage DK in Oats. Love it.

Both are on display near their respective yarns at Hill Country Weavers. Feel free to check them out!

Watch Cap

I knit it out of pretty much my favorite yarn ever, Berroco Vintage. Wool/Acrylic/Nylon blend, super soft, washable, great colors. A much more manly color and fit. The pattern is from Bruce Weinstein’s great Knits Men Want. I’m determined to knit most of the patterns from that book for him. (But not a sweater. This I know. Not yet anyway.) The picture was taken above New Mexico on an airplane as I as headed out to LA to spend a week with him (d’awww).

Now I’m casting on another in Berroco Ultra Alpaca for my friend Scott (what color? black. “forever black, forever alone” so he says). It’s a quick knit and a great on-the-go project.

Clinton

Today is Monday, June 27th, and here is how much I’ve gotten done:

Clinton

It’s been such a quick knit for me, mostly because I am so excited to switch colors. The gradation of the different colors is wonderful, and all you need to be able to do is work with two colors at once.

I’m following the tip from Mason Dixon knitting of turning stranded colorwork inside out. It helps keep the floats on the loose side.

Clinton

Clinton is a stranded colorwork cowl where you only use two colors at a time. Sounds perfect to me. The color combinations are gorgeous and I am SO making this as soon as the booklet comes into the shop.

Fieldstone

Fieldstone. A seamless, top down pullover with a fair isle yoke, a bit of garter trim, and and some fair isle sleeve details. EZ would be so proud of this.

Panna

Panna, an open-front, boyfriend length cardigan with ribbed trim and garter stitch edging. Simple and beautiful.

Ekberg

Ah finally, some patterns for Flicker! These Ekberg mittens are adorable and I love the cuff details.

And from Norah Gaughan’s new book:

Nyx

Nyx, a luscious, cabled cowl with a hint of glitter from the tinsel in Blackstone Tweed Metallic. (Aside: is shiny coming back?)

Overall, not a bad season for Berroco patterns. I’m pretty disappointed in the lack of crochet patterns, though. And I fear what direction they might go without Cirilia Rose…

Use adorable, fun colors to emphasize how adorable we all know Daleks really are.

Daleks Marching

You can queue it up on Ravelry, and add it to your Google Docs.

French Press Felted Slippers

Pattern: French Press Felted Slippers by Melynda Bernardi
Yarn: Pattons Classic Merino Wool, 2 skeins, color “Grey Mix”
Needles: Clover US15 9″ bamboo

This was my first real foray into felting. And I’m quite happy with how they turned out! My parents’ washing machine spins even with the top open, which made it easy to monitor the status of the felting. I threw in a tennis ball and a pair of shoes to help agitate. I kind of want to make a million more.

Panda Hat

This is from that same Short & Sweet Earflap Hat pattern, and is inspired by the designer. I crocheted the ears as follows:
1: ch4
2: turn, skip first ch, 2 sc in each ch to end.
3: ch1, turn, 2 sc in each sc to end.
4: ch1, turn, sc in each sc to end.

ears

I left a tail of about 18″ or so and sewed them on. And naturally there is a sc edging around the hat using the black yarn. I also used one strands of the black in the braids.

I’d write more but I’m of to get Thai food! Peace out!

One of my most recent creations is this hat:

Short & Sweet Earflap Hat

This is the Short & Sweet Earflap Hat. The pattern calls for Joann Sensations Angel Hair, which I have used and is surprisingly awesome. The one above, however, was a total stash-buster. I held together two strands of Freedom Spirit and one strand of Douceur et Soie. For 100% wool it has a nice sheen, though I know some of it came from the silk in the Douceur et Soie.

I’m about to cast on my third Short & Sweet Earflap Hat and I’m going to try the panda one. Way too cute not to have another go.

Do me a favor. Google “Tom Baker”. Right now.

Okay, did you do it? What’s the first image that came up?

For me, it was this:

Tom Baker

One of the most iconic images in the history of a storied British television programme. (Hell yeah I put in the extra letters. British people love putting extra letters in words. That’s why they always win at Scrabble.)

Over time many people have tried to replicate the scarf, using wonky yarns, inconsistent striping, and totally off-kilter colors. However, one tireless woman has spent the better part of her life hunting down scarves, measuring stripes, counting stitches, matching colors, taking pictures under an Ottlight, in the attempt to recreate this iconic scarf as faithfully as possible.

Her name is Tara Wheeler, and she is the real deal.

Tara's TARDIS Tattoo

(Yes that’s a real TARDIS tattoo with a scarf underneath. I was there and witnessed the whole thing. She even brought in paint chips for Jon Reed to match colors with. She is that badass.)

This isn’t to say that she is the first, or the only, person to attempt recreating the Fourth (yes, he was the fourth) Doctor’s scarf. Or, make that scarves. Nearly each season had its own unique scarf. Stripes were taken out, holes burned in, colors slightly altered. We even got a brand new scarf made with acrylic “suede” yarn (yikes) for his last season on the show.

And Tara, because she is that awesome (and that geeky) has hunted down original scarves all across the UK, using her amazing connections through working conventions to get close to the goods.

Now, this isn’t to say that others haven’t made great scarf resources and done their homework. Chris Brimelow, moderator of Doctor Who Scarf dot com, provided one of the first places on the internet for intrepid fans to go knit their own Fourth Doctor Scarf.

But Tara has taken what Brimelow accomplished and taken it to academic levels (like graduate level work in terms of geekery). She even recently discovered that the first scarf, from season 12, had minor alterations, making it the missing link between seasons 12 and 13.

Her tireless work has provided Doctor Who fans that knit (or know someone who loves them enough to knit 15 feet of garter stitch) with an unmatchable resource for recreating the scarf. She even has fantastic tips for finishing, blocking, care, and wearing of the scarf. You just can’t find anything better.

In fact, her scarves are so good that two of them (yes, two!) were on the Doctor Who themed episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Chris Hardwick even gave her a shout-out. Booyah.

So if you’re in the market to make your own Fourth Doctor scarf (for fun, not profit, seeing as the scarf is intellectual property of the BBC) go to Tara’s site and bask in her awesomeness. You won’t regret it. Accept no substitutions.