With the gray rainy days, it was perfect weather to stay in and do some knitting. And so I was thinking of making a diagonal stitch hat. But when it turn out to be a bit too big, I turned it into a baby vest instead.

It still has to be blocked, which is to wash and stretch into shape. Could possibly fit a 12-18 months old.

This is the first baby vest I knitted without any pattern. It was fairly easy but I just don’t know of any baby that could model for me. So I guess it will have to sit for a while. Maybe until my cousin’s baby is old enough to wear it. And that will be in no time!

Once I got to the arm I stopped and knitted the front and back side separately.  I then connected the shoulders via Kitchener Stitch Grafting.

Knitting note: Casting on 90 sts, knit from bottom up. 45 sts in front and back. Size 7 circular 24″ needle. The bottom section is knitted with diagonal stitch and top section is with Gartner stitch.

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Bananas aren’t just for eating as they also give us fiber for making yarn. Well not exactly from the fruit, but from the stalks and shoots of the plant. According to Textile Exchange, banana plants have long been a good source for high quality textiles around the world. With Japan and Nepal leading the pack.

The fibers come from the banana stalks and shoots. As the outermost fiber are more coarse, it’s used for making ropes and mats. But the inner part is much softer and used to make fabric.

In Japan, some traditional dresses like kimono are made with banana fiber. It’s lightweight, comfortable, and perfect for summer time clothing. With the fabric being similar to rayon and bamboo.

In Nepal they process their banana fiber to become as soft as silk. They use the outer aged and decaying bark of the banana plant. An eco-friendly way of using all parts of the plant. The pulps are extracted and processed then hand spun and hand dyed into colorful yarn.

Photo from Yarn Market.  A skein of banana silk yarn in blue.   I can imagine a knitted soft and silky scarf with this yarn.

200 grams at $13.85 from Yarn Market.  More info:

“Frabjous” means joyful, excellent, fabulous, and these are definitely the terrific feelings you’ll get when you create with heavy-worsted “Banana Silk.” Handspun from the readily renewable banana stalk, “Banana Silk” is similar to rayon in terms of softness & sheen but keep in mind that some of the profits go to support fair trade women’s cooperatives in Nepal. “Banana Silk” is spectacular knitted & crocheted into hats, shawls, scarves, bags & more.”

Next post… fiber yarn from Pineapple. Not the fruit either, but the pineapple tops. Once processed, the material is similar to linen, however it is softer and more lustrous. Stay tuned!

Reference notes: Textile Exchange

There’s comfort food and there’s comfort knitting. Both will be sure to keep you warm and happy.

I had this book for a while and finally decided to knit something from it. It’s from the yarn maker at Berroco. The designs and patterns are inspirational and photos are nice too.

I was thinking of making the “Floret” afghan. It requires 9 squares. So far I have one that I’ve used to cover this pillow.

With the 1 square done it’s 8 more to go! Plus I might decide to use different yarn as this was knitted with Lion Brand Yarn 100% acrylic, machine washable, super soft 4 ply worsted weight yarn. The bobbles are suppose to be in the center but it’s barely visible with this yarn. Maybe natural cotton yarn would work well. Someday I’ll have to try Berroco yarns.

It will take a while to knit afghans because they are large. The Floret has a combination of cables, ribs, and bobbles. And with complicated patterns it could take a while to finish. Or at least keep you interested too. Nothing gets more boring then knitting the same stitch after stitch.

Materials:

Yarn required is Berrocco Comfort* (50% super fine nylon, 50% super fine acrylic) 100 grams, 9 skeins.
Needles: 1 set of dpn size US 8 (5mm) and 16″ cn needle US 8. Cable needles, stitch markers, stitch holders.

Berrocco comfort is split- and pill-resistant, worsted weight yarn is perfect for afghans, kids things, and other easy-care items. 16-ply allergy-free yarn is ideal for babies and adults. Machine washable.

I’ve been busy knitting up hats for this holiday gift giving season. Plus a couple of scarves and cowls.

Some of the hats I’ve knitted with wool or wool blend yarns. I got the flower design chart from a Vogue knitting book on loan from the library. I forgot to make a copy before returning the book.

The other hat was decorated with bobbles. Bobbles make hat look like fun. A simple way to make bobbles is to watch this Youtube tutorial.

More fun bobbles in this little case I knitted for my sunglass. Using bamboo blend yarn. Even in winter the sun can be bright out in California.

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Now that it’s November and the weather is getting cooler it’s time to start knitting again. And begin knitting up some holiday gifts too.

When I first learned to knit it was with 2 needles. Now that I started using circular needles, it’s made knitting so much better. I’ll probably never want to use DPN (double pointed needles) again! These are my favorite by Takumi Clover.

The last time I knitted fingerless gloves was using DPNs. It turned out nice, but not that fun to knit. There’s also another way of knitting them using 2 circular needles. I gave that a try and decided the magic loop method is the best way to go. The “magic loop” method uses 1 circular needle and it’s so much easier and quicker this way.

I will also be knitting socks using the magic loop method. But who really knits socks anymore? Maybe sweet and kind grandmas. Yet if you Google “sock knitting“, you’ll likely get people from all ages. And it seem to be really popular these days.

All I know is that it’s relaxing to knit. But some things can be complicated so that’s good mental exercise. For sock making, there are lots of stitches to remember such as ssk (slip, slip, knit), then turning the heal and picking up stitches. With practice I’m sure it all will get easier. I’m thinking of making knitting videos to help me remember some of these steps.

This was suppose to be an arm warmer, then I decided on making fingerless gloves instead. It’s almost complete, except for the thumb and the second pair. The yarn is Paton’s chunky tweed which is wool and acrylic blend.

Note: I may be posting less (knitting more) this month, but not totally away from my blog. So feel free to comment and say “hello”.

I love all yarns, but for now I m really liking plant based yarns. Especially in the summer time. The plant based yarns feel soft, silky, and smooth. And the final product is something very cooling to the skin, especially with the bamboo based yarn.

In the next few weeks I’ll be posting more about other plant based yarn. This week I will begin with hemp yarn.

Photo from Aurora Silk. This is 100% hemp fiber. “All hand wild crafted! Pulled plants from the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains that ring the valley of Nepal. Hand processed in small villages.”

Here are just some of the benefits of hemp fiber:

- very absorbent, cool and comfortable to wear.
- resistant to mildew and antimicrobial.
- blocks UV rays better than any other fiber.
- retain it’s shape thru many wearings.
- can be machine wash and dry.
- doesn’t pill
- dyes well but natural color is creamy white, brown, gray, black or green.
- easy to grow, productive crop, requires to pesticides.

Hemp yarn will feel coarse before being knitted, but it will soften up after washing and wearing.

At yarn.com (WEBS) they group the following fibers together: linen, hemp, and flax yarn. They sound kind of stiff to me, but mix it with some cotton I’m sure it’s very comfortable.

Other plant based yarn include soy and bamboo. I’m currently ordering some yarns made with bamboo and silk. So I’ll give a review of that later.

Plant based yarns are also eco-friendly as raising plants takes up less space than farming for production of animal fibers. And for those that are allergic to wool, these plant based yarns are great. Never itchy!

Note:  This fiber is made from hemp that is closely related to the one the government considers an illegal drug.  But this plant does not get anyone high - except for maybe a calming effect knitting can do to you.  Hemp has many uses and truly a gift from Mother Nature.  It would be great if farmers in the U.S. are allowed to grow this plant for it’s many industrial uses too.

I had lots of fun knitting my bamboo yarn scarf so I’m working on another scarf.  After a washing, the 100% bamboo scarf became even more soft and silky.  It’s really great for summer as it’s very cooling.

This one is made with the 100% cotton yarn.  The pattern is “Old Shale” and the deep blue color reminds me of waves crashing along the beach.  So I will call it “Wave After Wave” scarf.

I really hope to finish it before the summer ends.

If anyone is interested in this pattern here are my notes:

Make 44 stitch and knit first 4 rows as edging.

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: K4, P, k4

Row 3: K4, *[K2tog] 3x, [yo, k1] 6x, [k2tog] 3x, K4. place ring marker and *repeat for how ever wide you want the scarf.  I repeated twice.

Row 4: Knit

Repeat the 4 rows.

For the the sunny yet chilly weather we’ve been having lately, I thought this linen & rayon fiber blend sweater would be perfect.  So I ordered the sweater at Old Navy online store.

It’s a nice light and shear sweater to be worn as layers.  The drape is nice and comfy and the texture is soft.

After trying it, I was surprise to find a small hole forming on the sleeve. If you look closely at the shoulder seam, you can see this tiny hole and my hand underneath.  If you tug on it, it can get much bigger and possibly cause the yarn to unravel.

Actually if you were to wear certain jewelries, it could easily snag it.  So you have to be extra careful.  The reviews online for the sweater was positive, so maybe I just got a bad sweater.

Since I haven’t removed the tags yet, I’m going to return/exchange the sweater.  I just wish it wasn’t so fragile because it’s a really cute and simple sweater.

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Knitting these mittens was a challenge. I had to use 4 double pointed needles in a small area. Just too much strain on the shoulders and hands, so you have to stop and stretch often.

One of these days I’ll figure out how to knit these with 2 circular needles.

If I kept on knitting, it would have become mittens. But I stopped just enough to become fingerless mittens. They are also knitted long enough to be consider wrist and arm warmers.

Simply knit using 4 dpn casting on 30 sts.  When you get to making the thumb gusset and decide where you want to place it, just divide up 2 stitches with 2 stitch holder.  Then knit around normally.  But for every other round you need to  “make 1″ on the 2 sts between the stitch holders.  Knit to desired length.

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Once you get the hang of knitting with circular needles, it’s really easy and fun. The only tricky part is at the initial round where you have to join the ends. Just make sure it’s not twisted and you’re all set.

For this beanie (hat) I am using “Fishermen’s Wool” (natural tone) and a wool and acrylic blend (blue color), both from Lion Brand Yarn. I used Fishermen’s wool in “natural” and used it to make dots and accents on this hat.

Fishermen’s wool is another great yarn that makes knitting really relaxing. Synthetic yarn, such as acrylic is also good since it’s easy to care (machine washable), and comfortable to wear.

More info from LBY:

‘Our classic Fishermen’s Wool is made of undyed pure virgin wool with natural lanolin oil. Soft, warm, and naturally water resistant, it’s ideal for ski-wear and fisherman sweaters, hats, scarves, and more. Fishermen’s Wool also felts beautifully for dense slippers, strong bags, and textural home decor projects. Plus its generous size and natural shades make it perfect for dyeing!”

I also plan to use this wool to knit stripped fingerless mittens!