Striped Stockings

This pattern assumes you can work in the round and know a little bit about knitting socks, but that you are not so set in your ways that you can't break the rules a bit :)

Size 7 double point needles or circulars
Gauge:
8" wide x 11" tall = 2"x2"

Top of the stocking:
Your needles are 1,2,3,4 in that order as you cast them on. You should have 15 sts on each needle and use a stitch marker to mark the beginning of your round if you like.

CO 60 sts and join in the round

Work 1" k1p1 ribbing

In stockinette stitch, work stripes that are 3 rounds tall each. To avoid jogging stripes, slip the first stitch of the new color when you come back around to it, and continue knitting around. You can find more details on tech knitting right here http://techknitting.blogspot.nl/2007/01/jogless-stripes.html?m=1

Work the leg of the stocking for 49 rounds. This means you will begin the heel after working 1 round of white in round 49.


Heel
Knit across needle 1 sts

The 30 sts on needle 2 & 3 will be your heel, ignore needles 1 and 4 for now.

With white, work 8 rows stockinette, slipping the first st of each round
Move all sts to one needle
(When slipping,
Slip first st, K14 k2tog k1 turn
Slip first st p4 p2tg p1 turn
Slip first st k5 k2tog k1 turn
Slip first st p6 p2tg p1 turn
Slip first st k7 k2tog k1 turn
Slip first st p8 p2tg p1 turn
Slip first st k9 k2tog k1 do not turn
You should now have 23 heel sts

(I know we didn't finish the heel here. It's ok.)

Now we are going back to working in the round.
Pick up 5 sts along each side of the heel flap as you knit one round even

Needle 3 is now needle 1 and the start of the round (it begins in the middle of the heel flap). Divide the heel flap and gusset stitches evenly onto 2 needles 16 on one and 17 on the other (doesn't matter which needle has more, in my uneducated opinion)

K across needle 1 until 3 sts left, then k2 tog, k. K across needles 2 and 3, k1 ssk, knit across needle 4.

K around

Repeat these 2 rounds three more times

Knit even for 15 rounds

Now for the toe decreases:

Knit across needle 1 until there are 3 sts left. K2tog, k, ssk next sts, knit across needle 2 and then needle 3 until there are 2 sts left on needle 3. K2tog, k1, ssk and k across needle 4

Knit even

Repeat these toe decreases 6 more time or until you have a nice rounded toe. Trim your yarn leaving a long tail, then use this tail to cinch up the toe by threading it through all of the stitches and pulling tight. Knot it and weave in all ends.

For the loop, you can use fabric, an I cord, or a crocheted piece to stitch onto the inside. I crocheted a piece for the loop by chaining 24, and then sc two rows.

Finishing:

If you are using acrylic yarn, I recommend "killing" it for nice drape and shine. This means you will pin it out how you want it, cover it with a clean wet towel, and press the wet towel with a hot iron. Iron in short spurts because you don't want it to melt the yarn completely, just a bit. This will make that yarn really open up and be the shape you want it to be.

Summer fun! Off to Wyoming

What are you all doing for the summer? Big trips?  Projects?

We have a lot going on this summer. Over the 4th of July we are going up to see my inlaws in historic Fort Laramie

    

Although you may have seen it like this:



At the fort, we walk around and look at all the historic re-enacters, the Calvary, they cook bread in this giant stone oven that you can taste and you can go to the bar to get old timey drinks like Sarsaparilla and Root Beer and stick candy.

On the fourth, they have games for kids including a greased pole climb (hilarious to watch), a potato sack race for all ages (also hilarious), and a penny find where they dump a bunch of pennies on the ground and all the little kids run around like hooligans looking for pennies. Its a good time. The first time I went three or so years ago, I was majorly pregnant with my son (like 37 weeks) and it was HOT.



Then last two years it has been COLD! (yes we were roasting marshmallows on the 4th of July)

And stormy!



This year we are extending our stay and are going to bop up to Yellowstone National Park for some camping.  I have my sights set on a campground near Mammoth in Yellowstone:



Isn't it beautiful?  So needless to say, I will be in the car a lot. It is about 10 hours to the inlaws, and then maybe another 6-8 hours to Yellowstone.  I will be doing a lot of knitting and crocheting. I am going to start with a scrapghan for my new niece or nephew coming at the very beginning of August. If I get that done... I have some other things in mind that I will share in a new post :)

The scrapghan I'm thinking of doing is a ripple afghan like this http://crochetme.com/media/p/89937.aspx



But I will rotate offwhite with other colors in my stash. It is the time of year that I need to stash bust in preparation for my busy season this fall!

Sooo what are your plans for the summer?

Earth Day

So I'm a little late to the party, but hey, you don't have to go "green" on any specific day. You can do it ANY time.  I do my part as much as I can--here are some of the simple things I do and I hope they inspire you as well!

•  I don't use paper towels but on very rare occasions
•  I use my washable plates and cups
•  I bring coffee cups with me to school instead of buying a cup at the store.
• I type notes for school on my netbook instead of in a notebook
• I repurpose all old t-shirts
• Some become rags
• Some become underwear for my son
• Some are made into yarn and crocheted into hot pads
• No clothes go to waste! :)
• We recycle plastic, paper, cardboard and metal

We keep a relatively modest household anyway--we use our stuff until its dead and then we recycle it or repurpose it. I don't really feel like its "on purpose" or a conscious decision, I just think it comes with being a poor college student and being raised in a farm country where you save everything because you might need it elsewhere. My dad has jars of assorted nails and screws "just in case" and sometimes they came in handy.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not a hoarder. I have no problem getting rid of stuff that I flat out will never use BUT the difference is I don't tend to accumulate a lot of stuff like that in the first place. At least I try not to. Probably someday that will change, once I begin my career and have my own home and not have to rent and move things from place-to-place every few years.

Now for the good part! In the spirit of Earth Day, I'm trying to build up my inventory of items for the home. Including my new reusable cotton dishcloths.  I have several other items in the works to decorate your place that I'm so excited to start on!  In the meantime, I'd love to do a giveaway of a set of my dishcloths to YOU.

Visit my facebook page for a full range of colors :)

I loved making these because some of them are knitted, some of them are crocheted, and I freestyled all the patterns. Each cloth is unique in its own way. The cotton allows them to be machine washed, although I would probably wash them in cold water alone the first few times as I am unsure of the colorfastness of this yarn. These can be used for facial cloths in the bath, or for washing dishes! They are very versatile. They are also quite large--each is 9" x 8" so they are a bit rectangular. Sizes vary slightly due to the different patterns of each cloth, but as you can see from these pictures they fold up nicely and the size difference is undetectable.

There are three ways to enter (and you can do all three)--

• Leave a comment on my kitchen color poll on facebook 
• Here is a direct link to the post http://www.facebook.com/bowrene/posts/10150167935522086?notif_t=feed_comment
• Become a follower of this blog
• Leave me a comment on this blog post about what you do to go green!

***Just leave one comment stating what all you have done to enter the drawing***

These are the three entry methods, then I will draw a winner at random.org next week and that lucky winner will get to choose three of my dishcloths for their very own!  Please share with your friends as we need to have lots of entries to make things interesting ;)

Have a great week!

Small Lovelies

Sometimes, I just need a break. So yesterday, on the way to my nephew's birthday party, I made this:


Its a handy little pin cushion. I worked it in rounds and stuffed it and tied it up using a slip stitch. Not only did it help on my mission to destash, but its kinda cute, and I like it :)

Yesterday, I ran to the yarnery to get yarn to finish a destash ripple scarf I was working on. After I used it for about 5 rows (alternating colors, so its not as easy to undo) when I realized it was "soft white" not "off white". I need new glasses. BAD.

This is my last week off of work. I will have to start my crap summer job next week, so unfortunately, my crocheting will probably slow down. I'm a little sad about it, but vow to try and keep it up! I've enjoyed my time just hanging around watching hulu and youtube and crocheting. *sigh* all good things come to an end. ALWAYS. Its one of those universal facts of life that is actually quite depressing. Someday. That's what I tell myself: "someday I will be able to sit around and crochet and not have to worry about money or anything other than the stitches in hand"

Its a nice thought, right?