Saturday, October 30, 2010

Knitting needle knitting bag



Knitting has become a serious hobby for me. I think I will be knitting for years to come, and I have a lot of knitting needles. For this reason, I thought I would make a bag to put all my knitting things into.

It took around 10 days to make working everyday after work..not bad. The pattern is pretty simple. I used 4 balls of "Prism" yarn by Lincraft. See below for photos.



Photos:



Saturday, October 9, 2010

Knitted bolster

I started knitting a bolster towards the beginnning of August and finished it mid September. Am really happy with the way it has turned out! I have never made a bolster before or sewn on embellishments onto my knitted projects.

The only problem is the border around the edges of the bolster - where the start of the border meets the end, I had trouble making them connect smoothly to make it look like there were no breaks.

I used 6 balls of Paton's Zhivago Home yarn. It was quite lucky too, when I had finished, there was around 50cm of the yarn remaining! Here are the photos and the pattern:

Pattern: Knitted Bolster

Materials



6 balls Paton's Zhivago Home (I used a white/creamy colour)

1 pair 5mm (UK 6; USA 8) needles
1 5mm circular needle

1 wool needle


Sewing pins

70cm x 80cm Plain white fabric

Stuffing

Measurements:
70cm length x 40cm circumference
Tension: 16 sts x 23rows = 10cm (5mm needles)

Body:
Use 5mm needles:
CO 72 sts
Row 1: *K8, P8* repeat until last 8 sts, K8.
Row 2:*P8, K8* repeat until last 8 sts, P8.
Repeat last 2 rows until there is a total of 10 rows.
Row 11: *P8, K8* repeat until last 8 sts, P8
Row 12: *K8, P8* repeat until last 8 sts, K8.
Repeat last 2 rows until there is a total of 10 rows.
Repeat the entire pattern worked so far until work measures 40-45cm,ending on either the 10th or 20th row pattern.
Cast off.

Bolster ends (make 2)

Using 5mm circular needles and the "magic circle" technique (search on youtube for how to do this):
CO 100 sts.

Round 1: Knit
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: *K8, K2tog* repeat until end
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: *K7, K2tog* repeat until end
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: *K6, K2tog* repeat until end
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: *K5, K2tog* repeat until end
Round 10: Knit

...Follow this pattern (decrese knitting 1 st on each odd row) until 10 sts remain

Divide the sts on the needles so that 1 end of the circular needles has 6 sts, and the other end has 4 sts
K2 tog until end (5sts remain)
Break off yarn
Use a wool needle and thread yarn through all 5 remaining sts. Remove sts from needles, draw yarn into the wrong side and tie a knot.


Embellishments:

S-shaped patterns on body:
CO 3 sts.
Make 8 x 20cm lengths of I-cords.
Pin 4 of these on each end of the body in a S-shaped scroll pattern, spaced evenly and using the pattern on the bolster as a guide (see photo below - pin sides to where the second set of "square pattern" motif ends)
Using a wool needle, sew the S-shaped pattern on bolster.
Twisted band on bolster ends:
CO 3 sts.
Make 4 x 40cm lengths of I-cords.
Using 2 I-cords on each end of the bolster, twist them together and pin down on each end of the body (see photo below)
Using a wool needle, sew on lengths of I-cord.
Winding circlular pattern on bolster ends:
CO 3 sts and make 2 x 40cm lengths of I-cords.
Wind length of I-cord on each end of right side of bolster in a circular fashion, starting from the middle (see photo below) and pin down
Using a wool needle, sew on I-cord.
Tassels on ends:
Make 2 tassels, leaving a long tail.
Using wool needle, thread 2 tail ends into the middle of the winding circular pattern sewn on bolster ends.
Tie a knot on wrong side.
Repeat for other end.
Sew main bolster material together, ensuring the patterns on the joint match up to eachother.
Sew 1 end onto the bolster.
Bolster insert:
Cut out piece of fabric slightly larger (around 3cm) than bolster.
Sew into bolster shape and stuff.
Insert into bolster.
Sew remaining end onto bolster.


















Monday, October 4, 2010

Lucid dreams

Controlling the subject of your dreams is a surreal experience and unique ability. I have experienced this in the past and have been fascinated by this as I didn't think it was possible.

I lie in bed thinking about a particular subject, and when I fall asleep, my thoughts turn into a dream that is directly continuous from my thoughts (there are no breaks or disjointed parts from when it turns from thoughts into a dream). This happens maybe once every 2 months. When I wake up, I remember these dreams exactly as they occur. However, given the fact that humans dream every night, I have trouble remembering most my dreams.

The night before last night, I had brought my knitting on a holiday. I wrote down the pattern on a small piece of paper and packed it into my luggage, but when I started knitting that night, I was unable to find the piece of paper, having looked through all my luggage. That night in bed, I kept wondering where the piece of paper could be. Strangely enough, I had a dream of myself going through my handbag, and a particular plastic bag inside my large luggage bag. The dream ended when I found the piece of paper.

The next morning, I searched through the bags I had dreamt of. Surprisingly, I found the piece of paper! I must admit I was a little scared by my ability to dream of this and have it happen in real life, but nonetheless I was pleased I had found it.

This morning I was thinking of the perfect location for my wedding, piqued by a holiday magazine featuring tropical destinations for couples. I remembered a year ago when I was doing research on possible holiday destinations, I had come across a hotel site with a photo of the place I had envisaged to hold my reception at. All morning and afternoon, I wanted to find the photo. I searched various hotel sites across worldwide locations but to no avail. Immediately after, I had a nap. While I was waiting to fall asleep, I tried extremely hard to remember what site I had found the photo on. During my nap, I experienced myself on my laptop and going to a hotel site, seeing that the chain had 2 hotels in the Maldives, and looking at their pictures. My dream photo was not there. Then, I navigated to a particular hotel site and clicked on their list of worldwide hotel locations. A new screen opened with the cities, and I clicked on a particular city. Sure enough, viewing the photos on that page, I had found the photo I had been looking for.

I woke up immediately after and went to my laptop. I did everything in the latter part of my dream. The pages were exactly the same as what I had dreamt. I found my dream wedding reception on that page!! I was completely shocked. Although I was pleased in finding it, I was and still am scared and shocked at what I have done. How could I not only controlled the subject of my dreams, but used them to find what I couldn't find consciously? Also, how did I dream of the exact layout of the webpage that I had last viewed a year ago?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am a bit scared of myself :S