And Another Thing

I knit several extra yo-yos with the purl bump loops on Round 6 so, of course, I had to use them. How would I do that? Placing the loops on needles is analogous to picking up stitches along an edge in that it gives you stitches to start working from. Since the loops have a left and right edge, I treated them as actual stitches with the right edge over the front of the needle. As in the previous post, the white stitches in the diagram represent the decrease lines and the light gray stitches are the ones in between. The dark sections are those stitches hidden by the decreases in Round 7.

This would be a perfect place to add an edging. Most edgings, though, are knit as long strips and attached to the main piece. (If you'd prefer to do this, you would do it similarly to attaching one side of the I-cord as in the last post.) I wanted an edging that goes out from the center. Enter "Cobweb Frill" from page 341 of A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker. It's written as a flat piece that continues into a main section so I had to make a few adjustments to get it to work here.

Macarons (This is still a knitting blog!)

First of all, allow me to apologize for all those updates of this post while I thought I was working on a draft. This time, it's for real.

What can we do with all those yo-yos? If you search yoyo crafts on Pinterest, you will find an overwhelming variety of project types. The vast majority are in fabric, but there is no reason most of them can't be interpreted in yarn. This is especially true of the projects that use stacks of yo-yos to form the torsos and limbs of a whole menagerie of little friends; there are a number of these type of projects in knit and crochet here and here on Ravelry.

But when it comes to sewing them side-by-side, I wanted more guidance. I did this by modifying the original Basic Yo-Yo to have Round 6 (a non-decrease round) as a purl round instead of knit. This makes a fold line (and flattens the yo-yo somewhat) and produces all those nice (in theory) little purl bumps that can be used to stitch the yo-yos to each other. But I couldn't find a way to seam them that was satisfactory; I wanted tidy results that, nevertheless, made a line of demarcation between the pieces. I'm still not there, but I did come up with another use: join them back to back with a thin band of I-cord. This produces the classic macaron shape.

Make two basic yo-yos substituting a purl round for Round 6 as mentioned. These particular yo-yos gather into a less attractive shape than the original, so you'll want to block them into circles before proceeding to sew. Pin through the stitching loops, NOT THE YARN, to the outline of a circle template. The picture to the left shows the decrease lines and the loops.



In the diagram, the white stitches and loops are the decrease lines and the light gray stitches and loops are most of the other stitches. The dark gray elements are those stitches on Round 6 that are hidden by the decreases made on Round 7. They are not really visible so I did not work with them.

If you are going to add embellishments, sew them on now. Then cast two stitches on a short double-pointed needle. Also place loops from each of the yo-yos onto needles. (It is best to use light-weight needles so they don't slip out of the loops.) Use a fourth needle to knit.  Step 1: slip the first loop from the right needle to the center needle and k2tog with the first cast-on loop. Step 2: slip the second cast-on loop k-wise. Step 3: slip the first loop from the left needle (k-wise or p-wise, it doesn't matter) and knit it together with the loop from Step 2 (as for ssk). Take the yarn across the back (as for I-cord) and continue in this manner. 

Once you have worked all the way around the yo-yos, cut your yarn leaving a tail of about 12".  Thread your yarn needle and take it p-wise through the first stitch on the needle without removing the stitch. Go under the first real stitch at the beginning of the I-cord as for duplicate stitch. Bring the yarn needle back to the live stitches. Work k-wise into the first stitch and remove it from the needle, then p-wise through the second stitch and leave it on the needle. Go under the base of the left-hand stitch on the first row of I-cord and finish by slipping the second live stitch k-wise from the needle.

There is no particularly good way to darn in the ends, so knot them together close to where the I-cord meets one of the yo-yos and bury them inside the macaron.

Bunnies and Llamas and Sheep, OMG!

My husband and I went to the Garden State Sheep Breeders Sheep and Fiber Festival yesterday. It was overcast, but the temperature finally broke so it was a much more pleasant day than it could have been. There was an Angora rabbit to pet, two llamas sitting in their pen completely unperturbed by the hubbub around them, and multiple breeds of sheep. (My favorite is the Jacob sheep with their multiple horns.)

One of the first booths we went into had a baby camel/silk blend yarn that was soft, soft, soft! I didn't want to buy the first yarn to catch my eye, but I was planning to go back later to purchase it. Towards the end, though, I was at the Marianated Yarns booth and fell in love. The yarn is "Uncorked Gradient" and the color is "Marilyn Merlot". (I love puns.) It is 69% silk, 22% kid mohair, and 9% nylon. It is labeled "fingering weight" but, with the mohair aura, I will probably work it at a sport or dk gauge.


I was surprised to find a couple of sample skeins of their "Scrumptious" yarn in my bag. It's Merino with some cashmere and nylon and it is very well named. I, myself, am too sensitive to wear wool socks, but for people who are able to, yep, it does seem worth a shot. The gradations in the pink are so subtle yet absolutely amazing!

So, that's it for now! Until next time . . .

Poinsettia Yos

I decided to make a yo-yo poinsettia. (Does every crafter wake up in the middle of August thinking "OMG, only four-and-a-half months 'til Christmas!"?) Although I love the little flowers created by the swirl yo-yos, I wanted my poinsettia to be more precise. You'll notice that this pattern is based on six repeats per round rather than the eight of the original. Also, in order to reduce bulk, I cast on fewer stitches and decreased every other round until I got to the top of the flower. Then I began decreasing every round. These are a bit more fiddly than the basic ones, but you'll be able to turn out plenty before December 25.


This still uses the provisional cast-on here, using a matching perle cotton and leaving it in to gather the cast-on.


Yarn: Sock- or sport-weight in both flower color and center color.

Needles: Set of 5 US #1 (2.25 mm) dpns or size you can work comfortably with. (Gauge is not an important consideration here.) I started with a set of 7.75" (19.7 cm) long needles and switched to 5" (12.7 cm) needles when the number of stitches got small.

Notions: Coordinating #5 perle cotton, 6 stitch markers, yarn needle, point protectors.

Provisionally CO 84 sts with matching No. 5 perle cotton. Turn and knit one row adding markers every 14 sts. Distribute onto dpns.


Rounds 1 - 9 (odd): (K until 2 sts before marker, k2tog) 6x. 60 sts rem after Round 7.

Rounds 2 - 8 (even): Work even.

Rounds 9 – 17: (K until 2 sts before marker, k2tog) 6x. 6 sts rem after Round 17.

Diagram 1

Cut yarn with an 8″ tail. Thread tail through rem sts twice. Draw circle closed, secure, and darn in end.

Do the embroidery before you gather the yo-yo. (I figured that one out the hard way.) Leaving the beginning tail of the embroidery yarn on the front side of the knitting, duplicate stitch on the 6 sts of the second to last round (Diagram 1). The stitches in the very center look like single strands but they really are full stitches. Do try to get the needle all the way to the back. Follow with a round of straight stitches from the round just worked into the center hole (Diagram 2). Fill up the area with 2-wrap French knots. (There is a nice tutorial for French knots here; just ignore the part about using an embroidery hoop.) Bring the beginning of the embroidery yarn to the back, tie those ends together, and darn them in.

Diagram 2

Untie the beginning knot. Darn in beginning yarn end. Make a single knot with the perle cotton and gather the knitting, distributing it evenly. When it is as tight as it will go, double knot the perle cotton. Place a dab of fabric glue on the knot. Once dry, cut the ends short (or leave them for sewing onto a background).



Wet the piece thoroughly and pin the corners out to the corners of a hexagon.  Pinch the points and the centers of the sides to shape them. Allow to dry.



You can block by eye, use hexagon templates from the Internet, trace quilter's templates, or make your own in graphics software. I put a printout into a clear page protector and pin right through it into my blocking board. Before you do this, check that your ink doesn't run; although the paper is mostly protected, some water can seep through.

That's it for now! Until next time . . .

A Really Neat Yo-Yo Variation

After I saw how nice the decrease lines showed up on the basic yo-yo, I decided to get a little
fancy. While the double decrease I used creates straight lines to the center, I knew that single decreases in the round make swirls. I wanted to see how that looked. As I suspected, it made swirls. When I gathered them, though, out popped the cutest little flower shapes! The SSK version is to the right.

I blocked another couple of samples flat enough to photograph them and, lo and behold, they didn't gather into the flowers. So don't block them! Since I'm using superwash yarn, I wet them down and rolled them around in my hands to undo the blocking. Then the gathering worked.

Since the decreases in these versions are single decreases, they must be worked on every round. Otherwise, the procedure is pretty much the same as the original version.

So, About Those Knit Yo-Yos

After I had pondered the idea of knit yo-yos, I grabbed some sock yarn and US#1 (2.25 mm) double-pointed needles, guessed a stitch gauge, calculated a row gauge, must've multiplied by pi (because how else do you get a circle), cast on, and knit. AND IT WORKED! I made a few samples including the silk-blend, sport-weight cutie to the right.

 




The basic procedure is to cast on enough stitches for the circumference, then work evenly-spaced double decreases towards the center. I used sl2-k1-p2sso on every other round which makes a single straight line at each decrease point. You can see this in the photo to the left.

My original plan had some kinks, though, mostly trying to gather the teeny, tiny cast-on stitches on the beginning yarn tail. Then one of the tails snapped (I'm proud to say I didn't) so I needed to come up with another idea.

My preferred provisional cast-on is to crochet a chain in waste yarn and pick up stitches in the backs of the chains. It is very stable and allows you to put on stitch markers as you go along. But it was a disaster (see paragraph above). Years and years and years ago, I learned a provisional cast-on that uses a straight length of waste yarn. In theory, you're supposed to use a contrasting yarn so that it's easy to free the loops to knit in the opposite direction. But, what if you used a matching perle cotton and left it in? This would be strong enough to accomplish the gathering. Ta da!

I found a good tutorial with very clear pictures of the cast-on here. Again, for this application use coordinating perle cotton and don't remove it when the knitting is finished. 

Basic Yo-Yo

Yarn: Sock- or sport-weight.

Needles: Set of 5 US #1 (2.25 mm) dpns or size you can work comfortably with. (Gauge is not an important consideration here.) I started with a set of 7.75" (19.7 cm) long needles and switched to 5" (12.7 cm) needles when the number of stitches got small.

Notions: Coordinating #5 perle cotton, 8 stitch markers, yarn needle, point protectors, embellishment (optional), sewing needle and thread (optional).


On a longer dpn, provisionally CO 104 sts with matching #5 perle cotton. Turn and knit one row adding markers every 13 sts. Distribute onto dpns and proceed to work in the round.

Round 1: (K5, sl2-k1-p2sso, k5) 8X. 88 sts.
Rounds 2-10 even: K all sts.
Round 3: (K4, sl2-k1-p2sso, k4) 8X. 72 sts.
Round 5: (K3, sl2-k1-p2sso, k3) 8X. 56 sts.
Round 7: (K2, sl2-k1-p2sso, k2) 8X. 40 sts.
Round 9: (K1, sl2-k1-p2sso, k1) 8X. 24 sts.
Round 11: Sl2-k1-p2sso 8X. 8 sts.



Cut yarn with about an 8" (20 cm) tail. Use the yarn needle to run the tail through the remaining stitches twice, tighten, and secure. Darn in the end.


Untie the beginning knot. If necessary, untwist the other end of the perle cotton so that it slides freely. Darn in the remaining yarn end. Make a single knot with the two ends of the perle cotton and gather the knitting, distributing it evenly. When it is as tight as it will go, double knot the cotton. Add a button, if desired. (I added an information page on how to secure sewing yarn to knitting. You can access it from the header.) 







Now, on fabric yo-yos the gathered side is considered the right side. On these, I preferred to use the center (left in the photo) as the top side. The gathered side has its charms, though, so use it if you prefer. A button here is not optional; you will need one large enough to cover the perle cotton.

I will leave you with that for now. I do have a really neat variation for next time. Until then . . .

This Post Is NOT About Knitting

We have two family weddings coming up this summer and I just finished sewing a little silk purse for the first bride-to-be to carry at the reception. It's a gorgeous fabric that I really wanted to let speak for itself, but the purse did need a bit extra. Enter yo-yos.

These are just circles of fabric where a narrow hem is folded and secured with a running stitch; the thread is then pulled to gather the outside of the circle. Most yo-yo projects have a down-home look which I knew would be a jarring contrast to the fabric. Nevertheless, I tried making a few in the silk and added vintage buttons to the centers. The result absolutely blew me away!

There is no shortage of tutorials and project ideas floating around the Internet, so I'll just mention a few things I found helpful. If you have a good eye, you don't really need to mark the fold line, but I knew I would be happier if I did. I found that keeping the running stitch very close to the fold gave me better looking gathers. I knotted my thread ends together to gather up the fabric, then trimmed them not-too-close and added a drop of fabric glue. After it was dry, I trimmed them shorter. This doesn't seem to be the typical method, though, and the knot might show if there were no embellishment in the center.

Now, of course, I have to wonder about knit yo-yos. I have no doubt they can be made, but I don't know how practical they will be. Well, I'm going to find out!

Until then . . .