orange fish

Flying Spaghetti Monster Halloween Costume

2006-10-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a quick and easy Halloween costume?

I knitted this in about 4 hours before the law school Halloween party. It was a big hit, and super easy and fun to knit.

Plus, what better way to pay homage to His Noodly Pastaness?

Materials:
Bernat Berella worsted weight white yarn.
Meatball colored yarn. I just used some scraps left over from an afghan I knitted last year.
Size 10 double pointed needles (3)

The gauge is really not important for this pattern.

Terms:
kfb: knit into the front and back of each stitch

k2tog: knit 2 stitches together

Icord: knit 3 stitches then, instead of turning the work, slide it down to the other end of your dpn and knit. Repeat. There is a great tutorial here if you are not familiar with Icord (scroll down to near the end of the page).

Instructions:

Meatball:
Cast on 3 stitches
Row 1: k1, kfb, k1 (4 stitches)
Row 2: k1, kfb twice, k1 (6 stitches)
Row 3: k1, kfb 4 times, k1 (10 stitches)
Row 4: knit across
Row 5: k1, k2tog 4 times, k1 (6 stitches)
Row 6: k1, k2tog twice, k1 (4 stitches)
Row 7: k1, k2tog, k1 (3 stitches)

Do not bind off.
Begin working your Icord. Keep going until you have a few inches of Icord and then work another meatball. Continue in this way, adding different lengths of Icord between your meatballs, until the whole chain is about as long as a long necklace. Sew your end to your very first meatball to make a spaghettiesque loop.

Now pick up 3 stitches at a random place on your loop and begin working in Icord. Add meatballs and new Icords in random places. These will be your noodly appendages. Make two noodly appendages especially long to hang them off your arms.

Finishing:

Sew in the ends of your meatball colored yarn, but let the white yarn hang for more spaghettification.

Once you have your desired number of noodly appendages, start attaching more white yarn in random places all over your costume. I just picked up loops of yarn with my fingers and then stranded the white yarn through and tied it in a square knot. Pretty soon your costume will look pastalicious.

I finished to look by wearing the spaghetti costume over a white shirt, my space skirt, and topped it of with a pastafarian hat.

And since you all know how much I like to dress up my cats, here's Holly!

Cozy wristwarmers and matching scarf

2006-10-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

The chilly Portland weather is starting to live up to its reputation. My little hands are starting to freeze on my morning bicycle commute. I thought about gloves or mittens, but I worry about not having enough dexterity/flexibility to brake suddenly when the inevitable SUV-driving soccer mom turns directly in front of me to make sure little Billy gets to his practice on time.

The perfect solution: Wristwarmers! And what are wristwarmers without a cozy matching scarf?

Materials:
Three colors TLC Amore. I used Lake Blue (A), Plum Print (B), and this dark red one I lost the tag for (C).
U.S. size 8 needles

Gauge:
About 4 stitches per inch

Instructions:

Left warmer

Cast on 30 stitches using A

Using A
Knit 2 rows
Switch to B
Knit 1 row
Purl 1 row
Switch back to A
Knit 2 rows
Switch to C
Knit 1 row
Purl 1 row

Repeat pattern 7 times.

When switching colors, carry the yarn up the side rather than breaking it off so you don't have a bunch of annoying ends to weave in. You may want to twist the yarn together when changing colors to keep the edges neater.

Bind off 9 stitches at the beginning of the next row. This is the space for your thumb.

Repeat pattern one more time.

Bind off loosely.

Right warmer

Work exactly as the left warmer, except once you have repeated the pattern 7 times knit all the way across the next row (RS). Then bind off 9 stitches when you knit back on the WS row.
This will ensure that your seam is on the bottom of the warmer where it will be less noticeable.

Finishing:

Sew up the sides until you get to the thumb hole.

Make sure to leave the hole open and sew up the remaining edge.

Scarf:

Cast on 15 stitches.

Work in pattern until you reach the desired length.

The scarf will want to curl at the edges and will end up very narrow. You may want to cast more stitches for a wider scarf, but I like my skinny-mini one.

Oh, and Holly likes it too!

Cat Muumuu

2006-09-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Do you have an overweight, surly cat in desperate need of humiliation?

Yes you do.

Meet Sunshine:

She's surly, she's fat, she's the light of my life.

Oh, and she's been feeling a little self-conscious lately, so I decided to make her a muumuu.

Muumuu instructions:

Materials:
Three skeins Yarn Bee Icelandic Jewel
US 10.5 straight needles
US 10.5 24" circular needles

Gauge:
about 3.5 stitches per inch

Note: I chose to knit the bulk of the muumuu on straight needles and switch to circulars for the fringe. My nifty 10.5 dpns met an untimely end in an unfortunate oops-I-stepped-on-my-knitting-bag-and-smashed-my-plastic-dpns-to-bits accident. It may be easier to knit the entire garment in the round since you'll join the fabric for the fringe anyway.

Step one: Measure your cat

This may be dangerous.

Measure your cat's girth and the length of her flank between her front and back legs.

Step two: Knit your muumuu

Multiply your cat's girth in inches by 3.5, or whatever gauge you're using. Got it? Good. That's how many stitches you should cast on.

Work in K1 P1 rib for about three inches.
Next, work in stockinette for about another six inches depending on how long your cat is. The garment should fit snugly just behind her front legs and end just before her hind legs.

Fringe:
Switch to circular needles.
At this point, you may join your work and begin working in the round if you aren't already.

Row 1: Knit into the front and back of each stitch.
Rows 2-4: Knit
Row 5: Knit into the back and front of each stitch.
Rows 6-8: Knit
Row 9: Knit into the front and back of each stitch
Row 10: Knit

Bind off loosely

Finishing:

Sew up the side and weave in ends.

My muumuu was a bit too big, so I ran a piece of yarn through the ribbing to act as cinch, then tied it into a little bow to tighten it.

If your fat cat doesn't like her muumuu, it also makes a nifty capelet!

Laptop Cozy

2006-09-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Yarn:
Yarn Bee Icelandic Jewel
You will need approximately two 3.5 oz skeins, more depending on how many colors you use.
I used Sapphire, Black Pearl, and Peridot.

Gauge:
Approximately 3.5 stitches per inch using US 10.5 needles

Abbreviations:
C4F - slip 2 stitches onto cable needle, hold in front, K2, K2 from cable needle
K2tog - Knit 2 stitches together
K3tog - Knit 3 stitches together
sk2po - slip two stitches as if to K2tog, K1, pass slipped stitches over

Patterns:

Fern lace:
Row 1 - K9, yo, K1, yo, K3, sk2po
All even rows - purl
Row 3 - K10, yo, K1, yo, K2, sk2po
Row 5 - K3tog, K4, yo, K1, yo, K3, yo, K1, yo, K1, sk2po
Row 7 - K3tog, K3, yo, K1, yo, K9
Row 9 - K3tog, K2, yo, K1, yo, K10
Row 11 - K3tog, K1, yo K1, yo, K3, yo, K1, yo, K4, sk2po

C4 cable:
Row 1 - K4
Row 2 - P4
Row 3 - C4F
Row 4 - P4

Laptop Cozy:
Fits 12 inch iBook G4

Cast on 44 stitches (you may need to cast on more or less depending on the size of your laptop. If your laptop is larger, add an equal number of stitches to each side of the pattern. If smaller, you may need to omit one of the cables or fern leaf pattern.)

Row 1 - purl

Work the next 22 inches (more or less, again depending on the size of your laptop) as follows:

K2, C4 cable pattern, Fern Leaf Pattern (twice), C4 cable pattern, K2

Change colors as desired.

The cozy, pre-flap.

Now You can begin your decreases for the flap. This part isn't necessary. If you like, you can just keep going in the above pattern (keep in mind it will be rippled) or work in garter stitch until the flap is the desired length.

Row 1 - (RS) K2, C4 cable, (K2tog) 4 times, (yo, K1) 4 times, (K2tog) 4 times, (yo, K1) 4 times, (K2tog) 4 times, C4 cable, K2.
Row 2 and all WS rows - purl
Row 3 - Knit
Row 5 - K2, C4 cable, (K2tog) 4 times, (yo, K1) 3 times, (K2tog) 4 times, (yo, K1) 3 times, (K2tog) 3 times, C4 cable, K2. (I know it's uneven, but it shouldn't be noticeable)
Row 7 - Knit
Row 9 - K2, C4 cable, (K2tog) 3 times, (yo, K1) 3 times, (K2tog) 3 times, (yo, K1) 3 times, (K2tog) 2 times, K1, C4 cable, K2.
Rows 10-15 (or desired length) - Knit
Row 16 - K2tog, Knit to last two stitches, K2tog
Row 17 - Knit
Row 18 - K2tog, Knit to last two stitches, K2tog

Bind off all stitches.

Finishing:

Sew in all ends.
If you are going to block, do so now.
Fold bottom 11 inches over and sew up the sides.
Add two buttons to secure the flap.

Happy Knitting!