Pattern | OUI OU NON cozy

translation, "yay for today!"

For those days when you just can't speak, or when you want to wear your heart on your cup sleeve, the OUI OU NON (yes or no) cup cozy comes in particularly handy. Example:  "Hi Steph, how's your day?!" Steph shows NON = "I can't even... wait until I finish my coffee..." Or, maybe you are having a fabulous morning and you want to world to know, face that OUI out to the world with a big smile on your face, a song in your heart, and a spring in your step! Say everything without saying anything!


CHART AND PATTERN TIME!

This is my original pattern, so please don't reproduce it or sell it, and if you love it and want to share it with the world, please share a link, a mention, a tag, etc... thanks! #WorkingYarns #OUIouNONcozy

And, FINALLY... 

"yes" day, "no" day...? oui ou non?

MATERIALS
Worsted weight yarn in two colors (I used Quince & Co Lark in Honey and Frost)
Four US 7 / 4.5mm Double Pointed Needles
Scissors
Darning needle, or other wide-eye needle


METHOD
This cozy is knit in the round on DPNs, bottom up, using two-color knitting, stockinette stitch and 2x2 rib stitch.

Cast on 40 stitches in you main color, color A - 12 on the first needle, and 14 each on the other two needles - using the German Twisted cast-on, or your favorite stretchy cast-on.

Being careful not to twist your stitches, join in the round and begin a 2x2 rib

Edge Rounds (ER)
ER 1-4, k2, p2*, repeat from *

Pattern Rounds (PR) as seen in chart
PR are knit in stockinette, in colors A and B. See chart for color change.
The chart is read, right to left, starting at the bottom edge, and working up row by row.

Finish by repeating ER,
ER 1-4, k2, p2*, repeat from *
Bind off using the sewn bind-off, or your favorite stretchy bind-off.



There you have it, the lovely OUI OU NON cup cozy! Now, go out into the world confidently letting people know just how you feel.

As always, I would love you to share and tag #WorkingYarns and #OUIouNONcozy

P.S. if you want to know where I got the super cute to-go cup, it's from Target, and is part of a collaboration between Design Love Fest (check it out!) and Cheeky. I don't usually do disposable, but these were super cute, and come in handy if you can't carry your reusable cup around all day.

translation, "not feeling it, today... go away"

FO | Ellerbe Cowl

Meet my latest Finish Object (FO), the lovely, Ellerbe Cowl, designed by Melissa Stajda. The pattern was released on the first day of Fall, and the knit-a-long (KAL) is going until the end of October. 

Coming Up

Hello, folks! Life has been crazy busy, and isn't about to slow down anytime soon... but hopefully my day job will wind down in the next month or so, and I will have more time for my personal projects!

Some of those projects include you guys! I really want to get down some patterns that I've been working on, as well as a few more tutorials for YouTube - I can't wait to share them with you guys! I've also started using Periscope, and I really like it! Right now it's just WIP updates, but I also hope to provide help and tips, too, so keep and eye out!

In the meantime, I've been dreaming up a learn-to-knit series, using wash cloths to build skills. I will be doing washcloths because they are small, quick, and useful. Because they complete quickly, the new knitter will be able to move on to their own projects sooner than if they learned on a scarf or cowl. I would love to teach the series in person, but I will probably do it through YouTube, first, and see where it goes from there.

Pattern | Simple Cup Cozy (and color work)

A while back I posted the pattern and tutorial for my Dimple Stripe Cup Cozy. Earlier this year I started to make more basic cup cozies so that they could be modified with embroidery and color work, and be a bit less feminine.  I've been walking around with my first one (not pictured) for a while now, and this weekend I got stopped by two women that wanted to know how to make it - this was a sign that it's time to update the blog with this particular pattern. So here it is, another free cup cozy pattern and tutorial!

I love how the knitted 'v' looks like a heart

These make really great little gifts, and are also great stash busters! They fit on regular coffee shop cups, as well as slim personal cups and travel mugs.

Pattern | Knitted Simple Slouchy Hat

Last year I posted my free pattern for a crocheted Simple Slouchy Beanie. Since then, I have been playing around with knitting and wanted to offer another simple project, a knitted slouchy hat.

Though I learned how to knit over ten years ago, I stuck with very basic stuff because knitting in the round scared me... DPNs and circular needles can be intimidating. But, I plowed through that fear and plunged into hat making, and I am so glad that I did!

S/M hat on the left, and M/L hat on the right.

First thing I did was scour the internet for free patterns - a basic hat or beanie pattern is not something that you should have to pay for (IMO), and yet a lot of people charge (and I have a story connected to that, later) - and eventually, I found a couple of free patterns (which I will list below).

Mini Tuto and Pattern | Knitted Seed Stitch Cowl (with video!)

Sometimes the really simple things are the best. I recently cast on this seed stitch cowl, and I love the way it's working up! Seed stitch cowls are very easy to make. This one is in the round, which makes it even easier, and it requires only one 100g* ball of yarn!

I'm about half way through the project right now - I've been alternating between this and two hats on the train ride to and from work - and it seems like it will be just right when it's done.

This project is great for a beginner! You just need to know how to knit and purl - working in the round is fairly easy, and there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to help you start off right. At the bottom of this post I have my own little video for seed stitch in the round!

Tutorial | Simple, Old Fashioned Slippers

(pardon the slipper that's stretched out...)

The weather is finally turning cold in the Bay Area, and a little wet, too (thank goodness!). It's starting to feel like the holiday season, and the nostalgia is bubbling up inside. It was cold this weekend, so we turned on the heater and I started a search for some easy-to-make slippers for my cold toes.

I went to Ravelry, typed in my search, specified that I wanted something knitted with worsted weight yarn, and free. What I saw depended that feeling of nostalgia: slippers that looked like the ones my great-grandma used to make. She would make slippers for the whole family at Christmas, always adding little pom-poms to the girls slippers, or sometimes a crocheted flower. I could almost taste her sugar cookies while I was looking at the pattern photos. She passed when I was seven or eight, and I was so sad when my last pair of slippers wore out - they were a bright, Christmas red with a pom-pom on each one.

Projects, Projects, and More Projects

 

Well, I have plenty to keep me occupied until 2015. I've been getting back into knitting and I just want to make everything! After successfully making a lacy cowl, I decided to try open work in a hat (since I've also been obsessed with making hats). I'm excited to see how the decreasing goes, as the lace continues to the end.

The pattern I picked is the Greyhaven Hat, by Robin Ulrich. I love how the lace still feels modern, and how the pattern is simple enough that it would still look lovely with a yarn that has some color variation.

Diagonal Baby Blanket, and How To Do a Yarn Over

When I first started knitting I would scour the Lion Brand free patters, because it was pretty much the only brand of yarn I was familiar with and liked, and I didn't know about Ravelry yet. I had found this Diagonal Baby Blanket pattern, which is pretty and simple, but I was intimidated by the yarn over, and just couldn't get it. I was also intimidated by the thought of using circular needles. I guess I was a wimp… And really, I had no reason to be afraid; this is a beginner pattern, and a great way to learn how to make a yarn over, and work diagonally.

Anyway, I recently saw a few pictures of diagonal knit blankets, remembered the pattern, and decided to give it a try. I haven't finished it yet, but I will give you my notes so far, as well as a little video (my first knitting video!) on how to do a yarn over in the knit stitch.

Though this project would be great in a cozy merino wool, I am using Wool-Ease Worsted, because it's affordable in bulk, and machine washable. I found a pretty, neutral grey, which is great for any age or gender. I was able to get six skeins in the same dye-lot, and it seems this thing will probably come out to be about 32"-36". We will see.


Pattern Notes

I don't really like the way this pattern starts out. It's a bit skimpy, going almost immediately into the yarn over (yo) "eyelet," which just looks weird and won't match the other corners very well. So I changed it, twice.

Version 1 (the blanket I'm working, now) and Version 2

The pattern says to cast on five stitches, and then go into the yarn overs in row 2.

Tutorial Thursday: Spring Cleaning Scrubby

Hello! Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday Thursday! The next few weeks are all about Spring Cleaning! Not so exciting perhaps, unless you consider cleaning out your yarn stash equally as necessary as scrubbing down the kitchen, which I do.

So to start with, you can clean out the stash AND clean the house with these lovely scrubbies! One in knit, the other in crochet, depending on your preference. Now you have an excuse to go for the yarn stash before scrubbing!

Tutorial Tuesday: "Swiss Dot"

I really love seed stitch, but depending on the yarn, sometimes it can be a bit much. I wanted a dotted look, but less compressed... Now, I have been playing around with patterns quite a bit, and after doing the striped cup cozy I thought I would apply the same method with dots.


What I came up with were two Swiss dot inspired patterns:

"Swiss Dot" No. 1 is a bit of a closer dot and works well for smaller items, like cozies.

"Swiss Dot" No.2 is a bit more spread out and subtle, and good for scarves or blankets.

Below are both "diagram" patters, as well as written patters, for each.

Tuetorial Tuesday: Simple Slouchy Beanie

It's been a while since I have posted a tutorial, and I had recently promised one on a seed-stitch cup cozy. Well, I used that cozy today and it was too big for a standard paper coffee cup. It fit around, but it would slide, and eventually stretched a bit and fell off when I set the cup down... So, I finished this post instead, which has been pending and unfinished for a while now...

Some of you may remember my post on Instagram several weeks ago with a beanie pattern I came up with. I was inspired by this video on making your joining stitches in double-crochet in the round nearly invisible - I was quite interested in this as I had just made a number of beanies for Christmas and was not really pleased with the gap at joining. So, here is the result of my experiment:

The Simple Slouchy Beanie uses double crochet, single crochet, and slip stitch, in the round. There are increases and decreases, but nothing fancy.

Tutorial Tuesday: a man hat

Hello! It's been ages since I posted anything...

Well, I survived finals, and now I am busy making hats for the (little) men in my life.

I scoured the internet for visor hat patterns for my nephews and this is the one that I decided to go with.

Photo from www.redheart.com

It is the Streetwise Hat pattern from Red Heart Yarn - it's a free pattern on their website. I sized it down a bit for my nephews, or I should say nephew, because I have only completed the hat portion of one so far. I wanted something that was a little more interesting than just single crochet hat, but also something that would be simple to make.

You can follow the hat-making process on Instagram if you like - @themadewithloveproject

I am starting another cap too, a knitted one, but that one is top secret until after Christmas...

Happy crafting!

Stephanie
MWLP

Tutorial Tuesday: Crochet Bow Headband / Ear Warmer

Searching through various blogs for cowl patterns a couple of weeks ago I stumbled on this cute headband. I decided to try my hand at one with the leftovers from the navy cowl I just made (you might have seen the pictures on Instagram). I think that this will be a great gift for one of my sisters - I won't say which (I have three).

I found the free pattern and tutorial on People Webs blog, right here.

Photo from peoplewebs.blogspot.com

She includes detailed instructions and step-by-step photos for you, which I think is great!

This is another great project for a beginner because it is all single crochet! This makes it a nice relaxing project too because it doesn't require a ton of concentration or counting... I have been making mine while I ride the bus.

This could also be done in a knit version using either garter or seed stitch...

I am going about mine a little bit differently - rather than working the length of the piece, I am working the width. When I make a second one I will work the length instead, and then let you know what I think of the two methods... My reason for working the opposite way is that I am not sure about the suggested length and want to make sure that it will be the right size. But, like I said, we will see how it turns out.

If you don't want to make your own, she does sell them on her Etsy shop!

Be sure to check out her blog and shop - she has a ton of great stuff!