scarf update and chart making method

so heres what i have so far on the Ghibli scarf

 For anyone thats wondering, heres what i have;
From bottom to top
Totoro and mini totoros from My Neighbour Totoro
A soot sprite from both spirited away and my neighbour totoro
the symbol on Nausicaa's dress from Nausicaa and the valley of the wind
no face from spirited away
some small fish for ponyo
the flags from up on poppyhill
jiji from kiki's delivery service
and (not that you'd tell) the start of the mask from princess mononoke

I got the charts for totoro and no face from ravelry, when i post the completed scarf I'll add all the charts i made and links to charts i used.

I discovered an easy way to make knitting charts (i bet someone else has already discovered this but thought i'd share it anyway)
find a image you want to make a chart from (i found most online chart makers either rubbish giving you a blurred image or make the chart the wrong size) copy and paste the image into microsoft publisher.
Resize it if it's too small (also picking an image that is a sillhouette or at least very simple is much easier)
then insert a table. My scarf is 41 sts wide (of course for the double knitting technique there is actually 82sts on my needle to knit the front and back at the same time but you only need one sides amount of sticthes if that makes sense)
the important bit with the table is that you select the entire table and unselect the grow to fit text option. this means you can resize the table to the shape of your chart

once you've done this just move the table over the image, resize making sure the cells on the table are square and not rectangular and then start to fill the cells with the fill tool. It can take a while but its a much easier way than trying to draw it out by hand (in my opinion)
the last thing to remember is make sure you put borders on the table so you can see the squares. I forgot to do this for 2 of mine and had to go back in and add them (which was a pain in the backside and took ages!)

so here are some of the results using the method above!

Robot from castle in the Sky

Marco (or Porco) from Porco Rosso

Turnip head from Howls Moving Castle

I can't wait to get them done on the scarf! I still have quite a list of characters to add and am almost at the end of the first lime green ball of wool (which will be the point at which i turn the characters so they are not upside down when wearing the scarf (i hope). I am guessing that if I do have one way and half the other then it'll work out! But no matter what happens I will share it on here. I am already madly in love with this scarf! I will definitly be knitting another one! Its been hard work and I'm not even half way there yet but every second has been worth it!
Hope you guys enjoyed my little update and feel free to use my charts, just post a photo of your work in the comments for me :)

Scarf #2

Ok so the last post I told you guys about my scarf (my first ever double knitting project) which was full of mistakes, but I loved it! I was going to use the wool from a jumper, but unfortunately I couldn't get the jumper to unravel so I had a (not even half finished) scarf with no wool left :(
Not to be discouraged I started a new one. I used the left over wool I had from a previous project and some I had bought to knit a school jumper for my eldest son.
So here's what I've got so far:

Again please excuse my rubbish photography. It's actually lime green and bottle green.
The last one I half knitted I was unsure of what I was going to do next, but this one I know where I'm going with it, the only problem is it's going to be very very long!
So its no longer a Totoro scarf, it's a Ghibli scarf!
So far I have Totoro, a soot sprite, the symbol from Nausicaa and the valley of the wind and No face from Spirited Away. (although no face is a little creepy I honestly don't think it would have been right not to include him, after all he does end up knitting so had to play a big part in this scarf!)
I have already made up charts for the mask from Princess Mononoke, Jiji from Kikis Delivery service, the catbus from My neighbour totoro and turnip head from Howls moving castle, but I have much more planned. I'm hoping to incorporoate something from all the movies (or at least the ones I've seen) so i still have a fair few to include;

• Ponyo
• Pom Pokko
• Porco Rosso
• Castle in the sky
• the Wind Rises
• Grave of Fireflies (even though I don't really like this film or Ponyo they have to be included I think)
• the cat returns
• Tales from Earthsea
• My neighbours the yamamdas
• from up on poppy hill
• Only yesterday (I haven't got round to watching this uyet but have it in the house)
• whisper of the heart 

so I still have loads to inlcude! How long will this scarf be? I may even have to make up a chart for a fairisle style jumper with all this in just so I can fit it in!
I already figure I need to add some aeroplanes for both porco rosso and the wind rises, I'm thinking a racoon for pom pokko, a small fish for ponyo and some flies (hopefully that look like fireflies) for grave of fireflies and a cat for the cat returns. Maybe even a robot for Castle in the sky but some of the others I'm really struggling with. but hopefully by the time I've caught up with the charts I've already got and made some of the ones that I know I want to make then I'll have thought of somethng for the rest! Who knows!
If you have any suggestions leave me a comment! I'd really appreciate it! And if anyone wants any of the charts I've made or found I'll happily share them!

thanks for reading :)

Double Knitting Totoro Scarf

So I always wondered how you knitted a scarf. (I know that may sound really silly, I thought they were the easiest things to knit) By that I mean how both sides are stockinette stitch. I assumed that you knitted 2 sides and stitched them together, which seemed like too much hard work (and like it would take ages) and I guess that is one way you can do it... but, I discovered double knitting!
First impressions were that it looked so amazing with a negative image on the 'back'. As usual I searched ravelry until I found a suitably difficult pattern to attempt to follow (instead of doing something easy becuase it's the first time Ive tried this technique).

So this is what I've got so far (and again I'll apologise for my crappy photography skills - who would believe I actually studied photography at college?!)

The colours Ive used (are actually from what my mum and I refer to as the 10 year jumper, which is a jumper my mum started knitting for me a good few years ago, actually more than 10 years now, and gave up on! She gave it to me to finish but with no idea what size she was knitting I'd pretty much have to start it again so decided it would be much better to use the wool for my awesome scarf) are beige and denim (not at all like the photos *sigh*)
As you can probably tell Ive struggled a bit with the chart. Having 3 boys under 5 years old running around causing mayhem whilst trying to follow a chart which is complicated enough without the fact that every time you turn your work to the 'wrong side' you have a negative image. So please forgive the obvious mistakes Ive made.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do next, with the middle part I mean, all I know is that it will have another similar (hopefully mistake free) image on the other end.
I'm toying with the idea of doing more clouds and rain in the middle section, adding some soot sprites and nordic stars, attempting to make the word 'Totoro' readable on both sides or just leaving it plain.

Any suggestions of idea would be greatly appreciated!


I've completely fallen in love with this technique so have another (at least) 3 projects planned, with a dr who, a game of thrones and a hobbit/ lord of the rings inspired scarf. I'm also hoping to try at least one with a self striping yarn and black as the colour combination as Ive seen some done with this and they look amazing!
I also have a dr who jumper in the planning stages. I'm going take some inspiration from charts Ive seen and make my own chart the same as I did with the star wars one. Hopefully my husband will like it and will actually wear this one! And of course he is still requesting I knit a Herbalife jumper for him as he's a distributer so many more porjects on my to do list then I really have the time for and I will insist on googling things (like double knitting scarves) that keep that project list ever increasingly long!

My favorite patterns!

I have 2 favorite patterns which I use over and over!
The first is the vintage pattern I got from my mum which I hope one day to find the number for so i can share it with you guys and hopefully you too will fall in love with this awesome pattern!

The second is King Cole 3404 Boys sweater and hooded slipover (although I've yet to make the slipover!)

so here are some of the jumpers I've made with these patterns;

Firstly the vintage hayfield pattern:
My first ever jumper that I knitted for myself and actually enjoy wearing! (Ive knitted quite a few but hate most of them)

I googled star knitting chart and used that for a while until i made a mistake and then just went with whatever i felt like and ended up with this! The idea was to use up some left over wool I had lying around! I will admit though after washing and tumble drying (I know I shouldn't but I do tumble dry pretty much everything!) its got a bit big! But I love it and it's my favorite jumper!

I also made a star wars inspired one for my husband for Christmas one year, but he never wears it becuase he says its too small! Husbands can be picky and irritating sometimes haha

I used Excel and made the cells in the spreadsheet into small squares and pretty much drew out the whole design on the computer before I knitted it. The front took ages but it was worth it. Guess I'll have to make another one for him, better get planning...

I also made the smallest version of this pattern and a cardigan for my eldest Eli who is starting school in August

All i can say is button bands are a nightmare!


And finally my latest (possibly less exciting one) is the one I converted to an in the round pattern

Now onto the boys jumpers. Having 3 little boys I try to make things for them whenever I can and as they are all under 5 I can still dress them how I want without too many arguments (I don't think that will last long tho haha).


This is the first one I made using the king cole pattern

this one has been worn by my eldest Eli and now passed down to Conan. I'm hoping my youngest, Solomon will get some wear out of it too (eventually)

Then I made a mini star wars jumper, but the neck shaping went a little wrong so they dont wear this one often

Eli asked for a rainbow jumper (which I couldn't find to take a photo of - it's probably in amongst the mountain fo washing I always seem to have)
And he also asked for a dinosaur jumper because he's obsessed with anything to do with dinosaurs.

Again I just googled dinosaur chart and found this one. Eli did complain though that there was "only a triceratops" and he "needed a t-rex aswell" so watch this space for another dinosaur jumper!

And finally a jumper for Conan (no sure why my phone has made it look bright red - its maroon)
I increased a stitch in the centre of the sleeves for an even number of stitches and added a 6 stitch cable up each sleeve.

I really like this effect and have some lovely green wool waiting to be used so may well make myself a jumper or cardigan with the same cable sleeves!








And thats it. My 2 favorite patterns used in some (i think) very different ways. Its amazing to think what you can do with a knitting pattern to customise your project. For example, I found that the king cole pattern used a 2x2 rib for the cuffs which made the neck sit a little strange, but using a 1x1 rib seemed to solve this. Also it had a rib on the raglan which I didn't like so I changed that to a garter stitch in Conans jumper and knitted the decrease right at the ends on Eli's dinosaur jumper and both work really well!

**Update** If anyone is interested in making a star wars jumper you can find the chart that I made on ravelry star wars chart. If you use it please post your photos in the comments!

In the round jumper update

Well, I finally finished the jumper!!! It took a little longer than I thought it would but I have been ill whilst knitting it so I guess I am allowed to take my time haha.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it was soooo easy just sewing the ends in instead of having to sew all the bits together!

So....
Here's my attempt at a tutorial without posting my pattern (which I still haven't tracked down the number for)

My pattern was for a raglan sweater knitted back and forth (bottom up) on straight needles, making a fonrt, back and sleeves then sewing them together at the raglan (leaving one open) then knit the neck and sew up the rest of the seams. I've used it many times before but this was my first go at a in the round project, so I converted my pattern from knitted flat to in the round.

Homemade stitch markers made with beads and elastic

I started at the bottom as my pattern said but I cast on both the front and back stitches and then joined to make a round. So on my pattern it said 97sts for the back and the same for the front, so i cast on 97sts, placed a stitch marker, cast on the other 97sts and placed another stitch marker so I would know where my round started and where the front and back were (if that makes sense)

I knitted to the length I wanted the body to be to the underarm, then set it aside and worked on the sleeves. (I normally work both sleeves at the same time so if I make a mistake at least they will both match, but I had to knit one then the other which was a little weird for me, but I got there in the end) I cast on the number of stitches in my pattern but joined to make a round and placed a marker at the start. When I got to the increases I K1, inc 1 st, knit to last 2 stitches before the marker, inc 1 st, k1. I think I would have got a neater finish if I had used a m1 instead but I knitted twice into the same stitch (which is how I would've done it if I was knitting flat). Once I got the the underarm length I added it onto the needle that had the body and knitted the second sleeve.
I did have some problems trying to cast on and rib the cuffs with the circular needle so I ended up cheating and knitting them flat then transferring them onto my circular needle and sewing them up.

Instead of casting off the underarm stitches I left them on a stitch holder. (I had 6 stitches to cast off on my pattern, 3 from each end of the front, back and sleeves - so I put 3 sts from each side of the markers onto sticth holders)

I continued with the pattern decreasing the raglan exactly as it said in the pattern. I then got to the neck shaping on the front (which really confused me and I ended up having to unpick 6 rows :( and starting again)
This is the bit I got quite confused at so i would suggest reading your pattern for the front neck shaping a few times and then writing it down just so it's clear.

My pattern said:
K2, K2tog, K16sts turn, leaving remaining stitches on a spare needle

So from that  I am working 20sts from each side of the front and leaving 15sts in the middle for the front of the neck.
I slipped the first 35sts onto the right side of the needle and rejoined the yarn to start working on the left side of the neck (which is the second side you would work on according to my pattern) <---complicated haha
Once I'd stopped messing around and being silly and actually paid attention to the pattern it was quite easy though. All I needed to do was k2tog on the neck edge every alternative row for 7 rows, whilst remembering to dec on the raglan aswell.
I was then working back and forth and leaving the centre 15sts unworked.
Once I had got to the rib on the neck, I picked up the stitches down each side of the neck and worked in rib.

I then sewed in the ends and worked the underarm stitches together in a cast off.

The best bits of advice I have if you want to convert a flat pattern to a round pattern is write it down first, it may seem easy at first but it can get a little complicated if you're not organised. And also pay attention to your stitch markers and dont end up knitting them into your jumper.

Guess who wasn't paying attention?

The other thing I'll quickly mention is that you don't really need tonnes of different lengths of circular needle. I had a really long one (sorry not sure how long I will check later though) and a 40cm one. The long one was too long for the neck but if you pull some of the cable out in between stitches you can use a longer one with no problems!