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!

in the round sweater update and disaster!

So I got to the underarm part of the body of the jumper whipped out my new short circular needles and cast on for the sleeve, but in the process broke the needle! So Now I have to glue my 3.25mm needle before I can use it *sigh*
Determined to do something I decided to use some left over wool to make a hat for my neighbour (he asked for a grey one, I had grey wool left so thought it was a great way to use it up) So I got almost finished and ran out of wool *sigh* In the process I used the 4mm circular needle which is now out of action until I get out for some more wool. So its still a no go on the sleeves for the jumper. Not sure if Ive posted the link for the hat before but here it is anyway. KOGO Beanie. I used a 4mm needle instead of a 4.5mm and I added extra rows to the straight bit. I made one before and foudn it wasn't long enough and the 2x2 rib was too loose, so this time i used a 1x1 rib and made it longer. the first one I knitted straight, this one was in the round so its a nice pattern to convert between the two.
I must admit knitting in the round scared me quite a bit but I'm absolutely loving it! I would reccoemmend it to anyone and everyone!
So in an attempt to fill my crafting time with something (anything!) I started to crochet a blanket!

So this is as far as Ive got with it. It looks a bit wobbly around the edge but I'm hoping it'll turn out ok. I'm planning to get to about single bed size but my last attempt lasted about cot sized, so we'll see how it goes. Its about big enough to fit on a car seat at the moment.
So far the few people that have seen it have all asked if I'm pregnant and expecting a girl. I am not amused at all! I am not!!! I'm just using up left over wool and I like the way its turning out. There's not much I can do with half a ball of pink wool in this house (having 3 boys) so anyway I can use it up is a blessing. Its actually peach in the middle, lemon, then a speckled mint (purple and blue speckles through the wool) then pink on the outside. I'm running out of pastel colours though so once the pink wool is used up i might have to buy some more for this.
Oh, I better tell you what pattern I used. You can find it here. I chained 10 as the pattern says.
I also saw this pattern and wondered about adding the little flowers, but not sure the boys or husband would appreciate anything quite so girly!
I like granny blankets because you start so small and work until you get fed up (or at least thats what I do) I did see other designs but it meant working back and forth and starting with a rediculous number of chains to start (something like 230+) Knowing me I'd get to about the third row and be fed up already!

Hopefully I will get superglue for the needle, get wool for the hat and also get more wool for the blanket before I run out of everything and have to start something else!

On a completely unrelated note I came across this one facebook and Ive now added it to my to-do list (at least the captain america jumper if nothing else)
Fun Patterns Perfect for Avengers Fans
I will probably end up using the same jumper pattern (raglan hayfield pattern) and knit in the round.
I'm looking for ideas on knitting a hulk jumper too. I though about doing a torso pattern on the jumper but dont think I'll be able to get the range of shades I'll need. Any ideas are more than welcome!

In the round Jumper update

 

Here is my prgress update on my first in the round jumper. As said in my previous post I am using Stylecraft special DK yarn in Greengauge (which is like a green and yellow twist yarn although on the website I bought it from it looks more like green and beige) I used my favorite pattern (which is a simple raglan pattern that i got from my mum - I will attempt to find the pattern number next time I go round to see her - but the pattern is a back and forth pieced pattern so I'm converting it to in the round)
I started at the bottom and worked about 16 rows in 1x1 rib (i lost count as I was working so guessed a bit) and I'm now up to where I need to add the sleeves. I was comtemplating working 4 less stitches (I assme they would have added 4 - 1 at either end of the front piece and the same for the back) but I just cast on the amount of the front and back to save confusion later!
I made my own sitich markers. The ones I biought are great but I thought they made my knitting a little looser, so I made some out of spare beads i had lying around and some elastic cording

I added 2 beads to the first one so i could easily identify the start of the round... but i got caught up in whatever was on the tv and accidentally knitted the other one into the jumper! :0

Oh well, at least its cheap elastic so will be easy to cut and re-thread. So the first tip I have is pay attention to your stitch markers haha.
Now comes the difficult part where I have to do some research into how to increase on the sleeves. I recently knitted a cardigan (which incidentally once I'd finished I hated it *sigh*) I got the body finished and was left with ony 1 ball of wool so had to try to work out the best way to add the sleeves at a 3/4 length without ending up with one shorter than the other. I searched high and low to find another ball of wool, but it was discontinued so I picked up stitches and knitted the sleeve down from the armhole (this totally didin't work as it was shaped at the top) but it did look a bit weird with the increases over about 6 stitches at the start and end of the round. I ended up knitting them flat from where I guessed elbow length would be and they worked out ok.
I'll post another update when I've figured out what to do next!

Finished Projects

I finally got round to finishing off the ear warmers I knitted for my neighbour. All I had to do was sew in the ends and sew a button on. but it seems to have taken me weeks to get round to it. With my first in the round jumper project taking up most of my time I wonder if I'll ever get round to making one for myself? They look like they would be really handy for the random Peterhead weather thats bright sunshine one minute and snowing the next! My neighbour wanted one to go for walks across the beach, so hopefully she'll like them

This is a double knit one (with a random button I had lying around that totally doesn't match) using this pattern Ripple Shell Ear Warmer. I really like this pattern and if I ever do get round to making some for myself I'll use it for sure!

this one was I used chunky wool that was  left over from a jumper I knitted but I have to admit I don't like it as much, but with using chunky wool it will be much warmer than the DK one. I used this pattern How to Crochet a Ear warmer.
The Dk one is also much more stretchy (i think this is to do with the stitch)

The other thing I finally got round to finishing was a school cardigan! My eldest is starting school in August so I'm starting early (for once) and trying to be organised. I used an old pattern I got from my mum which I absolutely love. Ive knitted quite a few jumpers with it already - a star wars inspired nordic jumper for PJ, a dinosaur jumper for Eli, a 'leftover' jumper for me and a jumper for Conan. I will add another post on this pattern later with all the projects Ive used it for.
This is the first time Ive knitted the cardigan from this pattern. The button band seemed to take ages and was quite frustrating to knit (mostly because I'm impatient). But here is the finished item!

I did wonder about adding a pattern to it to make it a little more interesting but I wasn't sure the school would appreciate it too much, especially as Eli was asking for yet more dinosaurs!

In the Round Sweater

My least favorite parts of knitting are actually the sewing up parts. I really dont like it. I guess that's because that's when you get to see if your project actually works. I've had many failures during my years of knitting (and crocheting) and after about 10 years I've only just made my first successful sweater that I actualy like to wear.
With that in mind I have set myself the task of transforming my favorite sweater pattern (A very old Hayfield DK pattern I got from my mum) into an in the round pattern. I figure it should be simple enough to convert being a raglan sleeve sweater.
So last night I cast on the relevant amount of stitches for both the front and back onto my circular needle and started.
My first impressions of knitting in the round are that each round takes what seems like forever, but after only 6 or so rows I can actually see the beginnings of a jumper!
I chose Stylecraft Special DK in Greengauge which is a lovely mottled green. I've only ever used this yarn once before and it seems less fluffy than the Robin DK I usually use, so hopefully it will last longer before bobbling and looking untidy.
It's slow going but wont be too long I hope before I can post an update on a decent sized knitted piece and I won't have much sewing up to do.
Although I am wondering if I should've tested this on a smaller jumper for the kids first!