Yarn Ball Winding

Do you ever get yarn in hanks like this, and find that it's impossibly difficult to work with?  All you need to do is wind it up into balls!

You'll need two things. First, this is called a swift.

And second, this is called a yarn ball winder. You can buy them at craft stores.

You use these tools to make nice, neat little cakes of yarn so that you won't end up with cranky, tangled yarn as you use it.  

Nobody's got time for that!!!

Attach the yarn ball winder to a steady surface. Put a book under it to add stability if needed.

Put the hank on the swift and find the loose end.

Put the loose end into the winder and start winding. 

Sometimes you may find that you grabbed the wrong loose end and the yarn will get cranky as you wind, and fall off the swift. But just put it back on and try to untangle the problem, or you can pull the yarn off the winder and start again with the correct end if you weren't too far along yet.

 As you wind, the yarn will look like this.

 Ahh! Isn't that much better? Insert something like a carboard toilet paper holder through the center when you remove the cake from the winder, to keep it separated properly inside.

And now you can use your yarn without spending time to untangle and tame it.

Now, visit some other neat blogs!

And so it begins...

For #1, I am making the Season 12 scarf......

My yarns.....

beige -- golden off-white
olive -- deep green
charcoal -- dark grey
brick -- burnt red-orange
toffee -- the medium brown
burgundy -- deep wine
mustard -- goldenrod

And #2 will be....

My yarns.....

glade -- dark green
antique -- offwhite
cape -- light blue
scarlet -- red
embers -- rusty brown color
lemoncello -- yellow
aubergine -- eggplant

 Here we go!

Making A Dr. Who Scarf

It's official - I'm going to knit again! Finally, there's a project I want to do which utilizes the one stitch that I'll do in knit.  Of course, I couldn't just use somebody's pattern. I had to research this scarf for myself because there seemed to be so much discrepancy between all the patterns.  Of course, this creates an even bigger dilemma, because photos online are not just of original, but of other people's creations of all these different renditions. Doh.....

So now I've decided on several different scarves that I found from photos.  I went digging for the yarn from my stash so I could see which one I could make mostly or completely from my yarn stash, since I have so much of it.

1. Looking up close, it appears this one has a deep red stripe, and a greenish-grey one. Also chocolate brown, beige, and orangy-red. The red almost looks dark brown, but the other images which are the same scarf do give it away actually as a red hue.

The Scarf:

My Yarn:

I need to get a different grey.... but otherwise, I have everything else!

Looking at the history of the scarf, I believe this would be the Season 18 version.

Yay, David would like one!  This one will be his.

2. Notice the white in this one; you don't see that elsewhere. Also a yellow, but much paler this time. Then there's  green, chocolate brown, and light brown.  And a pumpkin colored stripe.

The Scarf:

My Yarn:

Upon a close look you can see various shades of the browns so I'd need to dig out a few more skeins. And I'd have to get more of the soft yellow.

I'd guess this might be Season 15 version, since I didn't seem to see it in many photos, but did see it in this publicity shot.

3. Notice the varying shades of blues in this one. No yellow, but does have cream. Green, rust, dark green, brown, and a very 70's-ish shade of, well, something.

The Scarf:

My Yarn:

For this scarf, and ONLY this scarf, would I give up the last of the ancient and truly RUST colored yarn I have in my stash! You just can't find this stuff anymore. (Or that 70's shade, which I somehow have an abundance of, heh.)
This is the one I decided to make for His Excellency, Francois. He said he wanted one. I said, hey, I can do that! I like the blues in this one, AND I have all the yarn I should need.


4. And this one is unique, too, with the purple. Cream, grey, yellow, orangy-red, and that 70's color are here too.

The Scarf:

It took me a few minutes to figure out the above and below are the same scarf. He's just wearing it backwards in one of the shots, LOL.  But the below shot is an old scan or something, so the color isn't very good. But it's the same stripe patterning as the above, so that will make it a purple striped version.

My Yarn:

Again I'd have to get a skein of the right grey for this. And possibly more yellow.
Whatever version could this have been?  Who knows.  The scarf had many looks. I need to watch the Baker episodes for myself and find out the scarf timeline, heh.

I'm too tired to go on for now but I think this page will help me identify which is which a bit further, just for some extra scarf geekery.
http://www.reocities.com/Area51/Zone/3746/Scarf.html

The Scarves, Distinguished

Compiled notes and images......


SCARF VERSION ONE - Seasons 12/13

12 - The scarf started off at thirteen and a half feel long when it was introduced during season twelve. This was however a little too unwieldy, and in between filming the Sontaran Experience and the Ark in Space (Ark was recorded 3rd, broadcasts 2nd) a section of blue grey was removed, on the side with the camel and purple stripes at the end. During the Ark in Space the scarf gets blasted by a security system which leaves a small hole in the purple beige end of the scarf. The scarf then remained unchanged for the remainder of the
season.
http://wittylittleknitter.com/chapter-12/

12.5 - Identical to 12 except that a large grey stripe is missing. And he got a hole in the end of it.

13 - (Looks just like 12 only a few rows are truncated off one end)
The scarf was trimmed again at the beginning of season thirteen to a mere twelve foot. The other end got the whole bottom section removed so the scarf ends on Gray, Red and Yellow. When combined with the previous alteration, the scarf has lost about 18 inches since it stretched out. The “stunt” scarf is seen for the first time in Android Invasion when the Doctor and the double are fighting. The scarf stayed in this format for the rest of season thirteen.
http://wittylittleknitter.com/season-thirteen/

SCARF VERSION TWO - Season 14 (A lot like 12, but shorter)

14 - The original scarf goes under two more alterations before the season films. Both ends are shortened, the camel and purple stripes are removed on one, and the red and yellow removed on the other. There were actually two used during filming: one was ten and a half feet long, while the other was only ten feet long. In most of the episodes of this season the shorter scarf is used for indoor filming, while the longer one is used on outdoor shoots, The Mask of Mandragora, The Hand of Fear, and Deadly Assassin. (There is one anomaly; the scarves are swapped around in the Hand of Fear.)

The trick is to look at the ends of the scarf in indoor shoots and outdoor locations. The “stunt” scarf did not have alterations made to it, so it still has the bottom stripes from Season 13. After DA, the “stunt” scarf was used exclusively.
http://wittylittleknitter.com/season-fourteen/

SCARF VERSION THREE - Season 15 (This one has the true green in it,  and light blues)

15 - There is one longer version of the Dr Who scarf, a whopping seventeen foot scarf. This is used in three
of the episodes; Image of the Fendahl, Underworld and Invasion of Time. Strangely enough, this Dr
Who scarf design had the shortest time on screen of any of the scarves.

The BBC did release the design for the Dr Who scarf, however, the version of the scarf they produced
was actually the third and not the original version.  http://www.androgums.org/scarf.html
http://wittylittleknitter.com/season-15/

SCARF VERSION FOUR - Seasons 16/17/18

16 (This one has grey in it)
In the final two seasons of the multicolored Dr Who scarf, it was quite severely adapted. This scarf was a
combination of two previously used scarves. The original scarf and “stunt” scarf are joined, with the original being alterated two more times, with two sections removed close to the neck area. Thus the 20 footer was born out of the old scarves.
http://wittylittleknitter.com/seasons-16-17/

17
The 20 footer remains the same until Shada, where a section of the original scarf (the section that used to wrap around Tom’s next when it was longer) is moved down to the end of that part of the scarf and everything is reattached. Then one of Tom’s vests (probably the “stunt” vest used in Android Invasion since it was shot up) was used to make patches for the scarf.
http://wittylittleknitter.com/season-17/

(Ok technically this makes FIVE scarves, but I'm only counting the multi-color ones here)
18
The multi-color scarf was finally replaced in the fourth Doctors final season, season eighteen, with a burgundy monochrome striped scarf. This burgundy scarf started off at around twenty feet, but stretched to a memorable twenty four feet during the season.
Over the season it stretched out so much that by Logopolis, Tom had to wrap it around twice. It also became very damaged. It had so many holes, rips, and frayed edges that JN-T (stated in an old DWM interview somewhere) had it ripped up in Castrovalva.
http://wittylittleknitter.com/season-18/

Info found at http://purpleblancmange.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/my-first-visit-to-the-bbc-1991-to-1993-updated/#comment-925
and at http://api.ning.com/files/Tsax2hh5*KeIYSt-W7Z9jHc2NdZOET9RH-0fOIhN8wJXoBlZUtw3VvBcE*ZMDKj2galVpL84WbM2Whs5gywUQ8dxZcXt13aa/DrWhoScarfHistory.pdf
and of course this can also be found at http://www.doctorwhoscarf.com/history.html

Knitting Machine

Hey, I finally have some knitting news for my knitting blog.

I have bought... The Ultimate Knitting Machine!  I never have to knit pieces of knit fabric again!  Not that I really was, but there are times when I would have, if ti wasn't so time consuming... and now it isn't!

2/20/2010
My first square

2/22/2010
Moving right along

 

And there, crocheted an edging around it.

That was fun!  Let's try this again:

2/23/2010.Started and finished!

Okay, I think I have the hang of this thing now.  Time to stop making cat blankets.

Oops, I don't have any marled yarn on hand for real practice.  Some more squares first, then.

2/25/2010

Now, with an edge around it too.  Finished 2/28

Got some marled yarns!  Time to start making max sized sheets of yarn and see how they can be used.

2/27/2010

 

And, done.2/28

Now that I'm all practiced up, what will the next project be?  Well, stay tuned to the costume blog for more, very soon...

Check out my awesome bday prez!

Nope, this is not just a super-awesome blue dragonfly needle case.

It also came fully stocked with a full set of bamboo knitting needles! XD

Yay, now I have a full needle set. ^_^

My "How To" notes for myself

Casting On
The Long-tailed cast on is really the most versatile. It adds a row of knit stitches on top of your "foundation chain." Also known as Double Cast-On or Continental Cast-On. Video
The "long tail" refers to this long piece of yarn you need before you start your cast on. This is the only "downfall" to using this cast-on: you have to judge how long the "starter chain/row" needs to be before you begin casting the loops on. Tip from About.com author states "wrap the yarn loosely around the needle once for each stitch needed. Then add on a few extra inches for good measure."

Knit
- Knitting every row creates the Garter Stitch pattern.
- This is where the yarn is in the back of the needle, and you go into the loop from front to back.
- The knit stitch is a flat half-V.

Purl
- Purling every row creates the Stockinette Stitch pattern.
- This is where the yarn is in the front of the needle, and you go into the loop from back to front.

- The purl stitch is a raised loop.

Binding OffAlso known as casting off.
If you've been working in knit, knit one more row til all the stitches are on the left needle. Now, knit the first two stitches. Next, use the left needle to basically go through the first loop, and pull the 2nd one through it. Now knit the next stitch and do it again. Keep going. The effect you'll see is this action is pulling the stitch row across from the right to the left as each stitch binds off and carries the row across to the left, til you get to the end, and are done. For the last stitch, cut off the yarn and pull the tail through the last loop, then weave in the end.
Where to get Knitting Patterns
From the links down the left side of my blog here. Duh! Also check out Ravelry!

Books

Finally! I found some books that looked interesting enough to buy.

Since I learned to knit (yeah, only a couple months ago but), I have been on a book/pattern hunt. I had thus far not found much of anything to my liking. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm already so jaded on a lot of patterns, lol. It seems like everything you look at is another scarf, shawl, or glove, etc. With crochet I still find a lot of the "common" stuff to be fun and interesting, but with knit, not so much. Making this blog's links has helped me branch into some cool & funky new pattern resources, and I surfed up a few books off of Amazon to spark my knit interest.

You can click the link below to see the knitting books I think are cool.

http://astore.amazon.com/mermaidennet-20/104-3809626-6724728?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=10

Knit Stuff!

So, I've been working on a Harry Potter scarf (year 1-2 design) as my very first knit project since the end of May 2007. It is coming along pretty well; I mostly only work on it at work, where I have to lay it down when a phone call comes in to work on, so I have dropped a few stitches. LOL. But I wove some yarn in to hide them. Err, and to keep them from unravelling too, yeah, that's it.

Here is an updated pic of my progress :)

It is coming along! Isn't it?