Rockinknit

Where the hell have I been?!? Busy, Busy, Busy, is all I can say! Phew! I can say there has definitely been knitting happening, including a last minute baby knit that I need done by this Saturday! I’m practically done with my Karma Tank, only need about 2 more inches and the straps, and voila!, I’ll have a gorgeous summer tank! I’ll post pics this week, promise! I also have an emergency baby knit that has halted progress on my Karma Tank. It’s the cutest little dress I’m knitting with Sundara Yarn Silky Aran in Cotton Candy! OOHHH! This yarn is freakin’ luscious!

For now, I’ll share a few pics from my day at the San Francisco 49ers Family Day @ Candlestick the other weekend. We had a blast!

My Daughter and I in the 49ers actual locker room

My Daughter and I waiting in line for autographs

All 5 championship trophies

View from the field

My son getting Steve Bono’s autograph

Inside the locker room

Steve Young’s retired jersey, the gold trip also signifies Hall of Fame

Got some pics of my latest project on the needles, which is both of the following:

–Stashbusting! Going thru my Sundara Yarn “Brown Sugar Over Buttermilk”
–Summer Knit! Gotta show off my knitting skills this summer

So far the pattern has been real easy, and am I’m able to knit this while completely engrossed in the NBA Finals with the Lakers vs. Magic. Go Lakers!!! Their up 2 on the series!

Pics in this post are from last week, which was in the real beginning stages.

See my “Edward Apple” stitch marker? I love that stitch marker, a gift from one my fave spoilers

Oh, and look what happened with my Sundara yarn cake for Karma…

Do you see how it’s “coning” out? That’s from my daughter’s cat, the little rascal Gracie, who found my Karma tank on my bed and decided to attack the yarn cake. My daughter caught her in time to stop further damage. I was a bit upset because I had to detangle alot of yarn and save it so that it wouldn’t have to be cut.

I’m starting on the 10th round repeat now of the German Herringbone Rib portion of the pattern; I’ve officially put the needles down for tonight, need my rest for another round of work for the next week. Too bad work is never a true FO! There’s always another round around the corner.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

~Rocky

Story behind the Pattern:
This simple design failed initially, but the 2nd time was a charm. The original “prototype” pattern (swatch) started out with Malabrigo yarn (worsted weight), and didn’t hold the stitch definition very well. I started the design for my husband, who had made a special request that I knit him a beanie of my own design. All he knew when he requested the beanie was that he wanted it to have cables or “braids” as he called it. The first go at the pattern had only cables that stood out in the pattern. After frogging the original project, I also went with a different yarn choice, Cascade Yarns Venezia (worsted weight), which is Merino Silk, 70% wool, 30% silk. The texture of the yarn is very nice and it is both warm and airy all at the same time. Thus the final product was set in motion. I added 2 knit stitches to form columns in between the cables to create a “columned” effect, similar to the columns of a Greek building. My husband’s view of the finished hat was that it reminded him of the Aztec calendar, which on one had is true; the simple pattern has that sort of look to it. I hope you enjoy it knitting this hat; I look forward to seeing different yarns and colors.
For issues or questions about the pattern, please feel free to let me know. Send me a message on Ravelry , my ID is Rocky Moreno .
This is a free pattern, I only ask that you don’t sell it, or use it to sell items with.
Pattern is Copyright of Rocky Moreno 2009 – 06-01.


Materials:
• 1 US 7
• 1 stitch marker
• 1 skein of Cascade Yarns Venezia in Worsted Weight
• 1 cable needle
Pattern Skill Level:
I would rate this at Intermediate level, only because of the Cables, which are very easy, but still at an intermediate level, but it is really beginner friendly.
Yarn Colors:
• Main color gray
Note: Make it your own! Use your own choice of main color or even use variegated yarn!
Yarn requirements:
1 skein of yarn worsted weight is all that is needed.
Gauge:
Approximately 5 -6 inches per stitch across.
Needles:
US 7 16 inch Circular or US 6 DPNS
Cast On:
121
Methods:
Cables, Knitting in the Round.
Sizes:
If circumference of beanie is too tight, you can add additional pattern repeat to lengthen the scarf by adding an extra 8 stitches, always ending with a knit stitch, since we start with a purl stitch.
Sizing suggestions:
Average size 121 stitches
*adjust accordingly for other sizes
 
Cast ON:
Cast on 121 stitches.
If you are using DPNs, just evenly distribute your stitches. (about 30 stitches per needle)
Step 1:
Join yarn by purling the first stitch, place stitch marker before purling the first stitch.
Hint: I usually knit the first 3 stitches with both the working yarn and the tail from the cast on, just to have the tail knitted a few stitches. I still weave in the tail at the end of the project.
Step 2:
First round only! Knit all stitches, when you get to the last stitch before the stitch marker, slip the stitch, and remove the stitch marker, place the slipped stitch back onto the left needle, and knit the slipped stitched and the stitch to the left of it together (K2TOG), then replace the stitch marker and proceed to pattern.

PATTERN
LEGEND

P= Purl

K= Knit

CBF2= Slip 2 stitches to cable needle, hold in front, knit next 2 stitches, knit 2 stitches from cable needle

Round 2
*P1 K2 P1 CBF2* repeat to end of round

Next 2 Rounds – Purl the Purls and Knit the Knits
*P1 K2 P1 K4*

Round 5 and on, repeat Rounds 2 – 4 until you have 6 ½ inches from edge (brim) of beanie, ending on Round 2.

Decrease Rounds

1st decrease round:
These rounds you’ll always Purl the Purls and Knit the Knits, with the exception of the K2TOG’s. *Work 8 stitches, then K2TOG* to end.
Next round, *Purl the Purls and Knit the Knits* (no decreases this round)
2nd decrease round, Purl the Purls and Knit the Knits, with the exception of the K2TOG’s. *Work 6 stitches, then K2TOG* to end.
Next round, *Purl the Purls and Knit the Knits* (no decreases this round)
3rd and remaining rounds all decreases, *K2TOG* around until you have approximately 8-12 stitches (your preference), cut 8’inch tail and weave through remaining stitches to finish.

Finishing
The finished object in the pattern picture isn’t blocked, it could be blocked to widen if needed or if your gauge is tight.

Errata
None at this time

The Aztec is a beanie I designed for my husband, and finally finished. I had actually been formulating a design I had in my head for a long time, but the first prototype ended up being frogged for several reasons.

The first thing I didn’t like when I initially started working the design was the yarn choice. It was originally Black Malabrigo, worsted weight, while I love Malabrigo, it just didn’t have the feel I was going for or the texture I wanted to really capture the pattern. Here’s the first one, the pattern was in the beginning stages, nothing original, nothing fancy, but it just didn’t work.

I frogged it and the project hibernated, until about a week ago. My husband had been asking me when I was going to knit his beanie, and I finally got back in the groove with the design. I was a bit discouraged from the first go around, but enough time had past that I could really get into it. I had this vision of cables, but cables that had a look like columns. Columns like that of Greek architecture:

The original pattern was just straight cables, your basic knits & purls. I switched up the stitch count and then let my husband pick a yarn from a few skeins I decided would be good for the pattern. He choose the Cascade Yarns Venezia Worsted yarn in Gray, which is Merino Silk, a blend of 70% Merino Wool and 30% Silk. It is very soft and warm, yet airy at the same time.

Here’s the final piece completed; I’ll be putting together the pattern and publishing it for free on Ravelry if anyone is interested in it. There are so many beanies out there that have cables, but this is a pattern I felt gave me the exact look I was going for.

I went for a “rope” looking brim, and it came out pretty neat. It’s one of the details I was quite happy with as the beanie took shape.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and I’m going to knit another one, this time for my son, who fell in love with it, but prefers black.

I’ll post probably Tuesday with the new pattern and have another new project on the needles that I’m loving!

It’s the “Karma” tank from the Custom Knits book (fabolous book!)….

Oooh, and one last awesome tidbit, Twilight swept the MTV Awards! And the New Moon trailer is great, and a huge tease! I’ve added the trailer to my site, in the “Interesting” section!

Today I came home for lunch, as I usually do to make me a quick bite to eat, and there was a package waiting for me. I was caught completely off guard as I had swaps going on and no orders I’m waiting for. What did I get?

My Aunt Virgie from Bremington, Washington sent me the best gift, just because It is my very own “Edward” Apple paperweight! I love it! Something so simple and little yet so wonderful! I, as you know, am a Twilight fan, and this is super. I’ve placed it atop the top shelf of my book case in my office next to all my other Twilight paraphernalia.

I’ll have to call my Auntie tomorrow to give her a HUGE thank you!

In other fibery news, what’s on new on my needles?

The “Aztec” beanie, this is my own design, I’m knitting this for my husband. I’m using Cascade Yarns Venezia Worsted Weight yarn in color #131. This yarn is Merino Silk; the color is an ash gray, perfect for a man. My husband named it “Aztec” because it reminds him of the Aztec calendar. I’ve been meaning to knit him a beanie of his own for awhile now, and I did try with a different yarn, Black Malabrigo yarn, but I just wasn’t getting the right stitch definition from the Malabrigo, so I frogged it.

I started this version the other day, but haven’t made much progress because I need shorter circulars, these are 24′inch, and it’s rather slow knitting because I to constantly adjust the stitches as I knit. I’ll be picking the right length US7’s up tomorrow to finish the “Aztec”. I really like the way the stitch definition is coming out with this yarn. I really can’t wait to get the right needles so I can finish this.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this, I hope to finish it this weekend, but I have allot planned that won’t involve knitting 8( We’ll see if I can squeeze in an FO!

Have a good weekend!

~Rocky

This Mother’s day was one for the record book, very mellow indeed. I got some good rest in and then my husband took me to Starbucks for a Grande Vanilla Rooibos. I’ve weened myself off of the Venti White Mochas and now have the Grande Vanilla Rooibos, which is just a black tea packet of vanilla flavored tea with steamed milk. It’s de-li-sh! No sugar needed, simple and tasty. For the past two years I’ve been working on changing my eating habits. I had first started out by eating my dinner on a child sized plate with child sized portions, and also eating more in between meals. Then I weened myself down from no coke except 7up, and then down to eating more healthy raw vegetables, and so on. Come to present day and now I only drink plain water, milk, or sometimes juice, no soda. I also eat much differently, more chicken, alot more veggies, no sweets, unless I feel like it. I’ve actually learned to not crave anything sweet, which is pretty cool and I’ve learned to really love water, I never new I could. I tried having coke the other day, and ugh, it was gross to me. I even tried having one of my Venti White Mochas, and boy did I get sick, my system was rejecting it. I’ve also started running for the last 2 months, I run between 1-2 miles every other day, and I’m loving the feeling. I’ve lost so much weight, and I feel great.

A great feeling this Mother’s day, sorry for the digression there, I’m just felt like sharing some of the my adventures. My husband treated me all weekend, just being at my beck and call, even though he really always is for me like that. I had a BBQ’d tri-tip, grilled asparagus, and stuffed mushrooms for dinner, hmmm! Ooh, and a drumstick for desert, YUM-O! Plus roses from my hubby. My kids bought me an awesome Twilight t-shirt from Hot Topic, I love IT! My Mother bought me the book “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer with $40 in it for spending.

Here’s my happy face!

To all Mother’s, “Happy Mother’s Day!”

It started out rocky, but turned out okay, yes it’s all about the bag.

For my HSK7 Swap, the last of my active swaps, we had to knit a bag for our spoilee. To be more specific, we would knit what the spoilee picked on their questionnaire when we joined the swap, my spoilee choose a bag.

The original bag I started to knit didn’t turn out at all, I was actually quite annoyed. I decided, after much procrastinating to frog it and start over, but with a new pattern. I went with Drops 109-13 Pleated bag. This was a quick knit, and very easy. I was surprised at how easy, for some reason Drops designs can seem so enigmatic to me?

What did I knit it with? Again, I went with Blue Sky Alpaca 100% Organic Cotton yarn in color 621, which is a rich chocolate brown. Did I mention my spoilee has the same taste in colors as me? I love this color, so I know she’ll love it too. In fact all the yarn I bought her I longed for myself!

Without further ado, here’s the photoshoot!

See the pleats? This was the first time I knitted a pattern with pleats, and it’s nothing difficult, basically cables, but not repetitive. What don’t I like about the pleats??? The holes! Because your twisting a large amount of stitches, you get a nice hole left, no matter how much you try and close it up. I didn’t like it, so I mattress stitched close the holes.

Some more angles:

I was so happy that I was able to finish this in time to send my package. I wrapped it and sent it on it’s way. I can only hope it will be accepted and liked!

It’s amazing how fast things come to an end, my HSK7 swap is all done now, kinda sad, it is, at least for now, the last swap I’ll be in for awhile. I’ve intentionally slowed down my participation in alot of things to make room for my “unknown” project.

On the horizon now, I have my project to focus and research on, and some real true luxury knitting. YES, the BEST kind of knitting there is! I have to see what to make me, I have alot in mind, but I really want to make me some garments to start wearing.

Let’s see what I cast on in the next few days

I went to visit my former hometown, Newman, this weekend where my cousin Tura and his family still live. I didn’t get a chance to visit during Easter, so this was a long needed trip. I had bought a cute brown/biege short outfit formy Godson Andrew, which I might get to see him in next weekend! For my little couse Alyssa, I decided to knit her a headband late Friday night, about 10 p.m. I quickly searched Ravelry for a child’s headband pattern, and went with Nora. I found some real pretty “Little Lovely” Malabrigo Chunky in my stash, and it was perfect! I had to adjust my needle size since the pattern isn’t knitted with chunky weight yarn. I went with a US3 needle, and it worked out perfect. I had it finished by the time we got to the house the morning on Saturday.

Here are my pics!

And look at her smile! She loves pink!

Another gift I’m almost done with, here’s some quick pics:

I don’t want to say too much about this because it’s a surprise, but I’m really excited to get to the finishing portion, it will really take shape then.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
R

A good friend, Cheryl, from Kavelizard on Etsy, makes the cutest garments and accessories. I met Cheryl in the “Day of the Dead” swap from last year, she was my spoiler. She made me the cutest knitting bag, and perfect for those real meaty knitting projects.

Remember this lovely bag?

I love this bag, she made it just for Lil’O me 8-), in fact she now offers them for sell on her site, she aptly named it “Rocka-ma-bag”! I love the tatoo’ish fabric, and requested a custom item from her Etsy site the other week for a Iphone cell phone case she has for sale, but since I’m a Blackberry girl, I asked for one that fits a Blackberry, in no other than my fave tatoo’ish fabric.

And she made whipped it up in no time and shipped it to me ASAP! I love it! It is now permanently attached to my Bella bag from Jordana. Funny, Bella, it’s also the name of the lead female character in Twilight, kind of odd that name would mean so much to me now when I knew nothing of “Bella” when I purchased my Bella bag at the Stitches West 2008 conference. Isn’t odd how one thing can mean something to you in one way at one point in time and then later on have a totally different meaning? Odd….

Enough digressing, here are some snapshots of my custom BB case.

Now you should know what my title means, it is little but definitely counts! I love it. A BIG thank you to my friend CHERYL!!! You Rock girl!

And onto a new WIP, real new, hot off the needles yesterday. I can’t say the name of the pattern or who it’s for, I can’t ruin the surprise, but I will say it is a handbag and it is my first time working with pleats, but it’s pretty much the same as cables or is cables, but knit somewhat differently. I picked this color because I know my spoilee likes neutrals, as I do, and this dark rich brown is luscious! The yarn is again a constant in my knitting stash, Blue Sky Alpaca 100% Organic Cotton. I’ve knitted with various weights of this yarn and I love it. It’s easy to knit and very soft, and it won’t felt, which is awesome in case it needs a good wash.

Here’s a peek at the handbag, though it’s about 40% done, it doesn’t yet look like much, but I can’t wait to see the final product. I need to go pick me up some 9 16′ cause the 24′’s circs aren’t working out. I should be able to pick some up this weekend and have a spoilee FO to show off Sunday!

See that “Love Bites” stitch marker??? It’s a gift from my spoiler for Love Bites, a heart with a band-aid, too cute!

And see that Golden Retriever stitch marker? So cute, from my other spoiler Minerva Wood a.k.a. Yogaknot. I’ve participated in so many swaps that I’ve been so lucky to have such wonderful spoilers who get me the cutest things.

More soon

1. This “Harry Potter” character’s first name comes from Roman mythology. The mythological character’s twin brother is named Romulus. What is the Harry Potter character last name?

b. Lupin

2. Which “Harry Potter” character’s first name is the Roman equivalent of the Greed Goddess Athena?
c. McGonagall

3. In ‘Harry Potter’ World, this wizard has created the Philosopher’s Stone (called the Sorcerer Stone in the US). The historical figure from the 14th and 15th centuries was a scribe and a manuscript-seller who became famous as an alchemist. Who is this individual?

I believe it’s Nicholas Flammel.

4. What is the first name of a character whose last name is the name of a Bulgarian leader from early 9th century who doubled the country’s territory?
c. Viktor

5. Which character’s name is the name of goddess in Indian mythology?
b. Patil

6. “Where the Wild Things Are” tells the story of Max, a young boy sent to bed without his supper for his wild antics. Who created this winner of the Caldecott Medal?
a. Maurice Sendak

7. What was NOT one of the unexpected defense mechanisms that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Griphook encountered in their attempt to rob Gringotts?
d. The Geminio Curse

8. What was Snape aiming at when he cut off George’s ear?

c. Another Death Eater’s wand hand
d. George’s face

9. How much older than James was Lily? (Referring to Harry’s parents, not children).
d. 2 months

10. Food is one of the five exceptions to what magical law?
b. Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration

Photo hunt

George
McGonagall
Patil
Where the Wild Things Are