Cestino

I sat my butt down and just spent the day hashing out the pattern. It's intended to be a produce basket, but could conceivably be applied to other uses, and will comfortably hold about 5 pounds per basket. It's knit lengthwise, using short rows to achieve shaping. I've included options for two different sized baskets, as well as two different depths of basket, and you can combine them in whichever way you choose. Gauge is a loose suggestion, as long as you are within a couple of rows either way, the baskets should stretch to accommodate.

Cestino

Size:
A (B)

Finished Measurements:
Approx. 9 in. depth (approx. 7 in. depth)

Materials:
- Lily Sugar'n Cream [100% Cotton; 150 yds/138 m per 85g skein]; color white, 1 ball per basket
- Fishing line [optional]
- Metal craft hoops - 10" diameter for larger basket, 8" diameter for smaller basket
- Approx. 3 ft of chandelier chain [available in the lighting section of home improvement stores]

Gauge:
Approx. 14 sts and 18 rows per 4 inch in yo, k2tog st, on size 10.5 needles.

Pattern Notes:
- If the baskets are to be used to hold produce, I strongly recommend using a kitchen cotton yarn to allow the produce to breathe and to allow the baskets to be washed if needed. Otherwise, use whatever yarn you'd like!
- The baskets should stretch out slightly when filled. If you do not want it to stretch, you can hold fishing line along with the yarn while knitting to help hold the shape.
- I recommend not wrapping the stitches when you turn for the short rows in order to get a smoother look at the bottom of the basket.

- CO 30 (24)

First row [RS]: - k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 5 st, k to end
Second row and all WS rows: - p
Third row: - k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 5 st, k next 4 sts, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 5 st, k next 3 sts, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 5 st, k next 2 sts, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 5 st, k next st, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 7 st, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 9 st, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 11 st, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 13 st, turn
- k1, *yo, k2tog, repeat from * to last 15 st, turn

For 10" diameter basket, repeat 6 times. For 8" diameter basket, repeat 5 times.

BO. Seam up together cast on and bound off edges.

Attach basket to hoops by threading yarn through top row of eyelets and wrapping around hoop. Attach 3 6-inch lengths of chandelier chain evenly spaced to top basket, joining together at top. If adding another basket, attach with 3 additional 8-inch lengths between baskets.

I finished blocking Hanna, and it really made a difference.



The seed stitch now lays flat, and the fabric has a much nicer texture to it. It's still ridiculously large, but I'm thinking that just doubling it over into itself lengthwise when I wear it will take care of that. Unfortunately, it's basically summer here in Georgia, so I won't be able to wear it again for a few months.

Up next, I'm thinking $5 in Paris, and also hopefully wrapping up the pattern for Cestino.

All done!

I finished blocking the mini-dress yesterday.



I'm really happy with how it turned out, so much so that I'm pretty sure I'll make another (probably in a solid color) in the future. I think the only adjustments I'd make is to make it a bit longer so that I could wear it as a dress.

Meanwhile, I just set my Hanna cowl to block. Hopefully that straightens out the issues with the edging. Woo, blocking!

I finished the back of my mini-dress last night. I guess I can be a really fast knitter when I have hours a day to spend on it.

I ran up against some issues when I reached the sleeve decreases. For size M, the first decrease row calls to decrease the color B stripes from four stitches to three, but then it's stated that from every row onward, they should only be one stitch, total, and then all other decreases should be made in the MC section.

I didn't particularly like the jag in the colors, so I adjusted the decreases so that the color B stripe gradually tapered down to one stitch, like so:

1st decrease row: K2, SKP (in color B), k to last 4 stitches, k2tog, k to end.
Next row: P
Repeat last two rows two times. At this point, only one stitch should remain in color B.
4th decrease row: K3, SKP (in MC), k to last 5 stitches, k2tog, k to end.
Next row: P
Repeat last two rows three times.

Obviously, this only applies to size M, but I don't think it'd be too hard to adjust for the bigger sizes if needed. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I've got block the pieces and finish off the collar and sleeves, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have it all done. Huzzah!

My mini-dress is coming along very quickly.



I'm almost finished with the bust increases on the front, and about to start the armholes. As you can probably tell, I decided to go with the colorblocking at the waist after all. I really like these colors together.

I also realized this is essentially my first go-round with intarsia, which I've never had much success with before. Fortunately, I'm having no problems thus far. The pattern is incredibly easy. With any luck, I may have this finished by next week. Huzzah!

Free time for more knitting

I've recently found myself among the ranks of the unemployed. While that has so far found me spending A LOT of time cleaning the house like mad, I'm slowly getting around to spending more time knitting.

As such, I finally finished the Hanna Cowl.



Just like I thought, it's HUGE. I also realized just before I finished the bind off that I'd missed three rows out of each of the last two pattern repeats, so it should be even larger. It also doesn't seem to have the same soft hand as the cowl in the pattern picture, which was part of what drew me to the pattern in the first place. I do still need to block it, but, obviously, there's only so much that will do to help.

My feelings may change once I've blocked it and worn it a time or two (although now that it's March, that may have to wait until next winter), but if I were to redo it, I'm pretty sure I'd make it two-thirds to half the width it calls for, and probably substitute ribbing for the seed stitch.

Now, onto the next thing: Caddy Melville Ledbetter's Mini Dress from Knits That Fit (a.k.a. the entire reason I wanted the book in the first place). I'm making it out of Cascade Ecological Wool and Eco+, in mustard yellow, delft blue, and cream.

So far the only changes I've made are to change the first three rows to 1x1 ribbing rather than garter stitch, but I'm toying with the idea of leaving the white band at the stomach out as well. We'll see how I feel when I get a little closer to it.

I'm only a few rows in, so no pictures yet, but hopefully soon!

Halfway through Hanna

I got through one and a half pattern repeats on Hanna, decided four repeats would probably come closer to the results I wanted than three, and went from there. I finished the second repeat last night. Lets take a look, shall we?



Yeah, that's pretty huge. If it wasn't knitting up so fast I'd probably go ahead, rip it out, and restart it at about half the size, but I'm curious how the finished product will turn out, and I have a rather long movie waiting for me from Netflix, so I guess I'll take my chances.

Wrapping up those last UFOs...

I'd started the Hanna Cowl earlier last year, but miscounted the number of stitches and had to frog and start over. I'm giving it another go now.



I'm using Patons Classic Wool in Aran, Currant, New Denim, and Royal Purple, and cast on 240 stitches rather than 268 - I may regret this, I didn't want it to be quite as huge as it looked like it was going to be when I was frogging, but this still may be a lot bigger than I want. I'm debating if I want to do the full 4 chart repeats, but I'll definitely be doing at least 3. A lot of people who knit this on Ravelry have commented on the seed stitch curling up, and I'm seeing some of that already, but I'm hoping that blocking will help straighten it out in the end.

Playing catch up

I made a deal with myself recently to cut back on my video games and focus on trying to get some UFOs knocked out (it's really amazing how much of your time Lego Batman can suck up). With my sewing machine out of commission until I can get it to Sears for some repairs, that means it's been a week now of just focusing on my abandoned knitting projects.

In that time, I've managed to more or less finish one: a smaller, baby blanket sized version of a kitchen cotton stashbuster blanket I knit a few years ago. My sister had liked it quite a bit, so I decided to make a mini version of it for her baby on the way.



The irony of it is, despite having spawned from a stashbuster, I had to buy SO MANY balls of yarn to finish it...

Right now, I'm wrapping up work on Ellie. It had been sitting since I moved over a year and a half ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a lot less work to be done on it than I'd remembered.



I'm working a short sleeved variation of the pattern, so I really just have a couple more rows of work on the body to get it to the length I want, and then a few rows to shore up the sleeves, and I'm done. Huzzah!

I have a couple more projects to go after that, and I've told myself I'm not allowed to start anything new until I've gotten all of these off the needles. I've got a few baby projects I want to get started on, so it's impetus to wrap these other ones up, once and for all.

Would you like some fruit?

Two years ago, Jerod asked me if I could knit him a hanging fruit basket for the kitchen, since he'd had no luck finding one in stores. I assured him it'd be super easy, and I'd have it knocked out in no time.

Cut to today, and the thing is finally finished and mounted in the kitchen:



I'm pretty pleased with it. Clearly it holds up well to five pounds of clementines, although it's a bit saggier than I'd expected. Any I make in the future will have some fishing line knit in to help keep the shape of the baskets.

A pattern will be forthcoming, but I naturally have managed to lose the pattern notes in the two years since I actually finished the knitting portion of this, so it will have to wait until I have a minute to recreate them.

Update: The pattern is now available here!