Experience is knowing how to fix mistakes quickly!

Happy Monday everyone!

This weeks subject kind of wrote itself week, after I noticed A MISTAKE in my latest project...  Groan...

We all make them.  I'm sure when I was a novice knitter I thought experienced knitters didn't make mistakes...  well it is true that you've been there and dome that enough to avoid quite as many of them, but we all still have moments of distraction and with experience I've learnt as much about correcting or getting around mistakes as I have about avoiding them.

So todays mistake wasn't even a big mistake... it was MUCH WORSE!

It was a small, wee, almost tiny mistake right at the beginning, when I was literally 5 rows from casting off!... Groan indeed...

Of course I had a choice - I could leave it?  But what would that give me?  Well in the words of Confucius... A true mistake...

So I bit the bullet and decided I wouldn't be happy unless I corrected it.

But as there was also no way I was going to unravel 80% of the capelet/cowl and start from scratch, the subject of todays blog was born and here I am to share with you how I go about fixing my mistakes!

The mistake...

Big mistakes can some times be easier to correct, as you'll tend to spot them fairly quickly - this mistake however was a simple, single dropped stitch.

Unfortunately it was also right in the middle of seamless, simple and beautiful stocking stitch and about 1/3 in to the almost finished item.

The fix...

Firstly as a dropped stitch, I knew I could correct this without unpicking the whole piece.   The following rows had the correct stitch numbers and therefore I knew that the wool was there to reconstruct this one column without causing problems with the tension.

The first job was to identify the individual columns to unpick.  I used a needle as a marker to keep me on track.  

In this piece, the single stocking stitch column culminated in 20 or so rows of simple 2 stitch cable.  So t keep the integrity of the cable pattern I needed to start by unpicking both columns which formed this pattern.

The key here is not to loose any stitches you don't want to unravel, so make sure there are pushed well back on your primary needles.

To ensure the tension of the adjoining stitches was kept in tact, I used a (smaller) needle to gently undo the column(s) of stitches while firmly holding the stitches to each side between my thumb and forefinger.

At the end of my "pattern" I secured the "spare" stitch which made up my cable and continued to unpick just the column with the error, until I reached the row with the slip stitch.

We now need to correct the original error and repair the column.

For a single row I find the repair much easier and quicker using a crochet hook (smaller than the original needle size, so as not to effect tension of adjoining stitches).

Pick up the loop, lay over the yarn from the next row and gently draw through the loop (drawing yarn from front to back for knit stitches).  Continuing in this manner up the column.

Be careful to regularly check that you have picked up every row of yarn and that these have not become crossed - I find it easy to miss one as they can 'hide' behind the completed rows.

Be careful also to ensure you replicate the correct stitches.  My pattern had a single purl row just before the cable pattern and therefore I was required to reverse the crochet stitch taking the yarn front to back through this stitch to replicate the purl row.

When I reached the cable pattern I brought my two stitches back together on a double pointed needle and knit in pattern up the remainder of the column.

They key here is not to worry too much about the tension of your corrected column, but to ensure you maintain the integrity of the tension of the adjoining columns.

As I used a smaller needle you can see here => that there is a slight gap (showing as a line) on one side of the corrected stitches (the needle marks the location of the original dropped stitch).

Once you complete your corrected columns, return your loops to the original needles and knit along the row a dozen or so stitches before using your fingers/hook or whatever you have, to gently work out the tension of the corrected rows.   Hopefully leaving you with a seamless piece of knitting!

I won't pretend that correcting errors early in your knitting isn't very fiddly.  But it is much quicker than unravelling the whole items and immensely worthwhile when you have a flawless finished piece!

What is your best tip for correcting mistakes in your work?

Have a great week.  Hopefully free of too many annoying mistakes ;)

Lisa @ ElvieWith Love.

Favourite knitted infinity scarf (and it's easy too!)

Hello all,

I may be a little late with my post this week, but I promise my gorgeous new Alpaca & wool infinity scarf is worth the wait.

Isn't she a beauty?

It has been a busy week, firstly I had my fabulous "old man" (well he IS 3 weeks older than me!) home, so I had to pretend that I don't spend my days knitting and surfing the web.... errrrmm....

I also had a fabulous commission for a super special little Bullie for this years winner of the Jan Cheeseman Memorial Championship "Best in Show" - a replica of the fabulous Fabnic Lady Eva Lily.  What a beauty ❤️

Custom bullies available from Etsy

But amongst this, online "research" 😉 and the usual mum stuff, I also wanted to replace one of my favourite items which I sold during the week - this beautifully colourful infinity scarf.

While I love the textures and colours of Bamboozle yarn in this design, (and have sneakily bought some more so I can make a few more of these beauties!) I stumbled across this gorgeous and luxuriously soft Alpaca wool blended yarn and couldn't resist!

THE DETAILS (for the knitters out there!)

The pattern is quite straight forward for most levels of knitters.

For this scarf I used a set of 6mm needles which were bigger than the recommended needle size to give a looser tension.

I cast on 32 st.  Your row should be 50% wider than you'd like the scarf as the rows will be at a 45 degree angle when completed.  My 32 st worked out as 21cm wide, with the finished scarf being just 14cm wide.

I'd recommend a temporary cast on with scrap yarn, but I'm a lazy knitter so I tend to cast on with an unknotted starting loop and unravel the first row when I finish, joining the scarf using this yarn (I have weird ways of doing things I know!).

Then you knit... increase by 1st at the start of every other row - I used the knit back and front of stitch increase; and decrease 1st at the other end of every other row - I used a simple knit 2 together.  Keep going until it's the length you want or you run out of yarn!

The 'pattern' is made by switching from stocking stitch (knit on the right side and purl on wrong side) to reverse stocking stitch (purl on the right side and knit on the wrong side) randomly through the piece.

Because I love number patterns (my slightly duller alter-ego is an accountant 😉), I tend to create mock randomness from a maths sequence!  But seriously any kind of random would look great!

While I tend to favour one side, this also makes for a great reversible scarf.

To join you graft the first and last row together to give a seamless look.

This is the most difficult part! There are tutorials on youtube on how to graft knitting or if you are daunted, just cast off and sew the two ends together!

You can just about see the join on the reverse stitch rows between the turquoise and brown on this image - as it does bulge a tiny bit where the yarn is doubled over.


Maybe I shouldn't be giving away my trade secrets 😉 but it really is that easy.  And even better, it looks great!

If you are happy with it as is, you can leave it, or you can block your scarf [gently hand-wash it and pin it out on a flat surface to dry] to finish it off, which will bring out the definition of the stitches...

And voila... the finished piece. 💗



Anyway peeps - do let me know if you give this scarf a go, I'd love to see how you get on and am always here to help budding beginners out there.  I promise this scarf is very rewarding!

Of course as always the finished piece is in my Etsy store too!  So take a look if you want to buy something cosy or even for an added drop of inspiration!

Have an awesome week.

Lisa @ ElvieWithLove

Dinosaurs, flowers and crochet patterns...

Hello there folks.

So what do dinosaurs, flowers and crochet patterns have in common?

With 2 young boys and many an hour spent reading dinosaur facts I'm pretty sure dinosaurs never even came across flowers, never mind the crochet! :)

But I've been busy this weekend with all 3...


This week saw me hugely excited about achieving one of my first major goals for my new venture which was to publish one of my own designs!   My pretty and practical Natural Jute and Cotton Boho Market Tote is now available as a pattern too :) Yay!!

But I didn't want to stop there!

This weekend I gave myself the mission of writing up a pattern to share here on my new blog.  Of course, instead of writing out one of the designs I've already worked through, I thought I'd give myself the added challenge of something brand new! (as if 2 kids parties, 3 different lots of sport and no hubby wasn't challenge enough!).


I LOVE the African flower motif and one of my most popular pieces is this beautiful little African flower turtle, which was adapted (only slightly) from a lovely little pattern by InArt, available here.

Also, as it happens, I had a stack of pre-made African flowers that were started for a much larger piece that I'd lost momentum with.  Given I also have an absolutely dino-mad 5 year old (that'll be Fred) and am surrounded by dinosaurs and dinosaur books everyday, the decision seemed obvious!

So here he is!!!  My African flower dino ❤️

I am sooo pleased with my resulting Diplodocus, that I'm hoping it will be the beginning of a full dinosaur series!

The head and neck were a little tougher than I'd anticipated!

Mainly because I was adamant that it would be a recognisable "long-neck", while also trying to cut corners and make the neck and head in one piece.  It kept turning out a little bit funky to say the least!


Altogether I think I redesigned the head and neck  parts about 9 times.

You can see my 'learnings' (never failures!) in my pea-headed attempt number 6 or 7 and from my chaotic scribbled notes!

Altogether though, it was a pleasure to design.

UPDATE:  The pattern has been downloaded over 800 times and is now available at a very small charge in my ravelry.com store, so if you'd like to give him ago, please download your copy and get started as soon as you've picked your yarn! :)

For those of you that like my little crochet dino, but are not necessarily keen to make it yourself, this little fella is also available to purchase  here :D.

I did ask Fred what he'd like me to make next, but he of course decided it should be an Ankylosaurus... which, for those of your less familiar with these things, looks a little bit like this =>

Hmmm! I may have to body-swerve that one for a while.  Not sure I could find anything more complicated if I tried!

So suggestions please!!  leave me a comment.  Let me know what you think of my design and what you think I should lend my hand at next -Triceratops? Stegosaurus? or even a Pterodactyl?!.  I think any of them would be a million times easier than this little spiky fella!

Hope you all have a great week

Lisa
@ElvieWithLove

Welcome to my little world of hand crafting and yarn

Hello!

For too many years to count I have been a passionate about creating beautiful things.

I have dabbled with art, origami, photography and jewellery making, but always seem to come back to what I collectively call yarn-craft, as I love knitting and crochet alike and often whimsically sway between the two!

We live in Perth, Western Australia and I have two amazing, gorgeous and (at times) down-right devilish lads of 10 and 5 whom I adore!

Fred (5) and Archie (10) - my gorgeous boys x

In February of this year (2016) it so happened that I found myself not only - for the first time since I was a teenager - without a job, but also with 2 young lads both in full-time education...  with the prospect of becoming a 'lady who lunches' looming I took the bull by the horns and decided to set up an Etsy shop to sell some of my creations.

So Elvie With Love was born.

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ElvieWithLove?ref=hdr_shop_menu

So first things first, my name is actually Lisa... but I always like to do things a little differently and I guess Elvie (from my maiden name initials LV) is kinda like my alter-ego.

A bit like Batman, but instead of battling super-villains in a fight for justice, Elvie battles dropped stitches and uneven tension in a fight for the perfect drape, all while sporting a fine floor-length lace cape in green and pink variegated merino / silk of course! ;)

Oh now theres a thought!

I daren't - I wouldn't be able to wrestle a knitted superhero cape out of the boys hands and finding it in a screwed up under a heap of random wrappers and banana skins would possibly send me over the edge!

So here I am, as my tiny wee business starts to take flight, I thought I'd start to document some of that journey and hopefully have a few laughs along the way.  So my pledge is for a weekly blog to showcase what I've been up to and hopefully provide you with some inspiration to create something beautiful too.

[I wanted sooo badly to say 'my pledge is to TRY', but as the noble Yoda says "Do or do not. There is no try" and everyone with young boys knows you need to listen to that fella.]

So until next time.

Take care, Lisa @ Elvie. With Love x