Cloudy Plains Knits

  • Crochet water bottle holder

    I haven’t done any crochet for ages, but I really enjoyed making up this water bottle holder from Viv Crochets. The pattern is great because it will basically work with any yarn and corresponding hook size. I loved the jewel-toned purple and green of the Ferris Wheel yarn in the colourway ‘cotton candy’, which I originally chose for my daughter. I couldn’t help but think of mermaids when I saw the yarn on the shelf. After I made my daughter a water bottle bag, there was easily enough left over for me to make one for myself.

    I made the bag as per the pattern, but did 62 rounds of stitches for the strap. The strap is long enough for me to sling over my shoulder, but is perhaps a little short for crossbody use. This is okay, because I hate carrying weight across my body. With this pattern, you can easily adjust the strap size to your liking. As I was working on the strap, I used a large shawl pin to pin the strap to the bag and test it out. Putting a full water bottle into the bag while trying it on gave me a good feel for how much the yarn would stretch out during use. Being acrylic, the yarn does have a lot of stretch to it. Now that I have a good feel for how the bag is constructed, I’d love to try making another one made from a sturdy cotton yarn in the future.

  • Beginner socks

    These beginner socks (pattern by Darling J’adore) are another recent knit which I really enjoyed. I’ve always wanted to be a sock-knitting enthusiast, and while I have previously completed a DK-weight pair of the Crazy Sock Lady’s vanilla socks, recent attempts at getting back into sock knitting have left me very frustrated. Not to mention feeling a little guilty about being in possession of a growing yarn stash comprising pricey and frogged, kinked sock yarn taking up real estate under my bed. Sigh.

    However, I found this detailed pattern for beginner sock knitters to be *almost* breezy to get through. Maybe it’s because worsted-weight yarn works up quite quickly, which means that it isn’t too tedious if you need to rip back and fix mistakes. And once I realised I liked the look of the first completed sock, I was more enthusiastic about casting on a second and it seemed to be done before I knew it.

    The yarn I used is Anette Eriksson Scandi Wool in ‘toffee’, which I found for a reasonable price at my local yarn store. It’s a 50% wool/50% acrylic which will hopefully stand up to some wear at home and maybe when winding down during a yoga class. This was my first time using an Anette Eriksson yarn, and I have to say that she does great colourways. I will definitely be seeking out more Scandi Wool in the future.

    I did make some modifications to the pattern to better suit the look I was aiming to achieve. For instance, I used a half-twisted 1×1 rib for the cuff, because I tend to find my regular 1×1 rib a little too messy. And I used a slip stitch heel because I think it looks neater, plus the back has extra reinforcement to protect against wear and tear. All in all, I was thankful that this pattern gave me the confidence I needed to push forward with sock knitting.

  • A tale of two beanies

    RecentIy I enjoyed knitting up these two examples of my Easy Chunky Beanie pattern which is available on Ravelry.

    The blue beanie (top) is my favourite. I used Anette Eriksson Scandi Soft XL yarn in the ‘denim’ colourway. The soft, brushed acrylic/wool blend has a bit of a faux mohair feel to it. The look of the beanie is exactly what I was after and thankfully it’s not itchy on my very sensitive skin. I know I will be reaching for this beanie everyday, as I live in a cold region.

    The light grey beanie (bottom) was worked up in Heirloom Merino Magic Chunky in the colour ‘6590 silver’. The yarn was lovely to work with. It’s produced locally from 100% wool, which I love to support. I also love that the grey colour has some variation to it and isn’t flat. However, sadly the wool is a little too itchy for me. While I can tolerate some pure wools, this was quickly irritating on my forehead. So I will be looking to rehome this beanie.

    I do love knitting beanies. I find they’re the perfect quick project to get twitchy hands moving and the mind soothed by the rhythm of making with gorgeous yarn. They don’t require much materials, so they’re relatively inexpensive to make, even with more spendy yarn. Also, I don’t wear a ton of accessories, but I’m rarely without a trusty beanie.

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    Sock mending and another cowl

    Here’s my first post! It’s been a busy month of making and mending around here. I only decided to start documenting yesterday, when I mended this child’s sock:

    I first started mending the hole from the back using an all-purpose polyester sewing thread, figuring that the hole was tiny enough that I could simply close it up from the back. But when I turned the sock the right way, I saw that the hole was larger from the front and I had failed to pick up some of the open stitches.

    So I rummaged through my messy storeroom and found a bag of Scanfil wool darning threads that I had bought a few years back from Modern Mending for a mending project I never completed. It was fun to get out my wooden darning mushroom and fix this sock. The second time around, I worked from the front and wove the threads in a basket-weave style, creating a tiny patch to cover the hole. The result is not the neatest, but I got it done:

    I also continued to work on another basic ribbed cowl, my own knitting pattern which I recently uploaded to Ravelry. My daughter requested it after seeing the one I made for myself. Here’s the work in progress:

    I’m using Moda Vera Valley 8 ply again, this time in the ‘rainbow’ colourway. I generally prefer to avoid 100% acrylic yarn, but for a neck cowl it works okay. It’s also often on sale for $7 which makes it an affordable knit given only one ball of yarn is needed. I like the mix of blue, pink, yellow and neon orange in the yarn. It’s a fun take on a rainbow and looks softer without the red.

    Meanwhile, I have been enjoying wearing the basic ribbed cowl I made for myself in the ‘latrobe’ colourway. I think this yarn works nicely for a cowl because of its gradient self-striping nature (which stops it from becoming too boring to knit) and its uneven thickness, which gives it a rustic hand-rolled appearance. Whenever I wear this cowl, I think of the winter nights spent on the couch watching Gilmore Girls, knitting it up.

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