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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Poncho Shawl: A Free Knit Pattern

This takes about one pound of yarn.
Could include crazy additions of fun fur, loopy stuff, thick and thin and so on.
A long circular needle a couple sizes bigger than you'd usually use.
I use a 13 or 15.
If you mix different sized yarns you'll want the shawl to have lots of bounce and a bigger needle will keep the yarns evened out.
2 round markers. 1 clip marker a different color for the increase side.
This poncho or shawl (or Ponchawl!) has 4 increases with 1 at each edge and 2 at center.

                                                Poncho Shawl


Begin:  cast on 3 sts
Row 1: knit 3, turn
Row 2: knit 1, yarn over (yo), knit 1, yo, knit 1, turn. 5 stitches
Row 3: k2, place marker (pm), k1, pm, k2, turn.
Row 4: k1, yo, k to marker, slip marker (sm), k center stitch, sm, k to last stitch, yo, k1. Mark this side with clip marker. You can move it up as the work progresses.
Row 5: k across.

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until out of yarn or it reaches your calves in back.

I will then make a yarn rope. How? Take about 8 or 10 feet of your regular yarn, fold over a door knob, tie a knot on the other end and spin. When nice and tight have someone hold the middle with tension while you make another fold. It'll spin up onto itself and become a nice tie for your poncho shawl. Just run back and forth through the front and tie. You've now got yourself a "Ponchawl".

I've used 3 different yarns knitting one row each dropping at the edge as I come to the yarn below. 3 works great because the edges look more even than with only 2 yarns. 2 has only one side with the yarn running along the edge but with the 3 both sides are the same. I like using a hairlash, a thick boucle (like Lion Brand's), and a regular yarn. It's pretty fun. You can see a picture of one under the lable Ponchawl. Scroll to the bottom.
Enjoy.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Hmm, lets see...we need a new label, like maybe, "PVC Spinning Wheel"?

Yeah, as I check on who is visiting my blog I realize many folks are stopping in on a search for instructions to make a PVC spinning wheel. I must tell yee curious ones that the free instrux at DragonsKeep (link listed under label spinning) is dead. But DonisFuff is still up. She is the genius behind my dandy little yarn spinner. Whether Donis still sells her pattern or not I do not know. Just gotta contact her if interested, right? And while we are on the subject of non-free spinning wheel instructions here is another place to investigate.

Bam and Bam

These are instructions for two different types of spinning wheels. Made from wood. $6 or $7 bucks a piece. Betcha can tell which one I want. Well, really, I want both kinds, but I gotta have that spindle one. So nice looking. That may seem strange. Weird even. But what can I say? Girl's gotta have what a girl's got to have. Heart stopping. Yup.

This eBay seller also has many very intriguing patterns for sale. Seems like hundreds. How about a Victrola??