KnittersDelight’s blog

Seamless Christmas Tree Pattern

Seamless Christmas Tree

By : Sarloz/Sara L.

Materials:

Scrap yarn in green and brown

Circular needles (1-2) or dpns

3 stitch holders

Note: It does not matter the weight of the yarn used or the needle size as long as you are able to achieve a tight gauge so your stuffing does not show through.

Techniques needed:

Circular knitting (pattern is written for 2 circular needle method)

K2tog= knit two together (decrease)

KRL- Knit Right Loop (increase): Insert right needle into right loop of stitch just below next stitch, place it onto left needle and knit it, then knit the stitch on needle.......This stitch can be replaced with kfb increase

IMPORTANT NOTE: When knitting the krl it includes the increase as well as a knit stitch. So where it reads Krl you are going to increase and knit one then continue with the pattern instructions picking up right after the krl.

All these techniques can be learn by going to Knittinghelp.com and looking under the increase and decrease section or under the advance section (for circular knitting)

Don't like how fidgety starting the tree is? Try using a circular/invisible cast-on and/or cast-on for 8 stitches and then begin the pattern with round 2. One suggestion would be to use the "lighter circular beginning" which can be found further down on the above link. This will allow you to tighten up the tip of the tree later

Looking for a slimmer tree? Just add more knit rounds between the increase rounds. If you’re looking for a fatter tree add less.

Pattern:

Starting at the tip of the tree and working down to the trunk

Cast on 4 stitches (I used the long tail cast on) in green yarn

Divide your stitches evenly among your needles

Round 1: Using increase of choice: increase into each stitch (8)

Knit across for 2 rounds (for a wider more, rounded top only knit 1 row)

Next round: [k1, krl, krl, k1] repeat (12)

Knit across for 2 rounds (for a wider, more rounded top only knit 1 row)

Next round: [k1, krl, K2, krl, k1] repeat (16)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k4, krl, k1] repeat (20)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k6, krl, k1] repeat (24)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k8, krl, k1] repeat (28)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k10, krl, k1] repeat (32)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k12, krl, k1] repeat (36)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k14, krl, k1] repeat (40)

Knit across for 2 rounds

Next round: [k1, krl, k16, krl, k1] repeat (44)

Knit across for 3 rounds

Next round: [k2tog, k18, k2tog] repeat (40)

Next round: [k2tog, k16, k2tog] repeat (36)

Put the first 5 stitches on a stitch holder

Switch to your brown yarn

Knit the next 9 stitches

Place the next 9 on another stitch holder

Knit the next 9 stitches

Place the next 4 on a stitch holder

You now should have 18 brown stitches on your needles. This is the trunk

(Note: If you wish to graft the stitches on an even number you can make your trunk wider or slimmer. For the wider trunk put the first 4 stitches on a stitch holder, switch to your brown yarn and knit the next 10 stitches, place the next 8 stitches on a second stitch holder, knit the next 10 stitches and place the final 4 stitches on a stitch holder. For the slimmer trunk put the first 6 stitches on a stitch holder, switch to your brown yarn and knit the next 6 stitches, place the next 12 stitches on a second stitch holder, knit the next 6 stitches and place the final 6 stitches on a stitch holder )

Lightly stuff the body of the tree

Continue knitting the trunk in the round until it is the desired size

Carefully stuff the trunk and then graft the bottom shut

Pick up the stitches from the first stitch holder (5stitches) and the stitches on the last stitch holder (4 stitches) and divide these 9 stitches among your needles and graft them shut.

Firmly stuff your tree (if needed)

Pick up the 9 stitches from the remaining stitch holder and graft them shut. If you have any small openings next to your trunk stitch them closed.

Be sure to decorate your tree with embroidery, beads, buttons, bells, or add some ribbon and hang it as an ornament!!

If you want a larger tree continue with the pattern adding more increase rows being sure to knit 2 rows between them. You could also knit using a bulky yarn.

I would like to thank all of my test knitters you did a superb job!! I could not be any happier with the outcome!

Ravelry Test Knitters:

Jbyrd, Mullarkea, Alyssav, Moilulu, Inupermom,Chillyfreetoes

Thank-You,

I have to apologize i have started a new blog on blog spot and can visit it here. It is currently has up to date posts and you can find my most recent happening there. I will be posting on vox here and there but it wont be as up to date as my other blog.

here are some projects i have finished since my last post

I have to apologize i have started a new blog on blog spot and can visit it here. It is currently has up to date posts and you can find my most recent happening there. I will be posting on vox here and there but it wont be as up to date as my other blog.

here are some projects i have finished since my last post

Hey guys. Sorry it’s been so long since my last blog...I am really bad at keeping updates. Hopefully that will change soon. I just finished class for the semester and will be on summer break. I should have a little more time now to get on the computer to update everything.  Ok now for my recent activities....
I finished the monkey and her dress and she is now safe and sounds at her new home in Texas. She has been flaunted and admired by many lol.

chipmunk head

He is a little chipmunk and I am very happy with how the head came out even if the ears are not exactly the same.

I have also finished a couple pairs of booties. One is made from Saartje's Bootees pattern 

I embellished them with some heart button I found at the craft store.

booties

I was pretty happy with how these came out even is one was slightly larger than the other. These were given to a lady I work with for her daughter. Unfortunately they are to big lol her daughter is about 19 mths old and a peanut but she will grow into them. Made with caron simply soft in raspberry and pink.

The next pair I made will be given to another co-worker who is having a little boy in august. They were made using Patons classic merino in the color denim using  Ruth's Perfect booties pattern.

I am really happy with the end results. They are actually pretty much the same size and my seaming on they is almost unnoticeable. They shape of the bootie is great and I will defiantly be making the again in the future. These are made to fit a 3-6 mth old and should fit him just in time for our brutal winters.

And lastly I am working on a new pattern.... it’s going to be for a toy animal. So far I just have the arm done and the beginning of duck like feet...I hope to modify the arm pattern a little then start work on a body and head. It will probably be a while before it is complete and ready for test knitters.

I have also been experimenting with double knitting. Knittycat uses this method a lot with her little peeps and pattern and has written up a tutorial for the technique which will be posted at a later date on her blog (I assume). I'm having fun messing with it figuring out decreases and stuff.

I think that’s about it for now. I am surprised I managed to get so much completely over the last couple months with school coming to an end I have been pretty busy with finishing classes up and getting work in and this semester I had to put together a research experiment, conduct it, and gather the results. It must be the crunch time lol. OOOOh I also finished a pig and hen that I am testing out for Barbara Prime aka Fuzzymitten. 

For those of you unfamiliar with her work she is a great pattern designer specializing in toys and their clothes. The monkey and puppy patterns are hers.  The pig and hen are part of her new farm animal pattern...I just have the sheep to knit now. The deadline for testing is the 21st so sometime after that date will have to post some pictures. Mind you my toys aren't really the best...I did a crappy job seaming them but I really just wanted to knit them up to make sure the pattern was sound.  I wasn't focusing on the seaming.

hi everyone,
its been a long time since my last post. I must apologize i really am awful at blogging.  Since my las post i have  learned how to needle felt. My project i finished  a couple of days ago. It a little teddy bear. there are alot of things about him i would like to change but im going to leave him the way he is. Here are a couple pictures i took of him.

I really enjoyed making him it was relaxing and allowed me to go into my own little quiet spot(something i dont get enough of).
I have also finished a few projects. I made a pair of baby booties using bernat cottontots in the color way maze. they came out rather cute however one bootie has a larger gauge. i will have make another one eventually to get a matching pair. the Pattern i used was given to me by a friend. I improvised a little on it and gave it a strap. Her pattern are wonderful. she has an incredible collection of characters started that include elmo, cookie monster, and the thing.

I also started on making a toy monkey for a friend. Right now i am getting a little behind on it. i really need to sit down and finish it for her. I have the monkey all finished and now an just trying to finish up a nurse uniform for it. i have one side of the dress complete and just have get the front done and the sleeves.both the monkey and the dress are worked from Barbara Prime's patterns which you can find here  or here

here are some pictures of the dress atleast the back of the dress

here are a couple pictures of the monkey...they really do her no justice. she is much cuter in person

and here are the baby booties...you can see how one is bigger then the other

booties

Over the last couple of years my interested have been shifting over to any thing crafty. There are so many things i want to learn that i feel there isn't enough time. So here is my to do list.

Learn to...
Photomanip (learned a few summers ago...I've kinda stopped though)
Knit    (done but always learning new things)
Crochet   (done)
Spin   (working on its going to take a lot of practice)
    -hand dying yarn
Needle Felt    (waiting for a little more funds to take up this one)
Sew (goal for next summer)
     -plushie making
cross stitch (need to gain a little more patience for this one)
sculpt ( we shall see about this one)

For now thats all I'm going to stick to anyways. it will be a couple more summers till I learn what I want.

Seamless Heart

new and improved Heart

UPDATE: I have corrected a few things so hopefully there will be less confusion

Materials:

Scrap yarn

Circular needles (1-2) or dpns

2 stitch holders

Techniques need:

SSK= slip slip knit (decrease)

Circular knitting (pattern written for 2 circular needle method)

K2tog= knit two together (decrease)

KRL- Knit Right Loop (increase)......This stitch can be replaced with kfb increase

All these techniques can be learn by going to Knittinghelp.com and looking under the increase and decrease section or under the advance section (for circular knitting)

Variations

If you find the lopes of the hearts to be too pointy you can end it on round 19 or round 20 and thread the yarn through the remaining 10 stitches (Variation sent in by Floofle)

If you don't want to sew up a small gap you graft the lobes closed. This should also give your heart a more rounded lobe. (Used by Litchfield)

Starting at the point of the heart and working up to the lobes

Cast on 4 stitches (I used the long tail cast on)

Round 1: increase into each stitch (8)

Round 2(and every even round following):  Knit across

Round 3: [k1,krl, krl, k1] repeat (12)

Round 5: [k1, krl, K2, krl, k1] repeat (16)

Round 7: [k1, krl, k4, krl, k1] repeat (20)

Round 9: [k1, krl, k6, krl, k1] repeat (24)

Round 11: [k1, krl, k8, krl, k1] repeat (28)

Round 13: [k1, krl, k10, krl, k1] repeat (32)

Round 15: [k1, krl, k12, krl, k1] repeat (36)

This is where you are going to begin shaping the lobes of the heart

Round 16: k9, slip the next 18 onto stitch holders, knit the last 9 (this will divide your stitches so you will be working with 18 stitches at a time)

Round 17: [k 1, K2tog, k3, ssk, k1] repeat  (14)

Round 19: [k 1, K2tog, k1, ssk, k1] repeat  (10)

Round 21: [k 1, K2tog, ssk] repeat (6)

Round 22: knit across

Break yarn thread through remaining 6 stitches pulling to close up the left lobe. Secure end.

Switching to the right side lobe you are going to knit the 18 stitches on the holders for one round then repeat rounds 17-22

Break yarn thread through remain 6 stitches pulling to close up the right lobe. There will be a small gap betweeen the 2 lobes this you can stitch shut with you tail end. Secure end.

Tested and corrections sent in by: AlienSunset

 If you find any other mistakes such as the count being off or have any suggestions please feel leave me a message

Hello, I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Years. This Christmas my brother went above and beyond his usual gift giving. He actually bought me a ball winder and swift which is by far my favorite gift. I was so excited. So of course after I wound the loose skeins I had in my stash I went online to knit picks and bought some new yarn to wind lol. I am really starting to become an addict. I am not just addicted to buying yarn but also to buying knitting books. Today I went out to the bookstore to pick up the latest edition of Simply Knitting and ended up in the craft section and bought a new knitting book called "2-at-a-time Socks". It is wonderful book....but I don’t think I will ever use it, it teaches you to knit 2 socks at a time using the magic loop method. I am not a big fan of the magic loop method and prefer to use two circular needles for knitting in the round. However I really enjoyed looking through the book and was hoping that it could serve as inspiration. In a way it did, after flipping through it some more when I got home I decided to surf the web and see if I could find a technique for knitting 2 socks using the 2 circular needle knitting method and I did. I had a little trouble starting but it went pretty smooth once I get the needles prepared. I plan on using this method now when I go to make my stuffed toys so that I can knit both arms and legs at the same time. The book also has some really nice sock patterns in the back which I hope to someday test out. Oh and I also bought  “the book of yarns".

With the turn of the year I have purchased new yarn, new books, learned a new knitting method, and I also made a new and improved heart. I had previously knitting a heart on circular needles free form and was not totally pleased with the outcome. I decided to make a new one using a couple different techniques and I was really happy with the end product and it this heart knitted up alot faster and easier. When I get the chance I will be posting the pattern for other knitters to use.

The heart on the left is the new one and the heart on the right is the old one

It's been awhile since my last post and it feels like I posted it yesterday. Time just seems to be flying by. This is the time of year when I started to get somewhat depressed and frustrated and wish there was more hours in a day to get everything I want and need to do done. Luckily the semester is just about over and then maybe I can find some personal time. So far I have been doing well and haven’t been to down. My boyfriend just got a new job and has been a lot friendlier and pleasant lately which helps a lot when I start to feel like I don’t have enough time to do what I have to. Plus he's still not use to his new schedule so he doesn’t mind if I end up falling asleep over his place since he isn't far to follow.
I haven't gotten much knitting or crocheting done this last month due to school work. I have started a lot of projects for Christmas time but I haven't gotten a chance to work on them much.

My cousin has asked me to teach her how to knit/ crochet so every other Saturday we're getting together over my Nana's house and having a mini knit session. So far we have had one and it went really well. My cousin is a fairly fast learning; she is a perfectionist though and was getting a little frustrated because her crochet stitches and knit stitches were not as neat as mine or my nana's lol. She also has a really tight tension on the yarn so she was fighting with the yarn a bit. I’m going to have to have her work on her tension lol. I myself am a tight knitting but her stitches for crochet and knitting where super tight to the point she was having a lot of trouble getting her needle or hook through a stitch. Our second session was canceled. My cousin had a family Christmas party to go to and well I was detained at work longer then I hoped due to the occasional seasonal robbery (I work at a bank). But we plan on getting together this weekend instead and I am really looking forward to it.

anyways...

 here is a list of my new works in progress:

1 pink cottontots crochet bunny ( just have the limbs to make and then assembly)
1 blue cottontots crochet monkey ( just have the limbs to make and then assembly)
1 black and white faced crochet cat ( have to make the limbs and body then assemble)
1 pair of toe up circular knit socks in bernat's coordinate stripes orange (on hold due to left over mishap)
1 crochet fairy monkey ( pattern by peggytoes on etsy, have the head done)
1 garter stitch blanket ( almost done hopefully)

here is a list of projects I still want to start and finish for the winter time:
1. knit hat in black angel hair yarn
2. A pair of crazy peek-a-boo mittens for Staci
3. 3 scarves ( one for me, one for my mom( in Debbie bliss: alpaca silk). and one for Danielle)

I got my new needles in the mail a day or so after I posted my last update. I gave my Nana the size 3 needles and she loved them. She called me up on the phone to tell me that at first she wasn't too sure if she liked them but once she got the hang of how to use them she absolutely loved them. I believe the phrase she used was "their excellent and to think of what I’ve been missing out on all these years." I knew she would like them once she tried them. The circular needles are great for her wrists right now too. Last year Christmas she had an awful fall on her stairs and shattered her wrist so now she has a metal plate where her wrist would be. With the circular needles the yarn doesn’t put as much stress on the wrist since the project she's working on can rest against her table top.  Next time we get together for a knit session I’m going to bring my lap top and see about getting her some more needles that way can speed her knitting up a little more.

I also got my book (Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles: A Manual of Elegant Knitting Techniques and Patterns) in the mail.  I ended with two copies of the book because the first site I ordered it off of had it on out of stock. They eventually sent me a notice letting me know I needed to put a 30 day extension on the order and that if I did they would cancel it in 24 hrs. I decided to just get the book off of another site, after I ordered another copy the first website sent me an email saying the book had already been shipped. I received both copies in the mail a week later; however I was not happy with it and was really disappointed in the book so I sent both copies back for a refund.

Grrrrrrr. ok so here is another sock update....my sock is coming along nicely it has a bottle like shape at the top since i decided i wanted to increase a little more after i added a few rows of plain stockinette stitch but its not noticeable when i put it on my foot right now. Right now my sock is on the back burning due to a nasty mishap i had earlier today. i went out to eat with my father to an Italian restaurant and of course (i like always) i had my yarn and needles in my bag. While we were leaving the restaurant i had forgotten my left overs at the table ...well a waitress had noticed and stoped us on the way out . I should have just left my leftovers there cause they ended up leaking all over the front of my coat and down my favorite pair of jeans ...as well as spilling into my bag onto my lovely yarn :(. so right now it is sitting in a bowl in my sink. and my sock making is put on hold until i can wash the sauce out which was a lemon and garlic sauce, dry it, and then rewind it.

on a brighter note my second octopus is  almost done. i have the head and tentacles complete and i have the tentacles knitted together to form an upper body all i have left to do is knit the underbelly add the pipe cleaners and sew the 2 pieces together. this octopus is made in simply soft colors  rasberry and pink..the colors are just wonderful together.
 i also  ordered a new book from barnes and nobles the other day its called "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles: A Manual of elehant Knitting Techniques and Patterns" i cant wait to get it. I also bought some new needles from Spinblessing.com. this time i purchased 2 size 2 circular needles with a cable of 24 (i think) and 2 size 3 circs with a 24 cable...i just realized i already have the size 3 i ment to purchase the size 1 needles but o well maybe my grandmother would be interested in them. or i could always try to sent them back and see if they would trade them in for me.
this past week we have been plastering the walls in our kitchen/living room/ and dinning room so i was out the internet for a couples day which means i needed to keep myself busy some other way so i got a good amount of a blanket ive been knitting for like a year now done. this also means i had to spend those few days upstairs in my room with my sister. for those of you who dont know ..i have a twin sister who i do not get along with at all and we are forced to share a room....this is the main reason for all our arguements. so instead of spend another night cooped up with her i went out yarn shopping at our local Joann's. i purchased a skein of bernats baby coordinates sweet stripes in strawberry andi picked up some beautiful fuzzy pink yarn (Joann's sensations whisper) on clearance for 1.50 a skein. so i bought 4 i love their clearance section lol this time though it was a mess and hard to find much of anything .most of the skeins were undone and tangled up but i was able to free these babys.

yarn_sensations_whisper