The pony craft onlinestore is living up to its promise of delivering yarn and all knitting supplies. They are sourcing some nice yarns and we hope to see more in the future. I have a whole set of  students who knit and so have been inspired to make something. I have never tried lace, so I shall try some light ruana style wraps in lace or arrow lace. It easily replaces a duppata and so is ideal for theIndian salwar as well as for the tee- jeans combo.
 there is this:http://www.naturallycaron.com/projects/felicita/felicita_1.html

or
this :
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L20087.html?noImages=

Though the Venus yarn I plan to buy looks better with 5.5 on this
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/81084AD.html?noImages=

How did I match pattern to Yarn:
I check the needle size and recommendations on the yarn page. Then I check for similar needle size and texture of yarn. If you notice the the earlier patterns need even looking yarn, the lace pattern will not look good if it is higgledy piggdley.

 so let me also try a knit tension patch to be sure. Tension patches are often not in pattern in yarn listings. The patterns will however have a  size range and advice. But sometimes since we may not work with the yarn recommended ( as in India) the next best is to then knit something like a short scarf in the basic pattern first to check the yarn out before investing in a huge yarn stock for a large project like a sweater or shawl. This also helps to train ourselves in the pattern.
 Knit away...

An old faded umbrella, foldaway type was an eyesore. Originally it was copper gold and was very pretty. A few rains later it started to look stained and dusty and my super washing techniques took off the colour, leaving it faded and dull. So first I decided to Fabric paint it up. Well it may not be rain worthy but for the sunny days it would be nice and if the paint fades, I will add on more layers of paint again. So here it is and How I did it!

 I like triangles, so I chose this pattern. Any pattern for "Mandalas for children " will also work. If you are not artistic, stick to basic shapes. Draw basic shapes on a sheet of paper and work out the colour combo. Use the big bottles of fabric paint,  ( artist supply size) if your umbrella is nice looking you may just want to embellish it. ( the end of this post has suggestions) Then you just need the small fevicryl/ camlin paint or any other multisurface paints. Poster paints donot work. You will have to use the thick paint without dilution or the paint will run.

Things needed
 paint colours and white I used yellow ,  brown, green and blue. + white
 water to wash the brushes ( rinse out each colour or you will have the mess in the pattern).
Brush: 1inch size, smaller sizes for touch up
Tissue for catching run away colours
time and a mess- making area.( spread newspaper on the ground and work in your open area)
Umbrella: coloured or pale, faded for full paint. Blacks can only be embellished.  Paint wont stand out.


Open up and clean up your umbrella. Let it be dry or colours will run  across their borders. With white paint mark out the basic shapes. Since the umbrella is curved you cant use a ruler, so use strings tied across the corners to guide you if needed. I used free hand. Donot bother with neatness at this stage. In this first attempt I stupidly used black and later cleaned it up by using white on it. but I did click a picture.





 That's why we are better off, using white paint. try and fit in at least one shape for each colour in each segment of your umbrella. I used 4-5 shapes per section, sometimes not completing a triangle, leaving it four sided at the segment.



Then basically it is like a colouring book. Use thick paint and fill in the colours with the one inch brush. Don't bother painting exactly close to borders and perfecting them; instead focus on filling the main body of the shapes.paint only one colour at a time taking care to start with lightest colour. After you have finished filling in as much as you think is needed in one colour add the second coat quickly this time focus on the borders.
 add the next colour and take care to have one intersection with the first colour. Having no colour touch itself is a math problem best left to mathematicians. try and make the overall patter interesting. Make sure if colur corrections have to be applied paint over the light colour with white. let it dry for a day then add the next layer of paint.
(GREEN + Yellow Gives BLUE etc)
If the umbrella is too dark, use white with your colour to brighten it in the last coat ( third). I had three coats. after the colours were filled,  I spent half a day cleaning and touching up the borders and covering any spots that looked patchy. Alternately use a black paint line to cover the border area and solve messy borders ( like a no man's land). Let the umbrella dry out for two days. Then use a hairdryer on low heat settings to dry it segment by segment. Fabric colours are to some extent water proof, though they may not stand the force of heavy rains. and hey ! your custom umbrella is ready. Since this is a recycle project, please don't buy a new umbrella and paint it up.

Other tips for that black umbrella:

1.
Use a lid and use white paint and form outlines of circles intersecting each other, also works in light colours. To get the paint on larger lids, use a sponge to apply the paint on the lid. Painting it on with a brush will leave large blobs. Alsoso as the umbrella is mostly only fabric, place some support under it like a tub or a bucket before you print on it with the lid.

Other stenciling methods don't work as the curved surface of the umbrella makes the colours run into each other easily.

2.
For the seventies look you can fill in those circles for polka dot effect.
 share your other ideas for funky recycling umbrella projects.
 Some not so working ideas. Sticking glitter didn't work. Don't fold the umbrella till it is completely dry. Some folds may crack the paint if it is laid on too thick.. If it looks like a batik effect, its alright. other wise genlty piant in thinner coats of the paint to repair them.

 It took me three whole days to finish painting. Hope you try it, it is fun.

I have been so out of touch with crafting that I decided to retrain my fingers with the needle. I began an easy Anchor stitch kit project, they have such lovely themes from in and around India. I had finished the cartman  long ago. I call  it "Musafir."
In this I followed instruction exactly, not daring to innovate. Its nicely framed and on my wall now.

In the current project called Fisherwomen, the ready stitch-kit, I am innovating by changing the directions in the thread. Not every area is filled by vertical velvet stitch. I am adding some horizontal and diagonal patches. I seem to run out of the thread length so make sure you have enough stock if you want to try this. This project looks good even as the outlines are being done. I am going to call it "the sea you and me."



 I hope to be finger-good enough to do some cross stitch next month. BTW its too hot to knit so some UFOs have been put away for now. I am going to try my next recycle project, a tote bag from an old Tee shirt. Will see how that works out!

Good news from Lion brand wools' website, all thier own patterns are free. Newbies from India, please donot mess with patterns without doing a gauge patch. None of those chunky yarns are available here!

The other news is that I found a knitting enthusiast who has taken on knitting a coat sweater in a month. I am helping her with the pattern and will be sharing all the tips we come up with as time goes.

The first being, to bind off from the start, unless specified, always

K1, K2 pass second stitch over the first.

---------

To bind off from the middle ( like a Raglan shaping) Knit 2 together and bind off the last stitch by passing yarn through stitch.

or

If you are good enogh to try ,

you can k1, k2 the pass first stictch over second. ( this is tough to understand and may be I will post a video soon.)

Ankle warmers are tube- like and are to be worn above ankle socks and keep the ankle to knee area warm. These are pink and purple and look very bulky but they are certainly warm. I finished all my purple and pink wool.

TIP: To make your knitted fabric elastic you use ribbing: K2 p2 or K1P1. Row 1

and p2k2 or p1k1 at the back respectively.

Most of us in India get really good wool but mostly acrylic and mostly single strand. You can find patterns that say hold "two starnds together" and they look nice. In the US, I found wool that was already made of two wool strands together, and so was wound up like a single wool.

Here are some tips~

To create some patterns that we find on the net we need to hold two woolen yarns together and knit. Try needle number 4 or 5 uk and knit loose.try a cap or a muffler first till you get familiar with holding the yarn. If you use contrast colours it looks really nice, like an unusual wool.

The most common mistake is to forget you have to knit two strands together. Practice with different coloured wool as you know you have a strand of each colour in each stitch. Also don't knit three stitches together. The mistake can cost us by creating extra stitches or decreasing our count.

It also helps to count more often, not a job to do while listening to someone talk!!!

Parents , please this is not a child care class or one more thing to keep your child managed. So knitting fans only.

 It was easy I just cast on 54 stitches and knitted in Stocking St. All knit in the double wool purple yarn in size 8UK. Then I shifted to the fun yarn ( from the connoor wool shop)and also moved to size 6 after 2 inches of all knit, I then did this:

knit 4 reduce 1 by knitting two together and knit four and so on.

 (The Important thing to remember in circular knitting is to mark your row beginning with a knit marker. We can make knit markers easily in India by modifying our cheap earring hoops into a circle using pliers. Just make sure that the earing doesn't catch the yarn. Beady earrings are good, I found out.)

After one row I again knitted an inch and then carried out the reduction row. Then I went on knitting till the whole length was about a bit more than 5 inches. Then using a smaller yarn and a needle I caught all the loops from the needle and ties them up and tucked the knot in . I always weave in the extra yarn and never chop it off to the end. It took me about three - four hours of intermittent knitting.

Its a baby cap for newborn to 6 months. It may be a bit big for the new born. But the baby will grow into it.

 In honour of arne naes, the deep ecologist, I inagurated my new fashion knit cap and muffler on ignite 2 bangalore 09.

 Its a simple knit in the blue yarn brought from thailand by by freind annu.

 If you look closely you can see abutterfly clip on the cap. Its a shiny hair clip that I attached to the cap to make it prettier.

The next project will take a longer time as i am finishing the cable vest started long ago (seen half done in the earlier blog)

 also progress gets slower on knitting when my Phd speedens up!

The practice projects I knitted were two small purses for two little girls. Nothing fancy but i tried all the basic stitches and so it is like a knitting sampler. I remembered how to make knitted cords. One of my early kiddy knitting project was to make cords of five stitches and create knitted yard for a number 0 needle ( UK )
Here is my technique.

Cast on 5 stitches in a double ended needle ( needle size of your original work - socks, purse etc. I used No 10 UK)
Using another knit to the end of the row .
K5
without purling back turn the needle and re knit keeping the yarn behind work. It is like circular knitting only there are only 5 sts. the yarn has to be drawn taut and you can start to see a cord after about 5 rows.
Caution, keep yarn without twisting it around your work and don't leave loose when you shift to the beginning again

Try it!