Carefree KAL - Make it Bigger

Lately, there had been some questions about whether you can make the Carefree shawl bigger.
Well, the answer is yes!

The way the pattern is written right now, it's possible to make the garter stitch portion larger.

Want to do this? Just follow these directions:

Repeat rows 2 & 3 61 more times (instead of the 41 the pattern says). Repeat Row 2 once more (387 stitches).

Knit Lace Chart 1.

Knit Lace Chart 2 (447 stitches total).

Continue Lace edging as directed in pattern.

As of right now, the way the lace portion is written, you cannot just keep repeating charts 1 & 2 to increase the lace section. That is something I will be working on in coming weeks to update the charts so that you could make that section larger as well.
Remember, if you want to make it bigger, you DEFINITELY are going to need a second skein of yarn. I am on my fifth Carefree, and I can tell you, the first four did not yield tons of yarn at the end. Definitely not enough to make a bigger version.

Once I get the pattern updated an update will be available on Ravelry. So, if you have already purchased the pattern, you will be able to just redownload it for free to have those changes available in the pattern.

I am thinking this will be available sometime in late March.

And, remember, if you ever need any help with my patterns, I am always here to help! Just contact me on Ravelry (knitlikecrazy) or via email (jen AT knittinglikecrazy DOT com).

Happy Knitting!

Carefree KAL - The Prizes

So, I have hunted through the stash and found some pretties that will be prizes for the Carefree KAL:
So, there will be three winners. Each winner will win a skein of yarn and a pattern to go along with each one. Patterns are TBD. The yarn is so pretty, let's take a closer look, shall we?

The KAL is scheduled to end on March 4th. Once you are done with the shawl, just leave a comment on the blog. If you tweet about it or do a blog post about it, let me know and I will add your name twice!

A random number generator will determine the winners!

You can find all the details about the KAL in this blog post. You can chat with us about your shawl in the Knitting Like Crazy Group on Ravelry!

How's everyone doing on their shawls? Happy knitting!

Take a Hike Cowl

I am happy to introduce a new pattern to the Knitting Like Crazy collection.

It's the Take a Hike Cowl.With just two skeins of Classic Elite Firefly, you can have your own cowl.
It has some serious lacey goodness. I wouldn't recommend wearing the cowl during a Snowpocylpse, but it will be perfect as weather slowly makes a turn for the better.
It's a quick, easy project, knit in the round. I did this one on a 24" circular. But any circular knitting method would work.

Some details from the pattern:

Finished Measurements:

12” wide, 10” long, 30” circumference, after blocking

About the Cowl:

This cowl is a loose fitting cowl. It can be worn as such, or tucked into your jacket for a more fitted look. You could even pin it with a pretty shawl pin!

The pattern is now available on Ravelry for $6.00.

But, since I love my wonderful readers and all the knitters out there, I am having a sale in the Ravelry shop to celebrate the release of my new pattern!

Between now and 2/25 enter the promotion code "TAKEAHIKE" at checkout and you will get $1 off any of my patterns!!

To buy the Take a Hike Cowl Pattern, click the "Buy Now" button below:


To see all the patterns in my Ravelry shop, click here.

Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the new pattern! Happy Knitting!

Book Review: The Big Book of Knitted Monsters

I think it's time for a long overdue book review!

This time, it's The Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger.
I didn't know much about Rebecca Danger. I had a couple patterns of hers in my Ravelry queue, but had no idea that she has tons of these cute little monster patterns out there.

The book starts out with some "General Monster Knitting Guidelines" & "General Monster Finishing Guildelines." I really enjoyed these sections because they went over some things that have always steered me away from knitting toys. These sections included some tips on sewing the monsters together, and how to properly stuff your toy. After that, the book goes right into the patterns.

What I really like about the patterns section of the book are all the clear pictures. I LOVE that there are pictures of the actual knitting in progress to refer to. They are extremely clear and well photographed. She is sure to include these pictures for some of the more tricky parts of the pattern (i.e. how to get the working yarn in the right spot & picking up stitches for a pocket).

Here are a couple of my favorite monsters in the book:


All of the patterns are really cute though. I can totally see myself making a few of these for the kids in my life!

One thing that I think is important to mention is that the patterns call for the use of Magic Loop. So, if that is something you don't know how to do, you would probably want to figure that out first! There is a description and pictures of how to do it, so if you are adventurous, you probably could figure it out from that section in the book.

I would recommend this book. If you are a toy knitter, I think you would really enjoy it. And, if you are not a toy knitter, I think this is a good book to get you into it. With the clear pictures and clear directions, I think that it might be a good place to start.

You can get yours on Amazon, or just ask your LYS to order it! :)

So, read any good knitting books lately?

Note: I received this book as a review copy from Martingale & Company. For more information, please see my disclosure policy here.

The Boy Must Love Me

A couple weeks ago, Alex surprised me with a yarny gift:Out of no where. And, this is not the first time he has done this. There was also that yarn bouquet a few years back**.
He gave it to me as a "I'm proud of you and what you have been doing lately" gift. Sweetest. Guy. Ever. I think I'll keep him.

The yarn is Ella Rae Lace Merino. The color is #120. I just love it. It reminds me of a really good sunset. It may need to become a shawl to take on our honeymoon.

Happy knitting!

**Ok, I just read that post when I found it for linking and seriously started crying because it was the post where I first mentioned that Alex and I had upgraded from friends to couple. And now were getting married. I cannot handle this getting married thing. Makes me all extra sappy and emotional. Really, it's kinda gross. :)

A Video Podast

Just thought I would pop in today to tell everyone to check out Sarah's new video podcast!

I have watched the first one, and I really like it. So, hop on over to her website and go watch it. And, even if you don't watch it, you should read her blog anyway. It's good. :)

Happy knitting!

My Crafty Wedding

I have to be honest. Sometimes I do crafty things that are not knitting. The truth is, I also love to scrapbook. And, while I dream at night of having a knitted wedding, really, that is not practical. But using all that scrapbooking stuff for the wedding? Hell, yeah!

So, while this is a knitting blog (duh), I will probably be posting all my crafty wedding stuff as time goes on.

Here is the project of the last couple weeks:My friend, Kimi, at her wedding, had these little cards on the tables at the reception with little notes about how she knew the people standing up in her wedding with a picture. I really loved that idea, and decided to do my own little scrapbooky twist on it. I also included a few with pictures of just me and Alex, since there will be more tables then there are people in our wedding.

Here are a few closeups.

It's true, the Yarn Harlot will be making an appearance at my wedding. :)


Here is the one of me and my sister (and that's my mom in the middle of the pic on the bottom):
And here is one of the ones I made of me and Alex:
I think these will be a big hit at the wedding! I have plans to do some family things like this too.

So what else is on the wedding craft list?

• Knit a shawl/scarf for each of the 7 bridesmaids. These are not to wear to the wedding (that would be way to much knitting in navy blue yarn), but just to have. I have completed three, have a fourth that should be finished tomorrow and have started the fifth. Not bad for my wedding still being 8 months away!
• A wedding Swallowtail shawl for myself. Barely started. May try to pay my friend Jenni in yarn to knit it for me. :)
• A few more of these scrapbook pages in frames with pictures of our family.
  
• I want to makes these Kleenex holder things. They are probably stupid and pointless, but I think they are cute. :)
• Our guest book. I saw one in a magazine I liked and I went to the website and it was going to cost me $70! Uh, I'll make it for $12 thanks.

I don't think that is too bad.

Happy Crafting!

Carefree KAL - An Update!

Well, I am a little behind on the blogging. I am blaming Snowmageddon 2011. Alex and I woke up Wednesday morning to something like 16 inches of snow. And show drifts that were 5 ft tall! I have never seen anything like it in my lifetime.

We spent Wednesday digging ourselves out. I was actually supposed to try to go to work! (**begin rant: I work for a county in the area. This county closed all the roads and said you could not drive on them unless you had a police escort. Yet this county said that I was supposed to drive my car on their roads to the very middle of the county where the lab is located. This makes no sense whatsoever. ***end rant). I did not go to work but instead spent the afternoon taking a wicked long nap and then knitting a little bit. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday. The rest of the week got all bananas because of things getting canceled and schedules getting rearranged, but things are back to normal now, and this pleases me greatly.

I have worked a bit on my Carefree Shawl:

I am knitting this on Size 2 needles. So, while I have a bunch of the garter stitch done, it doesn't look like much. I think I may do some math to make my Carefree a little bigger. I have something like 600 yards of yarn! We will see. If I do the math, I will definitely be sharing it with everyone in case you would like to make your own bigger Carefree.

So, how's everyone doing on their shawls? A couple of people have shared their progress on their blogs:

• Nanaknits21 shared her progress in this post here.
• KristyR posted about the KAL & her progress on her shawl here.

Thanks everyone for knitting along. I have been having a great time chatting with you over in the Ravelry group!