Lab Story mitten (or having fun being a student)

Student life has many perks, although I never expected that as part of my course (which has nothing to do with craft or fashion), I would be doing some knitting. Yes, one lovely Thursday afternoon a few months ago, my coursework was to design and knit a mitten while watching Gilmore Girls. Bliss!

The mitten is part of a group project that involved exploring an aspect of science communication and philosophy. I won't bore you with the theory, but we decided to do something to highlight the important, and overlooked, role of objects in science. Somehow, this idea became http://labstory.co.uk/ , a 'scrolly'-style website where we pretend that the lab equipment do the experiments at night to correct the scientists' mistakes.

Where is the knitting, you ask, and what does it have to do with it? Well, the 'what does it have to do with it' took a while to figure out, but we knew we wanted to do some knitting. I also knew I wanted to do double-stitch to try it out and add it to my list of knitting skills, as I don't think intarsia and I will ever meet again (the sweetheart jumper is still in progress and is probably going to be frogged very soon as I doubt I'm going to pick it up 2 years later).

So this gave birth to the Lab Story mitten (apologies for the poor quality of the photos, I have no idea why they turned out so fuzzy...).

In case you didn't get it, that is a PCR tube, complete with googly eyes and a smile (maybe I should have called it PCR tube mitten?), and if you try really hard maybe even a little cap (the tube lid). What is very cool about it, however, is that the mitten has conductive thread to allow the wearer to use a touchscreen - no more taking your gloves off to use your phone! In a frenzy of excitement, I bought quite a lot of this thread, although my flat apparently ate the rest of it and it has now disappeared.

I have written a rough pattern for it, which is not really worthy of being published on Ravelry (I don't think it is original enough to warrant it), but if anyone is interested, here goes:

Yarn: Tiger Aran (very cheap, which was perfect for this project, but I would not recommend it)

Needles: Erm, I seem to have forgotten to make a note of that, but was prob 5mm. Oops!

Cast on 30 stitches, join in the round

1. Knit 18 rounds on 2x2 rib (knit 2, purl 2)
2. Knit 2, place marker, make 1, place marker, knit to end
3. Knit 2 rounds
4. Knit 2, slip marker, make 1, knit to next marker, make 1, slip marker, knit to end

Repeat  steps 3 & 4 until there are 11 stitches between the markers

5. On the next round, knit 2, split 11 stitches onto waste yarn, join to continue knitting on the round
6. Knit until the tip of the little finger ( around 20 cm)
7. *Knit 4, Knit 2 together, repeat from * to end - 25 stitches
8. Knit to end
9. *Knit 3, Knit 2 together, repeat from * to end - 20 stitches
10. Knit to end
11. *Knit 2, Knit 2 together, repeat from * to end - 18 stitches
12. Knit to end
13. *Knit, Knit 2 together, repeat from * to end - 12 stitches
14. Knit 2 together to end - 6 stitches
15. Cut yarn, thread through remaining stitches to fasten

To make the thumb:
1. Pick up 11 stitches from scrap yarn, plus 2 additional ones, knit one row, joining in the round
2. Knit up to 4 cm
3. *Knit 2, Knit 2 together, repeat from * to last stitch, Knit 1
4. *Knit 1, Knit 2 together, repeat from * to last stitch, Knit 1
5. *Knit 2 together, repeat from * to last stitch, Knit 1
6. Cut yarn, thread through remaining stitches to fasten

The double-stitch was somewhat improvised, so I can't offer anything beyond more of a close-up of the tube. Its a fairly easy technique (as usual, I had to look at a bunch of youtube videos to get it), and once you get the hand of it it goes pretty fast. This will certainly be my technique of choice when it comes to adding patterns!

A knitting owlette original - the maymay headband

Since I started knitting, like most people I have followed patterns, seeking inspiration through the many pages on ravelry. I have modified patterns to better suit my tastes or needs, but that's where it ended. But the other day I thought: why not try to design some of my own?

Given my headband obsession, it seemed fitting to start there, and so I present the maymay headband. This cute little accessory (which is a little weather-inappropriate in the UK at the moment) will keep your ears warm and not mess up your hair. It is based on the xoxo honeycomb pattern, surrounded by 3 rows of 2x2 rib to provide elasticity. 

If you are wondering about the name, it is named after the phrase for I love you in Furbish - yes, Furbish (remember Furbies from the late 90s?). Given that the pattern is xoxo (ie hugs and kisses) and that I made it for my friend Kathryn who I used to use the phrase with, it just seemed right! 

Materials

5mm circular needles, cable needle

Yarn: Manos de Uruguay wool classica (or other similar aran-weight yarn)

Gauge

I had some trouble calculating this (first time and all) but the gauge will not be massively important unless you are way off

13 stitches in xoxo honeycomb pattern= 2 inches

Abbreviations

k: knit

p: purl

c4b: place 2 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, knit the next 2 stitches and then knit the stitches on the cable needle

c4f: place 2 stitches on cable needle and hold to the front, knit the next 2 stitches and then knit the stitches on the cable needle

Pattern

Cast on 90 stitches and join in the round, being careful not to twist

Row 1: *k2 p2*, repeat until last 2 stitches, k2

Rows 2,3: repeat row 1

Rows 4, 5: k across

Row 6: k *c4f c4b c4b c4f* repeat from * until last 5 stitches, c4f c4b k

Rows 7, 8, 9: k across

Row 10: k *c4b c4f c4f c4b* repeat from * until last 5 stitches, c4b c4f k

Row 11: k across

Repeat rows 4-11 once more

Next 3 rows: repeat rows 1-3 once more

Bind off loosely, hide the loose ends and block lightly

That's it! Pretty simple but gives a very interesting cable that looks like XO.

XO or hourglass I guess?

I tried to write everything out as detailed as possible, but I have missed anything please let me know so that I can bear in mind for next time or modify this pattern. I have also added it on ravelry.

Crochet bow headband

Procrastination continues, this time in the form of a crochet headband. This is based loosely on the construction of the knitted one I made last time, which I thought was pretty clever.

The idea was that it might be handy to have a cotton one that is much thinner than the knitted one I made before to keep my hair in control when the weather is warm. I was probably a little spurred on by the fact that I am going on holiday to Peru (yay!) very very soon. I figured that a crochet version would be much much faster to make than another knitted one, so I decided to have a stab at designing one myself. I tried a few ways of doing it and this was the best and easiest one. This is obviously very very basic, as I haven't quite ventured into the designing world yet. So bear with me if the instructions are crap.

Yarn: (I think) Pattons cotton DK
Hook: 4mm

First, ch10, then hdc on the second chain from the hook and across - 8hdc
For the next row, chain hdc across, and continue until the headband is the desired size (mine was 56 rows). At that point, join the two edges together using slip stitch. You can obviously stop here for a plain one.
For the flap of the bow, turn and hdc along the next 5 stitches, turn, hdc on the same stitch and across (5 stitches). Continue for 10 rows. Cut the yarn, leaving quite a long tail, and secure the last stitch on the hook.
For the bow itself, ch8, turn and sc across (8sc). Continue for 17 rows, and then cut the yarn, securing the final stitch.
Place the bow on the headband so that the flap runs across its middle, then turn the flap under the headband and then over the bow. Line up with the edge of the bow and of the headband and sew it on. If this makes no sense whatsoever, have a look at the pattern for the seedy bow headband, she had helpful pictures showing how to do this.

Hard to tell with black yarn, sorry!