Elbow Patch Care Package

I belated decided that elbow patches would be THE THING to add to the Giant's Kouki Cardigan. Well, I didn't decide too late...I knitted them too late!

Fortunately, my cousin is very crafty! So while we were watching the Super Bowl (and after several beers) I told her my idea and got her to sign on to sewing them on herself!

Muahahhaha.

And so the Elbow Patch Care Package was created.

All your elbow-grinding needs, covered right here.

I wasn't sure if it would look better with moss stitch or straight knit, so I did both. Also not sure if it would look better with contrast or same color stitch....so I included both!

A super fast project that was so fun to put together...I think it would actually be a great addition to any cardigan - not just one that has been hand knit. I dropped it in the mail last week - here's hoping they arrive safely and find their way to L's elbows soon.

P.S. Making elbow patches for your toddler, and not sure how big they should be? Hint: A slice of SPAM is a perfect size guide. (Don't worry Kim...no SPAM touched this yarn!!)

Another patch!

Since the little man requested a "red square" this time, I had to use felt (only red material on hand). Of course I decided to spiff it up a bit - how's about a race car, guys?

Criteria for car shape: needs wheels. The end.

I stitched this last weekend while some friends were over, and one of them jokingly commented that it would only be a matter of time before this, too, was torn open...which is unfortunately, undoubtedly true. Ah, boys! Good thing I enjoy doing these. :)

Yarn in Santiago, Chile

A really cool picture sent by a friend in Santiago, Chile.

Lucky for me, this friend also sent some yarn!

The colors are endless and pretty

Thanks, Corbet!!

Learning From Mistakes with Mods Gone Wrong

Modifications are cool because you can learn from a new pattern while trying to implement changes of your own - kind of like designing with training wheels. That said, it doesn't always work out the way you want it to...

Striping on the collar and cuffs of my Kouki cardi mod, for example.

before and after

I knew getting clean looking stripe was going to be difficult because of the way a purl stitch looks, but I couldn't for the life of my think of how to avoid it. I decided to just knit as the original (non-striping) pattern was written, hoping that inspiration would strike me later.

The pattern called for a k2p2 ribbing on the cuffs and bottom edging. As you see above, the left cuff (k2p2) looks pretty sloppy. The collar however called for a portion of k2p1 ribbing... d'oh! Of COURSE that makes the stripes look so much better! I don't know why I didn't think of hiding the purl stitches this way... So I ripped out the cuffs and redid them with a k2p1 rib - as shown on the right. MUCH nicer.

Let's see that again.

Ripping out the cuffs was really rough, but luckily I was able to pick out the black from the cream yarn easily enough and knit out from there. I actually wasn't able to rip out and fix the bottom edging because I had already sewn the fleece on, and was tired of ripping out stitches. (More mistakes I learned from...tbc later) Part of learning the hard way, I guess!

Mods Gone Wild! Kouki Cardigan Edition

I'm working on a very lofty interpretation of the fantastic Kouki Piloto Cardigan by Kyoko Nakayoshi of Cotton and Cloud.

Too cute!

Disclaimer:
I'm a huge fan of modifications and taking creative control. HOWEVER, I think it is even more important to honor the designer's original work. I realized after I started this that there are no other projects listed on Ravelry for this pattern... and I am completely embarrassed! I've set aside yarn and am going to knit this as written ASAP. Kyoko Nakayoshi is one of my favorite designers, and I feel so bad to have overlooked this.

But for now, back to the project.

The hobbly-gobbly experiment I mentioned is to create a toddler cardigan that honors the San Francisco Giants and their 2012 World Series win. (Hooray!)

Read up on it!

Mods started as:

• Change color to Giants colors, with style to match a baseball jacket
• Lining the jacket with some Giants fleece

This was a sketch of my original idea:

It took a while to find the right pattern to modify. (I was not up for completely fabricating a design. Why reinvent the wheel? I need all the experience I can get.)
As previously mentioned I'm a sucker for all things Kyoko Nakayoshi, so when I discovered her Kouki pattern it was hard to NOT pick it. She had just published it and I LOVE knitting her designs for the sheer process of it, not just the beautiful outcome.

However, I ran into a few issues with the mods I wanted. Can you tell? Here's the nearly finished product:

I basically got everything I asked for, but had to make a few compromises along the way. (Which involved a lot of re-doing!)

There is still a bit of work to be done, but I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully will update with more pictures soon!

Looking sharp

Just a quick pic of a knee-patch job I did over the weekend.

He's so proud!

He's already requested the next patch to be a red square!
Mending clothes is the perfect compliment to preschool curriculum it seems. Here's hoping he doesn't speed up the hole-making process.