I finished my ballband kitchen set! In addition to my appliance covers and towel, I now have a ballband cloth and two potholders to match. I'm happy :) I would have made a few more ballband cloths (you can never have too many) but I had to stop because of my ravelympics knitting!Today I cast on my 1st olympic sock. Didn't do much on it, but it's officially started. The games have begun (8:00 am here on the East Coast) and now I have to get serious and do some power knitting (maybe? not really). Not sure how many projects that I will actually be able to complete. It was advised to set up more than you actually think you can do because once the games begin you can't add any more projects. I have 2 sets of socks and 3 dishcloths and 1 washcloth all lined up in my ravelry notebook. I know that is truly very over ambitious of me, but I guess that's why I'm on team OOYPP (Overly Ambitous, but Plausibly Possible)!
Now back to the ballband set. I've had a few inquiries as to " how to". Provided you already know how to knit the infamous ballband I'll give you an idea of how I did each one. Just keep in mind your appliance may be a different size from mine, then you'll probably have to do some improvising.First off...here is how to make a simple ballband towel. Cast on 90 stitches and knit using the ballband dishcloth pattern the towel until you complete 33 ball band rows or desired lenght.
Now if you would like to make a rather large toaster (Cuisinart Classic Toaster Oven) cover you need to make a towel with the above directions and two ballband cloths with 13 ballband rows. Crochet the pieces together being careful to space the pieces so the result is even. If desired use crab stitch to edge the crocheted seams.
My mixer covers are knit in the round. For the Oster Kitchen Center and the Kitchen Aid Mixer(mine is the heavy duty Epicurean model) cast on 180 stitches. If your mixers are smaller cast on less stitches (multiple of 6). Here is the ball band stitch pattern converted to knitting in the round:
Round 1 and 2: knit
Round 3: with color B, knit 4, slip1 (*knit 5, slip 1) repeat from * ending knit 1
Round 4: purl 4, yarn back, slip 1, yarn forward (*purl 5, yarn back, slip 1, yarn forward) repeat from * ending purl 1
Round 5: repeat round 4
Round 6: repeat round 4 again
Round 7: with color A, knit
Round 8: knit
Round 9: with color B, knit 1, slip1 (*knit 5, slip 1) repeat from * ending knit 4
Round 10: purl 1, yarn back, slip 1, yarn forward (*purl 5, yarn back, slip 1, yarn forward) repeat from * ending purl 4
Round 11: repeat round 10
Round 12: repeat round 10
Repeat these 12 rounds until there are 20 ballbands for the Oster and 26 ballbands for the Kitchen Aid.
End with 1 knitted round and the last row k2 tog until there are 90 stitches and do a 3 needle bind off or crochet the front and back together creating a sack. If desired use crab stitch to finish off the edge.
Once you've made these it's easy to use exactly the same technique to make a potholder. Using small circular needles or dpn cast on72 stitches and knit in the round. The only thing different from the covers is that you need to close off both the top and the bottom. The first one I made I crocheted the top closed, but used the 3 needle bind off for the bottom. You could crochet both closed. I made a little loop by crocheting a chain(12) and slip stitched it to make the chain thicker. The second potholder I used a provisional cast on , then when I was finished knitting I used a 3 needle bind off for both the top and bottom. I like the 3 needle bind off better.
The one on the left, top and bottom are 3 needle bind offs and the one on the right has the bottom crocheted shut.Well, I think that's about it. It's not rocket science, but I hope this at least gives you the general idea of how to go about it. You can easily adjust the number of stitches and the number of ball bands to fit your appliance. Good luck! If you have secific questions I'd be happy tp try and answer them, but please include an email address where you can be reached. Thanks :)
I've also been doing some more crocheting. I made a tote bag making up my own pattern as I went with some AC Moore cotton mill ends that I have in my stash. It's the crochet version of my big bag:
I just love how this variegated yarn pooled in such a cool way. Definitely not intentional. I wouldn't even know how to get that effect if I tried.
For all of you whose blogs I try to keep up reading...you know who you are...my faithful friends...I am very very behind in my blog reading. Life has definitely got in the way of my computer time. Plus I just don't know where the time goes. I will be trying to catch up bit by bit so please do not give up on me. I'll be visiting soon :)Happy Knitting and Happy Olympics :)
