Mocking-Jay On Fire Socks or Bonnie Birds ala' Katniss Everdeen

Bonnie Birds ala' Katniss Everdeen
These have got to be one of the best themed socks ever.  The original pattern is Bonnie Birds by Barb Brown.   They were posted as a Knit ALong on Ravelry to be started March 1, and finished by March 25.  That got my attention, or I might never have seen the pattern.  The stated goal was to think outside the box with color.  As the original pattern is based on Dresden China, the bright blue on cream is the obvious choice.  And it is a beautiful sock when done in those colors.  But, when I looked at the charts, the colors that jumped to my mind are from the Hunger Games.  Everything I've been thinking of the last few weeks has to do with The Hunger Games.

And, I can never just follow the pattern like a normal person.  So, instead of top down single sock at a time, I'll knit my usual, toe-up two at a time.

I didn't even get cast on until 3/17 when I finally found the Kroy Coal and the Greens Panda Silk that’s been missing. As I always do when knitting socks, I'll be carrying a strand of Wooly Nylon Extra along with the regular sock yarn in the toes, heels and on the sole of the foot.
I spent part of 3/21 Overdying a skein of Tofutsies 805 to have more yellow (need Primrose color) The final plan is that the heel will be green, and then as we move up the leg the first birds will be the blue Tofutsies: Sweep you Off Your Feet and then they will morph into the 728 Red/Orange/Yellow of the last batch of Tofutsies. I’m considering taking the green stripe all the way up the leg, symbolic of the forrest of the 74th Games Arena.

I've never done this much stranding before, and it's going very slowly.....

The Other Katniss Mitt

OK, so, I finished the second Katniss Mitts for DD#2 and her BFF.  So now they each have a pair.  These ones were finished just barely in time for them to go see The Hunger Games (again) with their Church Youth Group.  They were happy.  What more could I ask for?
Apologies to the Yarn Snobs that I know and love.  These were made of plain Simply Soft in very average colors.  The girls are not in training to be Yarn Snobs, sorry.  To me, Simply Soft is a pretty perfect yarn for some projects.  It really is very soft.  It's totally washable.  Anyone that thinks that 13 year old girls don't get dirty hasn't met the kids that I know.  It knits up fast and true to gauge, no surprises.  It's affordable enough that if it gets lost, it's not a huge financial blow.  We have had many discussions about respecting the Hand Knits though.  The recipient needs to show enough respect to not just leave Hand Knits lying around to get lost or damaged from negligence.  After trying to knit gifts for people in fancy organic natural fibers, I know that some people will wear the gift more often if they aren't afraid of it.
JMHO

One Pair of Katniss Mitts Finished: IF ....!

Ok, so  I finished a pair of Mocking-Jay Mitts for DD#2 the day before the Movie Opening on March 23!  Yeah!  I'm the Greatest Mom Ever....   "Um, but Mom?  These kindof seem a little wierd?  Like something's wrong here."
Right.  So I knit two mitts exactly alike.  That is the goal when knitting a Pair of something, isn't it?
"Well, yeah, but my hands aren't exactly alike.  Nobody's are." 
Well, I know that most people's hands are a little different from each other, that's not unusual.
"But MO-OM!  Look at this!" 
And that's when she holds up both arms and I realize that I have indeed made both mitts EXACTLY ALIKE.  Not MIRROR IMAGES like they're supposed to be.  Exactly Alike.  Both are for the Left Hand.

So, I immediately cast on to make two Right Hand Mitts that will match the Two Lefts.  But there's no way to get them done in time for the movie.  My DD#2, true to her usual behavior, comes up with the wonderful idea to share with her BFF (she has several BFFs).  They will each wear One Mitt to the movie.

Gotta love it.

The Katniss Mocking-jay Mitts: Version 2.0

This is a remake of the last project to get a smaller mitt, with a smaller logo.  The cast on was reduced to 36 stitches per round.  They're being knit 2 on 1 circular needle, magic loop style.  Started with a long tail cast on and knit 8 rounds in 2k2p ribbing.  Then it was time to start the image knitting, I switched to back-and-forth knitting.  And this time, I'm using stranded method.  I've wound what I think should be enough yellow yarn onto yarn bobbins instead of trying to cope with the big skein.  Trying to attach a photo of what it looks like at the point that I'm almost done with the image. 
My plan is to resume knitting in the round until the mitt measures the right length for the wearer's arm and bind off using a "super stretchy bind off".

The Katniss Mocking-jay mitts - beginning, model #1

OK, first of all, I'm starting with Simply Soft yarn.  It's a brand that is carried almost everywhere, so is IMHO the most accessible of yarns.  Colors are Black and Yellow.

My first attempt had 44 stitches per round and was knit in the round.  My first stop was at http://www.cyberstitchers.com/ to create and print a chart of the logo we want on the mitts.
The beginning ribbing is a 2k2p rib of ____ rows.  On this first mitt, we chose to put the image on right side up as the wearer sees it when extended out from the body.  This means that when the arms (and hands) are down at the wearer's sides, the image will appear up-side-down to the observer.  The image is about 21 stitches wide and 26 rows high.  While the image is worked, the double knitting method was used just in the area with 2 colors.  It should have come out as a reverse image on the inside/backside.  Due to my inacuracies in changing colors, the inside image has a lot more of the black yarn than the yellow.  The motif part of the mitt is double thick and pretty "stiff".  As the motif is finished, the double knit stockinet / stockinet all morphs into the single layered knit in black 2k2p ribbing again for a final ______rows.
 It came out too big and too long for its intended wearer.  (So, it's mine now, all mine!)

Chemo Cap - Oh My!

Did I already say that this is very slippery yarn?

And I have to wind it into a ball and trap the ball securely in a yarn bra?

Anyway, Right after we left off last time, I switched to a single circular needle.  This one happens to be an Addi Turbo Lace that I absolutely adore.

I kept at the increases until there are 98 stitches per round (7 x 24).

Knit 2 & 1/4" in stockinette. This is where the first ball of Oh My! yarn ran out and had to attach second.  The weaved in ends make a ridge that I'm not happy with........   The point of this is to make a totally smooth cap.  This would be one of the reasons that I would prefer to buy only huge hanks of yarn instead of little balls that don't finish even a small article with one ball of yarn.

Otherwise, it's turning out awesome and is unbelievably soft.

A Chemo Cap for a dear friend

Went through the stash last night and found the ball of white "Oh, My!".  Or at least that's what I think it is.  It's definately all acrylic or poly something, very white, extreemly Soft.  Wound it up into a center pull ball (by hand) and placed the ball inside a "yarn bra?" to keep it from unwinding too fast.  Remembering from working with this before, it is sooooo slick it unwinds itself and gets horibly tangled.
I started off using 2 circular needles of the same size because I had them and couldn't find the double pins the right size and the metal double pins tend to fall out with yarn this "slick" anyway.
Cast on 7 stitches by holding both needles parallel and looping the yarn around each alternately. 
(Note: look up what the name of this technique is, learned it from a sock knitter.) 
Why 7? 
8 sections in a cap is too flat topped for my taste because it increases too fast.  6 sections is too pointy, IMHO.  And, Because it's a spiritually significant number.
1:  Join the round without twisting.    (Actually, that's not quite a right description of what is done, but it's what all the patterns say to do.)  Place a marker at the join and that will be the beginning (and end) of each round.
2:  K all  (there should be something in here about knitting in the front or the back, because doing it the wrong way will "unloop" the cast on stitch and leave a hole)
3: Knit in front AND back of each stitch.
4: K all
5: *K1, K in front and back*, repeat 6 more times = 21 stitches
6: K all
7: *K2, K in front and back*, repeat 6 more times = 28 stitches
..

Scientific Method? AND Knitting?

Where will be posted what each experimental step is as we go along "unventing" some knitting as Elizabeth Zimmerman might say