Saturday 17 November 2018

Aruhu headband


Āhuru Thrummed headband
By Nina Duke Howard of https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewFjords
Aruhu – Maori for; to be warm, comfortable. A headband that is extra warm, which uses thrums of raw or spinning fleece to create an extra insulating thickness underneath. Little V’s of fleece create and interesting texture and a simple pattern on the surface. Knit in rib this headband is extra stretchy and designed to cover your ears completely. Either knit flat and seamed or with a provisional cast on and grafted together to create an invisible, flat join. Perfect for those extra cold, windy days, or when it is snowing out. Using thrums makes this project interesting and fun to knit!









Materials:
You will need an 8ply or 10ply yarn, soft enough to wear against your ears.
Yardage: I used about 70gm of 10ply wool, yardage will depend on what yarn you choose to use, and your gauge. Gauge is not so important.
Thrums - made either from small sections of combed raw fleece or spinning sliver teased out and folded in on itself. I used 6 thrums per row over twenty rows so that means I used 120 thrums. A good tutorial for making thrums is here: http://www.helloyarn.com/how-i-thrum/
You can make batches of thrums as you go if you like, that way you can make as many as you need with none left over.

Equipment:
Crochet hook
Scrap of contrasting yarn, with a cotton texture.
Needles appropriate to your yarn, 8 ply 4mm needles, 10ply 5mm needles.
Tapestry needle

Techniques used:
Provisional cast on
1x1 rib
Knitting in thrums
Slipping stitches
Russian Grafting
Sewing knitting together

Instructions:
Using 8ply yarn and 4mm needles CO 35 sts with provisional cast on.
With 10ply yarn and 5mm needles CO 27 sts with Provisional cast on.
Alternatively, if you do not want to graft, cast on with your normal stretchy technique.
A good provisional cast on method can be found here: http://rosemarygoround.blogspot.co.nz/2007/08/is-it-monday-already.html I find it is easier to do than other techniques.



To start knitting:
Row 1: Slip 1 st, *k1, p1 rep from * across to last two sts, k1 slip 1 st.
Row 2: p2, *k1, p1 rep from * to the last st, p1.
Rows 3, 4, 5 and 6: Repeat row 1 and 2 twice more.
Row 7: Slip 1 st, k1, p1, *knit thrum in with a knit st, p1, k1, p1 rep from * to last 4 sts, knit thrum in with a knit st, p1, k1, slip st.
Row 8: p2, *k1, p1 rep from * to the last st, p1.
Repeat these 8 rows till headband is desired length. Enough to fit when wrapped around your ears and forehead, meeting edge to edge with a bit of ease for comfort.
Finishing:
Remove crochet edge of provisional cast on and place onto needles, break yarn with a tail three times as long as the width of your knitting. Transfer provisional cast on sts to a needle of the same size. Have working yarn hanging at the left hand side of your knitting so you can graft stiches together. Using a crochet hook of appropriate size (4mm is good) graft together with this technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1mReJQX1wk
This technique will create a visible but neat graft.

Alternatively you can cast off your knitting and seam the two ends together. Weave in ends and block if necessary. The thrums will felt together gradually with wear to make and extra warm and cosy headband to protect your ears from cold winds.
Enjoy wearing your headband!
© Nina Duke Howard 2013, https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewFjords
For personal use only, selling of pattern or finished products of this pattern is not permitted.

Sunday 15 November 2015

Instagram and youtube podcacts

Just an update to say I have an instagram account called sewfjords and a new crafting podcast on youtube called stitching with Nina.

So I'll be updating on there!

Sunday 12 April 2015

Jumper complete!

I finished this one back in February but thought I'd share the results here now anyway.
I've nearly finished another too...



N

Friday 20 March 2015

.......

Yep I'm too busy to post aren't I?
But I'm really enjoying my studies and still finding a bit of time to knit each evening :)
I might occasionally post pictures of finished projects on here but I think my blogging days have come to a stop for now. My spare time is filled with relaxing, study, cooking, chores and choir. And SLEEP! I sleep well these days, especially on placement days after 7 hours of work.


Anyway it's all for the animals!
Glad I chose this course, even at this early stage I feel like I'm making a difference :)
N

Thursday 29 January 2015

Still knitting away...

11 days of knitting and look where I am now!

60% done now...

I've done a bit more since this photo was taken, I'm currently knitting fair isle on the bottom portion now. Not sure whether to finish with ribbing or garter stitch... I really wish I'd started the neck with ribbing! We'll figure out how to fix that one later... It's rolling over itself.

Looking forward to seeing what it'll look like with sleeves! EEK!

In other news, the days are crawling by so very slowly, it's enough to drive you mad. 18 days till we start polytech... I shouldn't really count down the days like this but I can't help it. Scrubs came today but I didn't hear the courier knocking on the door... That's the problem with working in the room furthest from the door. With music on. Still I have heard people knocking before with music on in that room and had no trouble. Whatever, I can pick them up tomorrow.

Not much going on for the next few weeks except the occasional visit from my folks and the opportunity for me to drive the car. My Grandma and uncle are also coming to visit, so that'll be nice :)

So much is going to change so soon, but for now I'm just trying to make the days pass as quickly as possible.

Any suggestions on things to do?

Thursday 22 January 2015

Finished... and progress...


 Finished the vest! The buttons add that final touch I think.


And making progress on the jumper... tried it on and it fits pretty well. It does need the back short rows to fit over the shoulder blades.


Gapes a bit at the neck - could fix that simply by blocking or making some darts later on, we'll see.
Otherwise happy with it, what a relief! It's a bit scary altering a pattern sometimes.

And.... pretty plants...

Cyclamen which has come back to life after I repotted it.

More flowers this year maybe?

And a beautiful deep blue hydreanga my favourite dahlias :)


N

Monday 19 January 2015

Photo shoot

Finally got around to photographing these projects properly. Thanks Osky for being my photographer!

Geo Shrug by David Yuhas





So happy with this one! Super warm, I'll have to wait a while for the weather to cool off enough to wear it.

I only used 7 skeins for this cardigan so I'm trying to think of something to make from the 3 leftover skeins....

And...

Swirl Pullover by Melissa Leapman

Which I converted into a vest, I just use the cable pattern for the front piece and changed the shaping completely.



Woohoo for knitted garments! My mum has almost finished knitting a beautiful cabled vest for me too - I'm going to have a great winter wardrobe this year :)

I'm neglecting all my other projects now to work on the fair isle jumper... I need to find more patterns for clothing if I'm going to keep making such things. Knitty.com seems to have quite a few good patterns that have been well tested and have interesting constructions. Perhaps this will be the year of knitted garments? I'll need to keep spinning fleece/finding bargain deals in op-shops to keep up the supply of yarn that these projects demand.

Keep knitting!
N

PS. Much better this new layout don't you think? Bit easier on the eyes... but I had fun adding black outlines to everything, sort of brings the page together better.