Cotton Trivets FO

This summer I took only select yarn, needles and planned/in progress projects to focus on at the cottage with the exception of a couple of wee balls of remnant cotton and a Mon Tricot stitch dictionary. My general thought was to turn the cotton into something for the cottage.

That cotton "doodling" yielded three little trivets for the table...

"Trinity" Stitch

Slip Stich Colourwork

"Bat" Stitch

Patterns: Trinity, Slip & Bat Stitch Trivets

Source: Vintage Mon Tricot Stitch Dictionary

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Eco Cotton Remnants

Colour: Red

Needles: 4mm straights

Start: Finish:

They turned out nice and thick to protect the table but it took some experimenting to get them that way.

I started out with big 5 stitch bobbles. I had seen these on Ravelry but that inspiration was in thick wool yarn while I had softer/lighter cotton.

After trying a few bobbles I found them too squishy to stay "bobbly" once any kind of weight was on them so I abandoned the idea. turning to the Stitch Dictionary for something "bobble-esque". I quickly landed on "Trinity" stitch.(on the right in photo below)

Once a square of that was done I switched to a thick garter rib until I'd doubled the length of the piece. Then I picked up and garter stitched matching sides to join the whole thing back into a square.

"Bat" stitch, has long floats across the right side of the work...

...naturally pulling the wrong side into thick ridges that yield a fabric well suited to my purpose.

These two designs, however, used almost all the red cotton so I mixed it with some white, doubling the colours and so, also, the thickness...

I love how the three finished pieces blend in with the vintage trivets that came from my MIL's place years ago...

I also love how Number One Son's Art homework blended in with the whole autumn vibe up north this weekend...

Obviously his assignment was to copy the Van Gogh "Self Portrait with Cut Ear". The colours of the pastels he used are awesome but I think the likeness is more of ex Toronto Maple Leaf Borje Salming than of Vincent!

The colours were at peak up north - maybe even just a wee bit past that point. This shot out a back bedroom window of the cottage is taken from Darling Daughter's lower bunk. (The window on the right is partially blocked by the ladder and upper bunk) The temperatures were truly summer-like although the water temperature was quite a normal-for-October 16 C (62F). Of course that didn't stop the kids from swimming all afternoon, Number One Son from Wake Skating every chance he got...

Or certain large creamy poodles from leaping in off the side of the boat!

So we had a great weekend - I hope you did too!

One "Doodle" Done!

I finished the "Kid's Kerchief" Doodle last night.

The kerchief itself is 14" across the widest point,. I used about 70 m or .9oz of worsted cotton  (Lana Grossa New Cotton Print for the Main Colour (MC) The yarn was discontinued last year - maybe I should refer to it as "Old" cotton print ;)  - I found it in the bargain basement at Romni)

The ties are each 14" long and knit in Mirasol Tika Pima Cotton remnants from these - so cute, I should make more!

With 5.5 sts/in on a 4mm needle, I "doodled" like this...

Kerchief
In MC using a provisional cast on (I used crochet) CO 76
Rows 1-3 Knit (garter stitch)
Row 4 (RS) K2, *yo twice, k2tog* Repeat from * to* until last two sts, K2
Row 5 (WS) Knit
Row 6 skpsso, Knit to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 7 Knit
Repeat these last two rows, decreasing each end every right side and knitting every wrong side until 2 sts remain
Last row k2tog, BO 1.

Ties
In CC
CO 70 (button hole cast on), transfer 76 live stitches from provisional cast on to needle, CO 70 (216 sts)
Row 1 Knit
Row 2 BO all sts

How about those colours?  I grabbed the remnant orange cotton to do the provisional cast on just to use it up but as I tried the thing on various people over the weekend and my daughter and son commented it seemed every person spontaneously offered that they liked the deep orange with the light and summery blue and white. It wouldn't be my first choice to be honest but then colour combinations, especially the edgy kind, are not my area.

My budget is tight for class materials so I'm pleased I managed to make the kerchief out of half of a ball of the Lana Grossa which I got on sale for $7.20 so if I donate the cotton for the ties (orange or I also have golden yellow you see above) the material cost for this project will be $3.60 plus tax. Not bad!

Both these cotton yarns are kind of woven rather than just held with a twist. I hope this will minimize any issues with splitting.We'll see how the kids find working with cotton after their exclusive experience to date with worsted wool.

Well now that everything has been recorded for posterity, its time to frog my little test knit and re roll the yarn into balls. I can't spare extra yarn for me to work with!

Thanks for dropping by today!