Friday, May 4, 2012

Puff Bowl-y

I've been pretty fascinated and inspired with stuff like this lately:


But, if you mosey on over to the yarn section, prepare yourself for a heart attack. The yarn to make one of these bad boys is nearly $100 a skein. And it's recommended to have 2 skeins. I understand, it's a 500 g ball, but even if I did have the money, I don't think I'd ever spend $100 a skein on a yarn. I love cascade, and merino, but not that much.

So, in comes solution numero dos, and a mighty fine solution if I do say so myself. What is it, you say? Well, it's quite simple really - unwanted t-shirts, bed sheets, anything like that. In this tutorial, we're using a bed sheet. With that sheet, I made the soft basket you see below. Perfect for a kitchen, bathroom, even a baby's room (no sharp corners!) this basket is pretty versatile, and a quick knit.


So, when trying to take pictures for the sheet tutorial, I found that was easier said than done, thanks to the size of the sheet. So here is a masterful illustration instead!

Yeah, I know, it's pretty impressive. As you can see, you will fold the sheet in half lengthwise, and cut ALMOST through, my strips were about an inch wide. There's no need to stress too much over the size, though. I had places where the strips were very thin and it all worked itself out. Once you've done that as many times as needed, you will unfold the sheet and snip where the red lines are, if you did it right you will have a long thread of sheet to knit with. 



With the sheet yarn, cast on 40 stitches onto size 15 circular needles (you'll need two sets later), I used a 16 inch cable to connect, but it could have been longer.

Row 1: Knit 
Row 2: Purl 

Repeat until your bowl is your desired depth. Now for the decreases, here's where you will want to switch off to using two circular needles. 

Note: The k2tog can be very difficult with the sheet, you can also sl1 k1 psso, but stick with one decrease or the other. 

On an odd (KNIT) row, k4 k2tog
Purl for all even rows 
k3 k2tog 
Purl 
k2 k2tog 
Purl 
k1 k2tog 
Purl 
k2tog, work yarn through the remaining stitches and pull tightly. Weave in the ends the best you can. I snipped the end strand sideways, so it would thread through my tapestry needle. 

There you have it! Your sheet bowl is complete, feel free to wash on gentle cycle. 





As usual, with patterns, feel free to make as many as you wish, gift as many you want, and you can even sell your finished item. But please, don't steal my pattern. And if you do make it, please share pictures with me! I'll feature you! 

Allonsy

Edit: 

I've had some notes on not understanding how to make the yarn. Here's a video courtesy of Youtube that may help you. 


This video does it differently than I did, she is joining the strips of yarn after completely removing them from one another. This is a fine way to do it! I just choose to do it differently, and save some time. I failed to find a video of someone doing it the way I illustrated. 

As always, feel free to email me with any questions, and I'll do my best to get right back with you: Ashley.mishmoshcrafting@gmail.com 

8 comments:

  1. I don't get your illistration on cutting the sheet fold in half and cut stips but don't cut through then open and snip everyother one on each side need a better illistration please.

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    1. Pretty much exactly what you said, you fold the sheet, and cut strips into the sheet, but don't completely separate them from the rest of the sheet.

      When you're done you'll open up your sheet, and it will look like Wolverine broke into your house. From there, you'll snip the end of them off, by snipping every next one on each side of the sheet. If you cut them all separately through, you will have to join them. I hope that made sense. Sorry for any confusion!

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  2. Great idea. How wide did you cut the strips?

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    1. Thank you :)

      I wasn't too meticulous about it - but I stuck with about an inch wide. Some parts were thinner, others thicker, but I think it added to the overall "effect" of the bowl.

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  3. you can find how two cut it on you tube

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  4. I had no idea that you could knit a bowl. I love it.
    I just came over from the SITS link up and I am now a follower. ;0

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm glad a fellow SITS girl came by, welcome :)

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  5. This is brilliant! And a good use of old sheets.

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