Knerdy Knitting
where spelling isn't as important as awesome

This one’s for all those Dr Horrible fans out there.  Remember the scene in the beginning of Act II where Penny is eating frozen yogurt with Captain Hammer in the park?  Remember swooning over her wristers?  Ok, maybe I am the only one who answers yes to that second one.  But with a little work I now have wrister just like hers!  Except I put some pretty leaf buttons on the hands, because I could not resist the power of pretty leaf buttons.

(Errata is in red.)

And now, thanks to the lovely and generous Wierdlings, it comes in PDF format! (The PDF has been changed to reflect the errata.)

Here’s an outline of what I did.  I’m new to writing patterns, so I hope it makes sense.

Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Wristers

Materials:

Two balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, one in dark green (A) and one in beige (B)
(You will use about 90% of ball A and about 55% of ball B.)

Size US6 straight needles

Size US6 dpns for the thumb hole

Twelve buttons that fit the buttonholes you’ve made
(I used six 3/4″ leaf button and six 3/4″ green buttons.)

Gauge: 5 stitches per inch, 7 rows per inch

Directions:
Cast on 38 stitches in color A.

Work 2×2 rib in color A for 6 rows.

Work in st st (4 rows in B, 4 rows in A) five times. Carry the color you aren’t working with up the right hand side of the work. Work 4 rows in B one more time.

Make thumb hole (left glove):
Work 20 stitches in A, work 6 stitches with cotton waste yarn, slip 6 cotton stitches back to left needle and work them again in A, work remaining twelve stitches.

Make thumb hole (right glove):
Work twelve stitches in A, work 6 stitches with cotton waste yarn, slip 6 cotton stitches back to left needle and work them again in A, work remaining twenty stitches.

Hand (both gloves):
Work three more rows in A, four rows in B.

Work one row of st st in A, and then five rows of 2×2 rib in A. Bind off using Stretchy Cast-off for 2×2 Rib. (See pattern notes at end.)

Thumb:
Carefully undo cotton stitches, putting bottom six stitches on one needle and top seven stitches on another.

Work across bottom six stitches with B, pick up two stitches in the gap, work across top seven stitches, pick up two in gap. Cast off all thumb stitches.

Button Band:
With A, pick up and knit 45 stitches along side of work farthest from thumb hole (about five for every seven.) (I did this by picking up three, skipping one, picking up two, and skipping one. If you end up with more than 45 stitches, don’t do it over. Just decrease (or increase) to 45 stitches in the next row.) Work two rows in st st, beginning with a wrong side row.

K3, (make a single row button hole, k3) to end (See pattern notes at end.)
Knit two more rows in st st, bind off all stitches.

Weave in all ends and block as desired. Wear while eating frozen yogurt.
Notes:

Single Row Button Hole in Four Easy Steps (I don’t remember where I learned this, but I didn’t come up with it.)

1) Move the working yarn to the other side of the work, slip the next stitch, and move the working yarn back to the original side of work.

2) Slip next stitch from left needle to right needle, pass second stitch on right needle over slipped stitch.  You have bound off one button hole stitch.  Repeat two more times.  Three button hole stitches bound off.  Slip stitch from right needle to left needle.

3) Turn work.  Bring working yarn to back of work.  Using cable cast on, cast on four stitches.  Turn work.

4) Slip stitch from left needle to right needle, pass second stitch on right needle over the slipped stitch.

Stretchy Cast-Off for 2×2 Rib (This one I did come up with)

1)   Transfer the stitches to be cast off to a dpn.  While transferring, rearrange the stitches so that the first stitch is a knit stitch, the second stitch is a twisted knit stitch (the lefthand “leg” of the stitch is in front of the needle), the third stitch is a purl stitch, and the fourth stitch is a twisted purl stitch.

2)  Using a tapestry needle, sew through the first stitch on the needle from left to right.  Sew through the second and first second stitches from left to right.  Drop first stitch on needle.  Turn work.

3) Sew through the second and first stitches on the needle from right to left.  Sew through the third and second stitches on needle from right to left.  Drop first two stitches on needle.  Turn work.

4) Be sure that the yarn is up over the knitting needle and behind the work as you sew. Sew through the second and first stitches on the needle from left to right.  Sew through the third and second stitches on needle from left to right.  Drop first two stitches on needle.  Turn work.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all stitches have been bound off.

I am back from the wonderful trip of excitement! And what’s more, I am over jet lag enough to put two sentences together. There were so many cool things that we saw and did, but as this is a knitting blog I’m going to limit myself to the fiber related stuff.

I landed first in Barcelona, to spend a couple days in Spain while Pirate Boyfriend’s work wrapped up.  1in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>Barcelona made its money in the middle ages through the wool trade.  Near the center of town is an area of tiny winding roads known as the medieval textile district.  What better place for a yarn shop?  So right in the middle of it is Persones Llanas, a tiny LYS tucked away in one of the old buildings.I believe the store is run by an American (at least she has an American accent.)  Mostly they carry the serviceable stuff you’ve seen elsewhere, but they also have some lovely Spainish wool that I’ve never seen before.  And they had a wall of little balls of roving.  So I got about four ounces in blues and greens.  My goal was to make a “Picasso’s blue period” inspired hat (after the wonderful Picasso museum in Barcelona), but I can’t seem to find the roving even after I’ve unpacked all my bags.  Poo.

Most of our trip was in London.  Not only did I pose with my sock in front of big ben (see above), but I also went to I Knit (an LYS) and a Stitch n Bitch.  I don’t have pictures of either one.  The Stitch n Bitch was awesome, just to have a chance to talk to people in a context other than confused tourist seeking help.   It was held in the Maple Leaf, a Canadian themed pub.  Everyone was really friendly, and if was great to hang out with knitters of all abilities and ages while drinking.  I got tipsy on Strongbow and purchased a tiny SnB London pin.  It is one of my most prized possessions from our trip.

I Knit is a fabulous LYS near the Waterloo tube station.  When I went there was another SnB going on, and the place was crowded past capacity with knitters.  Since it was a damp night, it made the room downright steamy.  Or maybe that was just me, getting all hot and bothered by the beautiful yarn.  Because they had some really nice stuff.  Here are some photos:

     

From left to right, that’s a sweater’s worth of Wensleydale Longwool (spun in England) in an olive green, two balls of Kidsilk Haze in a yummy mix of yellows, oranges, and greens, and a pair of socks worth of Indie Dyer sock yarn in the colorway Olive Grove.  I think I made out like a bandit.

So that’s my trip.  Hopefully I’m back to human now and can blog regularly again.  I know I have a lot of stuff to talk about, including the Happiest Socks Ever, Dr Horrible’s Sing a Long Wristers, and an update on the 20’s style purple hat!