Knitting Needles Part 2: The Finishing

Remember waaaaaaay back when I showed you my homemade knitting needles?  Well, it's time to finally finish them. 

We made it to Step Four where you pretty much sand them within an inch of their lives.  I used 150, 220, and 320 grit sandpaper.

To finish you need:

-old rags (a cut up t-shirt will do nicely)
-0000 steel wool
-an extra piece of the 320 grit sandpaper
-boiled linseed oil (or your finish of choice)

Step Five:

Take a clean rag and apply the boiled linseed oil to the raw needles.  (Take care not to spill it or just do this part outside.)  Let it sit for 10-20 minutes then with another clean rag wipe off any extra that didn't soak in. 

Let the needles dry for 24 hours.  Now, here's where the magic happens.  Take your 0000 steel wool and buff the needle.  This is what gives it a glassy smooth finish.  At this point I usually feel/look very closely for any little spot I missed when sanding that could catch my yarn then I take my 320 grit sandpaper and sand it smooth. 

Repeat this 4 or 5 times.  You'll know when it needs it again.  You will be able to feel how "not smooth" it is.  I've even used them for a while then gone back and put on a few more layers of finish. 

All in all, I've made about 10 needle sets (dpn's included) and I still have plenty of raw material to make more. 

They really are quite fun to make.


Next up!  I'm showing you my knitting needle storage/travel solution.

Good Knight Part 2: The Tunic

 

Remember when I showed you these arm bracers I made for a Knight's costume?  Well, I finished up the tunic a few days before the Knight and Princess party and thought you might like an update. 

  

The finished tunic.

 

A super quick rundown here.  I found an image the boy liked and set to work on the design.  I used Wee Folk Arts tip for cutting felt and it worked beautifully! 

 

It took forever to cut out but it was so worth it.

I then used spray adhesive to tack it down to the black part of the design.  After the glue dried (maybe 1 hour) I stitched around the Griffin with a running stitch.  Then I cut out a rectangle of fleece that was folded at the top.  You want your fleece to comfortably fit the length of your child front and back.

I cut an oval out of the folded edge for the neck and hemmed the neck opening.  Make sure it fits over your childs head before hemming.  I also hemmed the sides and added eyelets and lacing.  (honestly I'd have preferred black lacing here but Michael's only had brown that day.  Oh and use interfacing where you want the eyelets.)  The next step was to cut up the very center of the front and the back about 6 inches.  Hem that along with the bottom and add any decorative trim you'd like.  That's it!

This was pretty inexpensive to do honestly.  I already had the felt and eyelets on hand so I only had to purchase the fleece (about half a yard will leave you with plenty of extras), the lacing, and the red trim.  Less than $10 total.  If you have any questions about the directions please let me know.

An action shot at the party!  They had so much fun.  I'll try and show you more detail with the helmet and sword in another post (the helmet is my favorite part of the whole thing!).  I'll give you a hint though, the helmet is made from craft foam and the sword is a pizza box and some duct tape. 

 

The fair knight jousting!

 

Good times.

The Beginnings of a Good Knight

Have you missed me?  I know, me too.  This summer has been a hectic one.  I live in Colorado Springs and we've seen damaging hailstorms (yes I need a new roof), an epic firestorm that burned 346 homes, and now mudslides and flooding on the burn scar have become a major problem.  That's a lot.

You may remember my daughter was diagnosed with asthma a few months ago and well, smoke isn't good for her.  So when the wildfire moved into town and started burning down homes, along with it being very scary and stressful, the air quality became dangerous.  We needed to move up our vacation.  So we hopped in the car and drove to NC to visit my family (then I got to sneak off for a week in Italy with James).  While I've been enjoying the travel this summer, I haven't been crafting.  Anyway, I'm back now and feeling inspired to craft things again. 

You know how you get an idea in your head and completely drop everything else to start working on it? Yeah, that was me yesterday.  We got a birthday party invitation for a sweet almost 5 year old we know.  It's a Knight and Princess party and I immediately became all sorts of consumed with making a knight costume.  (We've got the princess thing covered already) I found all sorts of amazing inspiration online for chain mail, helmets, armor, sword, scabbard, and shields.  Here's where I started...

Knitted chain mail arm bracers.

Now I am still just a beginning knitter and I wanted these to be quick and easy.  Could they be done in the round?  Of course.  But I went with a rectangle that gets sewn together on the long side.  Easy.

For my 6 year old (who is on the small side - but don't tell him I said that) I used US13's and loosely cast on 30 stitches.  Then I just did the garter stitch until it was about 5 inches long un-stretched.  Bind it off leaving a long tail and sew the long edges together.  Done!  This was so simple and so fast and I'm not a very fast knitter yet.

I think we'll do this costume together in stages...

Back on the crafting wagon,

Kristin

Patterns and a Knitting Needle Tutorial

Has it really been a MONTH?  I can hardly believe it.  It has been a very long month.  Lets see... Our daughter was diagnosed with asthma.  We tied that to the mold in our bathroom which we then gutted and are slowly putting back together.  We only have one bathroom so that means we've been staying at my mother-in-laws house.  I'm so grateful to have that option but we're all out of sorts.  Discombobulated.  We are hoping to move back home this weekend.  Anyway, that accounts for the absence. 


Lucky for me (and my mental health crafting) knitting is very portable.  I've mentioned before how I just hadn't jumped in to patterns yet.  Well, cross that off my list of things to learn!  I've been working it out with small, useful projects.  Just dish rags so far but I'm doing it!  I've tried 3 different ones and they are official patterns.  (here are my Ravelry notes )

Browsing Ravelry will quickly make you realize that you need a LOT of different needle sizes.  (I'm using US10 needles instead of 7's on these dish rags.)  Being an "I can make that" sort of girl I did just that... I made knitting needles.  Want to make some too?  Here ya go. 

Part one:

Supplies:
- Assorted dowel pack.  Mine came from Michael's and is an assorted box of 50.  You could also head to a lumber store for the specific dowel size you need. (but take your gauge thingy with you!)  I'm a beginner so I need lots of sizes.
- Dowel caps or any type of end decoration.  Buttons, clay, beads, etc.
- Pencil sharpener
- Your knit gauge/ needle size thingy
- Sandpaper. I used 150 grit, 220 grit, and 320 grit. 
- Wood finish.  I used boiled linseed oil.  You can also use beeswax, a mixture of an oil and beeswax, or any type of wood varnish.

Step One:
Using your gauge/needle sizer choose the dowel that will fit your needs.

Step Two:
Take your trusty pencil sharpener and sharpen one (or two for double points) end of your dowel.  Try to get this point as smooth as possible. 

Step Three:
Sand sand and more sand.  I started with 150 grit and worked my way to the finest 320 grit.  Try and get your dowel and the point as smooth as possible before moving on to the next grit.  This part is really amazing.  It becomes so buttery and wonderful.  That's when you know you're almost finished sanding.

Here is my lovely 6yr old assistant making his very own knitting needles!

Step Four:
Attach your dowel cap, button or bead to the end.  I used dowel caps and wood glue.  I plan to try and make clay beads for some next.  (If your dowel cap has any rough edges - you should knock those off with the sandpaper also.)

I was able to make all of these for close to the cost of ONE
set of wooden needles at my local craft store

Look how pretty they are!

Step Five will come in Part Two - the finishing.  *Full disclosure*  I haven't actually finished mine yet.  With all the craziness this month that has been put on the back burner.  I have used them already though!  I finished up the Pixie Hat from last post with the double pointed US13's.  Even without the finish they were a breeze to knit with.  (it's all about the sanding)

There you have Part One of making your own knitting needles.  It's really a simple process and the results are beautiful so stay tuned for Part Two.  I think we'll also do a needle roll/storage tutorial soon.

I'm yarning along with Ginny at Small Things today which means I need to tell you what I'm reading also.  I'm still slowly going through Organized Simplicity on my nook.  I really love the idea of living intentionally and we are having one of those massive 10 yr spring clean and go through everything kind of seasons at the moment.  This book is pretty perfect for that.

Have a crafty day!

Kristin