Knit Medical Mask Free Pattern

The story all started when i wanted a medical mask type pattern for knitters. I searched and looked and was very suprised to find that no one seems to have provided any kind of pattern for free. So of course i wrote my own and am provideing it for everyone as well as the actual knit thing for sale on PinkNightmareSquad.com . So in case of zombies or other plagues or maybe just a nice fitting mask to wear when you might be cleaning something gross or even in public to avoid talking to strangers, here is the pattern:

cast on 35
(i use the 'star' cast on, it creates the first two rows so you begin on a purl side, i keep this and knit so that the edge does not curl up)
on your 3rd 4th ish purl row (nothing needs to be super exact with this pattern) purl across leaving 9 sts on left hand needle.Turn.
knit across leaving the last 9 again, turn
purl leaving 11 turn
knit leaving 11 turn
purl leaving 13 turn
knit leaving 13 turn
purl leaving 15 turn
knit leaving 15, now knit the rest of the way across and start regular stocking stitch for about 9 to ten rows

on a purl row purl across leaving 5
knit leaving  5 turn
purl leaving 7 turn
knit leaving 7 turn
purl leaving 9 turn
knit leaving 9 turn
purl leaving 11 turn
knit leaving 11, knit across rem sts and purl across the back.

for my pattern i like to use a moss pattern for the next few rows to keep the edge from curling and i think it looks nice but leaving it flat works pretty much just the same. either way:

keep going for about 4 or 5 rows keeping your face size in mind and bind off.

for the ear loops

i pick up three sts on the edge and knit them or i-cord long enough to encircle your ear.

Life changes and words with sages.

So after moving from a bigger bustling city to a horribly small and rather stagnate town, working on getting internet and just getting the situation "Livable" I have found it more than rewarding doing fixer upper jobs from morning till dark (being someone who before didnt even have windows so it was always night time to me).
    We are hoping it will be a very productive place to be and we certainly will have space we never had before, in the next few months Octicraft will go from being solely knit to possibly having a much wider variety of product and the actual knits will be much more custom and impressive. No more random gloves and such. Nature will provide the inspiration and i certainly will have nothing else distracting me from my company other than the trees (and maybe a few tree houses that are just begging to be built. Hopefully pictures of something interesting soon. -princess Octiva.

Knit Armor- for the Huggable Barbarian

Well.... how to start.
What was to be a flower petal cup cozy bloomed an idea of tedious thrill. The idea is to take many knit shapes and layer them in as another shape is formed to make none other than Knit Armor!

          Each scale as they now can be called starts on a size 3 needle casting on 5 stitches. I found it best to start with what i call the "star" cast on because the strings lay in a star shape in my palm, but most call it something (else). So now you are on a purl row with that cast on and simply purl across this row. Next row knit two and preform what is called () where you increase on both sides of a middle stitch through the stitch in the row below. And then the purl row! keep doing this till maybe 15 sts across then just continue the knit for about 10 rows is what i did.
Next step!
           Say the bottom row is going to consist of two scales then increase next row to three. Cast on the number of two scales then i put about 10 rows between them (although it didnt seem to really look bad showing so much of the under part, i do think its best to make each scale a tad longer than how far they are spaced apart.) to shape the shoulder a bit i slipped a few stitches nearing the top to give it a bit of a pull on each side.
          The best way i found to attach them is to have the scales on another needle held to the front and the first two stitches of  the petal to be knit at the same time as the first stitch of the body. This gives it a better edge, then knit each scale stitch with a body stitch then the last two stitches slip knit-wise then the body stitch and knit through the back to give the opposite twist to the stitch.
Woooooo....... now i knows that sounds terribly impossible and when you look at it it seems even more so, my only advice is to get some strong needles, must be metal. I already broke a new pair. *sigh* ok so keep attaching those scales and suddenly there is this turtle shell of the knit armor!! At this time i decided to make all the attaching straps by cabling a single braid  for each band and sewed them on (close ups coming soon)
         The next on will consist of scales in red on size 6 needles. I think a much stiffer scale will wear better. so i doubled up the yarn and only put 2 scales each row. We will see......


Knit armor-for the huggable barbarian
knit armor- finally i can be battle ready AND hug my grandmother