Tag: knitting

Vacation Bible school is over, and while I enjoyed my time volunteering with the fifth grade class, I’m pleased that it’s over, since some of my work was put on hold while I volunteered.

This evening, during my down time, I knitted a few more dishcloths. In the past I’ve made them out of terry cloth, and a few months ago, I crocheted washcloths and dishcloths… But I’ve never knitted a dishcloth (although I’ve received a few). Which makes no sense whatsoever since I’ve been knitting for thirty-three years.

With the knitted dishcloths I made this evening, I used a simple waffle stitch; first row.. knit and purl (k3,p3) second row, purl, knit (p3,k3) next row knit, next row purl, rinse and repeat to desired length…. I used 100% cotton yarn (Sugar’n Cream).

Knitting video tutorial: How to knit the waffle stitch

 

The waffle stitch, adds texture to a knitted dishcloth, which comes in handy when you need to do a bit of scrubbing. I find cotton to be a much better option than an acrylic yarn, some of the dishcloths I crocheted were made from acrylic, but cotton is definitely more absorbent.

If you think about it, reusable dishcloths are a better option than the standard store bought sponge. You don’t have to continue to replace them as often, some dishcloths I’ve been using for a few years, since once they’re dirty just toss them into the washing machine, and reuse. I love it, economical and environmentally friendly too.

It looks like I’ve really beanie bad knitter; refer to my last post about the knitted beanie hat…

Naturally this is where I realize that I forgot to repeat a pattern with the beanie hat I’m making. These big mistakes rarely happen, so I’m laughing at this big oversight. You see… I was knitting each row, when I should have been one row “knit” and the next row a “slip” knit” sequence. Since I put off adding my knitting lifeline before I moved on to the color purple, guess who’s going to be frogging and starting over? Yeah… that would be me.

The good thing is, its not a big issue for me. I’m a process crafter, and while I could continue knitting, and it wouldn’t be that noticeable, unless you’re an experienced knitter (or someone really observant) it would bother me that I left this mistake, so yeah the stitches are being ripped out. As I mentioned before, I’m very tough on myself, so since it’s not right, I’m redoing this hat. 

Note to self… Opal, when you think about putting in a lifeline, do it. Yes, it looks like I’ve really beanie bad knitter.

I’d wanted to go down two needle sizes for the crown to make a tighter cable stitch, and now since I’m starting over… I won’t wait to the next knitted hat. I’ll make those adjustments, now.

Get it? “I’ve beanie” instead of “I’ve been a”…

Ok, that was awful I know, I know…

Apparently I couldn’t stay away from pattern testing…

So while I’ve been a “bad knitter” and not keeping my promises on no more pattern testing for a while, I’ve made progress with making handcrafted gifts for Christmas.

Although it’s not complete this knitted beanie hat has already received a lot of compliments. I’ve been bringing it with me to Vacation Bible School. I crochet and knit in public whenever I have the chance, so this isn’t something “new” for me. It usually brings up a few people curious about what I’m doing, and it’s nice to listen to peoples perception about the craft.

Quite a few tell me about someone they know who does one or both. With certain knitted stitches like “knitting” and “pearling” I don’t have to look at my work, since my fingers “know” where to go. Perfect since I can knit while keeping my eyes on the class (fifth grade) I’m helping. I’ve been knitting while they’re eating their snack in our church’s huge fellowship hall. At that age, it’s wise to keep your eyes on them. They can get into many things.

Knitting video tutorial: How to do Slip Slip Knit (ssk)

I’m so used to working without a pattern that at times I have to not think of how I’d do something and instead focus on following the designer’s instructions. With a pattern test, you can’t deviate.

In this pattern, Spartz, the talented designer, is using the SSK (slip, slip, knit) stitch. It’s a stitch I’m familiar with but I didn’t check the way she wanted the decreases made, and now I have to frog the row.  Whoops!  Good thing I had just added a second lifeline, right? Installing a lifeline right before I start decreasing a row, is standard for me.

I’ve included a YouTube video so a new knitter can see how to make decreases using the slip slip knit (ssk) stitch.

I’m not sure what possessed me to search for a human sized Coraline sweater, but about an hour ago my search led me to the official Coraline website, and there I found a knitted Coraline sweater.

I’d written about Coraline’s sweater before…

I‘d read the Coraline by Neil Gaimon years ago, and only saw the movie recently. Since that time, my daughter, and I’ve watched Coraline the movie numerous times. When watching the movie, my daughter’s crocheted amigurumi Coraline is right beside her.

Part of my fascination was the miniaturized outfits, some were obviously knitted and the signature sweater was knitted by Althea Crome.

While I highly doubt that I’ll make a knitted Coraline sweater for myself, I do know my daughter would love this sweater.

I’ve printed out my .pdf copy of the free Coraline knitted sweater, and when the weather is cool, I’ll curl up while my daughter is doing her homework, and start knitting her a Coraline sweater.

This knitted heart was easy to make, but I’m not pleased with it, and so I’m knitting another.

It’ll be the third heart I’ve knitted in the past two days. The first my daughter immediately claimed for one of her Monster High dolls. No worries, since these hearts knit up quickly. Creating a simple crocheted or knitted item can be a welcome break from the projects that require your undivided attention, such as the paid pattern test that I’m currently crocheting.

You’ll need to know how to make knitting increases, with this heart, but with the right instructions, it’s fairly simple to complete.

With the third heart, I’m using size 15 circular knitting needles, and a super chunky yarn… I had originally purchased it for a crochet project; however halfway through… I realized I didn’t like the yarn for the item, and I frogged it (ripped out the stitches)… Have you ever had that happen, created something you weren’t satisfied with?

The designer for this pattern, calls it the heart with many uses, and I’d have to agree with her since I’ve already thought of numerous ways these knitted hearts can be used; cat toys, moth repellents, pillows for my daughter’s Monster High dolls, dream pillows, etc.,

Yesterday, I mentioned I requested to test a quick knitting pattern for a designer who posted on Ravelry.

The project took only a few hours to knit; I made it last evening.

As a knitter you’ll occasionally create an item  that requires knitting increases. It was required in the pattern I tested, and while I learned how to make increases in my knitting a long time ago, I was about eight years old, a new knitter might not know how to make them. If they’re like myself seeing someone doing certain things can be more helpful than reading about it.

I searched for some knitting video tutorials that did a good job showing how to make knitting increases in your work…

Unlike the crochet video tutorials, thus far, the knitting video tutorials I’ve found don’t even compare to the ones made by Teresa Richardson aka crochetgeek on YouTube, most of the ones I’ve seen weren’t done in slow motion.

 

The above video is one of the better knitting videos I’ve seen that shows users how to make knitting increases within their work.  So if you’re new to knitting, check out the above video on how to make increases.