Knitting: What I Have Been Working On

I know I need to get some more instructions up here, but I’ve been busy working on some wool mittens and a couple of afghans.  I promise to get some more instructions up as soon as possible.  

I hope you all are trying to learn to knit.  It is a rewarding hobby.  You will be able to make gifts for all occassions.  Socks and mittens are especially nice gifts that most folks appreciate.

Knitting: Garter Stitch

Now that you have learned how to cast on, it’s time to learn a basic stitch…the knit stitch.  When you knit EVERY stitch on EVERY row, it is referred to as the garter stitch or pattern.  With this stitch pattern, you will make a SCARF.

Materials:

Size US 9 needles; one pair

Any plain worsted weight yarn (like Red Heart)

(no fancy stuff)

Cast on 30 stitches as you learned in my previous post.  Switch the needle from your right hand to your left.  You should have the tail end yarn and the working yarn (the yarn comming from the skein)  at the beginning of your needle (at the point).  Pick up your other needle and insert it, from left to right, into the first stitch.  They will form an X, with the right hand needle resting behind the left hand needle.

Bring up the working yarn from behind the right hand needle and between the two needles.  Grab the yarn with the point of your right hand needle and bring it through the stitch on the left hand needle and at the same time slip the old stitch on the left hand needle off.

Repeat across until you have completed the row.  Switch the needles to opposite hands.  The right hand needle goes in your left hand and the left hand needle goes in your right.  Repeat the procedure above. 

Continue doing this until you have almost used up the entire skein of yarn.

Follow along on this video (please forgive the quality…I promise to do better with the next one).

done

Knitting: How to Cast On-Long Tail Method

To begin any knitting project you must be able to cast on, the art of putting stitches on the knitting needle.

Materials:

1 pair size U.S. 9 knitting needles

1 skein of plain yarn (no fancy shmancy stuff-you need to be able to see your stitches)

To being we will be using the long tail cast on method.  It is by far the easiest to learn for beginners, in my opinion.

Take your skein of yarn and pull out or unwrap approximately 1 yard.   Grab the yarn at the point closest to the skein and make a slip knot.  Slip this on your needle.

Next, hold the needle in your right hand and both strands of yarn (the tail and that strand comming from the skein) in your left hand.  You will have to pull out/unwrap more of your yarn.

Holding your needle above your left hand, slip your first finger and thumb in between the two strands. Your tail end strand should be around your thumb and your working strand (from the skein) should be around your finger.  Now bring your needle down towards your palm.  This creates a loop over your thumb and first finger.

Bring the point of your needle to the far side of your thumb and slip the tip under that strand.  Next bring your needle tip over the strand on your finger to the right of it.  Hook the strand  with your needle tip and bring it through the loop on your thumb.

Let the strands off your thumb and first finger and pull gently.  You have created your second loop on your needle.  Repeat this procedure until you have the required number of loops on your needle.

Here are some photos followed by a little video to further explain this procedure.  Please forgive my amateur video production.  It’s the first time I’ve used the video application on my camera.

done

Please practice this until it becomes second nature.  Yes, that means to remove those stitches and start again, repeatedly.

Next post will be the garter stitch.  You will be making a garter stitch scarf.

Scrambling to Get My Fair Entries Done!

I have my photos ready.  I even have my crocheted item ready.  BUT I am scrambling to get my knitted item done.  I’m working on a simple sleeveless rib knit dress.  I’ll be adding an I-Cord to the neckline and armhole areas, maybe even to the hem.  Then I will knit a matching jacket and add beads to the dress and jacket.

I only have about six weeks to get it done.  I need to quit procrastinating and hunker down until it is finished.  Easier said than done.  I always find something else that needs doing.  I guess I better just ignore everything else and get my butt in gear.

Keeping my fingers crossed……

Still Trying My Hand at Yarn Dyeing

Yes, I’m still dyeing some yarn.  At least experimenting.  I’ve done the koolaid dyeing and that was easy.  I’ve even used Rit dye and that was fairly easy.  So I progressed to using spices….at least one spice, Turmeric.

The result is a beautiful golden rod/marigold yellow.  BUT, the smell during the process was AWFUL!   I guess I just don’t like the smell of Turmeric…at least in the amounts needed to dye yarn. 

I used at least half a small container of Turmeric, plus vinegar and hot water to dye the yarn and the smell stayed with me for over 24 hours.  Everything smelled like Turmeric.  Next time I’ll wear a mask.

My Knitting Library

I have an extensive knitting library and I do mean extensive!   Every knitter has at least a few books on his/her favorite subject.    They are my reference materials, idea books and my “I’m gonna make this someday” books. 

I also have lots of knitting magazines.  My favorites are Knitters and Vogue.  I have a few others that I’ve collected over the years but only have subscriptions to those two.

I even have some books and magazines from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.  Knitting has certainly changed over the years.  But it is fun to look at the old patterns and try to figure out how to do one with today’s standards, yarn and knitting needles.

Here are just a few pictures of my collection:

Addiction to Yarn, Yarn Stashes and UFO’s

Anyone who knits or crochets knows what an addiction yarn can be.  We don’t buy yarn specific to a  particular project.  We buy yarn, and later we decide what we are going to make with it. 

We love the feel of it, the way it move between our fingers, how soft it is against our skin.  When we use some of it in a project, we think, “OMG, I’ve depleted my yarn stash! I have to get more!”  And, we do get more.  It doesn’t matter that we have every nook and cranny stuffed with yarn throughout the house.  We just have to get more. 

We have all kinds of yarn projects running around in our heads.  The new sweater pattern we want to try or the new sock pattern or purse pattern are just some of the things we think about.  There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think of some yarn project we are going to try.  This leads to UFO’s….Un-Finished Objects!  Yes, we have many UFO’s around the house, but eventually we do get them done.    Sometimes we are in the middle of a project when we hear of someone needing a pair of socks, or there’s a baby shower to go to, etc.  So we stop our current project and start a new one. 

But we love what we do with yarn, so we know eventually we will get all the projects done and there will be more UFO’s started.  It’s a fact of life if you are a yarn lover.

So exactly how much yarn do I have?   I really don’t know.  I do know you can probably find yarn in every room of my house, except the bathrooms.

Pink Baby Socks

Here I go again, making baby socks.  But they’re so easy and quick! 

I used a 100% wool fingering weight yarn for these little darlings.   And they are super next to skin soft for little baby feet.

I decorated them with some itty bitty plastic safety pin buttons.

They make cute little gifts for the new baby.  New moms and soon to be moms will love them.

Woolies For a Friend

Finally finished two pair of wool socks for a friend’s mom.  She got the wool yarn and sent it to me.    The wool is by Moda-Dea, 100% Merino wool, superwash that comes in 100 gram skeins.  Just enough for a pair of ankle socks.

The wool is very soft and easy to work with.  I also decorated each pair with charms and buttons.  The green pair have shamrock charms and the red pair have heart buttons.  I hope she enjoys them.  I have also included some Lavendar in the box.  Lavendar is supposed to keep bugs away in addition to smelling nice.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the finished socks.

Add a Little Zing to Your Knitting

I love to knit, but inticate patterns tend to bore me after awhile.  Adding a little ZING to your knitting can be done in other ways.

Fun fur (eyelash) yarn can be added to almost anything that you knit…socks, mittens, gloves, hats, sweaters, etc.  Buttons, beads and charms also make good embelishments to finished items.  Also crocheted edges or flowers look good if you don’t over do it.  And don’t forget the ever useful I-cord as pictured through the cable part of a belt below.

Here’s a few pictures to give you some ideas for your future knitting projects.