Gifted knits 2016 Part 1

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Fingerless mitts were on the needles of knitted gifts for my granddaughters this year.

The twins wanted mitts just like the ones I knit for their mother. I used some stash yarn I purchased years ago for sweaters for them (that didn’t get made). The difference is the edging color so they can tell them apart. Easy care acrylic yarn that is machine washable and dryable.

Shirl’s Mitts. Using worsted weight yarn and dropped down to size US 5 needle so they would be smaller.

I understand that as soon as these were unwrapped on Christmas morning, the girls put them on and wore them all day!

My other granddaughter wanted fingerless mitts as well. I decided to use a more complicated pattern since I only had to make one pair.

Point Reyes Mitts from Classic Elite. The pattern called for a wool/bamboo yarn but once again, I shopped from my stash. The color was the important part along with easy care so I used Cleckheaton Country 8 ply yarn, 100% washable wool. I also went down one size needle to US 3 to make them smaller.

Fun pattern that is both written and charted.

They fit her perfectly.

Advent Calendar update

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

The completed opened yarn calendar.

Now what do I make with all these yummy colors???

Ladders

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

In all my knitted items in-the-round I have never, ever had ladders between my needles.

Not a knitter? A ladder is what happens to the stitches on the ends of each double-pointed needle when the tension changes. It shows up between your double-pointed needles looking like a dropped stitch. Click here for ways to avoid this.

I’m not sure what happened this time except that I was using three needles and the working needle instead of four and not pulling the second stitch on the needle as tightly as I should have while I was knitting. Plus this is knitted inside out and the laddering occurred in the purl section so it wasn’t as noticeable to me.

So the hat will be ripped out until I get to the purl section and I’m either going to use four needles and a working needle or switch to a short circular needle.

What’s your trick to avoid ladders?