Category Archives: knitting pattern

Another knitter in the family

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Mr. Aitch and I visited with our son and his family while on our vacation. 

This was the first time that we met our daughter-in-law in person.  She is a delight, very down to earth, generous, super nice and a knitter.

She and I were both pleasantly surprised to learn that we were both knitters.

When my grandmother taught me to knit, it was (what I’ve since discovered) in the “cottage” style of knitting where the knitter would prop the right needle against their hip/waist/underarm for support and move the left needle.  Circular needles don’t offer that type of support.  Dpns don’t really allow for that either as they are usually 5-8 inches long.  Plus they are pretty thin (US 0-2) and very pointy.  Sometimes I stick one end of the dpn into a wine cork so I can still support the sharp point against my body and not poke holes through my clothes (or skin).  I just need to remember to move it as I knit from one needle to the next.

My daughter-in-law has mastered the two-at-a-time socks on circular needles.  I am a double point needle (dpn) sock knitter, however, I want to learn this technique.  During our visit, she gave me two sock knitting books:

The Sock à la Carte (c) 2008 by Jonelle Raffino, Katherine Cade and the SWTC Staff is so unique. 

The book has 17 cuff patterns, 20 body patterns and 18 heel and toe patterns that one can mix and match to create hundreds of different socks.

Part of the book contains flip pages to design your own unique combinations for the cuff, body, heel and toe that refer back to the directions for each section.

The other book 2-at-a-Time Socks (c) 2007 by Melissa Morgan-Oates explains the technique so well that I am going to give it a go. 

With 17 sock patterns included (and the patterns in the other book), I will have many to choose from for my first pair…just as soon as I finish more on my To-Do list.

Are you a sock knitter?  Do you use double point needles, circular needles, 2-at-a-time, or knit flat socks and seam?

The Accidental redo

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We’ve had such dark and dreary weather here for the past week so I decided to rip out the last part of the Accidental Shawl to the dropped stitch.  No point in waiting and forgetting the plan.  I also began to join the other colors sooner to make them blend in better.  The red is definitely a brighter shade than the original but I think it still works.

Instead of adding more eyelets (and doing the math so they would line up), I just increased stitches at regular intervals.  Then the last seven rows before binding off in a picot edge, I added two rows of eyelets without increasing the stitch count.  Meaning I would knit two together and do a yarn over (K2tog, YO).

The eyelets aren’t that noticeable since the yarn is variegated and I used a garter stitch throughout the shawl.

These two white stitches scared me at first as I thought I dropped another stitch.

But as you can see, it’s just a part of the dye (or lack of it) in that one section.

I’ll just weave in the ends and call it done!

The Accidental Shawl Part 2

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Mr. Aitch and I are finally back home from an extended vacation out west.  Along the way, we stopped to visit friends and family.  While stuck on the Interstate due to an accident, I began knitting a shawl based on the beginning of the Kindness shawl.

I didn’t want to deal with constantly looking at my work so I changed from stockinette stitch to plain garter stitch.  For non-knitters that means I knit every row.

Mr. Aitch drove the entire trip (his choice) which meant that I could knit when not navigating or knitting the row with the eyelets and the row after.

I knit about one third to one half while away and finished it once we got back home.  

Good thing as I was running out of yarn and I had to dive into my stash for some coordinating colors to knit the last several rows.

The shawl took a bath yesterday for blocking when I realized that I wasn’t extremely happy with it.

The eyelets are way out of line below the green line.

Plus I dropped a stitch.  Didn’t see that until I started stretching it out for blocking.  You can see the wonky eyelets better below…along with the dropped stitch.

I might tink it back to the eyelet row (which includes the dropped stitch) and begin adding the coordinating yarns earlier since I already know I won’t have enough.  They would blend in better.

But for now, it’s going to hibernate.

 

 

Calico is now Sunny Day

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Last week I mentioned that I was reknitting a top using some Berroco Calico yarn.  The colors are very difficult to capture but it is a riot of warm tones.

Using the Drops Sunny Day Top pattern, I decided to start on the front before I got to the armhole shaping for the back.  I want to use as much yarn as possible and at this point, I can make the top a bit longer or shorter as needed.

The top has a two stitch garter edge that should make seaming a breeze as well as four rows of garter stitch at the bottom to keep it from rolling too much.

My markers indicate the decrease rows.  Only eight stitches in all but it should give the top some shaping.

The charted back is relatively easy but I need to concentrate.

As you can see, I missed the correct placement of one of the yarn overs.  It’s closer to the bottom than the top and I’m not going to fix it.

That’s right.  It will be our secret.  Shhh!