Knitting Goals 2017

January 3, 2017 Martha13 Comments

What are your knitting goals for this year?

Let us look at some of the possibilities.

First and foremost, organize just one aspect of your knitting life. This doesn’t mean you have to go hog wild and add an extra room onto your house for all of your yarn. (Although aside from the work actually disrupting your life, that would be a cool thing to have, wouldn’t it?)

Let us take a couple of examples that are truly useful for your knitting time and energy.

Yes, you have needles. Galore. More than you could ever use. But you love them all. I get it. If you have any broken needles, forget fixing them. Throw them out. If you have old needles you know you will never use, donate them. At the very least, take your old needles, place them far far away from your knitting supplies and see if you use them this year. Make sure your circular needles are easy to access by placing like sizes and lengths into quart size zipper bags and LABEL them. Then put them in order by size in some sort of pouch. This can be as simple as a larger zippered bag, an empty bag from new pillowcases, or a freebie makeup pouch.

If you have a lot of double point needles, invest in a pouch or make one like I did:

I found this pattern for a double point needle case in Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller.

https://www.amazon.com/Stitch-n-Bitch-Knitters-Handbook/dp/0761128182

I labeled the pockets with paper sticky labels. They didn’t stick by themselves, so I used some craft glue to hold them to the fabric. If I need to change a label, they can easily be peeled off and replaced. Investing or making a double point needle case is important! Hiya Hiya has a cute one here.

The KEY to keeping your needles in order is to (obviously) put them away properly when you are done using them. Ok, I’ll admit that I don’t do this every time I am done using a needle, but I do go through my pouches at least a couple of times a month and put the needles in proper order. You can’t believe how much time this will save you when you go to start that next gauge swatch. (Notice I didn’t say “project”, mind you, I said “gauge swatch”! Imagine how much time you waste hunting for needles, finding a needle gauge tool, checking every needle over and over again in that (great big) bin of needles to locate the correct one. AAAArgh! It just makes me want to run around the block! (No it doesn’t, but it is really irritating!)

Another way to get organized is by sorting your yarn. Ooooh, this can be a scary one. Go back to sorting needles if this frightens you too much.

There are many ways to organize yarn. You may want to think like a yarn store. Never mind that you have enough yarn to open your own yarn store! Categorize yarn by weight or fiber, or even color. (I don’t categorize by color, I don’t have THAT much yarn, hee hee.)

I personally use more than one method. All of my felting yarn is in a bin together, arranged (sort of) by color.
This bin hides under the guest bed. If I need yarn for felting, I know where to go.

Another bin holds only sock and lace weight yarn. You can’t believe how much yarn you need to have to make Tiny Yarn Baskets and Jolly Wee Elves! Organizing those two categories alone for me is really all I would need to do.

But wait, there’s more. I have a bin that holds ongoing projects. Some of these have been “ongoing” for years, but that’s no matter. I have a bin with a section of superwash wool, cotton and cotton blends. I consider that my kiddie section for washability.

Now that you may have organized one of the above categories, it is time to consider your actual knitting goals for 2017. What would you like to learn as a knitter? What frustrates you most about knitting that you would like to overcome?

One of my goals for 2017 is to have blogs for all of these topics. Maybe the guide to your goal is one of these topics. Here are some possibilities.

Sewing your finished garment
Picking up stitches
Counting rows and stitches
Fair Isle
Blocking
Intarsia
Measuring a gauge swatch
Knitting for charity

There is something for everyone! Pick one or more and make it a priority for this year. I am looking forward to so many new topics!

If you would like to request a topic, place a comment at the end of an article. I really do read them!

The home page purposely shows only my latest six topics. Click on “Older Posts” to see all of my articles. You can search the site for anything by typing in the search bar. Make sure you are “subscribed” to my website. Scroll down to the bottom of any page, find the button that says “subscribe” and enter your email address. Also, click on the icons for Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to add your ideas, pictures and comments. If you click on the You Tube icon, it will take you directly to my You Tube channel, which has over 40 knitting instructional videos! Please take the time to subscribe to my You Tube channel! Thank you for having fun with me!

Can’t wait to get started! 2017! Hurray!

Knitting for Christmas

December 5, 2016December 6, 2016 Martha8 Comments

One of the pleasures of Christmas is creating items for the season. Whether you keep these knit items for yourself or give them to others, making them will surely bring a smile to your face.

One of the first Christmas knits that I am crazy about is the “Jolly Wee Elf” from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.The pattern is available on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jolly-wee-elf

Initially, I made a couple of these elves.

I added eyes and a nose with embroidery floss because I felt they
deserved a face. After a couple of them, I became slightly obsessed. I made more and more and posted the pictures to Ravelry.

Someone on Ravelry commented that they looked like an Elf Choir, and I had to oblige. I made tiny choir folders for each of them with the music for “Stille Nacht.”

The elves seemed to enjoy their German heritage and of course “Stille Nacht” by German composer Hans Xaver Gruber and lyricist Joseph Mohr in 1818 is the carol they would sing.

I applied a toothpick between the music and the black folder so the elves can “hold” their choir folders.

This bit of fussing over some knit elves wasn’t finished. Unless I placed them in a huge semicircle or lined them up, you couldn’t see all of them. What to do? Why, make them choir risers, of course! I hunted down a couple of empty boxes of the appropriate size and arranged them nicely. They are lacking a choir director right now, I will think of them more as a Madrigal group until I have knit a conductor out of dark charcoal grey sock yarn. See? I still have ongoing plans for them!

Next, we have an easy project for anyone. Do you have “extra” yarn that you would like to “use up”? Make loads of pom poms and attach them with floral pins to a conical green Styrofoam base. What could be more fun for a side table or mantel? Add a knit star at the top for extra flair.

The topper is “Stars” by Squibbly Bups on Ravelry.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stars-16

Finally, a favorite pattern I have designed is the “Tiny Yarn Basket.”

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tiny-yarn-basket-2

This item is not limited to Christmas, but can be worked up any time you need a little fun item to knit. I have a crochet ornament on my Christmas tree like this that I have had for years and I have no idea where it came from. I looked for a pattern that I liked, but none of the easy knit patterns was for a round shaped basket. So… I made one up!

The basket can be used as an ornament, or a resting decorative piece. Give them to your friends or attach them to a gift.

All of these Christmas knits are fairly quick and look just too sweet for words. I hope you like these as much as I do!

This video will help you see how to pick up stitches around the base of the Tiny Yarn Basket.

Knitting Blog

Hats!

November 16, 2016November 17, 2016 Martha11 Comments

We are coming up to hat season. I love making hats! They can be teeny tiny for a newborn, or a shower cap slouchy style for my mom. (She doesn’t like her hair to get smashed!)

Hats are relatively easy to make, firstly, of course, you need an idea of yarn, needles, and, yes, stitches per inch! (Remember that gauge swatch?) Now, of course gauge is not as important in a hat as it is in a sweater, so I will look the other way if you check the ball band and make an educated guess about the number of stitches in one inch! For our hat today we will be making a knit hat with no special stitches. I only make hats in the round, on 16″ circular needles, then switch to double point needles when decreasing.

Let’s talk about some numbers. Don’t get all scared. These numbers are about a third grade (ok, maybe fourth grade) level.

According to the Craft Yarn Council’s Standards, http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/headsize.html, the circumference for hats is as follows:

Preemie: 12” Baby: 14” Toddler: 16” Child: 18” Woman: 21” Man: 22”

These numbers start us off for our hat.

Next, check how many stitches are in one inch of knitting in your desired pattern. The ball band usually states the number of stitches in 4” and gives a suggested needle size. Start there. If you are not sure about the gauge on the ball band, you must make a swatch. Again, since this is a hat, I will let you get away with making the swatch flat, but technically, you would make the swatch in the round, since you will knit the hat in the round.

So… Let’s say the ball band says 22sts=4”/10cm in stockinette stitch. (I like to use inches, ‘cuz the US never switched over to metric back in the ‘70’s.) We know how to get the number of stitches in one inch because we know how many stitches are in four inches, right?

22sts (from the ball band) ÷ 4 (inches) = 5.5 sts in one inch.

Now, take the number in one inch (5.5) and multiply it by the inches you would like your hat to be. Let’s say Child. We look at our handy dandy Craft Yarn Council chart above and find that a Child’s hat circumference should be 18”.

5.5 sts in one inch x 18” (calculator on phone, hold on one second) = 99.

99 is the magic number to cast on for this hat, in this yarn, on this needle, for this size. You get my drift: different yarn, different needle, different size, = different numbers.

To make things a bit easier for shaping the top of the hat later on, I like to cast on a multiple of 8. You don’t have to cast on that multiple, but the number should be a multiple of 12 or less. I like 8 because it is also a multiple of 2 and 4, so you can have 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 ribbing at the edge.

But wait… you say! 99 is not a multiple of 8! You are so correct, my little mathematician! What is the number closest to 99 that is a multiple of 8? You can go to your calculator, I won’t look. Ta Dah! The number to cast on for this hat is 96!!

Instructions for knitting in the round often say something like: Join into round, being careful not to twist. Pm (place marker) to show the beginnning of the round. The marker should be a round one, not a pin, small and thin. I used to do a couple of “fancy joins”, but now I just commence knitting and use the tail to close up any gaps later.

Work the hat in the round on 16” needles or double point needles to the desired height. The minimum height before shaping is as follows.

Preemie: 4.5” Baby: 5” Toddler: 6” Child: 6.5” Woman: 7” Man: 8”

When you arrive at the height for your size, you will begin decreasing for the crown. You can stay on the circular needle to decrease a few rounds before changing to double point needles (dpns).

Because our hat has a multiple of 8 stitches, we will decrease in groups of 8. For the first round, you will k6, k2tog around. Get it? 6 plus the 2 you knit together = 8. This is like magic, isn’t it?

I like to work one round of plain knit between each decrease round, but you can also decrease on every round.

Then, on the next decreased round, since you have reduced your number of stitches, you now have a multiple of 7 on your needle. So… You guessed it, this next decrease round is k5, k2tog. Knit one round even and the next decrease round is k4, k2tog around. You will always end a round with a k2tog, so if this isn’t the case you need to go back and check your work, take out a round and re work. We like these decreases to line up, and it will show if they don’t. Here are two videos showing how to take out stitches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUzCTut8O5Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grBeHU5xo3o

Now you can clearly see what we are doing here! Every time you reduce stitches on a decrease round, you go to the next multiple down. Genius!

When the stitches become too snug to work around on your circular needle, begin using double point needles. Don’t be scared. You can do it.

I like to start using my dpns at the beginning of a decrease round, not an even knit round. This keeps the decreases in tidy order for next rounds.

It is not important that you have the same number of stitches on each dpn, but it is important that you end each dpn with a decrease. For instance if your sequence is k3, k2tog, you will do a few of those onto the first dpn, always ending the dpn with a k2tog. In this way, you won’t have to be shifting stitches from one needle to another later.

When the top of your hat is somewhere between 6 to 10 stitches (this isn’t rocket science), you will gather the top of your hat. Cut the yarn leaving about a 9” tail or so, and thread the end into a tapestry needle. (A fat sewing needle with a big huge eye.)

Starting with the first dpn you would have continued to knit off of, run the sewing needle through the remaining stitches. I like to remove the stitches one at a time onto my tapestry needle slipping them as if I am purling. Do not pull tight at this point. After all of the stitches are transferred off of the dpns, carefully run your yarn tail through those stitches again. Careful, ‘cuz you don’t want to split the yarn. Then ease the stitches closed by gently pulling the yarn and stretching the hat to even everything out. Take the tail to the inside of the hat (not through the center, but to the side), and voila! HAT ACHIEVEMENT!

Knitting Blog

Red Mittens; A Personal story

November 6, 2016November 5, 2016 Martha10 Comments

I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the youngest of a fun, wonderful family. My mom and dad raised us 10 children in a beautiful historic home on the North End.

As you might imagine, it can get very cold in South Dakota in the winter time. Four of my seven brothers even flooded the side yard to build an ice skating rink every winter for about 12 years. I learned to skate at a very young age wearing boy’s double blade skates. Of course, I longed for girl’s white skates, but that would come later when I grew into my sisters’ skates.

I learned early on that mittens are the best way to keep one’s hands warm. Especially wool mittens. Especially RED wool mittens. Not gloves. “Why are mittens warmer than gloves?” I asked my dad. “Because the fingers are not separate, but all together to give each other warmth and hold the warm air inside the mitten.” This made a lot of sense to me!

My mom is not a “knitter” in the way most of us would think, but she can knit. She doesn’t recall exactly when she learned how to knit, but miraculously, she made a beautiful pair of red wool mittens that lasted about 18 years and were worn by more than one person. I was the last one to get to wear them. When I became a knitter, I asked my mom how she knew how to make mittens on double point needles, because it can be a little tricky to work with small double points on fingering weight yarn. She said a friend guided her in the knitting, and it was the only pair she ever made.

Those red mittens were the BEST. Bright red and made of fingering weight wool, they were warm and toasty. If they got wet from playing out in the snow, we placed them on the radiator inside the back door to dry them. If you put them on later, they were dry and sometimes even hot from the radiator. They were perfect for playing in the snow because of the wool’s natural moisture wicking tendencies, and it took a long time for them to get truly soaked.

We were lucky enough to live within walking distance of our school. I met my friends on various corners in the neighborhood to join up for the walk and it could be quite fun. I was usually the first one in our family to get home from school in the afternoon. Mom was always home when school was over. Our front door was usually locked as we used the back door almost exclusively, and the back door would be locked until we children started to arrive home in the afternoon.

The back door in those days was made of wood with a clear window in the top third of the door. It is down five steps from the main level. Our doorbell for the front door and the back door had the same ring, a simple “ding dong” two note sound. Sometimes, if you went to the back door first and didn’t see anyone there, you would go to the front door. The house is pretty big, so this could take a little while. Then, not finding anyone at the front door, you would return to the back door and walk down the steps to peer out to see if a child was waiting outside and couldn’t been seen through the window.

Now, some children might like to make their mother go from back door, to front door, to back door again for the delight in it, but I would have never done that, and besides, it was COLD!

So, how could I show my mom that I was the one standing at the back door ringing the bell?

I simply held my red-mittened hand up into the window so not only could she see that someone was there, but that I was that someone! We had our little signal together.

Unfortunately, after all of those years, one mitten was lost. I have to admit that I was probably the one who lost it. It may have dropped out of my coat pocket while walking home from school on a nicer day when I was not wearing the mittens. My mom says that I most likely was not the one who “lost” it, but that it got “mislaid” somewhere. Thanks, mom!

The second mitten from the pair hasn’t been seen in about 30 years, but I know it must be around the house, tucked in a corner of one of the coat closets!

I love making mittens. Now I live where it never gets cold enough to wear them, so I make fingerless mitts instead!

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/posy-fingerless-mitts

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spanish-crown-mitts

This video will show you how to create the “crown” for the Spanish Crown Mitts:

Knitting Blog

Double Points: No Fear!

October 31, 2016October 31, 2016 Martha2 Comments

Just the phrase “Double Point Needles” can strike fear into the heart of many a knitter. It doesn’t have to be so scary. I will give you a few tips to help you with double point needles (dpns).

When starting a small item on dpns, cast on the total number of stitches onto one dpn. Don’t try to cast on to three needles. (That is like leaving puppies alone in a room with yarn and wooden needles. Ask me how I know.)

After casting on, you can divide the stitches onto three dpns. Slip stitches as if you are going to purl them to the remaining two dpns. If you slip the stitches knitwise, they will be twisted. Just picture transferring stitches without any finagling. You will work the stitches with the empty fourth needle. (You can also divide the stitches onto four dpns and knit with a fifth.) You may not be able to divide the stitches evenly, but close is fine. Place the three dpns onto a table in a triangle (or square) shape, with the working yarn on the right hand needle. Make sure that the cast on stitches are not twisted when you begin, they should all be facing the same direction. Try to keep the needles balanced a bit on a table when joining and working the first round. I don’t do any special maneuver to join, simply begin to work the stitches to attach into the round. You can use the tail from the cast on to close any gaps later.

While working with dpns, don’t try to hang onto more than the two needles that are doing the work at a time. Just concentrate on the two needles that are doing the work. This might feel awkward at first, as the extra two needles feel like they are hanging out in the breeze, but if you just focus on the two needles in your hands, you will be much happier! It might be helpful to squeeze your eyes into a bit of a squint like a small child to remind yourself that you are really only working with two needles at a time.

Sometimes you can mysteriously find yourself trying to knit off of only two (or one!) needle. Here is a tip that will help you keep your knitting on all of the required needles. Do not put the empty needle down when shifting to work the next dpn. Just sneak the empty needle from your left hand into your right palm and you are golden!

Starting a dpn with a purl stitch can be problematic for some knitters. Make sure the yarn is in the front before you purl the first stitch, with the empty working needle coming in from behind. Squeeze your eyes into that child like squint again. Think of how you would start a row of knitting with a purl, then apply that same grey matter to the two needles in your hands, and concentrate on only two needles.

To avoid any gaps that might occur while switching from one dpn to the next, don’t try to pull and pull on the yarns. Just a firm wrap on the second stitch of each dpn should do the trick.

It is easiest to start practicing with dpns at the top of a hat. Most hats you can knit in the round on a 16” needle until the decreasing forces you to switch to dpns. Don’t wait until the top of the hat is stretched too tightly, though, as this can distort the stitches. The top of the hat only needs a few rounds of shaping with the dpns, so this can be an introduction to them. When using dpns on the next round of shaping for the crown of a hat, I like to knit the stitches onto the dpns one at a time. I knit the stitches off of the round needle onto three dpns, then use a fourth dpn to knit around.

Switch to dpns on a decrease round, and while knitting this decrease round, end each double point with a decrease. For instance, if the next round is K3, k2tog around, make sure you end each dpn with a K2tog. This way, you won’t have to rearrange the stitches later while decreasing. Work roughly a third of the stitches onto each dpn, but note that you don’t have to have the exact same number of stitches on each dpn, as not all numbers can be divided by three evenly!

“I can’t use dpns!”

“How will I ever be able to work with dpns?”

Practice, practice, practice! You can’t get good at this technique without a teeny tiny bit of practice. Try using some leftover yarn to practice starting with double points until you are ready to tackle your project. Don’t be intimidated by more than two needles and some yarn! Now… go DO IT!

And… Count how many times I used the term(s) dpn(s) in this article!

Knitting Blog

Don’t Be a Slave to the Pattern

October 3, 2016November 18, 2016 MarthaLeave a comment

Let’s say you find a pattern for a sweater that you love.

But, it’s for a cropped sweater and you prefer a waist length sweater. What to do?The first option is to keep looking for that exact sweater in a waist length version. Good luck! The obvious answer is: Make the body of the sweater longer!

Ok, now you still like the sweater, but it shows ¾ length sleeves and you like ‘em long. Same thing, right?

Now you are thinking! Continue reading “Don’t Be a Slave to the Pattern” →