Category: Knitting

Charting and Ripping

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Well, not that kind of ripping. Except maybe a little. Charting increases can get a little frustrating.

Don’t let this picture fool you, either. Ive gotten to, and past, that point at least three times by now. I stopped counting how many times I had to redo it. I keep getting to a certain point and having to rip the whole thing out and start over because I get off in the stitches and can’t figure out where.

This is going to be a Christmas present, so on one hand I have time and on the other I don’t. Once I get done with the crown increases it’s just simple knits and purls. It’s this crown that’s giving me the problem now.

NaBloPoMo November 2014

Bit By The Socktober Bug

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I had a post all ready to go to tell you about my little sock starters that are only toes. But I obviously can’t post that one because (if you’ve been following along on Twitter) it’s obvious that these are not just toes anymore.

https://twitter.com/caseykayb/status/524650606154088449

This is where I was on Tuesday, when I started the original post and

https://twitter.com/caseykayb/status/525063777536856064

this is where I was the next day. I honestly didn’t know I would get that far, but now I can see why so many people are addicted to the sock knitting. It goes so fast and starts looking like recognizable things very very quickly.

See, it was really strange that I wasn’t a sock knitter. I have an extensive collection of socks, but only one pair I had made myself. And I’ve been knitting for over ten years! Ok, I have knit quite a few socks (you can see some of them here), but they aren’t all for me. Every knitter’s plight, eh?

So this time I’m winging it…kind of. I have Wendy Bernard’s excellent guide, Custom Knits Accessories, for basic guidance. But I’m doing these toe up rather than the top down example in the book, so everything goes backward. Plus I’m just putting it on my foot to check measurement instead of actually measuring anything. Makes it go a whole lot faster. Well, except for having to take of my shoe and socks multiple times at jiujitsu Tuesday, but that’s a completely different story…

Aside from weaving in the ends (which will probably take me another two months to get around to because…meh), I think these might be done tonight. I’m so close, I can feel it! And for the first time in my life I will have made a pair of socks in October for Socktober. Yippee!

Adventures in Grafting

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I often see knitters who have a general disdain for grafting, or Kitchner stitch. I don’t know why. I love how it makes it easier to make things in the shape you want. Take these dishcloths, for example

I tried three times to get them square by working them corner to corner, but the knit corners were always rounded and the final corner always ended up way too long. Finally I just decided to work two halves at a time, making two triangles that I then grafted together. Perfect squares every time.

Here I’m going to take a little bunny trail to give you the basic formula:

Basic Diagonal Dischloth

Materials

  • 100% cotton yarn (I use Peaches and Cream from Michaels because it is readily available and feels nice on my fingers)
  • Size 7 or 8 knitting needles (preferably circular, but you can use whatever you can find)
  • Yarn needle

Instructions

  1. Cast on two sets of three stitches (either working from different ends of the same ball of yarn or two different balls). From now on, instructions are written once to be done on each set of stitches.
  2. Knit row
  3. Knit one, make one, knit one, make one, knit one
  4. Knit row
  5. (RS)Knit two, yarn over, knit to last two stitches, yarn over, knit two
  6. (WS)Knit two, purl to last two stitches, knit two

    7. Repeat last two rows until sides measure as long as you want them. I use my hand and make the sides reach from my wrist to the end of my middle finger. You can decide how long you want yours to be. End on RS row. Graft together with WS facing in. This is where having them on circular needles will help, but you can always transfer one side to the empty needle if using straight needles.

    This next one takes the grafting to the next level, though. I started on each point and made diamonds. Or at least aimed to make diamonds. I ran out of the self-striping yarn, so I continued on from that point as if I were making a regular two-sided square. Then I connected those two pieces, and grafted the outside pieces to the straight edges.

    I’m really liking the options making things in pieces gives me. I’ve always tried to make everything in as few pieces as possible, but perhaps having a little more flexibility makes the extra work in putting it all together at the end worth it.