Stitch Markers

Hey Everyone! 

Stitch Markers are a wonderful thing. They are small little rings that slide on your needle to mark when you need to switch what kind of stitch you are working on. There are a couple kinds of projects that I don’t really use them on, but for most things when I am working on a special pattern within whatever I am making I make full use of stitch markers. 

The two exceptions to my stitch marker rule are when the the pattern you are working on changes every time you work on the right side (like lace or the Saxon braid). On those you just really need to be paying attention. 

The other patterns I use, especially for sweaters I use stitch markers, because I an pretty much doing the same thing every time I get to the stitch markers. It makes life less complicated using stitch markers so I don’t have to count, and I don’t have to pay as close attention to what I am working on as I am one of those who can knit and not have to look at what I am working on at every moment. 

Working with Wool = Bliss

Hey Everyone! 

This past week I have been spending time working on my fishermen’s wool tweed poncho. I am definitely going to be making a two piece poncho, but how I am going to link the two pieces I have not decided on yet. 

I am going between two straight pieces linked on the top and bottom to create a rectangular poncho, or linking side to end to create a triangle poncho. 

Having warm projects in the works reminds me that fall and winter are coming again, which I am getting excited for. I love the cooler weather and the rain. I am totally partial to fall and winter fashion, and the warm clothes. 

Fishermen’s wool has become my favorite yarn to work with for personal projects. It makes warm garments without being super heavy, and it still has its own natural lanolin which makes it very water resistant. Having that water resistance where I live for in the winter is very important. 

Love helping children

Hey Everyone!

I have made a bit of progress on my size 10 knit for kids sweater. I am about 3 inches away from casting on sleeves on the front of my sweater.

I still love knitting garments for kids in need, that has not changed. The kids I knit for are important to me. This year I have been working on more personal projects, because I also want cute knitwear for myself. If you have been reading my blog for any length of time now you will know I knit almost as many sweaters last year as I did in the first decade I had made sweaters. Helping children living in poverty is something I love doing, it is right up there with being outdoors and going on adventures.

Saxon Braid

Hey Everyone!

This week’s Pattern is the Saxon Braid. The pattern that I used I found here. The pattern itself is a diagram on a graph square. There are no written instructions for this pattern, just the pictures.

Beings that I am a visual person, I figured it out on my own, with a couple restarts. I learned that the dots were purled stitches, and the slanted colored lines were where the stockinette stitches were being held to the front while a purled stitch was brought to the back (I would often look to the next row up to get an idea of what it should look like when the WS was complete).

I have made two scarves using this pattern, and for me it helped to print out the full pattern grid from the blog I found it on (which I linked above) and then in the little squares on the right it helped me, to write in the row number (1 being on the bottom 16 being at the top). This pattern repeats on itself to make the item you are working on as long as you need it to be. 

Rows 3, 7, 11 and 15 are “set up” rows where you are moving the purled stitched to set up for the cross over/under of the stockinette stitches which take places on 1, 5, 9 and 13.  So row 15 “sets up” for row 1. Row 3 “sets up” for row 5, row 7 “sets up” for row 9 and row 11 “sets up” for row 13. if that makes any sense to anyone else but me. 

This is one of my least favorite to work on, but one of my favorites once it is complete. It takes time and concentration for me to get a project complete. I love using this pattern in combination with Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool yarn. 

Knit for where your Heart is

Hey Everyone!

This week’s tip is for those who want to knit for charity: knit for a cause you actually care about.

Ravelry is a great resource for finding groups and causes to knit for (as many groups are formed around a particular cause or charity)

The two causes I regularly knit for I got involved with through the church I attend and fell in love with and became passionate about what I was doing over time, and that’s okay too.

Seed Stitch Poncho

Hey Everyone!

I have been working on the poncho I wrote about last Wednesday. I restarted it twice. The first restart was because I am not using a pattern so I had cast on about twice as many stitches as I actually needed. The second restart was due to reverting back to the original stitch pattern I had begun on the original project, I had switched up the pattern on the first restart.

On the project I am working on I am using the seed stitch for a stitch pattern and I am going to make two panels and then link them together once I get both panels knit.

Growing up I never really had cute knitwear for the cold months so I am working on making my own knitwear now that I am an adult and know how to knit. I also love working with Fishermen’s Wool so it all works out.

I am also excited to see how this poncho turns out once I get it done.

Spreading my Knitting Around

Hey Everyone!

In addition to working on the size 10 knit for kids sweater I talked about last week, I have also been working on hats for children in need over the weekend. I am trying to get some more infant hats knit up for the Bundles of Joy project, which oversees baby items that are made for babies born on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

I have mentioned in the past that I enjoy making items for children in need, especially for children within my own country.

Having so much baby yarn as it is, makes knitting infant hats all that much easier. While I try to use the big skeins for blankets first, once I have gotten blankets made, then I will often use what is left over for hats for infants or children in need.

Hats are also an important item to knit and donate because they help keep children’s heads warm when it is cold. In some areas kids receive coats but they don’t get hats as well unless someone or some group comes together to make these children hats.

Seed Stitch

Hey Everyone!

This week’s pattern is the seed stitch (or British Moss Stitch).

This pattern is super easy. All you do is:

Row 1: *K1 P1 Across*
Row 2: *P1 K1 Across*

So you start out like you are doing a single rib going across the first row, and then you do the reverse on the wrong side, and just keep repeating the 2 row pattern until you obtain the length you need.

Gauging yarn in yardage

Hey Everyone!

My tip for this week, is when you are yarn shopping, make sure you also check the yardage you will need for a project against the yardage per skein of yarn to determine how many skeins you will need. It is better to have a bit of yarn left over than to not have enough. Weights per skein of yarn are a good general guideline, but the yardage you get per weight will vary between yarns.

I figured this out because I barely had any yarn left over from a 16 ounce skein of yarn when I made a size 8 knit for kids sweater, when the guidelines say 14 ounces makes an 8. Then I got looking at the yardage for that brand of yarn, versus what the guidelines say for how many yards you need for an 8, versus another brand that makes a 16 ounce skein of yarn. That is when I tuned in to the fact that the yarn I had used was thicker, so you get fewer yards to the ounce, verses a thinner (yet still 4 ply) yarn from a different brand. So in the future I will just have to remember that I cannot make a size 10 with just one skein of the thicker brand of yarn.

Yardage is also important and useful when you are working with a pattern that you can use different types of yarn with, and they give you how much yarn you will need in yards. Again, I would rather have a bit of yarn left over than run out, and need to scramble to try to find more yarn, and possibly not be able to find the same yarn I had bought, and then not be able to complete my project.

Starting a New Project

Hey Everyone!

A quick update on my falling leaves wrap: I got it finished yesterday evening, and I am just needing to finish blocking it

So with it being done and off the needles I am starting a poncho for myself using Lion Brand Yarns Fishermen’s Wool in Oak Tweed.

I finished it up yesterday as I have been catching up on sleep now that camp is over, and I am able to get back to more of a regular schedule.

Beings that I have been making excellent progress on my newest knit for kids sweater I am taking a little time to start a new personal project so that I will have two projects in the works. At least I am keeping my newest personal project simpler than the last one. I am going to be using the seed stitch on my poncho, and keeping it easy.