It's definitely dishcloth knitting season here in Arizona. Days of knitting a lap-full of wool are long gone and I've been shopping for all the new colors of cotton I can get my hands on! Designing dishcloths, (or washcloths), is a fun summertime pastime for me - so here's my first free dishcloth pattern of the season: We celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday with a pacific coast cruise up to Vancouver, B.C. I loved touring the city and Stanley Park is amazing! I was inspired by the colorful totem poles we visited in the park to create this cloth, which is also handcrafted with lots of stacked, colorful detail. A simple four row pattern creates the pleasing pattern that is just as … [Read more...]
Mini Crazy Eights Dishcloth
By now, you know that I'm partial to those scrappy type projects that use up leftovers. Call it thriftiness, fussiness or just plain tightwad-ery, but I get an extraordinary amount of satisfaction over using up every little bit of my project yarn. Round dishcloths are so fun, and the Crazy Eights dishcloth is fast and easy. I admire its' modern sensibility. It occurred to me that a half-sized version would make an excellent coaster, scrubby or makeup remover. It's also the perfect size to create a tutorial with, so you don't have to watch me slog through all those stitches in each row. Although this pattern is smaller, watching the video tutorial below will give you the idea of how to … [Read more...]
APRIL DYE-ALONG: Hand Painted Yarn
I have a special treat for you today. A chance to play with both yarn and Easter egg dyes that will take you back to a time when you could count your age on your own two hands. Creating hand painted yarn with Easter egg dyes is safe and effective. The dye will wear off your fingers but stay permanent on your yarn! Don't worry about coloring within the lines! Apply your favorite colors in whatever pattern makes you happy. It's playtime, knitters! Here's what you'll need: super-wash wool yarn, or any protein based yarn such as llama, alpaca, silk or milk fiber. *Plant based yarns or acrylics won't work for this project Easter egg dye tablets white vinegar Large pot and … [Read more...]
APRIL DYE-ALONG: Kettle Dyed Yarn
Easter Egg dyes are the best! So bright and rich, in easy to use little tablets. I always get great results using them. This week, we'll experiment with kettle dyed yarn using Easter egg dye tablets! Since I've started doing this, I've noticed they've begun to make all kinds of deluxe easter egg dyeing kits, but for this, you'll just want the basic dye kit with tablets. Mine had lots of colors, and although it's difficult to tell what color they are in tablet form - all you need to do is dab them on a damp paper towel to see the colors: Kettle dyed yarn is unique in that you can create a deep tonal color by layering several colors on top of one another. You'll be dyeing in your crock pot, … [Read more...]
APRIL DYE-ALONG : Koolaid Gradient Yarn
Don't you love those beautiful round cakes of gradient dyed yarns? They're so lovely! My problem with what's available in craft stores? They're all either acrylic or acrylic blends. When it comes to yarn, I really prefer natural fibers, so I've learned to dye my own wool gradients using easy to obtain sock yarn. For this tutorial I used a white skein of Red Heart Heart & Sole sock yarn. Gradients can be created with colors that gradually change, such as depth of saturation in one color, as it changes from one color to another, or with related colors as I did above. If you want to do a gradient with depth of saturation changes, simply make different concentrations of the same … [Read more...]
APRIL DYE-ALONG : Koolaid Speckle Dyed
We are celebrating the arrival of spring flowers and colored eggs by learning to dye yarn in our kitchen all month long! Every week we'll post a new technique using fun food-safe dye experiments. Our first technique uses unsweetened powdered koolaid packets. I really love the trendy speckled yarn I see by so many talented indy dyers, and there couldn't be an easier technique to begin with than speckle dyeing with powdered koolaid. Here's what you'll need: latex gloves (those blue nitrile ones give the best protection) a large glass casserole dish plastic wrap white vinegar 4 packets of koolaid in your desired colors (or 1 packet per ounce of yarn) white or light colored … [Read more...]
Knit in the Round 5 Day Challenge!
Hey Knitters! Are you ready to take your knitting to the next level this year? You've wanted to learn to knit socks, mitts, and hats but there's one thing holding you back - knitting in the round. It's so fiddly, right? Wrong! I have a wonderful technique that will make knitting in the round easier using 2 sets of circular needles. With half your stitches on one needle and half on the other, knitting in the round becomes knitting flat twice. Simple as pie. I have a few tricks that will help you master it, so come along and join our Five Day Knit in the Round Challenge! The Challenge: The original challenge was live March 4th - 8th, I sent a link to a short 5 - 10 minute video … [Read more...]
Make Herb Filled Knitted Sachets
Knitted hearts filled with dried herbs make a wonderful gift for yourself and do double duty by protecting your knitwear and yarn. When you 're a knitter, you begin to acquire little balls of leftover yarns. Some you can dispose of easily, but it's those small leftovers of luxury yarns such as leftover handspun that really get you. They multiply, filling bowls and baskets until they cry out for attention that only a resourceful knitter can give. I like to periodically recycle my own tangled collection into small useful items that increase my knitterly happiness and make me glad to surround myself with. As Marie Kondo describes, these little knitted sachets definitely "spark joy" … [Read more...]
A Self Awareness Workout for Knitters
With knitting, there's really only one way to be totally sure that the project you embark upon will come out to be the size the designer intended - knitting a swatch with the intended yarn and needles before you begin. I know, I know - I can hear the loud collective groan from knitters everywhere. Knitting projects take time and it's excruciating to add even more time to a project with a boring ol' swatch. Besides, it'll be probably be fine, right? Won't it? Not always! Sometimes the failure to swatch makes the entire project a waste of time, yarn and energy. It's so disappointing when that happens. But what if you could get some insight into how the project is likely to turn out for you? … [Read more...]
Weightless Produce Bag 2.0
Downloadable PDF file HERE Downloadable PDF file in GERMAN The original Weightless Produce Bag has become pretty popular! As of this writing, over 600 projects of this little knitted mesh bag have been documented and photographed on Ravelry, and the pattern has been translated into both Swedish and Norwegian by wonderful knitters who wanted to help make it more widely available. Thank you Jonna Bostrom and and Anne Bruvold for your generous time and effort! What makes it so attractive? Less plastic use in the store and at the farmers market, no added charge for a heavy bag at the cash register, and did I say LESS plastic? Resourceful knitters are saving the world! After … [Read more...]
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