A Join-As-You-Go Tutorial

I've been working on two blanket projects recently. One is a strip blanket pattern that is in the works and the other is a Blocks of the Month project with my knitting group. I've come up with an easy way to join the strips as you knit them. This gives you a very strong and flexible join between pieces. And no seams to sew when you're done!

This method works on any pieces that have garter stitch along the edges.

The white stitch is from the last row worked. The peach yarn on the needle is the working yarn. The yellow block is to be joined to the peach block that I'm knitting.

Here's how it's done:

Knit across the right side row until you have 1 stitch left to knit. Slip that (white) unworked stitch from the left needle to the right needle. (Picture #1)

Look at the edge of the strip where you will be joining this row. See the bumps hanging out at the edge? Find the purl bump that is closest to the edge of the yellow block that matches the row you are knitting. (You'll be joining a right side row to one garter ridge in the strip on the left. )

Go up under this yellow stitch and lift it onto the right needle next to the white stitch. (Picture #2)

Now take your left needle and insert it through both stitches from the left to the right (Picture #3). Yarnover with your working yarn (peach) and knit these 2 stitches together. Join complete! (Picture #4)

Turn the strip you are knitting and knit the wrong side row.

You're ready to knit the next right side row and join the next row.

School of Fishies Scarf pattern

Here's another new knitting pattern -- The School of Fishies Scarf.
It's a fun to knit scarf in garter stitch without any seams. Simple increases and decreases shape the fish.

Cast on and knit the fish in a line from nose to tail. The pattern is written for worsted weight and size 8 needles but you can use any weight of yarn you like with the appropriate needle size.

I used about 130 yards of worsted weight for a scarf of 12 fishies that is about 60" long and over 3" wide. The picture on the left shows the sample scarf I knit with Noro Kureyon.

It would be fun to knit it using a different color for each fish. You could even add some beads for eyes.

Single fishies could be used for appliques. Make a funky headband or belt out them.

The pattern is formatted as a little brochure. Print it out on both sides of a sheet of paper, fold it in half and tuck it in your knitting bag.

The pattern can be found in my Ravelry pattern store.  

All money from pattern purchases will be donated to Pet Refuge.

For more information, visit my Ravelry pattern store to see all my available designs, current pricing information, and purchase pattern downloads.

Sunrays Baby Blanket -- a crochet pattern

The Sunrays Baby Blanket pattern to crochet is now available. This easy one piece blanket starts at the center and works out in rounds.

It uses single crochets, double crochets, and chain stitches. The increases create 6 rays or wedges that end in a shell border.

I used 3 balls of Baby Bee Sweet Pomp from Hobby Lobby to make this 40" across baby blanket. That's about 1,000 yards of sport weight yarn with a size H hook. (I used 2 colors in the pictured blanket because I couldn't find another ball of the Sweet Pea colorway in the dyelot I needed. I added a ball of Bare Blue and alternated it with the Sweet Pea to have enough for my blanket. I like how it turned out.)

If you make Sunrays in cotton it would make a nice tablecloth or use a fine weight wool for a shawl. You'll need to change the hook size and you may need more yardage if you do this.

The pattern contains written instructions and a crochet symbol chart for the baby blanket.The pattern can be found in my Ravelry pattern store.

For more information, visit my Ravelry pattern store to see all my available designs, current pricing information, and purchase pattern downloads.

February at last!

January is my least favorite month of the year. It so cold, snowy, and gloomy. I'm so glad it is over. It wasn't a fun month.

It started with me coming down with the stomach flu on January 2. I was just feeling myself again when hubby went in for outpatient hernia surgery on January 14. This is the first time either of us has had to have any surgery beyond oral surgery. It was very stressful and tiring for both of us. It was hard keeping up with my chores that had to be done, his chores that had to be done, plus taking care of him. He watched a lot of TV and I knit when I had time to set down. Hubby was off work for a week. He went back for a few hours after his post-op visit with the surgeon. He's healing well and getting back to normal activities.

There are a bunch of new patterns just waiting for me to have time to release them or finish them up. Here are two that were used for the Holiday Mystery Gifts KAL in 2009.

Cozy Ears Hat
This crocheted hat is a modern take on the vintage pony tail hats of the 1950s and 60s. It wraps around the head covering the ears and ties under the chin. It’s a soft and fuzzy hat that will warm your ears (and not crush your hair). Make it from that odd ball of novelty yarn that is lurking in your stash (or carry along a novelty yarn with some worsted weight yarn). About 60 yards of bulky weight yarn and and size J hook.

A Sassy Little Bib
Scraps of cotton worsted weight yarn, a fun button, and about an hour of your time are all you need to knit this cute little bib. It looks a little like a handbag, doesn't it? Use one color of yarn for the bib and a different color for the straps, or use the same color for both. About 50 yards of worsted weight cotton yarn on size 8 (5 mm) needles.

Both of these patterns are available as free pdfs on Ravelry. They're both formatted as little fold up booklets printed sideways on both sides of a sheet of paper.

Click the name of each pattern to go to the Ravelry page where you can download the pattern. You'll have to be logged in to access them. (If you're not a member of Ravelry, hurry and go sign up. It only takes a few minutes to become a member and have access to thousands of knitting and crochet patterns.)

I love seeing the photos of projects made from my patterns or having people favorite (heart) my patterns.

Have fun with these!

Flap Dash Hat

The Flap Dash hat pattern is now available. All you need is a size H hook and about 100 yards of worsted weight yarn to make one hat. I used Red Heart Multi for the wild one and Caron Rainbow Tones in taupe with red trim.

I call it Flap Dash because it is a very fast hat to make. Work about 14 rounds, add the earflaps and then the border with the ties.

The earflaps start with a shell stitch with two rows worked on top of it. Finish one earflap, crochet across the back of the hat and make the other one. Continue on around in sc for the border or change colors for a contrasting trim. The ties are worked as you do the border round. It's a simple chain stitch that you slip stitch back up.

The pattern includes written instructions for kids through adults as well as a crochet chart of the earflaps (just in case you get stuck).

Click HERE to go to Ravelry to download the free pattern

And then the lights went out

Shortly after my last post the lights blinked, came back on, blinked again and then stayed off. Not good! I called the power company to report the outage. This seems to be an all too frequent happening around here. They said they would send someone out to drive by to look the problem. Later, I found out that we had been having freezing drizzle during the afternoon. (This was not in the weather forecast!) Someone slid into a utility pole about a mile from my house knocking out power to our area. It was dark outside by the time the lights came back on. Thankfully, it only took about an hour to repair the problem. It's too cold for the electricity to be out for long.

Late afternoon yesterday, I got a call from the coffee shop where my knitting group meets every Wednesday night. They wanted to let me know that the owner, Rebecca, was sick and they were closing early. Could I let the knitters know? I posted a note on our Yahoo group and hoped it got to everyone in time. Though we do have a fallback of meeting at our local Borders store if the coffeeshop is closed for some reason. Want to venture a guess what illness Rebecca has? Yes, it's the stomach flu! One of my best friends has it too. This bug is nasty and must be very contagious.

The snow continues to fall. A new system pushed into the area overnight. We're expecting 2-4 inches more snow as it moves through. Then the lake effect snow machine will kick in again. The forecast is for it to come south across the lake to hit east Chicago and the Indiana border. We'll see if they prove to be right or not. The seven day forecast looks like a broken record of cold (and getting colder) temps and snow. It's a good reason to stay home, stay warm, and knit!

I'll be glad when I get to feeling back to normal. I did a little too much yesterday and am paying for it today. It's definitely a low energy day.

I finished another strip on the blanket I'm knitting. That's a quarter of it finished. Doesn't look like I've even put a dent so far in my basketful of scraps. It's a pretty mindless knit which I need right now. One plus of the blanket getting larger is it's keeping my lap and me warm while I knit it. Not a bad thing when the temp dipped into the teens last night.

BTW, here's a peek at the first block for the Block of the Month blanket we're doing in my knitting group. I call this one Embossed Diamonds. I've got to get busy knitting a sample of the second block and get it ready for posting soon.

Stay warm!

Weathering the storm

The new year hasn't started the best for me. After attending a New Year's Eve party, I woke up early Saturday morning with a pretty vicious dose of the stomach flu. It's a good thing these kind of bugs don't last too long or they would probably kill you. My ribcage is still a little sore and my energy level is that of a flea.

It hasn't helped that snow started falling on January 1st and has yet to quit. The dreaded lake effect snow machine has kicked into high gear. When winter winds come the right direction off of Lake Michigan, we get hammered. These bands can be narrow or cover a wide area. (The radar last night showed that lake effect snow bands originating in our area were reaching clear to Knoxville, Tennessee! Yikes!) Sometimes the lake effect bands park over one county and bury them in snow. This event has had multiple bands that have wandered east and west over us but never totally stopped. Last I heard, we have somewhere about 2 feet (24 inches) of snow on the ground. The snowplows pass my house on a regular basis trying to make some inroads against the continually falling snow. The roads have tire tracks down them and are icy in places. The one good thing is that the cloud cover keeps it from getting as cold. Though one night we did hit -10. That is not a misprint!

The forecasters say the snow should stop sometime today. We could get a few peeks of sunshine tomorrow morning before the next snow system slams into us. Oh, and in case you were wondering, even more lake effect snow after it moves through. Between the weather and how I feel, I'm not motivated to even think about going outside.

This weather has inspired me to work on another blanket. Actually, there are two blankets. I'm working on a block of the month project with my local knitting group. There may be more than one block a month. It will depend on how many I get done or if someone else in my knitting group designs a block. The first block was posted on January 1st. The second blanket is the one pictured earlier in this post. I could call it Cobblestones for the texture in the pattern or Stone Soup because of all the odd bits of yarn I'm using up. It's making something out of nothing. That big plastic tub contains lots of little butterflies of leftover yarn from other projects. You could knit each strip in a different color or work a checkerboard design by alternating colors in each strip. The design is really easy with very little purling. The strips are joined-as-you-go. I really dislike seaming things together. One big advantage of this knitted join is a much stronger and more flexible seam than a sewn one.

My niece recently asked me to make her baby some new hats. He'd outgrown all but one she got at the baby shower. After searching Ravelry's pattern database, I sat down with a crochet hook and a ball of yarn to create a crocheted earflap hat. Here's a picture of one hat I made for my niece's baby for Christmas. I'm hoping to get a picture of the baby wearing the hat. A friend, Sarah, has tested the pattern with wool to make a adult sized hat for herself. It's very easy to adjust for different sizes. The pattern should be available very soon. It's called Flap Dash because it is such a fast hat to make.

I've also signed up for the 10 in 2010 lace group on Ravelry. My first lace project of the year is on the needles! It's a new shape for me and I like how it's turning out.

Stay warm!