Mitts For Mom

These are my Mom's Birthday present this year, and I think they came out pretty well. They are Fast and Easy Fingerless Mitts by Lisa Beamer. These are the two needle version. I made a few pairs last year and the recipients loved them, so this will be a go-to again this year. She has a in-the-round version, as well. I think they look particularly nice in this heathered wool, Paton's Classic, and any tweed or hand dyed yarn would look extra nice as well. I found the pattern to be a little on the small side, so I added a few stitches (+4) to make them a size medium. Her pattern is written in stockinette stitch, but, of course, I had to complicate it. This is Moss Stitch. It's a very simple two row repeat. The setup row is k1, p1 across. (RS) On the WS, for all subsequent WS rows, knit the knits and purl the purls and for all RS rows, knit the purls and purl the knits. So simple, but so pretty, especially in the heathered/tweed yarns. They add a little extra depth, I think.

Paycheck

Small, though it is, here's my first paycheck for designing...I'm very excited! I sold one pattern for September and two more in October, so I suppose I'll get my next check in January, as Knit Picks now pays somewhat quarterly vs. monthly. It's nice to be paid for doing something I love so much! Ornamental is a great pattern, too.

Did I mention that I saw my Ornamental Sock Pattern submitted at the NC State Fair? Let me show you.....

I'm not sure what the yarn is here, but she did an excellent job.

And to think I just happened to look at the knitting submissions and anything fiber related I could think of. I can't tell you how much I enjoy seeing other knit or crochet my patterns and enjoy themselves....it's the reason I am doing this. Way to go, Carolyn!

Simple Is Better

I've been doing a lot of swatching lately, mainly to come up with some stitch patterns to use in my Christmas gift knitting.

Don't be surprised if you see something soon, from me, in this pattern. It's called 'imitation lattice' and it's made with simple knit and purl.

I like it because it's textured but doesn't twist the stitches, which is good for chunky yarn. Also....it's reversible! I'm all about that...

And this is moss stitch, also reversible...

The Left Twist, Revisited

Today, my post will relate to knitting and, to be specific, twisted stitch knitting. I have often wondered how Barbera Walker and other master knitters have been able to make a perfectly alligned set of left twist stitches, as mine always fall short of my fastideous expectations.

A left twist is traditionally done by skipping the 1st stitch on the left needle, knitting the second stitch, through the back loop and then knitting the skipped stitch through the front loop and pulling them off at the same time. In this photo, you can see that the right twist stitches march very neatly and uniformly to the right, while the left twist stitches kind

of straggle off to the left. Do you see what I mean? I think this is because, the left twist stitches do lean

to the left, but on the purl back, those stitches sit vertically, which makes for more of a left leaning zig-zag than a neat diagonal line. However, I did discover an alternate technique as I was looking through Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting patterns, Vol 2. In the instructions for the Twilled Stripe Pattern, she suggests the following..." LT as follows: skip one stitch and knit the 2nd stitch in the back loop, then slip the skipped stitch purlwise onto right hand needle, then slip the knit stitch also." Here's the result:

a vast improvement, to my mind, though I realize that the left leaning stitches are not knit every row, since one of them is slipped. Yet, the result is so much neater that I will be tempted to use this method regardless, hoping the difference will not be noticeable. If this slip stitch technique could be used on the right twist with equal effect, then there would be no difference. But I have yet to figure that out, maybe for another post. Meantime, this might be most useful in patterns that feature only a left twist. Like a standard twisted stitch cable, or the one mentioned above.

Hangin' With The Homies

Worked with my son all night on his own individual (no pun intended) Declaration of Independence. It was fun and a good exercise because it makes you think about what our founding fathers considered when they crafted their declaration and what it means to be free and, also, where those freedoms come from. Anyway, I also started a Christmas gift, The Chunky Slouch Hat, found here. I am using the equivelent of Sheepsdown, which I am tempted to use, instead, on the Hurry Up Last Minute Sweater. But I am resolved to continue in pursuit of small gift projects, so the sweater will have to come later, maybe in January. I'll leave you with a pic from our trip to the NC Mountains, Linville Falls...wish I were there now:0)

Blog Promotion - Pattern Discount!

Here's a Christmas Gift from me to you! I'll be offering my Victoria Mitts Pattern from today, November 1, 2011 to November 15, 2011, for $1.00. That's a discount of $1.50 off the original price. All you have to do is comment on this post with your email addy or Ravelry ID and I'll send you the coupon code. Enter it at checkout at my Ravelry store for your discount! That's it. Merry Christmas, Everyone! And may everyone have a prolific and enjoyable Christmas Knitting and Crocheting Season!!

Victoria Mitts

Here's my latest crochet design, Victoria Mitts. I love these for two reasons: they look fabulous and feminine in any yarn and they are super quick to knit. My testers finished these, on average, in under two hours. That makes them great gifts and I am all about gifts that can be made quickly.

The pattern is a Ravelry Download and I'll be placing a button here on my blog so you can buy it, if you like, or use this link. Also, I want to give props to my fab testers. They are Ravelry Divas Pugstitches, Barbina, Beckster68, and 2skeins2go. I can't say enough about how wonderful they all are and if you are in need of a tester, these gals are the ticket.