Magic Knot

I was surfing the Internet this morning and came across a link within a pattern for something called "magic knot".

I have heard of the term magic loop, but not magic knot so I clicked on it. I think this is a very clever way of joining yarn without having two little tails left over to either work in or weave in. When the knot is secure, you simply cut off the left over tails very close to the knot.

This is a tutorial on You Tube by Jane Richmond. Nicely done Jane.

I hope you find it helpful  Enjoy.

 

So Cozy Warmer

I finished the So Cozy Warmer. I was hoping that I would see my niece Amanda and that she could model it for you, but alas between her busy schedule and mine we haven't be able to get together.

In order to get a photo out, I opted for the next best thing. So here is the finished project.  I'm very satisfied with the results. This is a perfect project for a beginner knitter, and for a first project knitted in the round.

Pattern and Yarn Review

These past couple of week I’ve been working on the Red Heart Pattern So Cozy Warmer, by designer Cathy Payson. The pattern is labeled skill level “easy” which is perfect for me since I still consider myself a beginner knitter. It is also worked in the round making it my first knitting project to be worked in the round. If you can knit, purl and work in the round, you won’t have any trouble with this fun pattern. The colorway I am using is called Wizard. It is mostly dark green with hints of blues, reds and browns. The colors are all very complimentary.

The pattern calls for size 8 circular needles. I needed to use a size 9 circulars to get close to the gauge of 14 stitches = 4 inches. I know, I know, we hate to check “gauge”, but do it anyway you won’t be sorry.

This pattern can be downloaded from the Red Heart Website, but I found my copy at the local Michael’s Craft Store as a free tear sheet. On the bottom of the tear sheet it says this project should take about 7 hours to complete. Ha!! So far I have about twice that amount of time invested and I’m about half way done.

This is a picture of my work in progress. When I have the wrap finished, I'll see if I can get my very pretty niece Amanda to model it for me so I can show you the finished product.

work in progress

THE YARN: I love the new Boutique line of Red Heart yarns. The yarn I’m using in this project is Boutique Magical. It is  93% Acrylic, 6% Wool, and 1% Metallic Polyester. As you knit or crochet with this yarn, it will self-stripe, and is quite soft to the touch when worked into fabric and very light weight.

The yarn is advertised as four yarns in one; that description is apt. As you work with the yarn you will experience metallic thread, which turns into  a bouclé type of yarn, which then gives way to multicolored fuzzy yarn, and then to a smooth yarn.  It certainly is not boring. If you don’t like knots in your yarn, you may not like this yarn as each yarn transition is knotted together.

Each skein has a generous 190 yards, which should be sufficient to make a nice scarf if you would like to experiment with just one skein before launching into a larger garment using this yarn.

I hope you enjoy Red Heart’s Boutique Magical yarn.

Knit a Ruffle Scarf

 Knitted ruffle scarves are all the fashion craze right now. Have yourself some fun and knit one of these scarves. Even a beginner knitter like me can make a really cool looking scarf. And if I can do it, you can too!

I'm showing  three different scarves that I knitted by simply casting on a few stitches and then knitting every row until I ran out of yarn. Do save enough yarn to bind off.

This scarf was knitted using Red Heart's new Ribbon Boutique yarn. This is a new  yarn for Red Heart. The ribbon has just a touch of metallic and you can knit this great scarf with just one skein of yarn. They even have a video on their website to show you how. Learn to Knit with Ribbon Yarn

 

Red Heart Ribbon Boutique




This next scarf was knitted using Yarn Bee, Chrysalis yarn which is available through your local Hobby Lobby store. I love the colorway. It is called Mexican Blue. Again, one skein will make a very generous scarf. I didn't use the entire skein when I made this one. The instructions are printed on the label.



Yarn Bee - Chrysalis



The final scarf was knitted using Crystal Palace Yarn, Tu Tu, which you can probably find at your LYS or an online yarn store.  I purchased mine from my LYS in Omaha Nebraska, called Personal Threads.  Here is their website if you would like to visit the store. Personal Threads.

The owner suggested that one skein was sufficient to make a scarf/boa, but as you can see it may be just a tad short for some.  If I use this yarn again, I will definitely buy two skeins.

Anyone of these scarves can be made for about $7.  All of them are suitable for a beginner knitter. There are plenty of how to videos on the Internet.  If you have seen these types of novelty yarns, but have been a bit intimidated to give it a try, just go for it.

I have shown all three of these scarves to my local knit and crochet group and the one that gets the highest raves has been the one made with the Red Heart Boutique Ribbon yarn.

Enjoy





Electronic Gadget Cover - Knit

I just finished this gadget cover. The design is by Amy Polcyn for Premier yarns. The yarn is Serenity from the Deborah Norville collection.

My gauge is pretty close to the gauge suggested in the pattern. I thought I was knitting a cover for my kindle, but turns out it actually fits my IPad better. The pattern information does say “stretches to fit a variety of e-readers, tablet computers and netbooks”

I would like to knit this again but scale the length back a bit to better fit the Kindle or Nook reader and use smaller needles so that the over all size is smaller.

As you know, I’m still just a beginner at knitting. In this pattern I learned ssk which means to slip slip knit, followed by k2tog, knit 2 together. This combination of stitches created the lovely chevron pattern.

If you are a beginner knitter too, try this fun free pattern. http://premieryarns.com/patterns.php?id=169

Chevron Cowl

The Chevron Cowl from the winter 2010 issue of knit simple is final complete.  And I love it. The pattern is a simple chevron stitch. The designer is Jeannie Chin. The yarn is Red Heart’s Ecoway, which I had not worked with before. http://www.redheart.com/yarn/eco-ways. It is hard to believe that yarn made from “30% recycled polyester from plastics found in soda and water bottles” could be this soft. I love the sheen of this yarn.  The colorway is sand and mushroom. The yarn is listed as a 4 weight, but I found it to be just a tad bit finer than other 4 weight yarns in my stash.

The pattern suggested a size I hook, but after making the gauge swatch, I found that I needed to go down a size to a size H hook.

I did find an error in the pattern. In rounds 2 and 3 you will find instructions that that say to “skip 2 ch”; it should read skip 2 dc, so don’t let that throw you off.

Here is my beautiful niece Amanda modeling the cowl for me.  This picture was taken at Amanda’s bridal shower. She is dressed for the shower and not for modeling the cowl per se, but none the less, she was gracious enough to model the cowl so that I could show you the finished object.

Teach a Young Person How to Crochet

On March 28^th, seven members of the Missouri Valley Needle Arts Group volunteered to help 23 members of the third, fourth and fifth grade elementary school learn to crochet. This was done in honor of National Crochet Month.  Our lesson was two and a half hours long, and students were able to come and go, however, most students showed up at the beginning and stayed until the end. We had four learning objectives for our beginner crochet artists:

·        hold the hook

·        hold the yarn

·        make a chain

·        fun

I’m happy to say that we accomplished all of our objectives and several students asked when the next lesson was going to be.  It is amazing what you can make with a simple chain. Students crocheted: hair ties, necklaces, bracelets, bookmarks, belts, and shoelaces.  A couple of students tried to see who could make the longest chain.

If you are interested in doing something similar, my advice is to keep it simple and keep it fun. One adult volunteer to three students is about the right ratio. Use large hooks, H I or J, and bright worsted weight yarn. Variegated colors were popular with the students.  Our group furnished the hooks and the yarn, and there was no charge to the students. We worked with our local library on space and advertising. One of our volunteers bought extra hooks and yarn so that every student that wanted to take home a hook and a skein of yarn home could. It was not my original intent to provide a free hook and yarn for every student to take home, and I know that many groups may not have the resources to do this. But I can tell you the kids were very excited about leaving with their own hook and yarn and several were seen leaving with more than one skein of yarn.

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures of our crochet event. If you have any questions about hosting something similar, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.