Knitting Pattern: Pocket Scarf

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!! Did you miss me?

Sorry I was away for so long, but summer is here and in Wisconsin that means you take FULL advantage of the warm temperatures & sunshine since in the winter all you can do is hibernate. Which is how this blog got started. I know it's not quite hibernating time yet, but I wrote a new pattern and just had to share it with all of you!

This pattern is 100% easy peasy. And it's for a scarf... with pockets!

So to get started you'll need:
2 colors of contrasting yarn Worsted/10ply (the amount of yarn depend on how long you want the scarf. One skein of one color will be enough for the pockets, you'll want at least 2 skeins for the body of the scarf)
1 set of knitting needles 8 or 9 gauge will be fine
A needle to weave in ends & sew up pockets

What you need to know: (click on the stich you need to know to be taken to the video)
Long Tail Cast On
How to Knit & Purl Continental Style or How to Knit & Purl English Style
The Basic Bind Off
How to add another ball of yarn
Blanket Stitch (to sew the pocket)
Knit 2 Together (K2Tog)
Yarn Over (YO)

Now you've got your supplies and you've got your how to videos in case you get stuck. Now you need the pattern!

Knitting Tutorial: The Basic Bind Off

Once you've completed knitting a project you have to finish your work by doing a bind off. What that means is getting your work off those needles so you can finally enjoy all your hard work!

Kniting Pattern: Gap-tastic Cowl

Hello everybody!  I must apologize on the delay on posts lately. I've been busy knitting and getting over a cold. But now I'm healthy again and to celebrate I thought I'd post up another knitting project.

This is a fun and simple pattern to knit. I knitted this cowl for my boyfriends mom for Christmas this past year. This pattern is written by http://www.heyjenrenee.com/. And is available on ravelry as a free pdf download here!

All you need is:
2 balls of heavy weight yarn (approx 153 yds each)
US 13 24 inch circular needle

All you need to know:
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit & Purl (throwing) or Knit & Purl (continental)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends

Knitting Tutorial: Knit & Purl English Method

I personally don't knit this way because it doesn't come easy to me, but this is another way you can knit. The benefits of this style of knitting is that is easy to learn this method if you've never worked with yarn before. This is also the most common way of knitting, so if you get stuck on a project it's easier to find someone to assist you that also knits this style. The English Method is also known as Throwing or the American Method.

Yarn is "thrown" (wrapped) around the right needle before pulling the stitch through. This is a good method for teaching young children or people with limited coordination since you don't have to really have to hold the yarn in a certain way to make a knit or purl stitch happen.

The biggest disadvantage to this style of knitting is that it is a tad slower to knit this way, but it's a great way to get started!

So here is how to knit and purl english style.

Knitting Tutorial: Knit and Purl Continental Style

This is how I knit. I am a continental knitter. It basically means that you hold the yarn in your left hand instead of your right. This method is also favored by many crocheters as how you work with the yarn is similar to crochet. This is also called the German Method or Left Handed Knitting.

This is also a great method for left handed people since you control the yarn with your left hand. However, I am right handed and knit this style. It's faster to knit this way since you don't have to take your hand off the needles to knit. Continental knitters hold the yarn in their left hand, which allows the knitter to simply scoop, or "pick", the yarn with the right needle. This is why this method is favored by crocheters since when you crochet you are always grabbing the yarn with the hook.

The biggest challenge with this style of knitting is the purl stitch, which requires a lot of practice to to comfortable and accurately.

So here is how to knit and purl continental style.

Knitting Tutorial: How to Long Tail Cast on

So I recently got a sweet little HD camera. SO I've decided to make the most of it and start making some knitting tutorials! If you have a request for anything knitting related, let me know and I'll do my best teach you! This first video is a quick tutorial on how to do a Long Tail Cast On.

It is my favorite cast on to do. It just looks really nice and is really sturdy. It creates a good foundation for your work and helps to give it a more polished look. It's also really fast!

Knitting Pattern: Boneyard Shawl

This is a great pattern to knit if you've never knitted a shawl before. I found it very easy to understand, and as a us, you can use whatever type of yarn you like! You can find the pattern on Ravelry written by Stephen West of Westknits.com. He has a lot of great patterns, most of which are for sale, but this one happens to be free! You can download the pdf at the Ravelry link, westknits.com, or click here to download it.

What You'll Need:
Needle US 8, 32in circular (or whatever size needle matches your yarn, I used a size 4)
Yarn DK / 8 ply (or any kind of yarn. I used a Light fingering/3ply yarn) 3 skeins (654 yards)
Stitch Markers (it helps to put these around the center stitch)

What you need to know:
Long tail cast on
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
M1R and M1L
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off or a Flexible sewn bind off
How to weave in the ends

Knitting Pattern: Transverse Cowl

Guess what everybody... I wrote another knitting pattern!!! This one is also for a cowl, but it has a really nice diagonal pattern to it. It's a simple pattern that again is just interesting enough to make sure you don't get bored. The diagonal pattern is created by doing an oblique rib stitch.

What you'll need:
Size 10 - 29" inch long circular needle
Stitch Marker
3 Balls of Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends yarn. (or roughly 260 - 360 yards of some bulky 12ply yarn) Mine is the color called Fern.

What you need to know: (click on the links if you need a video to show you how)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends
You don't have to know this, because the pattern walks you through how to do this, but if it helps, this is a link to the stitch we are doing.

Knitting Pattern: Basketweave Cowl

This is the first knitting pattern I have created! And it's an easy one. Even if you are just learning to knit you can knit this. Why? Because it's fast so you don't get bored. It uses big needles which makes it easy to learn to knit. Kind of how when you were learning to write you used a big pencil. It uses 2 balls of thick yarn. And it teaches you the 2 basic stitches and how to knit in the round. The other bonus? I'm including videos of how to do each stitch in case you need it. These aren't my videos, but they are good videos!

What You'll Need:
Size 13 circular needles in a length of 29"
2 balls (or 218 yds) of a bulky 12 ply yarn. I used Loops & Thread Charisma in a charcoal. You can even use an extra bulky yarn if you want it to be really thick.
A stitch marker

What you need to know: (click on the links if you need a video to show you how)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends

Knitting Pattern: Twisted Rib Watch Cap

This is a super simple knitting pattern that you can use to get used to knitting in the round. It does get a bit mindless to knit since you're doing the same stitches over and over and over... and over. However, the results are fantastic! After I made this hat, I can't even begin to tell you how many people asked where i bought it. And then had to explain to them that I actually made it. 

Now this pattern was written by Terri Lee Royea and you can check out her blog here!

Ok ok... now onto the pattern!

DIY: Learn to Knit!

So I do plan on going crazy with posting up knitting projects of mine, but before I get too far into it, I thought it'd be good to have a post all about how to knit.

Knitting may be a bit scary for some people to try,but trust me, it's way easier than you think. There are a lot of great teaching tools out there and I'm going to share some with you.