Knitting projects I have completed or have in progress. My thoughts and review of the pattern, yarn, and outcome. Also knitting project ideas to consider or find for free.
Find a scarf pattern to knit this winter.
Some of my favorite beginner knitting projects were winter scarves. And they are something I would wear often when I lived in New Hampshire. Usually the repeats are simple enough that a scarf project can be picked up and worked on at any time without losing your place.
Continue reading “Choosing a Winter Scarf Pattern to Knit”My daughter asked for a set of boot cuffs and the request seemed easy enough. The actual knitting of the cuff is pretty simple, but the cast-on number and cast-off style took some trial and error.
I began by searching for boot cuff patterns. All I really needed to know was approximate cast-on numbers and then figuring the cables and where to place them.
For my first attempt I cast on 60 stitches and then did a simple 4 stitch cable every 4 rows with two purl stitches between. This made for a lot of cabling! In the end – I got all the way through a loose bind-off – the cuffs were very big. My daughter’s legs are smaller than mine and I knew they wouldn’t fit her. She wants cuffs for the lower calf area for low boots.
I tore out the Highland yarn cuff and began again with some hand-spun brown yarn.
This time I cast on 48 stitches using the German cast-on, which is stretchy enough. I followed (somewhat) a free pattern for the Simple Cable Boot Cuffs. I did only six knit rows between cables to shorten the cuffs a bit. This way of cabling makes for a faster knit because only three rows of cables are done – unless you want a longer cuff. The cables use six stitches and they look nicer that way.
When it came to the stretchy bind off, I tried a twist bind-off to begin with and found that it really didn’t seem very stretchy. I only got a few stitches in and then switched to Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off as shown on Andrea Mowry’s YouTube video. BUT… I decided to do the yarn overs only on the two knit stitches and then bind off regularly on the two purl stitches – the video only shows knits. I was hoping for less of a flare when finished.
I messed up the top part of the cuff by knitting too many rows and doing the combined bind-offs so this cuff will have to be my experiment cuff. I will knit another to go with it, but I will begin again with the Highland wool for my daughter’s pair.
The brown “Teak” wool cuffs seem to be the perfect size for what my daughter needs. I won’t know for sure until I send them off to her for a try-on. For some reason these cuffs came out much shorter than the cuffs made of handspun. I guess it’s a difference in the yarn, and I did a few extra rows on the variegated cuffs.
My daughter will get both sets of boot cuffs because I don’t wear boots in Florida. Once I finish her orange hat, I will send them all off to her.
You may not follow my directions, but I’ve written this info down for myself.
My son’s blue Skiff beanie, pattern by Jarod Flood, has gotten a lot of attention this winter. Yes, we can wear hats in Florida in winter. My son was born and raised here so he is always cold when the temps drop below 60!
Some friend’s of his have seen his blue Skiff, which I knit a while ago, and have mentioned that they really liked it. When he accidentally wore it into work at the fire department, a friend said he would like a hand-knit hat. I said I would make him one.
Did I really want to knit another Skiff? Oh ya… this is a fun hat to knit. If you are interested, you should know that the pattern is in chart form. What I did, before ever knitting this pattern, was go through the whole graph and color code each cable area. I also made notes for the other stitches as some were very new to me. Every cable and stitch has an easy to understand description.
I use a wooden DPN for the cable needle, which holds the stitches nicely, and my circular needle is also wood. One of the cables needs 3 needles – over 5 stitches, but really I’ve found it to be so fun that I really enjoy the challenge of watching this extraordinary pattern emerge.
The Madeline Tosh Vintage yarn, in “Antique Moonstone” is some that I’ve had for a few years but it is perfect for this pattern. I love how the colors blend and make highlights, and the roundness of the yarn shows off the texture and cables.
Mad Tosh is not cheap, but it is machine washable. I always wash by hand, and my brim on this gray Skiff is of a non-machine wash yarn by Quince & Company. So this hat needs to be hand-washed.
Madeline Tosh comes as 200 yards, and I had plenty leftover. Brooklyn Tweed Shelter comes in smaller size skeins at 140 yards and the pattern calls for 2 skeins for this beanie. You will spend about the same amount – a little more for the Mad Tosh, but will have more of the BT yarn leftover. Remember I used a contrast color for the brim.
I cast on using a size 3 circular needle and used the German Twisted cast-on. For the top of the beanie I used a size 7 needle. This hat is quite roomy for me, but is probably perfect for a guy. My son loves his.
Jarod Flood is known for his patterns for men, but he also has beautiful and intricate patterns for women. And many of his patterns are unisex. What I have noticed is that he goes into great detail when describing how a pattern is knit. I will be knitting his Cobblestone Cardigan soon to wear on my trip to New Hampshire!
I’m always on the lookout for future sweaters to knit. They must be fairly simple (I am not super experienced at sweater knitting) and I prefer a cardigan to a pullover, so I was excited to see the Cobblestone Cardigan pattern by Jarod Flood of Brooklyn Tweed.
I had just finished knitting a pair of mitts (Oulu) using the same Shelter yarn called for in the cardigan. I bought the sweater pattern and then I used my leftover Shelter yarn to knit up a swatch to find my gauge for the sweater. Suggested needle size is 8 US, and gauge should be 18 stitches (across) and 36 rows (vertical count). I used color “Camper” for the swatch.
Using the size 8 needle, I cast on the 18 stitches plus an extra six. Then I knit for 36 rows, plus six more. In this case the gauge is counted on garter ridges, so the piece was simply knit back and forth. How easy is that? The piece needed to be slightly larger than (what I hoped) my gauge would be so I could easily count the stitches and rows.
I was knitting other projects and this little swatch took me a few days to complete. By the time I finished, and washed and dried the swatch, I couldn’t remember what the actual gauge should be. I got my gauge ruler and began counting, then looked up the pattern again to compare my numbers to the pattern. Well, I was exactly on gauge! This was very exciting! I want to begin knitting this sweater very soon.
If you knit at all and have come across comments on Shelter and Quarry yarn (both are BT brands) you may be very confused because this yarn gets both very high and very low marks. Knitters either love it and use it all the time, or they hate it for pulling apart easily. Some people also complain about the grass bits stuck in it. Personally, this does not bother me.
In fact, I avoided both of these yarns for a long time because of the trouble I had right after buying some Quarry yarn to knit a hat. Quarry is a bulky weight Brooklyn Tweed yarn and as soon as I cast on and tried to join in the round, the yarn pulled right apart! I kept trying and it kept separating… I was very irritated and decided that I hated it and would never buy this type of yarn again! It scared me away from Shelter as well. I moved on and knit with other yarns. I was convinced that this yarn was horrible.
I now believe that I was unlucky enough to have received a “bad” skein, but more than likely I was simply not used to knitting with this type of yarn. I used it later to complete a hat and had no problems. When it has to be pulled, twist the yarn to make it stronger before doing so. I ended up using Quarry yarn once again to knit a big sweater, and I had absolutely NO trouble at all with it splitting or pulling apart. This is why I think that occasionally knitters get a “bad” skein, or are simply not used to knitting carefully.
Then I bought Jarod Flood’s “Skiff” cable hat pattern and it called for Shelter yarn. I knit the hat, but wouldn’t dare use Shelter yarn. I was so afraid that doing cables would be a problem with this type of yarn.
Then, one day Shelter was on sale, and I can barely resist a sale! Another reason I wanted to buy this yarn is that it is spun in a mill in Harrisville, New Hampshire which is very near where I had once lived. I would pass signs for Harrisville on my way to Keene, from Antrim, and never knew there was a mill spinning popular yarn nearby! So to me it’s a “local” yarn, and I knew I had to finally try it. I bought a bunch of skeins without a plan… can you believe it?
Now I have knit two pair of mitts (Maine Morning Mitts and Oulu Mitts) using this yarn and now I’m planning to knit the Cobblestone Cardigan. I’ve come to love this yarn! The yarn colors are so beautiful that it took me quite a while to decide on a sweater color. I almost went with Meteorite (brown) which is beautiful, but decided I wanted a lighter color.
My final decision was to go with gray, to match my hair, so Narwhal it is! The yarn has arrived and I will cast on any minute! More to come about knitting the Cobblestone!
Read more about the Brooklyn Tweed yarns at their page on Ravelry, or visit their website.
New England's Narrow Road 