The Lace Stitch Cardigan is finally finished. Hooray!
I finished the cardigan last weekend but haven’t had time to properly block it (shape it into place) until yesterday. I love my new blocking mats from KnitPicks. I had considered purchasing blocking boards, but they are much more expensive and take up a lot of space. The KnitPicks mats come in 12″ x 12″ squares and store nicely in my craft room.
Now I just have to wait until Christmas to give it to my Mom-in-law. I hope she’ll like it!
Everyone who knows me knows that I adore vintage styles. If I could, I would love to travel back in time to the early 1960s when fashion was classy – with simple lines, sleek silhouettes, and fit that flatters every figure. Whenever I go thrifting, I often go through old books and magazines in hopes of finding old knitting and sewing patterns. One of my most recent favorite finds is this 1963 knitting pattern booklet by Spinnerin:
Isn’t that fantastic? That might as well be Betty and Sally Draper from Mad Men (if you’re not watching, you’re totally missing out on one of the best TV shows ever – Season 3 premieres Sunday, August 16th)!
And yes, I got it for one whole dollar.
This booklet has many great patterns that are perfect for an advanced beginner, and all garments are raglan style, so there is no seaming involved (yay!). I decided to try one of the cardigans patterns to make as a gift for my Mom-in-Law.
So. Adorable.
I started a little over a month ago and now I’m down to the last sleeve, then it’s button bands, block, sew on buttons, and voila! Here is a quick progress photo taken on my iMac:
I am liking it so much I almost want to keep it for myself =)
I love vintage-style knitting and often come across vintage patterns when I go thrifting and flea-marketing. Imagine my excitement when I read about a new book that’s all about vintage baby knits!
Vintage Baby Knits
One look at the beautiful photos and I was in love. As someone who loves knitting for babies, I can’t wait to get my hands on the book and start some new baby knit projects for my friends and their little ones!
The purl stitch is just as important as the knit stitch – you can’t do one without the other. I know a lot of beginning knitters who get confused and frustrated when it comes to purl stitches – I actually learned how to purl before the knit, and I find it just as easy. Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to make a purl stitch, English style. You’ll get the hang of it with a few tries.
First, take your nicely cast-on work in your left hand and pick up the ball-end yarn with your right hand. Then take the right-hand needle and slip it into the first loop, right to left, bottom to top (See Figure A).
Then take the yarn in your right hand, and loop it around the right needle counterclockwise from back to front. Make sure the yarn is in front of the needle and not behind it. You might want to hold the right needle in place with your left thumb so the needle doesn’t slip out.
Here’s the most tricky part: using the right needle, carefully lift the new loop into the first loop, under the left-hand needle.
Slip the first loop off the left needle, and there! You have just made a purl stitch.
Repeat until you have finished the row. You’ll see that all the stitches have a loop right under them, almost like they’re wearing little pearl necklaces. Flip your work and start again – now you know how to purl!
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I am an English knitter. No, it doesn’t mean I have tea with cream and scones when I knit. ;) it just means the way I knit, which uses my right hand to wrap the yarn around the needles, is called the English method. The other popular method is called Continental, which I will cover at another time. Most beginners will find out which they prefer soon after starting their first knitting project. As a personal observation, right-handed people usually knit in English and left-handed people in Continental, but it should be whichever you feel most comfortable with.
Take your nicely cast-on work in your left hand and pick up the ball-end yarn with your right hand (Figure A).
Insert the needle into the first loop from left to right, front to back (Figure B).
Take the yarn with your right hand, and loop it counter-clockwise (from back to front) around the needle you just inserted into the loop (Figure C).
This part takes a bit of practice. Pull the yarn straight (but not tight) with your right index finger. Use the right needle and slide it down and out so it picks up the loop you just made. Slide the right needle to the right and pull the old loop off of the tip of the left needle (Figure D). Voila, you’ve just made your first knit stitch.
Repeat until you finish the whole row (i.e. transfer all the loops from your left needle to your right needle), then turn the work over and start from the left side again.
When you use only the knit stitch to make a garment, it is also called the garter stitch.
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As you can see, I am now the proud owner of a DIY yarn swift thanks to my very handy husband B. :)
For years, I had been shying away from buying beautiful hanks of yarn because I did not own a ball winder or a swift. I always thought buying balls of yarn would be enough, and that hanks are for “hardcore knitters” who consider knitting as much more than just a hobby. Well, years later, I find myself admiring lovely hanks of yarn and wishing I had a winder and swift to make them into balls. Hmm, does this mean I am slowly becoming a hardcore knitter? :)
I bought a ball winder from KnitPicks at a great price a few weeks ago, and I started doing some research on yarn swifts as well. There’s the umbrella (most expensive) style, the ferris-wheel style, the pinwheel style, and a few others. The umbrella style is the best looking, and the kind they usually have at yarn shops – they retail anywhere from $50 (on sale) to $100 (Scandinavian-made, really nice quality wood). I showed them to B and he thought it would be possible to make the pinwheel style for a fraction of the cost, so why not?
We found a really cool tutorial by Craft Diversions, and after 2 weekends I finally have a working swift! I tried it out for the first time this morning and was able to wind up a hank of Cascade 220 wool into 2 balls of yarn. Success!
Lacy Leaf Cardi in Progress
Well, here goes nothing.
This project officially marks my entry into knitting non-raglan style garments. I haven’t really felt confident enough to try it because basically, it is much like sewing, where you have several pieces that you construct together by stitching them at the seams. I’m terrible at hand-seaming, but I thought I should just try it just to see what happens.
So far, I am totally loving the yarn I’m using – Optimum DK by South West Trading Company in color Desert. I bought six balls on sale when I went to Unwind in Burbank with my dolly friends Paula and Clarissa. The yarn has been discontinued, so I hope I have enough for the project! If not, I’ll have to track some down via Ravelry.
The lace part is going well – after doing four inches of 1×1 ribbing on sz 2 needles it was good to dive right in. The pattern is well-written and I love the leaf shapes! After doing three repeats, I realize that I need to loosen up my stitches because the lace part doesn’t look as nice and even as I’d like (I know I always tend to knit too tight), but hopefully it will open up when I block the pieces into shape.
The Leafy Lace Cardi pattern is available for free via Craftster.org.