Wednesday, April 29, 2015

New Knit Stitch a Week: Staggered Eyelets

Staggered Eyelets

I find this stitch really pretty - it has such a nice honeycomb-like texture - but curls up on edges, as you can see...

The wrong side isn't bad either:
Staggered Eyelets, wrong side

Left: Using size 10 needles and Vanna's Choice yarn in Mustard, I cast on 15 stitches
Right: Using size 6 needles and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Oyster Heather, I cast on 19 stitches

Pattern found here: www.knittingstitchpatterns.com/2014/10/staggered-eyelets....

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

New Knit Stitch a Week: Tear Drop stitch

Tear Drop stitch

Well, I have finally moved on from the Complete Guide to Needlework stitches - having stitched up all the stitches in there that interested me. This week I begin sampling from lovely knit stitches available online, which means - whew! I won't have to type out copious directions and worry I missed something! :)

I really love this stitch - it's a chunky texture, especially in the Vanna's Choice yarn, on size 10 needles (left) - on the smaller needles (right) it has a nice springy, dense shape.

The back has its own thing going on, and is pretty nice, too:

Tear Drop stitch, wrong side

Maybe blocking would improve the side edges - looking wavy and wonky right now. Overall, I love this stitch.

Left: Using size 10 needles and Vanna's Choice yarn, I cast on 13 stitches
Right: Using size 6 needles and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Almond, I cast on 17 stitches

Stitch pattern found here: www.knittingstitchpatterns.com/2015/03/tear-drop.html

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

New Knit Stitch a Week: Butterfly stitch

Butterfly stitch

Teaching myself one new knit stitch a week, from the Complete Guide to Needlework book, c. 1979. I tried this stitch unsuccessfully before, so I'm happy to discover I am getting better at following directions! This time around it was easy for me to keep track of, and relatively even and cute. I bet it would look nicer when blocked.

Using size 6 needles, I cast on 15 stitches in:
Left: Elsebeth Lavold Baby Llama in Lime Juice
Right: Louise Harding Grace Silk & Wool, color 26

Multiple of 10 stitches plus 5

Rows 1 and 3: K5, *K2 tog, yo, K1, yo, sl1, K1, psso, K5*
Rows 2 and 4: *P7, sl1 P-wise, P2* P5
Rows 5 and 11: knit
Rows 6 and 12: purl
Rows 7 and 9: *K2 tog, yo, K1, yo, sl1, K1, psso, K5* K2 tog, yo, K1, yo, sl1, k1, psso
Rows 8 and 10: *P2, sl1 P-wise, P7* P2, sl1 P-wise, P2

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

New Knit Stitch a Week: Diagonal Rib

Diagonal Rib

Teaching myself one new knit stitch a week, from the Complete Guide to Needlework book, c. 1979.

As you can see, both the wrong side (pink yarn) and right side (white yarn) are the same. It's an interesting texture, I have to say I don't quite see the "diagonal", although it does stretch on the diagonal. I can see the rib - it's a nice, bulky texture, and the pattern is relatively easy to remember.

Using size 6 needles, I cast on 16 stitches in:
Left: a pink cotton blend yarn from my stash
Right: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Oyster Heather

Multiple of 4 stitches.

Row 1: *K2, P2*
Row 2 and all alt rows: knit the purl stitches and purl the knit stitches of the previous row
Row 3: *K1, P2, K1*
Row 5: *P2, K2*
Row 7: *P1, K2, P1*

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

New Knit Stitch a Week: Chevron Seed

Chevron seed

Teaching myself one new knit stitch a week, from the Complete Guide to Needlework book, c. 1979. Most of the stitches I've tried recently have been based off of seed-stitch textures - this is another fun, easy variant.

It's not super-easy to see the texture, but it's nice just the same. Would be cute on a dishcloth or maybe socks.

Multiple of 8 stitches.

Using size 6 needles, I cast on 16 stitches in:
left: Teal acrylic thread from my stash
right: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Currant

Row 1: *P1, K3*
Row 2: *K1, P5, K1, P1*
Row 3: *K2, P1, K3, P1, K1*
Row 4: *P2, K1, P1, K1, P3*

This is also the first time I've come up for air after my mad-dash NYC trip in which I attended 2 weddings in two separate boroughs, ran around town eating everything I missed (mostly waffles, black coffee, and calamari), getting lost on the Subway, seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch with the original, founding Hedwig in a leg brace (amazing!) and catching an epic flu on my last day that kept me in bed for 4 days straight after my return. Nothing is small-time in NY! :)