I just wanted to share this neat little formula to determine the size of the 2 rectangles to make a poncho that fits.
Measure from the neck, across the shoulder down to elbow or just below. If not intending to use fringe, you may want it a little longer. This is the width of the rectangles.
Take that measurement, divide by 4. Then take that number and multiply it by 9 to get the length of the rectangles.
For example, if the measurement from the neck to the elbow is 16″ this is the width of the rectangle. To get the length needed, you would then divide 16 by 4 which equals 4. Multiply 4 x 9 which gives you 36″, the length. (more…)
What kind of slippers do you like to knit? Tube style or with heels?
I am going to make the slippers the way I make my bath mitts on the little blue loom, using Red Heart Grande yarn, which is very chunky. I use the blue loom and do a flat piece for 20 rows, then switch to the whole loom doing a tube for
20 rows and gather like a hat. I sew up the back of the flat piece and I have a slipper:) The number of rows will vary with the
size that I need (I play by the ear). Then, I crochet around the edges to make them look better
or knit. What ever I want to do…
There is nothing wrong with knit casting onto the needles. It is the way I have cast on for many years. When you do, try this, it makes for a neater cast. Put the loop on your left needle, start by knitting into that loop and pull yarn through, then up over left needle (2 loops on left needle). From that point on, instead of going directly to the loop (as you would when knitting), place right needle BETWEEN loops on left needle, yarn over, draw through, and place loop over left needle. Going between the loops on the hook makes the edge much neater.
Pulling a loop THROUGH the stitch to cast-on a stitch is called the Knitted Cast-On and pulling a loop BETWEEN two stitches to
cast-on a stitch is called the Cable Cast-On. You can read about A LOT of ways of knitting in Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s Handbook
Very good instructions & pictures of how to do cast on, knit, purl, increase, decrease, bind off. It also goes into knitting in the
round, fair isle, intarsia. Other sections on how to fix boo-boos such as dropped or twisted stitches, guage, and a discussion of different yarns & needles. 3 projects are included to use the skills as you learn them: a knitted dishcloth (increase/decrease), a scarf (knit/purl/counting stitches), and a hat (knitting in the round).
I would recommend this book to someone just learning how to knit—in fact I just used it to learn how to crochet, and it was clear & entertaining. I lent it to another woman who wanted to learn how to crochet, and she’s doing very well with it, too. But using it as a reference for either knit or crochet? I honestly cannot see myself ever opening it again, now that the basics have been learned. A wonderful book to get someone started, but it’s a book that could be outgrown rather quickly.
I can tell you it’s not so easy to sew on buttons, especially with some of the interesting buttons you can get today!
You dont want the buttons you sew on a cardigan to look loose and dangly…Sometimes the chosen buttons can be too heavy for the knitted fabric. (This is fairly common with heavy pewter or other relatively heavy metal buttons.) The easiest way I’ve found around it is to sew on a smaller “backing button” along with the main button, but on the back of the buttonband. This goes a long way to stabilize the flopping button, and also keeps the knitted fabric more stable. The backing button can be an inexpensive plastic button that matches the buttonband color as closely as possible.
SO: Reinforcing with a clear plastic button (on the buttonband’s wrong side) will help prevent your knitting from stretching out when you wear your sweater buttoned.
This is especially helpful with soft, less stretchy yarns like cashmere and alpaca.
I’ve made tons of hats on circulars. I start at the lower edge with a 16 inch circular, when I decrease so that there are to few stitches to continue I switch to double pointed needles the same size. I use a size seven for worsted weight. You can go down to only about 16-20 stitches before having to switch over to the dpn.
Note: When making hats in the round at some point of decreases you have to change to double pointed needles. I usually don’t even bother with the circular just do the whole thing on D.P. needles. I find it much easier to connect 1st row without twisting. Hope this helps!
It’s been rather quiet lately…My knitting has been very hit or miss lately, with mostly misses, but I’m sure that happens even to the best of us. Though I am the sort who prefers to have just one project going at a time, I’ve been allowing myself to be distracted & start whatever I want: so the list of semi-active projects has become quite long, and each has its own special issue: the socks are very slow going, because I’m beginning to realize that I just don’t like variegated yarns that much; the sweater may become a shawl because of the variegated yarn I am using, while some wool is whispering from the stash that it might just make a nice sweater instead…As with any craft, some parts get easier with practice and some bits are never relaxing (these are the parts I don’t do anymore…) because I am doing this for fun…
a great source for 
