Nadina’s Free online knitting patterns

I like all sorts of yarns. For me it is a matter of what is being made and
who it is being made for..

Acrylic is great for babies and kids because it can easily be washed. It is also great for people who are allergic to wool. It is also quite good for people like my husband who are dirt magnets!
There are so many kinds of acrylic yarns today that have very exciting textures in addition to all the fun furs and feathery yarns.

Wool is also wonderful. There is nothing like a great wool sweater or hat for warmth. Wool has a good feel when you work with it and there are some wonderful wools where you can actually feel the lanolin as you work. Wool can also be remarkably durable and while it can’t usually be tossed in the
machine, it can be washed.

There are so many kinds of yarn–cottons, silks, natural fibres….
All sorts, all weights, all colors, all textures! Oh, did I mention …I’m a yarnaholic?

I don’t think I can think of any I wouldn’t give a try for something!:)

I use the bootie loom and I make a tube sock style bootie. I used the Caron® Simply Soft® Yarn
4 ply – and did a 1 over 2 stitch. For the top I made a small brim for the cuff and then continued
until the bootie tube was 5 inches long (sorry I didn’t count the rows) and then took it off the loom
with the gathering method (which makes the toe). They stay on the baby’s feet just fine and the tube style
allows for different size little feet.

NOTE
1) The one over two stitch is called the double stitch. You wrap till you
have three rows on each peg. Then you take off one stitch over the other two all the way around
and rewrap and do over again. Makes a rib looking stitch. I love it. It makes a tighter looking rib than
the one over one (single stitch). I use it for lots of things like scarves, hats, my bath mitts just whatever happens to be on the loom at the time.

2) Gathering Removal Method
You want to remove your sock with the gathering method. Cut a long end from your skein of yarn.
Thread your yarn end on a yarn needle, then start with the next peg, slide your needle down the peg, lift off the loops and put them on your yarn end. Go completely around until all your loops are now on your yarn end. Pull tight, and knot. Then What I do is pull your yarn end to the inside, and stitch up any hole you might have from the inside.

Happy Knitting!!!

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…

I find Kathy Norris’ book I Can’t Believe I’m Loom Knitting (Leisure Arts #5250) a great source for patterns for any knifty knitter loom

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

So here’s my $.02 on the idiot’s guide…

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knitting & Crocheting, by Gail Diven & Cindy
Kitchel

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.

There is a stitch called “Mattress Stitch”. You use a yarn needle threaded with the yarn used in knitting the garment, put the two RIGHT SIDE pieces together. Hold the sides together with a stitch at the bottom, then pick up one or two bars (the bar between the stitches) on the left side, move to the right side and pick up one or two bars go back to the left side and pick up one or two more bars, do this a few times, and then pull gently on the yarn to tighten the stitches. The seam will be on the inside, and it will be difficult to see the join on the right side. When you put the two right sides together, put them side by side, not “together” you are weaving back and forth more than anything…then steam the seams with the iron and it will flattened out nicely.
I find this method much better than the back stitch or overcast.