knitting – Page 2 – Craft Leftovers

The Black Swan :: Free Crochet Hat Pattern!

I’m really growing fond of combining crochet and knitting together. It is the perfect coupling of techniques. Crochet is organic and thick and has a much different drape than any knit fabric. While knitting has stretch and give and is wonderful for so many garment structures – you can do ribbing with knitting that is perfect for keeping caps on tight. I named this beret the black swan because, just like a black swan it’s all black with a few flecks of white.

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Coffee Sweater :: Free Knitting Pattern!

I was pretty put off by all the leather sleeves on my coffee mugs and at one point I had finally just had enough. I just didn’t like the idea of it. So I knit a new cozy for my coffee mug from the no kill alternative – wool. And best of all, you can also use this sleeve on those paper coffee cups instead of using the card board ones or double cupping. Perfect!

knitting - patterns & tutorials

Knit Sock Rockin’ :: Free Knit Ornament Pattern!

My friend Carolyn has been knitting up little mini sock ornaments like a whirlwind of crafty goodness. And I have been envious. They are just so cute! So i decided that this was just the perfect thing for leftover sock yarn and wrote up my own litlte pattern for using up this bit and rockin’ around the christmas and jazzing it up a bit with little mini replicas of socks you’ve knit over the year. And best of all, it’s a sock you can finish in just 2 hours or so! and no need to worry about second sock syndrome because you only need to make one to be done with your project instead of two.

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Scruby Bumpy Face Cloth

I know that this stitch pattern must exist out there somewhere in the knitland. Pretty much any stitch pattern is, but I came to this on my own. I love woven basket stitch for it’s simple texture, it also lays nice and flat. For a face cloth though, I wanted something a little more bumpy, so I added in a couple rows of a little something something to make it nice and gently scrubby. I love the way it turned out. I am hoping to make a bunch more for Jason and I. I recycled a whole sweater of 100% cotton yarn and it’s just perfect for this project. I also learned a little trick about weaving in ends on a 100% cotton face cloth, something that has always evaded me before, so I’ll show that too you in this pattern too.

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Switchy Swatchy Swap

While working at the yarn shop I mostly came into “knitting” questions and troubleshooting so that increased my progress exponentially when compared to crochet. So I make little swatches. Sometimes from a stitch dictionary, sometimes from my head. Then I put a border around it. I try to do a different stitch and a different border each time. Or if I have a hard time with a particular technique, I do it again and again until I get it right. It has helped so much and I highly recommend this practice for anyone trying to get comfortable with new techniques. Mix and match crochet and knit borders to get an idea on how to work with the two techniques. My knit/crochet version of a sampler.

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Seedy Diner Placemat!

Oh the seedy diners, I do love them. Late at night. All the characters that you see there. The greasy hash browns and coffee late at night to keep the creative juices flowing. I remember eating plate of hash browns with katsup and about 8 cups of coffee, then going back to the studio and working until of 4am or so. Anyway, so I was making a place mat, a smaller one for just a bowl and cup because I don’t have enough room for a full place mat on my desk where I keep my laptop, but kind of like having a place mat, not sure why, just do. So I needed a smaller bowl/cup sized one.

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Oopsies and Toofsies

I love my tréo and he loves his iTouch and we are pretty happy using our little gadgets. It’s getting pretty banged up already in my bag. This is an issue that needs some solving. So here we go, a little tréo pocket! Best of all it only takes about 25g of any sport weight yarn! Hooray for using up scraps and half skeins!

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Cherry Chirp

I really enjoyed knitting up this little guy. At only a half a skein of yarn or less, he knits up fast and is really super cute. His feet and the beans in his bottom allow him to sit up all on his own. This little quail has very intelligent beady eyes and you never quite know what he will be up to. I found him in red, but I have a feeling he has quite a few colorful cousins.

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Fingerless Mitten Duo

I wear my lady moss mittens on walks, outdoor excursions, going to class, etc. Basically when I know that I will be outside for more than five minutes. It’s my fingerless mittens that I wear just about everywhere else. To the store, in class, in my apartment, to the mail […]

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Stripe Set

It is always so satisfying to use up stash yarn I must say. I’ve had this nondescript bundle of bulky super wash wool for quite sometime. It was given to me by a friend who was de-stashing. Known as the “Craft Leftovers Girl” I often get donations of leftovers from […]

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Lady Moss Mittens

I usually start the summer to fall to winter layering with fingerless glove, a light scarf, and a jacket or thick sweater. Then it goes to a hat, thicker scarf, full gloves, and a medium coat. Now I’m moving into the winter coat, thick wool hat, long warm scarf, and […]

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Ode to Phyllis

I have all of my grandma’s knitting needles, and let me tell you, for a woman who said “oh I don’t really knit” she had a ton. I guess I’m just like her. I don’t tat, but I have 3 shuttles! I don’t really silk screen, but have a print gocco, photo emulsion, screens, filler, and like 5 things of silk screen inks. Geeze. I knit all the time, but honestly, I can’t use aluminum needles because they make my hands cramp up. I really want to use them for something more than just a bouquet of needles on my craft table that they are right now, something to remember her by. My friend mentioned using my needles as handles for a tote, I took it just a little further and bent them into a handle shape and volia and presto chango! Knitting needles into perfect handles from my grandma’s perfect stash!

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Fall Knit Head Wrap

We received a nice arctic blast this past week that made me think about fall and winter knitting. The Summer Knit Head Wrap just wasn’t going to cut it for those cool days and cold nights ahead. So, a Fall Knit Head Wrap seemed to be in order. It’s wider, […]

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Dynamic Duo

My couch is well, a broken down futon inherited from a friend who got it from a friend and so on. It doesn’t stay in the grooves, so is perpetually sunk in with the bend resting on the floor. When you sit on it your knees can be all the way to your chest (or at least that is how it feels to me anyway). Needless to say it’s okay for sitting cross legged on or on the edge if I’m working on things on my coffee table, but not really just for sitting. My friends avoid it. I don’t blame them. So I need to fix that, or get a new couch, but the latter won’t happen. So the solution? Pillows! I didn’t have enough of the same yarn to make a full knit/crocheted pillow, so I backed them with a sturdy decor fabric. I needed more than just one, so two it is. One is knit and one is crochet.

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The Perfect Dishcloth…. Knit Style!

I’ve been thinking for quite some time now that there was a need for a knit version of the perfect dishcloth. I really like it half felted, or even just with two different colors it looks really nice. It make doing the dishes quite a bit easier and quite a […]

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I Heart Felting

So I finally did it. I felted. I just had to share too of course! This woman at my LYS where I work brought me in her leftovers from all her felting projects and said “I’m not going to use it, does anyone here want it? If not make sure […]

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Lacy Knit Wristlet

Ah using up little bits of yarn and little buttons makes me so happy. This week’s pattern uses 1/2 ounce of fingering weight yarn. And 2 to 4 buttons. It knits up pretty fast, and since it’s so small, blocks fast too! Definitely wouldn’t hurt to add some beads in […]

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Summer Knit Head Wrap

Here she be, sorry for the wait! And if you turn it wrong side out it looks pretty good too: I’ve been trying think of things to knit during the summer while laying out next to the pool. This seemed like a good thing to do. Plus, I have a […]

knitting - patterns & tutorials

Host Tote

I was in a bind. I wanted to do a knitting pattern, but the one I was working on was taking too long. There was no way I was going to get it finished in time. So I asked my friend Andrea if she could think of anything and immediately […]

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Dish Rag!

Alright, here’s this Wednesday’s pattern. As always there will be a drawing held and I will announce the winner later tonight (we want things to be random, so I will have someone draw the name out of a take out container, how exciting!). Okay, so I have found out that […]