Duplicate Stitch: A Clever Solution for Kilt Hose

This is not exactly a knitting tutorial, but it may come in handy for knitters who make kilt hose or other tartan or argyle designs.

Nina at Nina Makes recently bought some kilt hose for her daughter, who has taken up Highland dancing, and while the colors were close to the tartan she’s wearing, the diagonal stripes on the socks were in gold, which stood out unpleasantly, especially because there was no gold in her red, white and black kilt.

Duplicate stitch to the rescue! Because these were purchased socks she had lines to follow, but this is a relatively easy way to jazz up plain knit socks as well. Just add some duplicate stitch in a contrasting color, whether in diagonal lines, diamond patterns, add an initial or a monogram, or anything else you like.

Do you ever use duplicate stitch to add color to a project? I’d love to hear about it.

[Photo via Nina Makes.]

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Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

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