Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

It Itches! So Knit A Snowflake!

by

It Itches, by Franklin Habit

Ingredients:
1 batch of humorous cartoons about knitting and everyday life.
3 shakes of the inevitable boo boos
and a generous helping of short essays.
Bake until it’s green and you’ll have the cutest little knitting book ever. One of the funniest knitting books I think I’ve ever read.

This particular cartoon, taken from the book, is entitled “Free Range Knitters”. Loved it!

And there are way more cartoons and essays in there that I can relate to than I’d like to admit. And it’s cute! And little! A perfect stocking stuffer! Hint!

Is your stash out of control? This book will tell you how to take it from behind the couch to where it belongs, occupying every inch of space available. If you haven’t been treated to Franklin’s blog, go here:
http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/

Interweave publishes his book and they say this:
Franklin Habit is known for his witty writing and his New Yorker-style cartoons about knitting and life. His cartoons address the undeniable urge to purchase yarn, the (mostly) friendly rivalry between knitters, the expression of love through yarn and needles, and more!
The book includes seventy-five cartoons, deftly rendered in pen and ink with watercolor wash, in addition to humorous short essays on various themes of the knitting life.

You’ll find yourself in this fun collection of essays and cartoons. It Itches is also a great gift idea for knitters who speak the same knitting language.

Go to page 20 to read about Monsters in the Closet
Man vs. Skein pg 40 (this was my personal favorite!)
Immortality pg 50
The Underpants Knitters of Great Fussing-on-the-Wold pg 58
Advice from a Poncho pg 68
The Knit Stitch: Theme and Variations pg 82
Knittin’ with a Whip pg 90
It’s a Guy Thing pg 102
And there are more!
Is your book pile already too big? Don’t fret, this one’s a quick read, and will definitely keep you laughing all the way through it. Go here to order this wonderful book, or second thought, order 6 or 7 for all your knitting peeps! http://www.interweave.com/knit/books/it-itches/toc.asp (remember the stocking stuffer thing?)

And now for your free snowflake pattern:

Ok, so technically this one is crocheted, but I loved it’s simplicity. It would be gorgeous with a strand of silvery stuff (technical term for the lame that I tore apart to spin in with some of my yarn).

Try it! The free pattern is here:

http://www.theknittingparlour.co.uk/doc/christmas%20snowflake%20pattern.pdf

 

Comments

  1. I actually DID knit a snowflake! It is on Holiday Mystery Gift Along (a yahoo group that’s growing by leaps and bounds).
    I love your beautiful crocheted snowflake and will grab it after submitting this here comment!
    Visiting your site kept me busy for an hour!

Have you read?

Knit a Mosaic Shawl Inspired by Mythology

Sometimes when I’m scrolling through Ravelry a pattern will catch my eye as much because of the name as the look of the design (which is a little hard to see in those little thumbnails sometimes, anyway). 

So it was with the Stellify shawl by Paola Albergamo. Stellify means to turn into a star, and the name and the story behind the shawl come from the story of Ariadne. The better known part of her story is that she helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur, but he then abandoned her. What comes after in many stories is that Dionysus found her, fell in love with her and later married her. 

When he threw her jeweled crown into the sky, the Corona Borealis constellation was formed. 

What does all this have to do with shawl knitting? 

The shawl itself looks like it has a scattering of stars on it, as if it, too, has been stellified. The shawl begins with an I-cord tap and is shaped into a triangular shawl with both lateral and central increases. I-cord edging is incorporated into the sides, and the colorwork is done with mosaic knitting, which means this shawl is easier than it looks. 

Mosaic knitting has you working with just one color per row, slipping stitches that appear in the other color to make the colorwork visible. Even better for people new to this kind of colorwork, the pattern includes written and charted instructions throughout so it should be easy to follow along. 

The pattern comes in two sizes (the larger one is shown here) and calls for two colors of fingering weight yarn. It looks great in black and yellow, but don’t miss the other projects on Ravelry to see other fun and beautiful color options. 

You can find the pattern in English and Italian on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Paola Albergamo]