KnitBits: Knitting Fails, What’s Your Knitting Worth and the Steven Show

Knitting fails happen to everyone. Just last night I was trying to knit what should have been, looked like, was, a relatively simple lace pattern and I could not for the life of me do it. I was supposed to have 39 stitches, then suddenly I had 38. Rip it out, try again. 40. Ugh.

A knit fail is not the end of the world — yarn can always be ripped out and tried again, after all — but it’s always great when people can share their knit fails with the world. It makes us all feel better. So take heart and check out these cringe-worthy knitting fails over at Love Knitting.

Once you’ve done that, go read the super sweet piece from the Globe and Mail that reminds us why we do what we do. It starts off as a regular learning to knit story and ends reminding us that knitting really is an act of love, all the time. It’d worth the read.

And speaking of worth, when people ask you to knit something for them, odds are good most of them don’t want to pay you. This knitting time calculator isn’t a real calculator, but it will give the person asking some idea of what your time might be worth. It offers estimates for the length of time a project might take, asks if the person wants to buy the yarn or have the knitter buy it, whether the person wants to compensate the knitter by cleaning her house and so on. It’s good for a laugh, anyway.

And for a final laugh, you probably know that Steven Be and Stephen West have been working and touring together, and recently they were teaching and putting on a ridiculous (in the best possible way) fashion show at Vogue Knitting Live. You can check out some of the fun with the first episode of the web series StevenBe. It will inspire you to knit something awesome, I’m sure.

[Photo via Love Knitting.]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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