Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Let The Fur Fly…

by

While searching for the perfect project to start my 3 pre-teen granddaughters on, Be Still And Knit boldly marched right up and saved me!

Isn’t this too fun? And talk about a stash buster, knit on size 13 needles, it would be a pretty quick knit also.

These three girls are all roughly the same age, the twins will be 11 in Dec. and the other will be 11 come April. And I have no doubt they’ll all come up with something totally different. One will be girly girl, one will most likely be sporty and the other will be a mish mash of favorite colors.

Can’t wait to get started!

What projects have you used to teach young’uns how to knit?

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Comments

  1. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this idea! I got caught up in the fun fur phase when those silly little scarves were all the rage and find that I now have a ton of the stuff. This is an absolutely perfect way to use up the yarn in a very useful way (I hate to waste anything). I’ve been using the fun fur as trim for baby sweaters, etc. but this project will make a significant dent in my fuzzy stash of yarn! Thanks so much for featuring it!!
    Patricia

Have you read?

Book Review: Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary

Stitch dictionaries are a fun way to learn new-to-you knitting stitch patterns or to take a deep dive into a particular technique. Debbie Tomkies offers 100 cable stitch designs and thoughts on how to incorporate them into projects in her Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary.

Each stitch pattern is shown in a large swatch photo and with written and charted instructions. Any special stitches are included on the page. The stitches are rated on a difficulty scale of 1 to 3, and the pattern notes also indicate how many extra stitches you should add to a project if you’re going to work this cable (since cables pull the fabric closer together you need to compensate for that) as well as how many stitches and rows are in the repeat if you want to design a project yourself.

The cables are arranged into sections: classic cables, combinations, all-over panels, creative cables, motifs and panels and cabled edges and borders.

It’s fun to flip through the designs to think about projects you can add a single cable or two to or make with an allover cabled design. Or you could make swatches of different cables and sew them together into a pillow cover or a throw.

At the back of the book there’s a section on general cable knitting techniques, reading charts, working swatches and avoiding errors (though it mentions working the wrong number of rows between cable turns, it doesn’t share how to count rows between cables to avoid this mistake).

It also talks about how to design your own cables, combine cables in a project, choose the right yarn and needles and determine how many more stitches you need to cast on when working cables instead of stockinette stitch. There’s also a glossary of symbols and abbreviations you may find in cable knitting and other patterns.

The book provides a good overview of things you can do with cables, as well as some fun things you might not have tried like infinity cables and horizontal cables. It’s a great book for a designer who likes to work with cables or a knitter who wants to play with different stitches in their projects.

About the book: 176 pages, paperback, 100 stitch patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $26.99.