Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Make Your Own Colored Knitting Needles

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colored knitting needlesClearly there was a time a few months ago when I wasn’t paying much attention to my email (don’t you hate when that happens?) because I don’t even remember this one and it’s from May! Well, let me make up for that by sharing this fun little project for making your own colored knitting needles completely from scratch.

Yes, this project starts with a wooden dowel from the home improvement store. Cut them down to size, let the kids color them with watercolors (or do it yourself; why should they get all the fun?), let them dry, sharpen up one end and you’re good to go.

Of course these will not be exactly the same size as conventional knitting needles, but they are really pretty and would be a great gift for a knitting member of your family if you let the kids paint them. And Palak assures that after knitting a bunch of I-cord out of white yarn on the needles that she didn’t experience any bleeding onto the yarn. I would probably just use them with dark yarn anyway, but that’s me being paranoid. Either way, they’re super cute!

[Photo via Made it Handmade.]

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Comments

  1. Thanks for the share! If it makes you feel better, I could have sworn you had already featured this project! My memory is going too! 🙂

Have you read?

A Sweet Skater Dress to Knit

I know knitting a dress sounds like a major time commitment. And that’s before I even tell you that this particular dress, the Sixth Ave Skater Dress by Briana Luppino, is worked in light fingering weight yarn. 

But would you just take a moment to look at it and tell me if it doesn’t look like it would be worth all the time you would spend knitting it? And it’s miles of stockinette stitch so it’s actually beginner friendly and a great semi-mindless knit you can take with you on your travels this summer and wear when it is done. 

The dress is worked from the top down with tank straps, a scoop neck, waist shaping and a flowy skirt for a fun and comfortable fit. 

The pattern has 10 sizes, with finished bust measurements ranging from 28 to 64 inches, or 71.5 to 163 cm. The sample shown was worked with 4 inches/10 cm of negative ease at the bust, and the designer says most people like between 2 and 6 inches/5 to 15 cm of negative ease in the bust and around 10 inches/25.4 cm positive ease in the hips. 

(To refresh your memory, negative ease means the measurement of the garment is smaller than your actual body measurement, while positive ease is bigger than your body.)

To pick a size you’d work from the bust measurement because you can always add more or fewer decreases as you need to get your desired fit at the waist and hips. And because it’s worked from the top down you can try it on as often as you like to make sure it’s the perfect fit. 

The I-cord edgings give the dress a super casual feel, and I think this would be a great one to add to your summer rotation. (Yes, even with a wool blend yarn.)

You can see lots of cute finished versions and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Briana Luppino]

Book Review – Knitted Tanks and Tunics

How to Knit a Simple Sweater Dress