Master Grafting with this Great Blog Series

Joni Coniglio has a great series of posts over on Knitting Daily all about grafting that you’re going to want to read if you’ve ever been mystified by this knitting technique or wondered if there are different ways to do it and use it in your projects.

I don’t really know why this ended up on my radar, because some of the posts are as old as 2011, but this information is all really valuable and will make you a better knitter (or at least a better finisher, which is a big part of knitting).

That link up there is to a page with links to all the posts, but in particular you’ll want to check out the grafting myths, which are, in summary:

Myth #1: Only knit stitches can be grafted. (Or this variation: It’s much easier to graft knit stitches than purl stitches.)
Myth #2: Grafted ribbing will always have a half-stitch jog.
Myth #3: A grafted row is the equivalent of one pattern row.
Myth #4: There is a universal formula that can be applied to grafting any pattern.
Myth #5: The grafting yarn must come from the back needle.

These posts are super detailed and may make your head spin a little (for example: grafting in pattern), but even if you don’t read it all at once it’s good to know this information is out there. As someone who pretty much only grafts the toes of socks, it’s good to know there’s more I can do with it, and where to go when I need to know how to do just that.

How do you feel about grafting? Most knitters seem to have a love-hate relationship with it; I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo via Knitting Daily.]

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

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