Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Mitten Knitting Pattern for Ukraine

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The Olga and Alexey Mittens from Kristin Drysdale is a colorwork design worked in yellow, blue and white. The designs in the colorwork are inspired by Ukrainian embrodiery and each has meaning, she says.

In this design, the square represents wellbeing, peace, fortune, perfection, harmony, and order. The diamond represents heaven and earth. The diamond with a dot in the middle represents a sown field—with hope that Ukraine can heal and spring back. The stars represent protection from evil, disease, and weakness. The hearts stand for love, family, and a happy family life.

There’s also a sunflower inspired motif to symbolize the national flower, and a row of hearts shows that the world is with the people of Ukraine. The pattern is named for friends who live in Kyiv.

The pattern is being sold as a fundraiser for the Red Cross Ukraine. She’ll also be hosting a knitalong on her Ravelry group page if you want to join in! You can purchase the pattern on her website.

[Photo: Kristin Drysdale.] Looking for more knitting patterns about Ukraine? Check these out. 

Ukrainian Etsy sellers are also listing digital items for donations.

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Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

  • the simple cinching method mentioned above
  • sewing the stitches together
  • three needle bind off
  • grafting
  • crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!